Hogwarts: I Am Such a Model Wizard

Chapter 371: Unique Potion Talent

The first period of the morning was Potions, a class Hufflepuff shared with Gryffindor. From the moment the lesson began, the Gryffindor students found themselves relentlessly targeted.

Katie Bell, from the Quidditch team, lost five points right at the door for the offense of wearing a hat. McLaggen, another Gryffindor, lost three points because his book had a crease in it.

The reason behind Snape’s sudden surge in penalties was obvious to everyone.

Back in the third year class, during Defense Against the Dark Arts, Neville Longbottom’s Boggart had taken the form of Snape, and under Professor Lupin’s guidance, Neville had transformed the Boggart into a rather ridiculous version of Snape dressed in a frumpy grandmother’s outfit.

It was a memorable incident, but what made it worse was that someone had managed to snap a picture of it and circulate it around the classroom.

Though the official story claimed all the photos had been confiscated, plenty still circulated among students. Determined to find the culprit, Snape had tried every tactic available—threats, bribes, even surveillance—but the students were more unified than ever, and no one talked. Even Professor Lupin, when asked, had maintained, “I don’t know, I didn’t see anything,” which had only fueled Snape’s anger further.

As a result, Gryffindor—the house that had originally shared the photo—had suffered ever since. Despite Hufflepuff’s recent loss of 100 points thanks to Kyle, they were still comfortably ahead of Gryffindor in the House standings, mostly due to Snape’s relentless point deductions. Gryffindor had been plummeting toward a new low score from the very start of the school year.

Even Professor McGonagall couldn’t say much to defend her students. She, too, had seen the infamous photo, and while she certainly didn’t approve of Snape’s vendetta, she couldn’t entirely blame him for being furious.

...

“Invigoration Draught!”

Snape didn’t return to the podium until Gryffindor had lost twenty points. Then he droned on, “Lovage, Ginger root, the horn of the Erumpent… Mr. McLaggen.”

He suddenly asked, “What do you need to do with the Erumpent’s horn when brewing the Invigoration Draught?”

“Roast it and then grind it to a powder, Professor,” said Cormac McLaggen, standing up and glancing at the blackboard.

“Haha, Snape miscalculated this time.”

Kyle heard someone whisper behind him.

“Luckily, it’s all on the blackboard. Just take a look and you’ll know.”

“Oh?”

Snape on the stage raised an eyebrow, took a step to block the blackboard, and continued, “How long does it need to be roasted?”

“Twenty minutes,” McLaggen answered without hesitation. “After that, you need to scrape off the surface layer before grinding.”

“Do you think you’re very clever…” Snape said with a sinister smile. “Remembering all that after just one look?”

“I wasn’t looking at the blackboard, Professor!” McLaggen said with a straight face. “I knew because I read the book in advance.”

“If you’d read the book in advance, you’d know that the Invigoration Draught requires the horn of a Graphorn, not an Erumpent…” Snape sneered. “Five points from Gryffindor!”

McLaggen’s face froze in disbelief. “But you wrote Erumpent on the chalkboard! I wouldn’t have made that mistake!”

“Oh, that… I made a mistake,” Snape replied, turning around to erase the line.

“You said you didn’t look at the chalkboard,” he said lazily. “Cheating a professor costs Gryffindor five more points.”

Next, they had to handle the ingredients.

Lovage and Ginger root were simple enough, but the Graphorn’s horn posed a real challenge. It was so hard and dense that cutting it was difficult, let alone grinding it. Roasting it first was a step Snape had given them, one not found in the book.

“Kyle,” Ryan leaned over and whispered, “did you see today’s Daily Prophet?”

“No,” Kyle shook his head. “Did something happen?”

“Someone spotted Sirius Black,” Mikel whispered.

“Where?”

“Cragcroftshire, just south of Hogsmeade,” Mikel said excitedly. “A muggle saw him… Of course, he didn’t know who it was and thought Black was just some criminal, so he called the hotline. But by the time the Ministry got there, Black was gone.”

“That’s not far at all, less than fifty miles from Hogsmeade.” McLaggen, sitting next to them, leaned over.

“Do you think he’ll come to Hogwarts?” Kanna looked a bit nervous.

“That’s impossible,” McLaggen replied. “Don’t forget, there are Dementors at the school entrance. He’d be walking right into them.”

“But I still feel something’s off,” Mikel mused. “There are so many places he could go; why show up so close to Hogsmeade?”

“Maybe he doesn’t know there are Dementors here,” McLaggen snorted. “I hope he comes soon, though, because if the Dementors find him, he won’t get away.”

“Once he’s captured, the Dementors will leave the school too. To be honest, just thinking about those monsters guarding the entrance gives me the chills. Even the wind feels colder.”

The group didn’t dare say more and dispersed before Snape turned around.

“Kyle, do you think if Black did come to Hogwarts, the Dementors at the gate could really stop him?” Kanna asked in a low voice.

“It’s hard to say,” Kyle replied, shaking his head. “They let Black escape once, even in their own territory... and there are only two Dementors here now. But don’t worry; everything will be fine, I promise.”

Hearing Kyle’s reassurance, Kanna finally relaxed and started peeling the Ginger root with her knife.

As the class neared its end, Snape began making his rounds to inspect everyone’s potions.

Kyle and Kanna’s cauldrons both held a bright, clear yellow liquid—the standard color, nothing unusual. Snape didn’t even pause to look at them, moving on without a word.

But the others weren’t as fortunate. Their potions had turned all sorts of unexpected colors.

Kyle noticed Mikel’s potion in particular. It was a strange shade of purple, with a thick, brownish smoke rising from it. Even Snape, usually unruffled, stopped and stared at the concoction for a moment.

He could usually pinpoint the issue in other students’ potions—perhaps an excess of one ingredient, or an improperly stirred mixture—but this one was different.

Lovage, Ginger root, and Graphorn horn… how could those ingredients produce this?

What a revelation.

“Hufflepuff loses ten points,” Snape finally said, fixing his gaze on Mikel’s cauldron before turning his steely eyes to Mikel. “And detention. Report to the dungeons on Saturday morning at eight o’clock until you’ve mastered the Invigoration Draught.”