Chapter 124
"Enter." Snape's voice came from deep within the room.
Ethan stopped short as he entered. Snape looked different today.
His hair was still greasy, but a leather cap covered most of his head. He wasn't wearing his usual black robes, either, but leather gear that matched the cap.
"Hurry up. We're brewing new potions today. Put on this set of dragon-hide protective gear." Snape pointed to an identical set on the nearby workbench, his own dragon-hide gloves already on.
"All right. Put on the goggles, and we can begin." Snape finally put on a pair of goggles that looked like swimming goggles, completing his preparations.
Ethan adjusted the long dragon-hide coat slightly, took a belt from his bag, and tied it around his waist to keep from tripping.
"Unlike brewing standard potions, developing a new one requires taking every precaution." Snape gestured for Ethan to follow.
As they walked, Snape said, "I trust you haven't forgotten what happened when Neville Longbottom messed up the boil-cure potion in your first Potions class. When developing new potions, a failed brew can cause trouble many times worse.
"After all, for established potions, we've seen every kind of failure and know how to handle them. But the consequences of experimental potion failures are unpredictable."
Ethan nodded silently. The disaster of the first Potions class was still fresh in his memory. He had visited Neville after class.
"Today, we will use the blood of mutated fire lizards to develop several new potions." Standing at the brewing table, Snape pointed to the bottles of blood on a nearby cabinet.
"Can I try too?" Ethan asked eagerly. He had never tried developing new potions before.
"Stand aside. Assist with the preparation, pass me the ingredients, and record the reactions." Snape glanced at him coldly.
"Understood." Ethan felt discouraged.
Ethan followed Snape's orders, processing ingredients one by one.
Slicing, juicing, crushing. He worked tirelessly.
Snape did the same, processing ingredients without pause. Except for a few that needed to be added right away, he had prepared everything in advance.
They worked for two hours straight, preparing over a hundred potion ingredients.
Snape set up the large cauldron, lit the flame, added water, and began brewing.
"Three milliliters of Sopophorous bean juice."
"Two grams of fluxweed powder."
Snape gave instructions in a steady voice. As Ethan finished measuring each ingredient, he handed it to Snape.
Ethan watched them go into the mixture one by one. Snape stirred the potion, switching between clockwise and counterclockwise strokes. He adjusted the flame beneath the cauldron, watching plumes of white and blue steam rise.
Everything seemed to be going well, but accidents always struck when you least expected them.
The moment Ethan handed over a gram of lionfish spine powder, massive bubbles surged to the surface and the potion overflowed.
Snape didn't have time to add it. He leaped back to avoid the splash from the ruined brew.
He pulled off a glove and drew his wand from his pocket. He extinguished the flame and watched the cauldron's contents gradually settle.
"Decant two vials of the potion and dispose of the rest." Snape was remarkably calm about the outcome.
"Yes, sir." Ethan carefully ladled the potion into two vials and affixed the labels. He used a spell to vanish the remainder. Snape was still analyzing what had gone wrong when Ethan quickly jotted down brief notes on the process and the results.
During the rest of the morning, they failed five times in total. Some mishaps occurred moments after starting, while others produced unexpected reactions just as the final ingredients were about to be added.
"Go eat something first. We'll continue this afternoon."
From his expression, it was hard to tell whether Snape was discouraged by the failures.
Ethan nodded, removed his heavy dragon-hide protective gear, took off his glasses, touched the red marks where the straps had dug in, and cast several Episkey charms on himself.
Ethan didn't go eat immediately. Instead, while his memory was still fresh, he went to the dormitory and recorded in detail the brewing processes and ingredients of several potions he had helped brew that morning.
The afternoon brewing continued. In addition to five entirely new formulas, the remaining potions were all modifications of the failed recipes from the morning.
Some involved changes in brewing techniques, while others had ingredients added or removed.
By dinner, they had successfully brewed two cauldrons of potion.
