cycle

Whether it was the Potions class with no windows in the basement or the Defense Against the Dark Arts classroom, Dad would draw the curtains on all the windows that allowed light to pass through.The flickering candlelight made the gloomy stickers on the wall look even more terrifying. Everyone sat down in silence, and a large number of people who seemed to be suffering in pain were shown on the screen with distorted and hideous expressions. An illusion of hearing them screaming.

Dad seemed content with the oppressive atmosphere, as I said before, he was never a teacher who intended to bring joy to his students.But I could tell he was more involved in teaching Defense Against the Dark Arts than when he was teaching Potions before, he could even be called enthusiastic.

"Professor Snape, have people ever actually seen an Inferi?" Pava Ti Patil asked in a thin voice, "Is he really using the Inferi?"

"You-Know-Who has used Inferi in the past," Dad waved impatiently, "so we're supposed to assume he'll use them again, and that's not the point of this lesson. Alright...someone tell me there's a way for silent spells to work?" What good?"

For the rest of the class, we split into groups of two and started practicing silent spells, one trying to hex the other and the other trying to push it back, all in silence.Dad dragged his black robes to patrol the classroom where the tables, chairs and benches had been emptied, just like he used to walk silently among the rows of steaming cauldrons.This kind of free practice time reminds me of the days when DA crowded into the Room of Requirement and secretly learned Defense Against the Dark Arts last year. The DA members in the class are basically able to skillfully use the little jinx and the armor curse to protect themselves.When they were out of my dad's sight range, many people secretly chanted the spell softly. When my dad watched them, he could only suffocate his face flushed and his mouth into a straight line, for fear of accidentally chanting aloud and eating them. To the first confinement of the semester.

"Although I didn't expect you to master it right away." Dad looked at the wands that seemed to never be able to emit the light of spells, and directly ignored Talus and Harry who repelled each other's attacks several times just now. Within 10 minutes after starting the practice, he successfully repelled Ron who whispered the binding spell, and concluded coldly: "But you are still worse than I imagined, homework - on the blackboard, I hope you use your spare time to It's time to continue practicing silent spells, and if I continue to perform like this in the next class, I will consider punishing those who are particularly bad."

"Any other teacher would add twenty points to Gryffindor for Hermione." Ron said angrily after class was over, "Only Snape didn't seem to see it, he did it on purpose!"

"Don't say that." Hermione frowned, "Alice has already learned it, there are so many people in the classroom, he just didn't see it. And Ron, whispering spells is self-deception—"

"You're talking like I didn't want to use the Silent Charm on purpose!" Ron said loudly. "I can't just listen to Snape say a few words and learn it all at once. I'm not as smart as you guys. Your first day Do you know this fact?"

"I mean you should practice harder instead of cheating during practice!" Hermione also looked irritated, and the other three of us were still out of the situation, feeling as if they had just packed their schoolbags and left the classroom. There was a quarrel.Fortunately, at this time, a low-grade Gryffindor boy hurried over from the corridor, brought Harry a roll of parchment, and then took another roll of parchment to find Harry who had returned to the lounge. prestige.

"He was one of the batsmen on our Quidditch team last term." Seeing that I didn't know the boy, Harry said to me as he opened the parchment, "but I really don't intend to let him back on the team, after all he Haven't been able to figure out the difference between teammates and Bludgers - well, it was Dumbledore who wrote it."

Hearing Dumbledore, Ron and Hermione immediately ended their dispute and came to watch.I thought of the sentence that Dumbledore said to me during the summer vacation, "I told Harry and Neville something you don't need to know now-this situation may occur frequently this school year." After hesitating for a while, he still retreated Take a few steps away, making sure you can't hear what they're saying.Looking at the heads of several of them gathered together, a sense of loss of being excluded inevitably surged in my heart.

"I'm going to the Arithmancy class first." I said to Hermione, "I'll see you later."

"Dumbledore's 'I can't tell you' request is really strange." Harry obviously relayed Dumbledore's advice to Hermione and the others, and Hermione hurried into the classroom until the bell rang Sitting next to me, "Are you okay?"

"I think he must have his own reasons for making such arrangements." I shrugged my shoulders and pretended not to be curious, "He said that one day I will understand by myself, and I can only wait for that day."

The improvement class of arithmetic and divination was really dizzy. Hermione and I rubbed our aching temples and lost our appetite looking at the chocolate cheesecake for lunch, because the dense brushwork on the cake instantly reminded people of parchment paper The numbers are densely arranged without any rules and you must be asked to find out the regular numbers.Back in the Gryffindor common room, the boys were biting their quills and trying to finish their Defense Against the Dark Arts homework, which they insisted they had been working on while we were in class, but the contents of the three parchments added It's not even five inches long.Hermione seemed to have forgotten about her nearly quarreling with Ron before, and we were all huddling in our homework in a friendly group before leaving for the two potions lessons in the afternoon.

