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Chapter 938: Self-Interest
Chapter 938: Self-Interest
At this moment, Fred, George, and Lee Jordan stared at Albert, all too surprised for words.
"Really?"
George found it hard to imagine that Professor Flitwick intended to teach Albert about Dark Arts.
"Well, Professor Flitwick isn't actually against using the Dark Arts against enemies, as long as it's not abused," Albert explained, underestimating the influence of the Dark Arts.
All three of them hoped that Albert would teach them what he learned.
"You want to learn, too?"
"Of course! Why not? It's always good to learn more, and we trust that Professor Flitwick won't be teaching you any nasty stuff."
"I guess Bombarda isn't exactly a nasty spell," Albert said noncommittally.
"Wait, Bombarda is a Dark spell?" Lee Jordan asked, confused.
"It is indeed a Dark spell, and it's much more powerful than the Reducto spell. Wormtail used it to blow up an entire street," Albert explained to the curious trio. "The reason it doesn't work as well for you guys is that your magical power isn't strong enough yet, and there's another reason, too. It's the same reason why some people can't kill with the Avada Kedavra curse."
"No wonder our Bombarda spells are so weak," George mumbled. "What is Professor Flitwick planning to teach you?"
"How to use Bombarda more flexibly and some advanced applications of the spell."
Hearing this, the three of them couldn't help but feel a little disappointed. Many of Albert's impressive maneuvers were beyond their reach. For instance, the simple Lumos spell, where he made the light orb leave his wand and float on its own—they just couldn't do it. If they couldn't even master this basic trick, they might as well forget about the more challenging ones.
If Albert wanted to learn Dark Arts, he had free access to the books in the Restricted Section, which included a wealth of knowledge on the subject.
This was one of the perks of being a Triwizard champion.
Of course, even if he weren't a champion, Albert could still access those books at will.
If possible, Albert would rather create his own spells, but that was an incredibly difficult step to take. Even with the system, it would be a challenge.
Albert had considered the possibility of completing the task to obtain a designated skill and trying to get a talent similar to Charm Creation.
However, experimenting with runes was extremely dangerous. As far as Albert knew, quite a few wizards had died doing it, including Bartemius Crouch Sr., Percy's father.
Voldemort might be another example. Albert suspected that the Dark Lord's disfigured appearance had something to do with runes.
Nevertheless, Albert wasn't in a hurry. This kind of risky business could wait until he had more money. Then, he could set up a research institute and hire a bunch of wizards to take the risks for him.
All in the name of nurturing young talent, of course.
For now, though, it was just a thought. The most important thing was to get through the present difficulties.
If he really wanted to stay out of trouble, Albert could just loiter around the maze entrance. He was confident that Fake Moody wouldn't be able to do anything to him, not with Dumbledore right outside. Fake Moody definitely wouldn't dare to cause trouble for him.
It was all because of his greed. If he hadn't wanted to finish all the tasks at once, he might not have had to face such potentially high risks.
Indeed, greed was the root of all evil.
While a world without Voldemort would be ideal, the lack of an external threat like him would probably mean fewer related tasks and less experience overall. Tasks were already rare, and even when they did pop up, the experience gain wasn't much.
Was this a case of danger and opportunity coexisting?
It was a pity that after taking advantage of Voldemort, finding similar opportunities in the future would be difficult.
Even though he still had a lot of experience and skill points stored up, they weren't really useful in this world.
As Albert sighed, an owl dropped an envelope in front of him, then helped itself to the cornflakes in his bowl without waiting for an invitation. "This guy sure is rude," Albert remarked, absentmindedly stroking the owl's head before picking up the envelope. Glancing at the sender's name, he was surprised to see that it was from Percy, who had been going through a rough patch lately.
In the letter, Percy described his current situation. Due to Barty Crouch Sr. being controlled by the Imperius Curse, he had been under investigation by the Ministry of Magic. The unscrupulous officials had bombarded him with questions and pinned all the blame on him. Needless to say, the outcome was that Percy had almost lost his job, or perhaps he already had. He had been temporarily suspended pending the investigation, and he could only return to work after the investigation was concluded—if it ever was.
Albert read through the letter, shaking his head at the litany of grievances.
Whether Percy was seeking a listening ear or trying to elicit sympathy, Albert could tell what he really wanted from writing this letter.
He wrote a reply, but what Percy chose to do was up to him. However, Albert suspected that he would still end up on the same path, lured by the allure of being the Minister's assistant and the impressive resume it would make.
To climb the career ladder in the Ministry, both connections and qualifications were important.
"Here, this is this month's manuscript."
