My Opposite Wood

Slytherin Directives

As set forth by Salazar Slytherin

Codified from oral tradition by Dorian Snape-Ellis, 1692


1. Trust no one.
2. Know thyself.
3. Question all motives, even thine own.
4. Divulge nothing to Enemies save misinformation.
5. Never take by force what may be acquired through stealth or persuasion.
6. Prize Honour above all. Once lost, it can never be regained.
7. Power is better than Recognition.
8. Purity of purpose is better than willingness to compromise.
9. Loyalty to the deserving is more admirable than loyalty to self.
10. The needs of the House outweigh the needs of ones' self.
11. The needs of kith and kin outweigh the needs of ones' self.
12. That which does not kill you outright, makes you stronger.

Dorian Snape-Ellis (1631-1716): Father Peregrine Ellis, Mother Honoria Snape.
Slytherin Prefect 1647: Hogwarts Head Boy 1648; teacher of Transfigurations, Hogwarts, 1674-1716; Head of Slytherin House, 1692-1716. Killed in the Fourth Goblin Uprising of 1716.
Attributed to Theatresm's Brave New World

Extract from one of S. Snape's second-war stillroom books. In reference to the destruction of the ringcrux, the ambush of Arthur Weasley at the Department of Mysteries, and the third Incident at the Shrieking Shack, as well as shedding light on the activities the writer preferred over preparing lesson plans and correcting the extensive essays he set during his stint as the Hogwarts DADA professor.
Warnings: Large text tables, reduced image size, doggerel, copious annotation, some blurring of the line between lateral thinking and black humor.
Note: Due to the use of underlining in addition to several styles of handwriting by S. Snape, Ministry notations will be bolded, except for [bracketed] attempts to describe imagery such as arrows and illegible text. Ministry Potioneer Thaddeus Greengrass's annotations are prefaced MBN (Ministry Brewer's Note).




Page 1

The following five lines are in black ink, but have been heavily scored through in red. Tues, July 3, 1996 7:30: Heat back on: G-13 clarify 8:19: Decant G-13 8:22: Breakfast? 9:0?: Prepare dry fo-- Here writing trails off to illegibility. The following is also nearly illegible, having apparently been written in a shaking hand until around the 11:15 entry. Mon, July 2, 1996 [Archivist's note: S. Snape's habit of preparing his morning schedules before retiring has been well established in previous stillroom books. The initial 'p' here is presumed shorthand for 'pm,' as the previous page has a completed schedule for Monday, July 2, ending at 7:23.] 7:30p: chop valerian 8:10: [choose? crush? appears to be 'chosk'] sopophorous [16? 76?] beans 8:38: wash asphodel CAREFULLY 8:2820 [arrow to slot it above previous]: select 1.5 lbs asphodel florets. flawless 8:42: infuse [145? 745?] grams wormwood leaves & strain 8:52: add asphodel & valerian [nonstandard symbol presumed to indicate (hence 'NSSI') widdershins] 9:50: add sopophorous 7 [NSSI widdershins] 1 [NSSI deosil] 10:54: cool to 90°F prepare 8 grams alum powder     hawthorn mortar, birch pestle - 15 oz jet -48 drams powdered bloodstone 11:06: mix powders in 4 oz hot blood-- burn oregano concurrently 11:15: add 18 drams patchouli oil 7d3w [reversion to standard deosil/widdershins notation here] 11:28: chop butterfly weed & catnip together 11:30: heat blood mix to 97°F, add chopped, strain [(post 10)?] ensure Draught @ 90°F 11:32: add transformative to Draught boil & clarify 7w3d 1:15: let simmer confer etc all to plan 8: cool, decant, administer 2nd d[ose]. Tues, July 3, 1996: STRATEGIZE · She looks like a viper · Weasley's primary difficulty was     excessive blood loss     anti-coagulation Not natural! Should be forced coag!     wound non-closure       treatment-resistant ∴ venom will be    naturally hemotoxic [causative arrow from 'blood loss']    magically cytotoxic [causative arrow from 'anticoagulation'] [green circles around the -ly adjectives here and an arrow to switch their position; causative arrow from above green text] If magically hemotoxic,     immunization impractical    · even if magic didn't make it unlikely to work, would need hers specifically    · can just imagine that conversation.* FORGET IMMUNIZATION & SEROTHERAPY	Must be an antidote, must be taken · post bite or · when bite inevitable Post-Bite · prostration ↓ · unconsciousness ↓ · coma · swelling at site --site unpredictable --could interfere with delivery · tachycardia & dispnoea    might interfere with thought processes DON'T COUNT ON IT [MBN: Professor Snape appears to have omitted GI distress--an intentional omission, presumably] [arrows leading from 'dermal' and 'sublingual] Better suited to imm & sero - slow release, no guarantee of right dosage at right time bite       release · most tooth-accessible areas encounter teeth normally · would have to make a non-dissolving one	& must be PANACEAN* re-check literature on bezoars as ingreds Pre-Bite If it becomes obviously inevitable, will probably be under his eye, poss. other constraints, interferences. CANNOT RELY ON ABILITY TO BRING HAND TO MOUTH · injection [arrow labeled 'impractical' from 'constraints, interferences'] · dermal · already in mouth --sublingual --collapsing capsule [circled in green, with arrow leading to 'release,' below] charm wandless?    needs to be-- can't raise wand if he's there -- instant inescapable death but if he plans to anyway, may as well, but can't rely on ability, so does need to be wandless, only there we run into the difficulty of · a) possibility of impaired concentration · b) the problem of how:     The keyphrase would have to be something innocuous in his presence so as not to tip him off, as even in best-case scenario His Bloody-Mindedness is unlikely to be satisfied with less than death, but if it is an innocuous phrase, is likely to be said at other times. Must wager on simplicity & quick-draw. Wed., July 4, 1996     consider collapsation key     research panacean antidotes     Old research specific or focused on toxins. [Charms diagram in green: Up, outward arc culminating in inward jab, containing words 'My Lord'] leg-holster only once things get tight.

