Hogwarts: I Am Such a Model Wizard

Chapter 744: Two Bottles of Amortentia

“Kyle, you must come to the party tomorrow,” said Slughorn, stopping Kyle as he was leaving the Potions classroom after the lesson. “It’s to celebrate Mr. Zabini Blaise’s seventeenth birthday. You will come, won’t you?”

He looked almost giddy, as if it were his own birthday being celebrated.

Kyle, who had been called over, simply nodded and said, “Of course, Professor Slughorn, I’ll be there.”

“I knew it,” Slughorn laughed even more heartily. “A wizard’s coming of age is a big day, and a lot of people will be there. You definitely don’t want to miss it.”

“Then I’ll go prepare the drinks for the party. I hope The Three Broomsticks still has a good vintage…”

Slughorn fastened the gold clasp on his dragon-hide briefcase and was about to leave.

“Wait, Professor, I want to ask a question,” Kyle suddenly called out.

“Then ask quickly, my boy, ask quickly…” Slughorn turned back, his tone warm and affectionate.

“Professor, do you know… Horcruxes?”

Slughorn froze, his hand hovering in midair, his round face seeming to sink in.

It was strange. Just moments ago, he had been full of energy, but now he looked as if he had suddenly wilted, as though he hadn’t slept in days.

He licked his lips and asked hoarsely, “What did you say?”

“Horcrux, Professor,” Kyle repeated. “I read about it in a book and was curious.”

“Dumbledore sent you?” Slughorn asked in a low, certain voice. “Dumbledore showed you that memory… didn’t he? He sent you to ask me!”

His eyes were filled with shock and fear, and sweat was beginning to bead on his forehead.

“What memory? Does Professor Dumbledore know about this?” Kyle asked, puzzled.

“You don’t know?” Slughorn was taken aback and wiped his forehead with a handkerchief from his breast pocket.

“Should I know something?” Kyle said. “Like I said, I read it in a book.”

“What book?” Slughorn demanded. “I’m sure there’s nothing like that in the Hogwarts library. You can’t fool me, it must be Dumbledore…”

“No, Professor, I read it in Nicolas Flamel’s library,” Kyle interrupted. “I found a book called Secrets of the Darkest Art in his private collection. It’s really interesting.”

“There are just some parts that are too vague for me to understand, like Horcruxes.”

“I have no comment,” said Slughorn softly, wiping his forehead again. “You’ve got the wrong person, Kyle. I know nothing about Horcruxes… nothing.”

Slughorn repeated the last word with emphasis, as if trying to convince himself as much as Kyle.

Then he grabbed his dragon-hide briefcase, shoved the handkerchief carelessly into his pocket, and turned toward the door.

But just as he reached it, he suddenly stopped.

As if something had struck him, he took a deep breath and turned back to look at Kyle.

It was so similar…

At that moment, Slughorn felt as though he were seeing two figures overlap.

Both were brilliant in a way that made others at Hogwarts seem dull by comparison. Both seemed out of place in the castle, their presence larger than their surroundings.

And just like that person, Kyle had also taken an interest in Horcruxes…

“I advise you not to waste your time on that, Kyle. That’s not for you to know,” Slughorn said seriously. “You should focus on something else, like… well, Quidditch would be good. I remember you were a good Chaser.”

“If you like, I can recommend you to the Holyhead Harpies. You could certainly become a famous professional Quidditch player.”

Slughorn didn’t give Kyle the chance to respond.

He didn’t even seem to care what Kyle’s answer would be. As soon as he finished speaking, he turned and slammed the door behind him, leaving the classroom without looking back.

Kyle and Kanna were left standing alone in the room.

“What did you ask him?” Kanna asked doubtfully.

She had never seen someone change their expression so quickly before. Just moments ago, Slughorn had been beaming with excitement, and now he had practically fled in fear.

“Nothing, just some old memories he doesn’t want to talk about,” Kyle shrugged and followed Kanna out of the dungeon.

“You didn’t do that on purpose, did you?” Kanna looked at Kyle suspiciously. “To get out of the party?”

“The effect was remarkable, wasn’t it?” Kyle smiled. “After that, I won’t have to worry about him inviting me to any more parties for a long time… He didn’t even want to see me.”

…

As Kyle had predicted, Slughorn didn’t say a word to him for the next two weeks. Even in Potions class, he kept his distance as much as possible, deliberately ignoring Kyle when checking homework, as if he were invisible.

Even Kanna, who sat next to Kyle, enjoyed a rare few days of peace. Slughorn seemed determined to distance himself not only from Kyle but also from anyone around him.

But that was exactly what Kyle wanted—and Kanna felt the same.

Having been free from ”detention” for two weeks, Kanna had told Kyle more than once that he should have done this sooner.

