Chapter 53: Frog Processing Master
Time flew by, and soon it was Saturday, the agreed-upon day to learn potion-making with Snape.
After breakfast, Ethan knocked on Snape's office door, carrying only his wand, unsure what to bring.
The door swung open on its own. Snape sat in a chair facing the door, staring at him in silence.
Ethan had no idea why, so he checked his clothes. Finding nothing wrong, he stared back.
Neither of them looked away. Finally, he spotted the corner of Snape's mouth twitched and realized he was about to lose his temper, so he asked timidly, "Professor, say something! You're just staring at me like this. How am I supposed to know what you want?"
"Hmph!" Snape snorted coldly, having won the staring contest. "I heard you gave Hermione and Hagrid each a 'precious' mutated salamander?"
"Ha, well, you see, Professor. Let me make my excuses. No, let me explain."
He laughed nervously, his mind racing to find a way to placate Snape. So that was why Snape had been looking at him strangely yesterday. He had been waiting to make trouble for him today.
"Aren't they just consumables for you to use up, Professor? Yes, just consumables. I still have a super rare first-generation variant on hand, twice the size of an ordinary salamander! Wait a moment, Professor. I'll go get it right away."
He made to leave, secretly hoping Snape would call him back. He dragged his feet toward the door, hand nearly on the handle, but Snape still hadn't stopped him.
He glanced back at Snape's expressionless face and had to steel himself. He quickly returned to the dormitory to fetch his beloved Little Black.
Ethan stroked the obedient Little Black, looking pitiful. "Professor, please don't kill this one. I've been raising it as a pet. I'm attached to it."
"How about you find a few ordinary salamanders, and I'll make you a few more variants?"
Snape didn't believe he was capable of mutating a salamander.
So he simply reached out and grabbed the black salamander.
He examined it carefully and determined that this one was more potent than the gray one Ethan had sent.
Since he had never seen a mutated salamander like this, he began to believe Ethan, if only a little.
"I'll take some blood from this one. I'll prepare some salamanders for you shortly, and I'll watch you mutate them."
Ethan let out a relieved sigh and nodded quickly.
Snape took a syringe and drew a small sample of blood, nodding with satisfaction. He then took out a bottle of Essence of Dittany to staunch Little Black's bleeding and placed the salamander back into the small fire habitat he had created to keep Little Gray company.
Seeing the Essence of Dittany, Ethan remembered the potted plant he'd been keeping for himself.
Professor Sprout's assignment on how growing conditions affected Dittany had ended long ago. The final conclusion was that the effect was minimal, so his plant could still be used to make Essence of Dittany.
He had planned to save it for treating small animals, but unfortunately, the spells he used for experiments either destroyed everything or were curses like Densaugeo that didn't require Dittany at all, so his plans never worked out as planned.
"Professor, what are we learning today?"
"Potion ingredient preparation. Let's start with pickling frogs." Snape's smile made Ethan's hair stand on end, but what followed worried him even more.
It was shocking. A greasy man in his thirties was actually making a young boy do such a thing!
"Pickling frogs!"
Snape's smile was full of malice. "What? Don't want to do it? Then don't learn."
"I'll do it!" Ethan gritted his teeth. Looking at the bucket full of frogs Snape had somehow produced, he suppressed his nausea and picked up the small knife beside him, preparing to kill them one by one.
He had just killed one when Snape stopped him.
"Wrong. You can't cut there; it will ruin the medicinal properties of the frog's brain. You have to do it like this."
With that, Snape took the knife from him, found the spot on the belly corresponding to the neck, cut the blood vessel, drained the blood, and threw the frog into another bucket.
"Did you see clearly?" He picked out the frog Ethan had cut and threw it away.
"I saw clearly."
"Then what are you waiting for! Do it!"
"Yes!"
Ethan caught a slippery frog with one hand, flipped it over, listened to its croaking, pinned its struggling body in his grip, and carefully searched for the blood vessel.
At first, his movements were jerky. He often stabbed the wrong spot, making the frog in his hand squeak louder and struggle more violently.
Gradually, after a few frogs had paid the price, he became increasingly proficient, often killing them with a single strike.
Actually, if Snape hadn't questioned him before he became proficient at this, one or two fewer adorable frogs would have suffered lingering deaths.
"Name several potions that can be made with pickled frogs, and state the function of frog brains." Snape smiled maliciously.
"Um... pickled frogs can be used to make the antidote for Amortentia. I don't know the others. Frog brains are an ingredient in Baruffio's Brain Elixir."
Ethan thought frantically as he processed the frogs. He couldn't stop; a whole bucket of frogs still waited to be killed. He certainly didn't want to spend all day processing frogs.
Snape nodded with something like satisfaction. "Barely passed. Pickled frogs can also be used to make Hate Potions, and additionally, they can be used to make potions that attract snakes. In addition to Baruffio's Brain Elixir, frog brains are also frequently used in the Draught of Living Death."
Ethan wanted to immediately jot down these points not covered in the textbooks, but he was still holding a frog and had no pen or paper. He could only hope he'd remember them once he was done.
"I need a Pensieve!" This was his strongest wish right now.
For the rest of the morning, Snape was busy with his own research. He was analyzing the properties of black salamander blood compared to ordinary blood.
When Ethan finally finished the bucket of frogs, Snape merely glanced at it and said casually, "Come back this afternoon to learn how to pickle them."
After speaking, he waved his hand, dismissing Ethan.
Ethan raised his blood- and mucus-covered hands and waved them at Snape.
Snape rolled his eyes and summoned water with Aguamenti for him to wash his hands.
"Thank you, Professor. See you this afternoon."
The smell of blood had destroyed his appetite. After leaving the office, he hurried back to the dormitory to write down what he had learned that morning.
After washing up and resting for a while, he returned to the dungeon office to learn how to process the morning's dead frogs into usable potion ingredients.
Just like that morning, he attempted it first. After he made mistakes, Snape demonstrated the proper technique. Once Ethan's movements were correct, the old man ignored him and returned to his own research, leaving him to work slowly.
The pickling process that afternoon was even more disgusting than the morning's work. He had to cut open their bellies, remove the colorful internal organs, wash them clean one by one, and soak the frogs in a special solvent.
Ethan retched several times before finally suppressing the bile rising in his throat.
He was somewhat glad he hadn't eaten lunch, or it would have been just stomach acid.
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