"Professor, how do we test the effects of these two successful potions?" Ethan asked curiously, looking at the ten potion bottles in total, five containing blue liquid and five yellow-green.
Looking at these two sets of finished products, Snape's expression revealed nothing, but there was still a hint of joy in his tone.
After brewing potions all day, Snape was exhausted. He stored the finished vials and sat down on the sofa beside Ethan.
"I understand what you're asking. You want to know if these potions will be tested on humans. I'll be blunt: yes.
"These potions will first be tested on animals, mice and rabbits, to confirm they're non-toxic and non-lethal. Then, felons and death-row inmates will be selected for human trials to determine the potion's effects."
He rubbed his forehead wearily.
"Of course, this has been standard practice in recent years. Ten or twenty years ago, before the British Muggle government abolished the death penalty, there were many death-row prisoners."
"Now, with the exception of Northern Ireland, the death penalty has been abolished throughout the UK. The number of prisoners we can use is dwindling.
"We used to coordinate with their governments and directly select prisoners sentenced to death for testing.
"Thus, whenever a new potion was developed, death-row inmates served as test subjects."
It was clear that Snape resented the Muggle abolition of the death penalty, as it had created complications for his work.
"For the time being, we are limited to animal testing. If a felon or death-row inmate died during testing, we'd still have to work with the Muggles to cover it up."
Ethan remained silent, choosing only to listen. After all, even when wizards committed serious crimes, they were merely sent to Azkaban rather than executed.
Ethan felt Snape was being somewhat hypocritical when it came to Muggles abolishing the death penalty. But since everyone was driven by self-interest, it was hardly surprising.
"Very well. You have observed enough for today. I assume you have drawn some conclusions. Go back, organize your thoughts, and present them to me in next week's class. I shall see what you have learned."
"Yes, Professor." Ethan rose quickly, turned, and left.
Skipping dinner in the Great Hall for now, he quickly wrote down the potion-brewing process from that afternoon, paying special attention to the two successful attempts.
After confirming there were no errors in his notes, he headed to the Great Hall to eat.
By then, the Gryffindor and Slytherin Quidditch teams had entered the Great Hall, each regarding the other as their fiercest rivals.
"You've been watching the Gryffindors train all this time?" Ethan couldn't understand their reasoning.
In the morning, during Slytherin practice, the Gryffindors woke up early to watch. Then in the afternoon, during the lions' practice, the little snakes had to watch, too.
"No. We rested for a bit in the afternoon before heading over. We're constantly coming up with new tactics based on their training." Draco looked ravenous. He grabbed a chicken leg from the table and started tearing into it.
Once Ethan finished eating, he said goodbye to Draco and left the Slytherin table, heading toward the Gryffindor side to find the twins.
"Do you two have time tonight?" He stretched his arms toward the ceiling.
"Ten o'clock," Fred said quietly after a moment. "Wood said he'd be working on some new tactics in the common room later."
"Fred!" Wood, the Gryffindor Quidditch Captain, had been eavesdropping on them, and he bellowed the moment he heard his name.
"Hey, it has nothing to do with Quidditch," George said quickly.
Wood, whose life revolved entirely around the sport, looked at them with deep suspicion. Ethan thought the boy was neurotic when it came to anything involving Quidditch.
"See you at the usual place." He threw the words over his shoulder and walked briskly toward the door.
"Is he a Slytherin spy?! Trying to steal our tactics! How do you know he's a Slytherin?!" Ethan could hear Wood's questions trailing behind him. He shook his head and muttered, "Maniac," under his breath.
Inside the Room of Requirement, Fred and George apologized for Wood's earlier outburst.
"Being captain puts a lot of pressure on Wood," Fred said. "Last year, with Harry out, we took a beating and lost the Quidditch Cup. He's dead set on winning it back this year."
George chimed in, "During our last match against Slytherin, Wood actually mistook Colin for a Slytherin spy at first."
