#290 - Chapter 290 Golden Crucible, You Are Mine!
On Thursday morning, Sebastian released his magical senses and found that the crowds outside Ilvermorny had disappeared without a trace.
The hustle and bustle seemed to be swallowed by the night overnight, replaced by silence.
"Interesting," he murmured to himself, the scene from last night flashing in his mind. "Clearly, before I went to sleep, that meeting didn't seem to be ending at all."
"Did those members of the Magical Congress give up? Did everyone compromise?"
"Otherwise, the crowds outside wouldn't have dispersed."
"I wonder what the result is," Sebastian grabbed the coat on his bedside table. "I'll ask the headmaster later; he'll definitely know all the information."
After breakfast, the officials of the Potions Championship brought the latest news.
In yesterday's competition, all five Hogwarts students brewed the Draught of Living Death with perfect quality, so they all qualified for the third round.
Looking at the other magic schools, their best result was only three students qualifying, and some schools even had only one contestant left who could participate in the third round.
Hogwarts' situation of all members advancing was unique among all magic schools.
The detailed rules for the third match have also been released.
In Friday's competition, the officials will no longer set a unified question but will allow the contestants to freely play.
The contestants need to select the potion they want to brew today and submit the potion name and the required potion ingredients to the event organizer before six o'clock in the afternoon.
The organizer will prepare a separate set of potion ingredients for the contestants based on the information they provide.
As for the competition results, all the judges will score the contestants together.
At the same time, considering that some advanced potions take a long time to brew, the competition time is no longer limited to just one and a half hours but will last from nine o'clock on Friday morning to six o'clock in the afternoon.
Snape took the scoring rules from the staff, his brow furrowing almost imperceptibly. The densely packed rules were all the precautions that the contestants needed to understand before the competition.
It seems that the third round is the place to truly test the contestants' level. The officials of the Potions Championship want to use this method to select good seedlings who are truly talented in the field of potions.
The brewing difficulty brought by different potions varies, and the scores that can be obtained for different brewing difficulties also vary.
It can be said that the choice of different potions completely separates the contestants' scores from the beginning.
Choosing a potion with a high difficulty is certainly easy to get high scores, but failure means elimination.
Therefore, it is not an easy task to make the right choice for the contestants within a day.
Thinking of this, Snape didn't hesitate, calling Harry and the others to his dorm to give them one-on-one guidance.
After a whole day of repeated research, the contestants' topics were finally determined.
Percy, Penelope, and Cedric chose the Wit-Sharpening Potion, which is an advanced potion, and its brewing difficulty is much greater than that of the Draught of Living Death.
Harry chose the Bafflebrain Elixir. According to Snape's deduction, if Harry could brew a potion of perfect quality, then this year's Golden Cauldron would undoubtedly be won by Hogwarts.
As for Theodore, this guy wanted to challenge his limits. After hearing that Harry chose the Bafflebrain Elixir, he also chose the same potion.
Seeing the other party's firm eyes, Snape finally didn't say anything but took him for a cram session before the exam.
On Friday morning, Harry was so nervous that he couldn't eat a bite of food. Today was the day of the final, and he really wanted to win the Golden Cauldron.
According to the professor, one of his mother's regrets when she was young was that she was unable to represent Hogwarts and win the Golden Cauldron.
Harry wanted to drink some calming draught to force himself into a calm state.
However, in such a large competition, drinking calming draughts is considered cheating, and his idea cannot be realized at all.
Under Sebastian's persuasion, Harry reluctantly drank some milk, ate some bread, and then followed the staff to the arena.
The stands were already full of wizards who came to watch the game.
In addition to the judges, the headmasters of various magic schools also appeared on the rostrum.
Harry didn't pay much attention but focused on reviewing the potion brewing steps over and over again in his mind.
At the moment when the competition bell rang, he began to preheat the cauldron, then picked up the silver knife and skillfully chopped the silver leaves.
It was not until the water in the cauldron began to bubble slightly after heating that he added the weighed silver leaf crumbs to the cauldron.
Seeing the liquid in the cauldron turn light green, Harry breathed a sigh of relief.
He didn't dare to slack off in the slightest, took the chopped dragon tongue grass leaves and lightly roasted them on the fire for a few seconds, and then quickly added them to the cauldron.
Suddenly, the liquid in the cauldron radiated a bright golden light.
Although this was just the beginning, Harry had slowly entered the state, he was no longer nervous, and began to handle the remaining materials in an orderly manner.
He first ground the moonstone and blood-red crystal into fine powder, and then thoroughly mixed them evenly according to a certain ratio.
The addition of this mixed powder is also the first difficulty in the entire competition. Once the operation is improper, the entire potion will instantly lose control.
While trying hard to use magic to sense the potion reaction in the cauldron, Harry recalled Snape's earnest teachings.
"Remember, you must first slowly stir seven circles in the cauldron counterclockwise, and then quickly stir three circles clockwise."
"After completing the above operations, perform the last counterclockwise stirring, and at the same time slowly pour the mixed powder of blood-red crystal and moonstone during the stirring process."
Sensing that the potion in the cauldron had begun a violent reaction, Harry's eyes narrowed, and he picked up the stirring rod and stirred in the cauldron.
His movements were extremely standard, and the timing was also very accurate.
The liquid in the cauldron gradually became thick, and the color slowly changed from light green to a deep purple, and emitted a strange brilliance.
Taking this opportunity, Harry took four frogs and skillfully took out four fresh frog brains.
After sensing that the potion in the cauldron had completely stabilized, he stretched out his wand and let the four frog brains fly smoothly into the cauldron.
Instantly, the potion boiled violently and emitted bursts of purple steam.
A morning passed, Harry's operation was still very stable, and Sebastian nodded again and again.
So far, the young man's operation has been perfect. As long as he continues to maintain it, he will definitely be able to brew the perfect Bafflebrain Elixir.
The others also performed well. Percy and the three of them have completed the potion brewing and accepted the judges' scoring.
Theodore is also not bad. Although it is the first time to brew the Bafflebrain Elixir, he has been doing it in a decent manner and has not made any fatal mistakes.
Of course, it is impossible for him to brew a potion of perfect quality for the first time, but for him, as long as he can persist to the end, it is a huge success.
Snape's vision was indeed correct. Theodore is really a good seedling in potions.
Harry and Theodore's performance attracted the attention of many people.
Ilvermorny's potions professor, William, even specially found Sebastian and expressed his envy to him.
"Your students can actually brew something like the Bafflebrain Elixir. It seems that they have touched the threshold of potion masters."
"I really don't know what method your potions professor uses to cultivate such excellent students!"
Time passed slowly, and Harry's forehead was covered with sweat.
After the last stirring, the potion in the cauldron slowly stabilized and finally presented a pure green luster.
This is obviously a perfect Bafflebrain Elixir.
Looking at the crystal clear green potion in the cauldron, the corners of Harry's mouth grew wider and wider.
His hard work was not in vain.
Golden Cauldron, you are mine!
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