Chapter 14: Perfect Potion, Ten Points! (Patreon)

At the Gryffindor long table, Neville Longbottom had somehow managed to dump an entire handful of porcupine quills into his cauldron while it was still over the fire.

Scalding, viscous green acid sprayed up like a fountain. In an instant it melted a gaping hole through the bottom of Neville's cauldron, and the boiling potion hissed across the floor as thick white smoke rolled up from the cracks between the flagstones.

"Idiot! Imbecile!"

Snape lunged across the room with a roar, his black robes whipping the poisonous fumes aside, his face dark enough to devour someone. "Did I not say clearly that porcupine quills must never go in before the fire is out?! Potter, why didn't you warn him? Do you think watching him make a fool of himself makes you look any cleverer? One point from Gryffindor!"

Amid the chaos and the stinging reek of acid, the other students in the dungeon went silent, too frightened to breathe.

But when Snape had finished with Neville and swept back toward the front row, robes billowing, his steps stopped dead.

At Raven and Draconia's table.

A pale blue flame licked quietly at the bottom of the cauldron.

There was no acrid smoke. Instead, a faint, thread-fine wisp of pink vapor curled upward, carrying a clean, fresh scent of mint.

Under the steady, delicate stirring of the obsidian rod, the potion had taken on a flawless, translucent sky blue, like a clear sky in early spring.

It was the "perfect grade" appearance that a Cure for Boils only showed when the heat, the technique and the purity of the ingredients were all one hundred percent flawless.

Snape's narrow black eyes narrowed further. His gaze passed over the impeccable potion, then settled on Draconia's face, still flushed, her eyes darting away, and finally came to rest on the composed Raven.

Beneath his robes, the Potions master's fingers tapped once against his thigh, almost imperceptibly.

As the godfather who had watched Draconia grow up, he knew exactly what his goddaughter was capable of. A potion of this standard could never have come from Draconia alone.

"...Flawless color."

Snape forced the verdict through his teeth without a flicker of expression. His tone was as icy as ever, yet everyone could hear the weight behind it. "Precise technique. The potency has been preserved completely. Bottle a sample after class and take it to the hospital wing... Slytherin gains another five points."

Gasps rippled through the room. Several Slytherins sucked in sharp breaths. Ten points in a single lesson, all from one student!

In the entire history of Snape's teaching, it was unheard of!

Dong—dong—dong—

The bell high in the castle tolled the end of class right on cue.

"Dismissed. For homework, two feet of parchment on the tissue structure of the venomous slug, due next Monday." Snape dropped the words coldly, turned, and strode back to his desk.

The students began packing their bags as if granted a reprieve.

Draconia moved as though fleeing a plague. She stuffed her scales and silver knife into her bag at lightning speed, not even bothering to tidy the strand of hair that had slipped loose from her ribbon.

Yet just as she swung the bag onto her back, she stopped. She whirled around, cheeks puffed with indignation, and bared her teeth as she hurled her threat at Raven.

"Raven Capet! You got lucky today!"

The young lady lifted her chin, trying to hide her tangled feelings behind her usual air of authority. "All you did was happen to patch up one trivial little slip of mine! Don't think that means I'll acknowledge you... And another thing. If you dare gossip to anyone about what happened at the cauldron today, I'll make my father—"

"Donate another ten golden cauldrons to Hogwarts?" Raven said. He poured the potion into a crystal vial without hurrying, then raised his deep black eyes to her, a playful smile at the corner of his lips.

Draconia choked. Her little face flushed redder still, and she stamped her boot hard in fury. "You arrogant jerk!! At next week's flying lesson... I'm going to crush you on a broomstick, completely!!"

With that, on a breeze scented with daisies and cool white roses, the young lady all but fled the dungeon classroom without once looking back.

Watching her slightly frantic but still proud retreating figure, Raven shook his head lightly, the smile in his eyes deepening.

[Causality Reversal Points +180.]

[Perfect completion of the first practical Potions lesson. Causality Reversal Points +180.]

[Total remaining Reversal Points: 1900.]

Raven pressed the stopper into the crystal vial and tucked it securely into his sleeve.

Flying lessons, huh? He chuckled softly and strode out into the corridor, bathed in golden autumn sunlight.