Serena Snape: Love of Magic - chapter 82

Author's Notes: Chapter edited and corrected by Scott Fellman.

"What is… exactly what are you looking for?" I asked carefully. Sirzechs hummed softly.

"Nothing lethal, something like your… Draught of Living Death, though not exactly the same." Sirzechs said easily, still smiling slightly, as if he didn't care if I found out why. After considering it for a few seconds, I opened my mouth only to be interrupted.

"And what would our king gain in exchange for preparing a potion that meets your demands?" Lucius asked from behind me. I looked over my shoulder at him. He wasn't looking at me; he was simply staring at Sirzechs, who seemed slightly surprised, but only smiled once more.

"Name a price, any amount of money Lady Prince wants will be hers." Sirzechs said easily.

"Money is useless in this case, Lord Lucifer. It would put us in a very delicate situation. The Phenex may be antagonistic at the moment due to the recent Rating Game, but it's not an irredeemable enmity. A private or public apology, a material reconstitution, and our relationship would return to neutral at worst."

"But giving you a potion that you can use against the Phenex, obviously during your sister's betrothal, would definitely mark us all as enemies, we are simply a newly ascended family, I think you can understand that we would not want to draw that kind of negative attention." Lucius said simply.

I grimaced; I didn't care about the Phenex, they weren't of any concern. The only exclusive thing they had at their disposal was phoenix tears, something we didn't really need. We had different ways to heal and regenerate, and in case something was truly incurable, we had Enid. Orihime's template was basically cheating to cure anything.

"You're right." Sirzechs hummed, not even fazed by Lucius's words. "And what would you want in return for Lady Prince preparing something for me? Or rather, since there's no need to hide it, for Rias?" he asked simply. Lucius smiled slightly.

"My king has shown interest in the Youth Devil Gathering and Youth Devil Rating Game Tournament. If I'm not mistaken, both of these events will happen before long." Lucius said simply with a smile. Sirzechs' eyes flashed with amusement.

"Ah, I see, unfortunately, it's for the heirs of the pillar families, but… if let's say, a rising young star impresses the public and the pillar families, with a decent amount of wins in the Rating Game or some other way, then it's possible that she will be invited to participate in both events." Sirzechs laughed calmly.

"Of course, that's a shame. Luckily, there are still months to go before that happens," Lucius said with a pitiful smile. I almost wanted to snort loudly, but I just let Lucius continue doing his work without interrupting him.

"Now, I'm sure my king is more than excited to show you her potions lab, to show you her creations and talk about them. We were thinking of starting to sell them to the public; having one of the Satans as our first customer is very good advertising." Lucius smiled. "I'm sure that say... a sample of each potion for you to test its effectiveness would be the least we could give you." That made Sirzechs smile.

"Why, thank you, it would be a pleasure to help a demon with such talent start a new business." Sirzechs said with a huge smile.

"I'm sure my king appreciates such words," Lucius said humbly, and I rolled my eyes.

"Yes, thank you very much," I said tersely. Lucius gave me a very unimpressed look, while Sirzechs and the others just smiled. I sighed tiredly.

I guess I should thank Lucius for the opportunity to be considered for Youth Devil Rating Game Tournament, the reward for winning said tournament might simply be an extra mutated token, but that wasn't the best reward. The best part would be being able to stand alongside the Pillar Heirs. There was a lot of potential there.

"Very well, there's a lot to show you!" I said with a smile and renewed excitement. Showing my lab and my creations to someone new was always exciting. Selling them didn't matter much, but it would be nice to get rid of the surplus I was starting to accumulate.

The two Satans and the queen followed me easily. Lucius and Bella followed as well, while I watched Enid and Narcissa linger out of the corner of my eye, talking quietly. I could almost see, hear, and feel Enid's sigh of relief. Once again, we walked through the halls of the manor until we reached my laboratory.

"Welcome to my potions lab!" I said cheerfully as I opened the door. Inside was a huge room. There were dozens of cauldrons scattered throughout the room, along with desks filled with ingredients and tools. Several had a weak flame underneath and smoke rising above the cauldrons. Many potions needed to be kept under the fire for hours, so there was often a cauldron with something brewing.

