Chapter 900: Snatching the Opportunity
Chapter 900: Snatching the Opportunity
As countless students eagerly anticipated, the Christmas holidays at Hogwarts arrived as promised. However, unlike previous years, many students chose to stay at school this year to spend the festive season.
With no classes to attend, no student wanted to idle away their time wandering the castle in the midst of the swirling snow. Instead, most huddled together in the warm and bustling common rooms, reveling in the joy of the rare holiday.
Seizing the opportunity, Lee Jordan opened the club room for the Wizarding Card Club, aiming to attract a new wave of enthusiasts. The cozy and comfortable environment drew in a large crowd, and he effortlessly became the center of attention. Many girls approached Lee Jordan to inquire about Albert's whereabouts, as they had not seen him at all during the Christmas break.
Where had Albert gone?
Lee Jordan wasn't exactly sure, but he knew he wasn't in the Room of Requirement. The Weasley twins had been spending a considerable amount of time there since the start of the holidays, busily producing their prank items in bulk. The black market demand for their magical candies and cookies remained consistently high.
Of course, this also caused no small amount of trouble for the students.
Recently, there had been frequent incidents of students falling prey to pranks. Everyone was now wary of accepting food from others, even something as innocuous as a potato chip. It could cause your hair to stand on end or turn multicolored, or worse, it might even make your body inflate like a balloon.
The Tongue Tying Toftee was now passe. With Albert's assistance, Fred and George had successfully developed an upgraded version.
A hapless Hufflepuff student had become the first victim after consuming a seemingly innocent potato chip. To the astonishment of the entire dining hall, the student had inflated like a balloon and drifted upward.
And that was how the Weasley twins gained their notoriety.
However, their rise to fame was not a mere coincidence but a carefully orchestrated "accident" orchestrated by none other than Albert. The Hufflepuff student had been compensated with ten galleons for their participation in this scheme. For the twins, it was a bargain to spend a few galleons to establish their reputation, and they were more than pleased with the outcome.
Drawing from his past life experiences, Albert understood that many so-called "accidents" and "opportunities" were often meticulously crafted by individuals.
"How boring. Those guys are really something, always dumping their problems on others!"
Lee Jordan scratched his hair in frustration at the front desk of the Wizarding Card Club room, his gaze drifting to the clock beside him. He reached out and paused the music that had been playing since earlier, then picked up the microphone and cleared his throat. "This gathering is coming to an end. Please gather your belongings and leave the club room in an orderly manner. This gathering is ending, so please prepare to leave."
"It's only 5 o'clock in the afternoon. It's still early. Why is it ending already?" Angelina and Alicia approached, walking side by side.
"Yeah, it's ending," Lee Jordan shrugged helplessly as he explained, "I've only opened the club room for a few days, and it's already a bit messy. If you guys are willing to help with the cleaning, I don't mind extending the time a bit."
"Where has Albert been lately? We haven't seen him around," Angelina steered the conversation in a different direction.
If Albert had made that suggestion, they wouldn't have minded pitching in to help with the cleaning, but coming from Lee Jordan, their enthusiasm waned.
"I don't know. Maybe he went home," Lee Jordan offered his speculation.
"He went home? Doesn't he plan on attending the Christmas ball?" Both Angelina and Alicia were taken aback by this revelation.
"I'm not sure either. Anyway, Albert is probably not at school anymore, even his cat is gone. He'll probably come back on Christmas Day," Lee Jordan didn't find this surprising at all. "I've never seen him stay at school during the Christmas holidays. If he wasn't supposed to lead the dance as the Triwizard champion, I'd doubt he'd even attend the ball."
"I remember Albert signed the list to stay at school during the holidays. How will he make it back in time for Christmas? Will he use the Floo Network?"
"I don't know, but I'm sure Albert has a way to bypass the Ministry of Magic's detection and use magic discreetly outside of school. Knowing him, I wouldn't be surprised if he found a way," Lee Jordan shrugged nonchalantly. They didn't know how Albert did it, and he never discussed it with anyone else.
