Chapter 9.

  On Friday, Slytherin was to attend Professor Snape's Potions css with Gryffindor.

  Soren and Draco arrived early at the Potions located in the dungeon, which was dark and cold, with several gss jars lining the walls, taining many creepy animal spes.

  Potions css required two students per group, and the students from Slytherin and Gryffindor paired off within their respective houses, clearly sitting on opposite sides of the —Soren and Dra one group, Goyle and Crabbe in another, Harry and Ron i another, and Daphne paired with Pansy through Soren's introdu.

  Soren suddenly noticed Meredith sitting alone i row of Slytherin; she seemed a bit awkward as no one wao pair with her. Soren recalled that he hadn't really seen Meredith around much tely, aside from csses; she seemed to always be alone and hadn't made any friends.

  "Meredith is a little too proud, wearing that cold face, as if the whole world has teased her, so now everyone prefers to stay away from her," Daphne whispered.

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  Soren couldn't help but ask Daph the able, "Aren't you friends with her?"

  "We did py together when we were kids," Daphne said, a look of nostalgia on her face. "But as she grew up, her personality seemed to ge, and now she has developed such a bad temper."

  Ultimately, under Snape's forced arra, Pansy was ordered to pair with Meredith, while Soren filled Pansy's vad teamed up with Daphhe most surprising part was that Draco was actually ordered to pair with Hermione!

  Daphne was the happiest with this arra, as the entire Slytherin first year knew of Soren's strength.

  Pansy, oher hand, looked very unwilling, gring fiercely at Meredith, while Meredith kept her face turned up, not even gng at Pansy.

  Draco felt uneasy about being paired with a Muggle-born witch; it was only after Soren coaxed him, saying this was a great opportunity to prove the strength of pure-blooded students to others, that Draco was tricked into feeling ambitious and obediently paired with Hermione.

  After taking attendance, Snape began the lesson. "You are here to learn the precise sd strict craft of potion-making," he said, his voice barely louder than a whisper, yet everyone heard every word he said. Like Professonagall, Professor Snape had a anding presehat kept the in order effortlessly.

  "Sihis rarely requires you to foolishly wave your wands, many of you may not believe this is magic. I do not expect you to truly appreciate the beauty of a cauldron simmerily, emitting white smoke and a delightful aroma; you will not truly uand the wondrous magic of a liquid flowing through people's veins that stir the heart and cloud the mind... I teach you how to enhance your reputation, brew glory, and even stave off death—but there is one dition: you must not be the kind of foolish idiot I often enter."

  "Potter!" Snape suddenly said, "What would happen if I added powdered asphodel root to an infusion of wormwood?"

  What root poes into what solution? Harry g Ron, who was just as stunned; Hermione's arm shot up high in the air.

  "I don't know, sir," Harry said.

  Snape sneered, "Tsk tsk, it seems fame doesn't cover everything."

  Ign Hermione's raised arm, Snape tinued, "Let's try again. Potter, if I asked you to find me a bezoar, where would you go to look?"

  Hermioried to raise her hand as high as possible without leaving her seat, but Harry had no idea what that oar thing was. He tried not to look at Malfoy, Crabbe, and Goyle, who were shaking with ughter.

  "I don't know, sir."

  "I suspect you haven't opened a single book before the term started, have you, Potter?" Sill ignored Hermiorembling arm and tinued, "Alright, Potter, then tell me what the difference is between aite and wolfsbane?"

  "I don't know," Harry whispered, "but I think Hermione knows the answer. Why don't you ask her?" Several students ughed out loud.

  "Sit down," he barked at Hermione, "Soren, you tell us the answer."

  Sore a bit helpless; was he being forced to go against Harry?

  But under Snape's murderous gaze, Soren had no choice but to stand up and say, "Asphodel root powder and Wormwood be bio create a very potent sleeping potion, known as the Draught of Livih. bezoar is a type of storacted from a goat's stomad has a very strooxifying effect. As for the Aite and Wolf's Bahey are the same pnt, collectively referred to as Aite."

  "Slytherien points," Snape said loudly, "Why don't you all write this down!"

  At that moment, there was suddenly a rustling sound of quills and part. Amidst the noise, Snape said, "Potter, because you talked back, Gryffindor will lose a point for that."

  Then Snape spent half the css instrug the two groups of students, pairing them up to learn how to brew the simplest potion for treating boils. Although it was said to be the simplest potion, both the materials and the steps looked quite plicated.

