Snape woke up from his coma.The pain from the spiritual power impacting his meridians the previous night seemed to linger on his body, and the stinging sensations remained in his mind. The medicinal liquid gradually eased the pain, and warm spiritual power nourished his exhausted body.
Beside him sat Lin Hui, still wearing yesterday's clothes. He had stayed by Snape's side all night.
During this time, Lin Hui had added medicinal liquid to the bath five times, and this was the sixth. Snape's body was still absorbing the liquid at a visible rate.
The more liquid he absorbed, the higher his body's potential. Apart from the liquid repairing his damaged meridians and body, the amount he absorbed far exceeded that of an ordinary person.
Normally, four or five portions would be enough, but Snape had used nine. Fortunately, Lin Hui had prepared extra, two portions more than estimated.
This process lasted for an entire night and a morning.
Snape's originally pale complexion became slightly flushed from the stimulation of the medicinal liquid. The shocking scars on his body gradually disappeared, transforming into faint red marks.
His previously frail appearance had become much more solid, and he had even grown taller, his shoulders widening.
"Thank you, Mr. Lin. You've worked hard," Snape said sincerely to Lin Hui, who had stayed by his side and used his spiritual power to clear his blocked meridians repeatedly the previous night.
Lin Hui patted his now firm shoulders. "You're welcome. Go take a shower first. I've put clean clothes aside for you."
With that, Lin Hui left the bathroom.
Snape looked at his somewhat unfamiliar body in the mirror. He touched the scar on his chest; except for a slight color difference, the texture was now smooth.
It's magical.
Snape thought.
When he came out, everyone had prepared lunch and was waiting for him to join them.
The different flavors of the food caught his taste buds by surprise. His tongue was in a frenzy, madly taking in tastes it had never encountered before.
The two little ones, who had eaten their fill, simultaneously lay on the sofa and began circulating their spiritual power to digest the food.
He decided to retract his earlier, somewhat dismissive, evaluation from last night. It was clearly very practical.
Although Snape missed the morning classes and exercises, in the afternoon, Lin Hui designed a special body-training course for him based on his condition.
Since his body had absorbed so much medicinal liquid, his strength had increased, and his speed had also improved considerably. Because of this, he had crushed a cup while eating.
The feeling of losing control of one's body was unpleasant, so the afternoon training became particularly important.
Lín Luòxuě went to practice her Sword Control Art, not by flying, but by transforming her flying sword into a sword formation. She imagined waving her hand, and thousands of flying swords behind her shooting towards the enemy, something even Voldemort couldn't withstand.
Abigail had gone back to the basement to tinker with the mobile phone that Lín Luòxuě had conceptualized earlier.
Time passed quickly, especially with so much to do each day.
Lín Luòxuě and Snape had managed to finish their homework, and the remaining tasks were to practice a little magic each day and dedicate all their energy to cultivation.
Snape often followed Lin Hui to learn the basics of alchemy, and occasionally, when Lin Hui was refining potions himself, he would let Snape observe and explain during the process.
Snape seemed to have been inspired. That day, with the consent of the two adults, he set up Lín Luòxuě's small crucible to improve potions.
Lín Luòxuě assisted by his side, while Lin Hui was responsible for safety and technical support. Abigail would occasionally appear in the alchemy room to bring them tea and snacks.
Snape chose to improve a familiar and relatively expensive calming agent. He first attempted to incorporate semen platycladi, commonly used in Calming Heart Pills for its heart-nourishing and calming effects. He experimented gradually, using different forms and quantities, finally determining that grinding the semen platycladi into a powder, adding 1 ounce, and stirring clockwise three times immediately after the potion began to boil was the best method.
Although the semen platycladi was a bit expensive, the quantity used was small. The overall cost decreased, and the effect more than doubled.
This experiment continued until the day before Christmas Eve.
Snape bottled the calming agent, which was originally gemstone blue but now had a purplish tinge. One pot of the potion yielded two bottles.
His improved formula could be verified by the Potion Association, meaning he would receive a share of the profits for every bottle of the improved calming agent sold.
Abigail offered to handle the verification with the Potion Association quickly.
Snape had no objections; the sooner it was submitted, the sooner he could receive his earnings. As for whether others would think he was connected to the Rosevelt Family? He was already connected to Lín Luòxuě's family, who were part of the Rosevelt Family, wasn't he? Moreover, having a pure-blood family vouch for him would save him a lot of trouble.
Abigail urged the two tired children to quickly take a bath and change their clothes. It was Christmas Eve tonight, and they needed to place their gifts under the Christmas tree.
The Christmas tree was cut down by Lin Hui from a small hill behind their house. It was adorned with decorations: beautiful Christmas balls bought from the Muggle world, small stars transformed by Lín Luòxuě using Transfiguration, and Snape's own miniature versions of all the potions he had made.
Abigail magically sprinkled tiny, glowing specks onto the completed Christmas tree, similar to fairy lights in the Muggle world but much more beautiful. They didn't stay in one place but drifted randomly, making it enchanting.
The Christmas Eve outfits were sweaters knitted by Lín Luòxuě using magic. Hers and her mother's were red, with a small Christmas tree on her sweater, surrounded by gifts. Abigail's was a large reindeer with a comically red nose, full of childlike charm. Lin Hui's sweater was green, also featuring a large reindeer, the same style as Abigail's.
Snape's sweater had a green base, layered with white Christmas trees. It wasn't overly flamboyant, and importantly, it didn't have the Gryffindor red that Snape disliked.
The soft, well-fitting sweater carried a hint of sunshine. He carried his gift to place under the Christmas tree.
Lín Luòxuě arrived a bit late, also carrying several gifts downstairs.
"It's a good thing we sent the others' gifts to the Owl Post Office earlier, or Little Apple would be exhausted today," Lín Luòxuě said, grateful for her foresight. If not, she wouldn't have managed it either; it was the post office's job, she just had to send them.
Little Apple, standing on a shelf by the Christmas tree, hooted in agreement.
Abigail and Lin Hui's gifts had already been placed under the Christmas tree.
"Alright children, come help in the kitchen!" Abigail called from the doorway.
The two little ones exchanged glances and ran into the kitchen together.