The Colour of Water
by Valerie Vancollie
Lucius Malfoy: Victim of He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named
Severus kept the Daily Prophet on his desk; its large headline had been his greatest source of motivation over the past thirteen weeks. The invention of new potions was always a long, arduous and dangerous task full of unpredictability, exploding cauldrons and complicated Arithmancy. And intuition. Though none of the official papers would list it as such, most of the greatest advancements in potions over the past several centuries were due to their creator's intuitive grasp of their brews and their ingredients.
Hogwarts' newest potions professor was no exception. Half of the contributions Severus Snape had made to his chosen field since attaining his mastery were achieved due to his instincts. And that was only for what he had chosen to publish. He kept a good quarter of his discoveries to himself, his Slytherin nature urging him to build up a supply of secret armaments.
The moment the potion's base began to boil, Severus sprinkled in the powdered dragonfly wings and unicorn horn he'd prepared, watching the silvery dust dissolve into the pale purple liquid. As predicted, the brew paled further and took on a silvery hue. If the next few steps went as predicted, the potion would continue to lighten in colour, taking on a golden sheen before becoming completely colourless. There was no reason for it not to transpire as such as he'd considered each step carefully, done the necessary Arithmantic calculations several times and even collected the blossoms of the moonflower on the vernal equinox. Just as a precaution. If it worked, he would experiment with moonflower collected at other times.
Despite this, Severus was not foolish enough to expect it all to go flawlessly. Although there was a good chance it would work on this trial, he wasn't going to let his expectations interfere with the necessary precautions. Potion invention was dangerous and many an idiot had died or permanently damaged their bodies or minds due to unexpected results and explosions. Especially towards the end of their work. There was a reason only fully qualified Potions Masters were legally allowed to design new potions.
As soon as he was sure the potion was stable, Severus picked up his quill and wrote his observations of the latest step into his research journal. He kept a separate one for all of his projects, each as completely laced with protective spells as was possible without risking the magic contaminating nearby ingredients. Although it had been an easy step, it was a crucial one. The combination of the unicorn horn and the dragonfly wings would ensure the honesty of the individual who imbibed the brew.
The previous steps, that had created the base for the potion, were simply meant to stabilize the later ingredients and ensure that they reacted in the way Severus wanted them to. While it was the least critical aspect of the potion, it was the part that took the longest to design. Once he had what he thought would be the main ingredients of the serum, he'd had to decide on what would be needed to have them interact with each other and their human consumer the way he wanted them to. It had taken two months to come up with a viable base and then a complete moon-cycle to mature it. He'd also fashioned the base in such a way that it would rapidly creep through the veins and act quickly; both vital characteristics for the use he intended the potion to have. The Wizengamot wouldn't want a slow acting potion.
Severus scowled at the thought. Real justice shouldn't have time constraints on it; it should be willing to chase down the truth and wait as long as necessary. It was simply another reminder for him, as if he didn't have enough, that his world didn't care for true justice, merely a caricature of it. As long as someone they didn't like took the blame and was punished, people were happy.
Well, he'd had enough.
A large part of the reason the popular or the rich got away with their crimes was that there wasn't a safe and effective truth serum. Those that did exist were either easily overcome with the proper training or had the potential for serious side effects and were thus rarely used unless the Ministry was convinced of the defendant's guilt and couldn't convince the Wizengamot of it in any other way.
Severus' thoughts instantly stopped as a wisp of an odour reached him. Looking up from his notes towards the softly simmering cauldron, he took a deep breath, carefully analyzing the smells coming from it. As per his usual procedure, he'd sanitized the room before commencing his work so that not even trace amounts of unwanted ingredients could accidentally contaminate the brew, so anything he detected had to be emanating from the potion. The scent was very faint but quite distinctive. Ashwinder eggs. Odd, he hadn't added any to the potion, but that was what it smelled like.
With a small frown, Severus stepped up to the cauldron and glanced down at the liquid. Its consistency and colour were what he expected, but the smell that wafted from it was not. It probably couldn't do any harm, but it was strange. As his mind raced to come up with an explanation, he carefully documented his observation and glanced at the tentative instructions he'd come up with to create the potion.
The next stage would be where any unpleasant surprises were most likely to occur. But first he had to prepare the ingredients. The Jobberknoll feathers were the easiest as they were added whole and would dissolve slowly to strengthen the effects of the serum. They were the one key ingredient of existing truth serums that Severus had ultimately decided to use in his experiment. The rest of the key ingredients he had discarded as being responsible for the major flaws that rendered the current potions all but useless.
