In the first week of school, professors of all courses were desperately assigning homework to everyone and constantly emphasizing the importance of 0.w.Ls exams.
To use Fred's words: It was like the sky was falling if I failed the 0.w.Ls exam.
However, Fred soon regretted saying this because the sky really fell.
As soon as the weekend came, they found themselves having to spend a lot of time in the library. Faced with a pile of homework that never ended, they even lost the desire to cause trouble for Malfoy.
At this moment, Fred was flipping through the book, muttering something meaningless: "0.w.Ls is like a grinding wheel, pressing the candidates' heads into the books, grinding away their patience bit by bit, and driving them crazy!"
George took his eyes off the parchment and looked at the guy who was nagging over there. He reminded him unhappily, "Don't go crazy. You probably haven't practiced the vanishing spell yet. There will be a random check in the next class. Be careful not to get detained."
"Well, at least it's better than Albert. I'd rather stay here and do my homework than have Snape give me two hours of extra lessons." Fred muttered to himself to comfort himself and continued to concentrate on his homework.
In the Potions classroom, Albert and Isobel were listening to Snape talking about the Potions Championship.
"The Magic Garden is the most complete garden in the world, with the most potions. Although it is called the Magic Garden, it is actually a forest. Its area is no smaller than the Forbidden Forest. There are more potions in it than you can imagine."
As a potion master, Snape naturally knew the situation of the magical garden.
"Students participating in the Potions Championship need to enter the magic garden to collect raw materials, preserve them, bring them back, and make them into a potion. The championship is related to the process of entering the garden to collect raw materials, the method of processing raw materials, and the result of brewing the potion."
Seeing that the two were silent, Snape continued, "What you need to learn now is how to identify raw materials and obtain and preserve them in the correct and safe way. Raw materials are not limited to plants, but also animals. For example, frog brains are not readily available, so you need to obtain them from the forest yourself."
The two remained silent, listening to Snape quietly, causing the Potions Professor to raise his eyebrows slightly and suddenly ask, "Mr. Anderson, do you know where your weaknesses are?"
"Age?" Albert knew that Snape was looking for trouble with him.
"That's right. You have learned far fewer potion recipes than other wizards, which means you have fewer choices. This competition is not in your favor. I really don't know why Mr. Dagworth recommended you." Snape said this, obviously intending to belittle Albert.
"Oh, professor, I don't think you need to worry. I have already read the contents of "Advanced Potion-Making" and I have written down all the recipes in it. I don't think my reserve of potion recipes is less than that of others. Time is precious. I think we'd better get started and just talk about the key points." Albert's tone was calm, but it was like a whip on Snape's face.
Snape looked at Albert coldly, his eyes seemed to want to kill him.
However, facing Snape's gaze, Albert remained indifferent.
In the next few hours, Snape saw what a true genius was.
The two of them learned very quickly, almost taking notes as they listened, and after Snape finished speaking, they had probably learned everything.
"Very good." Snape's face twitched, and he lowered his voice and said, "You learn faster than I thought. We can move on to the next step next week."
“Processing raw materials?”
"Yes, process the raw materials." Snape said expressionlessly: "Okay, you can leave now."
After leaving the Potions classroom, Isobel suddenly said: "Snape doesn't like you?"
Just now, Snape seemed to want to embarrass Albert by asking him a surprise question, but unfortunately, he failed to stump Albert.
"Slytherin prejudice against Gryffindor."
"Prejudice?"
In the past few hours, in addition to telling them the key points of "One Thousand Magical Herbs and Fungi", Snape also talked about how to obtain other needed raw materials and precautions.
After all, there are still relatively few potions made purely from herbs. Most potions require the addition of one or two ingredients obtained from magical animals or other creatures. This is the most difficult part of the Potions Championship.
The two walked and talked on the way to the Room of Requirement.
"Is seventh grade really that busy?"
"The S exam is very important, and no one wants to fail it."
"You have so much to learn, so the pressure is naturally high." Albert was not worried about Isobel's test results. "But it shouldn't be difficult for you to get excellent grades in all the tests."
"I'm not like you. I can get excellent grades in any exam."
"Okay! Stop blowing each other off."
The two looked at each other and smiled.
