Friday is a very important day for Albert.
The layout of the moving staircases and some passageways in the castle will change today. To avoid getting lost on their way to the dining hall, they decide to go with other upperclassmen.
"What classes do we have in the morning?" Li Qiaodan asked George beside him as he put two sugar cubes into his milk and cereal.
"Two Potions classes in the morning," Albert said after finishing the sausage on his plate, "with the Slytherin students."
"I remember the Potions professor was Snape," George said suddenly.
"Snape… oh, the one Albert wanted to take his picture with last time?" Lee Jordan remembered something. "By the way, you're okay with that, right?"
"What is it?" Albert looked at Lee Jordan with a puzzled expression.
"Didn't Snape say he was going to ask you a question?" Fred reminded him.
"Oh, you mean that matter? There shouldn't be any problem." Albert even flipped through the book last night, and he can remember most of the content. As long as it's not the most difficult kind, there's nothing to worry about.
"I remember Snape was the head of Slytherin House."
"Yes!" George leaned closer and whispered, "Everyone says he only favors his own students and never gives extra points to students from other houses besides Slytherin."
"Watch out, he's watching you!" Albert whispered.
These words startled George. He quickly pulled his head back and looked around cautiously, but couldn't find Snape. He realized he'd been tricked and glared at Albert, "You rascal..."
"Why can you make such a serious joke?" Angelina sat down next to them wearily, shaking her head as she looked at the laughing group. "Today was terrible. I got lost and almost couldn't find the restaurant."
Albert turned to Angelina and said, "I heard you've become a Quidditch substitute. Congratulations."
"Thank you." Angelina looked at Albert suspiciously. She had also learned about Albert from Lee Jordan and knew that Charlie intended to recruit Albert into the Quidditch team.
However, the other party doesn't seem to care about their position and may very well take it away from them.
"Don't forget to bring the potions you need for Potions class, and we'd better not be late, so we don't give Snape a chance to cause us trouble." After finishing breakfast, Albert took out another book, "A Thousand Magical Herbs and Mushrooms," from his backpack and began to read it.
The Potions classroom was located in a basement beneath the castle. They entered through another door in the foyer and descended the stairs to the lower part of the castle, where it felt much colder and more gloomy than the main castle building above.
They entered the classroom and found that the Slytherin students were already there.
The Potions classroom wasn't large, but it could accommodate at least twenty students. The walls around the classroom were lined with various glass jars containing animal specimens, which might send chills down the spines of the timid.
"It feels a bit like the corpses preserved in formalin that we see in biology class," Albert remarked, sitting next to Lee Jordan and looking around at the glass jars.
As Albert looked around the classroom, he noticed a storage cabinet in the corner, which might contain various ingredients that students might use when making potions, or the book "Advanced Potion Making" belonging to the Half-Blood Prince.
On the platform, Snape looked down at the students entering the classroom. Behind him was a blackboard filled with the ingredients and preparation methods for a scabies treatment.
Albert looked up and met Snape's gaze. Snape gave a polite smile before looking away. Snape's eyes were cold, empty, and dark, making Albert feel very uncomfortable.
Soon after, the school bell rang.
Snape picked up the roster, paused briefly after seeing Albert's name, then looked away and continued calling out names.
"Potion making is a precise and rigorous process, and many people wouldn't believe that it's actually magic." Snape's voice was cold, like a winter wind. His indifferent face and emotionless voice made the students in the classroom afraid to misbehave.
"Every year, I encounter a few fools who burn through the cauldron," Snape said coldly, glancing around the students in the classroom. "I don't expect you to truly understand the wonders of potions; I just hope those fools aren't among you."
After Snape finished his opening remarks, the whole class fell silent.
"Anderson!" Snape exclaimed suddenly, "What would I get if I added daffodil root powder to artemisia infusion?"
Albert exchanged a glance with Lee Jordan, shrugged, and stood up. He could feel the whole class watching him, but he wasn't nervous at all and answered Snape's question crisply:
"I obtained a very potent sleeping pill called the Water of Life and Death."
"If I asked you to find me a piece of bezoar, where would you go to find it?" Snape strode over to Albert, using this as an opportunity to exert an invisible pressure on him.
"Bezoar is a type of stone extracted from a cow's stomach and has extremely strong detoxifying properties," Albert said expressionlessly.
"Then tell me, what's the difference between Aconitum carmichaelii and Aconitum vesicatoria?"
"Boat-shaped aconite and wolfsbane aconite are the same plant, and are also collectively called aconite."
"Copied verbatim from the book," Snape said dismissively, "but it's basically correct."
Albert sat down again, seemingly having successfully passed Snape's question.
Lee Jordan, standing next to him, quietly gave a thumbs up, while Fred and George behind him struggled to suppress their laughter.
In fact, they all guessed that Snape's question would be no challenge for Albert.
"What are you waiting for? Why don't you write all of this down?" Snape returned to the podium and turned to the class.
The classroom was suddenly filled with the rustling sound of quills and parchment being fumbled for.
"You've thoroughly understood the whole book," Shanna whispered, admiring Albert's ability to answer Snape's question.
Anyone with eyes could see that Snape was looking for trouble with Albert.
Albert didn't answer, but simply raised his index finger to his lips in a gesture of silence, and then pointed at Snape.
Snape glared at Shanna with displeasure and said coldly, "Don't talk in class, Gryffindor loses a point."
In fact, Shanna wasn't the only one speaking; the Gryffindor students had all realized that the Potions professor was targeting their house.
That was the best example. Albert's answer was perfect. In other classes, other professors would have given Gryffindor at least five points, but Snape didn't.
It's often said that Snape only favored his own students, and now it seems that this wasn't an exaggeration.
Whether he gets extra points or not, Albert doesn't care. He's secretly observing the Potions professor in front of him, trying to match him with the Severus Snape from his memories.
Thin, with a hooked nose, gloomy, and greasy hair.
Hmm, your hair might have just been washed!
To sum it up in Tom's words: Snape certainly doesn't look like a good person.