He was sure that he would be questioned about these decisions, especially the lack of griffin scales, but Severus was sure it caused the severe reactions seen in most people subjected to the serums. Beyond that the other ingredients got to be completely counterintuitive to anyone but a Potions Master and even then he was sure some of his colleagues wouldn't agree until the serum had been subjected to the rigorous testing procedures of the Potions Guild.
Severus knew that he would be sceptical too if he hadn't discovered the peculiar properties of sopophorous beans, valerian roots, hellebore juice and sphinx fur prepared just right. It was something he'd accidentally discovered five years ago while playing a prank on Potter and Black. He'd brewed Draught of the Living Dead and altered it in such a way as to create what he'd hoped would be a frustrating and horrific dreamscape that he could temporarily trap the two in. Therefore he'd added sphinx fur to induce riddle-like qualities and hellebore juice for general unpleasantness among other ingredients. Instead of the anticipated results, he'd gotten a pair of enemies who appeared to all intents and purposes to be asleep but who were almost completely open to most suggestions he made.
That had resulted in some of the best months Severus had experienced at Hogwarts as the two Gryffindors had been unable to figure out why they felt compelled to do the most embarrassing and stupid things in public. The fun had abruptly ended when Professor Slughorn had started noticing the rapid depletion of his stock of belladonna and his old friend Lucius Malfoy had started owling him about a wonderful new opportunity to rid the Wizarding world of its undesirable denizens. Not to mention how to exact far better revenge upon his nemeses.
Although his attention had been diverted, Severus had never forgotten his unique alteration to the formula of Draught of the Living Dead. During his time as a Death Eater, he'd experimented with it some more in the hopes of creating a liquid Imperius to gift his lord with and irrevocably establish his position as favourite. He had discovered that of the changes he'd made to the draught, it was the hellebore juice and sphinx fur that interacted with the valerian roots and sopophorous beans to create the compulsion potion.
By that time, however, Severus had begun to seriously question his loyalties and the sanity and goals of the Dark Lord. Not wanting to be responsible for the atrocities his creation would surely lead to and not wanting it to be used on himself should his doubts be uncovered, he'd kept quiet. The fact that he wasn't going to inform anyone of the potion didn't stop him from continuing his experimentations. His intense love of the field and the joy he experienced while working to improve the exact art of potionmaking led him to continue his research.
The biggest problem with the potion by that point was its volatile nature. Hellebore juice, coming from a poisonous plant, was a delicate ingredient to work with on its own, but when mixed with ground sopophorous beans it became highly reactive. When he'd added it to the Draught of the Living Dead that hadn't been too much of a problem as the base of that potion contained ingredients that tempered the reaction. Those same ingredients, however, also lessened the compulsion's influence, as he'd found when there were things Black wouldn't do even while under the influence of his altered draught.
Despite the fact that he'd eventually uncovered the perfect base to create his new potion on, Severus' greatest discovery had come when he'd secretly administered the potion to a victim his master wanted to personally interrogate. He'd ordered the man to not reveal what he knew to the Dark Lord regardless of what he threatened to do to him or his family.
It had failed.
Instead of remaining quiet about the location of several important Muggleborns and their families, the man had spilled everything he knew as soon as the Dark Lord had his wife brought into the room. At first Severus had been stunned speechless, shocked that his compulsion potion had failed so spectacularly as it had never before. Then, even before the night was over and the man and his wife were tortured to death despite their cooperation, his mind had already started analyzing the situation; searching for potential answers.
He'd gone back over all of the potions forced upon the man that could have had lingering effects on him. Any ingredients that were still, or could still have been, in his veins, traceable or not, were meticulously noted and analyzed. Within three weeks of the failure, Severus had his answer, an absurdly complex serum consisting of dozens of ingredients from several potions that provided temporary immunity to the compulsion potion. And the best part of it was that some of the ingredients instantly dissolved into the blood, leaving no traceable residues behind so there was no chance of anyone else discovering the antidote. Which meant that he alone possessed the knowledge to circumvent his liquid Imperius.
Despite this insurance, Severus had still kept silent about his new potion. He still didn't want the Dark Lord learning of his invention and he didn't know Dumbledore enough to predict how he'd react to learning his new spy had created such a potion. A serum that essentially bordered on the Dark Arts, if it didn't fall into the category entirely. He wasn't willing to risk his fragile position with the man and end up being sent to Azkaban after all. Instead, he'd used the potion whenever necessary to aid in his spying and to help divert attention away from himself when the Dark Lord started suspecting that he had a traitor in his midst.
