Hogwarts : Max Level Unforgivable Curse

The candlelight in the dungeon office cast dancing shadows on the stone walls.

Glass jars, steeped with the organs of some unknown creatures, glowed with an eerie light on the shelves.

Professor Snape's black robes swept across the mottled stone floor like the wings of an ill-omened bat.

Three paces away from him, a tall-backed oak chair stood alone. The serpent-like carvings on its back seemed to writhe slowly in the dim light.

"Sit."

Upon seeing Dylan, Professor Snape simply gestured towards the chair. His voice was like an echo drifting up from the depths of the dungeon.

Dylan walked over and sat down unceremoniously, the leather cushion protesting with a weary creak.

"This term, one of the new professors will require Wolfsbane Potion – one bottle per month."

Professor Snape looked at Dylan, his expression flat. His thin lips barely moved as he spoke, yet his voice cut clearly through the damp dungeon air.

"I have no desire to brew the potion for him – not even at Dumbledore's request."

"So?"

Dylan blinked.

Professor Snape gave him a pointed look. The look clearly said: *Does that even need asking?*

Professor Snape's thin lips pressed together, a minimal movement that held his usual cold severity.

"If you brew the potion, Dumbledore will owe *you* a favour as well. I will provide the ingredients for the potion. Do you have any questions?"

Dylan stroked his chin. Was Professor Snape just... not even pretending anymore?

Lupin was a werewolf. It was perfectly normal for him to need Wolfsbane Potion to suppress his condition.

But what wasn't normal was Professor Snape just *telling* him this information?

Even without explicitly saying it, how many new professors were there this year? Only two, right? Hagrid and Lupin.

One Dylan knew well, the other Dylan "didn't know."

So, wasn't this clearly telling him exactly who needed the Wolfsbane Potion?

*Professor, Professor, didn't you promise Old Man Dumbledore you'd keep Lupin's identity a secret? Is it really okay to spill the beans like this?*

Dylan wiped away sweat that wasn't there from his forehead.

And besides that, the more crucial point was:

Wolfsbane Potion was incredibly complicated to make. The success rate wasn't high, and it was quite difficult. Furthermore, it was a potion only developed in recent years.

This potion was used to treat the symptoms of lycanthropy. Its primary function was to allow werewolves to retain their sanity during the full moon, while also alleviating pain and controlling their behaviour. It prevented them from completely losing their humanity and harming others when transformed.

Dylan hadn't actually learned how to make this particular potion from Professor Snape before.

And the ingredients for this potion were also quite precious. Professor Snape really did trust him, to be willing to hand this kind of task over to him.

*So, could he perhaps pretend one batch didn't work, secretly pocket the ingredients, and then use the second batch, or even the third, to brew a bottle of potion to give to Professor Snape?*

He could just swoop in and make a profit as a middleman – a potion-brewing master!

"I'd be absolutely delighted to help you with this, Professor," Dylan said, looking utterly sincere. "It's just, I'm very worried that if I don't successfully brew the potion, the ingredients will be wasted... That would make me feel terribly bad."

Professor Snape eyed him suspiciously. After a moment's pause, he finally spoke. "Even if you fail to brew the potion, it won't be a major issue. There will always be a way to deal with it."

*How to deal with it?* Dylan muttered inwardly. *Throw Professor Lupin into the Shrieking Shack?*

*What a brilliant solution...*

Dylan nodded. "Alright then, but if you could give me two or three sets of ingredients each month, I can absolutely guarantee you'll get one bottle brewed every single month."

Professor Snape narrowed his eyes. "Let's hope so."

Dylan gave a shy smile. "Oh, by the way, Professor, why are you unwilling to help the new professor brew this rather peculiar potion?"

Professor Snape gave Dylan a cold, sidelong glance. However, the latter just grinned, completely unfazed by his stare.

After a brief silence, Professor Snape gave a light huff before adding, "Does that even need asking? Of course, it's because I was brewing *other* potions before I knew I needed to brew Wolfsbane Potion."

Dylan fluttered his eyelashes. "Such as?"

Professor Snape's face darkened. "Such as the Draught of Living Death!"

Dylan looked enlightened. "Ah, I see!"

"Although you haven't told me the specific recipe for Wolfsbane Potion yet, since you put it that way, it must be quite... volatile?"

Professor Snape frowned, correcting him. "It's *positive*! What 'volatile'? Did you feed all the knowledge I taught you to the werewolves?"

