Hogwarts Raven

Chapter 98: Wandering among the stars, the sorrow of love

The afternoon class is History of Magic.

Ian chose to skip school.

He didn't have any objection to getting high-quality sleep for the entire afternoon. He just didn't want to be a loner in the dormitory. After all, his two roommates also skipped an afternoon class yesterday.

Moreover, if I don’t experience the feeling of skipping classes now, it will obviously not be worthwhile to choose to skip classes when I have to attend several classes every day in a while. After all, Ian can still distinguish between skipping classes once in the whole afternoon and skipping classes twice in the whole afternoon.

Unlike most young wizards who skipped classes just to rest or have fun, Ian spent the entire afternoon in the Room of Requirement, tinkering with Witch Morgan's potion formula.

The tradition of aphrodisiacs is extremely long.

The finished love potion will have a pearly luster and a unique spiral of steam. Its smell will vary from person to person, and will appear different in different people's minds according to personal preferences. A skilled pharmacist can even induce extremely strong feelings of love in the user.

only.

So far, no one has been able to create the kind of truly unbreakable emotion that can be called love, and Ian doesn't think that Mr. Morgan's formula can improve this drawback.

It may not be an aphrodisiac.

But it can definitely not bring people true love. This is why love drugs are listed as banned drugs. Love drugs only make the person who takes them have a strong attachment to someone.

Even if the effect of the love potion is long-lasting enough, it is probably about the same as the effect of money... Ian despises this kind of thing, but this does not prevent him from analyzing some things in the potion. As the saying goes, practice makes perfect, and in order to analyze the knowledge he wants to obtain, Ian must pay attention to the situation after each potion material is changed.

"Gulu~Gulu~Gulu~"

The classroom was filled with a unique herbal scent, mixed with a certain mysterious aroma that made people's heart palpitate. It was the unique fragrance emitted by the love potion during the brewing process. Compared with the popular traditional method of brewing love potions, Mr. Morgan's formula obviously did not require three months of brewing.

of course.

The price is that the cost of the materials used in brewing will increase significantly. This is the formula that Morgan Witch has modified, but Ian still can't find all the materials in the potion classroom. He had to go to his good uncle Snape's office again, which only solved most of the material problems.

"Some fresh ingredients, probably only found in that place." Ian glanced at the Dementor who was standing next to him like a chef wearing an elf apron, and said, "Watch this pot carefully. Don't let the fire go out, and don't let it get smaller or bigger."

Faced with such complex commands.

The Dementors, which looked somewhat cute from hell, immediately floated over - perhaps this race of them was not of low IQ, but were simply not familiar with the "foreign" expressions of the real world.

At least the Dementors could understand Ian's orders clearly and execute them correctly. The face hidden under the cloak went straight to the fire.

It can't see the flame.

But it can obviously sense temperature.

"Work hard, and I'll catch Ron's Scabbers for you next year." Ian didn't mean to make big promises, mainly because he really didn't see Peter Pettigrew in the Gryffindor dormitory. Although this Animagus will not be given to Ron until next year, it is clear that Ron's brother already disliked his old mouse this year.

I don't know if he felt it was difficult to bring up the subject in front of the girl he liked - after all, it was normal to take a girl to watch a cat do somersaults, but who had ever heard of taking a girl to watch a mouse do somersaults?

"Oh, if I had known I could get a Pokémon, I wouldn't have taken Voldemort on the voyage to Twilight Land..." Ian first went to the elves' kitchen.

Then he counted the materials he still lacked, used the Marauder's Map to bypass the area where the professors were active, and after leaving the castle, he ran towards the Forbidden Forest.

to be frank.

Ian really wanted to learn Snape's flying magic. It might not be as cool as the magic cloak, but it definitely had unique advantages in traveling and running away.

All the way across the grass.

He soon arrived at the cabin on the edge of the forbidden forest.

The cabin looks quite old, with wood of varying depths and covered with weeds, even coexisting harmoniously with the lush forests around it. The roof is covered with thick moss and a few clusters of tenaciously growing wild flowers.

