Chapter 424: Anonymous Gift
Chapter 424: Anonymous Gift
During the Christmas holidays, the Anderson family won the lottery again. With this unexpected windfall, they indulged in a luxurious French dinner at an upscale restaurant.
Herb had gotten used to Albert spending his winnings from the National Lottery on treating the family to meals. After all, they didn't dine out together often, and indulging in exquisite cuisine at a high-end restaurant was undoubtedly a delightful experience.
To maintain appearances, Herb and Daisy would buy a few lottery tickets each month, just in case. Winning every time would be far too suspicious.
The day before school started again, Albert made his way to King's Cross Station to board the Hogwarts Express, joining the other students returning to school.
In the train carriage, Lee Jordan couldn't help but bring up the topic of Snape sending Albert a Christmas present.
Albert had already examined the parchment inside Snape's package, and it indeed contained a potion formula.
The can of cockroaches was also real, likely bred for a specific purpose. They needed to be specially treated before use, and you could buy pre-treated ones at potion shops. There were also other potions, none of which were particularly rare, but all the ingredients were commonly used in potion-making. When combined with a few common medicinal materials, they could create a potion called Blabbering Brew, which caused the drinker to uncontrollably blabber and say whatever was on their mind.
Merlin's beard! If people knew that these ingredients were used to make Blabbering Brew, no one would dare touch the stuff.
To be honest, Albert was impressed by Snape's expertise in potions. To be able to find such a potion formula was truly remarkable. It was entirely reasonable for a Potions Master to give his star student a Christmas gift related to potions.
Was Albert Snape's star student? In a sense, he could be considered one.
Moreover, the formula for Blabbering Brew that Snape included was one that he had improved himself, making it a relatively precious gift.
However, Albert suspected that Snape probably wanted to give him a surprising surprise.
After listening to Albert's analysis, Lee Jordan expressed his disagreement with Snape's twisted sense of humor. He even bluntly stated that if Albert ever dared to give him such disgusting stuff, their friendship would be over.
Especially after reading the formula for Blabbering Brew on the parchment, Lee Jordan claimed that his fragile little heart had been severely traumatized and he needed to calm his nerves by looking at Albert's holiday homework, which he fully intended to copy... ahem, emulate.
The professors at Hogwarts had a penchant for assigning heaps of homework during the holidays, which was incredibly annoying.
Lee Jordan had frantically worked on his holiday homework the previous day but still hadn't finished it all. Now, he had no choice but to seek Albert's help under the pretext of needing some "inspiration."
After some negotiation, Albert finally agreed to let Lee Jordan "emulate" his essay on Shrinking Solution.
He couldn't just stand by and do nothing. Ever since the snowman incident, the lives of the three friends closest to him—Fred, George, and Lee Jordan—had become increasingly difficult. While Snape couldn't directly target Albert, he occasionally took out his frustrations on Fred, George, and Lee Jordan. He didn't even need to go out of his way; simply paying extra attention to the trio was enough to make their lives miserable.
If Lee Jordan hadn't finished his homework, he would be in deep trouble, and Snape was just waiting for an excuse to make their lives difficult.
"I'd bet Fred and George didn't finish their homework either," Lee Jordan said as he started haphazardly putting together his essay on Shrinking Solution with Albert's help.
In fact, Lee Jordan was right. The Weasley twins' attention was mostly focused on experimenting with joke items rather than their studies.
After the two of them returned to Hogwarts Castle via the Night Rider carriage, Fred and George suddenly appeared to welcome them back and enthusiastically offered them some candy. They also expressed interest in seeing Albert's holiday homework.
"You two haven't cooked up something strange again, have you?"
Lee Jordan eyed the candies warily, clearly not intending to try them. He hadn't forgotten how he had been tricked by these two before.
"Candy made with mournful insect syrup," George explained. "It'll make you feel sad when you hold it in your mouth."
Seeing that neither of them intended to try the candy, George unwrapped one and popped it into his mouth.
The sad candy was incredibly effective. Soon, George's smile faded, and he wore an expression of melancholy, even starting to sniffle and then cry.
Lee Jordan was stunned by the dramatic change in George's expression. He had never expected the sad candy to be so potent.
"We added a large dose of syrup produced by mournful insects," George explained sadly. "It's a money-losing business, to be honest."
"Maybe we can produce a small batch of sad candies, but don't ever expect mass production. That would drain every last Galleon from our pockets," Fred added.
"That's a sad story," Albert said, patting George's shoulder sympathetically. The effect of the candy was stronger than he had anticipated.
"Yeah, that's pretty much it," Fred said, struggling to hold back his laughter. He handed another candy to George, who promptly ate it. The melancholy on his face was instantly replaced by a smile, although it looked a bit goofy.
"The antidote is almost ready, but it can't completely eliminate the after-effects of the candy," Fred said, pointing to George's goofy smile. "That's a side effect of the Alioto leaf. Of course, it won't last long—maybe ten seconds or so—before it fades away completely."
"A good start, though!" Albert offered a few words of comfort before changing the subject. "Have you two opened the package that didn't have a sender's name?"
Fred and George looked at each other and shook their heads in unison. "We thought it would be more fun to share this interesting experience with everyone, so we've kept the unnamed package unopened until you got back. Let's open it together now."
"Let's do it now. I'm curious to see what kind of anonymous Christmas gift I received. I have a feeling it's not going to be something nice," Albert muttered. "I'll open it from a distance, just in case."
"We tested it with a Truth Tester, and it didn't show any signs of dark curses, but..." Fred hesitated before adding, "I still think we should be careful when opening it."
After all, with the precedent of Snape's package, who knew what was inside?
They brought the package to the common room. Since no one wanted to open it, Albert used a spell to open it from a distance.
In full view of everyone, a yellowish-green liquid suddenly sprayed out of the package the moment it was opened, like a grenade exploding. The liquid splattered everywhere, and a pungent smell of gasoline instantly filled the entire room.
"Good thing I was far away. That was close! Whoever sent this is truly despicable!" Fred muttered, having narrowly avoided being splashed by the unknown liquid.
(End of Chapter)
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