After eating, all of the First Year students headed for the basement for their lab work.
Professor Ashcroft was waiting for Class A at the door to her lab, giving Wolfe a look of pity. “I didn’t expect to see you again in this sort of situation, at least not before a proper and thorough investigation was completed.”
“Oh, no need to pity me. I’ve got it pretty good.” Wolfe laughed, confusing the teacher.
“I have seen so-called Magi Familiars before, and drawing mana through the men accused of being able to use magic is excruciatingly painful. For them, that is. That’s why the Coven uses it as a punishment. Even with good Compatibility, the process usually drives them to suicide within a few years.” She whispered, so the young Witches didn’t hear.
There was no reason to lie to a teacher that already knew so much about him. He wasn’t going anywhere any time soon, and the Headmistress had tacitly approved of him as a Familiar already.
Wolfe shook his head. “Maybe if they forcefully exceeded what I could supply and my storage was dry. But normally, it’s not a big deal. They don’t take more than I can give.”
Professor Ashcroft gave a thoughtful look. “Interesting, so perhaps the Magi really were just weak demons who mixed with humans so they could live in this world without being banished. But we can talk about ancient history and evolutionary theory later.
The lower classes need a strong Familiar to help them activate potions. We wanted to send Mary and Pup, but he bit the first person to suggest it.”
Wolfe looked to Ella and Cassie for an answer. Maybe they knew a way for him to avoid working.
“So he’s going to forcefully channel mana through the regular class Witches?” Ella asked, sharing a knowing look with Cassie.
“We found out the hard way. They should too.” Cassie agreed.
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“And sanitize your hands after,” Cassie added, making Professor Ashcroft laugh.
“New Witches and Familiars are always so protective. Now off you go.” The Professor instructed him, unaware that the Witches were trying to set the other students up for a prank of sorts.
The other class was right next door, so Wolfe walked right in and waved to the teacher before taking the assistant teacher’s spot.
“And who are you?” The teacher asked suspiciously.
“Wolfe. Your volunteer Familiar from Class A sent by Professor Ashcroft. Don’t worry. I’ve been instructed not to put any more than a single finger on your students to help them activate their potions.”
“A humanoid Familiar? Alright. Come here, and I will show them the process to make the basic healing potion, good for the common cold, simple cuts, bruises and other basic ailments.”
It was easier than making soup. Add ingredients in a specific quantity and order to a boiling cauldron, and stir while doing an aura thing that Wolfe couldn’t follow. You didn’t even need to worry about the taste.
“Then you add mana until it changes colour. Wolfe, can you push mana for the ones who can’t access it on their own? If so, not too little or too much. It will ruin the effect.” The teacher directed him.
She pulled the tiniest amount from Wolfe, and he looked at her in shock. “That’s as much as it takes?”
“Yes, every time. Can you do that a hundred times today, or should I look for a second Familiar?”
Wolfe shook his head. “That little won’t be an issue. I was expecting it to be closer to creating a mana talisman. Reiko taught a few of the Witches last night, and Ella made one with my assistance.”
“Class A really is on a different level. I don’t even think we learn those this year, and they’re making them before the first week of class.” One of the students complained.
“Work hard, and you can do it too. Building your aura just takes practice and hard work.” Wolfe tried to console her.
“I can’t even use mana. How could I work on my aura in time?” The Witch asked.
“Ask your teacher this afternoon if you can make an aura wand. That helped Cassie’s aura stabilize.” Wolfe suggested.
“Mister Familiar, that is not first-year magic. Please don’t give the students crazy ideas.” The teacher admonished him.
But it was so easy. Just how bad had these Witches gotten? As a child, he used to idolize them on television as symbols of beauty and power, and this teacher was ruining his mental image. The uniforms were everything he had hoped for, but the actual Witches were a bit of a letdown.
Wolfe sat silently while the potions brewed, wondering how much else he had wrong about the world because he believed the movies and news stations were realistic.
“Alright, we will go one at a time. Wolfe, please make contact with the student so they can activate the spell.”
Wolfe walked straight to the girl who said she couldn’t use mana and gently placed a finger on the back of her neck.
“Can you draw mana when I touch you? Or should I push some into you so you can activate the potion?”
She focused, then shook her head. “Push, please.”
The trickle of mana was just enough for her to feel warm and fuzzy all over, with an intangible ache that yearned for more, as was normal to Wolfe when he was working with Witches. The brew turned light green and glowed a bit as she worked, then seemed to settle to a deeper herbal green.
The healing potion was complete, but this Witch wasn’t. She was missing something that the other two he had worked with weren’t.
Wolfe thought about what it might be as he went to the next Witch in line and repeated the process.
That one was the same as well, missing something.
The third drew the thread of mana on her own, and Wolfe could feel the difference. Whatever internal mechanism let Witches use mana was either missing or underdeveloped in the first two Witches.
The potion brewed perfectly, and the Student beamed in pride as the first in the class to do so under her own power.
Wolfe rewarded her with a little extra push of mana to give her aura something to work with and felt the faintest hint of it begin to form as her knees buckled and dropped her into her chair.
This class was beginning to be a lot of fun. They might have known all their lives that they were likely to become Witches, but like him, they were still childlike in their magical abilities, and watching their joy at a first success made Wolfe understand why intelligent Familiars were known to tease their Witches.
How could they not want to tease them? The more of the class that he went through, the more he enjoyed this assignment, even if it did mean that he had to work all morning instead of just lazing about. After making his way through the whole hundred witches of this potions class, he had a newfound understanding of the many reasons that teenage Witches were so widely adored.
“Thank you, Wolfe. That will be all. You can go back to your Witch while this class works on their herbalism.” The teacher ordered him, pointing to the door when everyone had a potion in front of them.
Some had managed to mess up the simple instructions, and the brew didn’t work correctly, but it was still a potion of sorts.