In addition to some common farm tools, there were also several cold weapons and crossbows at the door, and the pair of oversized rubber overshoes made Ian feel like he could even stick his head in to explore.

“Perhaps it can also be seen as suicide.”

Ian first deliberately opened half of the backpack on his back, revealing the fresh meat inside, and then held the prepared black bread and some biscuits to his chest.

get ready.

He knocked on the door of the cabin.

"Who would look for me at this time? Yaya, stop shouting, this is not the forbidden forest." Amidst a burst of fierce dog barking, a rough voice was getting closer and closer to the gate.

As the door was opened.

Ian saw Hagrid, with a full beard on his face. He was the key keeper and gamekeeper of Hogwarts, and also Dumbledore's most loyal assistant and friend.

Although Hagrid lost his qualifications and status as a wizard due to Voldemort's frame-up and persecution in his youth, this also made him one of the richest people in Hogwarts.

This is probably true across the entire wizarding world - unicorn tail hair can be sold for 10 gold galleons on the black market, but what does Hagrid usually do with it?

He would use it as a bandage. Although Hagrid's hut is just a wooden house, many of the things piled up in it are all valuable materials.

"Professor Hagrid! I'm Ian Prince. Do you remember me? When we were next to the Black Lake when we enrolled this year, you praised me as your favorite little one."

Ian picked up the biscuits and bread in his hands. The half-blood giant in front of him was more than three meters tall. He was really like a little chicken in front of Hagrid.

"Oh, yes, of course I remember you, hahaha, you are the only little guy who calls me professor." Hagrid took Ian's gift with a happy expression on his face.

"You actually brought me a gift! This is so touching!" Hagrid put his big hand on Ian's head again, and the possible crisis on his crown was so intense again.

He might really be touched, but Ian was a little afraid to move.

"I also brought some snacks for your dog. It's still growing and needs a lot of meat." Ian felt that after his hair was rubbed by the half-blood giant, it could directly become a chicken coop for raising old hens. He quickly took off the bag of meat on his back and handed it to Hagrid while he was wiping his nose.

"You even considered Fang! Oh my God! Dumbledore often told me that you are a good child. I think Dumbledore is really right!"

Hagrid's eyes immediately filled with tears.

Ian obviously gained his full favor.

"It's just that I don't have anything to give you in return. Perhaps you would like to eat some rock cakes?" Hagrid wanted to go back to the house to get something but was hesitant and didn't want to move away from the door that he had blocked with his body.

Perhaps because he was worried that the little wizard in front of him would think he was impolite, he used the "ferocious" vicious dog that had already hidden under the bed to explain his behavior with a guilty expression.

"Ya Ya is a Neapolitan Mastiff, very fierce, yes, very fierce, and it hates strangers, yes, yes, that's it...so I'm worried that it might hurt you." Hagrid was obviously not a very good liar, and he violated all the taboos of lying when he spoke.

His eyes were wandering, his words were repetitive, his movements were unnatural, and most importantly, he was even sticking his nose up. Even without the extraordinary ability of [Mind Perception], Ian could tell that he was lying.

"It's okay. I won't go in, and I'm not hungry now." Ian didn't want to embarrass his teeth, nor did he want to embarrass Hagrid. "I just want to ask you for a favor. I hope you can take me to the Forbidden Forest to find some materials. I need some Hypericum and belladonna essence, as well as unicorn saliva."

As we all know, the Forbidden Forest is the back garden of the Big Four, and there is everything in it. Ian can certainly go in and look for it by himself, but he is obviously not as familiar with the distribution of various things in the Forbidden Forest as the locals. If Hagrid can be a guide, perhaps it will save a lot of time to find all the necessary materials.

"Kid, first-year students are not allowed to go to the Forbidden Forest. It is very dangerous there. Even for adult wizards, there are many creatures in the Forbidden Forest that are powerful enough to kill them." Hearing the word "Forbidden Forest", Hagrid's expression suddenly became serious. What he needed to guard against most was the little wizards who were curious about the Forbidden Forest.

As he spoke, Hagrid placed Ian's gift on the shelf at the door of the cabin, and then returned the schoolbag to Ian, using his body to block the door all the time.

