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Chapter 245: Serendipity and Destiny
Chapter 245: Serendipity and Destiny
During the final week of the term, the sky suddenly cleared, as if an invisible hand had wiped away the snow that had been falling for several days. The winter sun shone through the frost-covered windows, illuminating the round table in front of Albert's bed.
Gazing at the clear sky, Albert felt his spirits lift. Suppressing a yawn, he sat back in his armchair and, bathed in the sunlight streaming through the window, perused the eagle ring riddles he had recorded previously. Albert intended to take advantage of everyone's trip to Hogsmeade Village to complete the "Greedy Plunderer" task on his task panel. Attempting to answer over a hundred eagle ring riddles would be a breeze for him now.
Especially after consuming the Baruffio's Brain Elixir and completing the "Broaden Mind" task, earning him the new skill, Active Mind.
Active Mind was yet another peculiar skill, unique from the others in that it couldn't be upgraded.
Yes, Active Mind couldn't be upgraded, and in a sense, it was a bit of a letdown. However, it was undeniable that since acquiring Active Mind, Albert's mind had indeed become more agile, his instant memory had improved tremendously, and he had become more perceptive about certain matters, as if he had ingested a small dose of the brain elixir.
Perhaps, this was what it felt like to be a genius! Albert always felt that one day, he, a fake genius, might be able to transform into a true genius through the accumulation of skills.
"You're really not coming with us to Hogsmeade?" Fred asked again, feeling that the absence of one member would diminish a lot of the fun for the group of four.
"No, I have some other things to take care of today, and I need to write two reply letters." Albert thought for a moment and added, "When you come back, bring me a bottle of Butterbeer and the candies on the list."
"Alright then, see you in the afternoon. We'll bring you back a bunch of candies!" Lee Jordan said goodbye to Albert and began counting the coins in his pouch.
"And a Dungbomb!" George suddenly added.
"Thanks, but I don't need that stuff," Albert said irritably.
"But we know who does!" Fred winked mischievously at Albert.
"Who? You?" Albert retorted.
"No, Peeves," George said. "He doesn't get along with Filch very well, and we don't mind supplying Peeves with a few Dungbombs to wreak havoc on Filch!"
"How did you get on Filch's bad side again?" Albert frowned. While he didn't like Filch, he also wouldn't go out of his way to cause trouble for the squib.
"It's from a few days ago. After finishing our Quidditch practice in the blizzard, we were confronted by Filch, who dragged us to his office on the charges of defiling the castle," Fred said, his face twisting in disgust. It was bad enough to have to practice in the snowy weather, and getting into trouble afterward certainly didn't improve their mood.
"That's a pretty common accusation," Albert nodded in understanding. It was mostly because Filch couldn't perform magic, making it troublesome for him to clean up muddy footprints. If Filch were a wizard, it would take him no more than three seconds to fix the mess.
Too bad, he wasn't.
"Peeves promised to deliver a few Dungbombs to Filch on Christmas," Fred said gleefully. "See you later."
The three of them hurried toward the secret passage behind the mirror on the fifth floor, while Albert also set off toward the Room of Requirement.
With practiced ease, Albert entered the Ravenclaw's Knowledge Vault within the Room of Requirement, grabbed an armchair, and placed it in front of the eagle-shaped bronze door knocker. He then knocked lightly on the wooden panel twice.
In the next moment, the eagle-shaped bronze door knocker asked: "Two pairs of fathers and sons go fishing together and each catch a fish, yet they only caught three fish in total. Why is that so?"
"Grandfather, father, and son; that makes two pairs, and three people in total," Albert replied without much thought, easily solving the riddle.
"Makes sense," acknowledged the door knocker.
Many of the riddles posed by the eagle-shaped bronze knocker were familiar to Albert, and they weren't particularly difficult. Moreover, the "Greedy Plunderer" task didn't require consecutive correct answers, so he only needed to solve 96 more riddles to complete it.
"This is easier than I expected," Albert murmured to himself. He raised his hand to continue knocking and answering the riddles, easily solving one after another. In about half an hour, he had answered over fifty, and these riddles didn't pose much of a challenge.
Previously, Albert had memorized all one hundred of Katrina's riddles and their answers, and he was grateful for her help, knowing that he wouldn't have been able to answer them so smoothly without her. He mentally thanked her for being such a good person.
Just as Albert was about to continue with the riddles, the door to the Room of Requirement suddenly opened, and he was startled to find someone entering. His reflexes kicked in, and he instinctively drew his wand, pointing it at the intruder.
"It's you, you startled me," Albert muttered as he lowered his wand.
"What are you doing here?" Isabelle glanced at Albert's wand, seemingly unbothered, but curious as to why he was there.
Although Isabelle knew that Albert was aware of the Ravenclaw secret room, actually encountering him there still felt strange.
"What does it look like? I'm guessing riddles!" Albert said, pointing at the eagle-shaped bronze door knocker. "I'm challenging myself to see if I can answer a hundred riddles in one go."
Isabelle's expression turned peculiar as she looked at Albert as if he were some exotic creature.
"Is it interesting?" she asked softly.
"Yes," Albert nodded. How could it not be interesting when it involved a task on his panel?
Changing the subject, Albert asked, "What brings you here?"
"Researching the Ravenclaw secret room, trying to figure out how to open it," Isabelle replied, confirming Albert's suspicions that it had something to do with the Knowledge Vault.
"Any new findings?" Albert asked, curious.
"Yes," Isabelle's answer took Albert by surprise, but he didn't show much interest. "What is it?"
"I'll tell you when we're inside," Isabelle said, not elaborating further.
"You go first. I want to keep trying with the riddles!" Albert gestured for Isabelle to enter the secret room first.
"You're not even a little curious?" Isabelle stared at Albert in astonishment. She regretted teaching him the Mind-Closing Technique, as she could no longer understand what he was thinking.
"Of course, I'm curious. But it's not like you're going anywhere, so I can always ask later. I have that much patience," Albert assured her that he wasn't in a hurry. He wanted to complete the "Greedy Plunderer" task first.
As for Isabelle's so-called new discovery, he wasn't too concerned about it. After all, he had made his own interesting findings, and there was also the matter of Professor Smith, from whom he hoped to gain some information through Isabelle.
(End of Chapter)
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