Snape: This answer is a foul.

Chapter 32 Snape: That's a foul answer.

"Harry... Potter—the boy who lived, a very famous man." Snape stopped in front of Harry's desk and stared at him.

Malfoy, along with Crabbe and Goyle sitting next to him, chuckled knowingly, covering their mouths. Snape, however, didn't immediately retaliate, but continued calling roll. After finishing, he scanned the entire class with his cold, empty black eyes, forcing everyone to focus on him, and the classroom became orderly. Only then did he begin his pre-class speech.

"You've come here to learn the precise science and rigorous craftsmanship of potion-making. Because we don't need to foolishly wave wands, many people don't believe it's magic. I don't expect you to truly appreciate the beauty of those steaming, fragrant cauldrons, and few truly understand the captivating, mesmerizing magic within those liquids. I can teach you how to increase your reputation, brew glory, and even stop death—but there's one condition: you must not be the kind of fools I often encounter."

This is a master of potions. Rhys wholeheartedly agreed with Snape's words.

Potions is a precise, meticulous, and exquisite discipline; a careless and forgetful person cannot possibly master it.

Potions and Muggle chemistry bear a striking resemblance. In fact, in the Middle Ages, potions, chemistry, and alchemy were almost inseparable. They were all disciplines that involved mixing various processed materials and going through a series of processes to obtain a final product with specific properties.

After Snape finished his brief opening remarks, the whole class fell silent.

"Potter! What would I get if I added daffodil root powder to wormwood infusion?"

"If I asked you to find me a piece of bezoar, where would you look for it?"

What are the differences between *Aconitum carmichaelii* and *Aconitum davidii*?

Snape suddenly turned to Harry and posed three questions to him.

Faced with Professor Snape's sudden attack, Harry couldn't answer a single question.

"Potter! Narcissus root powder and mugwort can be combined to make a very potent sleeping pill called the Water of Life and Death. Bezoar is a stone taken from the stomach of a cow and has extremely strong detoxifying properties. As for aconite and wolfsbane aconite, they are the same plant, also collectively called aconite—do you understand? Why don't you write all of this down?" Snape's anger was spreading to all the students, and the freshmen in the classroom hurriedly pulled out paper and pens to write down these three questions and answers.

Rice couldn't help but yawn: Snape's lectures were good, but forcing students to take notes was really bad. Having to copy things out again when you already had them in your head felt like a punishment.

Everyone else was engrossed in taking notes, but Rice remained motionless, even yawning. Such arrogant behavior was intolerable, even for Snape, who was generally tolerant of his students.

Snape's gaze instantly locked onto Rice.

"Tired? Or are you bored with this awful question and answer? Where are your parchment and quill?" Snape's anger, aroused by Potter's cluelessness, was directed at Rhys, and he bombarded him with a barrage of questions.

Seeing that Rice was being targeted by Snape, Malfoy suddenly looked up, his eyes flashing with a dazzling light: Dare to provoke Professor Snape? Rice, you're doomed!

He put down his quill pen and watched the drama unfolding in the classroom with great interest.

At this point, Rice could have easily settled things by obediently taking notes on parchment, but he wasn't that kind of person. He directly stated that his notebook contained things that should be valuable, not nonsense like "bezoar is a stone taken from a cow's stomach, and aconite and wolfsbane are both aconite."

Snape: ?

Other students: !!

That's incredibly brave! How could he dare to do that? The young wizards all had this thought in mind after hearing Rice's answer.

Snape narrowed his eyes.

He was now beginning to wonder if he had been too lenient with the young wizards of Slytherin, to the point that a freshman dared to answer his questions with such rebellious remarks.

"Very good, very good," Snape's tone became extremely calm. "Since Mr. Lint seeks valuable knowledge, then I will provide sufficiently valuable knowledge in the form of questions."

His tone revealed no emotional fluctuation, but those who knew him well, like Malfoy, knew very well that Snape in this state was extremely dangerous; this was merely the calm before the storm.

All the other students present lowered their heads, not daring to even breathe, for fear that they might accidentally be targeted by Professor Snape.

"I just mentioned that narcissus root powder and mugwort can be combined to make a 'life-and-death potion.' Small doses of this potion can have a sedative and analgesic effect, but an overdose will cause the user to fall into a deep, unconscious state, and this symptom will not disappear over time. Now, I ask you, how do you rescue a patient who has overdosed on this potion?"

Rice put himself in that situation and thought about how he would handle it, and then he had his answer.

"Feed the person with the Elixir of Misfortune. The essence of the Water of Life and Death is a poison that reduces brain activity. After ingestion, it will cause a state of poisoning. The Elixir of Misfortune can be used as an antidote."

Upon hearing Rice's reply, Snape frowned.

The correct approach is to administer an emetic and a stimulant to the patient. The former expels the unabsorbed "dead water" from the body, while the latter forces the patient's brain to become active, thus breaking the dormant state. However, Rice's answer isn't entirely wrong, as the "Queguo" (a type of fruit used to treat illness) can indeed cure this condition.

The only drawback of this plan is that the Elixir of Dispelling Misfortune is very rare and hard to find. In fact, the mainstream view in the wizarding world is that the Elixir of Dispelling Misfortune is extinct, and even Snape himself did not have any in his storeroom.

"Okay." Snape nodded, acknowledging Rice's pass. He then asked another question: "Let's try again, Lint. If you saw someone whose skin suddenly turned blue for no apparent reason, whose limbs were twitching uncontrollably, and who was foaming at the mouth, what would you do?"

After Rice uttered the term "Detoxifying Fruit," Snape abandoned his plan to embarrass Rice. His second question, in Snape's view, was a piece of cake; the answer was very simple: the bezoar he had just mentioned, possessing extremely strong detoxifying properties.

If you use your brain even a little bit, you can answer correctly.

"Take the Detoxifying Fruit!" Rice was also puzzled. What was the difference between these two questions? Both were for detoxification, so why not use the Detoxifying Fruit?

Snape: ...

That's a foul answer!

Why do you think modern pharmacists don't use the "Queguo" (a supposedly universal antidote)? Is it because they don't want to?

Because we're viewing this from a Chinese perspective, Harry seems rather silly when faced with Snape's three questions. However, answering these questions in English would actually make them much more difficult.

1. Where to find bezoar? Bezoar is naturally found inside a cow's stomach—but unfortunately, in English, bezoar is called "bezoar," which seems to have absolutely nothing to do with cows.

2. What's the difference between *Monkshood* and *Wolfsbane*? — In Chinese, both are referred to as *Aconitum*, but in English they are *monkshood* and *wolfsbane*, seemingly unrelated at first glance.

P.S.: Thank you so much, Mingyue, for yet another generous donation!

(End of this chapter)