Chapter 250: A Wager Revisited
Chapter 250: A Wager Revisited
As Christmas drew near, Hogwarts finally welcomed the holiday break, much to the excitement of all its students. Everyone was eagerly looking forward to going home for the festive season.
On the last day before the break, the Hogwarts Express was soon packed with students. Albert, Fred, George, and Lee Jordan managed to secure an empty compartment after jostling through the crowded train.
"Next time, we should definitely come earlier," Albert said, sitting down and observing the stream of students heading towards the carriages.
As it neared eleven o'clock, the train finally began to move slowly out of the station.
With nothing much to do, Albert rested his chin on his hand and gazed out the window at the passing scenery. Beside him, the Weasley twins had just finished a game of Wizarding Cards, and Fred was coaxing George to eat a red pepper-flavored Bean.
"We currently have 67 members in the club," Lee Jordan reported to Albert, pulling out a notebook from his pocket and briefing him on the Wizarding Card Club's progress for the term. "There are still 39 students who don't have their own decks."
"Wow, I had no idea the club had grown so much!" Fred exclaimed upon hearing the number of members.
"I feel like we're about to become the biggest club in Hogwarts," George added, as he surreptitiously tried to get rid of the offending bean.
Fred shot him a warning glance. "Don't even think about ditching it. I'll make sure you eat it."
"We are already the largest club in Hogwarts, but..." Lee Jordan's tone turned glum as he addressed Albert, "there are still quite a few issues with the club."
"What issues?" George tried to divert Fred's attention, hoping to find an opportunity to dispose of the nasty-tasting bean.
"Our wizarding cards are too monotonous," Lee Jordan explained, pulling out a handmade card as an example for the others. "Compared to something like Exploding Snap, our cards can seem a bit dull. They often require more patience and strategic thinking from players."
"You're being too hasty," Albert said, understanding Lee's concern. "If we want Wizarding Cards to become a popular game in the wizarding world, we need patience and confidence. Promoting everything at once could lead to burnout, and complex, diverse cards also require players to invest time in learning them. These things take time."
Lee Jordan pressed his lips together, struggling to understand Albert's reluctance to aggressively promote Wizarding Cards. In his opinion, this year presented the perfect opportunity to introduce the game to most Hogwarts students and attract more members to the club.
"Hold on, let's hear Albert out. His reasons are always more convincing than your suggestions," George said, pushing a box of Bertie Bott's Every Flavour Beans towards Lee Jordan while popping one into his own mouth. As for the red pepper-flavored bean, he had already sneakily returned it to the box.
"Albert has a lot on his plate. He rarely has the time to focus on Wizarding Cards," Lee Jordan argued, believing that if Albert dedicated more energy to the cards, their improvement would accelerate.
"No, mate, these are our wizarding cards—the four of us," Fred countered, picking a red pepper-flavored bean from the box and placing it in front of George. Knowing he couldn't escape, George grimaced and popped the bean into his mouth, swallowing it whole.
"You're too hasty, mate," George stuck his tongue out at Fred before turning to Lee Jordan. "You know the problem isn't with Albert."
It was a frustrating situation for them; they struggled to keep up with Albert's pace, which often left most tasks to him. However, he already had too much on his plate.
"You have to understand that for a game to truly be accepted by people, it must stand the test of time." Albert wasn't angry; he knew that Fred, George, and Lee Jordan hadn't considered these issues.
"Also, even if we complete the Wizarding Cards, what then? Do you think a few underage wizards can guard this wealth? " Albert reminded them again, "Once the Wizarding Cards spread throughout the wizarding world, people will start copying and pirating them, just like with Dungbombs. You can't stop businessmen who know how to make them from imitating them."
The trio was stunned, never having thought about such problems.
"So, we need to brand the Wizarding Cards with our own label, just like Galleons, so that each card has its own mark and can't be copied by others.
I want people to be able to tell the difference between fakes and genuine articles at a glance, but to do that, we need to know a lot of spells as technical support.
So, our main task now is to steadily expand the player base, let people gradually accept Wizarding Cards, and let them understand that Wizarding Cards are more than just cards. It's no use being in a hurry, do you understand?"
Lee Jordan looked perplexed and didn't seem to fully grasp what Albert was saying. He never thought about as many things as Albert, and most kids didn't have much patience.
"Buddy, your brain definitely works better than mine, so it's not a bad idea to listen to you on certain things." Fred patted Lee Jordan on the shoulder and handed him a gray-colored Bertie Bott's Every Flavour Bean, continuing, "You should also realize that Albert is smarter than us and better at handling these things. Since messing around on our own will only make things worse, why not listen to Albert's suggestions first?
"Don't be glum," George began, but before he could finish, he was interrupted by Lee Jordan.
"Okay, I know my brain isn't as quick as Albert's." Lee Jordan put the Every Flavour Bean back into Fred's hand and turned to look at Albert, who was admiring the scenery outside the window. With a sigh, he changed the subject and asked about something else, "What about your Patronus Charm? Did you succeed?"
"Patronus Charm?" Albert glanced back at Lee Jordan and continued to gaze out the window, thinking about the question. He quickly opened his skill panel and scanned the Patronus Charm skill; it was currently only at Level 1, so he estimated that he wouldn't be able to directly summon a physical Patronus yet.
Albert thought for a moment and decided to raise the level of the Patronus Charm to Level 2, as he would need to try to get his Patronus to speak later on.
"Why are you so interested in this?" Albert asked in return.
"We're betting on what your Patronus is. If we lose the bet, we have to eat some specially flavored Every Flavour Beans."
As he spoke, Fred produced a small box containing a number of strangely colored Every Flavour Beans that looked revolting.
"Soil flavor, earwax flavor, red pepper flavor, vomit flavor, toilet paper flavor, booger flavor..." Lee Jordan enthusiastically introduced the oddly colored beans to Albert.
"Stop right there," Albert interrupted Lee Jordan, his expression turning strange as he realized that there was a ruthless person living in their dormitory who could identify so many flavors of Bertie Bott's Every Flavour Beans. "How are you betting?" Albert asked calmly.
"Fred and George think your Patronus is likely to be related to an eagle," Lee Jordan explained, pointing to the box of beans, "If an eagle-related Patronus appears, I'll have to eat half of these beans. If not, they each eat three, and they can't spit them out."
Hearing their bet, Albert couldn't help but twitch his lips. (End of Chapter)
Chapter end
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