Whose Tricks

"As expected of Albert."

When George saw the headline of today's Daily Prophet, he was so shocked that he shook the potato he was holding off his fork.

"Speaking of which, how exactly did he convince that woman, Rita Skeeter?"

The Daily Prophet's headline featured an exclusive interview with the world's youngest Wizard's Chess champion.

This interview completely dispelled all of Albert's previous scandals.

"I bet they didn't use Galleon to deal with that woman."

Fred, who had just leaned in, voiced his speculation. "Given Albert's habits, he probably caught Rita Skeeter doing something wrong and is threatening her to correct her mistakes."

"I think so too," George agreed.

They certainly knew that Albert had enough Galleon to deal with Rita Skeeter, but Albert wasn't one to suffer in silence. Just look at what happened to the Slytherin students who tried to cause him trouble; the chances of settling things with Galleon were slim.

The most likely scenario is that they will seize on Rita Skeeter's weakness, force her to resolve the issue herself.

It has to be said that after being roommates for several years, the Twins understand Albert's personality quite well.

"What leverage?" Percy asked curiously, as he knew very well what kind of person Rita Skeeter was.

"How would we know? Go ask him yourself," George said after thinking for a moment.

"However, I think if you ask Albert, he'll probably tell you that he paid Rita Skeeter to settle things."

If Albert doesn't want to tell you, he can find countless truths to answer your question.

"I'm back."

Just then, Mr. Weasley dragged his tired body into the house. He had been working overtime for several days in a row recently, and last night he even raided seven houses and found a lot of contraband.

"Dad, you're back." Percy got up and took Mr. Weasley's briefcase, placing it where it was usually kept.

"This is really bad, the Ministry of Magic is in complete chaos right now," Mr. Weasley grumbled.

"What happened?" Ron couldn't help but ask.

"It's not that exclusive interview with Rita Skeeter that's considered potentially causing an international dispute." Mr. Weasley took the head seat, pointed to the newspaper George was reading, and said, "You'll see when you read the next few articles, the interview about Albert Anderson's trip to the United States."

The group flipped to the third page and quickly understood why it was said to potentially trigger an international dispute.

"I don't think Albert is lying. In fact, he rarely lies or deceives others." George had barely finished speaking when he felt a little uneasy.

Did Albert really not lie much?

He's just good at misleading people with the truth, so most of what's in the newspapers is probably true.

I wasn't lying.

Yes, that makes sense.

"Right now, many wizards in the British magical world have a bad impression of the American Magical Congress, and have even started discussing the policies of the United States that are different from those of other countries." Mr. Weasley took a bite of sausage and muttered, "If it weren't for the newspapers saying that the American magical world does not allow the use of owls, I would even suspect that a bunch of people would have sent letters to that Mr. Carter."

"They can use international mail channels," George said without hesitation.

Yes, yes.

Mr. Weasley muttered, "There are protests in United States about the large number of letters and packages being sent from Britain that contain Dark Magic or dangerous items."

"That's great, I think Mr. Carter will be very surprised."

"This is not a good idea; it will cause an international dispute," Mr. Weasley said with a sigh, looking at his gloating sons.

"Dad, I think Albert is right," Fred said seriously. "United States is probably really like that."

"That's right." Fred nodded in agreement. "When he wrote last time, he also told us that he would not go to United States again, and warned us that it was best to stay away from United States, because wizards who are not familiar with the laws there can easily commit serious crimes and be locked up in jail."

"We've never seen Albert express his dislike for something so openly," Fred and George said in unison.

Mr. Weasley was taken aback. In fact, many wizards were not quite clear about the situation in United States, but the Daily Prophet had highlighted one name: "Rappaport's Law".

Mr. Weasley felt that Rita Skeeter was planning to use this to cause trouble.

For example, newspapers described how staff members of the American Magical Congress deliberately made things difficult for others out of jealousy, and even deliberately smeared the International Wizard's Chess Competition champion in the Ghost Daily, just because he defeated the United States player who was most likely to win the Wizard's Chess championship? United States reporters also deliberately distorted the facts and fabricated scandals because Albert refused to be interviewed? Rita Skeeter even wrote at the end of this interview, "I was worried for our young International Wizard's Chess Champion. If it weren't for his cautious nature, he might have accidentally violated the laws of the American Magical Congress and had to spend the rest of the year in an United States prison."

I sincerely hope that the American Magical Congress will consider Mr. Anderson's proposal and print an entry guide for the Magical Congress of the United States to reduce the number of wizards who unintentionally violate the laws of the American Magical Congress upon entering the country.

Look at this, is this even human language? It sounds like the American Magical Congress is deliberately enticing wizards to the United States to violate the laws enacted by the American Magical Congress.

However, once the newspaper was published, it aroused widespread sympathy among wizards for their young champion's plight in United States.

Albert received many letters of comfort, and many people even sent him lots of candy and other small gifts.

However, Albert put all these things into a box and sealed them away.

Just as they were discussing the newspaper news, Ron's untimely voice suddenly rang out, "Dad, I think Harry might be in some trouble. I've sent him 12 letters, but he hasn't replied to me yet."

"If Harry doesn't reply in the next few days, I'll go pick him up myself. You know I've been quite busy these past few days!" Mr. Weasley said.

Although he felt it was a bit presumptuous, he figured that Harry's guardians wouldn't refuse if he went to invite them in person.

However, things changed much faster than Mr. Weasley had anticipated!

Before leaving work that evening, Mr. Weasley heard from a colleague that the famous Harry Potter had violated the Statute of Secrecy by using magic in front of Muggle and had been warned by the Ministry of Magic.

However, Mr. Weasley has been raiding houses quite extensively lately, and the process requires approval from the Ministry of Magic, which is rather slow. He somewhat regrets not asking someone he knows to help him connect to the Floo Network.

Mr. Weasley was unaware that, after learning of this, Ron and his Twins brothers were also discussing Harry.

"I think Harry must be in some serious trouble, otherwise he wouldn't be able to use magic in front of Muggle. He must know it's forbidden." Ron became increasingly uneasy after hearing this news.

"Perhaps we can go and pick him up to visit us," Fred suddenly said, pulling out the Multi-tool knife Albert had sent them, with a note attached: Just in case.

"We cannot use magic," Ron warned.

"We can use Dad's car," George said without hesitation. "I think Albert is implying that Harry might be locked up, so he thinks we'll use this knife as a lock pick."

"Pick the lock?"

Ron was a little confused.

"That's a Muggle trick, Small Tricks we learned from Albert. There are many doors at Hogwarts School that can't be opened with the Alohomora, but can be opened with Muggle tricks," Fred explained.

Based on his understanding of Albert, the fact that Albert sent them a Multi-tool knife with that message meant that Albert had likely learned through Prophecy that they would go to rescue Harry Potter.

Of course, Ron only thought Fred and George were making excuses for themselves, but he agreed to use the flying car.

The car had been modified by Mr. Weasley to be invisible; at night, no one would notice it flying in the sky.

"But how are we going to drive the car away quietly?" Ron muttered.

"Don't worry, I have a plan!" Fred said with a smile. "You go and keep an eye on Mom, George and I will go get the car keys."

Late at night, Fred used the Summoning Charm to get his hands on the car keys. The three of them sneaked downstairs to the garage, climbed into the modified Ford, activated the invisibility button, and made the car drive out of the garage and fly into the sky.