Severus Snape was very unhappy about the third condition that Felix gave him. In the end, after a very intense inner struggle, he nodded. Maybe it was due to realizing that it was probably a futile attempt to marry Lily, he changed slightly. It was almost like a weight was lifted off his shoulder or maybe it was the joy and surprise he found while researching the potion recipes he gained. Felix had noticed that Severus Snape was slightly less gloomy and withdrawn, if only a little bit and broke away from the Death Eaters' recruiters.
Now as the school year was drawing to a close Felix was holding a magazine that featured potions master articles. The magazine was called The Practical Potioneer, and Albus Dumbledore published an article in it during his youth. It's just that the magazine was on the decline now and probably will be discontinued in a few years and replaced with a different one.
On the front page, he was looking at Severus Snape's name as he had submitted two alternate healing potions from the booklet he gave him previously. It was well written truth be told, but what really surprised him was finding his name mentioned behind Severus Snape name. While Severus got most of the honors for delving deep, Felix also received a bit.
"Felix, I would really like to know how your brain grows. You can barely get to places on your own, yet you can pull advanced pieces of magic like it's nothing." John sighed.
"I don't think it's that impressive." Felix answered.
Most of his knowledge comes from looking at paths and then breaking down the magic. As for what John considered advanced magic, Felix hasn't even begun on those. Most of the magic he and they have been studying was more late stage beginner magic. Besides end products of some trinkets like the Philosopher's Stone and Life Cup, most potions were what he considered the beginner section of magic paths.
Even if he said Life Cup wasn't a beginner trinket, most of the magic involved in it was within the beginner section. It's just this world or the books in the library don't hold much knowledge in this regard. Hence it makes it seem like it is a very advanced piece of magic.
"So what are your plans for summer, Felix." Angel asked.
"Doctor appointments." Felix answered.
Due to being able to resist the urge to look at magic paths for the last week. Felix was more energetic and not ready to be carried off to the hospital wing. This was mainly due to the fact that they were about ready to begin crafting the first Life Cup and having the end of year exams. Hence he was a bit busy either helping Angel and John review or in detention with Professor Flitwick.
The detentions weren't anything really hard, since at first it was Professor McGonagall, but it was soon passed to Professor Flitwick after a couple weeks. Now, he mainly just helps Flitwick grade papers or get some dueling experience from the charm professor. The two of them had some playful duels and he really surprised the Professor when his fifty fifty skill kicked in.
While most professors found his detentions a bit over the top, they were a bit helpless in changing Professor McGonagall's decision. For currently she was the top dog in the school as the Headmaster was out shifting between his various positions and facing off against Voldemort. Since in recent times he has been growing more active in recruiting and rampaging as the school year grew closer to ending.
So in a weird way in order to sort of make it up to him, his detentions weren't really anything hard or feel like a detention. Not to mention while he was grading papers, he picked Flitwick's brain on some charms. Many left the small professor scratching his head and made quite a few see the said professor in the library looking at various charms books.
"It's nearly time for exams." John complained. "I haven't really done much reviewing."
"Me either." Angel nodded.
"Well, we are a bit busy with studying for the Life Cup. Which by the way we can begin making if you two want." Felix shrugged, before something popped into his head. "Oh, by the way, here are some study notes, it mainly covers the main points of our lessons throughout the year. So it should help with reviewing."
He lightly forgot about it, since Professor Flitwick had a night he couldn't host the detention due to Lockhart doing something in the Ravenclaw dormitory last week. So Professor Sprout held it and helped him create study notes, which slipped his mind until now.
"Oh, can we finally begin?" John was a bit surprised.
"Well, we could have truthfully begun a while ago, but the lack of some materials put a hold in the plan." Felix shrugged. "Some are regulated by the Ministry more due to rarity than being dangerous."
"Then what was the point of the last few weeks?" John complained.
"Well, don't you understand the magic better?" Felix asked.
Due to the material shortage, they have been breaking down the magic and studying it even more. Such as swapping parts to study so as John studied the various magic circles Angel worked hard on. She has been looking at the transfiguration he's been working at which, as it turns out, was quite high up in the skill tree in the magic world.
"Yes." Angel nodded.
--
"Come on, John." Angel said.
"I'm kind of nervous also as it's my first time." John said with a bit of tremble in his voice.
"It will be fine, first timers should always be prepared for mistakes that are bound to occur." Felix said. "So just go at full force and even if you mess up, it should be fixable. If not, Madam Pmfrey could probably put us back together."
"Yeah," John nodded a bit more confidently.
"Hurry up and stop being a chicken. I've been waiting too long for this. So get your wand moving." Angel grumbled.
Inside an unused classroom that usually is just sealed away by the professors. Felix, Angel and John were gathered around a table with silver on top. Not far from Felix was a neatly organized stack of materials that would come later.
The classroom was opened up by Professor Flitwick for them after Felix asked him for one. Since due to the more delicate work and potential mishap that while he doubts will occur is possible. He decided not to do this project in the Great Hall.
"Alright," John said.
He began to chant as he moved his wand in complex movements. Since this wasn't your typical transfiguration, it took John about five minutes to complete it. Since this wasn't a pure transfiguration as a bit of charms and other branches of magic were involved. For the spell, basically took the place of craftsmen and turned the bars of silver before them into a silver cup.
Picking up the silver cup, Felix, began to examine it with his eyes turning red with a blue pentagram appearing in them. After examining for a bit he placed it back down.
"It's well done and usable, but it can only hold about four hundred years of time before it needs to be drunk so it can continue filling." Felix said.
He then began to point out the issues with the cup as he pointed out weak or dense spots of silver that didn't shape right. While it wouldn't really matter much in daily use, since it will be a magic creation, these spots became problematic. Otherwise if this was a perfect cup, it should be able to hold about one thousand and two hundred years without an issue.
"So, do you want to try again or just move onto the next step?" Felix asked John and Angel.
"I will give it a couple more shots if that is fine." John answered.
After four more attempts, John managed to bring the cup to hold for about eight hundred years. He would have attempted it again, but he looked exhausted mentally due to basically a half hour of chanting and focusing on a very complex wand movement. So, Angel basically demanded it was her turn and said they can aim for a more perfect cup in their next one.
Then, under the two boy's eyes, she went to work engraving the various magic circles and enchantments for the cup. Which took over an hour just for half and Felix and John took over so she could rest her hands. Then, came Felix, part of infusing the other materials into the cup and kick started the cup.