"Albert, are you alright?"
At lunchtime, Sanna sat beside Albert. She was still upset about Professor Snape inexplicably deducting a point from him that morning.
"I'm fine, what's wrong?" Albert skillfully spread a generous amount of mayonnaise on his sandwich, then added sliced tomatoes, two slices of fried bacon, and finally a cold sausage before topping it with another slice of bread.
"Speaking of which, you can still eat," Sanna whispered. "Did you offend Professor Snape somewhere?"
"No," Albert said without hesitation.
Actually, even if he had, he wouldn't admit it. The answer would only be no.
"I know about this," George, with a pie in his mouth, said with a smile after taking a bite. "It all started two days before school began. We were strolling through the castle and happened to run into Snape. Albert went to ask Snape if he could take a photo."
Speaking of this, George wanted to laugh.
"Right, right, I remember, that was it," Fred, who was nearby, added. "Later, Snape said he would question Albert in Potions class."
"So that's why all that happened this morning?" Sanna said in surprise.
"Snape didn't manage to stump Albert, so he changed his approach," Lee Jordan continued, picking up the conversation. "That's why our Potions Professor gave Albert extra homework after class."
"Ahem, you've got it wrong," Albert cleared his throat and said earnestly. "Professor Snape thinks my Potions talent is good and plans to give me special attention to improve my skills. Don't you agree?"
"Right, right, we misspoke just now," the twins quickly corrected themselves, looking as if to say, "Yes, that's exactly it."
Sanna was also amused by their words, but she still asked suspiciously, "Is your essay okay?"
"It's nothing. Writing one is writing, and writing two is writing," Albert said easily. "I plan to go to the library later and finish both essays quickly."
"Merlin's beard, you're going to the library to write homework right after eating? Don't we have a lot of time to complete our homework?" Fred, George, and Lee Jordan all looked at Albert with disbelief, unable to understand why he was in such a hurry.
"It won't take much time," Albert took a big bite of his sandwich, chewed slowly, and swallowed. "Besides, it's best not to cram all the homework together; that way, you'll have free time to do other things."
"You don't mind if I write with you later, do you?" Sanna, beside him, blinked. "It's faster for two people to find information together."
Perhaps, for Albert and Sanna, who came from Muggle families, finishing homework as quickly as possible was a habit.
The Weasley brothers and Lee Jordan quickly moved away from the two, afraid of contracting the terrible disease of 'dying if you don't do your homework immediately.'
Alright!
Actually, they were afraid that Albert would drag them into doing homework too.
There was still so much time; why rush to finish it now?
"Ahem, that..." Fred awkwardly changed the subject. "We're planning to go outside the castle later. Do you want to come with us?"
"We can't go into the woods," Albert raised an eyebrow. He wouldn't easily take risks before mastering the power to protect himself.
"We didn't say we were going into the woods," George said with a grin. "You said that."
"Are you saying you didn't think about it?" Albert snorted unhappily. He knew that the twins would be frequent visitors to the Forbidden Forest in the future.
"That's right. Cough, I mean, just wander around. There are still some places in the castle we haven't been to," Fred quickly corrected himself.
"We don't plan to go into the woods, just over there to look. I remember there's a small cabin at the edge of the Forbidden Forest," George immediately added.
Albert looked up at the ceiling. It was cloudy. Hmm, going out there for a walk after eating was fine too.
"Alright!" he agreed.
"Then let's go!" The twins each took one of Albert's shoulders.
"Wait, my sandwich is going to fall."
"Don't worry, I've got it!" Lee Jordan took the sandwich with a grin.
"See you at two!" Albert waved goodbye to Sanna and was escorted by the three towards the outside of the castle.
There was indeed a small cabin at the edge of the Forbidden Forest.
As they walked towards the cabin, they found the gamekeeper outside, processing a mink pelt. Beside him, a black hound barked at them with a low growl.
The gamekeeper looked up at Albert and the other three walking around and said, "You lot, don't wander around here. There are terrible werewolves in the Forbidden Forest. Few who go in there come out unharmed. I don't want to have to collect your bodies."
Albert looked up at the barking black hound, pulled a bitten sausage from his sandwich, and dangled it in front of the dog.
"He's really big!" Lee Jordan muttered. Although he had seen him once, he was a little afraid of Hagrid. After all, the person in front of him, with his height and attire, truly gave them a great sense of oppression.
"Are there really werewolves in the Forbidden Forest?" Albert wasn't afraid at all and walked towards him. If he hadn't learned about Hagrid's good nature from books, he would never have thought of approaching him after seeing his appearance.
Fred tugged at Albert's clothes from behind, signaling him to leave quickly.
Albert gave them a speechless glance. Well, he admitted his courage was based on knowledge.
There was no helping it; the gamekeeper's appearance was indeed a bit intimidating. He was at least fifteen feet tall, with a fierce, rough, bearded face, and wore a patched animal skin coat, looking like a barbarian from legends. If he walked around the city late at night, who knew how many people he would scare.
Hagrid was also startled by the remark, not expecting someone to be so familiar.
Albert, biting his sandwich, squatted down and dangled the sausage in front of the black hound. Its low growl gradually stopped. It wagged its tail and slowly walked towards Albert, sniffing the sausage with its nose, then picked it up with its mouth and began to eat it. The three behind him were a little stunned to see this.
Was this still a fierce hound?
Hagrid was also surprised, not expecting his dog to be bribed by half a sausage. Speaking of which, this little fellow had quite a lot of guts.