The two girls exchanged glances, now understanding why they hadn't seen Albert around lately. He had already left the school premises.
"Well, we're off then. See you tomorrow, right?"
"We'll see," Lee Jordan waved them off impatiently. He didn't ask anyone else to stay and help with the cleaning either. Instead, he planned to head to the kitchen and request the help of the house-elves. Albert had already made arrangements with the house-elves, and Dobby would assist with cleaning the club room.
Lee Jordan recalled the previous incident with Dobby in the dormitory. Albert had effortlessly convinced the house-elf to work for him in a few years. Witnessing the house-elf's enthusiastic response, Lee Jordan realized for the first time the power of charisma and personal charm.
"House-elves don't ask for much, and they are incredibly loyal and reliable helpers. So, don't be stingy or mistreat them," Albert had said.
"That guy always thinks ahead," Lee Jordan admitted that Albert was right about the house-elves being a great help to them.
After everyone had left, he was the last to exit the club room. He took out his wand and gave it a gentle flick, preparing to put it away in his bag. However, he heard unfamiliar footsteps approaching from behind. As he turned, he saw a few Slytherin students staring at him with malicious intent.
"What do you want?"
Despite facing three individuals, Lee Jordan remained calm and confident, his wand at the ready. Although he often lost during their sparring sessions with Albert, it didn't mean that he hadn't improved. He was certain that he could take down the three students before him without breaking a sweat.
"What do we want? How dare you ask what we want?" Montague's face contorted with rage.
"Oh, are you referring to the incident last time? You barged into the club room uninvited and disturbed others. Don't blame us for kicking you out," Lee Jordan shrugged nonchalantly.
When necessary, it was crucial to take the moral high ground and avoid initiating conflict. It was better to let the other party make the first move, and Lee Jordan had no doubt that these individuals intended to start something.
As expected, Montague couldn't contain his anger any longer and lunged forward.
A streak of red magic shot toward Lee Jordan, but upon impact, it seemed to hit an invisible barrier and ricocheted back.
Caught off guard, Montague was struck by his own spell, his body going limp as he collapsed to the ground.
"You scared me! Your spell-extracting charm is pretty weak!" Lee Jordan taunted Montague, who was lying on the ground.
Ever since the last incident where these three bullies were thrown out of the activity room, Lee Jordan had been cautious and wore the defensive ring made by Albert, and it turned out to be useful.
"Well, are you going to scram on your own, or do I need to help you scram?" Lee Jordan looked up at Warrington and Bulstrode, who were obviously stunned by what just happened and turned to leave, completely forgetting about Montague lying on the floor.
"Looks like your friends have forgotten about you. Your friendship is cheap," Lee Jordan half-squatted and said to Montague, "If you're not satisfied and want to duel with me, we can set a date. Of course, if you dare to bring people to bother me again, I guarantee that next time I'll hang you up and use you as Christmas tree decoration."
"Wow, that's quite a bold statement." Fred and George appeared at the entrance of the secret passage, each dragging a person.
"We just heard someone was looking to cause trouble for you, so we came to check it out. Didn't expect you to handle it yourself." George threw the person he was dragging next to Montague and explained.
"These guys are worse than I thought." Lee Jordan said, "I can handle them myself."
"Be careful, they might try to pull something sneaky. Next time, if they dare to show up again, stuff them into the toilet," Fred glanced at the three pathetic figures and lifted the curse on them, then casually stuffed the wands back into their hands.
Watching the three miserable figures flee, Fred sighed lightly, "I thought they would try to ambush us once they got their wands back."
"You don't want to beat them up again, do you?" George said helplessly.
"No, I just wanted to test the hitting effect of our fake wands, but unfortunately, I guess I won't get to see it." Fred took out a wand from nowhere and said regretfully.
"You're so insidious." Lee Jordan curled his lips.
"I'm not as insidious as you." Fred glanced at Lee Jordan's defensive ring, no wonder he dared to take on three people by himself.
"Pot calling the kettle black."
"What are you going to do with this guy?"
