Chapter 72: Too Much Is as Bad as Too Little
In the middle of the night, Ethan woke up suddenly in bed. He lay there thinking about why he had failed.
Not caring what time it was or whether he might wake his roommates, he quickly got up, set up the cauldron in the corner of the dormitory, and began brewing.
The low flame flickered, casting shadows across his face.
The preliminary steps went smoothly, and Ethan relaxed. But when it was time to add the horned slugs soaked in rat spleen juice, his heart lurched, pounding against his ribs.
"Success or failure hinges on this!" He gritted his teeth and tossed the chopped horned slugs into the pot.
He stirred a few times, waiting for the reaction, and watched as impurities began to appear.
Then he took out his wand, pointed it at the cauldron, and recited the spell softly.
For this step, he stared at the cauldron with complete focus, watching the rat spleen juice he'd mixed in begin to dissolve and precipitate bit by bit.
"Stop!" He saw that the impurities had almost completely settled out, so he quickly stopped casting the spell and used Specialis Revelio to analyze the cauldron's composition.
Working carefully, he confirmed that all impurities had separated and poured them into a small test tube.
Following the standard procedure, after the potion turned green, he removed the cauldron from the heat, added porcupine quills, and continued simmering. Finally, he had successfully brewed a pot of green Cure for Boils.
"Damn, I finally succeeded!" Ethan didn't know whether to laugh or cry.
His first four attempts had failed because he'd been too heavy-handed. Worried he hadn't completely removed the impurities, he filtered out some of the active ingredients along with them in the final stage.
Too much is as bad as too little. I filtered out the good stuff along with the bad, throwing off the entire ratio. No wonder it failed!
He lay there thinking it over for a while, then ladled out the potion, extinguished the flame, and drifted back to sleep.
He didn't notice that Draco had woken up and been watching him from behind the curtains the entire time. Eventually, Draco drifted off to sleep, but Ethan's technique kept running through his mind, and a wave of jealousy washed over him.
I'm not bad at Potions either, and I should have a closer relationship with Snape too. Why does he get to be the professor's apprentice? I'm not convinced! He tossed and turned, unable to fall asleep no matter what.
The next day, when Ethan got up to go to Hagrid's hut for spell practice, Draco got up and knocked on Snape's office door.
When Snape opened the door, his face was expressionless. He showed no extra warmth, simply because Draco was the son of an old friend.
"What are you doing here, Draco?" Snape asked in his usual low voice.
Although he had thought it through last night, Draco felt somewhat nervous now that he was actually facing Snape.
He swallowed hard before stammering out his request, "Professor, I... I also want to learn potion-making from you."
Snape stared at him with a pitch-black gaze. After a long moment, he said slowly, "Oh, really?"
"Then let me ask you: what potions can be brewed with pickled frogs? What potions can frog brains be used in?" Snape asked, repeating the same questions he had once asked Ethan.
Draco stammered for a long moment but couldn't answer any of them.
Snape let the sneer linger. Because Draco was the son of an old friend, Snape didn't want to speak too harshly. He simply looked at him, hoping he would back down.
But Draco, filled with jealousy, didn't think it was his fault. He believed that even Ethan hadn't known the answers before studying with Snape.
So, blinded by jealousy, he demanded, "Professor, did Ethan know the answers when you asked these questions? This isn't part of our first-year studies at all!"
Snape interrupted, "Is that so, Draco? I'm very disappointed in you. Your father, Lucius, is such a shrewd man. I didn't expect you to be so stupid."
"Let me tell you something. These are the exact same questions I asked Ethan on the first day he came to study with me." His answers hadn't been perfect either, but he could recite them straight from the advanced potions textbook.
"So, Draco, before you came to me saying you wanted to learn potions, did you actually prepare?"
"You know in your heart whether you truly enjoy brewing."
Snape's words pierced Draco's heart like sharp needles.
His face paled, but he remained in denial.
Looking up, he met Snape's gray eyes, hoping it was all a joke.
But it was only wishful thinking. Snape ignored his gaze, neither dismissing him nor acknowledging him, simply leaving him there as he turned to other tasks.
Despondent, Draco staggered out of Snape's office. He leaned against the wall, slid weakly down to the floor, and covered his face with his hands as tears streamed down his face.
Sobs echoed quietly through the corridor.
"Hee hee, look! A first-year brat crying!" With a pop, a little dwarf materialized out of thin air.
Draco was in no mood to deal with Peeves and continued to sob quietly.
Thwack! An apple hit Draco on the head.
Draco raised his head, his eyes red-rimmed, and glared at Peeves through his tears.
"The brat's angry! This is fun!"
More apples flew at him.
"I'm going to tell the Bloody Baron!" Draco threatened, despite his pain.
"Go tell him! Nyah nyah nyah!" Peeves stuck his tongue out at Draco before vanishing into thin air.
Draco touched his head, feeling several bumps, then shot a resentful look toward Snape's office. He wiped the tears from his face and headed toward the common room.
At noon, Ethan finished practicing spells and agreed to skip the afternoon library study session with Hermione, planning to return to the dormitory to continue brewing potions.
When he returned, he found something was wrong with Draco.
Ethan looked at the red rims of Draco's eyes that hadn't quite faded. "What's wrong? Have you been crying? Did someone bully you?"
"No, Peeves cornered me in the corridor." His voice was low, hiding his jealousy.
"Just shout 'Bloody Baron' when you see Peeves; he's terrified of the Baron." Ethan himself wasn't afraid of Peeves. For some reason, the castle's poltergeist turned tail and ran whenever he saw Ethan.
Aside from the start of the term, when Peeves played a prank on Hermione, Ethan had never really confronted Peeves head-on.
"Mm."
Ethan gave Draco a strange look. Draco seemed a bit off today, but Ethan didn't dwell on it. He was eager to continue practicing Snape's Separation Charm and paid no mind to Draco's thoughts.