Chapter 135: The News (Patreon)

For a moment, all the wizards present began fighting to buy the potion.

"Quick! Shop assistant! Give me ten vials!"

The shop assistant smiled faintly. "I'm sorry, sir. Our store owner has stipulated that each customer can only buy one vial per visit. If you want more, you'll have to queue up again."

"...Fine. I'll go to the back of the line!"

No one dared to cause trouble in a shop under Hogwarts' name. After all, if they tried anything, Dumbledore would personally step in to teach them a lesson.

"One vial for 888 Galleons. That's a bit expensive. Can I buy on credit?"

"What are you saying, sir? Of course not! But Gringotts is still open at this hour. You can apply for a loan from the goblins!"

"Alright, alright... I'll be quick. Make sure you save me one!"

In a corner of the street.

Several well-dressed middle-aged men gathered together.

They were all key figures from pure-blood wizarding families. They didn't need to fight for the Life Potion like everyone else. They could just stand here quietly, and someone would bring it to them.

Sure enough, a few middle-aged men dressed as butlers soon approached, each carrying a vial of the Life Potion.

"We've looked into it, sir! This batch of Life Potion, just like the previous Potent Potions, was developed by a student named Elavin Yakute!"

The middle-aged men were stunned, exchanging glances.

A student invented it?

Not Severus Snape?

In their view, across all of Hogwarts, the only person capable of developing a potion like this was Snape himself.

But now they were being told it wasn't Snape. It was a student?

How could it be a student?

"Wait!" one of the middle-aged men suddenly exclaimed. "Elavin Yakute? I think I've heard that name somewhere before?"

The butler replied, "He's the Hufflepuff first-year who drew the Sword of Gryffindor!"

"So it's him... Wait! A first-year, and a Hufflepuff? Are you sure he developed this potion?"

"That's what the shop assistant said!"

"Perhaps we should ask Severus Snape? He's the leading authority in this field."

"Good point, but I've heard Snape is quite unsociable and difficult to get along with."

"Lucius Malfoy knows him well. We could ask him to check it out..."

In another corner of the street.

A female reporter was frantically jotting down everything she saw and heard with a quill.

"Big news! This is definitely big news!"

"I've decided. Tomorrow's headline is going to be this!"

The next day.

During breakfast, the students' owls delivered the latest copy of the Daily Prophet.

The headline was…

Major Breaking News!

A New Potion Shakes the Potions World!

The Life Potion, a Legendary Potion Said to Restore Vitality!

Major Factions Rush to Purchase the Life Potion!

Is This Unprecedented Potion a Blessing for Modern Wizards, or a New Consumer Trap Launched by Potion Makers?!

Elavin Yakute. Who Is He, and How Has He Developed So Many Innovative Potions in a Row?

A Healer at St Mungo's Predicts: The Life Potion Will Have a Major Impact on the Future Medical Market!

The Goyle Family Patriarch Urges Wizards Not to Buy the Life Potion, Claiming Its Effects Aren't as Good as the Rumors Suggest!

Everyone Who Has Tried the Potion Speaks Highly of It. Are Its Effects Really That Powerful? Some Wizards Seem Unusually Eager to Obtain the Life Potion. Could This Mean It Contains Some Shady Ingredients?!

Insiders Reveal That Elavin Yakute and Hogwarts Potions Professor Severus Snape Can't Stand Each Other. Is Snape Jealous of a Rising Talent, or Did He See Long Ago That Elavin Was Ill-Intentioned and Had Mixed Some Kind of 'Additive' into the Life Potion...?

As soon as the newspaper arrived, the young wizards at Hogwarts erupted once again.

"Look! Elavin's in the papers again! It says he's developed a new potion that can restore vitality!"

"Elavin? Not surprised."

"Oh my god! We're all first-years. How can he be this incredible?!"

"I heard that ever since the 'Potent Potions' were launched over the Christmas holidays, many factions have been keeping an eye on Elavin."

"Wait, when did all this happen? I go to class with you, eat with you, and join club activities with you. How come I don't know anything about this?!"

"Oh... you poor thing. Maybe everyone else is just avoiding you."

"This damn reporter actually dares to slander Elavin! What does she mean by 'shady ingredients'? What 'additives'?! Did she drink her father's ashes or her mother's umbilical cord from when she was born?!"

The young wizards gathered around Elavin, cursing the editor of the article nonstop.

They believed in Elavin's abilities and character.

The claim that "the Life Potion contains addictive substances" was, in their eyes, utterly absurd!

As for whether Snape was jealous of Elavin and deliberately suppressing him...

That was another matter entirely.

But even if it were true, that would be Snape's own character flaw, nothing to do with outsiders, and it certainly shouldn't drag Elavin into it.

Within half a day, all the Hogwarts professors had heard about it too.

For the entire day, Professor Sprout's lips were curled upward.

"Have you heard? Elavin invented the Life Potion!"

"Yes, yes! He's the most outstanding child in our Hufflepuff House!"

"Though I treat all students equally, I've always regarded Elavin as my own son!"

Please!

Everyone at Hogwarts already knows Elavin is a Hufflepuff!

Do you really have to say it to everyone you meet?!

Still, the professors could understand Professor Sprout's feelings.

Faced with her habit of praising Elavin to everyone, they could only smile and offer their congratulations.

"You know, I've tried the Life Potion myself!" Quirrell also looked excited, even blurting out a shocking revelation about himself and Elavin.

"Because of... certain reasons, I had some health issues a while back, and it was Elavin who cured me with this potion!"

"I think he'll soon become the youngest Potion Master of this generation!"

Amidst all the laughter and joy, only Snape remained expressionless, his face dark and out of place.

He silently turned and walked away, returning to his gloomy underground laboratory and closing the door tightly behind him.

Inside the lab, cauldrons bubbled and gurgled.

Half a day later, a loud boom echoed from the laboratory.

A few seconds later, a muffled roar followed.

"Damn it!"

"How on earth did that kid make it?!"