Help! My Moms Are Overpowered Tyrants, and I'm Stuck as Their Baby!-Chapter 173: Potion Day Disaster

POV Riven

Potion Day.

Those two words alone sent a chill down my spine, a chill that settled somewhere between impending doom and casual dread. You'd think after countless accidents involving minor explosions, sentient bubbles, and unexpected transformations, someone would eventually learn their lesson. But then again, this was Arcanum. And we were, without a doubt, the most accident-prone class in the history of magical education.

Today, however, I had something more pressing on my mind than mere survival: impressing Aria. She'd recently been dropping hints about how "competent potion-makers" had always been her type, though it was entirely possible she was just baiting me into embarrassing myself. Still, a guy had to try, right?

Professor Balthazar, whose face perpetually looked like he'd swallowed a lemon, began his usual dour speech. He stood behind his desk, wringing his bony fingers, robes hanging from his thin shoulders like curtains on a half-closed window.

"Today," he droned, eyes already glazed with the hopeless resignation of someone who'd lost all faith in youth, "we will explore potions with subtle, complex effects. If—and I emphasize if—you follow instructions carefully, we may manage to avoid last week's catastrophe."

"You mean the talking frogs?" Aria whispered excitedly, eyes gleaming. "I loved that one."

I elbowed her gently, grinning back. "I promise you'll like today even better. Watch this."

Aria arched an eyebrow, skeptical but amused. "Oh, this should be good."

I smirked confidently, pulling out my carefully prepared ingredients. Elyzara and Velka stood nearby, meticulously arranging their own potions stations, while casting glances at each other as if no one would notice. I rolled my eyes internally. Honestly, were those two fooling anyone but themselves?

Focusing back on my work, I began mixing carefully measured ingredients. Dragon-scale powder, phoenix ash, mandrake root, and just a splash of unicorn essence. My heart raced as Aria watched closely. Potion-making required precision, something I was famously terrible at, but for Aria's sake, today would be different.

"Careful, Riven," Elyzara murmured from beside me, stirring her cauldron gently. "You don't want to blow up… again."

"I know exactly what I'm doing," I replied confidently. "Today, I'm a professional."

She snorted quietly. "Famous last words."

Ignoring her entirely, I reached for my final ingredient: lunar dew, delicate and shimmering silver. With exaggerated flourish, I poured it slowly.

Nothing happened.

I frowned. "Did I—?"

A sudden, brilliant purple plume erupted from my cauldron, enveloping me entirely. Aria yelped in surprise, covering her mouth. When the smoke cleared, I stood blinking, utterly confused, my mouth opening but emitting no sound whatsoever.

Aria stared at me in stunned disbelief. "Riven… are you okay?"

I opened my mouth, but only silence came out. Great. I'd managed a muting potion instead of invisibility. Aria burst out laughing, eyes bright with delight.

"That's a definite improvement," Velka noted dryly, turning toward me with amusement just as Elyzara's potion exploded in a brilliant fireball.

Everyone screamed as the classroom erupted in chaos. Books flew off shelves, chairs levitated, and Velka stumbled backward, directly into Aria's splashing potion. Velka's startled cry echoed across the room as she began glowing vividly her entire body phosphorescent, bathing the classroom in eerie greenish-blue light.

"Oh, gods!" Elyzara shouted, frantically waving smoke away from her cauldron. "That was supposed to be a minor levitation effect!"

"You made us float!" Aria squealed in delight, legs kicking as she drifted upward. Students scrambled to grab hold of desks and chairs as gravity politely decided to take a brief vacation.

Professor Balthazar merely sank into his chair, staring blankly at the ceiling in resignation. "I knew I should have chosen herbology," he whispered mournfully.

Amidst the chaos, I watched helplessly, still voiceless, as Aria soared overhead, gleefully shouting something about being a bird. Elyzara struggled desperately to regain control, her expression half-terrified, half-amused. Velka, meanwhile, resembled a magical night-lamp, glowing brighter by the second.

Then, abruptly, another explosion rocked the room. Elyzara's cauldron trembled violently, sparking wildly, hurtling toward Velka.

Everything seemed to slow. Velka froze, eyes wide in panic, trapped in her luminous state. Elyzara moved faster than thought itself, diving across the room to catch Velka just as the cauldron crashed behind them, shattering in a blast of magic.

The two tumbled to the ground, Elyzara holding Velka securely in her arms, eyes wide, breath ragged.

"You… always catch me," Velka murmured without thinking, gazing up at Elyzara with startled wonder.

Absolute silence engulfed the classroom. The chaos halted abruptly, eyes turning toward them. Elyzara's cheeks burned red, her mouth opening and closing helplessly.

I couldn't take it anymore. The awkwardness was suffocating. Desperate to break the silence and still utterly voiceless, I panicked and did the only logical thing I could think of I emitted a loud, dramatic squawk that sounded distinctly like a dying seagull.

Every head snapped toward me.

Aria, still floating upside-down near the ceiling, burst out laughing. "Did you just… bird-scream?"

