Albert had never seen Gryffindor students so united. Perhaps it was because they had been suppressed by Slytherin House for too long!
Now, everyone is working hard to earn points for the college. Even if they can't earn points, they will try their best not to become a reason for deducting points.
Most Gryffindor students would stop and look at the huge hourglass recording the score of the House Cup when passing by, and even Ravenclaw and Hufflepuff students wanted to see Slytherin lose the House Cup.
The atmosphere in the castle changed, it felt like a storm was about to come.
The tradition of Slytherin House is to win at all costs, which is why Slytherin has dominated the Quidditch trophy and the house cup for a long time.
They won't give up easily.
The most direct change is that Snape's class has become more serious and depressing. The Potions Professor would always walk back and forth during class, using his stern eyes to force students with poor mental endurance to make mistakes. Everyone knew that Snape was looking for reasons to deduct points.
The way to deal with the Potions Professor's nitpicking is to admit your mistakes sincerely, don't talk back, and don't say too much, so that he can't deduct more points from you.
Ever since Gryffindor won the Quidditch trophy last time, the tension between Gryffindor and Slytherin has become increasingly intense. Albert would not be surprised if the two sides suddenly started fighting one day.
However, for the sake of the college cup, everyone tried their best to avoid conflicts with each other and not give Snape any opportunity to deduct points.
Because once a fight breaks out, Gryffindor's slight advantage will be completely lost.
"They did this to Ravenclaw before," the Head Student Union warned everyone in the Gryffindor common room. "If there is any dissatisfaction, we can save it for when we get the house cup."
The conflict between the two sides was suppressed to a minimum. Everyone was privately gearing up for a fight, but they were holding back for the sake of the College Cup. Anyone who was not a fool could smell the tension between the two sides.
However, as the final exams approached, everyone's attention was distracted and the original tension faded.
As time goes by, many people have to study hard in the sultry weather. When they don’t have classes, they even have to rush to the library to avoid being unable to find a seat if they arrive too late.
However, since the end of May, Albert rarely went to the library. He hated to crowd into the library with everyone in the hot weather.
In the hot weather, Albert missed ice cream, cold drinks and air conditioning.
"Don't you have to review?" Hagrid greeted him.
"I have a secret book for the exam here." Albert shook his notebook, which recorded the key points that the professors had talked about in class. He would take a look and then recall the relevant content, thanks to his extraordinary memory.
Anyway, Albert was not worried about the exam at all.
"Exam secrets?"
"Hagrid, do you know any magic that can make ice or cool things down?" Albert asked Hagrid about the magic that could cool him down after putting the notebook back into his pocket.
"I don't know. What are you going to do?" Hagrid shook his head. After the last incident, the relationship between the two sides returned to normal. Both sides tacitly did not mention those things again.
"Of course I'm going to get myself some cold drink. This damn weather is so hot." Albert said as a matter of course.
"Cold drink? Come on, come to my place and I'll treat you to an ice-cold butterbeer as an advance celebration for Gryffindor winning the house cup." Hagrid slapped his head with his big hand and invited Albert to his place for a drink of butterbeer.
What Hagrid called ice-cold butterbeer was not much different from what Albert had guessed.
Hagrid threw an oak barrel containing butterbeer into the well. When he picked it up and drank it, it actually tasted pretty good. Although it was not very cold, it was undoubtedly a pleasure in the hot summer.
After seeing the garlic in his vegetable garden, Hagrid suddenly asked, "I remember you seemed to be growing garlic."
"It's growing well and it's almost time to harvest."
Albert found this a bit funny when he thought about it. He had originally planned to make a garlic cross, but what was the result
After a while, the people in the dormitory forgot about this matter.
Albert was not surprised. Children's patience is always limited. It was good enough that they still remembered to water the garlic.
"By the way, Hagrid, could you get me some alcohol?"
"What do you want alcohol for?" Hagrid asked puzzled.
“Purified allicin.”
"What's that?" Hagrid was even more confused after hearing this.