  Following Snape's orders, Soren took out various materials from the potions et, including dried le, snake's fangs, and shrake spines; Daphhen lit the fire and pced her cauldron on top.

  During their brewing process, Snape glided around the in a long bck cloak, like a rge bat, their steps... Most of the Gryffindor students received harsh criticism; even many Slytherin students were not spared.

  After returning to his seat, Soren moved quickly; in fact, he had already practiced the simple as of grinding, dissolving, and boiling at home before the school year began.

  "Why are you grinding the shrake spines?" Daphne asked in fusion. "The book says to cut them into small pieces and add them at the st stage after removing the cauldron from the fire!"

  "The solubility of Shrake spine is extremely low, and they are even harder to dissolve once removed from the fire. Just looking at the fact that they are the st ingredient added suggests they are likely the most unstable of all the materials—grinding them into powder will allow them to dissolve more quickly, thus redug the ce of acts." Since his partner was a girl, Soren patiently expined, all the while tinuing to grind the Shrake spine.

  Daphne frowned, but seeing Soren's fident demeanor, she decided to say nothing and tinued hammering away at the small piece of snake's fang.

  "Help me roast the le i for a while; this will dry out the water. Be careful not to get stung by the le... Thank you!" Soren added the crushed snake's fang to the cauldron, stirring slowly in a clockwise dire while giving instrus.

  Daphne opened her mouth but didn't say anything; instead, she followed Soren's instrus. During this time, Snape passed by their location several times, stopping to observe their as for several minutes, even notig the small pte of shrake spines grounded in fine powder..But other than that he didn't interfere at all, just squinting at Soren for a few times.

  'When the snake fangs are added to the cauldron it o boil down for five minutes.' Daphne oher side now began to pay attention to the recipe and began to remind Soren about it.

  As the mixed liquid began to turn yellow, Soren quickly reduced the fme to prevent it from boiling over.

  Daphne looked a bit anxious, while Soren seemed uned... Hogwarts' potiobook wasn't particurly accurate; even something as simple as whether roots yield juice more easily when pressed or cut could be wrong.

  Suddenly, Soren caught a whiff of something off, and wheurned his head, he saw a cloud of acidic green smoke rising in the underground , apanied by a loud hissing sound. Somehow, Neville had burned Seamus's cauldron into a twisted mess, spilling the potion onto the stone floor, but Soren acted quickly, making the potion on the ground disappear.

  "Five points to Slytherin." Snape g Soren before turning to Neville and r, "Are you a troll? I assume you didn't take the cauldron off the fire before putting in the Shrake spine, did you?" Neville began to cry, and suddenly, many boils appeared on his nose. After reprimanding him, Snape had Seamus take him to the hospital wing.

  Half an hour ter, Snape walked slowly betweeables, cheg each cauldron and their results in turn.

  When he saw the ugly blue mixture that Harry and Ron had cocted, a sarcastic smile appeared on his face: "Do you think you drink this potion, Potter and Weasley? I dare say, drinking this potion of yours will not only fail to cure your boils but will likely poison you first." Snape waved his wand, sweeping the potion in the cauldron away.

  Almost every student's results were criticized by Snape, who mocked them one by ohe Gryffindor students received the harshest scolding, but some Slytherin students weren't spared either, especially Pansy and Meredith's group, which became a ughing stock for Slytherin.

  Drad Hermione's pairing did well; under Hermione's careful preparation and Draco's attentive cooperation, their work was quite standard. However, biased Snape only awarded Slytherin five points, pletely ign Hermione's tribution, which made many Gryffindors seethe with anger, direg their reseoward Draco.

  The potion made by Soren and Daphne raised by Snape as a someerfect potion, earning Slytherin an additional ten points.

  Sore indifferent about it, but Daphne's gaze toward him grew even more fervent. Other students might not know, but Daphne was well aware of what Soren had done—he had uniterally improved many steps in potion preparation and ended up produg an almost perfect product.

  Being well-informed, she uood that Soren could be a rare talent in potion-making. There were at least over a huhousand people in the wizarding unity across Europe, yet fewer thay had bee potion masters io joiion association. Even with the prestige of her Greengrass family, they couldn't afford to hire a potion master to serve the family.

  Hermione looked at Soren with a face full of disbelief. Clearly, she had followed the steps in the book to the letter, so why could Soren do better than her?

  At that moment, the fire of petition ignited in her heart, and she decided to spend more time improving her potion skills. She was determio bee the top student in all subjects!