Chapter 162: A Few Happenings Before the Holidays
Chapter 162: A Few Happenings Before the Holidays
If there's anything more frustrating than falling short, it's coming close but not quite making it. And sometimes, being close makes all the difference.
The Ravenclaw house ultimately missed their chance, finishing the year-end banquet in second place in the House Cup by a mere five points. It would be a lie to say that the Ravenclaws weren't feeling dejected.
That evening, Albert attended the year-end banquet in the Great Hall with his roommates.
The Great Hall had been beautifully decorated in Gryffindor's colors—red and gold. Behind the head table hung a huge banner depicting the Gryffindor lion.
The Gryffindor students were talking excitedly, their voices filled with joy and pride at having won the House Cup.
In stark contrast, their neighboring house, Slytherin, had not a hint of happiness. It was no wonder they couldn't bring themselves to celebrate. For four consecutive years, Slytherin had won the House Cup, and now… now that streak had been broken, and they had lost to their most despised rival, Gryffindor. Their glum expressions said it all.
The Ravenclaws probably had the most complex emotions in the room, a mix of regret and frustration. They had come so close to the championship, missing out by just a few points. While they were disappointed, they also took pleasure in seeing Slytherin's downfall.
As for the Hufflepuffs, they had not won the House Cup in a long time, so they didn't seem to mind too much. After all, seeing Slytherin, who disdained fair competition, suffer a crushing defeat was cause for celebration.
Soon, Dumbledore rushed in and stood on the podium, raising his hand to signal for quiet. The noisy Great Hall gradually fell silent.
"Another year has passed!" Dumbledore said cheerfully. "Before you indulge in the delicious food, I know you would rather not listen to an old man like me ramble on. However, we must proceed with the House Cup awards ceremony. The final scores are as follows: In fourth place, Slytherin, with 250 points; in third place, Hufflepuff, with 395 points; in second place, Ravenclaw, with 439 points; and in first place, Gryffindor, with 444 points!"
At that moment, the Gryffindor table erupted in thunderous applause and cheers, loud enough to deafen the ears. Some students were so excited they shouted themselves hoarse.
Fred, George, and Lee Jordan stood and joined in the applause and cheers. Albert clapped along, feigning excitement. But in his mind, he couldn't help but mutter, "What an unlucky number."
Lee Jordan nudged Albert with his elbow and pointed to their neighbors, the Slytherins, whose faces wore expressions of dismay, as if they had just been punched in the nose.
Everyone in the Great Hall, except for the Slytherins, was clapping—some celebrating Gryffindor's victory, others reveling in Slytherin's defeat.
Professor McGonagall, sitting at the head table, stood up and shook hands with Professor Snape, a pleased smile on her face.
The banquet offered a sumptuous spread, and during the meal, Fred and George invited Albert to spend the summer holidays with them.
Unfortunately, Albert had to decline their invitation as his family already had plans. His brother Herb had written to him about their family's intention to spend the summer in France.
Fred and George expressed their regret, as they had wanted to thank Albert for saving them. It was clear that the Weasley family shared similar sentiments.
Everyone at the banquet ate their fill, except for Fred and George.
After all, it was easy to feel sleepy after a hearty meal. If they dozed off, they might miss their chance to get their revenge on Filch that night, and they certainly didn't want to let this term go by without exacting some form of payback.
Now that Gryffindor had secured the House Cup, they no longer had to hold back. There was no way they would give up this opportunity.
After midnight, Fred and George sprang into action. With the help of Albert's Disillusionment Charm, they created some disturbances in the castle to lure Filch, who was about to retire for the night, to the fourth-floor corridor where the armor stood.
Then, George sneaked into Filch's office and applied the garlic-scented beeswax to the corners of the room. The smell was truly overwhelming, even more so than the Stink Pellets.
While Stink Pellets revealed the source of the odor, the beeswax, once applied to the corners, was nearly impossible to locate and remove. In no time, the entire office, along with Filch's bedroom, was filled with an overpowering stench of garlic.