I shrugged helplessly.

Velka buried her face against Elyzara's shoulder, shoulders shaking with barely restrained laughter. Elyzara simply stared at me, bewildered but grateful, mouthing a silent thank-you.

"Of course," Professor Balthazar muttered wearily, standing and slowly descending the stairs. "This is exactly what I needed today. You four have officially broken me."

He sighed, pulling out a pocket watch. "Class dismissed early. Again."

Students cheered loudly, scrambling for the exit, leaving behind a disaster area of scattered books, overturned cauldrons, and lingering magical effects.

Aria floated gently down beside me, grinning widely as she patted my shoulder. "Honestly, best Potion Day ever."

I opened my mouth to respond but remained silent.

"Maybe we should keep you muted permanently," she teased affectionately, squeezing my arm.

I rolled my eyes dramatically. Elyzara helped Velka to her feet, carefully avoiding eye contact, their faces still glowing faintly red though not as brightly as Velka's magical luminescence, which stubbornly persisted.

As we trudged from the classroom, Velka leaned closer to Elyzara, whispering quietly, "Thanks for… you know."

Elyzara smiled faintly, nudging her shoulder softly. "Anytime."

Watching them walk side-by-side, it suddenly occurred to me: perhaps Potion Day wasn't a complete disaster. After all, I'd managed to make Aria laugh, even if it cost me my voice temporarily, and Elyzara and Velka seemed to finally admit something they'd been hiding forever.

Then again, I'd literally been turned mute, Velka was now glowing like a haunted lantern, and the professor was considering early retirement.

Maybe 'complete disaster' was exactly the right description.

As we left the classroom behind, Aria hooked her arm through mine cheerfully. "Next time, maybe stick to something safer like knitting."

I scowled playfully, silently vowing never again to mix love and potions.

Who was I kidding? With this group, disaster was inevitable and honestly, I wouldn't have it any other way.

We stumbled out of the potions room like survivors of a minor magical apocalypse—smoke trailing from our hair, Velka still glowing like she'd swallowed a lantern, and me still as voiceless as a mime in detention.

Aria was humming cheerfully, skipping beside me like nothing out of the ordinary had happened. "So… what do you think the professor meant by 'officially broken'? Do you think he actually quit? Or do we just get bonus detention again?"

I gave her a dry look.

She grinned. "That was rhetorical. You still can't talk. I know."

Velka, trailing behind us, looked like she'd come to terms with her glowing status. "I swear, if I'm still fluorescent by dinner, I'm hexing someone."

"You'd make an excellent nightlight," Elyzara offered helpfully, sidling up beside her.

Velka rolled her eyes, but her cheeks flushed faintly whether from residual magic or something more emotional, I didn't know. She muttered something about dignity, but Elyzara was already trying not to laugh.

"I mean, it's efficient," Elyzara continued, grinning. "I'll never lose you in a crowd."

"Do you want to?" Velka shot back, one brow arching.

Elyzara froze.

Velka looked smug.

Meanwhile, I slapped both hands over my face and groaned silently, of course. Was it too much to ask for them to flirt in a way that didn't make me feel like a third wheel on a flying carpet?

We reached the common hall just in time for afternoon bell, where several students paused to stare at Velka's current state. She glowed softly, bluish-white and pulsing faintly with each breath like some sort of haunted jellyfish. ƒrēenovelkiss.com

"Do not say a word," she hissed, holding up a glowing finger toward a snickering third-year.

They wisely said nothing.

Aria looped an arm through mine again. "This is why I love this school. One minute, you're trying to impress your crush. The next, you're invisible, your best friend glows, and someone levitates the entire class."

I gave her a sidelong look, then pantomimed a heart with my fingers and pointed dramatically at her.

She cackled. "You're such a disaster. I love it."

Behind us, Elyzara and Velka had dropped into a quieter conversation, walking a little too close together, voices low. I watched them out of the corner of my eye. Elyzara reached out briefly and brushed her fingers against Velka's glowing wrist probably testing the spell, but still. Velka didn't pull away.

Aria noticed too.

"Oh my gods," she whispered. "They're so in denial."

I nodded emphatically, and then tried very hard to make a pigeon noise. Aria slapped her hand over her mouth to keep from screaming with laughter.

"That's it," she wheezed. "I'm never giving you your voice back."

I pouted, mouthing dramatically: Betrayal.

"Love you too, mute boy."

We made it to the dorm hallway before Velka let out a weary sigh. "I'm going to research a counter-spell. Unless I want to live the rest of my life as a magical beacon."

"I mean," Elyzara offered, "you're radiant."

Velka blinked.

"I'll… see you at dinner," she muttered, before disappearing into her room so fast it was basically teleportation.

Elyzara stood frozen for a beat, then looked at me. "Did that count as flirting?"

I shrugged. Honestly, I had no idea anymore. I just knew one thing for sure:

This group was going to get us all expelled or married off in a magical prophecy wedding before the semester ended.