There were large dark clouds rolling over the ceiling of the Great Hall, and a light drizzle was falling from the sky. Below, at the Gryffindor table, Albert, Fred, George, and Lee Jordan were whispering together, with the latest issue of Unbelievable magazine in front of them.
Professor Smith’s Bogart research was published in this issue of Unbelievable magazine, and Albert also got a place at the end of the article.
However, that's how it ended.
No one will pay special attention to this matter. It is like a grain of sand thrown into a lake, which cannot create any ripples at all.
Although this result is somewhat unexpected, it is actually expected. There are only so many people in the British wizarding world, what can we expect
"What's the significance of such a discovery?" George stared at the picture in the "Incredible" magazine and looked at Albert in confusion, "Will it solve the mystery that has remained unsolved for thousands of years?"
"I guess... I guess so!"
Albert didn't know what to say.
"What thousand-year-old unsolved mystery are you talking about?" Sana sat opposite them and asked casually.
"This..." Fred handed the "Incredible" magazine to Sana, who looked up after reading it and looked at Albert in surprise.
“You’re in the magazine again?”
Albert's mouth twitched, and he changed the subject and asked, "Do you have classes in the afternoon?"
"There are two Potions classes in the afternoon." Shanna asked in confusion, "By the way, why are you not happy at all? If it were me, I would definitely find a way to collect the books and magazines that mentioned me."
"I don't have that habit." Albert said.
"By the way, I asked the Hufflepuff students at noon, and they said that they would teach herbicides in Potions, and that there would be unexpected surprises."
"Herbicide? That's unbelievable."
"What's wrong?" Several people looked at Albert in confusion, not understanding why he was so surprised.
"The smell of herbicides is disgusting." Albert frowned and said, "Can you imagine what it would be like to prepare smelly herbicides in a basement classroom?"
"Should... no way?" Everyone started to imagine what was going on when they heard this.
"It's probably going to be terrible." Albert felt that this was most likely Snape's bad taste. There was no way he didn't know about the taste of the herbicide.
George and a few others began to discuss whether they could escape the disaster by taking leave, while Shanna flipped through the "Magical Pharmacy and Potions" and began to preview the textbook.
"You're not worried at all." Fred admired Sana's calmness.
"What's the point of worrying?" Sana turned her head and asked.
The three were speechless.
Yes, since you can't avoid it, what's the point of worrying
After chatting with Albert for a while and marking a few key points, Shanna suddenly asked, "Can you lend me the paper?"
"That's no problem." Albert took out a piece of parchment from his schoolbag and handed it to Shanna, who began to read it attentively, comparing it with her own copy to find any shortcomings.
Ever since he discovered that completing homework carefully could greatly increase his experience, Albert's attitude towards homework has become less casual than before.
At least, for the sake of their skills and experience, they will complete their homework carefully and thereby speed up the upgrading of their skills.
"What homework?" Fred turned around and asked.
"Paper on the slime of the Flobberworm," said Albert.
"Merlin's beard! I actually forgot about it." Fred's expression froze for a moment, and then he stood up in horror. It was not difficult for him to imagine that he would be put in solitary confinement by Snape if he could not submit a qualified paper.
George winked at Fred and said calmly, "I'm done."
"When did you finish?" Fred's eyes widened.
"Last night, I asked you to work with me overnight." George reminded, "At that time, you said you still had time tomorrow at noon."
"Let's copy one now!" Albert asked Sana to give her paper to Fred, and asked him to copy some from his own paper, and then add some from Sana's paper. A paper that was pieced together was soon completed.
Fred picked up his quill and began to work on the parchment.
Before the Potions class, Angelina brought bad news.
"There's Quidditch practice in the evening?" George repeated, "But isn't it Hufflepuff's practice time today?"
The teams from the four major colleges of Hogwarts will book the Quidditch field in batches, and Gryffindor's training time has always been Wednesday and Saturday.
"Charlie said that the Hufflepuff team had something urgent to do, so he switched places with us." Angelina looked at Fred and asked in confusion, "What is he doing?"
“Do your homework.”
"Is it too late?" Angelina couldn't help but shake her head. "I remember I have Potions class soon."
"It's definitely too late!" Li Qiaodan looked gloating.
"Shut up, I'm sure I'll make it in time." Fred complained unhappily while copying homework, "Can you guys be quiet? I can't concentrate."
"But Quidditch training is really hard. We have to go out to train in such bad weather." Shanna looked up at the dark clouds and rain above her head, then turned her head to look at Albert, and suddenly asked, "Is this the reason you don't want to join the Quidditch team?"
Albert noticed that many eyes were staring at him, and shrugged helplessly: "I'm very busy and don't have time to train."
"It's really strange coming out of your mouth." Li Qiaodan couldn't help but complain.
"Every day I have to read books, do homework, practice magic, join clubs, write letters to others, and occasionally go to other professors' offices to drink tea and chat." Albert raised his palm and counted them one by one. "If I participate in Quidditch training, even if I split myself into two, it still won't be enough. Besides, human energy is limited after all."
"You seem to be living a more comfortable life than the rest of us." Sana looked at Albert suspiciously, "I've never seen you busy before."
“I’m busy every day.”
This sentence was simply ignored by everyone.
“By the way, did you succeed in casting the glowing spell you practiced last time?” Shanna asked again.
"I've barely mastered it." Albert thought about the spell he had practiced a while ago. It was already level one, but it was only level one.
"Okay!" Fred suddenly interrupted their conversation and shook the parchment in his hand excitedly.
"Can we really get away with it this way?" Sana took the parchment and took a look at it, obviously not believing that this method could fool Snape.
"Definitely not, but Snape won't say anything. There are a lot of papers that are worse than Fred's." Albert took the parchment from Sana, glanced at the paper on it, and picked up the quill to help him revise a few places.