"I just need some materials to make potions." Ian quickly put on a pitiful look, "I have some special potions homework to complete. If I can't finish it, I might be doomed. You know, some potions teachers really don't make sense at all."

Ian wasn't lying.

The art of language lies in the plausible truth.

"It's Snape! He'll definitely put you in detention! Dumbledore said he was your uncle, but I bet this guy cares least about his family!" Hagrid looked indignant. He had no good feelings towards Snape, and he immediately felt sympathy for Ian being "troubled".

"I still can't take you to the Forbidden Forest. That's the rule of Hogwarts. But I can help you collect pumpkins in the Forbidden Forest, provided that you stay in the pumpkin patch over there." Hagrid walked out of the door of the cabin. Before Ian could see clearly inside, he turned around and closed the door.

"Ok, no problem."

Ian thought thoughtfully.

He followed Hagrid very obediently to the pumpkin patch outside the cabin. As Halloween was approaching, the patch was already full of pumpkins that looked as if they had been injected with growth hormones.

"Really, my dog ​​is very ferocious. Don't even think about sneaking in. It will bite you." Hagrid reminded Ian a little worriedly as he carried a few large barrels to the Forbidden Forest.

“I’m most afraid of dogs.”

Ian gave Hagrid a reassurance. As he watched Hagrid's huge body getting farther and farther away and disappearing at the entrance of the Forbidden Forest, he squatted in the pumpkin patch and caught caterpillars.

This is actually a potion ingredient. Thinking that he was already here, Ian used the schoolbag returned by Hagrid to search for fresh caterpillars in the pumpkin patch.

time flies.

Just when Ian felt he was about to become a caterpillar hunter, Hagrid came back with several full buckets. This half-giant was the real frog killer.

When Ian saw the big bucket of frog brains, he was completely stunned. He was a little worried that Hagrid might have killed all the frogs in the Forbidden Forest.
“It doesn’t take that much.”

Ian was completely dumbfounded.

"It's a handy thing. Young wizards usually fail many times when brewing potions. I hardly ever succeeded when I was in school. The potion that Snape used to make things difficult for you must be difficult to succeed." As he spoke, Hagrid handed Ian several large buckets. In addition to a bucket of brains, there were also half a bucket of Hypericum and belladonna essence each.

"Unicorns are rare creatures. I only encountered two familiar ones today." Hagrid took out a bottle as big as a water cup from his arms. It was full of unicorn saliva, which made it hard not to wonder if Hagrid had some special way to make the unicorns spit at him.

"Thank you! Professor Hagrid!"

Ian carefully placed the bottle into his robe.

Hagrid scratched his head. "Although I like your address to me, I'm not really a professor. In fact, I was expelled from Hogwarts many years ago."

His voice sounded somewhat sad.

"You don't need a diploma to be a professor. I believe that in the field of magical creatures, your knowledge is enough to qualify you to work in any magic school."

"You are also willing to help the little wizards who ask for help. How can you say that this is not something that only a professor would do? Any school would feel honored to have a professor as knowledgeable and kind as you."

This is the truth that comes from Ian's heart.

If Hagrid's character was a little less careless and negligent, he would probably be considered the most outstanding professor of Care of Magical Creatures.

"You're almost making me believe how great I am! Hahahaha! I always thought I only liked Gryffindor, but now it seems Ravenclaw is also a good house!" Hagrid smiled from ear to ear, and touched Ian's head with his big hand, messing up the hairstyle that Ian had finally tidied up.

"It's all true! I think you will definitely become our professor. It's just a matter of time." Ian decisively escaped from Hagrid's clutches by squatting down.

His words filled Hagrid's face with longing and joy. "If I could really become a professor at Hogwarts, I would definitely give you a dragon egg! Yes! A dragon egg!"

He obviously didn't believe in this possibility, otherwise he wouldn't have made such a promise. The tall half-blood giant actually had an inferiority complex that many people couldn't perceive.

