Chapter 42: Potion Fountain

Kyle did not expect Kanna's potion skills to be so good.

Whether it was boiling the nettle solution or grinding the snake fangs, every procedure was methodical. He couldn't even do much to help, and could only sit there and stare at the cauldron in a daze.

Compared with the busy little wizards around him, Kyle looked like he was on vacation.

The main reason was that there was really nothing he could help with. Unlike other classes, there was not much practical procedure with Potions. Most of the time, they were waiting for the process of brewing the potion.

It was like making soup. It took ten minutes to prepare the ingredients and two hours to simmer.

Of course, the premise of all this was that there was no problem with the procedure. Otherwise, just making a standard nettle solution would keep some students busy for half a lesson.

Just like the two new Slytherin boys to their left, they'd gone to the storage cabinet to get nettles seven times so far.

This also caused Snape to look extremely ugly every time he looked at them. Kyle didn't know whether he felt sorry for the nettles or was angry that his house had two students with IQs comparable to "Trolls".

Kyle glanced to his left and saw one of the little snakes standing up again.

Well...eight times.

"Vlada, Walker, I hope you can use your poor brains a little bit." Snape finally couldn't help it anymore, looked at them coldly, and said: "If you can't brew a standard yellow-green solution this time, I will press your heads into the cauldron!"

The two Slytherin students were frightened, especially the unlucky one who went to get the nettles. He walked as if he was going to the execution ground.

Snape glared at them, and with a flick of his robe came to the side of the other two young wizards.

"What are you brewing, licorice syrup? Pour it out and start over!"

"The color is not yellow enough, pour it out and try again!"

"Pour it out!"

At this time, Snape was floating in every corner of the classroom like a bat spirit, and wails could be heard everywhere he went.

Listening to the "pour it out and redo it again" sounds around them, everyone became nervous and more careful with their movements.

However, Kyle was not affected at all. He stared at the cauldron closely, waiting for the moment when the solution gradually turned from yellow-green to light yellow, and then directly reduced the flame to the minimum.

At the same time, Kanna immediately poured in the ground snake fang powder.

This step was successful, and soon, an unpleasant sweet smell wafted out of the cauldron.

"Perfect." Kyle nodded and turned up the heat again.

Then it was another long wait.

Kyle looked at Kanna and asked curiously: "Did you brew potions before entering school?"

"No." Kanna was stunned for a moment, shook her head, and said, "What's wrong?"

"Then you're quite talented in Potions." Kyle sighed: "Generally, when freshmen first come into contact with Potions, it is a disaster and even the cauldron may explode."

"How is that possible?" Kanna obviously didn't believe it.

Kyle didn't explain, he just stretched out his hand and motioned for her to look around.

Kanna raised her head suspiciously and only then did she realize that the Potions classroom was already in chaos.

The little wizards were running around between the cauldron and the storage cabinet in disgrace, their original decent clothes were gone, and some even had smoke coming from their hair.

Those who didn't know better might think they had been blown up by an Exploding Charm (Bombarda).

Moreover, smoke of various colors continued to float above the cauldrons of many students. They gathered on the roof of the classroom and gradually condensed into a strange gray-brown gas. At the same time, there was an indescribable strange smell.

The smell was very unique, a little like rotten eggs, and also a little like the smell of burnt wool.

Kanna only smelled it for two seconds before she felt her stomach churn.

Kanna murmured to herself: "How is this possible? The Potion is so simple..."

She then looked in the direction of Slytherin again. The little wizards there were all pure-bloods, and Professor Snape was their dean, so they should be very good...

When Kanna turned around, she saw a scene she would never forget.

The cauldron on the table next to her exploded!

No, it should be said that the potion in the cauldron exploded.

For some reason, the originally liquid potion suddenly foamed and began to expand rapidly, filling the entire cauldron almost in the blink of an eye.

But it was not over yet.

The next second, a large amount of foam spewed out of the cauldron and hit the ceiling of the classroom.

The scene was spectacular.

"Vlada, Walker, you two idiots!"

Snape had the intention to kill, but out of a Professor's instinct, he did not immediately punish the two culprits. Instead, he quickly pulled out his wand and pointed it at the cauldron that was still spraying foam.

"Whirlwind Clean"

"Clean up" 

…

Under Snape's spell, the cauldron and foam were quickly cleaned up.

After making sure that no little wizards were injured, Snape angrily walked up to the two Slytherin wizards.

He didn't scold or deduct points, but just grabbed the two of them by their collars and threw them out of the Potions classroom.

"Go find Filch. Detention!"

Following Snape's roar, silence returned to the classroom. Everyone closed their mouths and tried not to make a sound.

Although Kyle had nothing to do, to make himself look less idle, he decided to prepare the ingredients that would be used later in advance.

Actually, this step was not included in "Magical Drafts and Potions", but Snape asked them to cut a slender slit on the side of the porcupine quills, and the horned slugs must be steamed first. 

The specific reason was not mentioned. Ryan asked out of curiosity, but he got deducted three points, and no one dared to say anything more.

Kyle took the bag containing the ingredients, picked out a good-looking porcupine quill, and was going to start with the simplest one.

Because he wanted to drag the time, Kyle cut very slowly. It took him more than ten minutes to finish cutting a porcupine quill less than 30 centimeters long.

However, this blatant slacking behavior quickly attracted Snape's attention.

He silently appeared next to Kyle, picked up a porcupine quill on the table, looked at the crooked cut mark on it, and sneered: "I remember, I said to cut a straight line. What is this, a dried Flobberworm?

Or do you perhaps not understand the meaning of 'straight line'."

Ah?

Kyle raised his head blankly, looked at Snape, and then at the unfinished porcupine quill in his hand.

He seemed to have only taken this one...

Did he lose his memory?

Or did Snape deliberately take a porcupine quill from someone else just to find a reason to scold him?

That shouldn't be the case. Although Snape was indeed a little shameless when it came to deducting points, he wasn't that shameless.

Besides, his last name was not Potter.

"Prof, professor..."

At this moment, Kanna next to him suddenly raised her trembling hand and said with a sobbing voice: "I cut this."

...

(End of chapter)