What Are They Plotting This Time?

Friday, 10:45 p. m., in the Gryffindor Common Room.

Albert was sitting in an armchair by the fireplace, flipping through the manuscript of "Advanced Runes Translation" that the Runes Professor had given him a few days ago.

Not far away, Angelina, having finished her homework, was playing Wizard Card with Aylia, while Lee Jordan, who kept peeking into the card game next door, was doing his Astronomy homework under Shanna's guidance.

"I won this game." Angelina smiled as she tidied up her Wizard Card, then looked at Lee Jordan, who was still doing his homework, and asked with a puzzled expression, "Why aren't you finished yet?"

"Why not do your homework properly first, and then use the remaining time to play?" Aylia couldn't understand Lee Jordan's way of thinking at all.

Angelina covered her mouth to stifle a yawn and asked, "Shanna, are you going back to the dorm to rest?"

"You guys go back first, I'm still a little short," Shanna said, staring at the button in front of her. She wanted to turn the button into a beetle, but turning an inanimate object into a living one was far more difficult than turning a living one into an inanimate object.

"Then let's go back and rest first." Aylia put the Wizard Card back in her pocket, took her friend's hand, and returned to the dormitory together.

"Another failure." Shanna sighed, looked up at Albert and asked, "Is there any way, or a trick?"

"Practice more," Albert said without hesitation.

"Ugh, it's that same old stuff again," Shanna muttered. "What have you been looking at all this time?"

"The manuscript, the Professor Babbling asked me to revise." After marking it, Albert put the manuscript back in the bag.

"Professor Babbling?" Shanna had never heard of this professor.

"Professor Runes," Albert reminded him.

"Ancient Runes? I heard there's an elective course for third-year students. What are you planning to choose?" Shanna suddenly asked.

"Elective courses?" Lee Jordan asked curiously. "What elective courses?"

"Divination, Care of Magical Creatures, Muggle Studies, Ancient Runes, Arithmancy," Albert quickly rattled off five subjects. "I'm going to select all of them."

"Select all? Do you have enough time?" Shanna was very surprised.

"That's enough. There's a way to give me plenty of time," Albert said with a smile.

"I've heard from others that Ancient Runes are very difficult to learn." Shanna was a little conflicted about whether or not to choose Ancient Runes.

"Ancient Runes is like learning a foreign language."

"I remember you're very good at foreign languages." Lee Jordan looked at Albert with envy. "I also remember you know French and you just went to France for vacation this summer."

After hesitating for a moment, Shanna said, "If it's not too difficult, I'd like to select all of them."

"What's simpler?" Lee Jordan asked.

"Divination and Muggle Studies," Albert replied without hesitation. "I heard it's a choice of two out of five."

"Why?" Lee Jordan continued to ask.

"Divination requires talent. Without talent, you're just wasting time. It doesn't matter if you do your homework haphazardly." Albert picked up his teacup and took a sip of his cold milk tea. "As for Muggle Studies, I feel that wizards don't understand Muggle. They probably don't even know what batteries, televisions, and light bulbs are."

"Really?" Shanna asked in surprise.

"Do you know what a light bulb is?" Albert asked Lee Jordan, who was sitting next to him.

"Of course I know." Lee Jordan couldn't help but roll his eyes. "My family lives in the Muggle community, but some Pure-blood wizard are completely isolated from the Muggle World may not know."

"It's hard to imagine," Shanna, quite surprised.

"It's not hard to imagine," Albert joked. "Just like my father didn't know how to turn Slug Club into Potions, just like Fred and George's father didn't know what Rubber Duck was for."

"Rubber... duck?" Shanna bit her lip to stop herself from laughing out loud.

"I remember Albert gave Fred and George a Rubber Duck during the summer vacation," Lee Jordan recalled.

"You're really something..." Shanna finally couldn't help but laugh, which immediately drew puzzled looks from many people. "...It was definitely on purpose."

"By the way, where are Fred and George?" Albert looked speechlessly at Shanna, who was trying not to laugh. He simply couldn't understand what made her laugh.