"Okay! Okay! That's what you said!" Ian's eyes lit up. If Dumbledore could be found on the Marauder's Map, he would have wanted to go back quickly and hand Dumbledore a letter of recommendation.

The wizarding world is also a society of connections.

Dumbledore personally promised that the Dumbledore family was Ian's connection.

"Of course!" Hagrid's beard was shaking with laughter. He looked at the sun that was beginning to set in the sky. "If you're free during the day, you can come and play with me. We can definitely become friends. But you should hurry back to the castle now, or the real professors in the castle will punish you."

A very friendly reminder.

Ian lifted buckets and kegs of material.

"Professor Hagrid."

Before he left, he suddenly stopped and turned to look at Hagrid, who had already walked to the gate, as if he wanted to wait until he left completely before he dared to open the door of his cabin.

"I think I can definitely get your dragon egg, but you must be alive before that." Ian's words were somewhat earnest and made Hagrid feel confused.

"Ah? What's wrong with me?"

He even touched his whole body to confirm that he had no wounds. Ian blinked and reminded him gently in a nonchalant voice.

"You can't keep an Erumpent in the house...people would die really quickly." He didn't sneak into the house, but he actually caught a glimpse of it when Hagrid opened the door.

"Ya Ya has been barking all the time, but she's not afraid of me."

After saying that, Ian turned around and ran towards the castle.

Hagrid was left alone with a red face, standing there in a panic.

……

Room of Requirement.

In the special potion classroom, Ian, who had rushed back, stared closely at the changes in the crucible, adjusting the temperature from time to time to ensure that the potion could react as expected.

"Gulu~Gulu~Gulu~"

The cauldron was bubbling.

Ian stood in front of the crucible where the potion was being brewed, carefully mixing the ingredients in his hand. He stretched out his hand, and the Dementor next to him automatically handed him the potion in the order he had arranged - this would definitely be a scene that would make other wizards drop their jaws, but there was no one else in the Room of Requests.

"I need the spoon over there, not the cutting knife, idiot! Can't you remember their shapes?" Ian felt how Snape felt during class, but he felt that sooner or later he would be able to train a Dementor that could brew potions by itself, the kind that the silly Barnabas outside would envy to death.

"..."

The Dementors felt very aggrieved.

But he still followed the instructions and found a spoon - the kind that was bigger than Ian's head. This was an improvement after all, and Ian could only use this spoon to load the matched materials into the crucible and stir them vigorously - this was already the sixth pot, and Ian kept trying to increase and decrease the formula to find the possibility he needed.

The more you study.

The more Ian realized that what Teacher Morgan really wanted to teach was hidden in the formula of this aphrodisiac, which was also reasonable. After all, if it was just a prank, Teacher Morgan would not have to tear off her own dress.

"Fairy grass is a plant that breeds flower-picking fairies. Currently, only a very small number of fairy grasses remain in East Asia. Teacher Mara obviously didn't see this in the textbook I gave her."

Ian encountered a problem with his sixth potion. He had used up all of Snape's fairy grass. If he wanted to continue researching this potion, he needed to find a substitute like Mr. Morgan did when he improved the formula. His level in potion science was not high, so it was obviously not an easy task for him to find a substitute.

"Perhaps the book 'Modern Applications of Ancient Potions' can contain the answers that have already been discovered." Ian thought of the Hogwarts library when he was a little distressed.

He rushed out of the Room of Requirement again, and seeing that it was almost closing time, he quickly ran to the library - if all else failed, he would probably have to ask the Half-Blood Prince for help. After spying on some of the oddities in the formula, Ian couldn't wait until the holiday to go to Diagon Alley to buy the ingredients.

"Luckily the door is not closed!" Ian went straight to the potion area after entering the library, but he found that a book he had seen before was no longer on the bookshelf where it was originally placed.

Has it been adjusted?

Or was it borrowed?
"Ms. Pince, can you help me see if the book "Modern Applications of Ancient Potions" is still in the library?" After searching for a while without success, Ian chose to ask the librarian for help.

however.

Before Madam Pince could look up from her reading of Lockhart's masterpiece and answer.

"Is this the book you're looking for?"

