The consequences of the Weasley brothers' night outing are beginning to show.
Filch seemed convinced that the student who went out that night was from Gryffindor. Every time a Gryffindor student passed by him, Filch would glare at them, as if trying to find out who had tricked him that night.
Filch's strange behavior left all the Gryffindor students baffled.
Unlike the clueless Filch, Snape had clearly found the culprit behind that nighttime outing.
During Friday's Potions class, Albert could swear on his life that he heard Snape talking to the Weasley brothers about night outings and solitary confinement.
It was clear that Snape had confirmed that the students who had tricked him and Filch that night were the twin brothers in front of him.
Therefore, Snape casually made up an excuse to deduct five points from Fred and George and reset their potion scores for the day to zero.
There was nothing they could do; neither could resist the "Snape's gaze" from behind. The medicine they brewed to treat scabies was riddled with errors, and one sip would probably be enough to poison someone half to death.
Before the end of get out of class, in addition to the regular homework, Snape made Fred and George write an extra five-inch report on the preparation of the scabies medicine, citing how badly Fred and George had prepared it.
The students in the classroom all cast sympathetic glances at the Weasley twins, because the Weasley twins weren't the only ones bad at mixing potions.
"How did Snape know?" George was very puzzled. They were certain that Snape had already determined that they were the students who had been out exploring the castle that night.
Presumably lacking evidence and unable to apprehend the perpetrators, Snape resorted to this deliberately offensive method to punish the Weasley brothers for their nocturnal outings.
"Perhaps he can read minds," Albert said without hesitation. "There must be magic that can see through people's thoughts. Snape might use it. Don't you think he could tell if someone was lying?"
Albert was well aware of how Snape could read their minds, but he wouldn't tell Fred and George directly, otherwise he wouldn't be able to explain it to them at all.
"Is this really possible?" Lee Jordan expressed his doubts.
"I don't know, but I think it's possible!" Albert reminded him. "These past few days, you should all keep a low profile. I heard that Filch has been patrolling the castle all night long, as if he wants to catch any students who are out at night and hang them from the ceiling to dry like salted fish."
"You'll end up like a dried-up salted fish." Fred rolled his eyes in annoyance, but still agreed with Albert's well-intentioned reminder and decided to temporarily stop going out at night. Going against the grain was obviously courting death, especially since directly provoking Filch was definitely not a good thing.
However, the two were confident that Filch would not be able to put them in such a sorry state as last time during their next nighttime outing.
"By the way, when did you discover this secret passage?" Lee Jordan asked in surprise as he followed the Weasley twins through the passage.
"Of course, it was discovered that night." Fred attributed the discovery of the secret passage to the previous nighttime excursion.
Albert knew the reason, but he didn't reveal it; he simply memorized the location of the secret passage.
On the way back to the common room, Fred suddenly remembered something and said to Albert with a serious expression, "Could we borrow that paper of yours on the scabies treatment?"
"I remember Snape gave you an E (good)." Lee Jordan hadn't forgotten the paper on the medicine for treating scabies that Snape had taken away before class. He had read it, graded it, and returned it to Albert before get out of class ended, giving him only an E. There was nothing else written on the parchment.
However, when Snape returned the paper on the potion for treating scabies to Albert, he didn't forget to warn him not to try it in Potions class, or he'd be put in solitary confinement.
Of course, Albert completely ignored Snape's threats and repeatedly assured him that he would not do anything.
"I heard that Snape never gave Gryffindor students an O (excellent) on their homework."
"That's normal. Snape is a Potions Master, so the potions we make must be terrible in his eyes." Albert didn't care at all. Before handing the parchment to George, he reminded him, "Don't copy it directly, or I'll be in trouble too."
Fred took the parchment from Albert and said with a smile, "We'll be careful."
"By the way, what are the ratings?" Li Qiaodan suddenly asked.
"If the grade is passing, it's usually O, E, or A, corresponding to Excellent, Good, and Pass respectively," Albert thought for a moment and then explained simply to Li Jordan. "If it's failing, it'll be P, D, or T..."
"If you get a T on your homework, you should be careful about getting expelled from school," Fred interrupted Albert, speaking mysteriously.
"Why?" Li Qiaodan was even more puzzled.
"T stands for extreme poor".
"No, T stands for troll, which means your brain is similar to a troll's." George said seriously, "You know, Hogwarts doesn't accept troll students."
Albert couldn't help but roll his eyes and said, "By the way, remember to call me when you go for a night stroll that weekend."
"You're also planning a night stroll?" Lee Jordan seemed to have heard something unbelievable.
"Yes, I'm planning to go take a look too. You know, students aren't allowed in the restricted area." Albert said mysteriously, "If you want to borrow books from the restricted area, you need to use special methods."
"What book do you want to borrow?" Fred asked curiously.
"The Book of Spells" by Miranda Goshak.
"Why does this book title seem so familiar?" Fred murmured.
"Idiot, the book we use in our Charms class is Miranda Goshak's 'Standard Spells, Beginner'," Li Jordan said irritably.
"Fred really is an idiot." George said with an expression that said, "I knew it."
"Then you must be an idiot too, since we're twin brothers."
"Both of them are idiots," Li Qiaodan muttered. "Isn't this the textbook we use? How come it's in the restricted section?"
"The Standard Spellbook series we're using now is actually a censored version. There are seven books in total, and one is given out each semester. In fact, the original title of the book is 'The Book of Spells'," Albert explained. "The book we're using now has some spells removed. I once wrote to the owner of Flourish and Blotts, but he told me that the book is no longer available because it was discontinued decades ago. The only version sold now is the revised edition we're using now."