Horace Slughorn, now no bigger than an ant, had already strode straight through the castle gates.
Jon was just about to follow when he suddenly felt Diana Greengrass gently tug at him from behind.
"Are you confident?" Mrs. Greengrass asked in a low voice, her concern clear.
"Honestly? No," Jon replied calmly, shaking his head. "But it's not completely hopeless either."
Mrs. Greengrass hesitated, then dropped her voice even lower. "That locket you took out just now… is it really one of Salazar Slytherin's relics? If it is, that's far too precious."
"It should be genuine," Jon said with a somewhat strained smile. "But it's probably not as valuable as you imagine. Even if I lose it to him, it won't really matter."
A Slytherin relic was indeed priceless. However, once it had served as a Horcrux for a period of time and been saturated with traces of Dark Magic, its value dropped sharply. Not to mention, that Horcrux belonged to Voldemort—and Voldemort wasn't dead yet.
So Jon had already made his calculations. Even if he lost this wager, it wouldn't be a big deal.
The only problem was that finding another opportunity to make Slughorn open his mouth afterward would be far more difficult.
"Jon, good luck," Mrs. Greengrass sighed softly. "Go on, enter the castle…"
"…Just close your eyes and walk straight ahead. Don't look back," she added.
...
Following Mrs. Greengrass's instructions, Jon closed his eyes and strode toward the "toy" castle.
Just as he was about to step down and crush the castle walls—
He suddenly felt his body dropping rapidly, like riding an elevator plunging straight downward. When he opened his eyes, he realized he wasn't falling at all—he was shrinking.
The world around him expanded at a terrifying speed. Ant-sized, Jon glanced around, suddenly uneasy. The walls he could have toppled with one step moments ago now towered higher than a two-story building. Desks and wardrobes loomed like mountains. As for Mrs. Greengrass, she looked like a giantess.
Just inside the gates, Horace Slughorn saw the flustered look on Jon's face and burst into laughter.
"Looks like you're not quite used to this sort of journey!"
"Yeah," Jon replied sheepishly, nodding.
Mrs. Greengrass followed them in as well, though she carried herself with far more grace than Jon did.
"Follow me!" Professor Slughorn said proudly. "It's been a long time since anyone visited the Slughorn family's castle!"
They crossed the drawbridge over the moat and passed through the gates. A narrow path stretched ahead, with dense, low thorn bushes on the left and tall, neatly trimmed hedges on the right.
A loud buzzing suddenly came from above.
Both visitors quickly looked up to see a massive mosquito flying toward them. It was about the size of a small helicopter, its compound eyes and parasitic features clearly visible—utterly revolting.
"Damn insect!" Slughorn's expression changed. He whipped out his wand and shouted,
"Stupefy!"
A red beam of light brushed past the mosquito's wings, driving it away.
Judging by his intense reaction, Slughorn—at this scale—had probably suffered at the hands of mosquitoes before, Jon thought to himself.
"Disgusting creature," Slughorn said with a frown as he put away his wand. Then he turned back. "Come on, lads… we're almost there!"
...
They entered the castle and passed through several empty halls. A few minutes later, Horace Slughorn led them through a brass door into the castle's basement.
The basement looked like a miniature library. Rows upon rows of shelves stood neatly arranged, but instead of books, they were filled with carefully processed potion ingredients.
"The top shelf of the first row holds a Bicorn horn. I got it from an old witch in Tanzania—it weighs twenty-six pounds. I daresay it's one of the largest Bicorn horns in the world…"
"…And that little vial on the far left of the second row contains Blood Viper venom. Extremely valuable—a single pint goes for a thousand Galleons…"
"And on the bottom row, that glass-encased case—inside there's a single…"
Horace Slughorn rattled off his treasured collection with obvious pride.
"If we're brewing Felix Felicis… then the ingredients for Felix Felicis…" he muttered as he moved briskly between the shelves.
"First, we'll need Ashwinder eggs… and sea-anemone-like tumors from the backs of Murtlap rats… and a bottle of thyme tincture…"
Mrs. Greengrass clearly wasn't very familiar with this area and tactfully stepped aside. Jon, meanwhile, lowered his head with a serious expression, as if he were thinking hard, turning something over in his mind.
...
Before long, Slughorn was directing his wand to retrieve dozens of bottles and jars of varying sizes, placing them one by one on the potion worktables behind the shelves.
"Shall we begin?" he asked, turning to Jon.
"The Ashwinder eggs have already been treated with cruciferous roots, turnips, and Gubraithian Fire for three months. The mixture was then gently heated with pickled Murtlap tumors for over two months. I prepared most of the materials in advance," he said. "Of course, if you want to handle all the preparation yourself, I won't object—but you'd have to stay in my castle for nearly half a year."
"No problem, Professor Slughorn," Jon nodded. "We'll use the materials you prepared. I trust there won't be any issues with them."
"Naturally," Slughorn said, lifting his chin confidently before flicking his wand.
A brown glass bottle flew toward Jon. He caught it, deftly opened it, glanced at the flattened, spherical substance inside, then quickly sealed it again and set it down on the potion table in front of him.
"Let's begin," Jon said, taking the initiative.
He bent down and lit the cauldron.
"Be extra careful when you're handling it," Slughorn said uneasily, shooting Jon a wary look—then his expression changed abruptly.
He shrieked, "Merlin's beard! What are you doing?"
"Are you trying to blow up my castle?"