Chapter 263: Look What We've Found
Chapter 263: Look What We've Found
"Unbelievable! You're actually spending your Christmas break reading?"
On the Hogwarts Express, Fred and George stared at Albert as if he were some strange creature. Beside them, Lee Jordan quietly covered his face, feigning shock.
"What are those looks for?" Albert rolled his eyes at the trio in the compartment, "As if you don't have holiday homework to do."
"Oh, don't remind me," Lee Jordan wailed first, still unfinished with his holiday assignment.
"Oh, dear Albert, surely you wouldn't stand by and watch us get detention?" Fred changed his earlier attitude.
He hadn't finished his work either and needed to borrow some ideas from Albert's homework.
"I don't need to," Albert stated a cruel fact, "I don't have any homework for Transfiguration, Charms, or Potions."
"That's not fair, how can this be?" Fred groaned, "How could Snape possibly let you off the hook like this?"
"I never took him for such an old bat," George added.
"You don't mean to tell us that Professor McGonagall allowed this?" Lee Jordan's face was filled with disbelief.
"Because I have other papers to write," Albert said, waving the book in his hand at the wailing trio, "And those homework assignments are too easy for me; they would only waste my time."
"Is that something a student should be saying?" Lee Jordan asked, his hand over his heart as he reached for a handful of Bertie Bott's Every Flavour Beans and popped them into his mouth.
"Percy's such a loser," George said with a frown. "That guy already thinks he's guaranteed to be Gryffindor's prefect next term."
"He really would say that," Albert said with a strange expression. He didn't think Percy would say such a thing; that would be too foolish.
"No, he wouldn't," George shook his head.
"He might as well have said it," Fred muttered, "It's written all over his face anyway, so it doesn't make a difference."
"Percy is likely to become Gryffindor's prefect," Albert didn't deny this, "and he has a good chance of becoming Head Boy too."
"Oh my, this is a disaster," Fred and George cried out in unison.
Albert and Lee Jordan were left perplexed.
"We just don't like being bossed around, and you know Percy; he's just..."
"Okay, I admit he might not be your cup of tea, but Percy's not that bad. He's ambitious, and he has his goals," Albert's initial impression of Percy was average at best, but after getting to know him better, he found that some of Percy's ideas weren't wrong, and he was indeed capable and ambitious.
"Wow, traitor! You actually agree with that guy?" The twins immediately ganged up on Albert to express their displeasure.
Lee Jordan, intimidated by the twins' indignant reaction, reached for a handful of beans to calm his nerves.
Or, to be more accurate, he was startled by Fred and George's outburst, causing him to swallow the bean he had just popped into his mouth.
"Ambition is a good thing; it shows he has direction, just like us," Albert said, putting his book back into his backpack and patting Lee Jordan's back. The poor guy seemed to have choked on a bean.
"Actually, we're in a similar situation. After graduation, our families won't be able to provide much support," Albert briefly explained their current situation, "Without money, you won't even be able to open your joke shop."
"Percy's in the same boat as us. He's building up his own capital so he can take the next step after graduation."
After a long silence, the twins didn't say anything more on the matter.
"You just don't like Percy's personality," Albert shook his head. He recalled that Percy had some disagreements with his family towards the end, for various reasons.
"What's that, an owl?" Lee Jordan turned at the sound of the commotion outside the window, only to be startled by the large group of owls perched outside.
"Yep, owls, but what are they doing here at this time...?" Albert immediately noticed the letter clutched in one of the owl's talons.
"Who's it from? It's not from one of your old friends, is it?" Fred diverted the topic, clearly not wanting to continue discussing Percy. Perhaps, as Albert had said, they just didn't like Percy's personality.
George had already opened the window to let the owls in.
"Mundungus Fletcher." Albert glanced at the sender's name, casually tearing open the envelope and quickly scanning its contents. "Seems he's not as dumb as I thought."
"Mundungus Fletcher?" The trio echoed each other's confusion. "Are you buying something from him?"
"Yeah, some Hair of the Swamp Worm. He initially asked for 20 galleons..."
"Twenty galleons? Has that guy gone mad?" Lee Jordan exclaimed, his eyes widening in disbelief.
"Do you know what a Swamp Worm is?" Albert asked suddenly.
Lee Jordan's face froze, while Fred and George beside him covered their cheeks and turned their heads, trying to suppress their laughter.
"I'm sure you two don't know either!" Lee Jordan snapped at Fred and George, who were snickering.
"I wrote to him asking for a more reasonable price." Albert coughed lightly. "He agreed and said we could discuss it when we meet next."
"That guy's not to be trusted." Fred muttered. "Dad deals with him often."
"I know."
"By the way, what do you want the Hair of the Swamp Worm for?" Lee Jordan asked, looking at Albert curiously.
"To craft magical items." Albert didn't hide the truth, but he didn't tell the trio what specific magical items he had in mind.
Speaking of magical items, Albert pulled out four Wizarding Cards from his pocket and handed them to the trio. "This is my new invention."
"What is it?" The three boys examined the Wizarding Cards with curiosity.
"Incendio and Transfiguration." Albert picked up his card and used a spell to change the content on the card. The trio noticed that the cards in their hands had also transformed.
"Wow, they can do that?" Fred asked in wonder. "Can we do it too?"
"Yes, but there's a prerequisite." Albert explained, "The user must know how to cast the Transfiguration spell. Of course, I can't do anything too complex yet."
"By the way, this is your Christmas present, even though it's a bit late!" Fred and George handed Albert a box of sandwich cookies.
Lee Jordan's Christmas present was a large box of Bertie Bott's Every Flavour Beans.
"We wanted to give it to you on Christmas Day, but Percy monopolized Errol." Fred complained, "Percy's been acting so mysteriously, writing letters to someone."
"Errol is our family owl. He's quite old, so we didn't have him deliver your gift." George explained.
"Maybe he has a girlfriend." Albert winked, joking.
"What!"
"Impossible, it's Percy we're talking about. How could he possibly have a girlfriend?" Fred exclaimed in shock.
"I was just kidding." Albert shrugged. "After all, only people with girlfriends need to correspond so frequently, unless Percy is like me and has a bunch of old friends."
"Percy having a girlfriend... now that's something I never thought I'd hear." George and Fred exchanged a glance, their faces lighting up with amusement, as if they had stumbled upon something interesting.
"Speaking of which, how do you know so much? You don't have a girlfriend, do you?" Lee Jordan asked, his tone suspicious.
Fred and George turned to look at Albert.
(End of Chapter)
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