Chapter 478: Truth Serum

Slughorn's expression was a little strange. Just like Mike regarded Slughorn as a tiger who deliberately disguised himself as a pig, Mike's status in Slughorn's eyes was also very high.

Slughorn admired Mike's talent, strength, wisdom, wealth and personal charm. He even dared to believe that as long as Mike was given some time, he would sooner or later become the most noble and wealthy person in the whole country of Ying and even in the whole of Europe. Slughorn was

convinced of this. He believed in his own vision, so he tried every means to make friends with Mike.

But the recent events made Slughorn see another side of Mike.

Crazy, violent, vicious, decisive and indifferent to life.

He posted a bounty order, and the whole Hogwarts and the thousands of desperadoes outside went crazy. All of this made Slughorn afraid. He didn't dare to pretend to be a wall in front of Mike anymore, because he found that the other party could easily crush him to death with just a wave of his hand.

So when Slughorn found out that Mike was visiting him, he actually refused in his heart. He had a hunch that the other party must have something troublesome to do when he came to visit him at this time, but the other party was surprisingly polite, and the question he asked was only about the side effects of the truth serum.

This made Slughorn a little confused.

Fortunately, Slughorn was also a person who had experienced many ups and downs. He quickly reacted and said:

"The side effects of the truth serum cannot be eliminated. After all, the formula has been perfected to the extreme and there is no room for improvement."

"Really?"

Mike sighed lightly, but the expression on his face did not show much disappointment.

He was ready to leave. Since his question had been answered, there was no need for him to stay here.

Just as he turned around and was about to leave, Slughorn said again:

"But there are still potions with similar effects to the truth serum but with very few side effects."

After that, Slughorn waved his wand.

A thick magic book flew from the bookshelf behind him to Mike and opened automatically.

"Look, this is it." Slughorn pointed at a line of words written in ancient runes with the tip of his staff and said to Mike, "The truth potion, its effect is also to make the user only speak the truth, but the effect is much worse than the truth serum. Well, the duration is about half of that, and there is a certain chance that the other party will talk nonsense, making it impossible to ask questions. But like its weak effect, its side effects are also very small. People who take this potion will only feel a little dazed, and this symptom will be cured by sleeping."

Slughorn was obviously in the teaching state. He was talking with saliva flying, and Mike had to step back slightly to avoid being sprayed by the saliva.

"This... is it really useful?"

Mike asked in disbelief. He never had any hope for Slughorn. He came here just to pretend.

But now it seems that the other party is obviously more powerful than he expected.

"Of course it works. When I was young, I prepared this potion and experimented on a Muggle. This potion is definitely effective!" Slughorn's face changed. He waved his hands in panic, stared at Mike with his big eyes and said, "Oh! You heard it wrong just now. I said I experimented on a leper dwarf. Yes, a leper dwarf! It is illegal to use Muggles for experiments. I won't do such an inhumane thing!"

Mike looked at Slughorn coldly. His words once again reminded Mike of the status of Muggles in the eyes of wizards.

Just like humans use monkeys and gorillas for experiments, wizards also use Muggles for magic research. In the eyes of wizards, Muggles are really a perfect experimental material. After all, the bodies of Muggles are almost the same as those of wizards.

Mike recalled that he had learned all kinds of profound potions, transfiguration and black magic, and his body couldn't help but shudder. Behind this knowledge, I don't know how many innocent lives were ruthlessly taken away.

Mike himself was a man with blood on his hands, but he still had an instinctive aversion to human experiments. It had nothing to do with whether he was a saint or not, but the latter was too desperate.

Fine beads of sweat began to appear on Slughorn's cheeks, and his expression began to become a little terrified.

All this was because Mike's expression began to become more and more frightening, and that ferocious expression was as if he would take out his wand and cast a killing curse on himself at any time.

Slughorn slowly backed away, and at the same time reached into the lining pocket of his suit and grabbed a small glass bottle, which contained Folin, which was one of his last means of saving his life.

However, what Slughorn was worried about did not happen. The ferocious color on Mike's face quickly disappeared and returned to the previous smile.

But as long as you observe carefully, you can find that although Mike's face is full of smiles, it gives people a feeling of smiling on the surface, and the original kindness has completely disappeared, replaced by pure coldness.

"I have another question, Professor." Mike said, "Since the side effects of the truth potion are so low and the effect is acceptable, why is everyone using truth serum now?"

Slughorn obviously had not recovered from the shock just now. His hands were still in the lining pockets of his suit. He said with some stammering:

"This... this is because of the cost. The cost of preparing the truth potion is very high, almost twice that of truth serum, and its production difficulty is also higher than that of truth serum, so gradually no one makes it. In fact, it is almost lost. Now there are basically only a dozen people in the whole of Europe who know how to prepare it."

"Is that so?" Mike said with a smile, "Then can I ask the professor to help me make some truth potions? It's a bit embarrassing to say, I need more potions, probably enough for 100 people. But don't worry, all the materials will be provided by me, and I will also prepare a generous reward for you."

"This... of course there is no problem. Helping students is my duty as a professor."

"Then I won't disturb your rest."

With that, Mike slowly left the office.

As the office door was gently closed, Slughorn finally breathed a sigh of relief. Mike's appearance just now was so scary that he almost thought he was going to die.

Panting, Slughorn instinctively reached for the cigar on the other side to take a puff to calm his nerves, but all he touched was a ball of ashes.

