After the celebratory dinner, all the older students left the Great Hall almost immediately, eager to return to their rooms and begin preparing for tomorrow's class. The prefects stayed behind to escort the new students to their house common rooms and give them a short tour of the castle, as getting lost in it, especially without knowing its layout, is easy.
Alan also left the hall but didn't go straight to his room, heading instead to the opposite one, where Professor Slughorn's office was located. Thanks to the Marauder's Map, he could easily find out where the Head of House was. He only had to think of someone on Hogwarts grounds, and Peter Pettigrew's rat locator would sound in his head, pinpointing the exact location of this or that person, without even having to open the map.
"Sir, Professor Slughorn is thirty meters away from you and is currently descending into the dungeon..."
Alan nodded, stopping stroking the top of Nagini's head.
"Hide."
At the same moment she slipped under the shirt, Professor Slughorn himself appeared at the end of the corridor, immediately noticing Alan.
"Mr. Snape, glad to see you again..." But as he approached, Slughorn immediately noticed the changes in the boy's body, causing him to freeze for a few seconds. He quickly regained his composure and smiled radiantly again. "As I understand it, you've decided to take up physical development? I approve, I approve, but we shouldn't forget about magic either."
"I'm also glad to see you after these three months, but this is the result of a lucky side effect from one of the potions."
"A side effect, have you checked at St. Mungo's?"
"Of course, I'm fine."
"I'm glad to hear it," Slughorn nodded thoughtfully, examining Alan's body and taking out his wand. "May I?"
"Please."
He touched the wand to Alan's chest, and from the tip, pressed to the solar plexus, a light beam burst forth, penetrating inside.
"This is amazing... Mr. Snape, what kind of potion were you trying to create...?" He looked at the young man with shock on his face.
"A strengthening potion, but at that moment my neighbors distracted me, and I must have added some extra ingredient, or maybe not..."
"Okay, don't pull the wool over my eyes. You're the one who's wrong? If you don't want to talk, don't. It's better to keep it a secret," Slughorn sighed wearily, waving his hand, seeing Alan's embarrassed expression. "The main thing is that you're okay, and the rest is irrelevant."
"Thank you."
"Better tell me why you decided to come see me so late?"
"I have a few questions about certain ingredients that I simply couldn't find mentioned anywhere, and by the way, I was able to do this," Alan said, raising his chin proudly and contentedly, while the professor looked at him with a puzzled expression.
"What exactly?"
"The potion we talked about last time, which included the Mushroom of Obsession."
"You managed to get rid of the poison?!" Slughorn exclaimed, not believing his ears, even switching to the familiar form of address. Then, remembering that they were still in the corridor, he became a little embarrassed. "Let's go to my place and talk."
"Certainly..."
Thirty minutes later, Slughorn listened to his student's explanations with amazement, feeling deep down an ever-increasing sense of pride that he had the opportunity to teach such a genius.
"...and after all the research, I decided to use a method that was abandoned several hundred years ago, using white silkworm grass, mixing it with the Mushroom and neutralizing the poison."
"Hmm, I tried a similar method, but..."
"The poison remains, but you're missing something," Alan said, smiling mysteriously. He tapped the pocket containing his wallet and pulled out a small jar of silver herb. "I added it at the very beginning, and the main property of silver asmi is to enhance the potion's effect, meaning..."
"When added to the poison, it will strengthen it, but there's also white silkworm herb in there... THAT'S IT! How come I didn't think of that before? It was all so obvious! Wait, but if you add this herb, then... no side effects even after the potion wears off... Mr. Snape, you're a genius! We're going to the Ministry of Magic tomorrow, and you'll patent it!" Slughorn exclaimed joyfully, rising from his chair, truly embarrassing Alan. He hadn't expected Slughorn to be so genuinely happy for him.
"You have classes tomorrow..."
"To hell with them!"
The professor's behavior brought a smile to Alan's face.
"Let's at least do it on the weekend..."
"Hmm... okay, but I'm still amazed. I couldn't have imagined that everything turned out to be so simple..."
"It's not that easy. I had to ruin a huge number of ingredients to create it."
"That's not surprising. I would have been shocked if you had succeeded on the first try," Slughorn said with a laugh, patting Alan on the shoulder.
But I got it right the first time... he still decided to keep these words to himself.
"So, you were talking about some ingredients, let me take a look." Alan quickly pulled out a small list and handed it to Slughorn.
"I haven't found a single mention of these herbs in books, only names and some properties..."
