A Bite of Hogwarts - chapter 46

In the end, Alina’s plot to see someone get a blast of coke to the face did not proceed as smoothly as she had imagined.

As for the reason it failed, it wasn’t because Ron had smartly noticed something was wrong, nor did Harry Potter work up the courage to expose this devious scheme.

Carbonated drinks of the 90s simply didn’t have that much gas content, and besides that, Alina had overestimated the strength of young pure-blood wizards. Ron, who had never seen the screw caps used by Coke bottles, took six minutes to finally unscrew the cap correctly.

The carbonation had settled down a lot by then, and the Coke that gushed out of the bottle only reached the top of his clothes before losing strength, the majority of it going into his shirt pocket.

Squeak! Squeak!

As Coke descended, Ron’s shirt pocket began to wriggle while panicked squeaks came from within.

“Oh! Goodness, Scabbers…”

Ron was startled by the sudden surge of Coke, and then he hastily moved the Coke out of the way and reached into his shirt pocket. He took out a fat grey rat, looked up, and began to explain.

“He’s called Scabbers. He’s basically useless now and spends the entire day sleeping. When Percy became Prefect, Dad gave him an owl, but they couldn’t buy…I mean, so they gave me the rat.”

After explaining, Ron’s ears went red, and he turned his head, a confused and somewhat hurt look in his eyes as he looked at the silver-haired girl and changed the subject.

“What’s happened with that? It just suddenly…”

“Oh, I forgot to warn you…”

Before Ron could finish his question, Alina patted him on the head and gave an exaggerated sigh, a look of pity on her face as she spoke in a self-rebuking tone.

“Ron, you opened that bottle far too slowly, so much so that the magical substance that I knocked out with my shaking woke up again. You should have given it a hard shake again before opening it.”

“Magical substance?”

Ron looked in confusion at the bottle of Coke in his hand and frowned. “But didn’t you say that this was a Muggle drink?”

“Eh, it’s just like how the Magic World will still eat ordinary potatoes. Isn’t it very normal for Muggles to collect magical materials and make them into food and drinks?”

Alina spread apart her arms and seriously explained, “You don’t think that any ordinary liquid could shoot upward, do you? Get up close, and you can hear the hissing of the magical substance inside the liquid.”

“Is that so?”

Ron dubiously placed his ear against the Coke bottle, but when he really did hear countless soft crackling and hissing sounds, his face became more trusting.

At this moment, a timid voice came from the seat next to Ron.

“But, Miss Alina, if I remember correctly if you don’t shake the Coke, it won’t gush out like that.”

Harry Potter, who had been a spectator this entire time, finally couldn’t help himself and raised a hand—though he didn’t know why he was raising his hand—and courageously interrupted Alina.

“Eh? Is that how it is…”

Ron suspiciously looked at the honest-faced Harry, and then he looked at the intelligent and self-confident Alina, uncertainty in his voice.

Hmmm?!

Pulling the rug from under this girl’s feet?!

The smug girl’s face went stiff, and she viciously glared at Harry Potter and unhappily snorted.

Alina slightly raised her chin, stood up straight, folded her arms, and pointed the finger at ‘Magical Drafts and Potions’ in Harry’s hands. Imitating the arrogant tone of Lucius Malfoy, she began to speak slowly.

“Mister Harry Potter, this world is far more amazing than you can imagine. Do you know why Coke can produce air bubbles? Do you know what kind of magical substance is contained inside?”

Harry Potter shrunk back in the face of Alina’s domineering attitude. He earnestly answered, “I’m sorry. I don’t know.”

“Mm, then you definitely don’t know about the omnipresent hydroxic acid and the terrifying substance that is CO2, right?”

Alina folded her arms and looked down on the pitiful Harry Potter, her tone becoming even more aloof and profound.

“I’m sorry. I also don’t know about that.” Harry shook his head again.

As expected! Alina’s eyes flashed. Just as she had imagined, even though Harry Potter had also lived in Muggle society, he had only just graduated from elementary school, so just like other witches and wizards, he was a blank sheet of paper when it came to the knowledge of chemistry.

Now that she had the answer she wanted, Alina smiled in amusement. Was she trying to cut out the rug from under her? Then this little miss will hoodwink you silly, with some apology to her ninth year of compulsory education in her previous life. At the same time, she could start one of her plans for Hogwarts a little early.

Alina cleared her throat, put on a serious expression, and raised a finger. She spoke in a steady tone that was neither too fast nor too slow, and it seemed like she was lecturing on some important secret from ancient times.

“CO2 is an extremely frightening substance. Not even the Muggles have realized just how dangerous it is. Ancient humans called it death gas. It can extinguish flames, suffocate people, and some people even think that it will eventually bring an end to all civilization.”

The girl paused as she glanced at the earnestly listening boys, then she lowered her voice and continued in a mysterious tone.

“As for hydroxic acid, this is a colorless, odorless, and tasteless magical substance. Every year, it takes tens of thousands of lives, so many that the number of deaths from people breathing in hydroxic acid ranks in the top ten in causes of deaths in humans. And hydroxic acid is one of the necessary conditions for the majority of illnesses, and people are so addicted to this substance that they will die if they go without it for 168 hours…”

As time passed, the mood in the compartment grew ever more solemn. Harry and Ron were so nervous that they could hardly breathe as they listened to Teacher Alina’s lecture.

After all, everything Alina said was reasonable, the logic flawless, and her words were extremely convincing. Harry and Ron couldn’t help but believe in her words.

“But, Sister Alina.”

Ron swallowed and raised a hand. Once he obtained Alina’s approval, he whispered, “What do these two frightening subjects have to do with Coke?”

Alina nodded in satisfaction, and she lightly tapped her finger against the Coke bottle.

“A good question! Because…this black liquid’s primary ingredients are really hydroxic acid and CO2. You’ll learn about this when you get older and advance to an even higher Potions class. Remember that you cannot mention this to outsiders, particularly to professors, as it’s forbidden to learn about high-level Potions knowledge ahead of time.”

As she watched Harry and Ron, who had been completely fooled, solemnly nod, Alina, squinted and then sincerely and earnestly summed things up for the two.

“Please remember, as you’re about to become mature wizards, don’t use Muggle methods to defile this magical beverage. The correct method of the Magic World to drink this beverage is to shake it first and then drink it. When you can use your own magic to suppress the violent reaction produced by the Coke, it means you’ve become a great wizard on the level of Dumbledore! Understood?!”

“Mm! We’ll do our best! Thank you!”

The two nodded in unison, their eyes brimming with hope and determination.

“You’re welcome. We’re classmates and friends. It’s only natural that I do this.”

Alina smiled and shook her head.

Youth truly made one envious…although it was rather tiring, answering someone’s questions truly inspired joy…who made her such a kindhearted little fairy, ah, little witch, who was so happy to help others?

She returned to her seat, opened up ‘The Standard Book of Spells (Grade 1)’, and prepared to continue reading when suddenly, she heard a strange gurgling from her stomach.

Gu~

Why was she so hungry?

The girl looked out the window and saw fields and meadows going by. As they were talking, the train had already left London.

To think that so much time had passed! It was almost lunchtime. In other words, the little tea trolley with all sorts of snacks would be here soon.

Alina raised her head and ardently glanced at Harry, who was focused on the Potions textbook and swallowed. She could never pass up on this opportunity to openly freeload off someone. Hm…she would just consider it as Teacher Alina’s tuition fee.