Hall walked Filch to the infirmary, then left the rest to Dumbledore. He had other business.
He returned to the Potions classroom. Snape had promised him access to whatever materials he wanted, and Hall intended to take full advantage. He'd use far less than the students wasted anyway.
The cabinets held mostly basic ingredients — safe things. The rarer ones depended on Snape's personal collection.
I'll find a way to access those later.
He packed what he needed into his storage bag — the coin purse Malfoy had given him, which turned out to be enchanted with short-term vacuum storage. A useful discovery.
He also helped himself to the demonstration cauldron from Snape's lectern. A good, temperature-stable cauldron wasn't cheap, and his own was substandard.
Now he needed a quiet place to work. Somewhere no one would find him.
A hidden room.
He went to the eighth floor, opposite the tapestry of Barnabas the Barmy trying to teach trolls ballet. There was an empty wall there. He walked past it three times, concentrating: I need a quiet place to brew potions.
A door appeared.
Inside was a dimly lit Potions laboratory, with several stoves burning in the centre and neatly arranged tools on the counters. The Room of Requirement had provided exactly what he needed.
Hall set up his equipment and got to work.
There were certain things the wizarding world always wanted. Beauty potions. Hair-smoothing elixirs. Slimming draughts. Potions for confidence, for energy, for relaxation.
The recipes were public knowledge. The difficulty wasn't in knowing how — it was in having the magical precision to make them work. Most brewers lacked the power to create truly effective versions. Dumbledore or Snape could do it, but they wouldn't — beneath their dignity, not worth their time.
Hall had no such qualms.
"Exchange for Radiant Glow Potion, Smooth Hair Potion, Weight Loss Potion, and Joy Potion."
[Ding — Panel Update]
B-Rank Ability: Potion Making (Complexion-Cleansing Draught, Squib Restoration Potion, Radiant Glow Potion, Smooth Hair Potion, Weight Loss Potion, Joy Potion)
Available Galleons: 978 Galleons, 6 Sickles, 23 Knuts
Stolen from its original source, this story is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.
With B-Rank talent, he could brew efficiently. Each batch produced multiple bottles. Success rate was near-perfect.
By the time he finished, he had a respectable inventory: Radiant Glow Potions, Smooth Hair Potions, Weight Loss Potions, and several others.
The Radiant Glow Potion gave the drinker an immediate healthy sheen. Demand was low in the general population, but the price was high.
The Smooth Hair Potion was an everyday consumable — anyone with frizzy hair wanted it.
The Slimming Draught was the best-selling potion at Primpernelle's Beautifying Apothecary in Diagon Alley. One bottle and you could eat whatever you wanted without gaining weight.
As for the others — they'd find their buyers.
Hall packed everything into his storage bag and left the Room of Requirement. He'd been inside for several hours; it was nearly dusk in the room. Outside, the sun was still high, as if no time had passed at all.
He straightened his robes and went to find his dear customers.
Malfoy, first. Big spender. Then Zabini. Then Harry, who's getting used to being overcharged by now.
The corridor stretched empty before him.
He was two floors down when a stinking egg came flying at his head, accompanied by manic laughter.
Peeves.
"Petrificus Totalus!" Hall thought quickly, and the spell activated.
Peeves froze mid-air, his gleeful expression locked in place. Then he dropped like a stone.
Hall walked over, pried open Peeves's mouth, and stuffed the rotten egg in before sealing his jaws shut.
The egg exploded inside Peeves's mouth. Hall was already running — he'd covered fifty feet before Peeves broke free of the petrification.
"WAAAAAH!!! I'M GOING TO KILL YOU!!!"
"PTOOEY!!!"
Hall laughed and kept walking. Peeves couldn't actually hurt him. Hogwarts wouldn't allow it.
He headed for the library, thinking about dinner.
The library was unusually crowded.
"Henry! Over here!"
Zabini was waving from inside the library. Mrs Pince the librarian shot him a glare and shook her feather duster threateningly.
Hall walked over, confused. Most of the students in the library were first-years — Slytherins and Gryffindors, all of them writing furiously.
All my potential customers in one place. Convenient.
"What's going on?" he asked Malfoy.
Malfoy looked up with a sour expression, then held out his hand. "Pay me first."
Hall stared at him. "You've gone bad, Malfoy. You used to be innocent."
"I'm not telling you for free. Ask Potter."
Hall rolled his eyes and turned to Harry, who was scribbling so fast his quill was smoking.
"We're finishing our homework," Harry said without looking up. His voice was barely audible.
Hall looked at the parchment. It was five feet long. Two inches thick with writing. "This is Potions homework?!"
Neither Malfoy nor Harry answered. They just buried their heads deeper.
On the way back, Malfoy looked like a ghost.
Malfoy and Harry were writing so intently they could have been taking OWLs.
Zabini nodded grimly. "Five groups failed their classwork. Professor Snape said they have to write five feet of homework."
He lowered his voice. "Draco and Potter, as your assigned supervisors, were held responsible too. Each gets an extra foot."
Hall winced.
"All the homework is due tomorrow. And you're delivering it to the Headmaster's office."
"All of it?"
"All of it. Including Gryffindor's."
Hall was about to ask about his own homework when Zabini added, "You don't have any. Professor Snape said you don't need to do homework this year as long as you maintain the standard you set."
Mrs Pince slammed a book down. "If you want to talk, get out!"
Every first-year student in the library immediately buried their heads in their work.
Hall wiped an imaginary tear from his eye. Professor Snape is a genius. What Dumbledore couldn't accomplish in fifty years, he did in one class. Slytherin and Gryffindor, working side by side in perfect harmony. Beautiful.