Severus put the valerian roots he'd just sliced into thin, even portions next to the hellebore juice he'd already pressed from the plants. The sphinx fur he'd cleaned carefully yesterday in preparation for today's steps. A glance at the cauldron showed that the potion was beginning to lighten in colour as he was expecting it to. He pulled the sopophorous beans towards him, expertly grinding them with the pestle in the mortar until they had the consistency of sand. He then added some observations to his journal before slowly pouring half of the hellebore juice into the simmering cauldron.
The potion hissed angrily, spitting and bubbling for a few minutes, taking on a sickly green hue like someone ready to vomit before it settled once more. Severus slowly relaxed, not even aware that he'd tensed up, ready to leap back if necessary. With hardly a glance at his journal, he picked up the Jobberknoll feathers and let them float into the potion one at a time as he lazily stirred the contents of the cauldron counter-clockwise until all of the feathers were added.
As the feathers slowly began to dissolve, draining of colour before disappearing entirely, Severus kept a sharp eye on the brew until the newest ingredients were completely absorbed. He then added his observations to the journal as the potion paled to a pastel purple. A faint floral scent wafted into the air as the moonflower in the base began to balance the hellebore. So far everything was progressing exactly as he'd expected, though the addition of the hellebore had been a little more violent than he'd anticipated.
A knock on the door to his lab startled Severus from his thoughts and caused his eyes to flick to the door. Who in Merlin's name would possibly come to visit him here? It was a Hogsmeade weekend and all the cretins that were old enough had spilled out of the castle hours ago and none of the younger years knew the location of his lab. He'd also managed to convince his colleagues that he was not a lonely soul shrouded in Darkness just waiting to be saved. So... Dumbledore. The Headmaster was the one person who had persisted in his pursuit of him despite his best efforts to dissuade him. He was always there offering his damnable sherbet lemons and tea.
Perhaps if he ignored him?
Severus scowled as his wards were dismantled and the door opened.
"Severus?" came the cheery voice of the castle's eccentric headmaster.
"Headmaster," Severus replied curtly, nodding at the man as he entered the room before bringing his attention back to his potion.
"What are you doing down here on such a fine day, my boy?" Albus questioned as he approached his newest Head of House.
"Working," Severus declared, he really didn't have time to dance with the wizard right now.
Although he now knew that he could trust the old man with his life, freedom and sanity, he still wasn't sure just where he stood with him. The Headmaster would have him believe that they were best friends, but then most people would appear to be so and Severus knew just how false such appearances could be.
"And what are you brewing?"
"A highly dangerous experimental serum that could explode at any moment," Severus stated, glancing up briefly to see Dumbledore looking at the Daily Prophet on his desk.
"Ah," came the unperturbed reply. "You have taken the necessary precautions, I hope?"
"Until you undid the ones on my door."
"This has to do with the trials that are finishing up," it wasn't a question.
Severus didn't bother to reply, merely making a confirmatory noise at the back of his throat, his eyes catching the subtle shade change of his potion. Instinctively he grabbed the hellebore vial and poured in a few more drops, not even flinching as it hissed and spat as before. He then inserted the ladle into the liquid and gave it a single clockwise turn, checking the consistency as he did so and leaning over the cauldron to check the scent of the serum.
When he was confident that everything was fine, Severus glanced up into the twinkling eyes of his employer. And, was it his imagination, or was there admiration there?
"Severus, what are you hoping to achieve?" Albus questioned, regarding his former student before he waved at the paper. "What's happened isn't your fault. You did what you could."
"Yet it wasn't enough," came the bitter reply. "I can see to it that they never again succeed in escaping justice as they have."
"How?" Albus asked before sudden realization and surprise overcame his features. "Veritaserum. You're attempting to create it."
"Yes."
Normally he'd enjoy catching the old coot off-guard, but now he had more important matters to attend to. He had to add the valerian roots with the remaining hellebore juice any minute now and he couldn't afford to miss the right moment.
"Severus, child, how many Potions Masters have attempted to create this?"
"Two hundred and sixty-eight," no hesitation. "They were going about it wrong and I have something they didn't."
"Are you sure?" Albus asked, the ramifications if he were correct... "The creation of a true Veritaserum would alter the Wizengamot as we know it."
"I know," Severus whispered, not looking up from his potion. "If I am correct the only antidote immediately obvious from the formula would require asphodel." He wouldn't mention the antidote he already knew existed, not even to his saviour. It would be his secret; his unexpected advantage.
"Which lingers in the blood and can easily be detected."
