Albert picked up the parcel Hagrid sent and returned to the common room with his roommates.
As soon as Lee Jordan squeezed through the hole, he reached out to take the parcel Albert handed over and asked, puzzled, "What are you going to do with these things?"
"Garlic Cross." Albert planned to go back to the dormitory first.
"You can make that?"
"Idiot, Albert even successfully made the protective wristband." Fred looked at the two of them with an idiotic gaze, "Why do you think he can't make a Garlic Cross?"
"Of course I know." George mumbled.
No one was willing to admit they were an idiot.
After the four hurried back to the dormitory, Lee Jordanimmediately took down the garlic hanging by the window to dry.
"First, you need to peel the garlic, then mash it into a paste, soak it in alcohol, and let the allicin in the garlic dissolve into the alcohol." Albert recalled the making method and continued, "During this time, by the way, throw the Cross made from the guardian tree into it as well. The process will probably take… a day."
"Whatever you say." Fred started helping to peel the garlic.
George took out the mortar used in Potion Class, preparing to mash the peeled garlic.
"No, I have a better way." Albert quickly raised his hand to stop George, and under the gaze of the three, he used his wand to Transfigure a newspaper into a simple garlic press.
All three gathered around, looking curiously at the thing Albert made using Transfiguration, and asked in unison: "What is this?"
"A garlic press," Albert explained casually. He put the peeled garlic into the garlic press, pressed it directly into a paste, and then put the garlic paste into a wide-mouthed glass jar.
The small reading app used by book friends before has been taken down, and now most of them are using the Mimi Reading app.
"Good stuff." George's eyes lit up, and he quickly took the garlic press from Albert, saying he was willing to help press the garlic paste.
The few of them fiddled with it for ten minutes and finally pressed all the garlic into a paste.
"What do we do next?" Lee Jordan asked, looking at the garlic paste in the wide-mouthed glass jar.
"Pour alcohol into the garlic paste." Albert stirred with a glass rod, and after the alcohol and garlic paste were thoroughly mixed, he sealed the wide-mouthed glass jar.
"That's it?" All three felt a bit incredible, it seemed simpler than they imagined.
"Yes, next, we'll deal with it tomorrow." Albert sniffed the garlic smell in the air, frowning slightly, "Next time, remember to remind me not to make these things in the dormitory."
"I'm suddenly a little excited to see what kind of alchemical tool this will turn out to be." George was a little thrilled; this was his first time participating in the creation of an alchemical tool.
"Alchemical… tool?"
Albert still didn't tell them that the so-called Garlic Cross was not an alchemical tool at all.
Indeed, it's better not to shatter the innocent dreams of children.
The next steps were more complicated, requiring warm water to melt the beeswax, then adding the alcohol separated from the garlic into a beaker, and during this process, adding an appropriate amount of olive oil, and throwing in the Cross that had been soaked in alcohol for a day to boil together.
Of course, they wouldn't dare to do these things in their dormitory. If the whole dormitory smelled of garlic, how would they sleep later?
The next day, Albert and the others moved the cauldron to the lakeshore. The strong garlic smell that spread out during cooking made several curious students nearby retreat three paces.
"If anyone wears this thing, they probably won't ever get a girlfriend in their life." Albert pinched his nose and used tongs to pick the garlic-smelling Cross out of the beaker.
"Would anyone really be willing to wear this monstrosity?" Lee Jordan was the first to express doubt.
"I'm more curious if this thing really works?" Fred also didn't want to get too close.
"It's probably meant to scare away enemies with the smell," George also stepped back a bit, muttering, "I didn't expect the smell to be so pungent."
There was nothing they could do about it, as Albert had repeated the process several times, concentrating all the essence of the garlic they had grown and the garlic they had brought onto it.
"Say, should we give this thing to Filch?" Fredsuggested; he hadn't forgotten about retaliating against Filch.
"Filch will definitely throw it away." Albert directly rejected Fred's suggestion. If they gave this kind of thing to Filch, he would definitely just throw it away, which would be a complete waste of everyone's hard work.
"If you want to get back at Filch." Albert pointed to another small bottle and whispered, "The leftover beeswax also has a strong garlic smell. You can smear it in the corners of Filch's office. I'm sure it will give Filchan unexpected surprise."
"That's a good idea!" The Twins' eyes lit up, and they quickly picked up the bottle and opened it, only to be choked by the smell emanating from the beeswax.
"Wait until after the end-of-year feast to do it." Albertdidn't forget to remind them.
"We know what to do." The Twins looked at each other and chuckled mischievously.
"Alright, pack up, let's go find Hagrid."
"What do we need Hagrid for?" Fred and George asked warily.
"Of course, to test whether the amulet we made can effectively repel dark creatures." Albert said as a matter of course, "Hagrid definitely knows where to find less dangerous dark creatures."
"Oh, right." All three understood.
After all, once the amulet was finished, it naturally needed to be tested on something to see if it was effective.
Albert took out a rope woven from Unicorn tail, threaded it through the pre-drilled hole in the Cross, and made it into a necklace: "Who wants to wear it and try it?"
"Let's not!" George shook his head repeatedly.
"Are you trying to gas us to death?" Fred couldn't help but roll his eyes at Albert.
Lee Jordan simply pretended he didn't hear.
Seeing all three shake their heads in refusal, Albertsomewhat disappointedly stuffed the Garlic Cross back into the wide-mouthed glass jar, casually plugging the opening to seal off the strong garlic smell.
