Chapter 187: A Belated Task
Chapter 187: A Belated Task
The day after receiving the Ministry of Magic's apology letter, Albert quietly paid a visit to the 'Shop of Necessities' to retrieve the gold card and return it to Hoktak.
Now that Hoktak had cleared his name, keeping the gold card would only cause more trouble.
As Albert picked up the gold card, his gaze drifted in a certain direction. He casually tucked the card into his robe's pocket and slowly walked to the right, his eyes landing on an old cabinet with a bubbled surface. He slowly lifted his head to look at the top of the cabinet, narrowing his eyes at the sight of a witch's bust with a face full of pockmarks. The bust wore a dusty old wig, and upon its head sat something that resembled an ancient, faded crown.
Standing transfixed in front of the old cabinet, he faintly heard a whisper coming from the crown. His hand, which had been reaching out, froze in place before slowly withdrawing. He then quickly turned and left the shop.
Staring at the gold card in his hand after leaving the 'Shop of Necessities', Albert murmured, "This memory should be enough."
He placed the gold card in an envelope he had prepared beforehand and then sent it to its original owner, Hoktak, via the school owl.
As for why he didn't use his own owl—well, She-La was still halfway through delivering his previous message.
Watching the owl carrying the gold card fly away, Albert took a deep breath. This matter was finally concluded. That troublesome 'Honest Finder' task could now be considered complete.
Just as Albert was about to receive his reward, he suddenly noticed a new task on his panel.
Task: Underage Wizard's Rebellion "On rare occasions, the Ministry of Magic's laws may be flawed. The Misuse of Muggle Artefacts Office never admits to their mistakes or those of the Ministry. Use your own methods to make them realize their errors and force them to apologize or compensate the victims. Let them understand that even underage wizards without power or a voice can express their dissatisfaction in other ways."
Reward: 3000 experience points, Dolores Umbridge's favorability -10 Standing outside the Owlery, Albert muttered to himself, "Strange, why did this task trigger now? And as soon as it did, it was already completed."
"Could it be because I returned the gold card?" Albert speculated as he walked down the stairs. As he re-entered the castle and reached the entrance hall, he noticed another new task on his panel.
Task: Potion Master's Gratitude "The gold membership card is of great importance to Potion Master Hoktak. He is very pleased that you returned it as promised, and your integrity has been acknowledged by him."
Reward: 100 experience points, 1 skill point, Hoktak's favorability +5, randomly acquire one skill from the task target, reward item: a bottle of Felix Felicis Albert was taken aback as he stepped into the Great Hall. He hadn't expected there to be a follow-up to this matter, and the rewards were indeed generous.
He had thought that the 'Honest Finder' task would be a troublesome one, but it turned out to be just the beginning.
However, Albert was curious about what would have happened if he had returned the gold membership card to Hoktak directly from the start.
Would he have received a pile of galleons?
Albert had a feeling that more challenging tasks usually offered better rewards.
Nonetheless, he had indeed profited from this endeavor, considering the time and energy he had invested.
But how did Hoktak receive his owl so quickly?
Even with the detour to the Owlery and his momentary daze, it shouldn't have taken more than ten minutes.
Was Hoktak nearby?
Was he waiting for Albert's owl in Hogsmeade?
That seemed to be the only possibility in Albert's mind.
It seemed that the gold card was even more important than he had imagined.
He merely thought about it briefly before refocusing his attention on the tasks at hand.
Albert didn't plan to claim the reward for 'Underage Wizard's Rebellion' just yet, as having Dolores Umbridge's favorability decrease wasn't necessarily a good thing.
However, he did claim the rewards for 'Honest Finder' and 'Potion Master's Gratitude'.
Then, finding a spot to sit down in the Great Hall, he pulled out a small notebook from his pocket, pretending to browse through it while secretly checking his skill panel to see what skill he had acquired from Hoktak.
This reward was a bit of a gamble, as the skill he received was completely random.
The last time, Truman's task had a similar reward, but Albert hadn't discovered what skill he'd obtained then either, despite searching through his skill panel.
Albert realized that he had acquired quite a number of skills, most of which were at Level 1 or Level 0. Scrolling through the long list of skills to find a new one was no easy task.
After carefully scanning through the list three times, Albert finally spotted an unfamiliar skill named 'Potion Mastery'.
Yes, the skill was indeed called 'Potion Mastery'.
What caught Albert's attention was the fact that this skill couldn't be upgraded using experience points.
In his impression, skills that required skill points to upgrade were usually quite remarkable.
This was indeed exciting news! ...
In the Great Hall, several Gryffindor students gathered around Albert, speaking in hushed tones.
"What's wrong with Albert?" Angelina asked in confusion, eyeing the motionless Albert before turning to the Weasley twins. "Do you think he's been hit with a Full-Body Bind Curse?"
As she spoke, Fred snatched the notebook from Albert's hand and waved it in front of him, but Albert didn't react at all, as if he had turned into a human statue, quietly sitting there, deep in thought.
"No, he's just zoning out," George said, taking the notebook from Fred and placing it back in Albert's hand.
"It's a bit creepy, though," Angelina muttered.
"That's why Albert is pretending to read his notebook," George explained with a smile. "He's probably thinking about something important. But you're right, it would be pretty scary if you didn't know what was going on."
"Even if you do this, he won't react!" Fred said as he reached out to pinch Albert's cheek. However, Albert suddenly stood up, and his head collided squarely with Fred's chin. Fred clutched his chin, crouching on the ground in pain.
The impact was solid, and Fred's face twisted in agony.
Angelina's face twitched, and to be honest, she had also been startled by Albert's abrupt movement.
Lee Jordan shook his head. "You asked for it. Why do you always have to go too far?"
"Fred, are you still alive?" George asked, clearly enjoying his twin's misfortune.
"It hurts like hell," Fred moaned.
"So, you're not dead then?"
"We're twins, right?"
"Yeah."
"Then I'll share some of the pain with you." Fred, still clutching his chin, threw a punch at his twin brother.
"You bastard! How dare you sneak attack me!"
The two of them immediately started brawling.
(End of Chapter)
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