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    Chapter 19: Exemplary Professor Snape

    Snape, as a Hogwarts professor, his teacher ethics aside, his teaching skills were indeed top-notch.

    Andy’s family had a potion master, and Andy occasionally helped out with simple potion ingredients, so he was quite familiar with Potions.

    But Helena’s potion brewing was essentially rote learning; they were sellable, but not masterpieces.

    Snape was different. He had thoroughly understood the properties of every potion ingredient.

    Furthermore, he modified the brewing process based on the different properties of each ingredient.

    Some modifications simplified the potion brewing, while others enhanced the potion’s quality.

    The cure for scabies, though a simple potion, was explained in great detail by Snape. In Snape’s words—anyone who wasn’t an idiot could brew it successfully.

    If there was any shortcoming to Snape’s class, it was his dreadful personal image.

    Andy glanced around; many young witches and wizards were terrified by Snape, probably not understanding a word he said.

    Fortunately, Andy was an adult on the inside.

    It’s one thing for children to fear their teachers, but adults? Who’s afraid of teachers?

    Forget being afraid of teachers; if Hogwarts had young, beautiful female teachers, Andy would dare send them love letters.

    “That’s all for the knowledge points on the scabies cure potion,”

    Snape said in his usual slow and deliberate tone, “All the steps are on the blackboard; the ingredients are on the lab bench.”

    “Now, in pairs, you can begin.”

    The young witches and wizards looked at Snape with a blank stare. What? The knowledge points are finished? You were just lecturing, not telling us a horror story?

    Oh! The steps are on the blackboard; that’s fine then.

    The young witches and wizards might be bad at other things, but copying answers was their forte.

    You’ve written the answers on the blackboard; how could we possibly get it wrong?

    You underestimate us!

    Andy glanced at Hermione and gestured with his eyes: “Us two as a team?”

    Hermione proudly tilted her chin, giving a reserved nod.

    Andy lit the fire, set up the cauldron, and began brewing the potion according to the steps on the blackboard.

    Hermione was also an academic type; asking her to innovate might be difficult, but asking her to follow instructions – let alone brewing potions, even if it were reciting an entire book, she wouldn’t misspell a single word.

    Brewing potions is a bit like cooking.

    Two people following the same recipe may produce vastly different results.

    Potion brewing is similar.

    Even if everyone follows Snape’s steps, the final products will be vastly different – especially for beginners.

    Ten minutes later, Snape, like a ghost, wandered around the classroom, pointing out each young witch and wizard’s mistakes in his chilling voice.

    However, this was useless.

    Because every young witch and wizard whose mistakes were pointed out by Snape would, like a complete idiot, make an even bigger mistake.

    Then Snape would look at them with an imbecile gaze, point out the new mistake with a sarcastic tone, and deduct points from their house.

    “Goldstein, I should have told you to write this down in your notebook, the porcupine quill should be added to the cauldron *after* the fire is extinguished.”

    “Ravenclaw loses one point.”

    Andy’s roommate wasn’t spared either.

    Anthony Goldstein held the porcupine quill, staring intently at the cauldron. Even though Snape had pointed out his mistake, Anthony acted like an idiot, completely unsure what to do.

    Andy glanced at Anthony; he was trembling, looking as if he was about to cry.

    Snape finally seemed to notice Andy’s group. He walked behind Andy and Hermione, his gaze fixed on their actions.

    Andy clearly felt Hermione tense up.

    Fortunately, Hermione was different from the other young witches and wizards. She aspired to be a model student; the more pressure the teacher gave her, the more potential she unleashed.

    Andy kept watching Hermione, but he never saw her make a mistake.

    Snape watched for a while, then silently walked away, seeming to have lost interest, and didn’t look at Andy’s group again for the rest of the lesson.

    Honestly, judging by Snape’s actions alone, he was a model teacher at Hogwarts.

    He explained the knowledge points meticulously and had his own understanding of potion theory.

    While the young witches and wizards were working, Snape didn’t rest for a moment, moving around the entire class, promptly pointing out mistakes.

    He was tireless, hardworking, and passionate.

    But considering Snape’s unique personal aura, the reality was – the young witches and wizards were like attending class in an evil laboratory; the whole lesson was filled with a chilling atmosphere.

    Guidance from the professor was like the whisperings of a demon, as if to drag you into hell.

    “Professor Snape, we’re done.” After brewing the potion, Hermione immediately raised her hand to signal Snape.

    Snape, draped in his black cloak, floated over, glanced at Andy and Hermione, then bent down to inspect the potion.

    The potion’s color and smell were perfect; though not a masterpiece, this simple potion wasn’t something people would bother researching; meeting the usage standards was enough.

    A normal teacher, seeing such excellent students as Andy and Hermione, would probably be delighted.

    But Snape simply grunted, gesturing for them to put away the potion, and left without looking back.

    He only left behind a sentence: “Ravenclaw gains one point.”

    Hermione looked disappointed.

    Andy whispered, “Professor Snape is like that; maybe he’s just a strict person!”

    To avoid discouraging the young witch’s enthusiasm for learning, Andy forcibly suppressed his urge to criticize Snape.

    Andy had gotten some information about Snape from the Weasley twins.

    According to the twins, Professor Snape’s aura was this: three parts sneer, three parts coldness, four parts nonchalance, and ninety points deducted from Gryffindor.

    For Ravenclaw and Hufflepuff, Snape rarely added points, but he wouldn’t deduct points casually either.

    But for Gryffindor, Snape would deduct points whenever he had the chance, and if he didn’t have a chance, he would create one.

    “Mm!”

    The young witch quickly accepted Andy’s explanation, whispering, “So you weren’t lying this time.”

    “What?” Andy was bewildered. What kind of image did he have in the little girl’s mind?

    How could I have lied?

    “I mean, about you being a practical type,” Hermione said.

    (End of Chapter)

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