23 Chapter 23: Interest in Severus

When the Dean finished the introduction of the Salem Witch Institution, all SCoT students headed off to settle into their designated dormitories.

Severus as well as the others was on his way to find his dorm when he was called personally by the Dean.

"Mr. Prince, wait a moment please."

"Yes, Ms. Dean?" asked Severus stopping and turning around to find out why she was calling him.

"Come with me to my office for a moment, there is something I would like to discuss with you."

"Well, I..." Severus wanted to ask if he could go to his dorm first and then go to his office, but the Dean wouldn't let him finish.

"Don't worry, no one will take your dorm away from you Mr. Prince, nor will it magically disappear, I promise."

"Right..., I'll follow you then" Severus replied shrugging his shoulders and sighing as if giving up at the Dean's clear refusal to postpone their talk for later.

"Very well, follow me this way," said the Dean as she started walking towards her office in the SCoP building.

Once they both entered the office, the Dean went behind her desk and sat down as she directed Severus to sit in the chair in front of her desk, "Have a seat, Mr. Prince."

Severus walked over to the head desk and sat where she indicated.

Once seated, Severus noticed that on the desk was a small silver plaque with the Dean's ID: Helen Stacy, P.M., Dean SWI., SCoP.

Severus knows that Helen Stacy is an exceptional potioneer, at the age of only 20 she had already published several articles in the Quarterly Potions Journal and soon after she managed to modify and improve one of the most recognized potions in the magical world, the Polyjuice potion.

She recreated and improved the potion by using and adding new ingredients in the brew so that it could be consumed continuously so that one could continue to be transformed for as long as one wished by taking a new dose before the effects of the first dose wore off, something that was previously not possible since with the original Polyjuice potion one could not take more than three doses in a row or the wizard would suffer side effects in his or her body.

She was also credited with creating several other potions that allowed the wizard to change or modify only a specific part of his body for an extended time of up to 7 hours.

The basis of the potions were the same as the Polyjuice potion and their effects were very similar, but she managed to do something completely new by creating a potion that allows a specific effect on a specific area or part of the body seven times longer per dose than the time provided by the Polyjuice potion per dose.

The only flaw with these potions was that only one potion of this type could be used at a time, so one could only modify one part of the body and then one had to wait for the effect to wear off before being able to modify another part of the body with the use of another potion.

But for Severus, this woman's achievements were outstanding, being able to modify a potion as ancient, difficult, and unique as the Polyjuice was certainly something to take into account.

Dean Stacy gave him a welcoming smile as he sat down.

"I must assume you already know who I am given my previous introduction and presentation, and if not there is also the plaque on the table that gives me away, still I would like to introduce myself again now that we are in private, I am Helen Stacy and I must say Mr. Prince your creativity and innovation in modifying/improving the potions in your potions book are brilliant."

"I am Severus Prince madam and I thank you very much for your compliment but this..., it is just some simple and unimportant things, nothing for which I deserve so much credit."

"Oh! Simple and unimportant you say?"

"Well, I... you know, it's just some of the obvious little modifications I've been applying to the potions I usually sell, I mean see, to see if they could be sold in the future when I'm a professional brewer, no big deal," Severus said with a little shrug, he believed the Dean was just trying to motivate him with some compliments.

"Mmmmm I understand, So what you're trying to tell me is that what has all my colleagues and potions instructors in such a tizzy state is nothing more than something simple and obvious!!!? Because I assure you that none of them have been this excited about enrolling a student at the institute since you sent out these 'little enhancements' as you call them!"

"This... I... cough cough well, I don't know what to say" Severus shrugged showing that he was a bit embarrassed and lost, he also snorted in disbelief that someone could be so excited about something as basic as some simple improvements to the potions in the Hogwarts book, he didn't think there was anything so impressive about doing that.

He could understand if that was enough to prove his abilities and be accepted into the SCoP program, but he didn't expect it to be that big of a deal, he's been making improvements to potions since the second year and no one showed that much interest or amazement, so he couldn't understand how abnormal it was to do that.

"Well Mr. Prince, you don't have to say anything else, just from seeing your expression and behavior I can safely say that your teachers and management at Hogwarts didn't show or give enough/deserved interest in your brilliant and obvious abilities in the branch of potions."

"Well, in fact, Professor Slughorn has always mentioned that I have a lot of talent and a great ability in potions brewing, I have received a lot of compliments from him" Severus began.

"It's just that the professor prefers those who follow to the letter the instructions given by the potions book for proper brewing and is not very supportive of students experimenting on their own in his subject until they are professionals at it, something I was not always willing to follow."

"Oh I see, Potions Master Horace Eugene Flaccus Slughorn, I have had the pleasure of meeting your professor on the odd occasion, and I can say that he is a great potioneer as well as he is a professional, although he tends to be a bit biased to choose to surround himself with people of great influence and success who tend to excel in their fields, so he tends to choose the easy route to the hard route, whereas you Mr. Prince, you are different, you not only stand out but you stand out to the point of being very different from the model of influential and successful people that he wants to surround himself with."