There were only a dozen or so people who came to the potions improvement class, and besides the five of us there were four Slytherins, four Ravenclaws, and a Hufflepuff—Ernie McMillan, too. One of the former members of DA.To be honest, he is a pretty good person, but what he said always makes people want to poke him with a wand. For example, when he came to shake hands with Harry with airs, he said that if it wasn’t for me, I would not teach at the DA meeting last year. Defense Against the Dark Arts in the morning wouldn't be so bad if everyone had silent spells.

"I didn't think it was necessary at the time." Harry said after letting go of his hand, "I remember that we didn't set up DA to show off by learning ahead."

The door of the dungeon opened, and Slughorn greeted us with a smile on his big belly. He greeted the students entering the classroom one by one according to the roster, and his walrus whiskers shook exaggeratedly on his mouth.Unlike usual, the basement classroom was already filled with pearly white steam, and various smells were constantly wafting out from the large bubbling cauldrons in front of the classroom.The old desks, chairs and benches were stacked at the back of the classroom, and there were only four long tables surrounding the large cauldron and the podium.Four Slytherins sat at a long table, and four Ravenclaws sat together. When I broke away from Slughorn who greeted me warmly and walked into the classroom, Ernie was already rushing in I took the empty seat next to Harry, but fortunately Hermione was here so I wouldn't be sitting at a table by myself.

"Okay, okay." Professor Slughorn's voice seemed to float in the hot steam, and he said after he called everyone to sit down, "please get out your scales, medicine bags, and of course "Advanced Potion Making" textbook... Oh, yes, are there some students who didn't buy the textbook?"

Harry, Talus and Ron raised their hands, and Slughorn nodded kindly: "Yes, I think Professor McGonagall mentioned it to me. Don't worry, use the old textbooks in the storage cabinet first, Just wait until Lihen Bookstore sends the new book and then return the old one."

After he took out three old books and three sets of rusty and faded scales from the storage cabinet and handed them to the boys, he patted his stomach (which made the already tight buttons even more dangerous) and said to us: " Before the official class, I prepared several potions to open your eyes. Since it is an advanced class, you should first appreciate the charm of advanced potions-naturally, these should not be difficult for Alice, I think You should be able to make these potions even if you don't take my class... Good boy, tell everyone what it is?"

In the familiar awkward atmosphere, I stood up and looked at the pot of water-like potion closest to his stubby fingers: "Teritaserum, Professor, is colorless and tasteless, and those who drink it will be forced to drink it within the validity period." Answer all questions honestly."

Across the white steam, I saw Draco raised his head, and I looked at the next cauldron pointed by Slughorn: "Compound potion, drinking it within the validity period can make the wizard join hairs are easy."

"And this one?" Slughorn pointed to the cauldron closest to me.

"Emotion Potion." I replied looking at the steam spiraling above the crucible, "It is known as the most effective love potion in the world, but this definition has been controversial, and people in the field of potion pharmacy generally hope Revise the definition of love potion as a hallucinogen that can create the illusion of crazy infatuation in a short period of time, that is, deny that love potion can produce true love, but the most classic statement is still used in the textbook.”

"Hey, it seems that you have read the journals published by the International Association of Magical Pharmacists." Slughorn said with a smile, "They asked me to be a reviewer over and over again, which is really annoying-then can you tell us How do you identify a love potion, Alice?"

"The most effective way to distinguish is that the surface of the medicine has a unique, mother-of-pearl luster." I looked at the crucible in front of me, and the smell that filled the classroom was almost all from it, and everyone smelled it differently.Although the love potion has never been included in the scope of the dark arts, and it is not even listed as a dangerous item in the handbook published by the Ministry of Magic, I think its danger has been underestimated by people-even its transpiration The gas can give people an illusory illusion of wanting to relax completely and indulge in satisfaction. "Its vapor is also very characteristic, rising in a spiral shape, but the characteristics that can only be observed during the production process are not very It has practical value, as well, its smell will change according to what people like best, and the lack of a specific smell also brings certain difficulties to identify it."

"What can you smell, dear?" Slughorn asked with interest.

"The bitter smell coming out of the cracks in the wood when cleaning the corner of the medicine cabinet," I replied casually, "the scent left in the vase of the perfume lily, and, um, what brand of lady—"

I swallowed the word eau de toilette back into my throat, and felt my face turn red all of a sudden.

"Very good, very good." Fortunately, Slughorn didn't notice my abnormality. He came over and patted me on the shoulder kindly, "Add a well-deserved twenty points to Miss Alice."

"Women's eau de toilette?" Hermione raised her eyebrows and asked me in a low voice as soon as I sat down, "Am I right?"

"Don't make trouble." I pushed her shyly.

