Chapter 23: Improved Potion
Potions are roughly equivalent to spells, which is Vaughn’s core philosophy. He compiled it into a thesis at the age of 10 and published it in the journal of the Extraordinary Potioneers Association, “Extraordinary Potions,” which has also been a controversial part of him.
Potions are a relatively independent subject. In the eyes of many potioneers, only the fragrant steam rising from the cauldron can represent the mysterious and omnipotent side of magic.
As long as they bring a few doses of potions, they don’t need to “wave wands foolishly” and cast a bunch of “flashy spells” to easily accomplish various tasks.
Not to mention, potions are the only cure for many illnesses and spell damage.
This allows them to look down on other subjects with arrogance.
Vaughn’s statement clearly violated their taboos. Not everyone among them necessarily disagreed with his views, but more people did not want to see change.
Some of them are old fuddy-duddies who are infatuated with glory, some are beneficiaries （ the more mysterious potions are, the easier it is to monopolize ）, and some are fools!
The last sentence was what Professor Snape said in the newspaper at the time.
The view promoted in Vaughn’s thesis is simple – let magic power participate more in the brewing process, just like casting spells.
For example, right now.
As he sprinkled viper’s fang powder into the cauldron, Vaughn drew his wand and lightly tapped the cauldron, and a wisp of subtle magic power seeped into the potion liquid.
Hermione next to him stared with wide eyes, but magic power is invisible to the naked eye, so she could only see the viper’s fang powder falling into the potion liquid.
“Viper’s fang is the main material. Its role in the recipe is to absorb toxins, but remember, it doesn’t have this function itself. We only need its properties.”
As Vaughn whispered, a few specks of fluorescence were extracted from the viper’s fang powder, and the powder that was originally floating sank to the bottom of the pot.
“Having solved the toxin absorption, the next step is detoxification and healing. For simple ailments like scabies, horned slug and dried nettle can be used. Horned slug is usually used to heal wounds, and dried nettle is used to neutralize the absorbed toxins.”
His wand continued to tap on the cauldron. As the materials were added, more dark currents with faint fluorescence appeared in the potion liquid, which had a slight pink hue.
Hermione, holding her book, opened her mouth slightly, watching all of this intently.
She asked softly, “These…”
“Yes, the properties of the materials, Hermione,” Vaughn nodded and explained, “I used magic power to extract them and let you see them. In the traditional recipe for scabies potion, the last step is porcupine quill, which is used to extract properties. It doesn’t participate in the healing process itself, so my magic power saved this step!”
Saying this, Vaughn turned off the heat under the cauldron and stirred clockwise 5 times: “5 times, no more, no less. This is another key point I mentioned earlier, ritual! The number has magic power in this ritual, look—”
Hermione gazed intently.
She saw that the potion liquid in the cauldron, which was originally layered and of mixed colors, with 5 stirs and Vaughn waving his wand.
It swirled and swirled, suddenly turning into a pot of blue potion, clear and refreshing, without a trace of impurity.
It looked even better than the finished product in the textbook illustration!
Before she could be surprised, Snape glided over like a bat.
He peered into the cauldron at the potion, and a trace of surprise appeared in his listless eyes.
He couldn’t help but dip a finger in it, sniff it, and look at Vaughn: “There’s no pungent smell of porcupine quill… did you make an improvement?”
Vaughn nodded: “Yes, Professor.”
“Using the magic power extraction method you mentioned last year?”
Vaughn smiled: “Yes, but for now, it can only be used on these simple potions. The more advanced the potion, the more complex and numerous the material properties required. It takes a lot of time to understand, explore, and find tricks.”
“But I think it’s very meaningful. Traditional recipes usually use one or even several more ingredients for the final step of extracting properties. They inevitably affect the effect of the potion, and some are even toxic… Although side effects and toxicity can be tolerated for the success of the potion, isn’t there a better way?”
Snape was silent and said no more.
As he turned to leave, everyone heard him speak: “Slytherin gets 10 points. Vaughn Weasley, Granger, go help our Longbottom and Finnigan. I suspect they were turned into trolls… Ron Weasley, what are you staring at? Why don’t you learn from your brother?”
Harry heard Ron grumble in his ear: “I’m not going to learn from him!”
Harry didn’t say anything, and after a moment, he whispered, “Next potions class, I want to be partners with Vaughn.”
Ron’s eyes widened: “Traitor!”
On the other side, Vaughn and Hermione, as instructed by dear Professor Snape, went to Neville and Seamus’s desks.
Neville was crying because Snape had berated him so much during the entire class that he doubted his existence, and he lost 5 points.
This made him very self-reproachful.
“I’m sorry, Vaughn, I’m too stupid and always forget.”
“It’s okay, Neville, just look at the textbook and don’t panic.”
Perhaps because he had received help from Vaughn before, Neville had always trusted Vaughn, even though he was a Slytherin.
This honest and kind chubby boy, apart from his poor memory and tendency to cry, was actually a very honest and obedient fellow.
At least when facing the Vaughn he trusted, he would listen to whatever he said and follow it strictly.
Seamus on the other side was more mischievous, and perhaps he did have some hidden talent. Even with Hermione watching, in the final step of brewing, when it was time to add porcupine quill, he almost caused an accident—
He threw a handful of porcupine quills into the cauldron without turning off the heat.
Fortunately, Vaughn, who had been watching him, quickly cast the Levitation Charm to intercept the porcupine quills, otherwise, the classroom would have faced a huge disaster!
Porcupine quills at high temperatures would turn the potion into a highly corrosive liquid and cause an explosion.
This made Professor Snape even more displeased with Gryffindor, and he seized the opportunity to deduct more points.
When the class ended, on the way back to Gryffindor, Seamus was still explaining to Hermione: “…I was just too nervous. Snape kept hovering around me, I was under a lot of pressure!”
Hermione’s face was stern, and her voice crisp and sharp, she questioned: “Then why didn’t you put in more effort? The Professor didn’t force you not to turn off the heat!”
Seamus, feeling embarrassed, was angry and stopped talking to her.
Ron, who was watching the commotion, turned to Harry and said, “She’s too serious, she often makes people feel awkward.”
Harry saw Hermione approaching and quickly changed the subject:
“Tomorrow is the weekend, how about we go visit Hagrid?”
Hagrid had written to him today, inviting him to his hut.
But Ron clearly didn’t understand his intention: “Okay, but it’s best not to bring her. I don’t want to hear someone constantly telling me, ‘You did this wrong, you did that wrong’…”
Hermione pursed her lips, making Harry instantly think of Professor McGonagall. She stumbled slightly and walked past the two of them angrily, even making Ron stagger.
Watching the girl’s retreating back, Harry sighed.
“Ron, you shouldn’t have said that to her.”
Ron felt he was in the wrong and just grunted twice.