He looked down and saw that the half-smoked cigar had already burned out, and the expensive carpet under his feet was burned by the cigarette butt, leaving a big hole.

"Merlin's beard..."

Slughorn cursed instinctively, but just as he opened his mouth, the door of the office was opened.

"Oh! By the way, Professor. I forgot to say that you don't have to keep it secret about what I asked you to do. If anyone asks about it, just tell him the truth. Well, this time I'm really leaving, Professor."

The door of the office was gently closed again, and the expression on Slughorn's face was very wonderful, because he didn't receive any warning when Mike opened the door just now. The prohibition he spent a lot of money to set on the door seemed to be completely non-existent in front of Mike!

...

On Monday, Hogwarts finally restored some of its school appearance. The various damages in the castle caused by the student riots were also quickly restored under the efforts of the house elves and the punitive labor of many students who made mistakes.

The subjects of each professor have basically returned to normal, and even Slughorn, who was hiding in the office at the beginning of the incident, has returned to the podium.

It has to be said that this is a good thing, especially for fifth-year and seventh-year students.

Because no matter how severe the external situation is, they will take the OWL and NEWT exams that will determine their future life this year. You should know that there is no chance to repeat a grade in Hogwarts.

Since classes have resumed, students should go to class.

This is the concept that Dumbledore firmly implements, and even students like Mike are no exception.

So, Mike ran to class with his books.

This morning they had to take Professor McGonagall's Transfiguration class. The task assigned by Professor McGonagall was to turn mice into cats. This was a difficult task for sixth-grade students because it involved the problem of biological behavior habits. If you turn out a cat that bites and gnaws like a mouse, you will fail.

Hermione was the happiest to be able to go back to class, but others were different, especially those students who participated in the riot. Most of them still had bruises and scars on their faces, which were left by the angry Professor Snape.

These people waved their wands with sad faces. Because of their poor mental state, the cats they turned out also looked a little listless.

Mike didn't sympathize with them at all. What they did before was really bad. So in the following days of this semester, they had to complete a lot of academic work and use their spare time to complete the punishments given by the professors, including compulsory labor, self-review reports and confinement.

Professor McGonagall on the podium didn't look very good. She kept her mouth tightly pursed from beginning to end of the class. People who knew her knew that this was a sign of her anger.

And if you want to say who was the most relaxed in the whole class, it must be Mike.

It only took him five minutes to turn the mouse he was given into a clingy black cat. Then he flipped through a magic book called "The Magic of Language" as if no one was around, completely ignoring Professor McGonagall's murderous eyes.

After a Transfiguration class, the Ravenclaw student sitting next to Mike was so scared that he broke into a cold sweat.

He was very afraid of Professor McGonagall. The murderous aura that Professor McGonagall exuded scared him so much that he almost couldn't even hold his wand.

At 11 o'clock, Professor McGonagall announced the end of class on time. This is one of Professor McGonagall's characteristics. She will never delay the class.

When Professor McGonagall walked away with her high heels, the whole classroom came alive. Everyone walked to the cafeteria with a chatter. Some of those who were severely punished needed help to walk.

Mike also got up and walked to the door alone. Franklin skipped class today to help Mike.

"Mike!"

Hermione's familiar voice came from behind him. Mike looked back and saw that Harry and his group were right behind him.

"You came at the right time. Let's go eat together." Mike said with a smile, "Harry, Ron, I can share some of my lunch with you later. I don't know what the house elves in the kitchen have been crazy recently. They give me more and more food. I am embarrassed to waste food. I can only bite the bullet and finish it every time. That feeling is too uncomfortable."

Hearing this, Harry and Ron nodded quickly. They also felt that the house elves in the kitchen were crazy. The only difference was that the food that the house-elves gave to Gryffindor was always too little, and they couldn't fill them up at all.

Hermione rolled her eyes at the two foodies, and then looked at Mike with a worried look on her face.

"Mike, are you really going to use that weakened truth serum called the truth potion to torture every student in the school?"

Mike raised his eyebrows and asked,

"Who told you?"

"We heard it from Angelina, but that's not important, because Angelina also heard it from others."

"Yes, in fact, the news that you are going to feed all the teachers and students the truth potion has spread throughout Hogwarts."

"If you ask me, this is really not a good idea. Although Azkaban is no longer in place, it is illegal after all. Dumbledore and the Ministry of Magic can't just turn a blind eye!"

Harry, Hermione and the other two talked about the general situation one after another, and Mike nodded repeatedly. After they finished speaking, he tried hard to suppress the corners of his mouth that wanted to rise, and pretended to be firm and said,

"There is no room for negotiation on this matter. This is the only way to find the assassin, and I will never give up."

Mike spoke a little loudly, and many students around him who were finishing class heard what he said, and after hearing what he said, they all quickened their pace, fearing that they would be discovered by Mike.

Hermione and Harry's expressions were not very good either. They did not expect Mike to be so stubborn.

But as friends, they could not sit idly by and watch their best friend go astray. With this belief, Hermione was ready to persuade Mike again.

But before she could speak, Mike waved his hand to signal her to stop talking, and pointed in the direction of the auditorium and said:

"Okay, let's not talk about this now. Let's go eat first."

Mike turned and walked towards the auditorium.

Harry and the others looked at each other, and finally took a step to catch up with Mike.