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Chapter 396: The Potion Worth Three Hundred Galleons
Chapter 396: The Potion Worth Three Hundred Galleons
Over the next two hours, Kyle recounted in detail what had transpired in the Chamber of Secrets the previous year.
Niccolo was uninterested in most of the process, but when it came to the beginning and end of the incident, he asked many detailed questions. These included Kyle's feelings during the time reversal, any unusual occurrences, and even changes in the environment.
There were some questions that even Kyle hadn't paid attention to. After all, he had been busy communicating and learning from Riddle; how could he have noticed whether the Chamber was cold or hot?
Two hours later, Kyle, with a dry mouth and throat, picked up the cup on the table and drank the now-cold tea in one go.
During the conversation, he had also suggested using a Pensieve, allowing Niccolo to see for himself.
As the home of a renowned alchemist, there should be no shortage of Pensieves, and even if there weren't any, Niccolo could probably make one on the spot.
But Niccolo shook his head. "I must tell you, child, that extracting memories is no simple task. Only wizards proficient in memory charms can achieve this."
"And there's another thing..." he continued, "if I'm not mistaken, you must have learned the Mind-Blocking Charm a long time ago."
Kyle nodded. The Mind-Blocking Charm was one of the spells he had spent the most time learning over the years, and he had never slackened in his practice, especially after being reminded by Rowena Ravenclaw.
"In that case, it's impossible," said Niccolo. "For wizards who have mastered the Mind-Blocking Charm, no one but themselves can extract their memories, not even me or Albus."
"Actually, I could try..." Kyle said, "There used to be a professor at Hogwarts who was a master of memory charms. He gave me some notes containing all his insights on memory charms, and I learned a lot from them."
"Oh, so there's a master of memory charms at Hogwarts?" Niccolo looked somewhat surprised. "Albus really has an eye for talent. I have to admit, when it comes to choosing professors, Beauxbatons can't quite compete with Hogwarts."
"Maybe... maybe so..." Kyle forced a dry laugh, feeling too embarrassed to mention the professor's current situation—having his memory altered and being sent to St. Mungo's because of his true identity as a fraud.
Let the misunderstanding stand; it wasn't a significant matter anyway.
Kyle quickly changed the subject. "I can try..."
"No, it's still too risky!" Niccolo interrupted before he could finish.
"Perhaps you want to say that after studying the notes, you've made great progress in memory charms, but I can't take that risk..."
Niccolo pointed to his forehead and said seriously, "Your mind is far more valuable than whatever I want to know. So, no!
"And it's unnecessary, anyway. From your description, I already have a clear understanding of the situation."
Niccolo waved his hand, and the surrounding blue-lacquered reliefs and shelves instantly disappeared, replaced by walls covered in various magical symbols.
At his command, some of the symbols lit up one after another, twinkling like stars.
Niccolo murmured, "Unlike existing Time-Turners, the way this one seems to end is not by merging with the original timeline but rather by fulfilling some necessary condition. In that case, these symbols won't be of use..."
He waved his hand again, and some of the symbols on the wall dimmed, but even more lit up, adding to the already bright ones to total several hundred.
But after ten minutes, Kyle gave up.
It was pointless; trying to memorize the countless combinations of hundreds of different magical symbols was almost impossible.
Moreover, Kyle realized that Niccolo seemed to be merely experimenting, in other words, drafting, rather than working on the final solution.
What Kyle didn't expect was that Niccolo would spend the entire night on this draft.
By the time he stopped and the magical symbols dimmed, it was already morning of the next day.
After staring at advanced magical symbols for an entire night, Kyle felt dizzy and his mind foggy.
On the other hand, Niccolo seemed even more energetic than the day before.
"Truly incredible..."
"My apologies, Kyle, I forgot you were still here," Niccolo said, noticing Kyle's unusual state. He clapped his hands, and a house-elf named Tata appeared with a bottle of light red potion.
"Drink this, it will help you."
Kyle took the potion and took a big gulp.
The next second, the dizziness vanished.
"What is this?"
"It's a potion I concocted myself. I drink some whenever I need to recall memories from hundreds of years ago; it's quite useful." Niccolo explained.
Kyle nodded and asked, "Is it troublesome to brew this potion?"
"Not at all, it's quite simple."
"If you like it..."
Niccolo smiled and tapped the table with his finger. A piece of parchment suddenly appeared in front of Kyle.
"Consider this an early Christmas gift."
"Thank you, Niccolo," Kyle said, taking the parchment.
This potion was indeed useful. Although he didn't need it much at Hogwarts, he could give it to others.
It would be perfect for Connor, who had just started delving into ancient Runic. And it would also be helpful for Cedric, Autumn, the Weasley brothers...
Kyle glanced at the parchment and then stifled a twitch at the corner of his mouth.
Just as Niccolo had said, the brewing method was extremely simple, requiring only six ingredients.
But to put it bluntly, the cheapest ingredient was a unicorn horn, which cost about fifty Galleons per ounce.
In other words, the cost of brewing this potion was at least three hundred Galleons.
Kyle took a deep breath and expressionlessly folded the parchment a few times before tucking it into his pocket.
As they left the room, Niccolo was still excited about his discovery.
"I feel like I've found a direction," he said, "but it will require multiple attempts and verifications. Situations like the one earlier may continue for a long time, which isn't very friendly for a six-hundred-year-old man."
They sat down at the dining table, and Tata immediately served a sumptuous meal.
(End of Chapter)
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