Slughorn was almost completely immersed in the text on the sheet of paper, and with each passing second his frown grew deeper and deeper, until after a few minutes he lowered it and looked straight into Snape's eyes.
"Tell me, what potion are you planning to create?" His voice sounded very somber, which was a little surprising, because he had never seen Slughorn so serious.
"Something wrong?"
"Of these fifteen, I only know twelve, but... almost half are forbidden, and possession of such things can lead to Azkaban... Severus, answer me, you're not going to..." But Slughorn, without finishing, froze and looked down bitterly, as if remembering something sad.
"Professor...?" Alan's voice startled him, and raising a detached gaze to his student, he handed him the piece of paper. "Is something wrong?"
"I can't help you, I'm sorry..."
"I... understand you. Then I'll come by tomorrow, good night, Professor..."
"And to you, Tom..." Slughorn answered, completely lost in his thoughts, as if automatically, not even noticing his mistake.
Snape also didn't point this out and, after pausing for a few more seconds, looking the professor straight in the eyes, he left the room, slamming the door behind him...
Returning to his room, Alan took off his robe, and at the same time a snake crawled out of his sleeve.
Tom Marvolo Riddle... who is this? Even as he withdrew deep within himself, Slughorn still kept his mind protected, and Alan was only able to read his surface thoughts, receiving the name as well as the image of a dark-haired, attractive young man. "Perhaps you know?"
"How should I know this if I've never been to this place in my life?" came Nagini's displeased voice, sitting on the pillow.
"I see... sorry, I forgot about that," Alan said, looking at her with a smile, but inside he was wary. It's happening faster than I thought. I should hurry with the potion.
"What are you thinking about?"
"I'm just thinking about that name, don't worry about it," he said, taking some food out of his wallet and placing it on the table. "Eat, you haven't eaten anything all day."
"Okay, thank you," she hissed and crawled to the table, while Alan lay down on the bed and closed his eyes.
Judging by Slughorn's reaction, this 'Tom' was someone close to him and most likely went down a not very bright path, since he remembered him at the moment when he doubted me... I have a feeling he will definitely avoid me tomorrow, but it is simply impossible to hide from my rat locator...
"Why are you grinning so sinisterly?" Nagini asked him, puzzled, seeing the bloodthirsty grin on Alan's face.
"Just lost in thought... well, time to get ready to hunt the snake." A certain snake looked at him again with a strange gaze, even stopping chewing her favorite chicken leg. "Yes, the basilisk, don't look at me like that, and anyway, how do you manage to show emotion with that indifferent expression of yours?!" But snorting in response, she returned to her food. "Okay, I'll keep quiet..."
Alan's next day began with a morning Potions lesson. Compared to the day before, Slughorn looked much more lively and even smiled, albeit a little tensely, though almost no one noticed, save for Alan.
"...classes are over for today. I'll expect you in two days, and I'll ask you, Mr. Snape, to stay late."
Suddenly...
"Of course, Professor." As soon as these words left his lips, most of the Slytherin students, except for a few like the Head Boy and those who hadn't paid any attention to him before, stared at him in genuine shock.
"I understand, of course, that forty-five minutes wasn't enough for you, but I still want to rest a little before the next lesson," the professor hinted to the frozen students to quickly leave his office.
And they, of course, understood the hint and, quickly saying goodbye while looking at Snape with surprise, left the room, and only three remained in the office.
"Professor, about yesterday..."
"I was also thinking of talking to you about this and I would like to ask for forgiveness," Slughorn said with a bitter smile, getting up from the table and walking over to the bookshelf.
"It's me who should apologize. If I had known that they were all forbidden, I would have explained to you first what potion I needed them for..."
"It's still my fault. Instead of listening, I immediately labeled you a dark wizard. After all, there are many good potions that require similar ingredients, so I hope you'll forgive me," he added, hanging his head and turning to Alan.
"What are you saying, Professor? Don't apologize to me. Let's just forget about yesterday, pretend nothing happened, and let me show you what potion I need these for." At that moment, a snake's head emerged from under his shirt, causing the poor professor to fall back into his chair. It only took him one glance to realize how poisonous it was. "This is Nagini, and she was once human, but due to an unknown curse, she turned into a snake. While I was looking for a way to help her become human again, I came across a recipe for a potion that can remove any curse. Although I doubt it, I decided to try brewing it anyway..."
"I see, may I see the recipe?" Slughorn asked, sighing deeply and rising to his feet. He still hesitated to approach Alan, fearing Nagini, who found his reaction mildly amusing.
"Of course, I'll write it now..."
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Patreon at chapter 37 right now.