Friday was a crucial day for Albert.
The trajectories of the moving staircases and some of the passages in the castle would change today. To avoid getting lost on their way to the Great Hall, they decided to go with other upper-year students.
"What classes do we have this morning?" Lee Jordan asked George beside him, adding two sugar cubes to his cereal and milk.
"Two Potions classes this morning," Albert said after finishing the sausage on his plate, "with the Slytherin students."
"I remember the Potions Professor is the Potion Professor," George suddenly said.
"Snape… Oh, is that the one Albert wanted to take a picture of last time?" Lee Jordan recalled something. "By the way, you're not in trouble for that, are you?"
"What are you talking about?" Albert looked at Lee Jordan in confusion.
"Didn't Snape say he was going to question you?" Fred reminded him.
"Oh, you mean that. There shouldn't be a problem." Albert had specifically flipped through the book last night. He could remember most of the content, so he didn't need to worry unless the questions were extremely tricky.
"I remember Snape is the Head of Slytherin House."
"Right!" George leaned in and whispered, "Everyone says he only favors his own students and never gives points to students outside of Slytherin."
"Be careful, he's watching you!" Albert whispered.
This startled George. He quickly pulled his head back, cautiously looking around, but couldn't find Snape. He then knew he had been tricked and glared at Albert in dissatisfaction. "You guy…"
"Why can you make such jokes with a straight face?" Angelina walked tiredly to their side and sat down, shaking her head as she looked at the laughing group. "Today is truly awful. I got lost and almost couldn't find the Great Hall."
Albert turned his head and said to Angelina, "I heard you became a reserve Quidditch player. Congratulations."
"Thank you." Angelina looked at Albert suspiciously. She had also learned about Albert from Lee Jordan and knew that Charlie intended to pull Albert into the Quidditch team.
However, the other party didn't seem to care if his position was taken by her.
"Don't forget to bring what you need for Potions class later, and it's best if we're not late. Don't give Snape a chance to make trouble for us." After finishing breakfast, Albert took out another book, One Thousand Magical Herbs and Fungi, 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 Hall, followed the stairs downward, and arrived at the lower part of the castle, which was much colder than the main building above.
They walked into the classroom and found that the Slytherin students had already arrived.
The Potions classroom was not large, but it could at least accommodate more than twenty students. The walls around the classroom were filled with various glass jars containing preserved animal specimens, which could make the faint of heart feel uneasy.
"It feels a bit like biology class, with bodies preserved in formaldehyde," Albert said, sitting next to Lee Jordan, as he surveyed the surrounding glass jars, unable to help but complain.
As Albert looked around the classroom, he noticed a storage cabinet in the corner, which might contain various ingredients students might need for potion-making, or perhaps the Advanced Potion-Making book belonging to the Half-Blood Prince.
On the podium, Snape was looking down at the students entering the classroom. Behind him was a blackboard, already covered with the ingredients and preparation methods for a Cure for Boils.
Albert looked up and met Snape's gaze. After a polite smile, he looked away. Those were cold, empty, dark eyes that made Albert feel very uncomfortable.
Soon after, the bell for class rang.
Snape picked up the roll call. After seeing Albert's name, he paused for a moment, then withdrew his gaze and continued calling names.
"The brewing of potions is a precise, strict craft, and many people wouldn't believe it is actually magic." Snape's voice was cold, like a winter wind, and his indifferent face combined with his emotionless voice made the students in the classroom dare not misbehave during class.
"Every year, I always encounter a few idiotic fools who burn through their cauldrons." Snape looked around at the students in the classroom and said coldly, "I don't expect you to truly appreciate the beauty of potion-making, I just hope those fools are not among you."
After Snape finished his opening remarks, the whole class was silent.
"Anderson!" Snape suddenly said. "What would I get if I added powdered asphodel root to an infusion of wormwood?"
Albert and Lee Jordan exchanged glances, shrugged, and Albert stood up. He could feel the whole class looking at him, but he wasn't nervous at all, and he answered Snape's question smoothly:
"You would get a powerful sleeping potion called the Draught of Living Death."
"If I asked you to find me a bezoar, where would you look?" Snape strode over to Albert's side, using this to exert an invisible pressure on him.
"A bezoar is a stone taken from the stomach of a goat, and it has extremely strong detoxifying properties," Albert said expressionlessly.
"Then tell me, what is the difference between monkshood and wolfsbane?"
"Monkshood and wolfsbane are the same plant, also collectively called aconite."
"Copied directly from the book," Snape said contemptuously, "but basically correct."
Albert sat back down. It seemed he had successfully passed Snape's questioning.
Lee Jordan beside him quietly gave a thumbs-up, while Fred and George behind him tried hard not to laugh.
In fact, they all guessed that Snape's questions would not stump Albert at all.
"What are you still waiting for? Why aren't you writing all this down?" Snape returned to the podium, turned around, and said to everyone.
A rustling sound of fumbling for quills and parchment immediately filled the classroom.
"You've completely mastered the book?" Sanna whispered. She admired Albert for being able to answer Snape's questions.
Anyone with eyes could tell that Snape was trying to make trouble for Albert.
Albert didn't answer, just raised his index finger to his lips to make a quiet gesture, then raised his hand and pointed to Snape.
Snape glared at Sanna unhappily and said coldly, "No talking in class. Gryffindor, one point deducted."
In fact, Sanna was definitely not the only one talking. The Gryffindor students had already realized that the Potions Professor was targeting their House.
The previous incident was the best example. Albert's answer was perfect; at least in other classes, other Professors would have given Gryffindor at least five points, but Snape did not.
They all said Snape only favored his own students, and now it seemed that this was not an empty statement.
Albert didn't care about getting points or not. He was secretly observing the Potions Professor in front of him, matching him with the Severus Snape in his memory:
Thin, hooked nose, gloomy enough, and greasy hair.
Hmm, his hair might have just been washed!
To summarize in Tom's words: Snape really didn't look like a good person.