#489 - The tragedy caused by the truth serum

Lin Xia's attainments in potions are not inferior to Draco's. Before Draco inherited the art of alchemy, her creativity in inventing potions was even better than Draco's.

Lin Xia could also see the problem that Draco could see at a glance, and could even see further than Draco.

After all, she had actually made truth serum when she went to a farm in Romania during her summer vacation. Although Draco knew the production steps, he had no practical experience and was just talking about it on paper.

Lin Xia waved his wand and used a special mark to directly burn the parchment, leaving a mark on it that resembled being burned by fire. He then continued to write down the important steps of making truth serum, which was also the step that O'Connor lacked the most.

[The moonstone must be ground clockwise in a silver mortar until it reflects light. The powder should be poured into the liquid medicine at once when it turns transparent, triggering the "moonlight reaction" (silver ripples appear on the surface of the liquid medicine)...]

I wrote a lot of words, and I don’t know what I thought of, but I added a paragraph at the end——

[Salamander serum is used to neutralize toxicity and prevent organ failure in the user]

Draco glanced at Lin Xia, and his intuition told him that this supplement was not simple.

If O'Connor had any doubts about the companions he recruited, he would not have allowed these house-elves to participate in his plan to kill the Death Eaters together.

So this truth serum must be prepared for the Death Eaters.

Given O'Connor's hatred for Death Eaters, he might have deliberately chosen not to neutralize the toxicity of the salamander serum.

While Lin Xia was writing, Draco was also looking for a place to store potions nearby. Finally, he set his sights on the table where the truth serum was made.

This table is the largest and most conspicuous, located in the center of the potions room.

Judging from the freshness of the materials, O'Connor has been trying to make truth serum recently, and it will definitely be discovered if it is placed here.

Draco took out two bottles of pitch-black potion, and following Lin Xia's example, he found a blank piece of parchment and used the marking method to imprint the words on the parchment like flames.

Just as he finished, Lin Xia's ears moved slightly. Although she did not hear O'Connor's footsteps because she had the supersensory spell on the whole time, it was suspected that his steps were blocked by some magic, but the heartbeat was not blocked.

She noticed a strange heartbeat just outside the room, and this heartbeat was different from that of a human wizard.

It seemed more rapid than that of an ordinary wizard, like the fast beating of a drum.

Lin Xia suddenly grabbed Draco's sleeve, her mind firmly thinking of somewhere, and the next second, magic power surged around her and Draco.

"Hurry up and show up!"

The door of the potion room was suddenly opened, and O'Connor read out a spell loudly. A magical power far beyond what the house-elf could mobilize emerged, and the effect of the spell was like a sudden whirlwind that rushed into the potion room.

All the medicine bottles shook a few times because of the wind, and some thinner papers even floated up, as if they were held by an invisible force. Some glass sticks fell to the ground because of this force, making a "ding ding ding" sound.

O'Connor looked around vigilantly and walked slowly into the potion room.

Although it does not have a wand, its hands are always raised in front of its chest, and it can immediately cast a spell if any unusual movement occurs.

It carefully used various checking magics to brush over the potion, fearing that it might have been tampered with.

Then, it saw two bottles of green potion placed on the table, and under each bottle was a piece of parchment.

When it saw the contents clearly, its pupils shrank slightly, and it suddenly thought of something. It looked around and asked anxiously:

"Is this the mysterious person who approached me in the beginning? If you want to help me, then come out and see me, and I can cooperate with you. Or you can stay silent and just listen to me tell you about my plan. If you are still here, please make some noise..."

The body seemed to be stuffed into a narrow compression tube. All the internal organs felt painfully squeezed and the brain was dizzy.

But once their feet touched the ground, Draco and Lin Xia's excellent physical fitness allowed them to quickly get rid of the discomfort caused by Apparition.

When they looked up again, they had arrived at the cellar where they had just entered Hogsmeade.

Draco exhaled lightly, adjusted his breathing, turned his head and looked at Lin Xia, "When I left, I seemed to see a white light."

Lin Xia said calmly, "Well, I just noticed that O'Connor had returned, so I urgently used the Apparition."

