Half an hour later, inside the Defense Against the Dark Arts classroom, Link and Professor Kettleburn were standing beside the broken body of the Red Cap.
"Truly a crazy creature!" Professor Kettleburn said with a face full of emotion, "Link, what do you think?"
Link did not speak, just looked at the greedy appearance of the Red Cap, which, even in death, was still trying to lick its own blood. In the end, he silently nodded.
Outside the classroom, a large group of students was gathering in the corridor, chattering noisily. From time to time, someone would stick their head in to look inside the classroom. After witnessing the tragic scene inside, they would shrink back in horror.
Madam Pomfrey and Professor Sprout were squatting beside the podium, rescuing Lockhart.
Just now, that box containing the Red Cap had landed directly on the back of Lockhart's head, nearly smashing his brain matter out.
If it had happened in the Muggle world, Lockhart would either have died or become a vegetable. But since it was Hogwarts, Link estimated he just needed to lie quietly for a few days to recover.
Watching the busy scene on Madam Pomfrey's side, Professor Kettleburn sighed emotionally, "This time we really have to thank you, Link. Creatures like Red Caps are cruel by nature and extremely agile. It's very hard for an average young wizard to deal with them. If not for you, a more serious bloody accident might have happened this time."
"You knew that ordinary young wizards couldn't deal with Red Caps, yet you still lent it to Lockhart?" Link rolled his eyes at Professor Kettleburn and complained, "Don't tell me you didn't know he's just trash?"
Hearing this, Professor Kettleburn's expression immediately became somewhat awkward, but he still forcefully explained, "Of course I knew! It's just... just that I didn't expect Lockhart to be such trash to the point of not even being able to handle a Red Cap!"
Link shook his head speechlessly. He suddenly realized that perhaps Professor Kettleburn wasn't as reliable as he appeared to be.
But seeing this, Professor Kettleburn thought Link was worried about him and gave Link a hearty slap on the shoulder, saying, "Hahaha! You don't have to worry about me, Link. That old guy Dumbledore doesn't dare to do anything to me. During my tenure I've already been kept under observation at least 60 times. This kind of thing doesn't count for anything at all! Alright, you're not in good shape lately. Go rest well. You don't need to come to the Care of Magical Creatures class this afternoon either. Leave this to me!"
Professor Kettleburn's tone was full of pride. Link curled his lips before finally saying, "Then, I'll take my leave first."
With that, Link walked out of the classroom.
Along the way, the Ravenclaws and Hufflepuffs all stepped back in fear to make way. Only John and a few other Hufflepuffs who were familiar with Link came rushing up, excitedly asking about the situation in the classroom.
Link's performance in class just now had exceeded their understanding. The final result was also far too bloody for them to accept for the moment.
As for the attitude of the others, Link didn't really care. He continued walking toward the common room, chatting and laughing with John and the others.
But before he had gone far, he heard the familiar hoarse voice of Professor Kettleburn from behind, "Oh! I almost forgot! Link! You did very well! Hufflepuff gets 50 points!"
———
Late at night, when scattered moonlight passed through the small round window and shone into the dormitory, Link finally woke up.
By this point, Link had already tested and analyzed almost all the materials in Snape's ingredient store.
Tonight, Link planned to test the remaining few materials and complete the development of the Invisibility Potion in one go.
Thinking this way, Link carefully left the dormitory and headed toward Snape's office.
But when Link arrived at Snape's office, he was surprised to find that Snape was not fiddling with his crucible as usual, but instead standing at the workbench categorizing a large pile of potion ingredients.
Judging by the pharmacy labels still attached to some of the packaging, these were probably newly bought by Snape to replenish the store.
This made Link feel a bit guilty. After quietly greeting Snape, he quickly slipped into the ingredients storeroom.
Only after the storeroom door was softly closed did Link breathe a sigh of relief and turn to walk toward the temporary workbench he had set up in the storeroom.
The setup here hadn't changed at all since he last left.
On a workbench slightly smaller than Snape's was a full set of potion-making equipment, a pile of empty measuring cups, and four types of ingredients that Link had previously sorted out, the only ones that had not yet been tested.
If Snape hadn't been messing with him, then the material that could serve as a stabilizer should be among these four.
Thinking so, Link rubbed his hands together and immediately began the experiment.
Link skillfully mixed concentrated Aconite Juice and Metamorphic Lizard Slime in a 6:1 ratio, heating them in the crucible. At the same time, he processed the stabilizer materials that needed testing and added them one by one into the crucible.
After doing all this, Link took off his dragon-hide gloves and began writing the journal entry for this experiment.
Because from now on, all Link had to do was quietly wait ten minutes to obtain a sample of the experiment.
The final potion sample would be fed to a goblin locked in a transparent box nearby. These little creatures, commonly found in wizards' backyards and known for destroying crops, had bodily structures extremely similar to humans. They were often used by potion masters as lab rats.
This was a process Link had already repeated countless times before.
To be honest, it was really boring, even more boring than when he first started seriously studying magic. Luckily, during this process, Link could still gain potion-making experience.
At present, thanks to the abundant resources in Snape's ingredient store, Link had already raised both his material processing and potion-making skills in Potions to LV4. With his current skill level, he could even go work as a potion operator at one of Gringotts' potion workshops.
Ding!
The alarm clock placed beside Link gave off a crisp ring.
Hearing it, Link immediately put down his pen and paper, put his dragon-hide gloves back on, quickly lifted the crucible lid, stirred three times clockwise with the stirring rod, and then poured the thick light-gray liquid inside into a beaker.
"Come on, little guy, it's your time to shine." Link said softly as he brought the beaker in front of a goblin.
This greedy creature had extremely low intelligence and never refused any kind of food. So when faced with the potion in Link's hand, still bubbling, it drank it all down without the slightest hesitation.
Immediately after, a magical scene occurred.
The goblin, having drunk the entire potion, clutched its neck in pain, yet its limbs gradually began to turn transparent.
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