Kyle simply replied that he should thank Harry for the inspiration.

And it was true. If he hadn’t overheard Harry, Ron, Hermione, and the others in the entrance hall discussing Horcruxes, the idea would never have occurred to him.

Slughorn was deeply averse to anything related to Horcruxes or their study. Bringing them up made it easy to keep him at bay.

Kyle was almost annoyed that he hadn’t thought of it sooner.

As February turned into March, the weather remained much the same—still cold, only wetter and windier. Fine snowflakes pattered against the classroom windows, carried by the gusts.

It was the weekend, but the usual excitement was noticeably absent. Students had just been informed that the planned visit to Hogsmeade had been canceled.

”This is the second time!”

Kyle overheard someone complaining over breakfast. ”How could they? Iʼve been looking forward to this since last week!”

”Iʼve been thinking about it for a long time,” Justin Finch-Fletchley said, patting the other student on the shoulder. ”Don’t forget, the last Gryffindor who went is still at St. Mungo’s.”

”But my sweets ran out at Christmas! I was hoping to stock up.”

”I bought quite a lot last time,” Macmillan admitted, ”but now Iʼm down to just the Mixed Beans and the Tooth-Splintering Strong Mints.”

”Just great,” Kyle muttered as he walked past them. ”If I’d known, I wouldʼve spent another Galleon on something, too.”

He wasn’t surprised that the visit had been canceled. After the last attack, reports of disappearances in the Daily Prophet had only increased. Some of the missing were even relatives of Hogwarts students.

Under those circumstances, it was no wonder the school wasn’t allowing students to leave so easily.

Kyle and Kanna sat down beside an empty seat and began their breakfast.

”Kyle, do you have anything planned for today?” Kanna asked while spreading jam on her bread.

”No, why?”

”I want to try a new potion,” she said. ”But it requires some preparation and is a bit troublesome to handle. If youʼre not busy, can you help me?”

”No problem,” Kyle nodded. ”When?”

”How about after breakfast? We can go to the dungeons.”

”I think it’d be better to use the Room of Requirement,” Kyle said after considering it. ”If we go to the dungeons, we might run into Slughorn. I heard he’s been holding fewer of his little parties lately. It’d be a shame to scare him again.”

“The Room of Requirement also has pretty much everything we need, and the environment is better than the dungeon,” Kyle said.

“That’s fine,” Kanna nodded.

After breakfast, the two of them made their way to the eighth floor together—where they unexpectedly ran into Harry and Ron.

However… something was definitely off about the two of them.

“Let go of me, Harry! I’m going to Romilda Vane, don’t stop me!”

Harry was gripping Ron’s arm, dragging him along, while Ron—like a fish tossed onto the shore—kept wriggling and struggling against him.

“Yes, yes, I’ll take you to her right now,” Harry said without looking back. “She’s in Slughorn’s office, and we’re going there right now.”

“Why is she there?”

“Maybe she’s having a Potions lesson…” Harry said casually.

“Maybe I can apply to take it with her!” Ron said, his face lighting up with delight.

“Yes, yes, you can… oh, don’t drool on my sleeve!”

Kanna leaned over to Kyle and whispered, “What’s going on? Look at Harry’s eyes—has someone blackened them? And why does Ron seem a little... off?”

Kyle glanced over. Sure enough, there was a faint bruise forming around Harry’s left eye, about the size of a fist. Combined with Ron’s love-struck expression, he quickly pieced it together.

“Harry!” Kyle called out. “Do you think Ron has taken a Love Potion?”

The only thing that could make Ron voluntarily give up his weekend for extra lessons—aside from the Imperius Curse—was a Love Potion.

“I think so,” Harry admitted, now noticing them as well. “He ate the Chocolate Cauldrons Romilda Vane gave me for Christmas.”

“That would explain it,” Kanna said thoughtfully.

“Remember when I said someone had smuggled Love Potions into Hogwarts? Vane was one of them, but I thought I confiscated hers.”

“Apparently, she bought another bottle,” Kyle shrugged.

“Stop talking about it,” Harry said impatiently. “Do you have any ideas?”

Kyle stepped forward and tapped Ron on the forehead with his wand.

“Amor Expello!”

“Hey, what are you doing?!” Ron shoved Kyle angrily before turning back to Harry. “Let go of me! I’m going to find my dear Romilda!”

“It didn’t work?” Harry looked at Kyle in disbelief.

“Obviously,” Kyle said, putting away his wand. “Romilda used Amortentia, not the joke product from Weasleys’ Wizard Wheezes. This kind of situation requires an antidote.”

“Can you make one?” Harry asked.

Kyle didn’t answer but simply looked at Kanna.

