Hogwarts: Bourne Returns from Warhammer

The Great Hall of Hogwarts was bustling with activity, but it had nothing to do with Bourne.

At this time, he was busy alone in the Potions classroom. Having just finished taking the make-up exams for all the second-year courses except "Potions", Bourne came here and began to continue the "topic research" that he had been busy with for the past few days.

In order to remove the "boomerang" contract magic, he has determined and affirmed that he will participate in the "Potion Championship" held by Durmstrang as a representative of Hogwarts this year.

Before that, he had two prerequisite tasks to complete.

First, he must stay at Hogwarts Castle during the summer vacation to attend a Potions training class specially organized by Professor Snape for the top Potions students who are about to enter the sixth grade and are favored by him.

Commonly known as, summer class.

The reason why Professor Snape chose this grade of students to teach Xiaozao is mainly because the seventh-grade students need to prepare to take the important NETWs test, and the students at the end of fifth grade have also completed the OWLs test, so they have a free time during this period. window period.

This is actually a practice that has only been formed at Hogwarts since Professor Snape came to teach at Hogwarts.

It was originally created for the purpose of selecting contestants for the last "Potions Championship" at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry seven years ago.

After that, until last year, although there was no need to select contestants, Dumbledore and McGonagall, both principals and deputy principals, agreed that this training class was very meaningful, allowing outstanding young wizards to have the opportunity to learn more knowledge. It's unmistakable.

Therefore, even if Professor Snape is not willing to work overtime for himself during the summer vacation, he still has to come to Hogwarts Castle for a week or two every summer vacation, but his arms cannot twist his thighs.

The reason why this special training class is not well-known in Hogwarts is mainly because Snape's criteria for selecting students for teaching classes are very strict.

He would only choose young wizards who were "somewhat" talented in potions (relative to him) and who he didn't find annoying (emphasis added).

As a result, almost all the previous potions training classes were senior Slytherin students. These students are almost all typical representatives of "studying secretly and then surprising everyone". They attended Professor Snape's summer class, and they would not publicize their experience like some young wizards.

However, when preparing for this year's potions training class, Snape personally submitted lesson plans to Professor McGonagall, who was in charge of academic affairs, several days in advance before the holidays.

Moreover, he also rarely extended the duration of this training class by more than double - equivalent to participating in this training class, the little wizard would only have a week's vacation this summer.

Not only that, after the training, Snape will prepare an exam for these little wizards. Only the person who gets first place in the exam will be eligible to represent Hogwarts in Durmstrang to participate in this "Potion Championship".

Moreover, Professor Snape also told Professor McGonagall that because he had to focus on strengthening the seed contestants during this period, he did not have time to rearrange the content of the make-up exam for the two second-year wizards.

"My idea is to let Potter and Mr. Slughorn sit in on the training courses together during the summer vacation and then take the make-up exam together - this is mainly to save time."

After hearing Snape's explanation, Professor McGonagall just glanced at the training class lesson plan he submitted, which was even thicker than the standard Potions textbook, and then agreed to his arrangement with a smile. He also signed and approved the budget sheet he applied for for the purchase of potion materials.

As for Bourne, if he wants to participate in this year's "Potion Championship", he not only has to compete for a spot with a group of top fifth-year students in Professor Snape's summer class, but he also has to hurry up and complete it. Research on the formula of "Growth Potion".

Perhaps like the situation in Great Britain, the organizing committee of the "Potion Championship" more than a hundred years ago was far more enterprising than the current group of people.

Now, as long as each magic school reports its contestants, the organizing committee will approve the application. But more than a hundred years ago, contestants submitted by various magic schools had to go through a time-limited preliminary round before the official competition. At that time, the reason why the organizing committee of the event wanted the Ministry of Magic to participate in event management was because this pre-selection test also had certain risks.

Just like Bourne's current situation, he must crack the potion formula within a limited number of days to complete the test. For two or three days in a row, Bourne had to take make-up exams for other subjects except Potions, and he also had to be busy working on the subject, because he really didn't have too much time.

At this time, he looked at the wooden table in front of him filled with various bottles and jars, as well as a piece of parchment filled with complex potion recipes. Bourne was rarely nervous. His eyes were fixed on those potions, trying to find the key to cracking the "growth potion".

This "growth potion" is now a very common potion, usually used by wizards to cultivate plants. For example, the oversized pumpkin that Hagrid sends to decorate the auditorium every time before Halloween is cast with this kind of magic. Only after taking medicine can he grow so big.

However, because pharmacists more than a hundred years ago did not have the concept of "standardization of potions," the Association of Extraordinary Pharmacists did not cooperate with the Ministry of Magic of various countries to vigorously promote the standardization of commonly used potions. Therefore, although the main raw materials in the formula of the "growth potion" in Bourne's hand are almost exactly the same as the current formula, there are still some differences in many details.

These differences are often related to the pharmacist's personal habits and the specific circumstances when preparing potions. This is where the difficulty lies in deciphering the formula of this potion.

After all, Bourne couldn't figure out for a while who the wizard was who set up this potion test question for the contestants of the Potion Championship.

It's not like he hasn't gone to see Professor Trelawney.

In fact, the day before yesterday, Bourne asked this descendant of the prophet who had opened his "Celestial Eye" to divine for him, but the professor looked at the oracle for a long time and finally gave him only one sentence. : "It will not burn in fire and will not sink in water."

After receiving this prophecy, Bourne decisively gave up the idea of ​​taking shortcuts. Perhaps Professor Trelawney was right, but he estimated that trying to unravel the meaning of her prophecy would, in all likelihood, take more time than actually cracking the formula.

Bourne took a deep breath to calm down and stop thinking about the delicious food at the final banquet.

He began to carefully examine the parchment in front of him, which contained some of the arrangements and combinations of materials he had figured out on his own these days. The amber-like solidified "growth potion" he got in the Forbidden Forest that day was indeed very different from the modern standard "growth potion".

He first picked up a small bottle of Mandrake "meat", which is a commonly used material in potions. Bourne carefully sliced ​​and crushed it, and then put the "minced meat" into the crucible. .

He then turned to a more exotic ingredient - Salamander Tears - which is rarely used in modern potions, but often appears in ancient recipes.