Chapter 592: Influence and Response

The next day at breakfast, Harry had a pair of red eyes and was poking at his fried egg with his fork.

“Harry, are you okay?” Hermione asked worriedly.

“Yeah.” Harry said, his voice sounded a little hoarse, but mentally he seemed in good spirits, “The potion hasn’t worn off yet.” He turned his head to Ron and said vaguely, “I might need your help tonight.”

Ron nodded knowingly.

Hermione, on the other side of the table, pouted in wonder at the silent understanding between the two. But before she could ask anything, Neville came over with the book ‘One Thousand Magical Herbs and Fungi’ which was bookmarked with thick sheets of parchment inside.

“I’ve put together a list of the hundred most common herbs and fungal potions ingredients.” Neville said, ” I have referred the previous years’ O.W.Ls exam questions, so there shouldn’t be anything left out.”

Ron was stunned by the confidence in his words. Harry quickly pulled out three sheets of parchment from his book bag, “Here’s the simplified process for the next three potions. Hand it over to, um-”

“Hannah and Susan,” Neville grinned, “they can’t wait to verify. Hermione -”

“I’ll drop by this afternoon to have a look,” Hermione said, “do I need to chech and mark them according to the exact O.W.Ls standards?”

” It would only be effective that way, otherwise the scoring criteria Susan got from her aunt would all become useless.” Neville said, “And as for Antidotes, there are no definitive solutions for that part, one has to understand the principles in depth …”

Hermione nodded slightly in agreement.

“I can only offer a few thoughts-”

“Actually, most poisons can be detoxified using Bezoar.” Harry, who had been reading the book leisurely all night, interjected. It was only then that Neville saw Harry’s red eyes, and he was so startled that he almost knocked over his soup bowl.

“Harry, your eyes-”

“It’s nothing.” Harry muttered.

When Neville had left, Harry, Ron, and Hermione leaned over to see what Neville had prepared. Each parchment had seven or eight kinds of herbal ingredients described on it, not only with names but also with rough sketches outlined in simple lines. There are several arrows leading from the herbal ingredients, at the end of which the names of the potions in which the ingredient appears, and the role it plays in them, are written.

The first ingredient is ‘Dittany’.

Harry stared at the drawing next to it for a couple of seconds, which roughly matched his memory. Then he carefully looked at the string of arrows that led up from it; the first entry mentioned raw consumption or anointing to heal superficial wounds; the second entry mentioned extracting the essence for a more effective healing effect, with the two common ratios written in small print next to it; the third entry mentioned that Dittany could be used to make an elixir that used to awaken people who had fallen into a magical slumber – “We should have stocked up on this!” Ron shouted when he saw this one, Harry had spent a lot of time waking him up this morning – the fourth to the eighth entries described what a mixture of Dittany mixed with other ingredients could do, such as mixing it with silver powder to heal the bleeding caused by werewolf bites …

“Awesome.” Harry said, “I wonder how things went on the Greengrass sisters’ side?”

Before afternoon classes, Daphne and Astoria arrived at the ‘Frontline lookout club’ room, which looked completely different, with rows of cauldrons placed in an orderly fashion, and a few students adding ingredients into them, while Hermione examining the sample of a finished potion.

“Non-toxic-”

“Slightly pale, but negligible;”

“Smells normal.”

“Next is the Scarpin’s Revelaspell,” Hermione waved her wand and various shadows appeared above the small glass vial, then their shadows pulsed and Hermione mouthed some words, although it was not clear what she is doing, the shadows are becoming clearer. The people next to her came over to look.

“It should be okay.” She said with a sigh of relief.

“It’s just a matter of trying, who’s going to try this one?” Seamus Finnegan said happily.

The crowd took a step back in unison. They had obviously not forgotten what had happened to Anthony Goldstein – Hermione wasn’t present at the time – and the result was that Anthony’s eyebrows as well as his facial hair ‘grew’ after taking a modified hair growth potion.

“His nose hairs grew to a foot long!”

After that, Hermione became an integral part of the testing and identification process. And she also knows the many versatile and seemingly pointless spells that can change an accident from ‘very bad’ to ‘average bad’.

“I’ll do it.” Justin Finch-Fletchley stepped forward, despite the quiet objections of his friend Ernest Macmillan.

Harry stared unblinkingly at Justin, his eyes more redder and visibly tired, but he will be cured soon with the help of Sleeping Draught he got from Madam Pomfrey some time ago, “Boy, you really should have come earlier.” She said sternly. “O.W.Ls exams do force a lot of people to-”

“It, it was just an accident, Madam Pomfrey.” Harry hurriedly said. Only after repeated assurances that he would not abuse potions again, he was allowed to leave.