After Isobel returned the time-turner, and her seventh-grade S-Exam took up most of her attention, the time they had together began to decrease significantly, and they both cherished this relaxing time together.
"By the way, have you discovered the secret of the new Professor Lupin?" Isobel asked softly.
"You mean the lycanthropes?"
The so-called lycanthropy actually refers to werewolves, but this is Hogwarts, and Albert thought he should not say it so bluntly, lest other students hear it, which would be bad.
He was sure that most wizards knew what a werewolf was, but they certainly had no idea what it meant to have the magical disease lycanthropy.
"It seems that you have noticed it too. I really don't understand why Professor Dumbledore invited him to work in the school." Isobel was obviously worried about Professor Lupin, or rather, she was worried about the werewolf.
There is no way. Monsters like werewolves are too dangerous for students.
"Most of the professors in the school should know about this. They didn't object. Professor Dumbledore obviously convinced them." Albert comforted, "I think they will prepare the wolfsbane potion for Professor Lupin."
Of course Isobel also knew about this, but she was still a little worried. In Albert's words: It's better to be safe than sorry.
God knows what Hogwarts will become when Professor Lupin forgets to take his medicine.
"Well, I'll teach you the spell to restore your human form. If you master this spell, you can easily subdue the werewolf." Albert had actually thought about how to deal with the werewolf a long time ago.
"Restoring human form spell?"
Isobel also knew that Albert was studying the spell that appeared in Lockhart's book, but she didn't expect it to be successful.
"Are you studious?"
"It's similar to the Patronus Charm, but I think for a genius like you, it shouldn't take too much time. It's just that I haven't practiced it, so I don't know how effective it will be." Albert had actually planned to use Professor Lupin as a test subject.
After the two of them walked into the Room of Requirement together, Albert asked the house-elf to bring dinner so that they could have more time to spend together and chat.
I can only say that men and women in love are like this, they can't wait to stick together all day long.
"You actually left us to go on a date, and didn't come back until the middle of the night?"
The next morning, the trio, who were busy doing their homework, all looked at Albert with resentment on their faces.
"Haven't you finished your homework yet?" Albert asked.
"Of course I did... No way," Fred said dejectedly. "The pile of homework seems to be endless and I feel like I'm going crazy."
"You're not the only one going crazy." George said unhappily, "Don't forget, Albert has twelve homework assignments to do, and he also has to go to Snape for tutoring in preparation for the Potions Championship."
"Shit, didn't you forget that Albert doesn't have to do most of the homework?"
Lee Jordan gave Fred a glare and complained, "I'm eating."
"How do you manage not to have to do homework?" Ron was very interested in this question. After entering the third grade, the heavy homework overwhelmed him.
"To get along well with professors, you must be good enough in this subject." Albert spread jam on his bread. "This method is not suitable for you."
"Stupid Ron, stop dreaming and just do your homework with us." Fred did not forget to mock Ron so that he could accept this cruel fact.
"I'm just asking for Hermione. She also has twelve classes to attend. She's been very busy lately, and her temper has gotten worse."
Hermione appeared beside Ron without knowing when, glared at him fiercely, and said unhappily: "I'm so sorry for my bad temper!"
Harry and Ron quickly shut up.
Hermione was always busy and wished she could spend the whole day in the library.
The thought of having to do homework for twelve courses is daunting.
"You should exchange experiences with Percy. What I have here is not suitable for you." Albert took a bite of bread and said to Hermione, "It will be stressful at first, but you will get used to it. If you don't deliberately pursue twelve excellences, giving up some unnecessary courses is a good choice."
"I don't think grades mean anything." Fred disagreed, and did not forget to belittle Percy, "Even if Percy joins the Ministry of Magic after graduation, he won't become a high-ranking official in the Ministry of Magic within a few decades."
"If you want to enter the Ministry of Magic, a good resume is still... very important."
Albert reached out to catch the letter dropped by the owl. After looking at the sender, he opened the envelope. There were only a few photos inside, and behind the photos was a string of numbers: 2000.
“This price…”
Albert didn't know how much the houses cost in the wizarding world, but he thought they were quite cheap.
It’s less than 10,000 pounds, how can it not be cheap
However, considering the wizard's formal style, the low housing prices do not seem incomprehensible.
As long as wizards want, they can easily buy very cheap houses from Muggles, or build one themselves.