"Nothing much, just used to extract garlic... allicin. You know, we're going to make a garlic-flavored amulet, so..." Albert briefly described to Hagrid the reason why we planted garlic in the first place. "Well, that's the situation. We'll also need some beeswax."
"You know, vampires hate garlic, and many dark magic creatures also hate the smell of garlic, so we plan to use the guardian tree and garlic to make a garlic-flavored amulet to see if it can have a significant effect in repelling dark creatures."
Hagrid was stunned after hearing this. A garlic-flavored amulet, you guys are really the one who can come up with it.
"Well... If you want alcohol, I can ask for you. If there's none in Diagon Alley, you can try your luck in Knockturn Alley."
"Knockturn Alley?" Albert asked tentatively.
"Knockturn Alley is adjacent to Diagon Alley. It's a place where good and bad people mix together. There are many dark magic shops there..." Hagrid suddenly realized something, looked at Albert seriously, and reminded him: "Don't go to Knockturn Alley!"
"Okay, Hagrid, I actually knew about the existence of Knockturn Alley long before I came to Hogwarts." Albert said, "I'll trouble you with the alcohol issue."
As he spoke, Albert prepared to give Hagrid a few Galleons, but the latter did not take them.
Albert didn't force Hagrid when he saw that he didn't want it. Hagrid should not be short of money. Although the house looked a bit shabby, there were indeed many valuable things in the Forbidden Forest.
All I can say is that Hagrid has gotten used to his current life.
…
After leaving Hagrid, Albert had no intention of returning to the castle. Instead, he slowly walked down the slope, came to the lake, and sat under a tree to enjoy the breeze.
Not far away, a giant squid lay in the warm shallow water basking in the sun.
"This is how people live in the summer." Albert felt the cool breeze blowing from the lake and couldn't help but sigh, "It's a pity that there is no comfortable hammock."
After an unknown amount of time, footsteps were heard not far away, and a figure was reflected on his face.
Albert opened his sleepy eyes, blinked, and looked at the girl who was leaning forward and staring at him.
"What's the matter?" he asked.
"You seem quite leisurely." Katrina looked at Albert sleeping under the shade of a tree and said sarcastically, "Should I say you are indeed a genius?"
"It's okay!" Albert replied casually, "Anyway, I've already reviewed what I need to review, so there's no point worrying about the exam. I might as well relax and adjust my mindset to face the next exam."
"Everyone is studying hard, and you have the nerve to make sarcastic remarks here?" Katrina stared at Albert's face and suddenly said seriously, "I think if those people in the library heard you saying this, they would probably want to beat you up."
"I practiced karate, and they couldn't beat me."
"I heard you have secrets for exams?" Katrina suddenly asked as she sat down next to him, feeling the cool breeze coming from the lake.
"Exam secrets?" Albert couldn't help but chuckle when he heard that. He probably heard what he had just said to Hagrid.
"What are you laughing at?" Katrina frowned in dissatisfaction.
"You want to see it too, don't you?" Albert took out a notebook from his pocket and waved it in front of Katrina.
"No way?" Katrina was indeed a little curious. She snatched the notes and looked through the contents, but she couldn't help frowning. The notes were all records of the required exam contents mentioned by the professors during class, and they were only questions.
"How is it?" Albert asked back.
"Is this the thing?" Katrina suddenly felt that she was being teased by the other party.
"Otherwise, what do you think it is? As long as you understand the required test questions given by the professors, you will definitely get high scores." Albert said as a matter of course.
"I thought you wanted to get full marks." Katrina had lost interest in the so-called exam secrets.
"What's the point of getting full marks? I've never pursued that kind of thing. Just getting an excellent score is enough." Albert didn't care much about full marks. Anyway, the school divided the grades into excellent, good... and other models. Getting full marks is not an excellent score. Since they are all excellent, why bother about it so much.
Katrina suddenly felt a little angry. The guy in front of her didn't even consider her as a competitor.
