Trust Your Own Judgment

"I feel like you guys have been acting all mysterious lately."

As soon as Albert entered the dormitory, he noticed that Fred and his two companions, who had been talking quietly, suddenly fell silent, clearly not wanting him to know something.

"How dare you call us mysterious?" George suppressed the urge to retort and rolled his eyes at Albert.

"Yes, that's right!" Fred nodded in agreement.

"What are you doing at Professor Broad's place?" Lee Jordan countered, clearly trying to change the subject! "Helping Professor Broad organize some documents. As you know, my Ancient Runes are quite good," Albert replied, not lying, but rather speaking vaguely.

"I'd never believe you!" Fred scoffed.

"What were you talking about just now?" Albert asked in return.

"You guess?"

"Are you planning to go find Gryffindor's Secret Treasure?" Albert looked at the group suspiciously, not forgetting about the Gryffindor Treasure Map.

"Um, do you want to come along?" Lee Jordan asked.

"You traitor!" Fred waved his fist at Lee Jordan in displeasure.

"With Albert's help, our chances of success will be much greater. The Forbidden Forest isn't very safe." Lee Jordan disagreed with the two men's opinions. In his view, Albert was more reliable than the Twins.

"Let's forget about it!" Albert shook his head and refused. "I think you should stay out of the woods. Hagrid looks very angry. Be careful you don't get locked up."

"I told you he wouldn't be interested," George muttered. "As long as Hagrid doesn't spot us when we go into the woods."

"I knew you'd say that, but don't go too far. I heard there's a breeding farm for Acromantula Acromantula in the Forbidden Forest. Be careful not to feed them." Albert wasn't surprised at all and casually reminded him.

"If you don't speak, no one will think you're mute," Fred complained, always accurate when it came to bad things.

"Okay." Albert took out McDougal's notebook from his pocket and began to read it.

"What is this?" George asked, leaning closer.

"Professor Broad's friend lent me his notes; they're about Ancient Runes." Albert flipped through a few pages and found a letter from Professor Broad to McDougal pasted on it. McDougal had known Professor Broad for a long time? "It seems that Defence Against the Dark Arts Professor is quite nice to you." Lee Jordan was a little jealous.

"We do have a good relationship."

"No, no, it's scary how good it is," George corrected.

"Oh." Albert nodded to indicate that he knew.

However, Albert believed that the relationship between the two depended on the exchange of knowledge. Two people who were equally proficient in Ancient Runes communicated with each other, and the other, as an older senior, offered some kind of help to the younger one.

As Professor McGonagall said, he maintained friendly correspondence with those famous wizards, and his relationship with Professor Broad was just a step further.

After all, there is also a professor-student relationship between the two.

It's easy to see from this notebook that Professor Broad's relationship with McDougal is similar to his own. The notebook contains discussions of Ancient Runes in their correspondence, as well as related content from exchanges with other wizards.

This part of the content wasn't too difficult for Albert, but it was novel and broadened his horizons.

By the time we get to the latter half of the notebook, several years have passed, and McDougal has long since graduated from Hogwarts.

McDougal recorded that he was suddenly told he had been given a special identity, the right to read a bunch of ancient documents, and that he had begun to learn some ancient spells.

"A special identity?" Albert continued reading.

McDougal has begun to master how to use Ancient Runes spells.

"I can sense its special nature!"

McDougal left this sentence in his notebook.

"It's so late, aren't you going to sleep?" Fred mumbled sleepily. "Be careful you won't be able to get up tomorrow."

"I'm going to sleep too, goodnight." Albert covered his mouth to stifle a yawn, turned off the light, and lay down on the bed to fall into a deep sleep.

The next day, Albert woke up at 10 a. m.

Everyone else in the dormitory had left. Albert stretched, leaned against his pillow, and picked up the notebook he hadn't finished reading the night before to continue flipping through it.

McDougal began to learn some Ancient Magic; the spells were powerful, but not particularly sophisticated.

The notebook contained the names of spells, but not the incantations or hand gestures used to cast them, which left Albert a little disappointed.

The following pages all discuss this topic, as well as McDougal's speculations about Ancient Runes.

From the records, it is easy to see that McDougal was researching and exploring the special features of Ancient Runes, but he came up with nothing.

Albert noticed something in the correspondence between McDougal and Dumbledore, in which they discussed the topic of Dumbledore making his Patronus speak.

Unfortunately, there was no further development, and subsequent written records never mentioned the matter again. Moreover, this notebook ended there, with no further developments; it's possible there was another one.

"Can I sense its peculiarity?" Albert quickly got up and went to Professor Broad's office.

McDougal did arrive, but he looked a little tired.

"Have you finished reading?" McDougal noticed Albert holding his notebook.

"Yes, I've finished reading it, but unfortunately, I still haven't found what I'm looking for. There should be another half of the notes, right?" Albert asked tentatively.

"No more," McDougal, shaking his head.

"That's all?" Albert was taken aback. The other party actually said there was nothing left? "Well, I was just joking," McDougal said with a smile, "But it really is nothing. You know, why are Runic Script considered to possess magical powers?"

"You mean, Magical Power was infused into it during the carving process?" Albert offered his guess.

"Yes, but not quite," McDougal said softly. "I can't tell you the real answer because my understanding is based on my comprehension of Runes. If you can't reach that level, it's hard to understand and use them."

Albert fell silent, listening quietly as McDougal continued.

"You need to be very proficient in Runic Script, and secondly, you need to have a strong foundation in Magical Power. Thirdly, you need to be skilled in ancient Charms," McDougal said. "These are the three stages I went through."

"You've taken the first step, but your Magical Power isn't strong enough, and you're not familiar enough with using Ancient Runes. But luckily, you've touched that hurdle, and you're not far from crossing it."

Albert's lips twitched; he hated such vague language.

You're not a charlatan.

Explain things clearly to me! Or, why not just invest the experience into the Runes skill and level it up to Runes 3 directly? Then there won't be so much trouble.

Just then, Albert suddenly remembered something else. "Professor Broad, could you give me a certificate? I would like to borrow books on Ancient Runes from the Restricted Section."

"Very well!" Professor Broad actually agreed. He turned and wrote on the parchment, "Mr. Albert Anderson is permitted to borrow books on Ancient Runes from the Restricted Section. —Bard Brood"

"Good luck," Albert muttered, taking the note from Professor Broad and leaving.

"Why not tell him?" Professor Broad asked, puzzled.

"What's the use? Didn't I tell you that before? You still haven't learned it and you still think I'm fooling you." McDougal glanced at Professor Broad and continued, "Albert is a genius. We just need to give him some guidance. You should trust your own judgment."