Chapter 133: Impedimenta
The Impediment Jinx.
It was a Jinx, technically classified as Dark Magic, but immensely practical.
"A swiftly cast Impediment Jinx can delay an opponent or freeze a magical creature in its tracks, making it an essential tool in any wizard's dueling repertoire."
— Miranda Goshawk, The Standard Book of Spells
The spell's effect lasted only about ten seconds, slowing an opponent or suspending a creature, like a wasp, in mid-air.
Professor Snape's chosen target was, indeed, a wasp. "If you fail, Sean Green," he murmured, his voice laced with menace, "a little pain might serve to sharpen your focus!"
Sean nodded, seemingly oblivious to the wand Snape gripped tightly beneath his robes, ready to intervene.
"Impedimenta!"
Blue-white sparks erupted from Sean's wand. The wasp, diving towards him, froze instantly in mid-air.
[You have practiced the Impediment Jinx to the Expert standard. Proficiency +50]
[You have practiced the Impediment Jinx to the Expert standard. Proficiency +50]
...
[Impediment Jinx: Adept (110/3000)]
[A new Title in the field of Dark Arts has been unlocked.]
Compared to other branches of magic, Sean's progress in the Dark Arts was always disturbingly swift. An hour of practice was enough to take him from Apprentice to Adept. Sometimes, he felt less like he was casting the spells and more like the Dark Magic was simply flowing through his wand of its own accord. Despite harboring no intense malice, the power of his spells was undeniable.
"Hmph. You got lucky, Green," Snape muttered, vanishing the wasp with a flick of his wand as Sean sagged with exhaustion.
"Take this." Snape tossed a notebook onto the workbench. As Sean turned to catch it, he noticed his own letter sitting in one of the glass-fronted cabinet's compartments. He blinked, and both the letter and the small jar beside it vanished. My eyes playing tricks on me? he wondered.
"What are you waiting for?!" Snape roared suddenly. "Do you expect the ingredients to prepare themselves and jump into the cauldron?!"
White steam billowed like smoke from a dragon, swirling with the stray snowflakes drifting in from the high window.
Sean opened the notebook. It contained his own notes on the Guidance Method, but Snape had annotated it heavily. Crucially, the annotations were precise improvements, devoid of the usual sarcasm. Snape had also added a new potion: the Elixir to Induce Euphoria.
This was an advanced potion from Libatius Borage's Advanced Potion-Making, typically taught to fifth-years. It should have been far beyond Sean's current level. However, Sean noticed something vital: this potion also had a modified ritual and willpower guidance method perfected by Borage. Snape had seemingly set an impossible task, but in reality, he had provided a clear path to success.
"Satisfied with brewing potions a troll could manage?" Snape sneered.
The Elixir to Induce Euphoria was difficult, undeniably. But Borage's ritual carved a way forward.
[You have successfully brewed an Elixir to Induce Euphoria to the Apprentice standard. Proficiency +1]
[Elixir to Induce Euphoria: Locked (1/30)]
"What did you just do?!" Snape barked, his voice overlapping with the Panel's chime. His dark eyes narrowed, suspicion warring with surprise.
"Get—out."
Sean realized what had happened. In the final stage, acting on pure instinct fueled by intense focus, he had added a sprig of peppermint. As the sprig hit the potion, he remembered: that was Snape's own modification from the Half-Blood Prince's notes.
He cleaned his station as usual, wrapped his scarf tight, and left the dungeon. Before he reached the stairs, he found ten Galleons in his hand.
"Heh." A cold, low chuckle echoed from the dungeon depths.
Snape stared at the empty doorway, lost in thought. The boy's talent was blossoming, and he knew for a fact the boy didn't have his old textbook. A flicker of memory crossed his face, his expression complex.
Corridor.
Sean's Quick-Quotes Quill scribbled furiously:
The core pursuit of Alchemy may be more complex and less materialistic than it first appears. It has three stages: Nigredo (Black), Albedo (White), and Rubedo (Red).
The first step, melting or dissolution, is Nigredo.
The second, purification, often symbolized as lead to gold, is Albedo.
The third and final stage is Rubedo. As the heat intensifies, a divine red light suffuses the white stone… often likened to blood.
What about Potions?
When Sean immersed his will into the simmering cauldron, he felt the dissolution of old matter, the transformation, and finally, the rebirth. He had a strong intuition that this principle applied perfectly to Alchemy as well. He quickly found the corresponding passage in The Alchemy of the Four Elements:
Alchemy—the search for the Philosopher's Stone, the transmutation of base metals into gold, and the elixir of life—was once considered literal.
Another interpretation of the alchemists' 'instructions' is that they symbolize a spiritual journey, guiding the alchemist from ignorance (base metal) to enlightenment (gold).
Brewing a potion was, in essence, a journey from ignorance (raw ingredients) to enlightenment (magical elixir).
Sean finally grasped the fundamental thread connecting Potions and Alchemy. With this understanding, his progress in Alchemy skyrocketed. In just two days, following the twins' notes and applying his willpower guidance technique, he successfully created a functioning Levitating Quill.
His focus returned to Potions. Snape wasn't just teaching him the Euphoria Elixir; he was systematically walking Sean through all of Libatius Borage's modified rituals. The Wit-Sharpening Potion and the Common Antidote were the final entries in Borage's legacy.
As Sean mastered the nuances of the modified rituals, he realized he was truly inheriting this heretical, brilliant knowledge.
Late one snowy night, Sean sat by the window ledge, watching a raven fly past.
"Wizards created potions, yet failed to understand them.
When Zygmunt Budge wakes in his portrait on Hermetray, centuries have flown, but the truth remains unchanged.
The pilgrims know: hidden within the cauldron lies the mystery of all magic.
Will you be the last pilgrim—Sean Green?"
(End of Chapter)
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