Snape’s office was dim, cramped, and had a peculiar smell, with shelves piled high with bottles and jars containing hundreds of thousands of Potion ingredients.
Will’s eyes lit up; these Potion ingredients weren’t cheap, and Potions Master Snape was a genuine millionaire.
If Will could get some ingredients from here or learn directly from him, his Potions experience would surely skyrocket.
Snape sat in his chair, his dead-fish eyes fixed on Will: “Using a Thunderclap Explosion in the common room, it seems Mr. Behrens has already become a Archmage, capable of defeating his classmates with a flick of his wrist, and no longer needs to waste his talent in a small place like Hogwarts; perhaps you should go to the Wizengamot to display your abilities?”
Will stared back at Snape, completely unafraid.
“Mr. Behrens, do not direct your lifeless, empty eyes at me. If you cannot explain why you used such heavy force on a classmate, I imagine you will be spending your Christmas this year here, with the mucus of Flobberworms.”
It was clear that if Will didn’t have a valid reason, he would be in detention for a very long time.
Snape scrutinized Will, preparing to see how he would explain his actions.
He detested students who bullied their classmates!
Will clenched his fists, not defending himself; instead, with anger, he stared intently into Snape’s eyes, his voice a little hoarse: “If you believe that I, a ‘Mudblood,’ deserve 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 from the Muggle world should 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 today’s self-defense. I just hope you don’t punish Sylvia; she has nothing to do with this.”
Will’s words were filled with righteous indignation, as if he truly was a pitiful student who had been bullied and then fought back.
Of course, in fact, that was indeed the case.
His tone was agitated, and he showed no sign of remorse.
Snape could see that Will didn’t believe he had done anything wrong at all; and upon hearing Will’s reply, Snape fell silent.
Because Will’s words brought back some old memories, very clear old memories, about certain pure-blood cliques he had encountered at Hogwarts.
A few minutes later, Will received a prompt.
Someone “empathizes” with you, Charm experience +3.
Then Will clearly saw Snape’s face twitch a few times, and his tone softened considerably: “Injuring a classmate, starting tomorrow, one week of detention; come here and help me prepare Potion ingredients.”
As soon as Snape said this, Will knew he had passed Snape’s test.
His words just now had almost perfectly hit Snape’s soft spot.
The Half-Blood Prince’s story did not have a happy ending.
And, was preparing Potion ingredients really a punishment?
As soon as Will stepped out of Snape’s office door, he saw Sylvia outside.
“Professor Snape didn’t do anything to you, did he?” Sylvia’s concern was written all over her face.
“What could he do to me?” Will shrugged, “Don’t worry about me, it’s just a week of detention. Professor Snape is a very nice person.”
“If you hadn’t clashed with Yaxley and them, then there would be nothing to worry about; they’ve all gone to the Hospital Wing, and you’ll probably have to face pressure from those pure-blood families.” Sylvia still looked worried.
“Don’t worry, as long as I’m at Hogwarts, they won’t dare to do anything to me.”
Upon hearing this, Sylvia stared at Will, scrutinizing him for a while.
“What’s wrong?” Will felt a little uncomfortable being stared at by Sylvia like that.
“Nothing, I just think you’re very right.” Then she seemed to genuinely sigh in relief, which made Will feel a bit confused… On Thursday, Will was no longer bothered by anyone, but the 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 lessons.
When other Professors taught, Will could acquire knowledge and gain experience; only Quirrell, with his stammering tone, meaninglessly read from the textbook, preventing Will, who had read the textbook several times, from gaining any experience.
Will felt that Quirrell might be hiding his true abilities.
He had once inquired about Quirrell; this guy was famous for his talent, and many people knew that Quirrell’s theoretical knowledge was very solid, so it shouldn’t be at this level.
Even if Lord Voldemort was on his head, his skill wouldn’t be so bad that he couldn’t even read a textbook properly.
Will could only find other books to read below the desk.
By Friday, Will arrived at the Potion Class classroom early.
He curiously looked at the animal specimens in the Potion Class classroom.
These were all Potion ingredients, and he just wondered whose mouths they would end up in.
Snape appeared behind him at some point: “It seems you are very curious about these things. Perhaps I should let you try dissecting them yourself.”
“May I? Thank you, Professor.” Will looked surprised; such good opportunities were rare.
Snape’s mouth twitched.
He had originally intended to make Will uncomfortable, as not every first-year Wizard could calmly dissect animal carcasses, or even living creatures.
He could tell this kid was very brave.
“You will be tasting the Potion you brew yourself later, Behrens. You had better hurry up and read your book.” Snape made a harsh remark and turned to walk to the front of the classroom.
Potion Class soon began, and Snape called out names one by one from the roll call.
“Har~ry… Potter. Oh, our new… famous person.”
Will knew what would happen next.
“Potter! What would I get if I added powdered asphodel root to an infusion of wormwood?”
As expected, a classic question.
“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, then tell me, what is the difference between monkshood and wolfsbane?”
Harry naturally didn’t know the answers to any of the three questions, which displeased Snape even more; then his gaze swept across the entire classroom, ignoring Hermione, who had her hand raised high, and landed on Will next to Sylvia.
“Will Behrens, you tell the famous Savior, sir.”
“Powdered asphodel root in an infusion of wormwood yields the Draught of Living Death; bezoars are generally found in the stomach of a goat; as for wolfsbane and monkshood, they are the same plant, collectively known as aconite.”
As he answered, he wondered whether to explain the deeper meaning of these three questions, but he felt that if he really did that, Snape would probably kill him.
“Very good. It seems that sometimes fame cannot represent everything; and diligent study will lead to knowledge. Five points to Slytherin.” Snape’s face twisted into a mocking smile.
They quickly began brewing Potions.
Will had already tried the Boil-Cure Potion at home, so he was very familiar with it now.
He operated and guided Sylvia at the same time: “The snake fangs aren’t ground finely enough. It’s time to add the slugs. Remember to…”
“Take the cauldron off the flame, right? I remember.” Sylvia didn’t let Will help, moved the cauldron, then added the porcupine quills, and stirred the Potion clockwise.
When the blue Potion was ready, Will immediately felt someone approach behind him.
Snape looked at both their Potions: “You are very lucky, Behrens. Apparently, you won’t have to drink anything strange.”
Then Snape announced loudly: “First to successfully complete the Potion, five points to Slytherin.”
Then the accident happened.
Neville’s cauldron hissed with green acidic smoke, the cauldron twisted and deformed, and the Potion splashed out; a large amount of Potion flew towards Will’s direction…