MBN: The butterfly weed preparation has a base not unknown to IAMB [the International Association for Masters of Brewery], being a transformative potion that acts on other brews and most effective at defusing a brew's Dark Magical effects. Despite not knowing the preparation of the catnip, this Potions Master's opinion is that it would most likely be applied to the Draught of Living Death in a transformative as a stimulant, to negate the potion's 'Sleeping Beauty' effect, and hindsight applied to the circumstances of July '96 supports this hypothesis. The burning of the oregano is more straightforward, as oregano smoke is known to have a disruptive effect on Dark Magic, especially when stretched over distances, as in the case of Dark Artifacts connecting two persons not in proximity. As for the Draught itself, other than certain discrepancies in the preparation, the only notable factor is the enormous quantity Professor Snape seems to have prepared at one go.

Page 2 (July 4 cont'd)
The following text is wrapped around the page, and is attributed to A.E. Housman.
There was a king reigned in the East: There, where kinds will set to feast, they get their fill before they think With poisoned meat and poisoned drink. He gathered all the springs to birth From the many-venomed earth; First a little, then to more, he sampled all her killing store; And easy, smiling, season'd sound, Sate the king when healths went round. They put arsenic in his meat And stared, aghast, to watch him eat; They put strychnine in his cup And shook to see him drink it up: They shook, they stared, as white's their shirt: Them it was their poisons hurt.
I tell the tale that I heard told: Mithridates, he died old.
          · it always takes longer than you expect, even taking this into account -- pro
{3:1} · elegance: the simplest solution is most probable: anti
          · work expands to fill the time available for its completion: pro
          · the perversity of the universe tends towards a maximum: PRO

If Occam's Elegance is bollocks as usual, O'Toole is persuasive in view of:
· no order · no temperature, times, stirring directions · excessive use of fresh, whole plants
· Pliny reports universally varying weights where Celsus doesn't and disagrees on #ings.
What the hell. O'Toole is persuasive.
MPP · Trimble's Dark Forces · Asiatic Anti-Vs · Medieval Ps · ask & obliviate Jigger · Julia Livia Drusilla's Add'm to De Medicina
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8G acacia juice (A.C) ♂ illyrian iris ☽ cardamom ♀   (Elettaria) 12G Gallic nard ♀ gentian root ♂ dried rose leaves ♀ 17G poppy-tears ☽    (papavar rhoeas) parsley ♂ 20G sweet flag ☽ 21G storax ☉ 24G castoreum ☽! frankincense ☉ hypocritis ♄ myrrh ☉ sweet myrhh☉ malabar leaf ☿, ☽ 25G nard ♀ obalsam ☉ shepards' purse ♄ 28G rhubarb root ♂, ♄ 29G saffron ♀ ginger ♄ cinnamon ☿ Unknown quant. dried blood ♂ dried flesh of    ☽ lizard or    ♂ viper ^ species [of all]?

1·66gG costmary ♃ 20·66G casia ☽    (probably buds) saxifrage ☽ darnel ♃ long pepper ♂ 24·66G flowers of round rush ♃ turpentine resin ☉ galbanum ☉ cretan carrot seeds ♀ pounded taken in honey as an almond-sized lump served in wine ☽ 8 @ 2733g+? ☉ 7 @ 3286g ♂ 6 @ 1389g+? ♀ 6 @ 1678g? ☿ 3 @ 65g ♃ 3 @ 2970g ♄ 4 @ 106 [in descending order] sun Jupiter moon Venus Mars Saturn Mercury [no order indicated] alloy-? [arrows leading from 'gold' and 'tin'] copper? no, it's for me [arrow leading from 'birch'] gold silver tin hawthorn birch · Choose [weakly drawn arrows lead from above materials] cauldron [alloy] mortar [hawthorn] pestle [birch] knives [gold] ladle [silver] sun predominates

Resolve · Livia/Celcus/Pliny/Andromachus/Nicostratus discrepancies (err on Livia's side) · casia: buds v. bark · form of ginger - other spices presume powdered · species & quantity of blood & flesh --flesh refers to muscle or 'chunk of reptile?     Occam suggests muscle. Specificity? --blood: wizard or muggle? conditions? · brewing order · brewing stages - temps & times · stirring cycles ! · why get the salicin from beavers instead willow? · theriacs build to a level - find other use for that perfectly good capsule · figure out why a bitch of a potion like this is worth my bloody time when the likelihood of its working by the time I need it approaches NIL.     aside, of course, from its being a bitch of a potion... The following begins in very small, diagonal cursive, straightening and strengthening line by line until it's calligraphed completely perpendicular to the rest of the text.] braced on yielding walls under a stone sky ten thousand sharp green eyes unfurling ten thousand tender blades ten thousand thin arms urged on bad [haz'd?] by bright [illegible] nothing urged on in bright whips They're searching for -- June's eyes will see-- no telling Step step by step by measured step turn each anticipated turn</small> towards a certain center Strung along in the hedge. What the hell.

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