"Potion property modification... production of portable solid pills/tablets..."
"Fully automated potion production lines... industrial-scale mass production..."
"Concentrated Dittany adhesive patches, rapid-healing hemostatic anti-curse composite bandages, combat magic tonics, vitality restoratives..."
Faced with the list Jane Yu handed him, Snape's pupils practically underwent seismic tremors.
He strongly suspected that last night's relentless wall-chiseling had damaged both his eyes and brain simultaneously.
His hand trembled slightly as he held the list, momentarily losing all capacity for speech. It took quite a while before he regained his linguistic faculties:
"I believe our wildly imaginative Miss Jane should understand one thing—I am merely a Potions professor, not a Merlin statue in her wishing well."
Snape's hand shook faintly as he struggled to maintain his facial expression and prevent complete collapse.
For some reason, he suddenly wanted to grab Dumbledore by the collar and ask:
If he chose to quit on the spot right now, would it still be too late?
"Potions and pills have completely different properties—ingredient usage, dosage, and magical output all require complete recalibration... Fully automated potion production is even more absurd. Self-stirring cauldrons can only brew poor-quality simple potions, and just infusing different magic during stirring presents enormous challenges..."
Snape's mouth fired off rapid-fire objections like a machine gun.
"As for Dittany patches and composite bandages—to attach potions to bandages, you'd first need breakthroughs in potion preservation technology. The medicated layer must maintain stable potion properties..."
Though this Half-Blood Prince had indeed once dreamed in his reckless youth of owning a comprehensive potion empire...
Reality's countless setbacks and heavy teaching burdens consumed nearly all his time—
Leaving him without even leisure to compile his life's potion knowledge into volumes, let alone research such complex technologies.
But Jane keenly detected special undertones in his objections and complaints.
She knew her mentor, as a Potions master who'd grown up in the Muggle world—
How could he not have considered Muggle pill and tablet preparation methods and the possibilities of mass potion production?
Though his words were full of rejection—
Look how skillfully he discussed these topics—surely he'd secretly experimented privately!
Since he had ideas and foundations—well, at thirty-six, it was prime time for adventure!
Having precisely grasped her Head of House's psychology, Jane sighed as if casually:
"Sigh, Minister Bones promised me that anyone who could research any single item... would receive at least a Second Class Order of Merlin!"
"As the best Potions master in my heart, I'm certain these problems couldn't stump you, which is why I immediately came to request your assistance."
"But since you consider them so difficult... perhaps I was being wildly unrealistic... sigh..."
Snape's face remained impassive. He laughed coldly, confident he'd seen through Jane's reverse psychology tactics.
As a deep-thinking, battle-hardened professor, he absolutely wouldn't be deceived by such simple tricks!
He wasn't the sixteen-year-old Half-Blood Prince anymore, still so spirited and full of magnificent potion dreams, harboring infinite hunger for fame!
At thirty-six, he'd long understood reality's cruelty and knew what was most urgent...
Even an "Order of Merlin"—so what?
Fame was external... you can't take it with you in life or death...
Snape parted his lips, about to voice his rejection—
But somehow, when the words reached his mouth, they suddenly became:
"Stable magical output, combining pulverized ingredients with distilled potion liquid into thick paste or dried extract powder... might have some feasibility."
Jane's mouth couldn't help curving upward, nearly bursting into laughter.
She received Snape's fierce serpentine glare and, using pill preparation as justification, was immediately sentenced to 365 days' detention for the new school year.
...
Having composed himself for serious work, Snape thought this was the end of his pupil-quaking shock, not realizing it was only the beginning.
After entering the heavily protected experimental facility—safeguarded by Dumbledore'sFidelius Charm and numerous defensive spells—
He was greeted by an extremely loud explosion!
Fortunately, as a seasoned Death Eater, the battle-hardened professor quickly conjured a Shield Charm, firmly protecting himself and Jane, narrowly escaping disaster.
Before he could voice angry questions, a very loud voice rang through the smoke-filled air:
"Yu, nitroglycerin works way better than Peruvian Instant Darkness Powder—!"
That voice stopped abruptly upon seeing him appear, because those were his former students: Augustus Pye and Saul Croaker!
The world fell silent.
The two Ravenclaws who'd once suffered point deduction persecution and venom attacks looked at each other, cold sweat streaming.
Despite graduating years ago—one becoming a Healer, the other an Unspeakable—
That professor-over-student dominance still made both reflexively straighten up, hands pressed to their robe seams, standing at attention.
But Snape clearly wanted to faint even more than his two students.
He truly couldn't understand why, after finally sending away these trolls, they had to appear before him again to offend his eyes.
"Excellent, Mr. Pye." The recovered Professor Snape regained his fighting strength, black eyes fixed deadly on the pair. "Graduated for years, yet maintaining consistently astonishing destructive power—truly impressive. The twenty-odd cauldrons you exploded remain vivid in memory, as if they happened yesterday, quite nostalgic."
"You weren't lacking either, docking me hundreds of points..." Augustus muttered quietly, his voice gradually disappearing under Snape's glare.
"And Mr. Croaker—abundant martial virtue, stunning explosive power... I vaguely remember the chaos you caused in the Ravenclaw common room, secretly bringing hunting rifles to school to test whether bullets could break wizard spells, nearly sending away a whole nest of first-years... Stunning, absolutely stunning."
Hearing this, Croaker's face showed some defiance, wanting to speak but stopping himself.
Snape enumerated the "good deeds" of his former "good" students like counting treasures.
Now he completely understood why Dumbledore had agreed to use Spinner's End as the laboratory location!
This was asking him to serve as a nanny-level safety officer!
When Jane Yu, Augustus Pye, and Saul Croaker—three chaos demons—were put together, even the Weasley twins would have to bow down.
Any professor who'd taught them would know the probability of this laboratory being blown sky-high was 99.99%.
Even the Dark Lord himself would suffer if he came!
Knowing he'd been tricked aboard this pirate ship by the Order of Merlin, Snape felt he'd aged a full ten years.
Now he just wanted to grab his good student Jane's collar and ask:
Is this your way of never forgetting who dug the well?
Is this laboratory of yours actually legitimate?
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