Gryffindor Has No Secrets

The next day, Albert and his roommates slept until noon before getting up for lunch. On their way, they overheard many students talking about what had happened the night before.

Last night, the noise Albert made in the library woke up many people in the castle.

As expected, the matter had already spread like wildfire early in the morning.

Lee Jordan found it somewhat amusing. Albert had told them about it, but he hadn't expected that a single Summoning Charm would knock over a large bookshelf in the library. Just thinking about Albert's frustrated expression when he talked about it in the Room of Requirement last night made Lee Jordan want to laugh. There weren't many things that could make Albert feel frustrated.

However, the Room of Requirement is really a good place. These guys didn't even tell me until last night. What bastards!

"This seems to have become quite a big deal," Fred couldn't help but remark.

"Eat your food." Albert picked up a fried chicken leg and stuffed it into Fred's mouth. Then, he turned to Shanna beside him and asked, "Didn't you catch those students who were out at night?"

"Aren't you just asking the obvious?" Fred took the chicken leg, took a bite, and, suppressing the urge to complain, rolled his eyes at Albert.

"Gotcha." Shanna glanced up at Albert and said quietly, "A Hufflepuff and a Ravenclaw student. I heard they were on a date last night. It was supposed to be a romantic thing, but then..."

Pfft!

"Sorry, sorry," George couldn't help but chuckle and quickly apologized.

The people around him looked at George, who was trying not to laugh, and asked in confusion, "What's wrong with you? Is this really that funny?"

"Originally, going out on a date at night was a pretty romantic thing, but that couple clearly became someone's scapegoat." George shook his head and said, "I feel sorry for them. It's all that jerk's fault for making the noise."

"Yeah, that's right, it's all that bastard's fault for making that noise on purpose," Fred chimed in. "It startled me last night too."

"Cough cough," Lee Jordan, who had just taken a big bite of bread, choked on his words and coughed repeatedly. He gulped down a mouthful of water before he recovered and asked, "I just heard someone say that the sound came from the library, but nothing happened in the library?"

"That's weird, isn't it?" Fred muttered. "Do you think Peeves did this?"

Actually, all three of them admired Albert quite a bit. This guy had made a huge mess of the library with a single Summoning Charm. Before leaving, he actually Reparo. What made them even more annoyed was that Albert hadn't forgotten to close the library door, leaving everyone else confused about what had happened.

"I heard it was made by Gryffindor students?" Albert muttered after swallowing his food. "The professors have all asked the Fat Lady."

"Yes, I was in the Common Room at the time. A lot of people gathered around to eavesdrop, but nobody knew who did it. According to Professor Smith, it must have been an upperclassman from the college." After Shanna finished speaking, she looked suspiciously at the four somewhat unusual guys, her expression suddenly turning strange. She asked, "Why did you guys get up so late today?"

"Hmm," Albert said, "I played Wizard Card too late last night."

"I won the most," Fred said smugly, raising his chin. And he wasn't wrong, because they only played three rounds, and Fred won two.

"Could it be... that it was just the four of you last night?" Shanna suddenly asked in a low voice. Angelina next to her looked up in astonishment at the group of people in front of her.

There was neither denial nor admission.

The atmosphere suddenly became a bit strange. Albert and the others were all engrossed in their food, as if they had been starving for a long time.

"Really?" Angelina asked tentatively.

Fred, his mouth full of food, mumbled incoherently, "Who knows?"

"Any owls today? I mean my owl," Albert changed the subject, as he received letters from owls almost every week.

"Oh, they're here with me!" Shanna pulled two letters from her robe and handed them to Albert, saying, "I always felt you were quite diligent in receiving mail."

"There's nothing I can do about having a lot of pen pals." Albert took the envelope, glanced at the sender's name, and shrugged. "I've been pretty busy lately. I'm going to the library later to finish my homework and borrow a few books."

"The library is temporarily closed today and will officially reopen to the public tomorrow." Percy, carrying a plate, stopped behind the group and looked at the Twins with a scrutinizing gaze. "I heard that Mrs. Pince is planning to inspect the library's collection."

"Yeah, that must have been really tough."

"By the way, what happened last night wasn't done by any of the upperclassmen," Percy suddenly said. "I just heard from someone that none of the upperclassmen went out for a night stroll last night."

"Oh, who did that?" George asked back.

"I don't know, everyone's curious about who did it," Percy muttered. "I heard that Filch almost turned the castle upside down last night, but still couldn't catch those students who were out at night."

"That's a shame," Fred said, shrugging.

"Where were you last night?" Percy suddenly asked.

"In bed, of course." George couldn't help but roll his eyes. "We played Wizard Card until very late, and then talked about Wizard Card for a while before going to sleep. By the way, do you want to join the Wizard Card Club?"

"What club?" Percy was stunned for a moment, not understanding.

"The Wizard Card Club!" Fred pulled out a Wizard Card, waving it in front of Percy with a smile. "Want to join?"

"This is really strange?" Charlie muttered.

"What's going on?" Percy asked his second brother.

"Nobody knows who went out for a night stroll last night?"

"Are you planning to report those students who were out at night?" George swallowed his food and couldn't help but laugh at himself. "Those students weren't caught by the professors, but you guys have already caused them trouble."

Charlie was speechless, although what George said wasn't entirely wrong.

After all, there are no secrets in Gryffindor! "Could it be the two of you?" Percy cast a suspicious glance at Fred and George, his two younger brothers seemed more like the kind of guys who would do something like this.

"We were discussing the Wizard Card last night, weren't we? By the way, Percy, you wouldn't mind if we got you a card, would you?" George asked with ill intent.

"No, thank you," Percy replied curtly.

"Actually, I already have your card. I made it secretly." Fred smiled maliciously.

"What's wrong?"

Beside him, Lee Jordan noticed Albert's furrowed brows and asked him a question.

"Nothing much, just some trivial matters." Albert folded the letter and put it in his pocket.

"You don't look like you're alright," Lee Jordan muttered, but Albert didn't want to say anything, so he didn't ask any further.

Of the two letters Shanna gave him, one was from Isobel, in which she said that the professor's Occlumency was scheduled to begin earlier than planned.

Originally, Albert planned to wait until he finished reading "The Advanced Occlumency Guide" before going to her to learn Occlumency.

Sure enough, Albert got himself into trouble last night.

I should have risked taking "The Advanced Occlumency Guide" with me.

"I'm leaving now, I have an appointment later!" After finishing the food on his plate, Albert got up to go back to his dormitory to get the tuition fee for the Occlumency.

"Isobel?" Shanna suddenly asked.

"You actually know that Ravenclaw genius too?" Percy asked Albert, quite surprised.

"Yes, the same club," Albert said.

"From the same club?" Shanna asked in a somewhat strange tone.

"Okay, both clubs." Albert shrugged and got up to leave.