Snape’s office was dark, cramped, and filled with a peculiar smell, with shelves packed with jars and bottles on all four walls, containing hundreds of kinds of Potion ingredients.
Will’s eyes shone with excitement.
One had to know that these Potion ingredients were not cheap, and the Potions Master Snape was a thoroughly wealthy man.
If Will could get some ingredients from here or learn something directly from him, his Potions experience would definitely skyrocket.
Snape sat in his chair, staring at Will with his dead-fish eyes.
“Using Confringo in the common room… It seems Mr. Behrens has already become a grand mage, capable of defeating your classmates at will, and has no need to waste your talent in a small place like Hogwarts. Perhaps you should go to the Wizengamot to show off your talents?”
Will also stared back at Snape, without the slightest hint of fear.
“Mr. Behrens, do not stare at me with your blank, hollow eyes. If you cannot explain why you laid such a heavy hand on your classmate, I expect you will be spending your Christmas this year right here, with the mucus of Flobberworms.”
Clearly, if Will did not have a proper justification, he would be put in detention for a very long time.
Snape sized Will up, waiting to see how he would explain his actions.
He despised students who bullied their classmates the most!
Will clenched his fists and did not defend himself.
Instead, filled with anger, he stared straight into Snape’s eyes, his voice slightly raspy: “If you believe that a ‘mudblood’ like me deserves to be bullied by a small group of people;
“If you believe that I should hide behind a female classmate and let those guys insult me;
“If you believe that Wizards of Muggle origin deserve to be ostracized by pure-bloods!
“Then I have nothing to say!
I have nothing to explain, whether it was facing their humiliation and attacks on the first night, or acting in self-defense today.
“I only hope you won’t punish Sylvia; she has nothing to do with this.”
Will spoke with righteous indignation, as if he really were a poor student who rose up in rebellion after being bullied—which, of course, was actually the case.
His tone was emotional, and he showed absolutely no sign of remorse.
Snape could tell that Will did not believe he had done anything wrong at all.
Hearing Will’s response, Snape fell silent.
Because Will’s words reminded him of some old memories, memories he remembered very clearly, regarding certain pure-blood cliques he had encountered at Hogwarts.
A few minutes later, Will received a notification.
[Someone felt “empathy” for you, Charisma EXP +3]
Then Will clearly saw Snape’s face twitch a few times, and his tone softened considerably: “Injuring your classmates… starting tomorrow, one week of detention. Come here and help me process Potion ingredients.”
As soon as Snape said this, Will knew he had passed Snape’s test.
His words just now had hit right at Snape’s heart.
The story of the Half-Blood Prince did not end in a happy reunion.
This stuff was a goldmine for grinding experience.
…
The moment Will stepped out of Snape’s office door, he saw Sylvia waiting outside.
“Professor Snape didn’t do anything to you, did he?” Sylvia’s concern was written all over her face.
“What could he possibly do to me?” Will shrugged.
“Don’t worry about me. It’s just a week of detention. Professor Snape is actually a very nice person.”
“If you hadn’t clashed with Yaxley and the others, there wouldn’t be much to worry about. But they’ve all ended up in the Hospital Wing, so you’ll probably have to face pressure from those Pure-blood families.” Sylvia still looked deeply worried.
“Don’t worry. As long as I am still at Hogwarts, they won’t dare to do anything to me.”
Hearing this, Sylvia stared at Will, sizing him up for a long moment.
“What is it?” Will felt a little self-conscious under Sylvia’s gaze.
“It’s nothing, I just think you’re right.” She then seemed to truly let out a sigh of relief, leaving Will feeling somewhat puzzled.
…
On Thursday, Will was no longer harassed, but Defense Against the Dark Arts class was indeed turned into a disaster by Quirrell; because Will found that he couldn’t gain even a single point of experience from Quirrell’s class.
When other Professors taught, Will could always acquire knowledge and gain experience.
Only Quirrell, with his stuttering tone and meaningless reading straight from the textbook, made it impossible for Will, who had already read the textbook several times, to gain any experience at all.
Will felt that Quirrell might be hiding his true abilities.
He had asked around about Quirrell before; the man was famous for his brilliance, and many knew that Quirrell’s theoretical knowledge was incredibly solid.
Logically speaking, it was absolutely impossible for him to be at this level.
Even if he had Voldemort on the back of his head, his skill level shouldn’t be so poor that he couldn’t even read a textbook properly.
Will could only find other books to read on his own.
When Friday arrived, Will came to the Potions Classroom early.
He curiously examined the animal specimens in the Potions Classroom.
These were all Potion ingredients, though he didn’t know whose mouth they would eventually end up in.
Snape appeared behind him at some unknown moment: “It seems you are very curious about these things. Perhaps I should let you try dissecting them yourself.”
“Really? Thank you, Professor.” Will looked pleasantly surprised; such an opportunity was hard to come by.
Snape’s lip twitched.
He had originally wanted to make Will uncomfortable, as not every first-year Young Wizard could calmly dissect animal carcasses, or even live ones.
It was clear that this kid had a lot of guts. New chapters come out on g.com first.
Will knew that Snape had failed to achieve his goal, but Snape couldn’t dock points from him either, since he himself was a Slytherin.
“You will be tasting the Potion you brew yourself in a moment, Behrens. You had better hurry up and read your book.” Snape left these harsh words and turned to walk to the front of the classroom.
Potion Class soon began, and Snape took out the roll book to call names one by one.
“Ha-rry… Pot-ter. Oh, yes. Our new… celebrity.”
Will knew what was going to happen next.
“Potter! What would I get if I added powdered root of asphodel to an infusion of wormwood?”
Sure enough, the classic questions.
“I don’t know, Professor.”
“Let’s try again, Pot-ter. If I asked you to find me a bezoar, where would you look?”
“Pot-ter, what is the difference between monkshood and wolfsbane?”
Harry naturally had no answers to all three questions, which made Snape even more displeased.
His gaze then swept across the classroom, ignoring Hermione, who was raising her hand high, and landed on Will, who was sitting next to Sylvia.
“Will Behrens, you tell our famous Boy Who Lived.”
“powdered root of asphodel added to an infusion of wormwood will produce the Draught of Living Death. A bezoar is generally found in the stomach of a cow. As for wolfsbane and monkshood, they are the same plant, collectively known as aconite.”
As he answered, he wondered if he should explain the deeper meaning behind these three questions, but he felt that if he really did, Snape would probably kill him.
“Very good. It seems that fame is not everything, and diligent study brings knowledge. Five points to Slytherin.” A mocking smile stretched across Snape’s face.
They quickly began brewing their Potions.
Will had already tried making the Cure for Boils at home, so he was highly experienced and comfortable with it.
He guided Sylvia while working on his own: “The snake fangs aren’t crushed finely enough. It’s time to add the horned slugs. Remember to…”
“Take the cauldron off the fire, right? I remember.” Sylvia didn’t let Will help; she moved the cauldron aside, added the porcupine quills, and then stirred the Potion clockwise.
Once the blue Potion was finished, Will immediately felt someone approaching from behind.
Snape looked over their Potions: “You are very fortunate, Behrens. Clearly, you won’t have to drink anything strange.”
Then Snape announced loudly, “The first to successfully complete the Potion. Five points to Slytherin.”
Then, an accident happened.
Neville’s cauldron began to emit a hissing, green acidic smoke.
The cauldron melted and deformed, and the Potion splashed outward, with a large wave of it flying right toward Will…