Once Fred confirmed through the Marauder's Map that George had returned to the Gryffindor common room, he also made his retreat, leaving Filch searching fruitlessly for them on the fourth floor.
When Filch finally realized he had been tricked, he stormed back to his dorm in a huff.
As he opened the door to his office, the strong garlic smell hit him, causing him to shudder. Furious, he barged into his office to find the source of the odor.
Moments later, Filch's angry roars reverberated through the office, and his wife, Mrs. Norris, wisely kept her distance from the pungent-smelling space.
"Do you think we might've gone a bit too far this time?" George asked Fred, listening to Filch's roars.
"If I were you, I'd get rid of the garlic smell on your body first, so no one suspects you," Albert advised quietly as he appeared in the common room, addressing the two conspirators.
"Oh, you're right!" George said, having just noticed the garlic smell on his hands, and rushed off to wash them.
The next morning, news of Filch's revenge spread throughout the castle, and everyone speculated about the identity of the bold perpetrator who had filled Filch's office with the overpowering smell of garlic.
However, there was little sympathy for the caretaker, and most students took a certain glee in his misfortune.
Albert and his friends pretended to be ignorant of the incident, though their attention was mostly focused on their end-of-term exam results.
Hogwarts would announce the students' exam results on the last day.
"See, I told you you'd be the top of the year," Fred said, nudging Albert with his elbow and smiling.
"You guys did pretty well yourselves."
Fred, George, and Lee Jordan had all achieved high scores.
"I knew you'd be first," said Sandra, walking over to Albert. "But I bet Katrina's furious."
Albert shrugged and smiled, indicating there was nothing he could do about it.
He didn't feel particularly proud of being at the top of the class, as there were only so many students in their year. His real goal was to complete the panel tasks, and fortunately, he had already accomplished the tasks "As a Genius" and "Overwhelming Advantage."
Although Katrina had challenged him to a competition to see who would perform better, he had ultimately refused, but it seemed the challenge had motivated him nonetheless, at least according to the panel's judgment.
Katrina came in second in their year, also with all Outstanding grades, but her score was slightly lower than Albert's.
As Katrina stood among the crowd, checking her results, she glared at Albert with annoyance, frustrated with herself for losing to someone who hadn't even studied for the exams.
While everyone was still enthusiastically discussing their exam results, Professor McGonagall appeared with a stack of notices.
She asked the first-years to sign a pledge, promising to abide by the "Reasonable Restriction of Underage Sorcery" while outside of school.
After they signed, she also gave them the notices and warned them not to use magic during the holidays.
"I really wish they'd forgotten to give us this." Fred Weasley lamented, waving the notice in his hand. Not being able to use magic during the break was torture.
"You don't have to worry about that. The Ministry of Magic can't figure out who's using magic in a wizarding household, so even if you use magic at home, the Ministry won't know." Albert scoffed, explaining. "As long as you're in a place like Diagon Alley, where there's a high concentration of wizards, the Ministry can't pinpoint who's casting spells because the Trace can only locate and monitor the use of magic within a certain range of your vicinity."
"How do you know all this?" Sandra was a bit surprised that Albert was so well-informed.
"He certainly knows." Lee Jordan couldn't help but laugh, "After all, someone got tricked by him, didn't they?"
"Someone?"
"Truman from Hufflepuff," Fred helpfully reminded them, "So, you're saying that as long as we stay at home, we can use magic without any worries?"
"Exactly. Pure-blood wizarding families only have to rely on their family members to supervise themselves." Albert spoke disdainfully, feeling slightly dissatisfied that he wouldn't be able to use magic during the summer himself.
"According to what you're saying, the Ministry of Magic relies on the Trace to determine if we're using magic, but when do they..." Sandra asked, confused, "...secretly use the Trace on us?"
"Secretly use it?" Albert's expression turned strange, "They didn't."