Draco could not empathize with the plight of the house-elves. If they were not dealing with the Death Eaters, he would never have taken such despicable creatures seriously.

Now that the black potion had been given away, Draco asked kindly, "Do you think they will use this potion?"

Lin Xia thought for a moment and said, "Yes, although I don't know how they will deal with the Death Eaters, but O'Connor can make potions, which is an advantage.

They should use potions to do something, and the two bottles of potions we sent, even if their sources are unknown, their effects alone are enough to make them crazy."

Lin Xia said with great certainty: "It will go to gamble."

Her voice was very soft: "It's not even afraid of death, why should it be afraid of this potion?"

-

Draco and Lin Xia returned to Hogwarts the same way they came to Hogsmeade.

Having walked through the secret passage once, they walked through it again with a calm look on their faces.

Lin Xia poked a faded brick, and the stone door in front of her appeared to be melting like cream again.

The wall melted away automatically, revealing a clear door.

Lin Xia and Draco walked out, and this time it was Draco who poked the faded bricks, and the owl stone sculpture returned to its original appearance.

The changes seemed slow, but they recovered in just a moment, covering up the last trace of the unique sweet scent of frosting and the dark and damp smell in the secret passage that had not been visited for a long time.

Lin Xia was just about to take out the live map to check, but her amplified hearing detected something wrong earlier than her eyes.

The sound of footsteps...

Lin Xia's eyes narrowed, and she immediately put away the live map, then pulled Draco and ran quickly to another passage.

Fortunately, they had been very vigilant and wore invisibility cloaks throughout the process.

Draco's extrasensory spell training was not as strong as Lin Xia's. He couldn't hear the footsteps, but he knew what to do and what not to do.

When Lin Xia pulled him to run, he cooperated immediately without any hesitation.

The two quickly ran from the third floor to the second floor and came to the Hufflepuff common room. Draco breathed a sigh of relief and asked, "What did you hear just now?"

Lin Xia groaned: "I heard footsteps, and the footsteps sounded very familiar."

She paused. "It sounds like Snape walking."

The corner of Draco's mouth twitched slightly: "Will he target us from now on?"

He thought of something and quickly denied it: "No, that's not right. They should be targeting that secret passage."

Lin Xia nodded: "He should have discovered that the area was a bit abnormal. After all, we made quite a noise when we opened the secret passage.

Although he can't see us, he should have sensed something from the damp smell. We shouldn't go to the third floor anytime soon."

It is better to be safe than sorry. If Snape is in a bad mood, he might add all the wizards wandering around the third floor to his suspicion queue.

Because the two of them participated in patrols every night, they made a temporary trip to Hogsmeade village today. If they did not participate in the patrol, they might be discovered to be abnormal, so they did not cancel today's patrol.

Lin Xia simply set the patrol time from 11pm to midnight on purpose. If anyone asked about it, she could use the excuse of adjusting the time to get away with it.

According to her plan, if she hadn't finished it before 11 o'clock at night, she would have to go back to Hogwarts even if she didn't want to, because they couldn't be absent from the patrol.

The two went back to the dormitory to rest and then met again in the common room.

Draco had already taken a shower and dressed himself up, changing into a neatly ironed wizard robe and applying some men's cologne. He exuded aristocratic refinement from head to toe.

As for Lin Xia, during her break, she checked the records of the Illusionary Snail again to see if there were any unusual movements in the portrait in the Forbidden Magic Box, then petted the cat and recorded what she saw and heard in Hogsmeade tonight.

After memorizing the important information again in his mind, Lin Xia burned the parchment, changed into a set of wizard robes and came out.

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This time they were patrolling on the 2nd floor, and the wizard who took over was Snape, who was wandering around the 3rd floor.

In addition to Lin Xia and Draco, there were four outstanding senior students. The handover went smoothly and nothing unusual occurred during the patrol.

But just as the patrol was over and they were changing shifts with other wizards, Snape suddenly turned and stared at Lin Xia. His eyes were so cold that he looked at a dead object. He asked coldly, "What did you do before the patrol?"

Lin Xia said calmly: "Doing experiments in the laboratory."

Several other outstanding students were about to leave, but when they heard this, they slowed down their pace and pricked up their ears to eavesdrop.