"He's just desperate to win. He only became captain last year, and he really thought he had a shot, but... you know. He's been a bit on edge lately. Don't take it personally. If he was rude to you, we apologize on his behalf."
Fred gave a slight bow in apology.
Ethan quickly reached out to stop him. "It's not that serious. I didn't take it personally. I just think he's being a bit high-strung."
"We tried talking sense into him, but it's useless," Fred said. "We don't know when he'll snap out of it." Fred and George smiled wryly. Even they seemed to think Wood was being a bit much in this state.
"I actually came looking for you to show you the projection technique I perfected," George said. "I think as long as we add some sound to the cards, our trading cards will be complete."
It was the same photo of Ron. Once Ethan cast the charm, the twins stared at the projection in amazement.
"It looks exactly like what we saw that day," Fred said. "It definitely needs some sound. We'll work these into the cards."
The twins grinned mischievously. They clearly planned to immortalize this embarrassing moment for their dear younger brother.
After learning the fairly simple charm, the two did some quick mental calculations. "We should probably have something to show you by next week," George said.
Before leaving, Ethan reminded them, "I think you two should create those alchemical communication devices first. It would make it easier for us to stay in touch."
"Of course. We'll start researching it right away." To keep Wood from getting even more worked up, they agreed that creating a convenient communication device should take priority.
Ethan's journey back that night was relatively smooth. Aside from running into Filch several times as the caretaker patrolled the castle with his lantern, he didn't meet anyone else.
The next day, when they arrived at Hagrid's hut, they were surprised to find him waiting outside.
"You're here. Come quick and look." Even from a distance, they could see Hagrid waving them over.
The group had no idea what was going on as they walked uncertainly into the hut.
"What is it?" asked Hermione, who was in the lead.
"Somethin' got one of my chickens. Must've been the night before. Found it yesterday mornin'. I was aimin' ter go up ter the castle ter find yeh yesterday, but I figured yeh'd be by today, so I waited up for yeh."
Hagrid held up a limp rooster.
"Did some creature kill it? You keep your chickens right on the edge of the Forbidden Forest. Anything could have come out of there." Hermione immediately suspected the forest was to blame.
"Doesn't look like it. Look, its neck's just snapped. There aren't any other wounds at all. If it were a beast, there'd be bloodstains, and somethin' would've dragged it off ter eat it." Hagrid showed them the limp neck and the otherwise undamaged body.
Hermione could tell Hagrid already had a suspect in mind. "So, what do you think killed this rooster?"
"I reckon some sort of humanoid creature escaped from the Forbidden Forest."
"You know, Harry and Ron, aside from the centaurs in there, there are other creatures deep in the woods. Or maybe it's an outsider who sneaked into the school, just like Quirrell last year."
Hagrid glanced around, then lowered his voice to a whisper as he spoke to the four of them. The dead rooster's neck swayed with his movements, and a few feathers drifted to the ground.
Hermione was startled at first, but then she said, "That can't be right. This year, aside from the new Professor Lockhart, there's no one else. And he's not acting strangely like Quirrell!"
"I'm not talkin' about him. Could it be a new student? I heard there's a new student this year named Riddle," Hagrid offered.
Hermione hesitated. "It shouldn't be anything like that, right? Just a new student. What harm could a student do?"
Ethan added, "Hagrid, I think we should still check the Forbidden Forest first. I heard there are werewolves living there. Could it be them?"
Hagrid wasn't sure either. "That's unlikely, isn't it? The werewolves in there haven't been seen for decades. I don't know if they moved on or died out. I'll go ask the centaurs this afternoon."
"I still remember the centaurs. They're not exactly friendly to humans." Harry recalled the incident during his detention last year, and his expression darkened.
"It's fine. We're old friends. You go ahead and practice first. I'll catch a wild rabbit in a bit and stew it up for you again." Hagrid casually tossed the dead chicken aside, led Fang out of the house, and headed toward the Forbidden Forest.
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