A young wizard sitting at the reading desk suddenly spoke. Ian turned his head and saw that "Modern Applications of Ancient Potions" was in the hands of this young wizard.

He was obviously reading.

"Yes...it seems you have borrowed it before me." Ian thought to himself that he was a beat too slow. Before he could ask, the young wizard stood up, closed the book, walked over and handed it to him.

"I'm just killing time. You look like you need something urgent. As a professor at Hogwarts, I obviously can't compete with a little wizard for the right to use the books here."

The young wizard had a gentle smile on his face. He had long and fluffy brown hair, which was braided into simple braids and fell naturally on his shoulders on both sides.

"Are you a professor?"

Ian immediately changed the way he addressed him. He found it a little unbelievable that the young wizard in front of him, who looked to be in his twenties, could actually hold the position of professor in Hogwarts.

I don’t know what subject the professor is teaching, but it’s definitely not the main subject.

"If you can get excellent grades in Charms, Ancient Runes, and Transfiguration in the OWLs exams in your fifth grade, you will be able to take the elective course I will teach in your sixth grade." The young wizard smiled slightly, and his mustache stretched out under his nose.

He looked like a quiet scholar, but he also had a very calm temperament. His chrome-green eyes were very similar to Ian's, but his gaze was much deeper than Ian's.

"You are Professor Arthur King!" Ian was a little surprised. He always thought that the alchemy professor he admired should be a wizard not much younger than Dumbledore.

After all, this is a subject that requires time and experience to accumulate.

"It seems that you are indeed interested in alchemy. Most young wizards don't pay attention to senior elective courses. They are more concerned about whether they will be held back at the end of the semester." Arthur King smiled lightly, his tone was extremely humorous. He seemed to have a peaceful aura far beyond his age.

"I have been studying alchemy, professor. I think it is unreasonable to offer this course as an elective. If the young wizards cannot get good interest guidance, how can they promote alchemy?" Ian was actually speaking up for himself. What he urgently needed now was a teacher who could guide him in alchemy at any time.

Dumbledore might be the right candidate, but he hadn't seen Dumbledore on the Marauder's Map for two days. This old man was really not afraid of Voldemort taking advantage of the situation - well, it seemed that Dumbledore really didn't need to worry, after all, the Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher in the school was a really ruthless guy now.

"Little wizard, alchemy has a threshold. If a wizard does not have sufficient accumulation, he will have a worse experience in this course than studying the history of magic." Professor Arthur King said in a teasing voice without any arrogance, as if he was explaining a very simple trivial matter.

"I think my experience is pretty good. I can even show you the housewife's happiness box I invented. Can I find a chance to sit in on your class?"

Ian spoke with expectation, and changed the name of his only work to a more welcoming one. He didn't want the teachers at Hogwarts to treat him as the second Tom.

This school is suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder.

"Want to learn alchemy from me?"

Arthur King looked at him and responded in a slightly thoughtful tone, "Normally, I would not want to accept a student of your age, but your map is quite good, which makes me interested in you. Perhaps you can become a little wizard that I can make an exception for."

His words startled Ian slightly.

"What map..."

Ian gave a guilty smile.

He didn't expect that Arthur King actually knew what he had sold. There must be a traitor among Qiu Zhang's friends. He had clearly asked Qiu Zhang to announce to the public that the contraband came from James Potter.

The young professor seemed to see the doubt in Ian's heart.

"Alchemical creations will always retain traces of their creators. It is not difficult to track down the creator. Even Master Nicolas Flamel cannot erase this trace." Arthur King put his hand on Ian's shoulder, and Ian noticed that the professor was wearing a bronze ring on his finger.

Before Ian could carefully identify the inscription on the ring, Arthur King withdrew his hand and said, "If possible, I would like to ask about your progress in learning alchemy."

Hearing such a question, Ian immediately perked up, "I have already finished studying Master Nicolas Flamel's "Detailed Explanation of Alchemy" and "The Magical Alchemy".

"In fact, I have already started to learn the application of Transfiguration in alchemy." Ian never hides his learning progress and pretends to be a weakling.

"Ok?"