The walls were lined with shelves. There was a large section with a larger number of potions books , but most of the shelves were filled with a wide variety of potion ingredients, from things as simple as some wildflowers to unicorn horns. There was also a small section with various potions , but most were stored inside the doors in the laboratory that led to different storage rooms, where there were more ingredients and many more potions.

"Don't go near the cauldrons. Some of the vapors from the cauldrons are poisonous and toxic, there are some bubbles that keep the vapors in and anything else out so as not to disturb the potions. I doubt they will do anything to you, but better safe than sorry." I said simply as I walked in with the rest.

"What an impressive place you have here, Lady Prince." Ajuka said honestly. I perked up at the praise; I was proud of my potions lab. "I don't recognize half the ingredients you have here," Ajuka said, seemingly excited.

"Many of them, especially the plants, are my own. They were planted within some of Bella's properties, but I transplanted them to the island once I was given this territory." I lied lightly as I walked over to a door and opened it. Hundreds of potions greeted me. "Now, let's see what we have here." I said excitedly as I grabbed a small box, quickly placing an Extension Charm on it to enlarge its interior. Once I finished, I grabbed one of the potions.

"Aha! Fire Protection Potion, a potion that grants the drinker protection against most magical fires." I handed the potion to Sirzechs, he raised an eyebrow.

"Most of the magical fires?" he asked as he looked at the potion , Ajuka practically snatched it from his hand and began to look at it more closely, he even opened it to smell it, he put one of his fingers inside the potion and brought it to his mouth.

"Interesting, it feels like swallowing ice." Ajuka said, I nodded.

"That means it's working properly, a slight side effect. And yes, most of them. It's complete protection against normal fire, and most of the magical fires I've tested against it have been completely ineffective, but… magic is weird, and fires vary depending on who creates them. I've certainly never tested it against a Phenex's fire, so I sadly can't guarantee its effects." I grimaced.

"It'll work." Ajuka said, completely confident, as he handed me the potion once more. I shrugged, conjured a small label with its name and a very brief description, stuck it on the bottle, and threw it into the box.

"I guess that's the best seal of quality I can get," I said simply before grabbing another option. "Let's see what else I have, Blood- Replenishing Potion, used to replenish blood. Skele -gro, restores and stimulates bone growth. Thunderbrew, which creates a storm around whoever drinks it, will also be of no use."

"Wait, does that work?" Sirzechs asked incredulously. I shrugged and handed it to him. He eyed the potion suspiciously before opening it and taking a gulp. Thick, black clouds quickly began to form around Sirzechs before lightning began to strike the ground from it.

"What the fuck?" Sirzechs muttered in disbelief, I chuckled. "How long will this last?" he asked in surprise. Ajuka was staring intently at the clouds.

"Only 30 seconds," I said simply.

" Why isn't he attacking us?" asked Grayfia, who until now was silent looking at everything around her, we were all inside the black clouds, but no lightning had fallen on us, in fact, they fell to the ground with force and cracked the ground, but even the potions are proving completely unharmed.

"Intention, the potion only attacks those you have 'designated' as enemies." I said simply. Just as I said, a short time later the cloud disappeared just as it had appeared.

"Okay, I have to admit that's not what I expected when you talked about your potions." Sirzechs said honestly. I smiled arrogantly.

"There isn't a potion I can't brew," I said with a smile before turning back to the shelves once more, pulling out another potion. Thunderbrew, I labeled it and threw it into the box with the rest of the potions. "Now, let's continue looking for other potions. Let's see. Veritaresum, a truth potion so powerful that just three drops will make a person reveal even their most intimate secrets without being able to defend themselves." I said with a smile as I handed it to Ajuka.

"Impressive, only 3 drops for anyone? For any race?" Ajuka asked and I stopped.