"As Miss Alice introduced, love potions cannot create true love. Emotions generated by the heart cannot be manufactured or imitated. This potion can only lead to unreasonable and uncontrollable obsession or obsession, or control. It’s not an exaggeration, it’s a very dangerous potion.” Slughorn nodded solemnly to all the giggling and whispering people, “Don’t underestimate the destructive power of infatuation, young people... Now we should officially start classes."

"Sir, you haven't told us what's in it yet." Ernie McMillan pointed to the smallest cauldron on the podium.

"Hey!" Slughorn made a sound of "someone finally mentioned it". He walked up to the podium and looked at me again, "Alice, what is this?"

"Felix Elixir." I saw the golden potion boiling cheerfully and looking like goldfish jumping on the surface, said softly, "It can bring good luck to those who take it, but excessive consumption will have very dangerous side effects."

"I guess this is the only one of these crucibles that is difficult for you, Alice." Slughorn looked at the whole class who were instantly refreshed, and was very satisfied with the potion brought to the finale. Everyone's effect, "It's very complicated, but if you cook it properly, taste a little bit sparingly...you will find that no matter what you do before the effect of the medicine disappears, it will be successful."

"Anything?" Draco asked suddenly, staring at the small cauldron.

"Anything," sighed Slughorn, with a tranced look of utter nostalgia, "I've taken it twice in my life, at 24 and 57, with two scoops for breakfast...everything since Its perfection is eclipsed in my memory."

"Well, I will be the prize for this class." The whispering in the classroom stopped immediately, the sound of boiling medicine in the cauldron and the sound of every bubble bursting seemed to be very clear, everyone straightened their backs and watched Watching Slughorn's beard move with his speech, he said to us with a smile, "Felix elixir, which works for twelve hours, but I remind you that all organized games, selection tests and elections are The use of Felix Felicia is expressly forbidden, so those who get it can only use it on an ordinary day, but that day will definitely be the most extraordinary day of your life, I can guarantee it."

"Turn to page ten of "Advanced Crafting Potion." Slughorn waved his hand, "All of you will spend the next hour or so cooking a potion of living hell, and the one who does it best will be Win this bottle of Felicia, well, don't waste your time, it's more complicated than anything you've ever done before."

I bet no one else in the room was ever so motivated to get a potion ready, and McMillan accidentally burned his sleeve when he lit the cauldron with too much agitation.Everyone was frantically flipping through the "Advanced Potion Making" in front of them. Harry made a disgusted sound. It seemed that his old book was full of jelly of unknown ingredients, living hell soup The two pages of the agent were completely glued.

"Use mine." I threw the textbook to him across McMillan, yawned and started cutting valerian roots. "I don't need to read the steps."

"No need?" Hermione, who gave me half of the bookstall, widened her eyes.

"Yes, after all, I once spent two months arguing with the reviewers about the advantages and disadvantages of each improvement and classic method..." I remembered the childish time when I stole my father's letter of invitation in the second grade , "This may be the potion I know best by heart."

"Have you ever thought about trying to make a Felix Elixir?" After the Potions class was over, Tallus watched impatiently as I stuffed the bottle of Felix Elixir that Slughorn handed me into my robes, "I think you can make it. You can even make the veritaserum antidote successfully."

"It's not the same thing." I felt uncomfortable being stared at by many people with envy or jealousy, I brushed my hair and replied, "The complexity of Felix Elixir starts from the medicinal materials, otherwise this kind of thing would have been sold long ago. It's flying all over the sky."

"Slughorn might as well give it to you directly, hey." Ron said despondently, only a puddle of tarry solid remained in his cauldron, "but Harry did a good job too... ...Slughorn said you came close!"

"That's because he used Alice's book." Hermione asked Harry viciously, she hadn't fixed her hair that was messed up by the cauldron steam, "Alice's book wrote the improvement steps right?"

"Cough, yes." Harry ruffled his hair, "Don't be so fierce... It's not me who got the Felix Elixir."

"Losing to you and losing to Alice are two different things!" Hermione said unconvinced, "You didn't use your brain at all!"

"I won't lend it to him next time." I comforted Hermione in a peaceful tone, "Next time I will deliberately write a few wrong steps to make him blow up the cauldron... let him know how dangerous it is to copy other people's notes."

Harry laughed, and when I returned my "Advanced Potion Making" to me, I smelled the perfume on his clothes again, although it was much weaker than before, there was only a faint smell left. No smell.I got a bump on the shoulder as I stepped back uncomfortably, and Draco strode up the steps.He was having a rough time with the class, trying to befriend Slughorn by using his grandfather's name, but Slughorn clearly seemed unimpressed.Reflexively, I touched the Felicia in my pocket, which was still there intact.

"Are you going to use Felix Felicia?" Ron asked me impatiently. "Can you tell us how it feels?"

"Let's talk about it." I slowly fumbled the seal of the glass bottle with my fingers in my pocket, thinking about when it would be best used. "I don't want to waste it."