A Few Things Before the Holiday

On the day they left school, the Hogwarts Final Exam results finally appeared on the bulletin board. Albert was once again first in his grade, and Fred, George, and Lee Jordan also passed smoothly.

After seeing the four players' scores, Lee Jordan patted Fred and George on the shoulder and boasted about his own score, even though it wasn't much higher than theirs, but that didn't stop him from being in a good mood.

"I've been hoping they'd forget to send this to us," Fred said regretfully to his roommates, stuffing the "Notice Prohibiting Underage Wizards from Using Magic Outside of School" into his pocket.

"Students from wizarding families aren't affected at all." Lee Jordan rolled his eyes at Fred. "Albert is the real unlucky one; he can't use magic for the entire summer!"

While chatting, the group boarded Thestral Carriage and slowly made their way to the train station in Hogsmeade.

They met Hagrid on the station platform, where he seemed to be waiting for someone. After greeting Hagrid, Albert carried his suitcase into the train to look for an empty carriage.

Fred went inside, closed the carriage door, and then turned to look at Hagrid on the platform, whispering, "I heard that Hagrid really did own a dragon."

"Who told you that?" Lee Jordan was moving his suitcase to the corner of the carriage.

"I overheard Harry and Ron whispering to each other." George stared intently at Albert. "You must know about this."

"Where did Hagrid get the dragon egg?" Lee Jordan also looked at Albert.

"I remember we talked about this."

Albert opened the cat cage and let the Fat Cat Tom out of it; the guy really didn't like being kept in a cage.

"You must know where Hagrid's dragon eggs came from."

"Of course it was given by Quirrell. You guys couldn't have guessed that."

Albert looked up at his three roommates, his face showing an expression that said, "You've really disappointed me."

"Quirrell probably disguised himself as a dragon egg vendor, and then chatted with Hagrid while he was drinking at Hogsmeade Hagrid, getting him drunk. Drunk and tempted by the dragon eggs, Hagrid could easily tell Quirrell how to subdue Fluffy with just a little prompting from Quirrell."

"I have a feeling you were there too." Lee Jordan took a box of Bertie Bott's Every Flavor Beans out of his suitcase, opened the package, poured out some Bertie Bott's Every Flavor Beans, and distributed them to everyone.

"And what about Professor Quirrell?" George raised an eyebrow. "He seems to be dead. Your words have come true again."

"That Dark wizard who broke into Gringotts was Professor Quirrell, wasn't he?" Fred suddenly said. "Do you think we could get the bounty if we sold this information to the Goblin?"

"I'm afraid that won't work. Quirrell is dead, and there's no evidence. The Goblin won't pay for this." Albert reached out and stroked Tom's fur, feeding him dried fish to soothe his frustration at being locked in a cage.

"Evidence? That thing in the school, the one that Gringotts almost stole, right!" Fred fiddled with the Bertie Bott's Every Flavor Beans on his fingertips. "Quirrell tried to steal it, that's an indisputable fact, and Dumbledore can testify to that."

The Goblin won't accept this so-called evidence. Even if they know it's true, they can find a bunch of excuses to make sure you don't get a single penny.

"Professor Quirrell died in the dungeon, I think," George suddenly said. "Harry was in the dungeon too. I heard Harry say that stealing the Philosopher's Stone was actually a plot by the Lord Voldemort."

"Harry Potter really can't keep a secret!" Albert shook his head.

"Is it really a conspiracy by the Lord Voldemort?"

"Actually, Potter meant was that Lord Voldemort is still alive."

The Lord Voldemort is still alive? The three looked at each other, puzzled, and asked, "Why did the Lord Voldemort ask Quirrell to steal the Philosopher's Stone?"

"It's probably about reviving itself," Albert speculated.

"Didn't you say the Lord Voldemort is still alive?"

They were even more confused.

"Actually, I'm more curious about what's in Quirrell's scarf." George hadn't forgotten about this; Quirrell was always careful to prevent others from pulling off his scarf, and the two of them had even been put in solitary confinement because of it.

Why not ask Harry?

"We're sure you know."

Albert scratched his cat ears and said, "I don't think you want to know."

"We want to know."

"Real?"

"I really want to know."

"Well, it must be the Lord Voldemort. The Lord Voldemort possessed Quirrell in some way." Albert didn't intend to hide anything. "Of course, the price should be Quirrell's life. Otherwise, do you really think Dumbledore or Harry killed Quirrell?"

"So, the Lord Voldemort is still alive?"

"He should be considered still alive, just rather weak, and our savior has successfully prevented him from regaining his power."

"How do you know so much?" Lee Jordan asked abruptly, voicing his doubts.

"Harry wasn't very discreet when he was chatting, and I just pieced together bits and pieces of clues with my own speculation," Albert said, tapping his forehead with his finger.

The train suddenly swayed and began to slowly pull away from the platform.

"Dumbledore have known Quirrell was suspicious, so why did he hire him?"

"Have no idea."

"Harry almost fell off his broom for the first time, and the Halloween Troll suddenly appeared at school, that was actually Quirrell's doing, right?"

Fred suddenly uttered those words while playing Wizard Card.

"I think it's perfectly fine to pin the blame on Quirrell."

"What do you think will happen in the future?" Lee Jordan asked in a low voice. "I mean the Lord Voldemort. Aren't you able to Prophecy the future?"

"The Lord Voldemort will return one day!" Albert organized his thoughts. "Then, the Second Wizarding War will break out, and according to the storyline, he will probably be defeated by the Savior Potter in the end."

"Why didn't the Lord Voldemort die last time?!" Lee Jordan asked again.

"I don't know everything," Albert said irritably. "I think you should talk to Dumbledore; he probably wants to know the answer too."

"If the Second Wizarding War breaks out, who will we sell our stuff to?" Lee Jordan was a little annoyed. Britain must be in chaos, who would have time to play Wizard Card? "You should wait until the Lord Voldemort comes back before you think about that!" Fred teased Tom with dried fish, not minding at all that the cat was disturbing their Wizard Card.

"You lost that round just now," Lee Jordan suddenly said.

"Who said that?"

When the train finally came to a stop, puffing out smoke, Albert, as usual, carried Tom's cage and dragged his suitcase off the train and headed to the ticket gate.

As Albert passed through the magical barrier, he heard a girl scream, "Look, Mom, I see Harry Potter!"

Albert looked in the direction of the sound, greeted the Weasley family with a smile, and walked straight out of the platform.

Herb stood at the entrance of King's Lion Station. Upon seeing Albert, he quickly walked over, gave him a hug, and took the suitcase, stuffing it into the trunk.

How's it going at school?

Albert handed the cat carrier to Nia in the back seat.

As soon as Fat Cat Tom came out of his cage, he started to snuggle in Nia's arms and beg for dried fish.

"Not bad." Nia patted Tom's head. "It seems Tom is doing well with you."

Living alone away from home and having not seen each other for a long time, Nia had changed a lot, making her seem somewhat unfamiliar to Albert.

My little sister has grown up!

(End of this volume)

Volume 3 is finished; it's longer than I expected.

To be honest, after finishing the second volume, I didn't have a detailed outline.