Chapter 234: Chapter 234: Diluted Potions
Albert and his companions fell silent. They knew that the words spoken by the Potion Master, Daggworth, were meant to scare them. While there might have been some cases of such accidents, they were definitely rare.
As someone who had personally prepared the ingredients for Babbling Beverage, Albert was well aware of the cost of gathering those materials. To brew Babbling Beverage just once would require at least fifteen Galleons. The expensive price of the ingredients was suffocating.
A single failure would be heartbreaking, let alone the difficulty of brewing this potion. Even a top-notch Potion Master wouldn't drink it directly after brewing.
"That French wizard, who initially invented the potion, drank the potion he brewed himself, which caused some problems in his brain," Daggworth pointed to his own head. "Later, he made a famous blunder, mispronouncing 'f' as 's' during a incantation, and ended up lying on the floor with a buffalo standing on his chest."
"I know. Professor Flitwick mentioned that before," Lee Jordan said, realizing that Professor Flitwick's anecdote had originated from here.
"That wizard Professor Flitwick mentioned was named Barufeo, I think the name was probably mistranslated," Albert recalled and shook his head. "The translation was probably a shoddy job by some second-rate translator who didn't know much about French."
The two names were quite similar, so it wasn't surprising that there was a translation problem, especially for those who were not proficient in French.
"At first, the wizard Barufeo simply put together some brain-stimulating ingredients, trying to create a potion that would make people smarter. Of course, after many improvements, Babbling Beverage was finally completed. However, due to the high probability of failure during brewing, and the fact that inferior products could easily cause excessive excitement in the users and damage their brains, this potion was banned by the Ministry of Magic shortly afterward to prevent inferior products from harming others," Daggworth explained the origin and history of Babbling Beverage to the four of them.
"So, it really makes people smarter?" The three of them were a bit excited. Who wouldn't want to be smarter?
"Yes, the real Babbling Beverage can indeed make people more intelligent," Daggworth poured cold water on their excitement, "but users need to bear a great risk, and the degree of enhancement is limited."
This statement made Fred and the others much more sober.
"Afterwards, there was a Potion Master named Astor Bellcant, who tried to brew this potion to make his son, Albert, smarter after he failed his Charms, Transfiguration, and Herbology exams," the Potion Master continued to narrate the history of Babbling Beverage.
"Did he succeed?"
"He succeeded, but he also failed," Daggworth said meaningfully, "He and another Potion Master named Billius Finbock did manage to brew an inferior Babbling Beverage."
"Did his son become an idiot?" Everyone seemed to guess the fate of that unfortunate person.
"No," Daggworth shook his head, "They attempted to dilute the potion and gave it to Albert, and as you can imagine, Albert passed all the tests with flying colors. This undoubtedly presented a huge business opportunity, and they started selling diluted Babbling Beverage on the black market."
The Potion Master continued his story, "Later, when Billius Finbock was harvesting Basilisk eggs, he was bitten by one of the Basilisks being raised, and the Basilisk escaped."
"The Ministry of Magic arrived to rescue Billius Finbock and spent a lot of effort to find the Basilisk. But because of this incident, the Ministry accused them of illegally keeping the Basilisk, prosecuted the two unlucky individuals, and confiscated all the Babbling Beverage. This incident brought the Babbling Beverage officially to the Ministry's exam blacklist."
"Since that incident, the Babbling Beverage on the black market has all been diluted. This significantly reduces the damage the potion can cause to the human brain, and people use it as a short-term enhancer for their brains."
"Of course, drinking too much of the inferior Babbling Beverage is still harmful to the brain, especially when it's made by some idiots, the effects are particularly evident."
Truly worthy of being the Potion Master Daggworth, he revealed some shocking secrets that startled everyone. They hadn't expected there would be such hidden information.
"Now, do you understand why I must get back that gold card?" Daggworth glanced at Albert and said indifferently.
Without that gold card, Daggworth might be considered engaging in illegal activities by the Ministry of Magic if he were to use some precious materials to brew potions, at least through the means of illegal acquisition.
Albert nodded and didn't say anything else. He understood Daggworth's meaning.
"When I brew the Babbling Beverage later, I'll give you a demonstration, but you must remain silent and not ask any questions. If you can't do that, you better leave now. You can go to Three Broomsticks and have some Butterbeer or buy some sweets from Honeydukes," Daggworth looked at Fred and the others. "I suggest you choose the former."
The three of them could tell that Daggworth was urging them to leave, so they bid their farewell and left promptly.
"You're being a bit rude," Albert frowned as he watched Fred and the others leaving.
"I believe they won't be able to endure until then. Instead of staying here and suffering, it's better for them to go have some fun," Daggworth explained lightly, "Besides, their Potion skills are not enough, and staying would probably be a waste of time and might even interfere with us."
"What you said makes sense. Maybe you can remind me of this in the letter," Albert didn't blame Daggworth because what he said made sense.
"When I brew the Babbling Beverage later, I'll explain as I go. You can ask questions afterward, but remember not to disturb me," Daggworth said as he took out the required ingredients from a box and quickly got into the state of brewing the potion.
Albert also quickly focused his attention.
As Daggworth said, the Babbling Beverage was made by putting together many ingredients that could stimulate the brain and enhance memory.
"And the Jumping Toadstool itself is poisonous. When making Babbling Beverage, it must be treated using alchemy before use," Daggworth explained while handling the red-capped Jumping Toadstool with white spots. The fungi were soaked in a substance similar to oil, and oil immersion was the best way to store Jumping Toadstools.
In fact, the Jumping Toadstools Albert obtained were also stored this way, and as a result, quite a bit of olive oil was wasted.
...
The brain of the frog had to be fresh, but one problem was that the speed of dissecting frogs had to be fast, usually requiring an assistant to help.
However, Daggworth didn't need any assistance. He only spent a minute dissecting three frogs, took out their brains, and threw them into the heated cauldron.
During the potion brewing process, Daggworth would only explain at important moments. Sometimes, rather than calling it an explanation, it was more like he was speaking to himself. For example, the timing of adding the powdered Dragon Claw, the method of stirring, how to add the Basilisk eggs in time, and how to judge whether the potion was formed.
The whole process lasted for nearly an hour, and in the end, the brewed Babbling Beverage appeared as a thick green liquid. Daggworth held up the test tube in front of him, observed it carefully, and said to Albert, "It's done. However, for safety, it still needs to be diluted a bit, with a ratio of ten to one!"
He put some of the Babbling Beverage into the test tube and diluted it with water, and the liquid's color immediately lightened a bit.
Daggworth raised the test tube and took a small sip, seemingly tasting its effect. After a moment, he nodded and said, "This will do. However, for safety, I still don't recommend you directly use the undiluted Babbling Beverage."
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(End of this chapter)
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