Chapter 71: Snape's Separation Charm
Ethan returned to the dormitory with the photo. He placed the frame on his desk and gazed at the people in it.
The dormitory was quiet now. Draco had taken Crabbe and Goyle somewhere else, leaving him alone.
Thank you for giving me life, and thank you for protecting me with your lives. Once I become stronger, I will kill the remaining ones to avenge you.
The red light in his eyes flickered continuously.
Finally, he placed the photo frame face down on the desk, not wanting his roommates to see it.
The next day, his mood was much better than the day before, but he was still somewhat quiet. During Snape's private lesson, he spoke even less than usual.
Snape knew he had been summoned by Dumbledore last night and didn't ask what happened, but the pity in his eyes was hard to hide.
Still feeling uncomfortable, Ethan finally lost his patience. He asked, "Professor, why are you looking at me like that?"
Snape didn't hide it either. "What did Dumbledore say to you? Didn't he tell you to make good use of your natural talent?"
"No, he just told me some things about my family last night." Ethan felt he had said too much to Snape. He was different from Snape, even though he was a natural Occlumens.
"Your family? Shafiq, right?"
"You know that?" Ethan began. His hand slipped, splashing potion onto the floor. It sizzled.
Snape waved his wand to clean up the spill and shouted, "Do you want to go to the Hospital Wing?!"
Ethan steadied his hand and continued stirring evenly.
"Professor, you knew I was from the Shafiq family?"
"I figured it out long ago. You resemble your father. Between that resemblance and the Pandanus wand you carry, anyone familiar with your family would have made the connection by now."
"So all the professors know my background?" Ethan couldn't believe that the background he'd considered a mystery and spent considerable time researching was actually an open secret.
"Everyone's guessing, but no one dares to confirm. Still, the way you carry yourself... Rhett's son." Snape sighed.
"I knew your father. He was in Slytherin too, but he was mysterious. Profoundly so. A loner. He rarely interacted with classmates from his own year, let alone students from other years. I only came to know him by chance myself." A flicker of hatred crossed Snape's face as he spoke.
"So you're teaching me Potions because of my father?" Ethan realized why Snape seemed almost kind during his first Potions class. Presumably, Snape had guessed he was related to the late Rhett Shafiq.
That pity Snape showed after learning Ethan was a natural Occlumens probably stemmed partly from the thought that Dumbledore might use him as a double agent, as Snape himself had been. But part of it was directed at Ethan's parents, who were deceased.
"Partly. Also, I believe you have an aptitude for Potions."
Whether Snape was simply trying not to discourage him or genuinely believed he had talent, Ethan couldn't tell.
Ethan didn't dwell on it. Whatever the reason, he was Snape's apprentice now. Did the "why" really matter?
Snape was satisfied with Ethan's performance, but not with the look Ethan had just given him. He decided to increase the difficulty.
Ethan looked at Snape with grief and indignation, inwardly cursing:
"Damn! This is unbelievable. I was brewing the potion just fine, but he threw in some impurities and asked me what to do about it! How would I know what to do? I was completely stumped!"
The batch was destined for the trash. Ethan had no idea how to salvage it.
Seizing the opportunity, Snape tore into him, feeling much better afterward. He'd gotten his revenge for the smug look Ethan had given him earlier.
Feeling refreshed, Snape taught him a spell bearing his name: Snape's Separation Charm.
The spell allowed the potion maker to manually separate out accidentally added impurities as much as possible, salvaging the potion.
When Ethan heard the name, he stared at Snape's impassive face in shock. "Professor, you invented this spell? That's incredible!"
Faced with Ethan's shock and admiration, Snape felt secretly delighted. He had invented this spell years ago, but since he'd never shared it widely, no one had ever given him this kind of reaction. He liked Ethan's reaction.
Ethan's shock faded. He nodded, his expression grim.
This spell wasn't meant for simple potions. Their ingredients were inexpensive, and the brewing time was short, so starting over was no big deal.
But for potions like Polyjuice Potion and Felix Felicis, which took months or even half a year to brew, accidentally introducing unremovable impurities halfway through would be devastating.
So although Snape's spell couldn't salvage every brewing mistake, it was a godsend for such complex potions and could improve the success rate somewhat.
After class, he gathered the ingredients Snape had given him, his expression still sour, and left the office.
That evening, he went to the library with writing materials and wrote to Hermione about his background.
Hermione had wanted to comfort him, but since he seemed fine, she let it go for now.
That night, Ethan brewed potions in his dorm, practicing Tergeo.
The potion he made was the Cure for Boils, the simplest one they'd learned in their first class.
It didn't take long to brew, and it had four ingredients. Adding an impurity to test the separation was somewhat difficult.
This is too hard! Ethan thought after failing four times in a row to separate the rat spleen juice from the horned slugs. He was starting to get discouraged.
He dumped the fourth failed potion, cleaned out the cauldron, and tried to figure out what had gone wrong.
The lessons from his first three attempts hadn't saved the fourth batch. He needed to analyze what was happening and pinpoint the real issue.
"That doesn't make sense. I've been casting the spell as quickly as possible each time. Why did it fail?"
He was baffled, but it was getting late, so he had no choice but to go to bed.