"I'll send him back as a Christmas present. I think Warrington will be very surprised."
"Ah, it looks like being with Albert has influenced us, even kind people like us are starting to turn bad."
The three looked at each other and laughed, their arms around each other's shoulders, scaring off a low-grade student who was passing by the secret passage.
...
Meanwhile, thousands of miles away, Albert, who was sharing the Triwizard Tournament anecdotes with Nia, suddenly sneezed.
"Did you catch a cold?" Nia, who was looking through the photo album, asked with her head raised.
"No, I guess someone must be talking bad about me." Albert rubbed his nose and moved Tom off the fire dragon model to prevent him from dismantling it.
"The Triwizard Tournament looks very dangerous." Nia looked through the photos of the fire dragon and said, "You're amazing. How could you be so calm and collected when facing such a monster?"
"I was well-prepared before going on stage." Albert comforted her, "It's just a few big lizards that can spit fire. Once you find their weakness, it's not difficult to subdue them."
"You should be careful. Fire dragons are not that easy to deal with. Even if you are indeed strong enough to face them calmly, we still hope that you will pay attention to safety. Nothing is more important than your safety, don't let those who care about you worry." Luke was very clear about the danger of fire dragons. He was shocked that Albert could easily subdue a dragon, but he still reminded Albert to be careful and not to be careless and stumble at the last mile.
"I will." Albert nodded.
"By the way, did you bring back the clothes in the photo? I bet you must have charmed a lot of girls wearing that outfit!" Nia's gaze fell on the last photo of Albert with the fire dragon, where he was wearing a unique outfit.
"No, those people took the clothes back." Albert explained, "They just wanted to use it for publicity."
Nia looked disappointed, she seemed to want to see with her own eyes how handsome Albert would look in that fire dragon outfit.
At this moment, the doorbell rang.
When Albert went to open the door, he found Isabel standing outside.
"What are you doing here?" Albert gave the girl a hug.
He had thought about inviting Isabel over, but he was worried that she might not be used to interacting with ordinary people, so he gave up on the idea in case she felt awkward.
"Mom's working overtime again, and I'm bored being alone at home, so I came to find you. Do you mind?" Isabel said.
"Albert, who was that just now?" Sansa walked over to the entrance and saw Isabel, then happily said, "Don't stand at the door, come in."
"Sorry for disturbing you."
Isabel followed Albert into the living room.
Nia raised her head and saw Isabel, her eyebrows furrowed slightly, feeling a little unhappy, but she didn't say anything and just continued flipping through the photo album.
The group chatted warmly, and at dinner, Isabel helped Sansa make a big plate of fried dumplings. They chatted about the food in the magical world, and Sansa was very interested in the butter beer from the magical world. They even made a batch of butter beer in the kitchen together. Although it wasn't as authentic as the one sold in pubs, the overall taste was quite smooth and pleasant.
"I suddenly feel so useless." Nia said glumly.
"Do you mean cooking skills?" Albert put Tom in Nia's arms and comforted her, "If you like it, you can learn slowly. If you don't like it, there's no point in forcing yourself. Also, don't compare yourself to Isabel."
"When are you planning to go back?"
"On Christmas."
"Christmas? Do they have a party there?" Nia nodded, "That makes sense. Because of the tournament, your school must have invited foreign guests, and they will definitely hold a ball. As the school's champion, you'll have to dance, right?"
"Smart girl." Albert reached out and ruffled Nia's hair, "There indeed is a Christmas ball."
"Is Isabel your dance partner?"
"No, it's my sister, Katrina." Isabel put the eggnog in front of Nia, "I've already graduated, and if I took Albert's dance partner position, I'd probably incur the resentment of many girls in the school." (This was mentioned in Chapter 859) "He must be very popular with the girls at school." Nia took a sip of the eggnog and found that it tasted a little different from before. It was much sweeter this time and had almost no alcohol flavor.
"Yes, he's very popular." Isabel smiled, "I had to defeat many girls to finally win Albert over."
Cough, cough. Albert was choked by his own drink and started coughing violently.
(End of Chapter)
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