Hermione appeared at his side, handing him several parchment papers. She placed three Galleons on the table and added, "Sirius gave me five Galleons for the article. There are also several letters from readers if you want to read them. They're all here."
"That's your hard-earned fee."
Albert didn't take the three Galleons, instead picking up the parchment from Hermione's hand.
"This is our fee for the manuscript; you've put in a lot of effort too."
"I don't need these three Galleons." Albert took the manuscript and kindly reminded her, "I suggest you don't read the letters from readers. Most wizards aren't interested in this type of article. Those who would write to you are either a small number of supporters or, more likely, unpleasant sorts."
"How do you know?" Hermione asked in surprise.
Albert was speechless.
Did she not realize the kind of content she was writing? Most wizards weren't interested in such articles. Those who would take the time to write letters were either a small number of supporters or, more likely, unsavory characters. It didn't take a genius to figure that out.
"If you really want to read them, show them to someone else first. Potter or the Weasleys would be good choices. They'll just get a laugh out of it. If the content is decent, then you can read it. If it's terrible, just burn it, and you won't feel uncomfortable."
Hermine didn't use her real name for the novel she was serializing in the magazine; instead, she used her middle name, "Jane," per Albert's suggestion. This was to avoid the kind of awful letters and howlers she had received before.
And indeed, there were such people.
After much hesitation, Hermione finally accepted this well-meaning reminder. After her previous experiences, she knew better than to bring trouble upon herself.
"By the way, Sirius is coming over this weekend to teach Harry some dark magic defense. Do you want to come?" Hermione suddenly asked.
"Did Potter ask you to invite me?" Albert asked in surprise. He didn't think Hermione would take it upon herself to invite him.
"No, Sirius mentioned it in his letter and asked me to see if you'd be interested." Hermione shook her head. "He heard somewhere that you're planning to publish a book on dark magic defense and wanted to discuss it with you."
"No, I might be busy lately," Albert said, stuffing the folded parchment back into Percy's envelope. He then swapped the sender and recipient names and restored the opened envelope to its original state before giving it to the owl to deliver to Percy.
"You're something else, reusing someone else's envelope like that!" Fred exclaimed, astonished by Albert's antics.
"It's a letter to Percy," Albert replied.
"Why would he write to you?" Fred and George both looked at him curiously.
"That poor guy has been suspended from the Ministry and has a lot of pent-up frustration and gloom. He's looking for someone to talk to," Albert said, glancing at Hermione. "I recall you and Percy got along quite well."
"We have different views on house-elves," Hermione said diplomatically, but her meaning was clear.
The two had fallen out over the house-elf issue.
"They fell out over Crouch's house-elf, Winky," George explained, watching Hermione's retreating figure.
"Oh, the one named Winky in the kitchen?" Albert realized. "That makes sense. Percy has to suck up to his boss, or how else will he get promoted?"
"Pfft! Hahaha, you're right about that. Percy was sucking up to his boss, Crouch, but then..." The Weasley twins laughed maliciously. "...Crouch got his name wrong. I think it was Wetherby, yes, Wetherby."
"Anyway, we didn't know you and Percy were on such good terms that he'd write to you for a chat."
"That guy's been suspended. I guess he wants me to put in a good word for him at the Ministry," Albert explained.
"You can get people jobs at the Ministry?" Fred and George were surprised to learn about Albert's connections within the Ministry.
"I've gotten to know quite a few people, so getting someone a job isn't a problem. But I can't guarantee Percy will be satisfied, so I told him to wait. He'll get an offer he's happy with soon enough." Albert clarified.
"What kind of satisfying job?" George inquired.
"The Minister's assistant," Albert replied.
"Can Percy really become the Minister's assistant?" Fred was astonished.
"Under certain conditions, of course," Albert said.
"What conditions?" George frowned, struggling to imagine what situation could lead to Percy becoming the Minister's assistant.
It didn't seem like a good thing.
"You'll see. It's a good opportunity for him, and I doubt he'll refuse," Albert mused.
"Yeah, that guy's ambitious. If necessary, I wouldn't put it past him to throw his whole family to the Dementors," Fred muttered.
"While Percy is indeed a sophisticated egoist, at least he has a clear head and knows what he's doing," Albert whispered consolingly.
"Sophisticated egoist—that's a spot-on description of Percy," Fred agreed with Albert's assessment.
"Actually, you don't need to see Percy in such a negative light," Albert said softly. "It's quite normal. There are countless similar people in Europe. Look at the Slytherin students; most of them are like that. In fact, more than half the students at Hogwarts fit that description."
"I don't think you're like that," Lee Jordan interjected.
"Why don't you think so?" Albert found this a little amusing. Most people with the 'transmigrator' label were exactly that type of person.
(End of Chapter)
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