What Are You Up To?

After finishing their Quidditch training, the three of them went to the Room of Requirement to do that damned experiment, which caused them to miss dinner and have to eat in the kitchen instead! Of course, all of the above were just excuses they came up with for themselves.

When they went to the hall for dinner, there was very little food left. Albert and Fred and the others discussed it and decided to sneak into the kitchen to eat.

After all, the food in the kitchen is hot, and they'll be entertained by friendly House-elf.

"What are you thinking about?" Fred asked, his mouth full of fried potato chunks, looking at Albert was holding a knife and fork, lost in thought.

"It's nothing. I was just wondering if I should ask the House-elf to make some potato and egg pancakes?" Albert said with a self-deprecating laugh after eating a piece of fried potato.

"What kind of food is that, Mr. Anderson?" a house- House-elf couldn't help but ask.

"Pancakes, a very simple food, Kara." Albert smiled and told the House-elf the recipe. "You can try cutting potatoes into chunks, boiling them until soft, mashing them into a puree, then adding eggs, flour, and other seasonings and mixing well. Then add a little oil to the pan, pour the batter into the pan, and fry until golden brown on both sides."

"If Mr. Anderson likes it, Kara can try it!" The House-elf said excitedly, bowing to Albert.

"Thank you so much, Kara," Albert said encouragingly. "I believe you can do it."

"Is your so-called potato and egg pancake delicious?" Lee Jordan couldn't help but ask. After finishing his Pumpkin Pasties, he didn't touch any other food, clearly wanting to taste the potato and egg pancake Albert had mentioned.

They all remembered how delicious the scrambled eggs with onions that Albert had the House-elf make last time were.

A little while later, the house- House-elf brought out the fried potato and egg pancakes.

"You can put some Blueberry Jam or your favorite sauce on it." Albert started spreading some sauce on the potato and egg pancake, took a bite, and tasted the familiar potato and egg pancake flavor.

"It's delicious," he said softly.

Whether it was Kara or the other House-elf, their faces were beaming with smiles.

Albert cut his potato and egg pancake in half, put it on another plate, and handed it to Kara, saying, "Here, you can try the food you made yourself."

"I'll share some of mine with you too," Lee Jordan said with a smile to the House-elf, cutting his own portion in half and placing it on his plate.

"You can't eat anymore, can you!" Fred couldn't help but roll his eyes at Lee Jordan, whose mouth was stuffed full of potato and egg pancakes, which tasted really good.

"This is... this is... so wonderful, thank you so much, Mr. Anderson, and this gentleman too." Kara's hands, holding the plate, were trembling slightly. At this moment, not only Kara, but also the House-elf beside her were too moved to speak.

"This gentleman?" Fred almost laughed.

"If it were you, you would be that gentleman too," Lee Jordan said irritably, glancing at Fred and George.

"Ahem, I didn't expect Albert to be so knowledgeable about food." George coughed lightly, changing the subject. Although they already knew that last time, seeing it with their own eyes still greatly surprised them.

After dinner, and being respectfully escorted out of the kitchen by the House-elf, Albert suddenly said to the people beside him, "Do you think it would be appropriate for me to give Kara some yarn balls as a Christmas present?"

"Why would you suddenly have such an idea?" Fred asked, frowning slightly. There was almost no precedent for this in the Wizarding World.

"They can weave things themselves. House-elf are very good at housework, aren't they?" Albert thought for a moment and continued, "Of course, I know that masters can't give House-elf clothes, otherwise it would mean freedom, but that doesn't mean that House-elf can't make other things for themselves, after all, those aren't clothes given by their masters."

"You're right, but I need to remind you," George warned. "Don't confuse the House-elf, or they won't want to cook, and then we'll all go hungry!"

"You seem to have designs on House-elf?" Lee Jordan suddenly said.

"Why do you say that?" Albert countered.

"Intuition," Lee Jordan replied without hesitation.

"Yes, there is something I want to do." Albert readily admitted that he had ulterior motives. "After I graduate, I plan to see if I can kidnap a House-elf from Hogwarts and have it serve me."

All three of them stared at Albert in disbelief.

"I can spend some Galleon, and with the House-elf ' consent, I don't think Dumbledore will refuse," Albert added. "As you know, ordinary wizarding families simply cannot have House-elf. They are excellent helpers and very loyal. Having them as helpers can save a lot of time."

"Your idea is truly astonishing," Fred said, covering his face. "However, I need to remind you that most House-elf serve only one family in their entire lives."

"Of course, there might be exceptions, right?" Albert didn't seem too concerned about these things. After thinking for a moment, he changed the subject. "Tomorrow is Halloween, and next week we'll go to Hogsmeade together. Hmm, let's see if we can find a black market merchant. I heard from Hagrid that there's a shop in Hogsmeade called the Hog's Hog's Head Inn. We also need to find time to go into the woods to look for the Flobberworm. Hmm, we also need to go to the library to find out how to treat the Flobberworm."

"Aren't we supposed to raid the Old Bat's private medicine warehouse?" George asked, puzzled.

"You dare to turn the raw materials you got from the Old Bat into a potion and sell it?" Albert looked at George with an idiotic gaze. "If we successfully concoct it and sell it, the Old Bat Old Bat soon realize it was us. If he targets us, we'll be in deep trouble. You probably don't want to be targeted by him, right? And what if we don't have it in our private medicine warehouse? We should always have a backup plan."

"No." The three of them shook their heads in unison. If Snape set his sights on them, they'd be in deep trouble.

"Then we won't go?" Fred asked.

"Of course I'll go, but I'll do it myself!" Albert explained casually. "I've mastered Occlumency, so even the Old Bat can't easily read my mind. But you can't. Without Occlumency, you can't lie to the Old Bat. So, the best way is to make sure you didn't do it."

The three looked at each other, unable to understand Albert's idea.

Snape would certainly be furious and use Legilimency on his students during their studies, but he wouldn't openly use the spell to search their memories. Snape had previously only used Legilimency for trivial matters, such as determining if a student was lying.

However, since you didn't take it, the answer he got from you was naturally no, and you didn't actually take it either, because you were merely accomplices.