After packing up their tools, the four walked towards Hagrid's hut.
"What in the world are you doing?"
Hagrid, who was processing animal skins in front of his hut, smelled the strong garlic odor on the four from afar, and couldn't help but wrinkle his nose, looking at them with a disgusted expression.
"Garlic Cross." Albert shook the wide-mouthed glass jar in his hand and asked with a smile, "It's an amulet we just finished. We came here to see if there are any dark creatures we can use to test the amulet's effect."
"Garlic Cross, what in the world is that?" Hagrid took the wide-mouthed glass jar and opened it, causing him to sneeze several times from the garlic smell emanating from inside.
"An amulet that emits a garlic smell, capable of protecting the user from sneak attacks by dark creatures."
"I don't know if it can protect the user from sneak attacks by dark creatures, but if you wear this thing, I don't think any Vampire would be willing to come within ten paces of you." Hagrid couldn't help but complain. He remembered the alcohol and beeswax he had sent to Albert earlier and probably guessed what was going on.
"Do Vampires really hate the smell of garlic?" Albertasked curiously.
"Yes, garlic is as disgusting as a cesspool to Vampires." Hagrid explained dryly, "However, I think even if it's not a Vampire, they'll stay as far away from this thing as possible; its smell is simply… terrible."
"What about… dark creatures?" Fred couldn't help but ask.
"You're not thinking of taking this thing into the Forbidden Forest, are you?" Hagrid eyed the Weasley Brothers warily. It was normal for him to think this, as these two often snuck into the Forbidden Forest.
"No, we don't want to go into the Forbidden Forest for now; it's too dangerous. What happened last time scared us quite a bit." Fred quickly covered his chest, and he secretly kicked George next to him, who immediately understood and quickly agreed, promising not to go into the Forbidden Forest again.
Hagrid eyed Fred and George suspiciously, clearly not quite believing their promise.
"I don't have any dark creatures here, but I know where they are. Come with me!" Saying this, Hagrid led the four along the edge of the Forbidden Forest towards Professor Kettleburn's hut.
Professor Silvanus Kettleburn of Care of Magical Creatures Class currently resided on the outskirts of the Forbidden Forest, and his carefully raised little darlings all lived here.
It was said that the Care of Magical Creatures Class at Hogwarts would also be held in an open area near Professor Kettleburn's hut.
When Hagrid brought Albert and the others over, Professor Kettleburn was feeding Flobberworms to a snake-bird.
"Hagrid, is something wrong?" Professor Kettleburnlooked up and asked.
"Oh, it's like this, a few students, they made an amulet, and they hope… they hope to borrow your Grindylow to test the amulet's effect." Hagrid glanced at Albert and the others behind him and said.
"Amulet? You don't mean garlic, do you?"
Professor Kettleburn scrutinized the freshmen behind Hagrid. He could smell a strong garlic odor from afar.
"This is the amulet, Professor Kettleburn." Alberthanded the bottle containing the Garlic Cross to Professor Kettleburn.
It had to be admitted, it was a delicate work of art.
At least, it didn't look very ugly.
"Oh, dear!" Professor Kettleburn finally understood what the garlic smell on them was about. "Don't open it here, my little darlings don't particularly like that smell."
"Do you think it can protect me from sneak attacks by dark creatures?" Albert quickly asked.
"The effect is probably only average," ProfessorKettleburn explained. "Some creatures indeed dislike the smell of garlic, and they will instinctively stay away from it, but this is not absolute."
"Even if it's made from guardian tree branches?"
"Yes, I think this thing might work for Vampires, but… don't have too high expectations for others." Although he said that, Professor Kettleburn still lent them a Grindylow. As soon as Albert took the Cross out of the bottle, this unlucky Grindylow began to move away from Albert's Garlic Cross, seemingly quite overwhelmed by the smell.
"Congratulations, your amulet almost made the Grindylow faint from the smell." Hagrid pinched his nose and said grumpily.
"Thanks, I didn't expect this either." Albert couldn't help but sigh. He finally knew what the so-called amulet was all about now.
"What are you going to do with this thing?" Fredcouldn't help but ask.
"I'm going to make a treasure map and hide it in a book in the Library, so that the student who finds the treasure map can dig for the treasure." Albert had already thought about how to deal with this thing.
"Now, this amulet is called 'Vampire Repellent'." Albertannounced publicly, "It is the legendary amulet that can protect oneself from being harmed by Vampires."
Upon hearing this, their faces couldn't help but twitch.
Albert could actually say such a thing with a straight face, even though this amulet might indeed repel Vampires.
"I'm suddenly looking forward to seeing the expression on the face of the person who finds the treasure map, deciphers it, digs up the treasure, and then discovers that the legendary necklace that can protect them from Vampires is actually this kind of thing." George suddenly found it very amusing.
"I found that you really have a twisted sense of humor." Fred mumbled, "But I like it. I just wonder if that guy will be so angry that he faints after working so hard to find the treasure."
"I'll help too." Lee Jordan said excitedly, "Just say it's a treasure hidden by generations of Hogwarts students. I think many people will definitely be interested in it."
Hagrid listened dumbfounded. He had never imagined that Albert was actually planning to dig a pit for the students in the school and thoroughly prank them.
He imagined himself one day, when borrowing a book, finding a treasure map in the interlayer. Even if he didn't fully believe it, he would try to explore whether he could find the treasure.