Chapter 587: Excuses
Chapter 587: Excuses
As expected, it was indeed a wise decision to not allow Kenneth to use his name back then. Who knows what that guy is thinking.
Perhaps, one could be too greedy.
"That guy has always been like that," Percy said as he walked over, having apparently overheard the group chatting about Kenneth's antics.
"What are you posting about?" Albert asked, changing the subject.
"It's the latest notice about Hogsmeade Village. We can go there again before the Christmas holidays," Percy said, turning to look at the bulletin board surrounded by students. He lowered his voice and added, "You should be aware that the Malfoys are involved in black market dealings. It's no surprise that they're difficult to get along with."
Albert didn't pay much attention to Percy's reminder. Turning towards the window, he gazed at the raging blizzard outside, a faint smile tugging at his lips.
In the end, it all boiled down to interests. As long as there were Galleons to be made, the two parties could still be partners.
The wind howled louder, and the snowstorm obscured the view. Winter at Hogwarts was getting colder.
This was a tough time for the Gryffindor Quidditch players who were still persevering through rigorous training. After their victory over Slytherin, Wood believed that the Quidditch Cup was within their grasp this year. After all, the biggest obstacle to their championship dreams had been overcome, and there was no reason to let another house take the cup away from them.
Every time Fred and George finished training, they complained about Wood being a devil, reinforcing Albert's conviction that he had made the right choice to quit the team.
Nowadays, the Gryffindor team was completely different from the one Charlie had led.
Wood's team was filled with young players, and they barely needed any substitute players. This led to the departure of several hopeful substitutes who saw no future on the team, allowing Albert to smoothly step down as well.
Before the end of the Transfiguration class, Professor McGonagall was rushing to assign everyone their homework for the Christmas holidays, a customary practice for Hogwarts professors as the break approached.
After class, Professor McGonagall kept the students back for a few minutes to collect a list of names of those staying at Hogwarts for Christmas.
Most students would be going home for the Christmas holidays, and with the attack that had occurred earlier in the year, there were even fewer willing to remain at school.
However, there were always exceptions.
The Weasley children planned to stay at school for the holidays since Mr. and Mrs. Weasley were going to Egypt to visit Bill.
To be honest, this surprised Albert a little. Mr. Weasley, who had been suspended from work and fined, actually had the money to go to Egypt to visit their eldest son. Moreover...
He recalled that they hadn't made this trip initially, and it was only after the Weasley family won a large prize later that they went to Egypt together during the summer vacation, which then led to the subsequent Black prison break incident.
Of course, Albert didn't mind whether Fred and George stayed at school for the holidays. He was waiting for Isabelle's reply.
Albert had invited Isabelle to accompany him to Mr. Dracula's wedding.
Okay! In fact, Albert also wanted to take Isabelle on a detour to Italy for a vacation.
As long as Isabelle agreed, Albert would immediately write to Mrs. McDougall to finalize the matter.
As for money?
Money was no longer a problem.
After receiving Albert's suggestion, Uncle Charlie recruited chefs specializing in various international snacks and opened a chain of stores.
While there might not be many highly skilled British chefs, there was no shortage of foreign chefs in a place like London. The tea shop was becoming increasingly popular.
Charlie's stores continued to multiply, and he was gradually becoming the wealthiest member of the family. Albert's purse was also growing heavier.
Even without inheriting a portion of Wilde Smith's fortune, Albert was already a rich man.
From now on, he would only get richer.
He had even considered the possibility of exchanging some of his pounds for Galleons.
In fact, the wizarding world did use pounds, but the vast majority of wizards had no access to this currency.
It was only after asking Bard that Albert learned about this.
After all, wizards couldn't grow their own wheat or produce most of their daily necessities. The wizarding world was simply too small to produce enough goods to meet their consumption needs. Some wizards still had to disguise themselves as Muggle traders and interact with the Muggle world, naturally requiring the use of Muggle currency. This was also why Gringotts allowed Muggle-born students to exchange pounds for Galleons.
Otherwise, how could the goblins ever make a loss-making deal?
However, the wizarding world didn't use a large quantity of pounds, and many wizards were unaware of this aspect, let alone knowing that the wheat used to make bread actually came from the Muggle world.
Otherwise, those pure-blood wizards who looked down on Muggles might have started a campaign to ban the use of Muggle-sourced wheat.
The wizarding world had never been independent of the ordinary world. For example, it was customary for the Minister of Magic to pay a courtesy visit to the Muggle Prime Minister upon taking office.
There were always Aurors dispatched by the Ministry of Magic to protect or, rather, monitor the Muggle Prime Minister.
Isabelle only replied the next day, agreeing to accompany Albert as his date to Mr. Dracula's wedding.
Perhaps it was because Albert had mentioned that the invitation came from his French pen friend, but everything seemed to be going smoothly.
As for Mrs. McDougall, her reply arrived the very next day.
After Albert suggested taking Isabelle to France for the wedding and then on to Italy for the Christmas holidays, Mrs. McDougall readily agreed.
In any case, everyone was satisfied.
However, Katrina was a bit confused lately. She had also received a letter, in which Mrs. McDougall asked if she planned to go home for the Christmas holidays.
This extra miss didn't seem to realize that something was amiss! When she went to look for Isabelle, she found that her sister was missing again... probably off on another date.
Sure enough, no one knew her sister better than she did.
In the warmly lit room, Albert and Isabelle sat facing each other. Looking at the expressionless girl, Albert blinked and asked, "Are you angry?"
"No," Isabelle replied.
"Then you are angry," Albert said with a smile.
"I'm just a bit anxious," Isabelle admitted.
"I can't help it. I'm afraid you'll run away," Albert said seriously.
"You should have just told me directly," Isabelle said.
"I'm here to seek your opinion now, aren't I?"
"You're insincere!" Isabelle was still a bit unhappy. She wasn't angry at Albert, but she felt that she had been tricked and manipulated by a group of people.
First, she was coaxed by Mo to attend this wedding, and then her mother readily agreed to let her go on a foreign vacation with Albert.
Moreover, everyone seemed to be acting as if she was hard to marry off. What was that about?
"Alright, don't be angry," Albert soothed. "You'll be graduating from Hogwarts soon, and there won't be many more chances to create beautiful memories."
Albert wasn't wrong. Two years wasn't a long time, but it wasn't friendly to them.
"If it weren't for the fact that it's inappropriate, I would have wanted to get married to you as soon as I turned 17," Albert said sincerely.
"What are you thinking?" Isabelle's cheeks flushed, and she raised her hand as if to knock on Albert's head.
"I just don't want you to wait too long," Albert explained.
"Hmph, excuses," the girl muttered, then asked quietly, "Have you had another prophecy?"
(End of Chapter)
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