Dylan chuckled and nodded repeatedly. "Right, right, positive."

Essentially, the key to a potion's efficacy wasn't the ingredients' conventional medicinal properties, but rather the mysterious qualities they contained. These qualities were like magical codes hidden deep within the ingredients, waiting for a wizard to decipher and utilise them through certain methods.

Take the mysterious property of "transformation" for example. It needed to be driven by a *negative* force. Polyjuice Potion was a prime example. This magical draught that could temporarily change one's appearance required Fluxweed harvested under the full moon. And the moonlight during a full moon was considered to possess a negative quality in magical understanding. Fluxweed harvested at this specific moment would incorporate this negative force, providing crucial assistance for Polyjuice Potion to achieve physical transformation.

Furthermore, the Animagus Potion Dylan had brewed before was similar. Its production process was also complex. Aside from the full moon, a time factor carrying negative power, it also required natural phenomena infused with mysterious power, like a thunderstorm, as well as a Death's-Head Hawkmoth pupa. And the pupa itself contained the mysterious property of metamorphosis. What's more, the entire brewing process absolutely had to be isolated from *positive* forces – such as sunlight.

This was because positive forces could interfere with the accumulation of the negative force required for the potion, thereby ruining the brewing process.

Evidently, Wolfsbane Potion, which inhibited the werewolf transformation, also followed these magical principles.

The Draught of Living Death was an extremely potent sleeping draught. It could plunge the drinker into such deep slumber that they appeared dead, looking just like they had passed on. This potion utilised *negative* force.

But Wolfsbane Potion needed to "undo" the wolf venom during a werewolf's transformation. This required a *positive* quality.

If one had just finished brewing a batch of Draught of Living Death and immediately turned to brewing Wolfsbane Potion, it was highly likely to cause accidents during the Wolfsbane production. At best, such accidents would simply render the potion ineffective. Worse yet, it could lead to an imbalance in potency, resulting in even more troublesome issues.

It's just... did Professor Snape *really* brew the Draught of Living Death?

Dylan was quite familiar with the residual characteristics of potions clinging to a person, having studied this extensively while constantly brewing potions. The conclusion was – these characteristics didn't linger on a person for very long! They would completely dissipate in less than a week. Faster still, three or four days would be enough.

He only needed to brew one bottle of Wolfsbane Potion a month. Could Professor Snape really not have the time or energy for that?

Dylan didn't buy it for a second.

However, he knew when to stop teasing Professor Snape. After all, he was Professor Snape's most prized disciple, wasn't he? That meant he needed to take good care of his master – even if that title was self-proclaimed and not officially recognised.

Lupin, being James's friend, hadn't directly bullied Professor Snape, but his relationship with James alone was enough for Professor Snape to hold animosity towards him. And Dylan was naturally willing to stand by Professor Snape's side and scorn Lupin together.

— Of course, when facing Lupin, he would also stand by Professor Lupin's side and acknowledge him as a kind person.

— In short, speaking to people according to who they are, and perhaps speaking to others differently, was Dylan's consistent style.

"So, Professor, when will you provide me with the ingredients? And the potion recipe."

Professor Snape grabbed his wand and pointed it. A small pouch appeared before Dylan.

"The ingredients and recipe are in here. Take them back yourself and study them well when you have time. I don't need you to make the potion perfect, just usable – understand?"

Dylan calmly accepted the pouch. "Of course."

"So, Professor, shall I brew the potion here? Or find a place myself?" Dylan added, "I imagine you've heard, I've taken *all* the elective courses this year, so I don't have much free time."

"Brew it in your dormitory. Don't always resort to using... *that thing* – even for classes." Professor Snape swept his gaze over Dylan.

Dylan kept smiling. How many more times did this old bat need to glare at him?

"I understand, Professor."

As Dylan's words fell, the office fell into silence for a moment. After a pause, Professor Snape looked up again.

"Are you still here?"

"Ah? You want me to leave? Alright, I'll go now." Dylan feigned panic, stood up, said goodbye to Professor Snape, and walked out at a steady pace.

"Get some rest early, and good night~"

Professor Snape stared at his retreating back, his mouth twitching.

Dylan left Professor Snape's office. He followed the stairs back up to Gryffindor Tower. After giving the password, the Fat Lady opened the portrait hole. He greeted her and stepped into the Gryffindor common room.

The fire in the common room's hearth had already died down to dark red embers – it was quite late now. Dylan planned to study the Wolfsbane Potion brewing process and brew a bottle tonight. After all, judging by Professor Snape's demeanour, he probably hadn't even prepared this month's potion allocation for Professor Lupin yet.

