Chapter 306: Answering Students' Questions is a Professor's Duty!
Chapter 306: Answering Students' Questions is a Professor's Duty!
"What do you want to know that for?" Snape narrowed his eyes.
"I've been researching how to improve a Potion recently and this question suddenly came to mind, so I'm quite curious." Ivan hesitated for a moment before speaking.
"It seems our illustrious Mr. Hals believes his Potion-making skills have surpassed those of the Potion Masters." Snape's face was filled with sarcasm.
Ivan's brows furrowed, but he didn't show any signs of anger. "I've always felt that many Potion recipes from the last century or even earlier have a lot of room for improvement in terms of effectiveness."
"And how will you know if it won't work unless you try? I think those Potion Masters might have had the same thoughts when they were my age." Ivan looked at him seriously.
Snape's expression softened slightly as he looked at Ivan, then he spoke in a stiff tone after a long silence. "No one would think such a foolish question. Potions aren't for the dead!"
Ivan didn't give up and continued. "If I want to improve the stability of a Potion, what should I do?"
"I think adding Blackstone Powder might have some effect. What about Valerian? I'm referring to Potions like the Polyjuice Potion." Ivan suggested a few ideas he had been pondering.
"If you're planning to create a poison, Blackstone Powder would be a good choice." Snape coldly said, then walked past Ivan towards his office.
Ivan rubbed his chin, muttering to himself. "So adding Blackstone Powder would make it a poison, but Valerian might work?"
With this thought, Ivan caught up with Snape again.
"Professor, are there any ingredients in the Polyjuice Potion that conflict with Valerian? Which ones are crucial for the Potion's stability?"
"You should think about these questions yourself, not ask me! If you keep harassing me, I will have to deduct ten points from Gryffindor!"
"But answering students' questions is a professor's duty, Professor Snape!"
"As far as I remember, that refers to questions from the textbook!"
After a series of persistent inquiries, Ivan finally understood most of the issues that couldn't be resolved by looking up information. He had a general idea for the final improvement of the Polyjuice Potion. The next step was to brew it and find a "guinea pig" to test it.
Ivan pondered the plan in his mind as he walked to the Potions classroom. Hermione, holding the textbook for the next class, was still waiting there.
"Ivan, you went to see Professor Snape just now?" Hermione guessed immediately, having seen Ivan chasing after Snape right after class.
"Yes, I asked him some questions about Potion-making." Ivan nodded, marveling at how much more advanced Snape's Potion-making skills were compared to his own!
It seemed that Snape's Potion-making skills, if converted into levels, were not at the expected sixth level but at the seventh!
Ivan didn't dwell on this topic and urged Hermione to use the Time Turner quickly. He wanted to finish the class and test his improvement plan as soon as possible.
During the next Muggle Studies class, Ivan seemed somewhat distracted. Apart from standing up to answer questions and earn academic points, he spent the rest of the time on a piece of parchment, carefully reviewing his plan for any oversights.
Hermione watched quietly from the side, occasionally discussing the properties of Potion ingredients with Ivan in a low voice.
Over the past few days, Ivan had also developed a new respect for Hermione. The young witch was like a living encyclopedia; as long as the question was conventional, Hermione could almost always provide an answer, greatly saving him time in looking up information.
However, when it came to key issues in Potion improvement, Hermione could offer little help.
The only book she had read on Potion improvement was the one left by the Half-Blood Prince, *Advanced Potion-Making*.
"By the way, Ivan, do you know who the Half-Blood Prince is?" Hermione asked curiously.
When she first flipped through the book, her impression of the Half-Blood Prince was quite negative. The pages were full of scribbles, which was difficult for the book-loving Hermione to accept.
Worse still, this Half-Blood Prince had arrogantly modified the Potion-making instructions in the book and refuted some of its theories.
However, due to her trust in Ivan, Hermione tried the methods herself and discovered that the Potions made using the Half-Blood Prince's techniques were significantly more effective than the original methods!
This made Hermione curious about the identity of the Half-Blood Prince.
"You should be able to guess if you think carefully", Ivan said, glancing at Hermione.
Hermione frowned and pondered for a moment. If Ivan said so, it meant the Half-Blood Prince was likely someone she knew and had achieved remarkable success in Potion-making.
In her memory, there were only two people who fit the criteria.
One was Ivan himself, but the age of *Advanced Potion-Making* made that unlikely. The other was...
"Are you saying Snape? He’s the Half-Blood Prince?" Hermione asked, her pretty brown eyes widening in surprise.
"Exactly!" Ivan nodded. He knew Hermione was smart enough to figure it out. "So don’t use the spells you learned from it carelessly, or Snape will definitely give you trouble!"
Hermione stuck out her tongue. Even without Ivan’s warning, she wouldn’t dare use them carelessly.
The spell called Sectumsempra was incredibly lethal. Just a light flick of the wand could easily cut through wooden furniture, let alone what it would do to a person.
Hermione had never seen a spell with such strong penetration.
Then the young witch remembered something and asked with a peculiar expression, "So, was it you who cast the Sectumsempra spell in Lockhart's office last year?"
"He was about to use the Obliviate spell on me, so I had to warn him!" Ivan replied.
Hermione rolled her eyes. That meant Ivan had known all along that Lockhart was a fraud, yet she had been so naive and adored him.
"Mr. Hals, and Miss Granger! If you have something private to discuss, I suggest you do it after class", Professor Cuthbert Binns’s voice interrupted them from the front.
The surrounding young wizards also turned to look. Ivan continued to write and draw on his parchment without changing his expression, while Hermione’s face turned slightly red. She turned back and diligently flipped through her textbook.
(End of Chapter)
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