Chapter 42: Potions(2)

"You are here to learn the subtle science and exact art of potion making" he began but even speaking barely louder than a whisper everyone heard him clearly. "as there is little foolish wand-waving here , many of you will hardly believe this is magic. I don't expect you will really understand the beauty of the softly simmering cauldron with it's shimmering fumes , the delicate power of liquids that creep through human veins , bewitching the mind , ensnaring the senses. . . I can teach you how to bottle fame , brew glory , even stopper death -- if you aren't as big a bunch of dunderheads as I usually have to teach." everyone was silent , enraptured by his speech.-

"Potter!" He said suddenly calling out Harry "What would I get if I added powdered root of asphodel to an infusion of wormwood?" he asked seriously. "Draught of living death , sir." Harry said respectfully and honestly. Snape was caught off guard that Harry knew the answer but quickly recovered "Where would you look if I asked you to find me a bezoar?" he asked calmly. "In a goat , Sir." Harry answered again catching the man off guard. "Final question , Potter , between monkshood and wolfsbane?" he asked much less confrontational now.-

"They are the same thing Professor , aconite." Harry said still respectfully. Snape grunted slightly before glaring at the rest of the class "Well why aren't you writing that down?" He asked angrily but Nick noticed the man shooting him a glance before flinching away when Sanar ripped up his legilimency threads. Nick didn't antagonize the professor but focused on copying the potion recipe for a cure for boils that was on the nearby board. Nick noticed that the recipe was different than the one in the book and guessed that Snape had modified it to be better than the original.-

Snape noticed what Nick was doing but didn't say anything about it since if he could recognize the value of the information he might actually deserve to be in the class. "On the board is the recipe to the cure for boils , I expect a finished product to be turned in at the end of class." Snape said and all the students minus Nick got up to collect the ingredients for the potion. Snape smirked ever so slightly when he saw what Nick was doing instead , preparing his work area thoroughly.-

Snape would need to be blind not to see the clear signs of talent for the craft in Nick and so chose to ignore him entirely. The two girls partnered with Nick brought back a full set of perfect ingredients which didn't surprise him at all. Nick knew the Greengrass family owned most of the potion ingredient farms in the british isles after all and so Daphne as the heir should be very familiar with what is good quality. Nick got the potion started by filling the cauldron about halfway with water while the girls began to prepare the first ingredient , 6 snake fangs.-

Once the fangs were powdered Nick checked the quality and had them grind them again since they were too course. Once the fangs were finely ground he added 4 measures of the powder to the bubbling water and heated the mixture to 250 degrees for 10 seconds. He then waved his wand over the cauldron to stabilize the mixture before sitting down to wait thirty minutes. "How are you so good at this , aren't you a muggleborn?" Tracy asked quietly since they needed to wait. Nick chuckled "Purebloods don't have a monopoly on talent and hard work , Sadly the second of those seems particularly lacking." he said honestly.-

Both of the girls were astonished at Nicks answer as he had basically shot down the idea of blood superiority openly and the worse part was that he simply wasn't wrong. Both pureblood and muggleborn wizards were easily noticed to have equal amounts of talent. But unlike the muggleborns who put in the work to catch up , the purebloods stagnated from laziness thinking that the muggleborns simply couldn't surpass them. Anyone with eyes could see this and as a member of the grey faction of the wizengamot the Greengrass family knew this as well. -

"Stick with me and I'll show you what happens when talent and hard work joining together in a muggleborn can do." Nick said confidently. The two girls couldn't help but being curious what nick would accomplish in the future if he was as talented as he implied. Charisma is a funny thing that could draw others to someone or damn them to a hellish existence if one didn't have it , and oh did Nick have it in spades. He spoke and you just couldn't help yourself from listening completely unaware that you were now caught in his own gravity.

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