"Yes, I can agree with you on that, I remember that in the first years I used to go to the Club of the Eminences that he founded, where he gathered the most outstanding, intelligent or famous students of the different generations, I only joined because he invited me and because it was said that the great majority of the members of this Club would have important roles in the Magic World, but already in my fourth year I stopped being interested in the environment or better said, I didn't fit in among those sophisticated people."

"Believe me Mr. Prince when I tell you that not all of us are made to be brilliant minds and seek fame for it, some of us prefer anonymity, but you must remember that sadly it is not always possible"

"I understand, I will keep that in mind, thank you, madam."

"Very well, now let me ask you something before I dismiss you," said the Dean more seriously and stared at him as if seeking to decipher Severus.

"This... yes, of course, tell me" Severus replied a little confused and worried, perhaps it was his improper sale of unlicensed potions over the years.

'If only I hadn't opened my mouth anymore, stupid that I was, please Merlin, let it be nothing to do with that' Severus thought to himself.

"Well, Mr. Prince, you are only sixteen years old, and yet in your application you showed us that you can innovate and improve upon potions already known and widely used in the magical world, as well as showing that you completely understand recipes to the point of going beyond the already established recipe, modifying the exact brewing time in each one, along with the ingredients and preparation, achieving that not only the potions have the same effect they were originally meant to have, but also increased the effect and safety in the brewing, also decreased the consumption of ingredients and the time it takes to make it, making the potion much simpler, cheaper and more effective than the original."

"Yes... well, you could say that," Severus said rather surprised at all the assessment she had already made of him with just a few of the improvements he had made to the potions.

The dean leaned forward slightly staring at him with her light blue eyes, her features were serious but also tended to appear pleasantly excited.

"And if I didn't mishear, you said a few moments ago that these improvements were just some of the small and obvious modifications you were applying to the potions in the Hogwarts textbook, which leads me to ask you. What and how much more have you done Mr. Prince if you say that what you showed us is only a small part of it?" finally asked the clearly excited Dean.

Severus swallowed hard and took a deep breath, he was not at all prepared to be approached by the Dean with so much interest and excitement.

He was feeling a bit overwhelmed, there were many things he had never considered or even thought about properly before that were now starting to make sense, he cursed himself for being so blind.

The Dean seemed to quickly realize his inappropriate behavior and enthusiasm, she calmly resumed her seat, cleared her throat, and spoke again, "Forgive me for my enthusiasm, you have no reason to answer for not wanting to, after all, these are private matters that only concern you."

"No, no, don't worry madam, in fact, I am very flattered, I was just overwhelmed and a bit surprised by the analysis and interest you showed in something I have been doing since my second year"

When Severus mentioned that, the Dean who had already regained her composure, was taken aback.

"Second? the second year? are you telling me that you have been making the improvements to the potions since your second year?" asked the Dean clearly astonished, but also quite suspicious of the credibility of what he was saying, she couldn't believe that was true, a 13 year old capable of understanding, modifying and improving a recipe was simply insane.

She had known bright, genius, and talented young people who could understand and brew extremely difficult potions at 12 and 13 years old even some at 11 years old, but only followed step by step the recipe in the textbook, never modifying, creating, or improving them, maybe they had ideas of how to do it, but they were just ideas, they could not carry out such ideas at that age, only at the age of 15 or 16 they started to do such things and most of them fail.

Now, the young man in front of her tells her that his first improvements in potions were at the age of 13, which is not something believable.

"Correct, in fact, one of the five enhancements I sent them to enroll me in the SCoP program was done by me at the end of my 2nd year at Hogwarts" Severus stated confidently.

"Mr. Prince, it's not that I think you're lying, it's just that you must understand that it's a little hard to believe that a young boy of only 13 could perform such a thing, if true, you could be quite the pioneer and eminence as in the youngest potioneer wizard to perform a successful potion enhancement in the magical world."

"EH?" Severus had never thought of that, again he cursed himself for being so carefree and not thinking of things that could have clearly benefited him to have a better life.

'By Merlin, what good does it do me to be so smart if I can't see or understand the simplest things in life afterward, to think I always gloated so much at thinking I was so superior in mind to others, especially when I compared myself to those ridiculous marauders, seems it's time to reconsider who is the ridiculous one when I couldn't even take advantage of my many talents while they did of theirs, damn, this has got to change' Severus thought and chided himself.

"I can assure you madam that what I am telling you is the absolute truth, it is not to seek merit or anything of the sort, indeed, if you did not tell me such a thing, I would never have found out or even put it into my head that it was anything worth mentioning," Severus said.

"I understand and if it is as you say, you really deserve the credit you deserve for such a feat at such a young age, and if I were to add to that the improvements you have made which from what I have seen have not been published or patented yet by you, I could assure you that you would be all the rage in the whole magical world once all this comes to light" the dean mentioned enthusiastically but Severus could also sense that she was up to something when she said that.

"Well, to tell you the truth, at the moment I'm not looking to draw much attention from the magical world, later on, I could surely make use of this, but for now I'm fine."

"I see, and I understand that you don't have the need to draw the attention of the magical world now, but you can certainly go about privately validating with the MACUSA what you say so that you can then openly and smoothly expose your accomplishments whenever you want"

"Yes, I agree with you on that, but what could MACUSA do to validate whether or not what I say is true, the only thing I can really prove is that I made the improvements but not when I made them."