Potions class was still ongoing, and Professor Snape was guiding everyone on how to brew a potion that could cure boils.
After explaining the brewing method for the boil-curing potion, he divided the class into pairs and had everyone start brewing.
Albert was naturally paired with Lee Jordan, as they were deskmates.
"Let's read through the steps a few times first, then start brewing the boil-curing potion to avoid making mistakes in the process," Albert reminded.
"As long as the steps are correct, the finished product won't differ too much from the book."
The most dreaded thing when brewing potions is adding ingredients randomly and stirring haphazardly.
Albert opened Magical Drafts and Potions, memorizing the recipe for the boil-curing potion, completely oblivious to Professor Snape, who was dragging his black cloak as he walked behind him.
Only after Snape walked away did Albert take out the necessary ingredients from his potion kit: a few snake fangs, one Pungous onion, some bundled dried nettles, a jar of horned slugs, and a few porcupine quills.
"You're responsible for simmering the horned slugs; they need to be simmered for at least thirty-three to forty-five minutes," Albert said, handing his tweezers to Lee Jordan.
"Alright, leave it to me," Lee Jordan had no objections.
He took the tweezers Albert handed him and picked out the disgusting horned slugs from the jar.
Speaking of which, a jar of these things cost one Galleon at the apothecary.
"Remember to clean them thoroughly first, and you don't need too much water in the cauldron; be careful not to let it boil over," Albert added.
Then, he began grinding the snake fangs with a mortar and pestle; the book required them to be ground into a fine powder, which was a strenuous task.
Compared to Albert's practical skills, other students were quite lacking.
Of course, this might be related to Albert having leveled up his potion-making to Level 1.
Professor Snape was still patrolling the classroom, watching students weigh dried nettles and grind snake fangs.
Almost all students had been criticized, with only Albert and George escaping it.
After all, Snape couldn't find anything to criticize, other than their progress being slightly slower than others.
"Next, weigh the dried nettles," Albert whispered, watching Snape's receding figure.
"Pay attention to the weight, don't get it wrong."
"Okay," Lee Jordan was in a good mood; Snape hadn't come to bother them.
Albert, meanwhile, laboriously sliced the Pungous onion into thin pieces.
Half an hour later, Lee Jordan spoke up, "The horned slugs are thoroughly cooked."
Albert immediately leaned over, poked the horned slugs with a glass rod, and once he confirmed they were completely cooked, he poured out the water from the cauldron, leaving the cooked slugs behind.
Once the ingredients were ready, all that remained was to brew the boil-curing potion.
First, add the snake fang powder to the cauldron, stirring slowly to thoroughly mix it with the water; the potion in the cauldron would gradually turn deep blue.
"Is it deep blue?" Lee Jordan leaned his head over, wanting to see the color of the potion.
"It's deep blue," Albert confirmed, deftly adding the thinly sliced onion to the cauldron and continuing heating for about ten seconds.
The potion, just as recorded in the book, gradually changed from deep blue to red.
Once the color stopped changing, the next step was to slowly sprinkle in the dried nettles, stirring until the color turned pink.
"Continue adding a small spoonful of Flobberworm mucus, then continue stirring; the potion inside will turn green," Albert muttered the steps as he worked.
"Next is to add a large spoonful of stewed horned slugs, stirring until the potion turns blue-green."
After completing the previous step, Albert removed the cauldron from the fire.
If it wasn't removed from the fire, directly adding porcupine quills would cause the potion to fail immediately; Snape had specifically reminded everyone about this.
Albert took the two porcupine quills Lee Jordan handed him, slowly placed them into the cauldron, and then began stirring clockwise three times, causing the originally blue-green potion to gradually turn blue.
Finally, he waved his wand above the cauldron to complete the potion.
"Did it succeed?" Lee Jordan asked nervously.
"What do you think?" Albert scooped out a spoonful, put it into a crystal vial, and handed it to Lee Jordan, letting him clearly see the color.
"It succeeded!" Lee Jordan excitedly looked at the boil-curing potion in the vial; the color was essentially consistent with the description in Magical Drafts and Potions.
"Yes, it succeeded, it wasn't easy," Albert extinguished the fire.
However, he still had some doubts about the effectiveness of the potion.
As he was bottling it and writing his name, Albert suddenly smelled a disgusting odor.
He turned his head to look and saw Fred and George's cauldron bubbling, with the potion inside a very disgusting brown color.
"Wait, you need to remove the cauldron from the fire before adding the porcupine quills!" Albert stopped George's potentially self-destructive decision to burn through the cauldron.
However, this still couldn't save their potion.
"Weasley, tell me, what is this?" Snape walked expressionlessly behind the twins.
"Boil-curing potion," George mumbled softly.
Snape asked coldly, "What color is the boil-curing potion in the book when it's finished?"
"Blue."
"I dare say, drinking this pot of yours, you won't cure your boils, you'll just poison yourself first." Snape waved his wand, sweeping away the potion in the cauldron.
"Anderson, where's your potion?"
"Here it is, sir," Lee Jordan quickly handed over the blue potion, and where Snape wasn't looking, he triumphantly wiggled his index finger at the twins.
"Barely passing," Snape picked up the glass vial, glanced at the potion inside, and said.
"What do you mean, 'barely passing'?"
After class, Lee Jordan angrily told the twins, "What's that supposed to mean? Does that mean everyone else's potion didn't pass? And… why do we have to write a two-foot-long essay after successfully brewing the boil-curing potion?"
"Keep your voice down, if you want to get yourself into trouble," Fred said, pointing at Snape walking towards them.
"Ahem," Albert cleared his throat and said to Lee Jordan, "Perhaps, Professor Snape thinks we're very talented in potion-making and wants to cultivate us well."
Albert deliberately kept his voice low enough for Snape to hear.
"You see, no one else gets this kind of treatment, right?"
"I hope your essay on the boil-curing potion doesn't disappoint me, Mr. Anderson," Snape turned and stared at Lee Jordan, saying, "As for you, you don't need to write an essay."
"What does he mean by that?" Lee Jordan murmured, looking at Snape's receding figure.
"What does he mean? Of course, it means you're not worth special attention!" Fred finally burst out laughing after Snape left.
He raised his hand and patted Albert on the shoulder, saying, "It seems Professor Snape really intends to give you special attention; maybe he wants to invite you to join the Potions Club!"
"Then I can only refuse, after all, I've already joined the Transfiguration Club," Albert said seriously.
The next moment, all three of them laughed even louder.
Of course, they could guess that Snape was annoyed with Albert but couldn't do much about him, so he could only resort to this tactic, giving Albert so-called special attention.
After all, students, not many like doing homework—especially extra homework.