Chapter 804: Who's to Blame?
Chapter 804: Who's to Blame?
The Potions written exam on Monday was even easier than Albert had anticipated. Most of the questions on the test involved describing certain potion ingredients or potions themselves.
For example: Describe the properties of moonstone and its uses in potion-making.
The practical Potions exam in the afternoon was even more relaxed because their dear Professor Snape was not lurking around the exam room, looming like a specter and watching them brew their potions. As such, no one was deliberately putting them under pressure.
Most students found brewing potions much easier without that constant supervision, even Fred and George seemed less tense than usual.
Albert was certain that after this exam, a lot of students would blame their previous poor Potions grades on Professor Snape's intimidating presence.
As soon as Professor Grubbly-Plank, the invigilator, said, "Please step away from your cauldrons, the exam is over," Albert quickly glanced at the label on the narrow-necked bottle containing the Invigoration Draught and left the exam room with the rest of the students.
"I think I should be able to pass this time," Fred excitedly announced the good news to his three roommates. Both he and George had specifically practiced brewing the Invigoration Draught, so the practical exam hadn't caused them much trouble. If their performance on the written exam earlier that day had been better, they might even have a chance at getting an 'Exceeds Expectations'.
"All thanks to Albert, of course."
George suspected that Albert had secretly helped them get through the O.W.Ls Potions exam. Otherwise, with their Potions skills, it would have been quite challenging to pass.
At least he was self-aware enough to admit that.
"Finally, we're free!" Lee Jordan stretched lazily and suggested with a smile, "Let's go for a drink to celebrate in advance."
"We still have four more exams!" Angelina raised an eyebrow.
"Divination, History of Magic, Astronomy, and Care of Magical Creatures—who really cares about those subjects anyway?" Lee Jordan dismissed the remaining exams, echoing the sentiments of many other students.
Divination was considered a useless subject by most students. Perhaps a small minority enjoyed it, but the only student who could truly divine was Albert. Even if they got an 'Outstanding' on their O.W.Ls, so what?
History of Magic was almost universally hated, largely due to their History of Magic professor, Professor Cuthbert Binns, whose lessons were notoriously sleep-inducing.
In the last century or so of British magical history, there had only been one relatively well-known historian, Bathilda Bagshot, the author of 'A History of Magic'.
Astronomy was an important subject, taught from the first year onwards. However, in everyone's opinion, it might as well not exist because it had no presence and they couldn't see the point of learning it. It had never been taken seriously by the students.
Ever since Hagrid took over Care of Magical Creatures, the subject had become less popular. Many students questioned if they could really learn anything useful from the class, and interacting with those magical creatures was dangerous, as Professor Kettleburn had demonstrated.
"The professors' remedial classes require a minimum of 'Exceeds Expectations' to attend. You can't just take one or two classes; you'll have to buck up next semester or McGonagall might make you repeat the year," Hannah reminded them.
"That won't happen," Fred shrugged. "I think taking two or three elective classes in our sixth and seventh years should be enough. That way, we'll have more time to prepare for life after graduation."
Fred and George weren't too concerned about that, though. They didn't feel the need to rush into dropping out of school to open their shop anymore. Instead, they planned to follow Albert's suggestion to first build up the reputation of their joke shop within the school, while also learning from and collaborating with Albert to create even more interesting items.
After all, they had witnessed the potential of Albert's so-called "half-finished" products, and most of what was in that box had been truly impressive.
With just a little improvement, those items would be sure to sell like hotcakes.
Of course, what everyone was more concerned about was the upcoming Care of Magical Creatures practical exam the next day. No one really paid attention to Fred's group and their idle chatter.
The Care of Magical Creatures practical exam took place the next day on the grassy area at the edge of the Forbidden Forest. Three tents had been set up there, and the students were instructed to wait quietly and enter the tents one by one to take their exam.
Albert was, of course, among the first batch of students to take the practical exam. As he pushed aside the tent flap and stepped inside, he saw that the tent had been divided into three sections. Professor Grubbly-Plank sat behind a long table in the middle of the tent and pointed to a pile of hedgehogs on the right side of the ground, saying, "Among these hedgehogs, there is a Hedgling. You need to accurately identify which one it is."
Albert scanned the pile of miscellaneous items placed beside the hedgehogs and quickly found a bottle of milk. He then conjured a baby bottle and, after donning a pair of dragon-hide gloves, began to feed the milk to the hedgehogs.
