That Rat

Busy and fulfilling college life always seems to fly by.

In the blink of an eye, it's already the end of October.

The rainy season continues every year, and the weather is getting colder and colder, just like last year; the situation is as bad as ever.

Rainy days always make me feel listless!

Albert covered a yawn, looked up at the gloomy ceiling, and looked for an excuse to be lazy.

"Morning."

Fred and George each reached out and patted Percy's shoulder forcefully, smiling as they greeted their older brother sitting beside them. The pat caused Percy, who was eating, to choke and cough repeatedly.

Albert found it amusing and handed over the drink next to him. Percy took a big gulp of the drink, swallowed the food in his mouth, and glared fiercely at Fred and George, who were using Albert as a shield.

The two people hiding behind Albert were opening and closing their lips. If one could read lips, the message would be: You swallowed it yourself, it's not our fault.

Just then, the arrival of a large group of postmen attracted the students' attention. These owls, who had traveled long distances in the rain, swooped down through the rain-splashed windows and splashed rainwater onto everyone in the Great Hall.

A gray owl tossed a square package in front of Albert.

"I feel like you get emails every day," Fred said enviously, pointing to another owl Accio in their direction.

The owl delivered a letter.

Albert glanced at the sender, then stuffed the envelope into his pocket. He opened the package in front of him; inside was a copy of "Advanced Runes Translation," still smelling of fresh ink. This book had most likely just been sent by Flourish and Blotts.

"Advanced Runes Translation?" Percy glanced at the title and frowned slightly, because he, who also majored in Ancient Runes, had never heard of this book before.

"This is Professor Babbling's latest book, which seems to be a reference book for the Ancient Runes in the senior grades," Albert explained casually.

To be honest, the book was published even faster than he had expected.

"A book compiled by Professor Babbling herself?" Percy looked at the Advanced Runes Translation with suspicion and borrowed it from Albert to read.

A moment later, Fred and George also found a thick letter from home in front of them, muttering, "Mom has gotten us mixed up again."

"What's wrong?" Albert asked, noticing that Percy was looking at him strangely.

"You helped with the annotations?" Percy was stunned when he opened the first page, because it read: This book is dedicated to Albert in gratitude for his help in making this book.

Albert looked completely bewildered and asked suspiciously, "What's wrong?"

"This..." Percy pointed to the contents of the first page, and without a doubt, Albert was referring to the Albert Anderson in front of him.

"Yes." Albert nodded in acknowledgment. "I did help revise the contents of the Advanced Runes Translation."

At this moment, the students in the hall were drawn to the long, thin package being held by six owls together.

"Flying Broom!" Fred pursed his lips and murmured softly.

While everyone around was still eager to know what was inside the package, Albert's companions had already guessed what it contained.

Before the owls could knock over his breakfast, Albert quickly got up and caught the long, thin package that one of the owls was carrying as it Accio toward him.

"Can I open it?" Lee Jordan asked Albert excitedly, staring at the long, thin package.

"Okay." Albert agreed to let Lee Jordan open the package on the spot and take out the Flying Broom inside.

"Sweeping Six." George also came over to admire the Cleansweep Series Flying Broom. This Sweeping Six broom was more expensive and faster than their Sweeping Five.

"You actually bought Flying Broom." Albert's roommates were all surprised that Albert would buy Flying Broom, because Albert hadn't participated in Quidditch training for a long time.

"Fifty Galleon, not bad," Albert muttered to himself.

When Albert felt a gaze directed at him, he turned his head to look in the direction the gaze was coming from. It was Isobel, the Ravenclaw girl, who had just withdrawn her gaze from scrutinizing him.

Since the last lesson on Occlumency, Albert and Isobel have maintained a friendly relationship, somewhat like the saying goes, "A gentleman's friendship is as light as water."

Yes, it really is as bland as water.

When they met at the club, they would occasionally chat for a few minutes. Their main form of communication was writing letters to each other, and the content of those letters consisted entirely of Ancient Runes.

As Lee Jordan was explaining the superiority of the Cleansweep Six to the others, he suddenly turned around and asked, "Are you planning to try out the new broom's advantages later?"

"If you want to try it out first, go out and play by yourself!" Albert didn't seem to mind riding the new broom right away, especially when it was raining.

"Then I'll try out this broom for you first!" Lee Jordan said happily.

"By the way, do you know where we can get live rats?" Albert asked suddenly as he took out his notebook and flipped through it.

The Mandrakes's cry storage program has been successful, and it's even the cry of a young mouse. However, Albert is unsure if the sound can kill a mouse.

Actually, Albert initially hoped that Shera could catch a live mouse for him, but what happened?

Shera brought him a bunch of dead rats, forcing Albert to step in and stop the farce.

Albert had originally hoped to catch some rats at Hogwarts for his experiments, but unfortunately, he searched for a long time and still couldn't find any.

"In the kitchen?" Lee Jordan asked uncertainly.

"No need for that. Percy just keeps a mouse as a pet." Fred looked at his brother with ill intent.

"What do you need the mouse for?" Percy asked, frowning.

"Um." Albert thought for a moment and said, "I'm trying out a magical experiment, which is actually similar to the Stunning Spell. I want to test the effect on a mouse first. However, I can't find a mouse right now."

"So you've got your eye on my Scabbers?" Percy asked, frowning slightly.

"Well, don't say that. Albert will definitely pay," George reminded him with a smile. "One Sickle, two Sickle?"

"Three Sickle, that's the most I can do," Fred suddenly said, slapping his thigh hard. His action startled the others.

"Anyway, your Scabbers isn't a pet mouse, so it's no big deal if it dies." The Twins' mention of this made Percy frown slightly.

We can't exactly put a human to the test! Although the cries of a young Mandrakes are said to be harmless, Albert still didn't want to face its power directly, so testing it on a mouse was undoubtedly the best option.

After all, the vast number of laboratory mice are still contributing to humanity.

Even if we can't find white mice, house mice will do.

Hmm, Ron's That Rat seems to be his Percy Percy's pet. He remembers that That Rat was a wizard, named Peter something.

I heard that the price of Firebolt is 500 Galleon. Does any fellow reader know the specifics?