Having escaped famine, I was accepted into Hogwarts.

Chapter 34 Frog Legs 3 Meiji

For some reason, Hermione suddenly smelled a deathly scent in the air. She sniffed carefully and finally found the source: Kane's long-dead hope.

"Why do you look like you're about to die?" Hermione asked, frowning.

Kane didn't say anything, but Harry and Ron, who were standing nearby, watched Hermione with great interest.

If nothing unexpected happens, Hermione will also have a look on her face later.

Snape returned to the podium and began by personally selecting, processing, lighting, and brewing the potion in a crucible, and finally bottling it.

The entire process was seamless and smooth, without a trace of craftsmanship; on the contrary, it had the silky smoothness of an artist painting.

"Just now, you saw the standard method for making acne potion." After saying that, Snape picked up his wand and casually flicked it. The materials cabinet at the back of the Potions classroom suddenly opened, and batches of potion materials flew onto each group's desk.

"I will give you forty minutes. Normally, it only takes ten minutes to brew acne medicine." After saying that, Snape began to pace around the classroom like a lion surveying its territory.

Kane took a deep breath and said in a low voice, "I'll handle the materials, and you'll control the crucible."

"No problem." Hermione nodded, took out her wand, and started a fire in the cauldron.

As the witch hazel solution inside slowly boiled, Kane promptly handed over the dragon claw powder.

"You can put it directly into the crucible," Hermione reminded her.

"No, we agreed on a division of labor." Kane said, then went on to deal with the white rose petals, snake fangs, porcupine quills, and frog legs.

"You're as rigid as a German in this respect," Snape remarked quietly, having somehow appeared behind Kane. "Potions Mastery isn't just about simple replication. If that's all a wizard can do, I might as well order an alchemical golem."

After Snape finished speaking, he quickly moved towards Harry and looked at Harry and Ron, who were about to come up with some new tricks, and scolded them sternly: "You two are different. In fact, I don't think you will get any positive results from wasting your time on potions, so you just need to play the roles of two brainless alchemical robots."

Kane's lips twitched. Perhaps it was because he had met Snape at Hogwarts before enrolling, so Snape had shown him a little... favor?

Ah, I suddenly felt a pang of remorse for my strange talent. If Snape could target me the way he targeted Harry, then I could feel at ease showing him my skill of turning pork ribs into a wok.

What I fear most is that Snape might have some unrealistic illusion about me, and that he might think I'm a promising talent, go to great lengths to teach me, and then I might do something terrible to him.

Merciful Merlin, I apologize and repent for any psychological trauma I may have caused Professor Snape, and I have no intention of making amends.

"Look how well Professor Snape just said it. You should be more innovative and not act like a machine," Hermione said, pushing the cauldron toward Kane.

This kind of practical project can't be done by one person alone, otherwise Kane would have wasted his time in this class.

However, Kane generally resisted Hermione's advances.

"Why? I'm doing this for your own good!" Hermione said, somewhat confused.

"Please toned down the 'mom smell,' thank you." Kane's words silenced Hermione for a moment; for a fleeting instant, she even considered slamming the cauldron down on Kane's head.

For the rest of the class, Hermione continued to operate the cauldron while Kane prepared the potion ingredients for her, essentially the man standing behind the alchemist.

As for the others and Snape, the young wizards quietly caused trouble, while Snape leisurely sprayed venom, immersing each young wizard in the sharp daggers of Slytherin's unique language.

And the one Snape favored most was Harry Potter.

After this class, he probably won't pester Kane to go back to the Dursleys' house for the holidays anymore.

You'll never know the pain until you've been cut yourself; Harry understood this saying very deeply at this moment.

"My goodness, Mr. Harry Potter, in all my years of teaching at Hogwarts, I have never seen any young wizard who could handle materials with such...distinctiveness."

After Snape finished speaking, seeing that Harry didn't show the look of utter displeasure that James had died, he said somewhat displeased, "You think I'm praising you?"

Harry shook his head. "No, of course not."

Snape slowly smiled, barely able to suppress his laughter at the thought of what he was about to say.

"I'm sorry, Mr. Pott, you guessed wrong. I was indeed praising you. As punishment for your wrong guess, Gryffindor, deduct five points."

Hermione abruptly stopped stirring the cauldron with her wand, nearly ruining the potion.

"Relax, it's just a grade. It's not like it's your final grade. You can't eat it or spend it, you can only look at it. It's not very useful," Kane comforted her softly.

"It's not because of the grades, it's because Snape is targeting Gryffindor so much," Hermione said angrily.

"Hmm, that's true." Kane didn't seem to have any objection to that statement. Unlike the peaceful Slytherin, Snape spent most of his time loitering around Gryffindor, stirring up trouble.

As soon as the trouble started, not far in front of Kane, Neville and Seamus were like fried watermelons. A volcanic eruption couldn't describe the shocking scene; all that could be seen was Neville's face, which looked like the surface of the moon.

Snape strode over: "Gryffindor, deduct ten points!" Then he flicked his wand, forcefully pressing down the erupting cauldron.

"You two, go to the infirmary and find Madam Pomfrey. Harry, why are you just staring there without a trace of sadness? Does your classmate's misfortune make you feel lucky? Another ten points deducted from Gryffindor!"

In just one short class, Gryffindor had become Gryffindor Boy, while Kane and Hermione were still staring at the cauldron in front of them.

"I'm walking on eggshells trying to concoct this potion. Do you think I can wait until get out of class is over?" Kane said quietly to Hermione.

Before Hermione could get an answer, Snape, who had appeared behind her at some point, spoke in a low voice: "The answer is no. And I must remind you, you're here for Potions, not Potions Preparation. If you don't handle the cauldron yourself, you'll probably lose all your Gryffindor points."

Gudong!

Kane slowly swallowed a mouthful of saliva, while Hermione, standing beside him, was also so intimidated by Snape's oppressive aura that she couldn't move an inch.

"Professor, are you really going to let me do it?" Kane turned to Snape, wanting a disclaimer.

"What else?" Snape said coldly.

Kane, undeterred by death, picked up the last potion ingredient on the table—a dried frog leg—and tossed it into the cauldron.

In an instant, the potion inside the cauldron emitted an eerie light.

Harry and Ron, who were watching from the sidelines, simultaneously reached out and slapped themselves on the forehead.

It's over, it's over.

Kane watched the frog leg sandwich slowly emerge from the crucible and muttered, "It's over, it's over."