Before School Starts

Summer vacation always passed especially quickly. In the blink of an eye, it was already late August, and Hogwarts would be starting soon.

It would be a lie to say Albert wasn't looking forward to going to Hogwarts, though he would have preferred to stay home and loaf around for a while longer.

But time waited for no one.

When it came to magic, blindly fumbling about on his own was never a good idea. It was like a blind man feeling his way forward with a cane—no one knew what lay ahead.

Albert still only had a superficial understanding of magic, even though he had read all the books once.

He and Truman still exchanged letters every three days.

This Hufflepuff student's grades could only be considered average, and within a few days, Albert had drained him of the little knowledge he had.

Truman believed Albert might be sorted into Ravenclaw because of the immense interest he showed in magical knowledge, and he even found it regrettable.

Albert did not care much which House he would be assigned to. As long as it was not Slytherin. After all, Muggle Wizards were not welcome there. Still, given Albert's status as a Muggle Wizard, he probably would not be able to enter Slytherin anyway.

"You've worked hard. Get some rest." Albert stroked the owl's head and placed some food in its cage.

Albert was fairly satisfied with this owl. At least, after he repeatedly demanded it, Shira had stopped bringing prey home.

He believed Daisy would not enjoy finding dead rats while cleaning the room.

Shira gave a tired hoot, entered the cage to eat, and prepared to get some proper rest, completely ignoring Tom baring his teeth beside it.

"Don't make trouble, Tom." Albert picked up the short-haired cat and went downstairs for breakfast.

Herb was home today. Recently, he had taken a liking to the Daily Prophet and showed great interest in the moving newspaper.

Daisy also joined him in reading the Daily Prophet, hoping to learn more about the Wizarding World.

"This morning, I specially made corn chowder." Smiling, Daisy ladled a large bowl of chowder for her son. She knew Albert liked it.

"Then I don't have to drink milk, right?" Nia looked delighted. She hated having to drink milk every day.

"Of course you still have to drink it." Daisy set a glass of milk before her daughter.

"Did Albert learn another new spell?" Nia glanced at the milk and quietly changed the subject.

She had learned that trick from Albert. The girl planned to pour the milk into Tom's bowl when her mother was not paying attention.

"Nia." At some point, Daisy had appeared behind her daughter, hands on her hips as she stared straight at her.

"Mom, I was preparing breakfast for Tom. He likes milk," Nia hurriedly argued.

"It's all right, Nia. I have more." Daisy poured another glass of milk and set it before her daughter, not forgetting to add, "Remember to finish it all."

"I hate drinking milk every day," Nia complained.

"Doesn't Albert drink it every day too?" Daisy reminded her. "He has never complained."

"That's different. Ever since I was little, I've never seen Albert dislike any food." Nia was a little depressed. Her family always liked using Albert to shut her down. "You can't always compare me to him. He's an exception."

"Oh, there is something. Your brother used to dislike cheese." Daisy raised an eyebrow. "But he eats cheese now too."

"You're lying." Nia did not believe her at all, because Albert's potato pancake had a generous helping of cheese and ham on it.

"It's true. There are some cheeses Albert can't stand, especially the ones with a very strong smell. He won't eat those." Herb found it quite amusing too. Thinking about it now, his son truly was not a picky eater. He even ate foods children usually hated.

"Children who aren't picky eaters grow taller," Albert said without thinking.

"What do I need to grow that tall for?" Nia retorted.

"If you grow taller, you'll be prettier." Albert reminded her, "Mom is an example."

Daisy clearly liked that remark and smiled even more brightly.

"Flatterer," Nia muttered. Under Daisy's "loving" gaze, she reluctantly finished her milk.

However, she gave half a glass to Albert, claiming that he should drink more milk so he could grow taller and be as handsome as Dad.

Both Daisy and Herb were fairly tall. Because of their jobs, they usually paid attention to their appearance and kept themselves in good shape. More importantly, they were both still young.

Originally, Herb had planned to take the family to the zoo while he was free today. School was about to start, and Albert would be going to Hogwarts, so they probably would not have another chance to go out together this year.

But after Albert said he did not want to go, Nia also said the zoo was boring. So the family changed their plans and stayed in the living room, chatting and watching television.

Nia wanted to ride her toy broomstick, but Herb firmly refused because the last time, she had nearly flown into the television on it.

There was not enough space in the living room, and it would not be appropriate to fly a broom outside either. It would be difficult to explain if anyone saw them.

Thus, the toy broomstick Luke had just bought for Nia was locked in a cabinet by Herb.

Actually, Albert had ridden the toy broomstick once too. It made him feel as though he was having an adolescent cringe phase. The toy broomstick did not fly very high, and after finding it boring, he never tried it again.

But for Nia, who had no idea what an adolescent cringe phase was, freely flying on a broomstick was clearly immensely tempting.

After watching television for a while, Daisy went to the kitchen to prepare black tea and cake. The family of four, along with one cat, sat in the living room reading The Tales of Beedle the Bard.

This storybook contained fairy tales from the Wizarding World.

The fairy tales inside were somewhat different from the stories they had heard before, such as Sleeping Beauty.

The story was about a medieval hag who, jealous of the local king's daughter's beauty, coated a spindle with Inferno Potion. She lured the young princess into touching it, causing her to fall into an endless sleep.

Later, a male wizard coated his lips with Invigoration Potion and kissed the princess awake.

Well, the magical version of Sleeping Beauty really did feel a little less romantic. Still, the family listened with great interest, even though they had no idea what Inferno Potion and Invigoration Potion were.

At that moment, The Anderson Family was reading The Tale of the Three Brothers. Each person took turns reading a passage, and the process was quite enjoyable.

"Is there really a stone that can bring people back to life?" Nia asked curiously.

The Wizarding World was full of endless possibilities. Since the alchemist Nicholas Flamel might have used the legendary Philosopher's Stone to live for hundreds of years, a stone capable of bringing people back to life did not seem entirely impossible.

"Nia, there's no such thing in the world." Herb reminded her. "Besides, you heard that the second brother's lover did not truly come back to life."

"This is a fairy tale. There's a saying that fairy tales are all lies." Albert said with a smile.

"Albert, you're awful. Can't you leave me something to look forward to?" Nia could not help complaining. Of course, she knew that everything in fairy tales was fictional.