"Merlins socks! I think that's the first time he's given points to anyone other than Slytherin! He's usually taking them instead." Terry said excitedly.
"What's the secret mate? You his illegitimate son or something?" Mike pressed eagerly.
If I had been drinking I'd have spat it out all over his face at that.
"Absolutely not!" I hissed at him.
I did NOT want that reputation stuck on me. Not only would Snape likely turn damned near hostile but literally everyone except Slytherin ironically would also. One had to remember that Snape was hated by almost every other house from top to bottom except Slytherin.-
He was a professor though and a damned scary one at that so only the bravest or most foolish would try and pick a fight with him. Someone rumored to be his kid though? That was fair game to release some animosity against the man on.
"I get it, just a joke mate!" Mike said hurriedly.
"Still, why did he give you points when no one else outside Slytherin has?" Terry asked confused.
"I can't say for certain but there should be two reasons. The first is I'm not in Gryffindor. He REALLY doesn't like that house. The second is performance. He might have said the potion was acceptable but in reality it is nearly flawless. Add on the extra bit of knowledge I tacked on with those thorns and he probably has nothing but approval in mind." I explained quietly.
They nodded and accepted that answer as it made sense. I should mention there was a break in the middle of the brewing process to eat lunch. Making potions took time after all and a single class period was not nearly enough time. Especially when most of my peers would fail the first time around.-
Interestingly Snape approached us at the end of class to inform us of the two options we had for our potion.
"You can get the market price for the brew or take it for yourselves. Decide quickly." he said before leaving to go deduct some more points from Gryffindor again.
"I want to take my portion with me." I said to my two friend immediately.
"I'll take the money." Terry said.
"Same." Mike said.
So that was what we did in the end after portioning out the potion into vials and dividing it three ways. It wasn't a lot but I ended up with six vials of the potion in the end while both of them got six sickles for their portion. There was a reason I said potioneering was a very profitable art after all. The ingredients to make this potion cost a single sickle on the market and the potion itself was worth between a galleon and fifteen sickles depending on the yield of the cauldron. This trend was followed by every other potion as well with the ingredients being much less than the cost of the final product.-
You can imagine the price that truly expensive ingredient potions commanded as a result. Assuming they weren't flat out banned that is. As expected however Snape ordered a full six inches of homework on the potion of todays run.
"You guys head on without me. I spotted some interesting stuff on the way down here I want to check out." I said and they both raised eyebrows at that.
"Interesting how exactly?" Terry asked intrigued.
"Off interesting, different from the surroundings. Could be nothing honestly." I said with a shrug.
"Sounds like a right proper adventure. You can count me in." Mike said with a grin.
"Me too! Maybe we'll find some long lost treasure of the founders or something!" terry said eagerly.
"Alright but keep your wands ready, no telling what we might actually find." I said not all that concerned honestly.
Don't get me wrong I wasn't going to be overconfident like before and mess around carelessly. But nothing I had noticed felt important at all, hell for all I knew it could all just be little touches of personalized flair Slytherin added for fun. Ancient wizards loved doing stuff like that according to the history books I read.-
We left the potions classroom and immediately came to the first of our stops. It was a set of two braziers that were made of what appeared to be stone carved in the shape of three serpents stretched out with a bowl being held up at the top with flames flicking within it. I followed my haki sense and ran a finger over the serpent closest to the wall of the rightmost brazier. It's closed eyes opened and it extended it's head away from the brazier to bite the blank wall between the two braziers.-
The wall rippled like a pebble thrown in still water and faded away to reveal a wooden doorway. It's metal hinges and handle bore heavy rust on them from an obvious lack of care over a great many years and exposure to the humid air of the dungeon. I checked and double checked it for traps and finding none tried to open the door with a hard tug. The wood groaned and the rusted hinges ground against each other as I slowly forced the door open. One had to remember I was a whole hell of a lot stronger than I looked due to tempering my body with electricity and the one piece physique.-
If I had to give a definitive answer how strong I was I'd say roughly the same as the average healthy adult man. Insane for a child of eleven in this world but not all that unbelievable for even a younger child in the one piece world. Even with this kind of strength though I was sweating from exertion as I slowly ground the hinges into compliance.