Before School Starts

Summer vacation always seemed to pass 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 a little longer.

But time waited for no one.

When it came to magic, blindly fumbling around 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 knew very little about 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. Within a few days, Albert had wrung every last bit of knowledge out of his head.

Truman thought Albert might be sorted into Ravenclaw because of the tremendous interest he showed in magical knowledge, and he felt rather regretful about it.

Albert did not particularly care which House he was assigned to. As long as he did not end up in Slytherin, it would be fine; after all, Muggle-born wizards were not welcome there. Still, given Albert's status as a Muggle-born wizard, he probably would not be admitted into Slytherin anyway.

"Good work. Get some proper rest." Albert stroked the owl's head and placed some food inside its cage.

He was fairly satisfied with this owl. At the very least, after he repeatedly insisted on it, Shera had stopped bringing prey home.

He believed Daisy would not enjoy discovering dead rats while cleaning the house.

Shera gave a weary hoot, entered the cage to eat, and prepared to get some rest, completely unmoved by Tom baring his teeth at her from nearby.

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

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

Daisy would also gather around to read the Daily Prophet, hoping to learn more about the wizarding world.

"I made Corn Chowder specially this morning." Smiling brightly, Daisy served her son a large bowl of soup. She knew Albert liked it.

"So 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 placed a glass of milk in front of her daughter.

"Did Albert learn any new magic again?" Nia glanced at the milk and quietly changed the subject.

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

"Nia." At some point, Daisy had appeared behind her daughter. With her hands on her hips, she stared fixedly at the scene.

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

"It's all right, Nia. There's more here." Daisy poured another glass of milk and set it in front of her daughter, adding, "Remember to drink all of it."

"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 felt a little depressed. Her family always liked using Albert to shut down her arguments. "You can't keep comparing me to him. He's a special case."

"Oh, there is something. Your brother didn't really like cheese before." Daisy raised her brows. "But he eats cheese now too."

"You're lying." Nia did not believe her at all, because Albert's Potato Pancakes had a generous amount of cheese and ham on them.

"It's true. There are certain cheeses Albert can't stand, especially ones with a particularly strong smell. He won't eat those." Herb found it rather amusing too. Thinking about it now, his son really was not a picky eater. He would even eat foods children usually hated.

"Kids who aren't picky eaters grow taller," Albert said without hesitation.

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

"You'll be prettier if you're taller," Albert reminded her. "Mum is an example."

Daisy clearly liked that remark and smiled even more happily.

"Flatterer," Nia muttered. Under Daisy's "loving" gaze, she reluctantly drank all the milk.

Still, she gave half a glass to Albert, saying that he should drink more milk so he could grow taller and become as handsome as Dad.

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

Originally, Herb had planned to take the family to the zoo while he had time 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.

However, after Albert said he did not want to go, Nia also declared that the zoo was boring. The family changed their plans and stayed in the sitting room to chat and watch television.

Nia wanted to ride her toy broomstick, but Herb sternly refused. The last time, she had nearly flown the broom into the television.

There was not enough room in the sitting room, and it was not suitable to ride a broom outside either. It would be difficult to explain if someone saw her.

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

In fact, Albert had ridden the toy broomstick once too. It had made him feel as if he were having an adolescent cringe episode. The toy broom did not fly very high, and after finding it boring, he never tried it again.

But for Nia, who had no idea what adolescent cringe was, the prospect of freely flying on a broomstick was clearly incredibly 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 sitting room reading The Tales of Beedle the Bard.

This storybook contained fairy tales from the wizarding world.

The fairy tales in it differed somewhat from the stories they had heard before, such as Sleeping Beauty.

The story was about a banshee in the Middle Ages who envied the beauty of a local king's daughter, so she coated a spindle with Draught of Living Death. She lured the young princess into touching the spindle, causing her to fall into an unending sleep.

Later, a wizard coated his lips with Cheering Potion and woke the princess with a kiss.

Well, the magical version of Sleeping Beauty was indeed a little less romantic. Still, the family listened with great interest, even though they had no idea what Draught of Living Death or Cheering Potion actually were.

At that moment, the Anderson family was reading The Tale of the Three Brothers. Each of them took turns reading a passage, and the process was quite interesting.

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

The magical world was filled with endless possibilities. Since the alchemist Nicolas Flamel might have used the legendary Philosopher's Stone to live for several centuries, it did not seem impossible that there might be a stone capable of resurrecting people.

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

"It's a fairy tale. There's a saying: fairy tales are all lies." Albert said with a smile.

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