"Now that you mention it, I have no idea. For mages like Bella, 3 drops were enough for the potion to take full effect, I don't know if the physiologies of different races might make them have a higher tolerance against the potion. Or if the amount of demonic power for example might influence it. I know that it can be resisted with a very considerable force of will, but it is an uphill task." I said honestly. Ajuka hummed.

"Could I take it for testing? I'll send you everything I find out about it," Ajuka said honestly, and I shrugged.

"You can take it, although if you want more, you'll have to order it ahead of time. It takes a full lunar cycle, 28 days, to prepare." I said simply.

"That much?" Sirzechs asked in surprise. I nodded.

"It's a really difficult potion, and although its effects can be circumvented in different ways, it's still a very useful potion," I said simply before returning to the potions. "Just like this one. Felix Felicis, also known as liquid luck. I said as I held up a small vial and handed it to Sirzechs.

"Liquid luck? Does it really work?" Sirzechs asked, looking at the small vial of potion that looked like molten gold. I nodded.

"Definitely. It's very difficult to prepare, requires six months of preparation, and if prepared incorrectly, it can result in a very potent poison. It's highly toxic in large quantities, so drinking it too often is completely useless. But for important things? It's completely invaluable."

"One sip of it will grant you luck for a time, and you will succeed in everything you try. And let's say, possibly find a way to defeat an enemy that seems impossible at first glance." I said, amusedly while winking at Sirzechs.

"I find it… hard to believe that it's such a miraculous potion." Sirzechs said, and I nodded.

" And it isn't, it won't create anything ex nihilo that will magically wipe out all your enemies. Instead, it simply... stacks the deck in your favor. It greatly increases your chances of success, even if they are very small. If there is at least some chance of winning, then the drinker will be able to see it. But now, it will always depend on the drinker to get to the outcome they want. The potion just helps." I explained carefully. Sirzechs looked at the potion for a few seconds and nodded.

"I guess it's worth a fortune," Sirzechs said nonchalantly. I nodded.

"It is, but I suppose you can keep that small vial as a… token. That vial should last at least twelve hours of good luck. Or it can also be split between several people or taken in small sips separately. When you drink it, you have to have a goal in mind, then let the potion do its thing. It's possible the drinker might do things… weird or have nothing to do with the goal, but just let them do their thing, Felix knows what he's doing." Sirzechs nodded.

"Any other miracle potions ?" Sirzechs asked as he put away the vial of Felix Felicis in one of his pockets.

"So many! We're just getting started!" I said excitedly before grabbing one of the bottles. "This is a potion of weakness, its fumes weaken you mentally and physically." I said simply as I grabbed the bottle and threw it toward the box.

For the next few minutes, I continued grabbing potions and throwing them into the box while I continued explaining their uses. Eyes-opening potion, Regeneration potion, Memory potion, Essence of Madness, Euphoria-inducing elixir, Slurring Draught, Sleekeazy's Hair Potion , basically what Lucius had said, he was giving them a sample of all the potions .

"And this is the potion Polyjuice. A potion that allows you to temporarily assume another person's physical form. You just need to drop a bit of the person's DNA into the potion and voila! One drink lasts for an hour." I said as I raised the aforementioned potion.

"just the physical form?" Ajuka asked, I looked at him questioningly.

"Yes, just the physical form, although well, it also comes with all the disadvantages and physical problems that person has, let's say, blindness, deafness, if they are missing any limbs, etc. It exactly replicates the person at the time their DNA was acquired. The only limitation is that that person has to be alive at the time of using the potion, otherwise nothing will happen." Ajuka nodded as he looked at the potion with curiosity, I just dropped it into the box. " And I think that's it." I said with a smile. Rambling on about potions for almost an hour? Yes and thank you very much.

"May I ask about that potion?" Grayfia interrupted as she pointed outside the storage cabinet. I poked my head out of the room to look where she was pointing. It was a cauldron in the corner of the room.

"Ah, the emerald potion," I said simply, having forgotten I'd even made it. With the half-finished recipe Voldemort had shown me, it was easy to design the rest. I approached her, and the rest followed behind me. "I'd forgotten this was even here," I said honestly.

