#219 - Chapter 219 Snape's good intentions

With the morning sun, Harry stepped off the Knight Bus, ignoring the dirty and chaotic surroundings, and headed familiarly towards the end of Spinner's End.

After the holidays, after only a short two-day break, Harry resumed his life of studying potions with Snape.

Even so, he didn't feel tired at all, but rather enjoyed it.

To be honest, Harry had never quite understood why Ron was afraid of Professor Snape.

In his opinion, although Professor Snape's expression was serious, he taught conscientiously and spoke so nicely, it made people really like him.

Anyway, he was quite happy studying potions with Professor Snape.

Oh, right, Professor Snape said yesterday that his potion level had reached the sixth-year standard.

Starting today, he would teach himself to brew a particularly complex potion.

I wonder what that potion is?

So exciting!

Knock, knock, knock—

The door opened, and a unique fragrance immediately wafted through the air.

Harry took a deep breath, a look of delight on his face.

That's the smell!

The mixture of potions and herbs was still quite pleasant.

"Good morning, Professor."

Snape's lips stretched into a slight curve, then he nodded slightly, and led Harry towards the studio, arriving at the workbench for brewing potions.

The workbench was filled with all kinds of potion ingredients, some Harry had seen before, and some completely unfamiliar.

Looking closely, Harry was surprised to find that most of these potion ingredients were quite valuable.

These are the potion ingredients for today's lesson?

So expensive!

"This potion is this year's birthday gift," Snape said in a flat tone. "I think you'll be interested."

He waved his wand gently, and a thick potion book flew in front of Harry, automatically turning to a certain page.

Harry looked down, and the page was written with neat handwritten letters with the recipe for "Baruffio's Brain Elixir", and the description of the potion's effect made Harry's heart beat faster.

It can greatly enhance the drinker's brainpower, improve memory and concentration!

So powerful!

This potion was simply tailor-made for all students.

Harry would bet that if he took this potion to Hogwarts, those fifth-year and seventh-year students would go crazy.

Snape's voice sounded faintly: "I've looked at your grades in all subjects and found that you get almost full marks in hands-on practice."

"But you perform slightly weaker on topics that require memorization, which is especially obvious in History of Magic and Astronomy."

"In terms of memory, your partner, Miss Granger, performs much better."

Uh (⊙o⊙)......

Does the professor mean to say that my memory is too bad?

Harry scratched his head embarrassedly.

There was no way, his memory couldn't compare to Hermione's, or rather, it was completely crushed.

Harry even suspected that Hermione's magical talent was her super memory ability.

Otherwise, how could she memorize everything in a book just by reading it once?

"You'll be in your third year when school starts," Snape continued, "and with electives, your study load will be heavier."

"Baruffio's Brain Elixir can make your studies a little easier. Of course, it's only a little easier."

"This potion won't turn a fool into a genius immediately; it can only improve memory by about one-fifth."

"Alright, take a good look at the potion recipe."

Improve memory by one-fifth?!

That's enough! That's enough!

For him, even a slight improvement would make things a lot easier.

Harry calmed down, shook off the distracting thoughts in his mind, and carefully read the potion recipe.

So complicated!

It looked much more complicated than last year's Polyjuice Potion.

Was this really a potion recipe that a human could come up with?

Looking at this complicated recipe, Harry's palms couldn't help but break out in a cold sweat.

"However, as the book says," Snape solemnly reminded, his eyes staring at Harry as sharp as an eagle, "the brewing process of this potion is extremely complex, the ingredients are extremely expensive, and a single mistake can lead to disastrous consequences."

"Disastrous consequences? Professor, what do you mean?"

"It can cause brain damage." Snape's voice was extremely cold, making Harry shiver.

"The failure rate of Baruffio's Brain Elixir is very high. Unless it is brewed to a perfect state, it can cause the user's brain to over-excite, leading to brain damage."

"Therefore, a long time ago, the Ministry of Magic explicitly prohibited the sale of this potion, lest inferior products circulate on the market and harm people."

"As far as I know, St. Mungo's Hospital has several fools who had to stay in St. Mungo's Hospital for a long time for treatment because they drank inferior Baruffio's Brain Elixir, which caused brain damage."

I see...

Listening to Snape tell the history of Baruffio's Brain Elixir, Harry suddenly understood.

No wonder he had never seen Baruffio's Brain Elixir on the market; it turned out there was such a deep reason.

Luckily, Professor Snape was here, and he certainly wouldn't drink inferior potions to damage his brain.

"Harry, I'll brew it once first, and you'll be my assistant. Remember to observe my ingredient handling techniques carefully."

Snape had Harry stand aside, picked up the potion ingredients on the workbench, and began to process them.

He skillfully chopped the silver leaves and put them into the cauldron.

The water in the cauldron had been preheated for a long time and was now bubbling slightly. After the silver leaves entered, the liquid immediately turned light green.

Referring to the contents of the book, Harry knew that this was the correct reaction.

Next was the addition of dragon tongue grass. Snape lightly roasted the chopped grass leaves over the flame for a few seconds, and then quickly added them to the cauldron. The liquid suddenly flashed with a bright golden light.

However, this was only the beginning.

The real challenge lay in mixing the moonstone powder and blood-red crystal powder. These two materials were extremely prone to react. If they were not operated in the correct order and precise proportions, the entire potion would instantly be out of control.

"Remember, Harry," Snape said coldly, his eyes never leaving the cauldron for a moment, "you must stir seven circles counterclockwise, then three circles clockwise, and finally slowly pour in the blood-red crystal powder during the last counterclockwise stirring. A slight mistake and the entire potion will be ruined."

Harry desperately memorized Snape's various techniques, watching him perform step by step, until he poured the blood-red crystal powder into the cauldron.

The liquid in the cauldron made a slight humming sound, as if some mysterious magical reaction was taking place.

The liquid gradually became viscous, the color slowly changing from light green to a deep purple, and emitting a strange glow.

"Harry, prepare four portions of fresh frog brains now."

Hearing this, Harry did not dare to neglect, and skillfully processed the frogs, taking out four brains.

Snape said in a low voice: "You must wait until the purple color is completely stable before adding the frog brains, otherwise it will be a failed ending."

Snape stretched out his wand, and the four portions of frog brain flew steadily into the cauldron. Instantly, the potion seemed to be ignited, and bursts of steam rose.

Harry held his breath and concentrated. He looked at the remaining magical ingredients and couldn't help but sigh in his heart.

So complicated...

There were still so many ingredients that hadn't been used, and he didn't know when it would be brewed.

Seeing that the reaction in the cauldron was gradually slowing down, Harry quickly concentrated his attention, watching Snape's next step.

The morning slowly passed, and a trace of sweat also seeped out of Snape's forehead.

After complex brewing, the potion in the cauldron completely stabilized, eventually presenting a pure green luster.