He noticed someone tugging at his shirt from behind, so looked back, lowered his head, and spotted Astoria.

Astoria waved at him, gesturing for him to follow her out.

“Did you bring the stuff?”

“A vial of Dragon blood, half a Unicorn horn, twenty secondary Unicorn tail hairs, Runespoor skin, Ashwinder snake eggs, Fwooper’s feathers, Dragon liver, Scarab beetle, and Lethe River Water … It’s all here.” Daphne said as she patted her pockets.

A shriek sounded from the side – it was from Ron who had tried to reach for it and was smacked by Daphne with her wand.

“There are conditions.” Daphne said with a stony face.

“What conditions?” Harry asked sensitively.

Daphne glanced reluctantly in Hermione’s direction, “She’s the only one who can use these materials. It was unanimously agreed-”

“Wait, how many people are there with you?” Ron asked.

“Fifteen.”

“That many!” Harry exclaimed in surprise.

“Do you know how much these materials cost?” Daphne asked condescendingly, then gave Harry’s red eyes a somewhat hinted glance, “A samll vial of dragon blood alone worth twelve galleons, we’re not going to waste precious materials in an uncertain test, so it has to be done the proper way, and we need to see the correct procedure in action! Look at your red eyes!”

“It’s not a side effect from testing the simplified potion!” Harry couldn’t resist defending himself.

But Daphne shoved a small pouch of potion ingredients at him, “I don’t care, I’m just a messenger. You guys can set the exact time, but it has to be when we’re all available.” She left with her sister in tow, Harry and Ron dumbfounded, “What’s she so proud of? It’s not like we’re begging for it-

” To be precise, we were not involved.” Harry reminded Ron, scratching his head, “I just didn’t expect Mafalda to really bring in so many people.”

Yes, there was a shadow of Mafalda in this whole thing. One could even say that she was the one who had linked up the students of the four houses together. Right now, she has retired with credit and started to actively expand her other business …

“We’re going to keep track of the developments regarding ‘New Solutions to Rune’ magazine, and wasn’t there news some time ago that Diggory had signed up? He may be offered an offer during the summer, so we can make early predictions, he’s still very popular!” Mafalda said passionately, tossing her pale-red hair around as she did so.

A few of the lower-grade kids nodded their heads like chickens pecking at corn.

Before she knew it, Mafalda already got her first team.

Towards the end of the short meeting, she pulled out a brand new little notebook and looked down at her outfit repeatedly, “Well, isn’t it perfect?”

There was a chorus of praise.

“Mafalda, is there someone you’re going to interview?”

“Yeah, the one I’ve been aiming for.” She said happily.

Mafalda dismissed the little wizards and stomped along the courtyard with a skip in her step, as she looked through the news picks for the next edition of the Wall of Mystery newsletter.

“Professor Burbage sings late at night about a major breakthrough in her dubious research – Draco Malfoy spends his days holed up in the library, working towards his career as a healer? And Harry Potter might have red eyes -” she looked gleeful, ” The next Quidditch match is Ravenclaw versus Hufflepuff, and there’s a change in Potions class which I got myself involved in, what should I write about? A team of students from all four houses versus a Potions professor? Oops, that’s my Head!”

“I think you should change it slightly.” A voice suddenly said.

Startled, Mafalda looked up to find herself outside the courtyard. After the March winds and the April rains, the weather at present is exceptionally pleasant, and she looked at Professor Hap who is seated on a bench, with a field of flowers behind him.

She strode over to him with a grumpy air.

“I’ve written you twenty-seven letters, Professor Hap! And you’ve only written back to me three times – eh, what’s this?” She whined at first, but midway through her sentence, her attention was drawn away by the thick stack of parchment in Felix’s hand.

“Just a student assignment.” Felix said, and with a flick of his fingers, the parchment was gone.

He leaned back on the bench and said lazily, “Since you haven’t changed a single word in your later letters, I didn’t see a point in wasting time; in fact, if you keep doing this when you reach the third year, I’ll detain you.”

Mafalda pouted.

” Wh-why would I take your class?”

“Probably because it’s such an important class.” Felix said matter-of-factly.

Mafalda froze in place for a couple of seconds, “You almost got me fooled, that wasn’t a student assignment at all, I saw it a bit! It was titled ‘Research Report on So and So’ and the name of the person who wrote this file is Winnie Valentine.”

