"Sean, go wait for me in my office."
After grading Sean, Snape had him go wait in his office while he continued the examination. Of course, compared to before, Snape now had a hint of impatience in his demeanor.
Sean and Blaise left the Potions classroom. Blaise returned to the common room first, while Sean went directly to Snape's office.
Sean was quite familiar with Snape's office by now. He opened the door, found a place to sit, and took a potions-related book from the bookshelf. However, as soon as he looked at the first page, he found the potions knowledge in the book to be quite profound, and with his current ability, reading it was very difficult.
"This book is not suitable for you. With your current level of potions, you cannot fully understand this book yet."
Snape's emotionless voice suddenly sounded behind Sean, giving him quite a fright.
Sean immediately got up and looked at Snape, only then realizing that he had been reading for almost half an hour and Snape had already finished the examination work and returned.
"Professor, I was feeling a bit bored just now, so I just grabbed a book."
Snape nodded without saying anything immediately. Instead, he glanced at the book Sean had already flipped through more than ten pages of and asked, "You've flipped through over ten pages. Did you understand it?"
"It's alright. There are some parts I don't quite understand."
"What did you understand?"
"It's mainly about discussing the feasibility of eliminating the werewolf virus," Sean explained. "I personally think that the direction mentioned about extracting the werewolf virus from the human body for further research might be feasible."
Regarding this point, Sean viewed the werewolf virus as a disease. The direction discussed in the book was actually similar to the methods for vaccine production in the Muggle world. Sean felt that the wizard who proposed this possibility had likely researched Muggle medical treatments and intended to use that as a basis to research a method to treat lycanthropy.
"Good insight… Now, let's get to the main point." Snape walked forward, closed the book, put it back on the shelf, then turned to look at Sean and said, "Sean, where did you learn the two techniques you used when brewing potions earlier?"
"Professor, as you know, my parents are Squibs, so I lived in the Muggle world when I was young and learned a lot of their knowledge. Among Muggle sciences, there is a subject called chemistry, which is one of the main ways Muggles make medicine. The two techniques I used earlier were based on methods from chemistry."
"Of course, it wasn't a complete copy but rather borrowing the theories of related techniques and integrating them into the method of brewing potions. The ingredients for the Forgetfulness Potion just now were quite suitable, but it might not be the case for other potions."
Snape had no interest in Muggle chemistry. He merely nodded slightly and then said to Sean, "Your assignments during the term are usually in essay form, so you should be familiar with writing them. The examination is over, and classes are suspended. During this time, I need you to write a detailed essay about the changes you made to the Forgetfulness Potion recipe and submit it to me. Once I have checked it and there are no major issues, I will guide you in submitting the essay to The Golden Cauldron, a potions journal founded by the Wizengamot. If your essay can be published in The Golden Cauldron, your path in the magical world will be much smoother in the future."
The Golden Cauldron? A potions journal? The magical world has something like this?
It's a good habit to ask when you don't understand, and after a year of getting along, Sean could also be slightly, just slightly, a little bit more presumptuous in front of Snape.
"Professor, what is The Golden Cauldron?"
"If your hearing is fine, I think I made it quite clear just now." Although he said that, Snape still explained, "The Golden Cauldron is one of the many magical journals founded by the Ministry of Magic's Wizengamot. It is the most authoritative journal for potions in the magical world. Articles that are published in The Golden Cauldron are of a considerable standard, and authors whose articles are published there will gain a significant amount of fame and money."
"For example, the research on the werewolf virus you were just looking at – the most famous figure in that field is Damocles. He is currently researching a potion that can allow werewolves to maintain their sanity after transforming. During his research process, whenever he reaches a new stage, he writes his research findings into an essay and submits it. Currently, he has published fourteen essays. According to the records in the essays, Damocles should be able to formulate the potion in about another year. And even without fully researching the potion, he has already gained considerable investment and great fame through these essays."
Sean had an impression of this potion; it was called Wolfsbane Potion.
And according to Snape's explanation, Sean also understood that the journals in the magical world were actually very similar to scientific journals in the Muggle world. As for whether the magical world imitated the Muggle world or the Muggle world borrowed from the magical world, that was not something Sean could know.
"I understand. I will take it seriously. I will submit the article to you before the holidays."
"Alright, if there's nothing else, you can leave."
What he had just said was almost equivalent to three days' worth of Snape's usual talking. Now that the matter was explained, he had no intention of wasting any more words with Sean and simply sent him away.
Leaving Snape's office, Sean thought about The Golden Cauldron and other magical journals. These were things Sean had never heard of before, which proved that the wizarding world was definitely more complex than Sean had imagined. The magical world of this world was definitely not just Hogwarts, not just the British wizarding world; it had a much wider world.
Returning to the common room, Sean took a deep breath and calmed himself down.
The essay certainly needed to be written, and while writing the essay, Sean also had to pay attention to Harry's situation. In the latter half of this school year, Sean and Harry's interactions had become less and less, often only having some exchanges in the same classroom. This was partly due to Harry investigating the Philosopher's Stone and deliberately avoiding suspicion with him and also due to Sean being too busy and not having extra time to deepen their communication.
According to Sean's memory, the two-faced Quirrell, before preparing to steal the Philosopher's Stone, had disguised Ministry of Magic letters to lure Dumbledore out of Hogwarts. That was also when Harry went to stop Quirrell. Therefore, by simply paying attention to when Harry goes to see Dumbledore, he would know when Harry would act, and that would also be the time for Sean to prepare to implement his own plan.
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