Kyle was surprised by Kanna's exceptional potion-making skills.
Whether brewing nettle solution or grinding snake fangs, her every movement was methodical. He could barely assist and found himself merely staring at the cauldron.
While other young wizards bustled frantically around them, he looked like a tourist on holiday.
There was a simple explanation — potion-making differed from other courses, requiring less hands-on work. Most of the time was spent waiting for potions to brew.
It resembled cooking soup — ten minutes of preparation followed by two hours of simmering.
That is, when everything went according to plan. A simple nettle infusion could consume half the class period for struggling students.
Take the two Slytherin first-years to their left, who had already visited the storage cabinet seven times for more nettles.
Snape's expression darkened with each visit — whether from the waste of ingredients or his house producing students with "troll-like" intelligence.
Kyle glanced left as one of the little snakes rose again.
Great... eight times now.
"Flada, Walker, perhaps you might attempt to use those impoverished brains of yours." Snape finally snapped, fixing them with an icy stare, "If you can't produce a standard yellow-green solution this time, I'll dunk your heads in the cauldron!"
The two Slytherin first-years trembled with fear, particularly the unfortunate one fetching more nettles — he walked like a condemned man.
Snape glared at them, swished his robes, and advanced on two other young wizards.
"What are you brewing here, licorice syrup? Dump it out and start over!"
"Not yellow enough, dump it and start over!"
"Dump it!"
Like a bat, Snape glided through the classroom corners, leaving a trail of wails in his wake.
Hearing the constant calls to "dump and redo" around them, everyone grew nervous and moved more cautiously.
Yet Kyle's side remained unaffected. He watched the cauldron intently, and the moment the solution shifted from yellow-green to pale yellow, he turned the flame to its lowest setting. Kanna swiftly added the ground snake fang powder.
The step proved successful — a foul sweet-metallic smell wafted from the cauldron.
"Perfect." Kyle nodded and turned the heat back up.
Then came another long waiting period.
He looked at Kanna curiously and asked, "Did you brew potions before starting school?"
"No." She replied, shaking her head, "Why?"
"Well, you have quite a talent for potions then." Kyle remarked, "Usually when first-years start working with potions, it's an absolute disaster — cauldrons can even explode."
"That's impossible…" Kanna said skeptically.
He didn't explain, just gestured for her to look around. When she raised her head, she discovered the potions classroom had descended into complete chaos.
Young wizards rushed back and forth between cauldrons and storage cabinets, their once-proper attire in shambles. Some even had smoke rising from their hair. Anyone who didn't know better might think they'd been hit by a Confringo (Blasting Curse).
Above the cauldrons, colored vapors floated and gathered at the ceiling, condensing into an eerie grayish-brown gas. An indescribable odor filled the air — something like rotten eggs mixed with burning wool.
Kanna's stomach churned after just two seconds.
"How is this possible? Potions are so simple..." She muttered.
She turned toward the Slytherin section. Those young wizards were all purebloods, and Professor Snape was their Head of House — surely they would be doing better...
What Kanna saw next, she would never forget.
The cauldron at the next table exploded!
Or more accurately, the potion inside erupted. Without warning, the liquid began producing massive amounts of foam, expanding rapidly until it filled the entire cauldron in an instant.
But it didn't stop there. In the next second, the foam gushed out, shooting straight up to the classroom ceiling.
It was quite the spectacular sight.
"Flada, Walker, you idiots!"
Though murderous, Snape's professor's instinct took over. Instead of punishing the culprits immediately, he quickly drew his wand and aimed it at the still-foaming cauldron.
✭ Scourgify ➜ Scouring Charm ✭
✭ Tergeo ➜ Wiping Charm ✭
His spells swiftly cleaned up the cauldron and foam.
After ensuring no students were injured, Snape stormed over to the two Slytherins. Without a word of scolding or point deduction, he grabbed them by their collars and threw them out of the classroom.
"Go find Filch — detention!"
Following his roar, the classroom fell silent. Everyone kept their mouths shut, not daring to make even the slightest sound.
Though Kyle had nothing to do, he decided to prepare their future materials to avoid looking idle.
Their textbook "Magical Drafts and Potions" didn't include this step, but Snape required them to cut a thin, long slit along the porcupine quills' sides and steam the flobberworms first.
No explanation was given — Ryan had asked out of curiosity and lost three points, after which everyone remained silent.
Kyle took the bag of materials and selected a nice-looking porcupine quill, planning to start with this simple task.
Since he was trying to kill time, he cut deliberately slowly — taking over ten minutes to finish a single porcupine quill less than 30 centimeters long.
However, this obvious time-wasting soon caught Snape's attention.
He materialized silently beside Kyle, picked up a porcupine quill from the table, and smirked coldly at its crooked cut, "I believe I said to cut a straight line. What is this supposed to be, a dried flobberworm? Or perhaps you don't understand what 'straight line' means?"
Huh?
Kyle looked up bewildered, glancing between Snape and the unfinished quill in his hand.
He thought he had only taken one... Had he forgotten?
Or was Snape deliberately taking someone else's quill just to find an excuse to scold him?
That shouldn't be the case — while this man might be shameless about deducting points, he wouldn't stoop quite that low. Besides, his surname wasn't Potter.
"Pro-Professor..." Kanna suddenly raised her trembling hand beside him, her voice tinged with tears, "I cut that one."
✭✭✭
T/N: If you want more chapters like this, check out my Patreon! Take a look at my other translations too, you might like them!
For just $1.50 you can access all the extra content, and descriptive images, costs only $2!
That's it and happy reading! (-‿◦)
https://www.patreon.com/collection/1305453