Harry Potter and the Ties that Bind

Chapter 26

Headmaster Dumbledore had signed a contract giving the goblins permission to enter Hogwarts. He'd also told Harry that since the Chamber of Secrets could only be opened by him, that he would let Harry use it as he saw fit. Harry thought the headmaster was being awfully accommodating, but he didn't question the man's decision. How could he when it ended with him getting what he wanted?

Harry had sent a letter to the goblins along with the contract. It was a magically binding contract that would become effective once Ragnok signed it in blood. He didn't know how long it would take for the goblins to get a team together, but given the nature of the issue, he believed it wouldn't be long before they arrived.

It was November 18th. The 24th, the day where he and Sirius would show up together for the press conference, was only six days away, but Harry felt like that was far too little time. There was so much that he still needed to do. He needed to be back in perfect shape, he needed to continue working on regaining his standing among the school, he needed to finish at least one of his projects, and he needed to get that blasted basilisk carcass broken down and sold. He felt more than a little overwhelmed.

His first period of the day was Potions. As per the usual, after Professor Snape had swept into the room and properly insulted the Gryffindors, he wrote the instructions on the board and told them to get to work.

That morning they were working on the Girding Potion, which was a concoction that temporarily gave its consumer extra endurance for about a month, give or take a few days depending on the potion's quality. Given the nature of the potion, the maximum dosage one could take was two vials. It wasn't something to be used lightly.

Harry was working alongside Daphne and Neville. Tracey and Blaize sat in front of them next to Seamus Finnigan. It was a bit odd seeing the boy there, but Professor Snape had separated him and Dean to keep the two from blowing up the potions lab.

The Girding Potion was fairly easy to make; the first step was adding one set of fairy wings, and then heating the potion until it turned turquoise. After that, they added one measure of doxy eggs and heated it until it turned pink, and then they added toasted dragonfly thoraxes until the potion turned silver before heating it until it became red. The last four steps were to add three measures of doxy eggs, more dragonfly thoraxes, heat until it turned blue, add three flying seahorses, and then heat until it turned green. Despite being a long process, Harry, who was a fine chef, if he did say so himself, could easily replicate the instructions.

That said, Harry had a much more efficient way of making the Girding Potion.

"Don't heat the potion after adding in the fairy wings," Harry said to Daphne.

She nodded, and Harry took out two measures of droxy eggs, crushed them, and added them into the potion before stirring clockwise and then counterclockwise three times. The potion turned red.

"Okay. Now add some dragonfly thoraxes. I'll tell you when to stop."

Doing as he instructed, Daphne asked, "how does skipping the first few steps help hasten the potion making process?"

"The first heating process doesn't actually do anything," Harry said. "The turning of green is simply a sign to indicate that the fairy wings have properly blended into the potion, but it's not a necessary step. Also, the doxy eggs aren't there to do anything other than help the dragonfly thoraxes and fairy wings properly mix. If we stir the potion, we can mix the two without needing that extra step, and then if we add twice the amount of doxy eggs in the next step, we can hasten the process. Not only will we cut our potion making time in half, but the effects of the potion will last two weeks longer."

"Is that because of how the doxy eggs are involatile?"

"Partly, but it's also because of how they interact with the other two ingredients," Harry said.