He pulled out the pouch Professor Snape had given him and took out a notebook from within. It detailed the ingredients needed for Wolfsbane Potion, as well as the process and steps for brewing it.

"It actually requires powdered unicorn horn too." Dylan rummaged in the pouch and peered inside. There were three sets of ingredients.

Dylan's eyes immediately lit up. "Looks like I'm getting three portions of powdered unicorn horn for free this time! No, wait, I have to use one, so that's two portions."

Dylan smacked his lips. "Speaking of which, it's been a while since I went to the Forbidden Forest to bleed that unicorn again – unicorn blood is the most valuable thing on a unicorn for research!"

Dylan decided he'd find some free time to go to the Forbidden Forest. He'd stop by and see Hagrid while he was at it. He just didn't know if Hagrid, now that he was a Hogwarts professor, still had time to 'ramble in the woods' with him.

"Also, since Hagrid is a professor now, his salary should increase, right?"

"Even though it's just the Care of Magical Creatures professor, that class uses a lot of tools and materials related to magical creatures. I definitely need to find a chance to get Hagrid to bring some out for me..."

A slight smile played on Dylan's lips. Harry and Ron were chatting nearby. When Ron saw Dylan's expression, he couldn't help but shiver.

"Why does Dylan's smile feel so sinister?"

Harry looked over too and asked with some curiosity, "What's that booklet? Hermione said Professor Snape called Dylan over just now."

Ron shook his head. "Don't know, looks like some kind of recipe."

Dylan ignored them and started clanking away, setting up a cauldron.

*Latest chapter at six9s书吧 first!*

Finally, Neville couldn't help but ask, "Dylan, are you brewing a potion?"

Dylan nodded, while making preparations before starting the potion. He replied, "Professor Snape asked me to help him brew some potions, but I have a lot of classes normally, so I can only brew now."

Ron's eyes widened. "Huh? Professor Snape actually asked *you* to help him brew potions? What potion is it?"

Dylan answered casually, "Nothing, don't worry. I'll set up this cauldron closer to the door; it won't bother you."

Ron was still dumbfounded. "Is that a pure gold cauldron? My goodness, how much does such a big cauldron cost?"

Harry was also blinking. "And a pure silver cauldron! Dylan, are these all yours?"

Dylan smiled. "That's right, they're mine."

— He had specifically borrowed them from Mr. Borgin earlier.

"Merlin's socks! Dylan, you're really rich!" Ron said, looking envious.

"You'll be very rich in the future too," Dylan said.

He pulled a small table over and placed it not far from the door. He cast a Silencing Charm over the area near the dormitory door, then lit the fire and began brewing the Wolfsbane Potion.

According to the instructions in the booklet Professor Snape gave him, Wolfsbane Potion required a very long brewing time. It was quite troublesome.

First, the list of ingredients was long: Wolfsbane (Aconite), powdered unicorn horn, belladonna essence, cranesbill, frankincense, poisonous mushrooms.

And equipment: pure gold cauldron, gold stirring rod, pure silver cauldron, silver stirring rod, fine gauze, parchment...

Wearing gloves, Dylan cut the Aconite root into small pieces. After mixing it with powdered unicorn horn, he poured in belladonna essence. This step alone required the Aconite to soak in the belladonna essence for a whole night.

However, before that, Dylan could do some other preliminary preparation work.

Dylan twirled his wand, and the flame under the pure gold cauldron became smaller. Dylan poured distilled water into the gold cauldron until it boiled. Then, he added cranesbill. This step needed at least four hours of simmering. The better the essence simmered out, the more effective it would be.

Dylan cast a simple Protective Charm to prevent anyone passing by from accidentally touching the cauldron and getting burned.

Next, Dylan added the frankincense into the pure silver cauldron. He stirred it five times clockwise and three times counter-clockwise with the silver stirring rod, then lit the fire. This step also required waiting.

Dylan wasn't in a hurry. He just needed to wait for these initial preparations to be completed before moving on to the next step.

Dylan placed some vials and jars on the table. Although they weren't all things he needed for this potion, some were other ingredients. Dylan planned to brew potions in the dorm room from time to time in the future. This way, others wouldn't always wonder what he was doing inside his trunk.

