Chapter 412: I See
Chapter 412: I See
As December arrived, the weather turned even colder.
Albert woke up in a daze, blinking his eyes as he realized the room was still shrouded in darkness. Knowing he had woken up too early, he yawned and covered his mouth, intending to go back to sleep.
However, as he lay down again, he found that he couldn't fall asleep. He turned his head to look at the brass stove in the center of the room. The stove was burning with blue flames, and to ensure a good night's rest, the light from the stove was blocked by a specially designed shell, allowing only a soft blue glow to emanate from the bottom, silently providing warmth to the room.
This was Albert's improved stove, Mark III, a much safer option than the glass jar of flames he had used before.
Albert groped at his bedside and drew out his wand, giving it a casual wave. Instantly, the magical lamp on his bedside table lit up, its pale light illuminating the room. Unfortunately, the practicality of the Magic Lamp 1.3 version still left much to be desired.
As he turned on the light, Albert noticed a letter under the lamp. With a flick of his wand, the envelope floated into his hand.
It was a letter from home, with Daisy reminding him to come back for the Christmas holidays. Inside was also a reply from his sister, Niah, who expressed her longing for Tom and inquired if he had succeeded in losing weight.
Albert glanced at the spot next to the stove, which was Tom's usual spot. At that moment, the fat cat was curled up in his own little nest, leaving only his tail sticking out, a rather amusing sight.
Sigh, trying to get a fat cat to lose weight was no easy task. Tom not getting any fatter was probably the best outcome he could hope for.
"Good morning!" Fred greeted Albert with a yawn.
"Who's going home for the holidays this year?" Lee Jordan, still huddled in his bed, joined the conversation.
"Why is there a letter for me here?" George asked, a bit puzzled as he took the letter from his bedside table and scratched his head, still half-asleep.
"Probably the owl was late, so the house elf delivered the letter directly," Albert speculated, not finding it surprising at all. There had been a blizzard for the past two days, and it wouldn't have been easy for an owl to fly through such harsh weather.
"Looks like we won't be able to go home for Christmas this year," George said, tossing the letter to Fred after reading it. "They're going to Romania to visit Charlie, so we'll have to stay here."
"Lee Jordan, are you staying?" Fred asked, glancing at the letter and then at their friend still in bed.
Lee Jordan yawned and looked at Albert. "Never mind, I'll go back. I assume you're going back too, Albert?"
"Yes, my family sent a letter asking me to come back for the holidays," Albert replied, knowing that his time with his family was limited, and he didn't want to waste any of it.
"I'm going to sleep a bit more. Make sure to wake me up when you guys go downstairs for breakfast," Lee Jordan said, intending to catch a few more hours of sleep. It was still too early.
"You're going back to sleep?"
"Isn't that obvious? It's only six in the morning. I bet Filch isn't even up yet," Lee Jordan said, pulling the covers over his head.
"Should we sneak over and give Filch a little surprise?" George suggested excitedly. "We could stuff a few of those noise bombs we made recently into his room."
"And then get Filch after us again? No thanks."
"Forget it, there's no need to do that, and your noise bombs aren't very effective anyway," Albert said, shaking his head at the mischievous twins who were raring to cause some trouble.
The noise bomb was a ball-like object that emitted a loud sound when thrown, startled to scare people.
Yep, that was about the extent of its effect; it had no other use.
This contraption was actually a joke prop crafted by the twins, modeled after Albert's Banshee's Wail. Unfortunately, its effectiveness left much to be desired. Currently, Fred and George were in the process of enhancing the noise bombs per Albert's suggestion, adding irritating fumes and difficult-to-dispel black smoke, evolving them into something akin to smoke bombs.
"Come and see this..." George suddenly said.
"Stop making a racket, let me sleep a bit more," Lee Jordan muttered, turning over and pulling the covers tighter around himself.
"It's Professor Quirrell," George whispered, "he's currently in the forbidden corridor on the fourth floor of the castle. I wonder if he's planning to steal Dumbledore's artifact from the school?"
"That possibility seems unlikely. He's probably just inspecting the mechanisms set up by the professors," Albert shook his head in disagreement.
"Could he be the dark wizard who broke into Gringotts?" Fred asked abruptly.
"He's probably being controlled by the Imperius Curse," Albert suggested.
"Professor Quirrell doesn't really seem like a dark wizard," George mused for a moment, then agreed with Albert's idea. "It's quite possible that he's being controlled by some sort of dark magic."
"But why is Professor Quirrell wearing that large scarf?" Fred voiced his confusion. The twins had been eyeing Quirrell's scarf for a while, but no one had managed to successfully remove it.
"And he reeks of garlic," George added, "maybe it's to divert people's attention or to keep others at a distance so that the professors don't notice anything amiss?"
"Well..."
Albert suddenly found himself at a loss for words regarding Quirrell's garlic-laden odor, which was apparently meant to drive people away.
He shifted his perspective and suddenly found Fred and George's theory quite plausible.
If he interacted too much with the other professors, they might notice something strange. If they realized that Quirrell was possessed by Voldemort, who knew what might happen?
"Should we tell Dumbledore about this?" Fred asked suddenly, "If Professor Quirrell is indeed planning to steal that artifact."
"Do you have any evidence? Without evidence, it's just slander," Albert reminded them, "The professors won't just listen to you slandering another professor."
"But... what should we do?" The twins agreed that Albert made a good point; the professors certainly wouldn't let them casually slander one of their own.
"Don't worry, Headmaster Dumbledore has probably already noticed something. He's the greatest wizard of all time; how could he not have considered such a possibility?" Albert offered his speculation, "I bet the headmaster is just waiting for the thief to take the bait."
"I see, as expected of Headmaster Dumbledore," Fred said, then froze as he realized something, "So does that mean we can't go on an adventure in the forbidden corridor on the fourth floor?"
If Headmaster Dumbledore was monitoring that area, they'd be caught red-handed if they went there.
"Don't worry, there will be other opportunities. The headmaster didn't say we're not allowed to go on adventures," Albert reassured them. (End of Chapter)
Chapter end
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