"Exactly."
"I shall leave you to your brewing then," Albus said as Severus lifted the cutting board with the sliced valerian roots on it. "Be careful my friend, it is not worth taking foolish risks for."
Startled, Severus glanced up at the Headmaster before returning his attention to the potion. He'd dissect the old man's words later, when he was finished with his work. He hardly heard the door close as he slowly added the root slices to the serum, waiting only a minute before pouring the rest of hellebore juice in and stirring counter-clockwise ten times. Now it would go much faster than before. As soon as the purple tinge faded and the silvery hue turned golden, he dusted the ground sopophorous beans into the liquid.
The serum slowly stopped boiling and thinned as Severus watched. He turned down the flame slightly and added the sphinx fur as soon as he could see the bottom of the cauldron through the potion. The fur took longer to dissolve than he'd expected, but it slowly vanished, draining the last traces of colour out of the serum leaving it as clear as water. Ten minutes after he'd added the final ingredient, the potion was simmering softly.
A smile slowly spread across Severus' face as he observed his invention. At this point it only had to decoct for four hours before it was ready to be cooled and bottled. Four hours was actually a little more time than was probably necessary, but it would strengthen the serum and ensure that the compulsion forced the truth out of the subject at low doses. Perhaps as few as five drops would be required to ensure a full confession of any crimes or guilt.
Of course, the serum still needed to be tested and the formula perfected before the Guild or the Ministry would even consider it safe and worthwhile, but the hardest part was achieved. He had a working formula that hadn't resulted in disaster when brewed.
* * *
Veritaserum Claims True, Potion Works
an article by special correspondent Tabith Loyd
The claim made by Potions Master and current Hogwarts Professor Severus Snape of having finally created a true Veritaserum as originally dreamed up by famed brewer and Potions Mistress Medea Zabini over three hundred years ago were validated late yesterday afternoon.
"We have finally completed our tests of the potion and it does indeed force anyone who's consumed it to answer truthfully any question posed of them without any of the side effects that continue to plague existing truth serums," Damocles Belby, Potions Master and spokes wizard for the Potions Guild declared. "We have sent a complete report of our findings to the Ministry."
At this point we would like to remind our readers that it is the Potions Guild, the only surviving organization of its kind, that has certified potions and classified ingredients for at least the last millennia. Although the Ministry is not required to abide by its decisions, it has followed them for the past six centuries.
"While there have been several demands for additional testing from within the Auror ranks," Minister Baltinoc stated early this morning, "I do not anticipate any evidence contrary to what the Guild stated to be found. I have already authorized the Department of Influential Fluids, Substances & Incantations to start drafting preliminary proposals for the new mandates that will be required to control this potion."
Although the Minister for Magic refused to answer questions as to the possible nature of the mandates, it is assumed that they will be aimed at restricting the use of Veritaserum to legal settings. This would come as a relief to those who fear the potion's invention could lead to a blatant abuse of its power by brewers.
"There is no doubt that it [Veritaserum] shall receive a restricted substance label," Libatius Borage, author of Advanced Potion-Making, announced when fire called for comments. "Probably a level one classification considering its colourless and odourless qualities."
A level one restriction, our readers are reminded, means that the substance in question can only be used with Ministry sanctioning. In the case of a potion or serum, it also means that the formula will be deemed classified and not made available to the public.
"The only other thing that I can say on the matter at the present is that the Wizengamot has already voted on the issue and decided to make the serum a requirement for all future trials involving a serious crime," Minister Baltinoc declared, though he wouldn't say what defined a 'serious' crime.
"Regardless of what crimes it is used for, this discovery will alter how the Wizengamot and Aurors operate," a junior Auror who requested anonymity said. "It will allow us to convict criminals who might otherwise have managed to get away."
Sceptics, however, are questioning if the excitement surrounding the invention isn't overrated. They wonder if it won't be just a matter of time before an antidote is created or flaws are found. Damocles Belby, though, has responded that while an antidote is possible based on the formula, it is one whose presence can easily be tested for before the administration of Veritaserum.
"If the subject has imbibed an antidote, then it is simply a matter of waiting until it has passed from his veins," the Master explained. "Other than that there don't appear to be any known potions that would be able to counter the effects of the serum. It's ingredients are so different from other truth serums as to render existing antidotes useless. The peculiar combination of ingredients also hopelessly complicates any search for a new antidote; there are simply too many conflicting properties to balance and take into account."
Thoughts? Comments? Suggestions? E-mail me at valeriev84@hotmail.com
February 2006