More importantly, his classes would indeed be very busy from now on. If he was just brewing potions, he wouldn't need to climb into his trunk every day. – Unless he wanted to conduct some more covert experiments and research. Like making the Basilisk give blood (zizz zizz). Finding Little Tom to study Dark Magic. Or further perfecting the formula for the Obsidian Restorative, and so on.

He cast more spells, reinforcing the small table and making sure the flame under the cauldron released energy steadily. He also added several layers of Shield Charms. After all, he was brewing potions in the dormitory, and he had to consider the possibility of the cauldron exploding – although the probability wasn't high, it was better to be safe.

Having done all this, Dylan tidied up a bit and lay down on his bed. He could read a book before going to sleep.

The cauldron was bubbling away, but Dylan couldn't hear a thing on his side.

When it was time to sleep, Dylan closed his book and didn't pull Coal Ball out of his pet space. Instead, he hugged his pillow and fell into a deep sleep. Harry and the others also pulled up their blankets, preparing to face the busy classes the next day.

Until the early hours of the morning, around three or four o'clock. Harry's head was fuzzy, his consciousness hovering at the edge of a dream, but his body instinctively drove him to get up. Being woken up by the urge to use the toilet in the middle of the night was truly not a pleasant experience.

Harry groggily made his way towards the door, preparing to go to the bathroom in the Gryffindor Tower. However, just as he reached the door, he stumbled, his body swaying, and he leaned sideways. He could have just braced himself against the wall, but right there were the cauldron and various potion ingredient bottles Dylan had set up.

When Harry bumped into them, the cauldron was fine, but the bottles on the top layer crashed down with a "clatter," scattering everywhere. The lid of one bottle flew off completely, and the opening landed right above the cauldron. A few strands of herbs inside rattled down into the pure gold cauldron.

The cauldron was still boiling, bubbling away. The liquid was already thick. When the herbs fell in, nothing seemed to happen; they simply melted into the mixture.

However, even though nothing special occurred, Harry was instantly wide awake. His green eyes behind his glasses were wide as saucers, staring at the scene before him in a panic. At this moment, only two words filled his mind:

"I'm finished!!!"

Dylan wasn't going to scold him to death, was he? No, Dylan wasn't going to just use a spell to turn him into a giant troll, was he?!

At the same time, Dylan woke up almost the instant Harry touched the potion bottles. He had cast a spell on the cauldron, so he would feel it if someone touched it.

After waking up, although the light in the room wasn't bright – Dylan had used a spell to block the light from the cauldron's flame – he still saw the panicked-looking Harry standing rooted before his cauldron with a single glance. Seeing the mess around, Dylan understood what had just happened.

He threw off his blanket, got out of bed, and quickly walked over to Harry's side. Harry shuddered, his legs feeling weak.

"Dylan, listen to me, I didn't mean to."

Dylan's movement to steady Harry paused, his mouth twitching. "I know, you did it on purpose."

"Ah? No, no, no! I didn't..." Harry's eyes widened, and he quickly waved his hands, trying to defend himself.

Dylan rolled his eyes. "Alright, alright, of course I know you didn't mean to, and it wasn't on purpose – it wasn't intentional either."

"Uh..." Harry nodded, but felt there was something strange about Dylan's words.

"Okay, okay, go back to sleep," Dylan said, taking Harry's arm and carefully helping him back onto his bed.

Harry sat on the bed in a daze, scratched his head, and mumbled softly, "I... I was going to the toilet."

Dylan paused, then gave an apologetic smile. "I thought you were already back from the toilet. Well, hurry up and go then."

Harry quickly got up, tiptoed to the door, opened it, and slipped out.

Dylan then walked to the small table and checked the potion's condition. He hadn't been in a hurry to check the potion just now because, even though he had only glanced at it, he could still sense its condition. It wasn't a big problem.

He waved his wand, tidying up the messy area. Dylan looked at the ingredient bottle with the lid off.

"Hellebore?" Dylan blinked.

"Hmm, simmering it longer should be alright."

It's just that this kind of Hellebore was even bitterer than wormwood. Thrown into the potion, it would likely make the final Wolfsbane Potion incredibly bitter. And there was a high probability it would make your mouth go numb, even more so than putting a handful of Sichuan peppercorns in your mouth.

"Well, I didn't do this on purpose. If there are any problems, Professor Lupin can just ask Harry about it later."

Dylan checked the time.

"Ah, forget it. Anyway, it's about time for me to wake up, so I won't go back to sleep."

Dylan extinguished the cauldron's flame and began the next step.

(End of Chapter)