Arthur King was visibly stunned.

"It's only a little slower than I was back then... It's really weird." Arthur King muttered in confusion, then immediately looked up and said to Ian, "But genius is only the threshold to enter the field of alchemy. If you want to gain my recognition, you should be more than a genius."

Arthur King smiled and said, "If you can figure out the Room of Requirement next year, my office door will be open to you next semester."

This was another sentence that Ian had not expected.

The Room of Requirement is not a secret known to everyone in Hogwarts.

Moreover... asking a first-grade wizard to figure out the principle of the Room of Requirement? What's the difference between this and asking a primary school student to study string theory after learning 1+1!
"I think you are trying to embarrass me..." Ian felt that this unbelievably young alchemy professor was not as easy to talk to as he appeared to be.

The methods used to deal with other professors may not work.

"Come on, kid. If you can't reach a level that is out of reach for others, why should you take up my time? My duty is only to teach those students of the specified age group in Hogwarts, and I only get that salary." Arthur King chuckled and walked towards the library door.

"If you want me to make an exception for you, you have to become not just my student, but my apprentice... This is not targeting you, but I have always been very demanding in this regard."

"It has been like this for many years - if you can prove yourself worthy of walking among the stars, believe me, I can teach you more than just alchemy."

The dark green robe was very flowing, and the figure of the alchemy professor disappeared around the corner of the door.

……

Ian was very depressed when he met a young professor who was more pretentious than Grindelwald, but fortunately, he found a substitute for fairy grass in the book "Modern Applications of Ancient Potions".

Facts have proved that there are also many talented wizards in modern times. In Ian's opinion, being able to use a mixture of two common medicinal herbs to replace the effect of fairy grass is indeed a brilliant innovation.

"I would like to crown this potion master as the king of love potions!" Ian looked at the map, confirmed that Snape was in the hall, and immediately slipped into Snape's office as if he was familiar with the place.

This is the four-dimensional real pocket of the potion version of Doraemon. As long as the material is not extinct or rare, you can always find the corresponding collection in Snape's office.

"This, this, and that... I think this isn't enough." In order to avoid running back and forth, Ian replenished the materials that he had already consumed.

A big pocket.

It was filled with potion ingredients.

Just as Ian was about to take the potion ingredients back to the Room of Requirement to study Mr. Morgan's formula all night, he had just turned the doorknob when he felt another force outside turning the handle.

"hiss!"

Ian had no time to hide at all. The door was opened by someone outside. When he looked up, he saw Snape's face. He was obviously not surprised that Ian was in his office.

"How did you come back so soon!" Ian wanted to hide the big bag behind himself, but Snape grabbed it with his quick eyes and hands.

The Potions professor had a very unpleasant expression on his face.

"To catch you, of course!"

obviously.

Ian fell into Snape's trap and let him let his guard down.

"I found someone stealing my things this afternoon! Sure enough! I caught him!" Snape's expression was very distorted, and his angry look was very scary.

"Uncle, I clearly did... paid."

Ian quickly turned around and pointed to Snape's material cabinet. He saw that in the cabinets where he had taken the herbs, there were more or less some gold Galleons.

Market price.

The young man is not deceived.

But Snape's expression became even uglier because of this.

"Why do you think I know it was you who did it?!" Snape roared. He was shaking with anger. He took out the gold Galleons that Ian had left behind in the afternoon from his robe. "Other bastards who stole my things wouldn't leave these things behind! Prince! Should I still praise you for being a nice person?"

Good guy.

Ian had no idea how to respond.

"That's a gold Galleon, not a ghost thing..."

He could only correct Snape's blasphemy against money.

"I didn't want to bother with your naughty behavior!" Snape glared at Ian with gritted teeth, his eyes looked like he wanted to eat Ian alive.

"But why did you let me smell the scent of brewed aphrodisiac in the corridor!" He opened Ian's bag and checked the amount of materials in Ian's pocket.

Do not see do not know.

one look.

Snape could barely hold Ian's pocket.

"Damn it! How many pots did you cook?!"

His terrified voice filled the entire basement.

(End of this chapter)