Albert quickly noticed that the quills of one of the hedgehogs were all standing upright.
"This is just a Spiny Norman," Albert said to Professor Marchbanks.
Spiny Norman was an extremely suspicious creature that would raise its magically charged quills when it suspected someone was trying to poison it.
"Well done." Professor Marchbanks made the baby bottle disappear and then pointed to the tree inside the tent, continuing to describe the tasks Albert needed to complete.
"Over there are some Bowtruckles, you need to show me how to touch them correctly, and you also need to pluck a leaf from the tree for me."
Albert walked over to the tree and observed the somewhat tense Bowtruckles. He racked his brain for information about these creatures: If one wanted to pluck a leaf or piece of wood from a tree guarded by Bowtruckles, one would need to offer them some tortoise beetles or fairy eggs in exchange.
While searching for the milk earlier, Albert had noticed the tortoise beetles on the table. He quickly took some and first offered them to the Bowtruckles on the tree to lower their guard, then pointed to the leaves on the tree while jingling the beetles in his hand, indicating that he wanted to trade for a leaf.
Indeed, the Care of Magical Creatures exam not only tested one's understanding of fundamental theory but also one's patience and love for magical creatures.
Without sufficient patience to interact with these little guys, one might end up botching the task.
"Good." Holding the leaf in her hand, Professor Marchbanks pointed to a section that had been circled and said, "You also need to demonstrate to me how to feed and clean a Fire Crab."
The so-called Fire Crab was actually a magical creature that resembled a sea turtle, with a shell adorned with colorful jewels.
Fire Crabs were valuable; their shells could be used to make high-quality crucibles after they died. Of course, most wizards didn't have the patience to wait for them to die naturally and simply killed them instead, so they were protected by the Ministry of Magic. There were special protected areas for them on beaches, and Fire Crabs could also be sold to other wizards as pets, though Albert doubted that ordinary wizards would bother buying them.
Albert thought that this creature should be called a Fire Turtle instead, as it only resembled a crab in the way it walked sideways with its crab-like legs. These creatures would spray fire from their tails if they felt threatened, and one could easily get burned if one wasn't careful.
This was the aspect one needed to be most cautious about when feeding and cleaning a Fire Crab.
However, as long as one didn't deliberately provoke a Fire Crab, there was no need to worry about getting burned. As for cleaning, one could simply cast a Full-Body Bind Curse on it to restrain it, making the cleaning process safe and easy.
As for what happened after the Fire Crab was released from the curse and regained its freedom, that was none of his concern. Perhaps they had prepared some other Fire Crabs as well.
After leaving the tent, Albert ran to the gamekeeper's hut to chat with Hagrid and observe the other candidates.
Indeed, many students had suffered burns to varying degrees. Fire Crabs were no joke, and as Hagrid had barely taught them anything useful this semester, it was no surprise that many had a hard time with the Fire Crabs.
"How did it go?" Hagrid asked in a lowered voice, sounding a bit sheepish.
"It was fine, but I've never dealt with Fire Crabs before. I think a lot of students will be complaining that you never taught them how to feed and clean Fire Crabs," Albert said helplessly. Hagrid had really put this year's fifth-year students in a tough spot.
Hagrid suddenly looked a bit embarrassed, knowing that he hadn't taught them much useful knowledge this semester.
Fred and George had also emerged, and they looked a bit disheveled. Part of Fred's hair had been scorched, while George's clothes were singed, and there were burn marks on his hand.
"Damn it, who would want to keep such a dangerous pet?" Lee Jordan grumbled as he appeared, not only bearing burn marks but also scratches from the Bowtruckles.
"Go to the hospital wing and let Madam Pomfrey treat your injuries. I think a lot of people will be heading there," Albert suggested.
"Why are you completely unscathed?" Fred grumbled enviously, as Albert was the only one who had emerged from the tent without any injuries.
"Who knows," Albert replied with a shrug.
As they reached the entrance of the hospital wing, they heard Madam Pomfrey's voice expressing her exasperation. Unfortunate students with burn injuries were being treated with an orange salve.
"I really wonder how Charlie managed to deal with Fire Dragons," George suddenly said, expressing his newfound admiration for Charlie's choice of profession.
(End of Chapter)
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