"You mean those two bastards, Fred and George? They went to the kitchen," Lee Jordan said after a moment's thought. "They said they were hungry and wanted to find something to eat."

Who are you calling an asshole?!

The two voices came from the entrance of the Common Room.

Lee Jordan looked in the direction of the sound and saw Fred and George walking towards him, each holding a pie and eating it as they went.

"We went to all that trouble to get you food..." they came over and couldn't help but complain, "Hmph, there's none for you."

"Ahem, you misheard me." Lee Jordan coughed and asked, "What's good to eat?"

The people around them were trying hard not to laugh out loud.

"You think we're deaf? Humph, get out of here, there's no pie for you." Fred laughed and pushed Lee Jordan aside, while George next to him took out a paper bag containing pies from the pocket of his robe and casually handed some pies to Shanna.

"What kind of pie?" Shanna asked curiously as she took the oil paper bag.

"Steak and Kidney Pie," George said.

She took one piece and handed the oil paper bag to Albert next to her.

Albert looked down at the Steak and Kidney Pie in front of him; to be honest, he didn't have much of an appetite.

"Give this to Lee Jordan!" Albert handed the oil paper bag to Lee Jordan.

"Don't give it to that bastard," Fred and George couldn't help but complain.

"This is from Albert." Lee Jordan took the oil paper bag and snorted. "It has nothing to do with you now."

"You rascal."

"Aren't you going to eat?" Lee Jordan quickly changed the subject and asked Albert.

"No, I have no appetite," Albert said, shaking his head.

"How about I share half with you?" Shanna said with a smile, "It's not good to eat too much at night."

As she spoke, she actually cut the Steak and Kidney Pie in half and handed one half to Albert.

Albert was speechless for a moment.

Steak and Kidney Pie is a traditional Britain dish, I suppose!

This kind of food tastes pretty good when it's freshly made and hot, but it doesn't taste as good when it gets cold.

It tastes even worse than a completely cold meat bun.

Under the watchful eyes of the others, Albert took a bite of the Steak and Kidney Pie. It was a bit salty and had a rather subtle texture.

"It tastes pretty good, doesn't it?" George asked with a smile.

"I prefer to eat it while it's hot," Albert said.

As people chatted, the Common Room gradually emptied out, the cold wind rattled the windows, and the fire in the fireplace was about to go out.

"I'll get ready in a bit..." Albert gestured to the group who were playing Wizard's Chess.

"What if we get caught?" Lee Jordan asked, a little worried. "Last time, William got caught sneaking out at night, and Professor McGonagall made him clean the chamber pot for several days. I don't want to get a nickname like 'Chamber Pot Prince'."

"The Chamber Pot Prince?"

" In the Muggle World, there's a prince named William," Albert explained, barely suppressing a laugh. "I remember he just played it once last year."

"More than once," Fred said with a smile.

"This isn't important!" Lee Jordan said helplessly, though he was genuinely worried about getting caught for nighttime outings.

"Don't worry, we won't get caught." Fred and George exchanged glances, winked, and said in unison, "You have to have faith in Albert."

"What are you planning to do on your nighttime stroll?" Lee Jordan asked in a low voice.

"Go to the Restricted Section to find books. Remember Snape's ability to read people's minds?" Albert said in a low voice. "That is indeed a kind of magic called Legilimency. I plan to go to the Restricted Section of the library to find books that can counteract this kind of magic."

"When do we leave?" Lee Jordan asked excitedly.

"Didn't you say you didn't want to go?" Fred couldn't help but roll his eyes.

"I want to learn this magic too," Lee Jordan said excitedly. "Besides, if we get caught, we'll all be in trouble together, so what's there to be afraid of?"

"No one can catch us," George scoffed. "However, I doubt you can learn that Legilimency either."

How will you know if you don't try?

"Legilimency is indeed very difficult." Albert abruptly poured cold water on Lee Jordan's enthusiasm, causing Fred and George to burst into laughter.