"What does it do?" Ajuka asked as he looked at the potion with curiosity.

"It's quite insidious, if I'm being honest. It takes three cups for the potion to take effect. The first symptom is an immense, intense, burning pain, followed by hallucinations that make you relive your worst memories and greatest fears, and finally, it causes extreme thirst." I explained quickly.

"Oh? And what was it created for? It doesn't sound like something that would be useful under normal circumstances." Ajuka pointed out and I nodded.

"Not normally, but it's a defensive potion, designed to protect something, to be a test," I said simply before pulling a gold galleon from my sleeve and dropping it into the cauldron. "The potion cannot be penetrated by hand, it cannot be removed, vanished, separated, extracted, transfigured, or have its nature altered in any way. The only way to deplete it is with the intention of drinking it," I explained.

I then grabbed a large ladle, scooped out a large amount of the emerald potion, and tossed it aside. The potion splashed onto the ground before rapidly evaporating, while the cauldron, which had slightly lowered its potion level, began to refill once more. I signaled Sirzechs to try it, and he understood and stepped forward.

Sirzechs tried to place his hand inside the cauldron only for the invisible barrier to stop him. He frowned and strained harder, I could see the veins bulging in his hand just so the barrier wouldn't budge. To my surprise, his hand began to glow with a reddish-black demonic power. The power of destruction danced through his palm. He tried to touch the potion with the power of destruction.

To my utter delight, the potion held up. Sirzechs whistled in amazement.

"It was the lowest setting I could use for my Power of Destruction, but it's impressive that even that held up." Sirzechs said honestly, and I perked up at the praise. Considering the potion wasn't going to spill, I grabbed the cauldron and dropped it into the box. I didn't really need it; I'd simply prepared it for the challenge of creating it. It wasn't important anymore. "I was going to ask, but how big is the space in that box?" Sirzechs asked curiously.

"Enough." I shrugged. I hadn't really calculated how big I wanted it to be, just a rough estimate so that all the potions would fit . If you want to take out a potion, just stick your arm in and try to take out a potion, thinking about a particular object helps you find it faster." I explained while passing the box to Sirzechs. He stared at the box for a few seconds until he decided to put his hand in the box.

Sirzechs blinked a few times as his entire hand entered the box. He seemed to understand that he wouldn't actually be able to reach any potions from there, so he shoved his arm up to the elbow into the box. When he finally grabbed one of the potions, he pulled his arm out.

"It's okay, this box is really useful." Sirzechs said with a smile as he looked at the potion in his hands before dropping it back into the box. I smiled.

"Well, that would be all I have for now." I said simply, both Satans nodded.

"Then I guess it's time we go." Sirzechs said with a smile. I nodded. I looked at Bella and Lucius who had remained completely silent for the moment. Bella had the most bored expression I'd ever seen her have. However, Lucius, standing next to me, stepped forward while smiling.

"Shall I walk you to the door?" Lucius smiled, Sirzechs nodded before looking at me.

"I appreciate it. Lady Prince, it was a pleasure meeting you. Congratulations again on your first victory. I can't wait to see what else you can accomplish." Sirzechs smiled at me as he placed the box under his arm.

"We'll be attentive," Ajuka added. I almost wanted to sigh, not knowing if it was good or bad that Ajuka was paying attention to me. I expected to hear from Sirzechs sooner or later. The missions would make me interact with Rias sooner or later, but this happened too early. On the other hand, Ajuka didn't even care about his own Clan most of the time.

"On the contrary, thank you for your visit. I hope to see you again in the future." I said humbly, after which I let Lucius escort the trio to the exit. Once the laboratory doors closed, I let out a heavy, weary sigh.

"We'll have to move some plans forward," Bella said simply, and I smiled bitterly, but nodded.

"Yeah, I know." I sighed wearily. It was unlikely we'd quickly lose Sirzechs' or Ajuka's interest, so it was best to be prepared for any situation and try to stay on both of their good sides.

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