Chapter 272 - 271. Beauxbatons. Part 3. The Lesson.

The Beauxbatons dungeon wasn’t much different from the rest of the castle. Like the other floors, it had a small common room with a fireplace, sofas, and bookshelves, as well as classrooms.

Potions, spell practice, and combat magic lessons were mainly held here, so the floor, walls, and ceiling were several times stronger than those on the upper floors and were protected by barriers that could withstand even a Bombarda Maxima.

Severus did not intend to linger in the dungeon for long, nor did he find any hidden passages or rooms, except for one containing a core that fed and regulated the magical flows throughout the castle, which was situated almost at the very center of the mountain upon which Beauxbatons stood.

Out of curiosity, he decided to attend a few lessons; he was simply interested in how combat magic and Potions were taught in this place.

As Olympe had explained, at Beauxbatons, professors who were not true masters of their discipline, both on paper and in practice, had no right to teach whatever they pleased and were required to follow the syllabi for each year to the letter.

That was why Severus had become interested, for a true Potions master of the Golden Cauldron rank taught here, someone whose books Slughorn had recommended to him many times.

However, the introduction did not go well from the very beginning...

The Combat Magic lesson, strangely enough, came as a pleasant surprise to Severus. There were no duels, of course; those were held only twice a week, and he had not visited on either of those days. But he was surprised that the children, fourth-years, were made to run around a classroom the size of a Quidditch pitch and forced to do physical exercises rather than simply wave their wands.

After he met the instructor himself, all questions evaporated. He was a retired instructor who had previously worked for the Ministry of Magic but in his old age had decided to dedicate himself to teaching the younger generation.

What Severus did not understand was why similar lessons were not held at Hogwarts. The Ministry of Magic could reap enormous benefits from minimal investment, and if the Room of Requirement, which could transform into a training facility, were opened to students...

It was very strange, but when one recalled that Britain was ruled by senile aristocrats who only wanted to stuff more Galleons into their own pockets, the question answered itself. Strengthening Muggle-borns or half-bloods was simply not to their advantage, while aristocrats’ children were taught at home.

Severus decided to skip the spellwork lesson, staying only a couple of minutes; he was already thoroughly familiar with the topic of protective charms, and the young teacher merely delivered the lecture straight from the syllabus.

The Potions classroom, where a lesson for ninth-years was currently underway, was located almost at the very end of the dungeon.

As soon as Olympe entered, the students rose from their seats at once.

"Sit down. Pretend we are not here," she said, casting a stern glance at them. After greeting the teacher, a middle-aged man with pleasant features and slightly disheveled dark hair, she made her way to the very back, where there were plenty of empty desks. Severus and Nagini followed, drawing curious looks from the graduates.

"Yes..." the Potions master replied in a calm, even tone, adjusting his tie and casting a quick glance toward the guests. "To select an antidote for complex, multi-component poisons, you will first have to break them down into simpler ones, select an antidote for each, and after studying the reactions, you will be able to determine the additional ingredients that can neutralize the complex poison."

"But what would happen if monalin were present in the poison?"

"Mademoiselle Pierce."

"Yes, it’s... monalin... the poison becomes unstable..." The petite French girl, who had risen from her desk, frantically tried to recall the answer, but she didn’t get a chance to finish.

"I take it you did not study the questions I assigned you last lesson?"

"I did study..."

"I see. Sit down," he said indifferently, making a note in his book. "Monsieur Bernard, the same question."

"Yes, when monalin is added, the poison loses some of its deadly properties, but after that, finding an antidote becomes several times more difficult due to its variability," another student answered confidently.

"Atrocious phrasing, Monsieur Bernard. Potions does not forgive mistakes, even in theory. Next time, take the trouble to learn this definition word for word." He walked to a small cauldron and placed two vessels of purple liquid on the table beside it. "This is a mixture of five poisons, with and without monalin..."

Bernard, long accustomed to this after nine years, sat back down calmly, barely reacting to the reprimand.

In the back row, Severus and Olympe listened quietly to the lecture, but Nagini watched the professor with open displeasure; she really didn’t like how coldly the teacher treated the students. The glance he had cast their way earlier, filled with dislike and anger, had contributed significantly to that.

Thanks to her increased strength, both physical and magical, her senses had sharpened many times over. Even without magic, a fleeting glance could not escape her notice.

*And how can someone like this be allowed to work with children?!* she wondered, glaring at him.

"...perhaps you could demonstrate your skills as a Black Cauldron master and help us?" The first thing Nagini heard as she emerged from her thoughts was that strange remark, since that rank belonged to...

"Of course." Severus rose from beside her with a smile and headed toward the teacher’s desk. The students stared at him in astonishment; they knew the general ranking system for Potions masters, especially by the ninth year, and putting two and two together based on the news about the youngest Black Cauldron master in Britain and the guest’s appearance, it wasn’t hard to guess who he was.