“Half an hour,” Kanna said. “The antidote for Amortentia requires a mixture of ingredients, but I’m missing the most basic sedative.”

“If you don’t want to wait, you could go to the Hospital Wing or see Professor Slughorn,” Kyle suggested, looking at Harry again. “They should have a ready-made potion there.”

“I’ll go see Professor Slughorn,” Harry decided. “But can you guys help me? He keeps kicking me—itʼs really painful. Does a Love Potion also increase strength?”

“Normally, it doesn’t,” Kyle said with a smirk. “But since you’re standing in the way of Ron’s pursuit of his ‘beloved,’ he has no choice but to fight you.”

Kanna couldn’t hold back her laughter.

The way Harry was looking at Ron now—it really did resemble the expression of a villain trying to break up a couple.

Harry’s face immediately fell. If he had any other choice, he would’ve taken it. But there was no other way. He couldn’t just let Ron go running off to find Romilda.

”Forget it, thereʼs no rush with the potion. Letʼs help him first,” Kanna said.

”Since you put it that way, fine,” Kyle replied, taking out his wand again.

”Stupefy!”

A red flash of light shot out, and Ron immediately collapsed into Harryʼs arms.

”Thatʼs much easier,” Kyle remarked, and with a Wandless Charm, he levitated the unconscious Ron, leading him and Harry toward Slughornʼs office.

The door was ajar, and Harry gave it a light knock. The door creaked open.

”Sorry, Professor Slughorn, Ron is... Oh, my God!”

Harry, who had just stepped inside, suddenly let out a scream.

Kyle looked up in alarm, just in time to see Slughorn—looking like an enraged bull—shoving Harry aside and charging recklessly down the corridor.

At the same time, he kept repeating, ”Out of my way... Rosmerta... my dear... I want to see her now!”

…Er.

Harry sat on the floor, rubbing his back, looking dazed.

So, Slughorn liked Madam Rosmerta from The Three Broomsticks?

Somehow, this scene looked oddly familiar, as if heʼd seen it happen before.

Meanwhile, Kyle had swiftly thrown Ron to the side and pointed his wand at Slughorn.

”Stupefy!”

The next second, Slughorn collapsed motionless onto the ground.

Kyle had just used the Stunning Spell on a professor!

Harry was momentarily stunned before realization struck him.

No—it was the Love Potion.

He remembered that Slughorn had been acting exactly like Ron after eating the Chocolate Cauldrons.

Harry quickly looked into the office.

There were no Chocolate Cauldrons in sight, only a plate of steaming steaks—presumably his breakfast—a bag of Crystalized Pineapple, and half a glass of Honey Wine.

”Whatʼs going on?”

Harry was confused.

Madam Rosmerta giving Slughorn a Love Potion? That didnʼt seem necessary.

To be honest, Kyle didnʼt think it was necessary either. Madam Rosmerta was very popular in Hogsmeade, and Slughorn… he went to The Three Broomsticks at least twice a week, and once more whenever there was a party.

But he hadnʼt been lying when he shouted it out. They had all heard him.

”Anyway, letʼs get them all to the Hospital Wing first. When Slughorn wakes up, heʼll figure out what happened,” Kyle said, rubbing his forehead. ”Harry, you know the Locomotor Charm— Never mind, you go and tell Professor McGonagall.”

”Slughorn is different from Ron. Heʼs a professor, and someone using a Love Potion on him is no small matter.”

”But Ron…” Harry glanced back at Ron, who had been knocked aside a moment ago.

”Weʼre not leaving him behind,” Kyle said. ”Kanna, you take Ron. Heʼll be easier.”

Kanna nodded and pulled out her wand, pointing it at Ron.

”Mobilicorpus.”

Ron immediately floated limply in the air as Kanna guided him away.

Harry let out a sigh of relief, got up from the floor, and immediately ran off toward Professor McGonagallʼs office.

Kyle used the same method to levitate Slughorn.

Their unusual procession instantly attracted attention. It wasn’t every day that a professor was seen floating unconscious through the castle, and curiosity spread among the students.

The atmosphere was tense.

Kyle and Kanna, however, had no idea what to say.

They couldn’t just tell everyone that Slughorn had drunk a Love Potion. That wouldn’t be good for his reputation.

So they simply walked through the castle in silence, ignoring the strange stares that followed them all the way to the Hospital Wing.

”Kyle, maybe I should go find Professor McGonagall,” Kanna said worriedly. ”If Madam Pomfrey asks, Harry will know more.”

”Donʼt worry, Madam Pomfrey wonʼt ask,” Kyle shook his head. ”And Harry doesnʼt know the Mobilicorpus Charm, so we canʼt let him carry Ron.”