That's What the Half-Blood Prince Taught Me

Ivan looked around curiously as they walked down Diagon Alley.

A tall, castle-like building came into view. It was bustling with people, and the shiny bronze doors opened inwards. A few goblins in scarlet gold uniforms stood guard on either side of the doors, looking around warily, and bowing politely to guests.

This was the first time he had ever been there, not counting his memories, and he was naturally interested in everything.

Along the way, Ivan saw the ancient Ollivanders Wand Shop and Flourish and Blotts.

However, that was not where they were going, and Ivan only took a few more glances before turning back and stopping at Partridge's.

"If you want a cauldron, I've got some. I don't need another one," said Doggett.

Yvonne ignored him and went in, and Douget sighed and had to follow.

Since it was not yet time for the wizards to start school, there were not many customers in the shop. The manager, Pat, tried to sell them the recently popular pure gold cauldrons, but Ivan refused without hesitation.

"The tinfoil will do, give me three… no, five!" Ivan placed money on the counter from the pocket of his wizard's robe, using the hush money that Dougatt had given him.

"Five… five cauldrons?" The Partridge shopkeeper was shocked. This was the first time he had seen a young wizard buy so many cauldrons. He turned to look at Doggett, thinking that this was probably just a child's joke.

"Why did you buy so many cauldrons?" asked Doggett, equally baffled.

"To speed up the brewing, of course." Ivan glanced sideways at him, picked a few cauldrons in the shop, paid for them, and left. He went to the herb shop not far away, intending to buy more, and soon had spent almost all of his dozen Galleons.

Doggett was still trying to dissuade Ivan from using five cauldrons at once.

"Making a potion is a delicate task that must not be distracted. I can tell you from my many years of experience that a potion made from multiple cauldrons is destined to fail…"

Ivan ignored him, and as soon as he got home, he eagerly went into the basement work area and found an empty space to begin the preparations.

Doggett gritted his teeth in frustration and decided that if there was anything wrong with Ivan's potions, he would get his hands dirty and get a batch of potions to replace the ones Ivan had brewed, lest his own were ruined.

Stepping into the work area, Ivan did not immediately begin brewing the potion, but instead used a carving knife to modify the new cauldrons and brewing tools.

Doggett was baffled and tried to interrupt several times to ask about the situation, but to no avail.

Two hours later, to Doggett's surprise, Ivan continued to wave his wand like the conductor of a Muggle band.

The ingredients, which had been placed aside and distributed according to type, spontaneously jumped into the cauldron.

Slicing and grinding tools appeared one after another, levitating the ingredients, cutting them into the right size, grinding them into powder, and stirring them together.

"It's… it's not…" Dagget's eyes went round as he remembered Alicia's magical kitchen.

However, brewing potions was not like cooking rice, it required subtle control…

Doggett was about to berate him when he noticed that the ingredients on the five cauldrons had been handled with great precision.

How could one person do so many things at once?

Doggart was confused,

What he did not know was that Ivan had used up his GPA to activate the card's thought-acceleration mode to achieve such precise control.

This was all thanks to Dumbledore's demonstration of how to control objects with magic in the hospital wing, as well as the assistance of the Essex Wizard's Kitchen.

The tedious brewing process became easy and artistic under Ivan's subtle magical control, as pleasing as a bartender brewing a cocktail.

daisy roots…dried nettle powder…petals of sunflower…and a tiny peppermint.

Doggett soon recognised Ivan's potion as Joy Potion, a common potion that had a wide range of uses, enabling the drinker to be in a good mood for a while without side effects.

When treating patients in his black hospital, he liked to add diluted Cheerios to their water…

This usually allowed the patient to walk out of the hospital with a smile after paying a high medical fee…

However, to Dougatt's frown, he remembered that peppermint was not the ingredient for the recipe for the Potion of Delight and interrupted.

"Why did you join the peppermint? Did you get the recipe wrong?"

"No, and peppermint increases the effects of the potion," Ivan explained quietly, shaking his head.

"That's impossible. I've never heard of it… Where on earth did you hear about it?" said Doggett in disbelief.

"It was the Half-Blood Prince who taught me…" Ivan said faintly, his wand flicking as he poured the potion he had ground into the prepared potion.

When he was finished, Ivan showed no sign of stopping, and proceeded with the next batch of potions, this time the Living Hell Potion.

The 100 GPA exchange experience card only lasted an hour, and he did not want to waste a single minute.

Potions made in this state were the best he could do.

In addition, Ivan had learned some tricks of potion-making from the books he read in his previous life, and the final product would be much more effective than the average potion.

Ivan suddenly felt that he had miscalculated. How could he have forgotten to grab Snape's old textbook at Hogwarts?

Yvonne had a vague memory of it being in the advanced classroom of the senior year, where, in addition to Snape's knowledge of potions, there were numerous advanced charms.

Seeing Ivan's obsession with brewing the potion, Doggett had no choice but to keep his questions to himself.

Doggett picked up one of the bottles and shook it, noting that the colour was lighter than normal.

From his years of experience brewing potions, he could tell that this potion was of good quality, but he had seen Ivan add peppermint to it…

Logically speaking, even if the brewing of the potion did not fail, the medicinal effect should have been greatly reduced!

(PS: Rewards come in round after round, with one round for all Rewards and then a second round.)