Chapter 15: Chapter 14 - Potions Class
When Alder woke up in the morning thanks to the usual screech, a fragrance of wet earth hit his nose. He glanced outside the window and watched the rain a little bit. It had a calming effect on Alder, almost preparing him for his first day.
Alder and the others quickly dressed up and had their breakfasts.
…
First lesson of the year was Potions class with Slytherin students.
Even though Slytherins were relaxed because Snape was their head professor, Hufflepuffs had in completely different mindset. They spent their weekend with rumors surrounding Professor Snape, like how biased he was and takes off house points with minor mistakes.
Whispers could be heard in the whole classroom but most of them slowly quietened down with the entrance of Professor Snape.
Snape was completely different from what Alder expected, his eyes widened and mouth opened. He looked as young as himself from the previous life. He had clear face without any beard, probably freshly shaved. Alder tried to think his supposed age right now. He knew why the deaths of Potters were tragic, because they were at the age of 21 when they died. Although they had their child at the age of 20, they only had time to accompany him for a year. And their deaths should be three years ago right now, which makes Snape about 24 years old.
"Silence." said Snape; although he was not loud, his clear voice had the desired effect.
"Since this is your first class of the year, you probably have some expectations from 'magic'. But I will dampen those expectations. There is not much to do with wands here, although some wand movement is needed, the art of potion brewing is not so simple. While most don't see this craft as magical as others, a day will come you will need them. And I advise you to not underestimate the power of potions or else you will find yourself telling every little secret you have without noticing. Now open your books and ready your cauldrons, today we'll discuss and brew Cure for Boils. Note that, especially girls, failed brews will have effects most of you don't want. And I have no intention of curing you; the cure will also come from you. At the end of the class I expect at least a successful brew, or you might have to visit infirmary." said Snape with a monotone voice. Normally this type of speech would make one or two students to fall asleep, but there was no chance of that right now.
Some wondered what might be the so called effects, but some could guess since the potion was used to cure boils, its failure might lead to having boils.
And reality showed their fears were not baseless, before even the first period finishes, a prize winner appeared among the students. The girl forgot to take her cauldron off before adding porcupine quills and screamed as feeling boils started appearing all over her body, especially on her face. Snape glanced at her and just scoffed in annoyance, he didn't take any house points from her, probably because she belonged to his house.
Since the first failure came from his own house, Snape didn't find any chance to take points from Hufflepuff, but that didn't make anyone feel better. With the end of the second period approaches, almost half of the students had boils all over their body. And there was no sight of cure yet.
But something happened which made everyone sigh in relief. Pink smoke started rising from Alder's cauldron. Alder also sighed and took a look at the status. New information was added below the Potions Mastery.
-Cure for Boils: Level 0 (Experience: 4/100)-
Alder knew with a Level 0 skill knowledge he probably could only do some failed products or spells. Since Level 0 Avifors was not optimal until he raised it to Level 1.
But pink smoke meant a successful product which made Alder confused. He looked at the potion closely but found no problem with it.
While Alder was thinking, Snape already appeared before his cauldron. He was also looking at the potion and said slowly "Merely acceptable, at least someone can follow the instructions in the book. I suppose you directly crushed snake fangs with the pestle…". Then Snape continued explaining the areas Alder could improve with his monotonous voice. Most of the students felt like he was trying to find fault at Alder's brewing but he himself thought completely different. He knew Snape was a genius in potions and every single advice he can give was precious. Be it's about handling of ingredients or potion itself.
Alder quickly took notes of everything Snape said and when he finished doing so, he asked "Thank you, Professor. I wonder if I can add Flobberworm Mucus to make the potion more efficient?".
Snape also approved his train of thoughts and nodded "You can, but then the potion will not be cost efficient, it's just not worth it. Now, class is over. Everyone take a vial from Mr. Gray's cauldron before going out." Then without saying anything else he simply walked out of the class.
"Wow, you really managed to brew it in the first class." said Tonks sitting with Alder, sipping from her vial. Although Alder could see no boils on her face, he thought 'She probably just changed her appearance.'.
"Yeah, I have gained much from the class." said Alder simply. He was looking at the status while saying so.
-Cure for Boils: Level 0 (Experience: 88/100)-
The class also confirmed something. To gain experience, the trial and error learning method was not the only choice. He also could benefit from others' experience.
"It's a shame he didn't give any points to our house." said Tonks.
Alder simply waved the parchment in his hand and said "No worries, he gave me something more important than mere points. Do you want to eat lunch together? We can all go together if you guys want to.".
"Well, if you say so. Okay, I'll tell the others." said Tonks with a smile, she got up and went to her friends while Alder also notified his friends.
Weekly Power Status
-- Power
Ranking 
-- Power
stone