Felix looked at her rather surprised.

“I’m very sensitive to names.” Mafalda said smugly.

“Has anyone ever told you, Miss Prewett, that the large part of your personality revolves around showing off?” Felix said, “I remember you have suffered because of that, just a little while ago … If you forget I can help you recall, keyword: hair-”

Mafalda squealed in exasperation as Felix pulled his ears in a slightly exaggerated manner and leaned his body back.

Mafalda became even more furious and cursed Umbridge in a quiet voice, stating that she had been caught in the crossfire, “Damned old banshee.” She touched her hair, God knows how devastated she was when she broke out of the Confundus Charm effect and discovered a bald patch in her head.

Felix silently enjoyed the moment and said, “We’ve gone very far off-topic-”

“So now for the interview?” Mafalda immediately changed her expression.

“Oh no, I just wanted to advertise something, it is about something I just happened to overhear … Anyway, let’s discuss it.”

“What is it about? Quidditch, or Potions lessons?”

“The latter.” Felix said, “Don’t you think life is too bland for fifth and seventh years, being confined in tight rooms all day, going back and forth between classrooms, the library, and the common room …”

“And what’s wrong with that?” Mafalda asked incredulously.

” You will have this same sort of days afterward.” Felix reminded her, “I heard a couple of students had emotional breakdowns and were admitted to the hospital wing once again, sheesh, those professors have bad hearts.”

Mafalda squinted at him, hesitant to remind him of his position.

“I noticed that some students have been organizing their own Potions’ revision recently? That’s good, never bow down to the evil forces … but the scope could be broadened a little, Sirius – ahem, your Defense Against the Dark Arts class professor, making you all swing little wooden sticks all day, how tiring, I heard he also ridicules you in class for not swinging it perfectly…”

“And Professor McGonagall, with her constant stern face, don’t you want to see her look surprised?”

“Surprised …” Mafalda mused, “Surprise the professor? Do you have any ideas?”

“I don’t, but I bet the memory body in classroom seven knows.” Felix, “That’s the scoop.”

“Classroom seven, yeah! There are a lot of professors’ memory bodies in there, and they know a lot of stuff.” Mafalda narrowed her eyes as she thought about how she was constantly looking for a chance to interview Headmaster Dumbledore, but unfortunately failed to succeed, and the only time she had been near the Headmaster’s office was when she was impersonated.

She brushed past those unpleasant memories and thought along the previous line of thought, she could inquire the memory bodies about the secret learning tricks they had used during their school days and make a series of articles. Especially the ones about the O.W.Ls exams and the N.E.W.Ts exams, which surely would draw huge attention.

If she could pull out some of the professor’s tips … Mafalda’s breath ragged as she grinned.

“You can do more than that.” Felix said, “I have a proposal that will be enough to make you famous … Have you thought about it, some of the textbooks in the school are so old they seem out of date, so you can make the professor aware of it.”

“A direct confrontation is not realistic, after all, there is no proof in empty words, you have to show tangible evidence. Why not think differently, the memory bodies are equally intelligent academically, and they can guess the minds of the professors better, so if they can be brought to the side of the students and have them use the students to start a battle of academics between them and the original ones …”

Mafalda’s eyes lit up.

“By the way, Miss Prewett, I’m taking a huge risk in breaking this information to you, so if my name ever spreads out-” Felix said seriously, “I’ll turn you into a frog.”

Mafalda was flabbergasted.

“You’ve heard the story of the frog prince, haven’t you? I hope someone in reality would accept a frog with a good heart, well, I’m curious …”

Felix shoved two silver sickles into her hand, “Here’s the advertising money, I inquired about it from Professor Burbage.” With that he left with a brisk stride – it just felt so pleasant to delegate his task to someone else. n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om

Consequently, Dumbledore wasn’t satisfied, “You could have done it more honourably Felix.”

Felix snickered, he is a snake, and it is his instinct to lay bait and lure people in.

“You can accomplish more,” Dumbledore said, as he could discern his thoughts from his face, “The four founders of Hogwarts, Godric Gryffindor, Helga Hufflepuff, Rowena Ravenclaw, and Salazar Slytherin, each of them had their own individuality.

Their spirit has been passed down from generation to generation and lives on in the school to this day. If you want to change it, you first have to become it.”

Felix smacked his lips, how familiar those words sounded, he seemed to have said similar things to many students, the latest being today. So the next one should be …

“-and you have the potential.”

Tsk, he guessed it.

————

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