Snape looked at the potion tainted with Murphy's saliva, barely restraining himself from smashing the crucible over Murphy's head.
While potion-making often involved disgusting ingredients like rat bile, caterpillar juice, beetles, and hair, these were all part of the brewing process. Once the potion was complete, these ingredients would become integral components of the concoction, losing their original form. However, Murphy adding saliva after completing the potion was blatantly disgusting!
Shaking with anger, Snape protested, "Professor Sprout! What is this?!"
Professor Sprout looked bewilderedly at Murphy, "Professor Darkholme, what you just did..."
Murphy explained, "Professor, this potion requires the creator's saliva to form properly."
"Nonsense!" Snape bellowed, "There's no such potion!"
"Professor Darkholme, what is the name of this potion?"
Murphy replied, "This potion is called 'Thick Spit Elixir.' Its effects cause the drinker's liver to overheat, leading to irritability, flushed face, rapid heartbeat, shortness of breath, and in severe cases, rolling eyes, foaming at the mouth, and stiffness in the body..."
"Ridiculous! Utter nonsense!" Snape's pale face flushed with anger, clearly agitated.
"Look, Professor Snape, just smelling it has had such an effect," Murphy gestured with his hands.
Murphy wasn't deliberately trying to disgust anyone. The saliva he spat was actually petrified lizard venom – secreted by him. The pile of ingredients he initially gathered was a decoy; the saliva was the essence, and he had no choice but to spit it.
"A minute has passed, Professor Snape. Will you drink it or not?" Murphy inquired, "Or would you rather concede defeat?"
Snape's face fluctuated between red and pale, as if he was already poisoned. He gritted his teeth so hard they nearly cracked and glared furiously, but finally, he picked up the potion, ready to down it in one go.
Murphy watched silently, knowing that drinking it would instantly petrify Snape.
However, just as the potion neared his lips, Snape paused. He sniffed the potion, examined it closely, and then looked at Murphy in astonishment, "What did you add in this?"
"I took the ingredients from your shelf, didn't you see?" Murphy replied, glancing at the timers on his table, "You have only eight minutes left, Professor Snape."
Snape glared at him, carefully observing and sniffing the potion, muttering spells. His furrowed brow suggested confusion about the potion's effects. However, as a master of potion-making, he quickly grasped its properties and started brewing an antidote.
Murphy sighed quietly as Snape used Mandrake Juice, realizing he had identified the petrification component. He knew he wouldn't be able to deceive Snape this time.
Soon, Snape finished the antidote and drank both it and Murphy's potion.
His skin momentarily turned white before slowly returning to its normal color.
He was unharmed.
"Hmm," Murphy slightly disappointed, acknowledged Snape's skill as a potions professor. But since the potion was drunk, it was time for round two.
Realizing it might be difficult to defeat Snape quickly, Murphy decided on a war of attrition. He gathered more potion ingredients, sent for apples and milk from his house-elf, and began brewing.
This time, he chose the simple 'Cleaning Brightener,' adding dragon's blood for stove cleaning—not meant for consumption. It was akin to a disinfectant and toilet cleaner. Murphy added fructose and lactose extracted from the fruits and milk to create a 'Fruit Lactose Potion.'
Fruit lactose stimulates bowel movements, and with the addition of foaming and cleaning agents, Murphy was sure anyone who drank it would turn into a "human cannon."
"Duang!"
Murphy placed another potion on Snape's table, "Your turn again, Professor Snape."
Snape glared at Murphy, having seen what he brewed. Cleaning agents! Stove cleaner! Was this even a potion? It wasn't meant for consumption, so there was no antidote.
His confidence faltered, dreading what he might have to ingest next.
As Snape racked his brains for an antidote, Murphy kept counting down, "Ten more seconds gone, twenty, one minute... you have five minutes left. Oh, another half minute gone. Can't figure out an antidote, huh?"
Snape, irritated to the point of violence, trembled as he poured ingredients into his crucible, even spilling some.
After struggling to brew a universal antidote, Snape drank Murphy's potion.
His face contorted, a level of distortion never seen before on his usually impassive face. Murphy saw him clenching his teeth, muscles tensed as if holding back a force from erupting out of his body...
Murphy couldn't help but respect him. Such endurance! At this point, others would have been propelled by the law of conservation of momentum, but Snape held back, demonstrating immense willpower.
Shaking violently, Snape finally managed to swallow the antidote. He endured immense pain, nearly rolling his eyes back in his head, before the antidote took effect, slowly calming the raging force within him.
But as he looked down, he saw Murphy already preparing the third potion.
Fear genuinely gripped him, causing him to doubt his challenge's recklessness.
Meanwhile, Snape's modified Living Death potion was ready. He placed it on Murphy's table, confident that with Murphy's potion-making skills, he couldn't counter it.
Without a glance, Murphy grabbed the Living Death potion Snape labored over and downed it in one gulp.
Snape stared, unblinking, curious how long Murphy could last.
Under his gaze, Murphy drank some clear liquid from a cup.
Suddenly, several flashes of lightning erupted behind him, quickly vanishing from sight. They transformed into several black birds, fluttering to comfortable, safe branches before collapsing into a death-like slumber.
Since Living Death wasn't lethal, Murphy transferred the potion's effects to several crows symbiotically connected to him, letting them sleep it off.
In fact, if he transformed into his demonic form, he might withstand such a potion, but with a more convenient method available, there was no need for such dramatics.
Stunned for a while, Snape finally asked, "What was that?"
"An antidote, of course," Murphy smiled, "Professor Snape, is
that your only trick? My third potion is almost ready."
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