"What's wrong with you?" Albert felt that there was something wrong with the aura of the girl in front of him.
"How about competing with me to see who gets the better final grade?" Katrina suggested.
"No." Albert refused flatly.
Although there was a task of total crushing, he still didn't want to get entangled with the other party in this regard.
"Why?" Katrina asked, "Are you scared?"
"No reason." Albert completely ignored the other party's provocation, "I just feel very tired compared to this kind of thing."
"Tired?" Katrina felt that she could not understand Albert's thinking at all. He actually rejected her with such a reason.
"If you want to bet..." Albert thought about it, and after changing the concept, he was ready to dig a trap for the other party, "How about we change the way we bet!"
"What kind of bet?" Katrina asked immediately.
"You need to answer riddles to enter the Ravenclaw common room, right?" Albert said with a smile, "If you can answer a hundred riddles, even if you win, I admit that you are better than me..."
"Answer a hundred riddles correctly?" Katrina raised her voice and looked Albert up and down, as if she wanted to know if he was deliberately making fun of her.
"Why not you answer a hundred riddles correctly?"
"Of course." Albert tempted, "If you win, I'll give you a gift worth about 10 Galleons as a prize."
"Do you have money?" Katrina looked at Albert suspiciously and asked.
"Yes, I won a hundred Galleons last time I bet on who would be the Minister of Magic." Albert almost patted his chest to guarantee. In fact, Albert didn't mind spending some money to buy the Eagle Ring Riddle. A problem that could be solved with Galleons was not a problem at all.
Katrina fell silent immediately. She found that the guy in front of her seemed to be surprisingly rich. He asked for 10 Galleons right at the opening.
"How about a bet?" Albert asked with a smile.
"Your smile is so fake." Katrina asked, "What if I lose?"
"If you fail, you can continue the challenge." Albert continued, "Anyway, you don't have to do anything. Of course, there is a prerequisite that you don't come to compete with me during this period."
"Will you really give out prizes?" Katrina asked again.
"You can find a notary, the ghost of your academy, or I can find Nearly Headless Nick." Albert added, "Of course, you need me to be there when you challenge the Eagle Ring. You can only win if you answer a hundred riddles correctly."
"Could it be a dung bomb?" Katrina looked at Albert suspiciously.
"Then I'll just give you 10 Galleons and admit that you're better than me."
"Of course I'm better than you. I don't think you can answer 100 riddles." Katrina suddenly said, "If you can answer 10 riddles, you win, and I'll give you a gift. Of course, I'm not as rich as you. But you can only try once, and you have to do it before me."
"Okay, I agree." Albert just agreed to this, but the next sentence turned into, "I give up, I guess I can't answer any of them."
"No." Katrina said seriously, "You have to try. I don't believe you can't answer any of them."
"Okay, okay." Albert said perfunctorily.
"Let's go find Ms. Grey now." Katrina took Albert to the west side of Hogwarts Castle and found Ms. Grey at the end of a corridor.
Katrina briefly explained the situation to the lady and asked her to act as a notary for the bet.
Ms. Grey agreed, and in her opinion it was undoubtedly interesting.
Even Ravenclaw students rarely get 100 riddles right in a row. For non-Ravenclaw students, getting 10 riddles right in a row is even more difficult.
"Are you going to start now?" Ms. Grey asked.
"No, I think we should give Miss McDougal more time to prepare, maybe after the exams are over, or next semester." Albert was not in a hurry. He needed Katrina to provide him with questions and answers, so he had to let her be fully prepared. Otherwise, Miss McDougal would have no point in answering just a few questions.
As for the outcome
Albert didn't care at all.
At this moment, he suddenly wanted to give himself a thumbs up for his cleverness.
Yes, this method is really good.
Solve the eagle ring problem simply, easily and conveniently.
Katrina was not at all willing to do what Albert was thinking and walked away happily. She was ready to defeat Albert in this betting and win 10 Galleons.
However, before that, she still needs to practice hard, as Katrina will never allow herself to fail.