{Rigel's Room, Slytherin Dorm, Hogwarts}
{6th Sep 1991}
{3rd Person POV}
Rigel carefully lifted the cauldron of the fire as he prepared to add the final ingredient to the shimmering potion. He was recreating the cure for boils potion that they had made in class last week but he was doing it this time alone. During the class Daphne had done almost all of the work as the Cure for Boils is a simple potion. While Rigel didn't mind the free grade he got, he still needed to learn and see if his abilities affected the potions.
He had used some potions in the past 2 months, most of them had been consumed by Maria but they had been bought by Kreacher from the market. He hadn't tried brewing one because, honestly, he was more interested in the spells and sex. Now though after Daphne's explanation, he realized that most branches of magic were closely linked with each other, and he simply couldn't ignore a facet of knowledge because he had to wait exactly 33-45 minutes for the potion to brew.
Still, that wasn't the only thing that caught his interest though as the process of how potions were made was far more appealing to him. Because of his mana sense, he had a far more accurate picture of how potions were made. Interestingly enough, although he was guessing that the main ingredient of the Cure for Boils Potion was the snake fangs, in reality, the main ingredient was the horned slug.
Every step of the mana that was introduced into the mixture somehow reacted with each other but in the end, the main purpose of the rest of the ingredients was to extract the mana from the horned slugs. He followed two different recipes for the potions at the same time and observed how two different combinations of ingredients managed to give the same pinkish hue to the mixture.
The smoke coming out of his potion at the end was the same dark pink and he could sense a large amount of mana from the horned slug dissipating into the environment. Still, the difference was pretty clear, the reference book he got from the library had a better but slightly more complicated recipe. Still, as the potion finally shimmered down and its light pink hue cooled down, a new panel appeared in front of him marking his success official.
...
[New Potion Learned: Boil Cure Potion]
[First Potion Recipe learned... Potions tab unlocked!]
[+5 Exp]
...
The exp was a welcome boost but still the thing that interested Rigel was the second message. He quickly opened the new tab with a thought and read through the description of the first potion that was listed on this new panel.
...
[Boil Cure Potion: Lv - 1(20/100)]
[A Cure for Boil potion is a magical remedy created before 900 BC. The potion is designed to treat boils, which are skin lesions that can be magically induced. In the wizarding community, where magical maladies are not uncommon, potions play a crucial role in healing various ailments.]
[- Removes status affect {Boils} and other minor skin lesions]
...
The change was not immediate but when Rigel turned back to the potion shimmering in his cauldron he could tell that his potion was correct as a small tag with the potion's name was floating above it. A convenient feature but most likely it would only be available for potions that he knew.
'Still that would make spiking my food with potions a lot harder... at least the standard ones, who knows what kind of mixture the Weasley twins would create.' Rigel thought. Speaking of the Weasley twins they were his next target, he needed to get the map if he wanted to track down Pettigrew and track Sirius as he hovered around the castle. At least he hadn't seen any mentions of the dementors stationed around Hogwarts so he didn't need to focus on learning the Patronus charm as of yet.
He was having a headache about how he would go about that. The Accio charm might work but Rigel kind of doubted that the parchment wouldn't be counter-charmed against it, still after all the head-scratching he decided that a straightforward approach was probably for the best.
'It's not like they were the worst characters in the book, I quite liked the infernal twins, if I could give Blaise a chance based on his Fanfiction persona I could surely talk to them without schemes of stealing the map...' Rigel decided as he drained the potion into small glass vials and stored them in his inventory. He still was quite a way away from filling his personal storage, because of all the changes he had totally forgotten to visit the Room of Forgotten Things and search for valuables.
'I'll do that before I go home for Christmas.' Rigel thought as he closed the door behind him and walked out. He took a deep breath as fresh air filled his lungs. A feeling of freshness washed over the fatigue he was feeling as he walked toward the common room entrance.
'And I need to find a spare classroom or maybe even start using the Room of Requirement for creating potions. I don't want to end up with a pale chapped-up face like Snape...' Rigel opened the door to the common room and walked out. Even if he decided on his approach he still needed to figure out where George and Fred might be.
After thinking about it for a moment he called out, "Tweak?"
It took just a moment and a small house elf popped out in front of him, it was the same one that had responded to his request when Rita was around. The house elf looked at Rigel with shining eyes and asked, "What can Tweak do for you, Mr Black?"
"Can you take a message to Fred Weasley for me, tell him that I have a deal for him about his joke shop, if he wants to talk to me the map will guide him to me, I'll be on the 7th floor," Rigel spoke. Tweak's eyes widened as his eyes bobbed up and down at his words. After mumbling to himself he nodded to Rigel and snapped his fingers.
'Well, I guess I should go up to the 7th floor...'
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AN - Next target, the Map.
P.S.- 35+ Chapters ahead at P.atreon!