"What do you mean?"
"Didn't you just sign it? The magical contract." Albert reminded her.
"You mean... that pledge?" Not just Sandra, but the others also understood what he meant.
"According to what I heard from Professor Blodger, the pledge we just signed is a magical contract, also known as the Trace. Of course, there are loopholes to it."
"Why didn't you tell us earlier? I would've never signed it if I'd known." Lee Jordan looked glum.
"Not sign it?" Albert repeated quietly, "Could you have not signed it?"
"What would happen if we broke the contract?" Fred asked curiously.
"The Ministry would know immediately and send an owl with a warning."
"What's the loophole, then?" George was even more curious about this.
"It can't figure out exactly who's using magic." Albert gave a simple example, "Let's say you live in a Muggle neighborhood, and when someone around you uses magic, the Ministry will detect it and assume it's you.
"So, that's how you tricked Truman?" Fred asked, intrigued.
"Yes, that's the loophole I mentioned. The Ministry can use the Trace to locate you, but when you're in Diagon Alley or at home, and someone nearby uses magic, the Ministry can't determine who it is because it could be any wizard in Diagon Alley or your family members."
"Fantastic! So, we don't have to worry about the Ministry finding out if we use magic." Fred and George high-fived.
"But you'll have to worry about your family finding out." Lee Jordan said flatly.
When the group returned to their dorm to pack their things, they found their closets empty, with all their belongings already packed into trunks.
"Probably packed by the house-elves." Fred explained to the others.
"Figured as much." Albert nodded, "Let's go, we don't want to miss the train."
As they dragged their luggage towards the entrance hall, Filch suddenly emerged from a hidden corridor, his red eyes glaring at Albert and the others. "It was you lot, wasn't it!" he croaked.
The four exchanged glances, all feigning ignorance.
"Don't think I don't know. It was you who put that garlic smell in my office!"
"We don't know what you're talking about!" The twins said in unison.
"We went to bed early last night." Lee Jordan coughed lightly, defending them, though it was unclear if he was also including the Weasley brothers in this statement.
Albert shrugged helplessly, indicating he had no idea what Filch was talking about.
"You planted garlic!" Filch's eyes flashed with anger.
"You mean that?" Fred said, as if he'd just realized, "Last time, Albert turned it into garlic scrambled eggs, and it tasted pretty good."
"If you don't believe me, you can ask the house-elves." George added, "They were the ones who cooked it."
The four walked past a flabbergasted Filch, struggling to hold back their laughter, and boarded the carriages towards the Hogwarts Express.
Along the way, they chatted about Filch, predicting whether he would cause them trouble next term and how they would deal with it.
In truth, the only ones who would have this problem were Fred and George.
On the train, as it passed through Muggle towns, they were eating Lee Jordan's Bertie Bott's Every Flavor Beans, seeing who had the worst luck with the flavors.
Before the train stopped at Platform 9 and 3/4 at King's Cross Station, they took off their wizarding robes and changed into Muggle jackets and shirts.
There was an old guard at the ticket gate, only allowing two or three people to pass at a time, so Albert spent a long time in line before he could exit the platform.
"Over here, Albert! We're here!"
As soon as he stepped off the platform, Albert saw Nia waving at him.
"Nia's become quite the lady." Albert smiled and complimented his sister.
"I've always been a lady." Nia complained.
"Where's Tom?" Albert asked.
"He's being taken care of by your Grandpa Luke for now." Herb took Albert's luggage and casually explained, "You know, we're going to France for the summer, so we don't have time to look after him. Your owl, Tom, is also being taken care of by Grandpa Luke."
"Oh, my God, I have to write to Grandma Sasha and tell her not to feed Tom too much." Albert couldn't help but cover his cheeks with his palms, as he imagined Tom becoming a fat cat by the time he saw him again.
"There's nothing wrong with a chubby cat." Dexia comforted him. "I think it's cute."
(End of Chapter)
Chapter end
Report