But Nagini was not the only one indignant at such a proposal; Olympe was as well: she wanted to smack her colleague on the head. She had spent so much effort trying to ensure only good impressions of the school were left, and one idiot had simply ruined everything.

"Severus! You must teach this arrogant snob a lesson! Don’t spare him! Humiliate him in front of everyone!"

"And when did you become so cruel...?" Severus sighed wearily, shaking his head. "Very well, since you know the theory anyway, let us move on to practice." He spoke in a much calmer tone now, modeling his manner after Slughorn. Under the Potions master’s cold gaze, he uncorked one of the flasks. "Actually, determining which poisons were used is not difficult. You simply use a process of elimination using ingredients that react with specific poisons. In our case, there’s an excellent book by Susanna Becker, in which she conducted remarkable research and selected them for us."

With that, ingredients began flying out of cabinets along the classroom walls.

"But, as you can imagine, not all poisons are compatible with each other, and selecting from over a thousand ingredients is quite a chore. So she divided them into five groups, and the groups themselves into several subgroups based on poison type and ingredient..."

Five empty test tubes descended onto the table, and he dropped some poison into each. "We use crushing charms."

Five different herbs flew from the table and, before the interested eyes of the students, were crushed into powder and fell into the poison.

"As you can see," he said, pointing to the fourth test tube, where green vapor had begun to form, "in this flask, beruna root was used. That means we’ve narrowed down the list of possible poisons fivefold. Now let us continue the selection..."

The lesson lasted nearly twenty minutes, and thanks to his knowledge and his ability to present it clearly, he was able to bridge the age gap between himself and the students, who were, on average, two years older than him, and earn their respect.

"...and the last poison in this mixture was Acromantula venom."

"As for monalin, it only sounds frightening because of its name. Using the same method, we can identify the types of poisons even if they’ve been distorted, though it will take more time. But first, it must be neutralized. The recipe can be found in any ninth-year textbook." He took the test tube with the pink liquid and handed it to the slightly frowning professor. "As for what to do with this information, your professor will explain further; he also has an excellent book on this topic."

His words disappointed the students, which wasn’t surprising, given how engagingly he explained things without slipping into excessive jargon, as their teacher was prone to do.

"...of course." The professor’s eyelid twitched, but he accepted the flask, struggling to hide his disappointment. "That was an excellent demonstration."

"Thank you." Meeting the professor’s cold gaze, Severus replied with a faint smile, then glanced toward the back of the room. "Let us move on." He looked down at the students and nodded slightly. "Have a good day, and good luck on the Higher Magical Examination."

With that, he left the classroom. A few seconds later, Nagini and Olympe followed.

They continued the tour, now heading toward the staircase leading to the first floor.

"Severus, you were too soft on him!" Nagini grumbled, recalling with irritation how the man had continued to behave just as arrogantly even after being saved from embarrassment, and had grown even angrier.

"And why should I care about his opinion? Besides... one might say he has a point," Severus said with a hint of amusement, winking at her. "Potions is a precise and delicate science, not foolish wand-waving over a boiling cauldron. Any mistake, even the slightest inaccuracy, can lead to the potioneer’s death; there are many examples. So having such a teacher is... I would even say it’s very good. Strictness in this discipline is important."

"But... still! He is too cruel to the students!" she muttered, looking dejected.

"And did you see dissatisfaction on the students’ faces?"

"..."

"You see, they understand (at least the ninth-years do). I can’t speak for the others."

"But your approach has merit too, in my opinion."

"It is not mine, but my teacher’s, the Head of Slytherin House, Horace Slughorn," Severus said gently to Olympe, shaking his head. "Though he presented the material in a far more interesting way. And by the way, why does your professor dislike me so much?"

He asked out of curiosity, and Olympe seemed a bit embarrassed, unsure how to answer.

"It’s..."

"Be frank."

She sighed wearily, clearly uncomfortable with the question, but said, "He believes you don’t deserve the Black Cauldron rank and that you obtained it by bribing the judges or using your connections." Hearing such baseless accusations, Nagini felt the urge to march back to that classroom and smack the Potions master upside the head. "He tried to pass the exam himself last year, but he failed, so..."

"Well, I’m not surprised. It was only to be expected, especially given my age, and honestly, I wouldn’t have believed it myself." Severus chuckled, rounding a corner and climbing the stairs. "It’s understandable, especially after his own failure... All right, let’s head to the garden, then. I really want to see the fountain left by Nicholas Flamel."

"Of course, and I apologize again on behalf of the entire school for our teacher’s behavior. I will certainly speak with him about it."

"Forget it," he said with a dismissive wave, reaching the first floor and letting Olympe go ahead so she could lead the way...

------------------------------------------