…
Before the bell rang, several people hurried to Snape's underground classroom. It was even colder here than the castle above, and there was a subtle chill in the air.
Of course, the eerie chill might also have come from Snape's gaze on the podium, especially when he glanced at the collected homework and his eyes fell directly on Albert.
"Today, we are going to prepare a very common potion, the herbicide." Snape retracted his gaze and introduced the herbicide to everyone. "This potion is used to kill or remove plants and is not drinkable. Of course, I have never seen any fool drink the herbicide. As for why, you will soon know."
At that moment, Albert felt a malicious smile at the corner of Snape's mouth.
"... Note: If you are careless when adding the ingredients, it will happen during the brewing process... So you need to pay attention to your steps, ingredients and brewing time..." Snape explained while writing the things to pay attention to when preparing potions on the blackboard with his wand, and turned to everyone and said, "You have an hour, start!"
The herbicide does not have a disgusting smell at first, but if the ingredients are added to the crucible in a strict order and quantity, the crucible will begin to emit an odor during the cooking process, and many people will cover their mouths and noses with their hands.
Just as Albert said, the herbicide that Snape asked them to prepare had no good intentions at all, and the Potions classroom was soon filled with a disgusting smell.
"This is simply killing one thousand enemies and losing eight hundred of our own." Albert took out a handkerchief, wet it with water, covered his mouth and nose with it, and muttered softly.
I really don't understand how Snape can stand the smell of herbicide.
Alas, why didn’t I learn the Soaking Head Curse
"Ah! That's disgusting. I feel like vomiting." Fred began to dry heave into his cauldron.
Li Jordan muttered, "I guess no one would want to use this thing."
"Hasn't anyone tried to get rid of this smell?" George followed Albert's example and covered his mouth and nose with a handkerchief, stirring the potion in the crucible clockwise with a spoon.
"Eliminate the smell?"
Albert recalled what he had gained after upgrading the magic potion boutique, and said, "Adding some ground daisy roots and nettles may help eliminate the smell."
"Are you sure?" Fred didn't dare to change the recipe at will. Who knows what might happen if he did that.
"You'll know after giving it a try." Albert took out the herbs from his medicine box and began to grind the two materials in a certain proportion.
In fact, Albert was not sure what would happen if he did this, but his intuition told him that it should be successful.
As for the amount and ratio to mix, you need to try it yourself.
At this moment, the students in the Potions classroom were holding their breath until their faces turned red. They wished they could rush out of the Potions classroom immediately and find a place to breathe fresh air to avoid suffocating to death here.
Before they could put their actions into practice, they saw Snape waving his wand and sweeping away the terrible smell in the classroom.
Although the smell in the classroom was still strong, at least it wouldn't suffocate them.
Not long after, Snape appeared quietly beside Albert, staring at the potion in the crucible, and asked: "Anderson, tell me, what is in your crucible?"
"Herbicide, sir," replied Albert.
"Then why does your herbicide smell so light?" Snape had noticed that Albert's herbicide smelled very light, as if it had been diluted with water.
“Well, I added a few other things to the cauldron before I added the two drops of Flobberworm slime,” Albert explained, “… to make the herbicide smell less unpleasant.”
"Are you trying to say that you have improved the herbicide?" Snape's tone was light, but loud enough for the students in the classroom to hear clearly.
"I think so," said Albert.
At this moment, everyone looked at Albert and began to whisper. Some people sneered and were ready to laugh at Albert's joke.
"Well, since Anderson thinks he has successfully improved the herbicide, then..." Snape waved his wand and got a flowerpot with some weeds on it from somewhere.
Snape scooped up a spoonful of herbicide, diluted it with water, and sprinkled it directly on the weeds.
After a few seconds, the weeds in the flowerpot turned yellow and dry at a speed almost visible to the naked eye, as if they had been exposed to the hot sun for too long and soon died.
There is no doubt that Albert successfully improved the herbicide.
Originally, the Slytherin students who wanted to laugh at him were all in disbelief. Some even pinched their friends to make sure they were not dreaming.
"Very good." Snape stared at Albert fiercely.
I don't know who started the applause, but the Gryffindor students also started clapping, and the classroom was filled with applause.
"Quiet," Snape shouted.
The applause gradually died down.
"Ten points deducted from Gryffindor," Snape said coldly, "Mr. Anderson, you seem to have forgotten that I warned you last semester not to do those damn experiments in my Potions class."
At this moment, the Gryffindor students were filled with astonishment, but were soon replaced by anger.
If it was any other professor, adding 20 points would not be excessive, but Snape did not add any points, but he actually found an excuse to deduct ten points from Gryffindor.
"I think a big reason why people don't like to use herbicides is the smell of them." Albert didn't care about being deducted points at all and continued, "The improved herbicide will definitely be popular with everyone. Maybe someone will be willing to pay for this formula."
"No one will pay for your formula," Snape sneered. "No one usually uses herbicides."
"Then why do we need to learn how to make this potion?" Shanna raised her hand and asked.
"Quiet." Snape was very annoyed by the girl's unauthorized question, but he still answered her question. "Sometimes, we use herbicides to deal with some dangerous plants or to open up a piece of open space. No one would spray it on the flowerbed, otherwise the flowers in the flowerbed would be killed by the herbicide."
After Snape announced the end of get out of class, everyone packed up their things as quickly as possible and quickly left the Potions classroom. No one wanted to linger in the classroom filled with the smell.
"Are you really going to sell the formula for the herbicide?" Fred felt like he was dreaming.
"Sell, why not?"
"You didn't see the old bat's expression just now." George winked at Albert and said excitedly, "He was stunned."