Just at this time, Filch, who had nothing to do, also came to the second floor, staggering with a kerosene lamp in his hand. Mrs. Norris followed him and licked her paws with her tongue when she stopped.

Snape looked down at Lin Xia and asked, "What experiment are you doing?"

Lin Xia said calmly: "Professor, I have already asked the school to keep the contents of the experiment confidential. If you want to know, you can negotiate with Dean Sprout."

Snape's thin lips were pursed into a sharp arc, his waxy yellow cheeks looked bluish-gray under the dim light, and the shadow cast by his brow bone hid his hawk-like eyes into a deeper sinister look.

He was already in a bad mood, and a sneer rose on his lips when he heard this: "African tree snake skin emits a pungent smell of rotten meat when it is ground, and it will have a sour smell when mixed with sulfur and burned, and fresh salamander serum has a smell of rust.

Although your scent has been processed, it is not just right, and my sense of smell is very sensitive."

He crossed his arms, as if he was watching an ugly farce, and mocked mercilessly: "How come I didn't know that your new topic was actually related to truth serum?

As a high-level potion, the preparation process of truth serum is very dangerous and requires the guidance of a professor, but I have never heard of you applying for a professor's guidance, or -"

He stretched out his tone, his eyes as cold as if they were filled with poison: "You made the truth serum without reporting it to the school!"

As soon as these words were spoken, the scene became so quiet that one could almost hear a pin drop, and everyone's breathing became lighter.

They didn't know how difficult it was to make Veritaserum, but they knew it was a high-level potion.

Although Hogwarts' control over advanced potions is not as strict as in the outside world, many potion professors also make advanced potions in school.

However, as a student, Lin Xia was not allowed by the school to try such a high-risk and forbidden potion in private.

Failure to report may result in severe penalties.

Draco was also very nervous, his heart was beating fast.

As a member of the laboratory, he knew that Lin Xia had plans to research a new type of potion, but it had nothing to do with truth serum, and he had not reported it to the school either.

There is no doubt that they were implicated by the truth serum made by O'Connor!

Although Snape did not catch them, he smelled the distinctive scent of truth serum.

If he hadn't felt that he was sweating a lot and his wizard robe was dirty, he wouldn't have wanted to take a shower. Maybe he would be among those facing accountability this time.

But when Draco saw Lin Xia's calm expression and expressionless face, he suddenly felt relieved.

After listening to Snape's accusation, Lin Xia was silent for a while, as if she was considering the options. Then she looked up at Filch and said:

"Although I didn't report it to the school, I told the faculty and staff that it's not like no one in the school knows that I'm making truth serum."

"Who knows?" Snape stared at her.

Lin Xia said calmly, "Administrator Filch."

In an instant, everyone turned their eyes to Filch who was standing aside.

Lin Xia continued, "This topic started two years ago. When I became famous for inventing the magnetic membrane wand, Administrator Filch commissioned me to do a study."

Faced with the gazes of others and Snape's fierce stare, Filch's expressionless face twitched a little.

He looked at Lin Xia, nodded slowly, and said in a hoarse voice: "I asked Witch Lin Xia to research something."

Lin Xia looked at Filch and said calmly, "I mentioned this to him last year. This research is very difficult and may require the use of some of the properties of the truth serum. So I will try to refine and disassemble the truth serum and extract the medicinal properties I want from it."

Filch's dull and hoarse voice followed: "Well, she mentioned it to me."

Snape sneered, his sharp eyes seemed to see through the little tricks between Lin Xia and Filch, but he was too disdainful to expose it.

He turned around and left quickly as if he was avoiding something dirty, and the others also left quickly.

The accountability ended here.

Lin Xia nodded to Filch and returned to the common room with Draco.

When they got to the common room, Draco asked in a relaxed manner, "Have you discussed this with Filch in advance?"

Lin Xia shook her head: "No, he did ask me to research a topic two years ago, but that topic was very difficult, and even now I am not sure I can solve it, so it has been put aside.

We had only spoken once or twice before, and the conversations were brief.”

Draco's expression froze, "Then why would he speak for you?"

Lin Xia said slowly: "Not everyone is a fool. He knows which side he should stand on." (End of this chapter)