Skipping Class

Sometimes, you just can't stop the flu.

Especially after October, the weather around Hogwarts changed drastically, and the temperature dropped sharply.

The heavy rain pounded against the windows, and a chill permeated the meadows outside. This chill seeped into the castle, causing many professors and students to catch the flu.

"Haha, I wish I could have filmed it." George looked at Albert, whose head was steaming with heat, and laughed in a very wicked way.

There's no way around it; this is one of Albert's rare Dark History.

Click.

Suddenly, the sound of a camera taking pictures rang out, and the three people with smoke rising from their heads all looked up at the same time.

Albert, holding a camera, took another picture of them with a slight smile on his face.

"Let's repose. I've decided to add this photo to the Wizard Card. We'll call it the October Flu." While the three looked bewildered, Albert took a couple more photos and announced cheerfully, "Looks pretty good."

"You rascal."

"If we're going to film it, at least it should look good."

Fred snatched the photo from Albert, whispered to the two men beside him, then put his arm around their shoulders, posed with the empty glass he had just finished drinking from, and asked Albert to take another picture of them.

After drinking the Invigorating Potion, smoke will start coming out of your ears, and this can last for several hours.

As the four walked out of the School Hospital, the students in the corridor all cast curious glances at them. Now, anyone who sees someone with smoke coming out of their head knows that the other person has caught the flu and has just drunk Invigorating Potion.

Perhaps it is because this appearance is so shameful that many students are reluctant to go to the School Hospital for treatment after contracting the flu, which leads to more and more students getting infected with the flu.

Now, the illness is becoming increasingly severe, and Madam Pomfrey has had to concoct large quantities of Invigorating Potion for the students who can't cope. Fortunately, most of these ingredients come from Hogwarts ' greenhouses and Herb Garden; otherwise, it would have been a considerable expense.

Every day, students with severe colds are forced to go to the School Hospital for treatment, so students with steam rising from their heads are almost becoming a unique sight at Hogwarts.

That said, Albert caught the flu thanks to those two bastards, Fred and George.

These two guys caught the flu while practicing Quidditch in the rain, and instead of getting treatment from Madam Pomfrey in time, they infected their roommates Albert and Lee Jordan on the third day.

Finally, Albert and Lee Jordan, furious, gave the two a good beating before going to the School Hospital for treatment.

"Haha, isn't this Wood? You caught a cold too?"

Seeing Wood, whose ears were also emitting smoke and the smoke kept rising from his head, Fred and George happily went over and put their arms around him, not feeling embarrassed at all because of their new look.

"Honestly, I'm going back to rest now. Remember to ask for leave for me Defense Against the Dark Arts this afternoon." Albert casually made up an excuse and headed towards the Room of Requirement.

"What a coincidence, I also need to ask for leave." Lee Jordan didn't plan to go to Defense Against the Dark Arts with his hair smoking, and besides, there wasn't much to do in Defense Against the Dark Arts anyway. Ever since Lockhart became the Defence Against the Dark Arts Professor, the class had become a laughing stock.

"You two remember to ask for leave for us!"

After saying goodbye to Fred and George, Lee Jordan followed Albert away. He had actually had enough of Lockhart's class, and he couldn't miss the rare opportunity to skip class openly.

"Hey, wait for us!"

Fred and George, who were chatting with Wood with their arms around each other's shoulders, quickly jogged to catch up; they didn't want to go to Defense Against the Dark Arts either.

In fact, some students have already given up hope on Lockhart and are hoping that a more reliable Defence Against the Dark Arts Professor will come next semester.

Unfortunately, he still showed no remorse and put on stage plays for everyone in class every day. More and more students began to question Lockhart's teaching ability, especially the fifth and seventh graders who were about to be harmed by him.

At this moment, the Room of Requirement was filled with smoke, as if someone had lit incense. By the fireplace in the warm room, Lee Jordan was adding wood to make the flames burn brighter.

"What's this?"

Lee Jordan leaned close to Albert's notebook and quickly discovered that he could understand every single letter, but when put together, he couldn't understand a single word.

"Charms Spellbook, would you like to see it?"

Albert smiled and handed the notebook he was holding to Lee Jordan.

"Never mind, this thing is giving me a headache." He pulled his head back and casually asked, "What language is this?"

French.

"You're definitely showing off on purpose," Lee Jordan muttered.

The notebook was placed in that metal box. If Nicholas had only given two magic glasses, there would have been no need for such stringent protection.

Nicholas sent Albert ten notebooks, all of which were researches on Charms, and contained many of Nicholas's unique insights into Charms.

only...

While Nicolas Flamel was indeed a very powerful wizard, he didn't seem to be a good teacher.

The contents of these notes are very disorganized. Although they contain a lot of impressive information, they were all dumped on Albert at once, which gave him a headache and required him to spend a lot of time sorting through and learning them.

In his words: "Take a look for yourself, and ask me if you don't understand."

Albert doubted that even Professor Flitwick would find it difficult to thoroughly study these notes within a few years.

But he's a man with Panel Skill, so he can sort through the contents of his notes much faster than most Genius Wizard. It's just that he communicates with Nicholas a bit too frequently.

Lately, even Isobel has fallen behind.

"How's your research going?"

Fred and George are studying the blueprints for a printing press, which they will need in the future to print Wizard Card and even various styles of cardboard boxes.

After all, the Wizarding World has only a small population, and the sales volume of goods is very limited, so ordering large quantities of packaging boxes may not be realistic.

"Maybe I can ask my dad for help; he should be very good at tinkering with these things."

In the end, Fred and George gave up, realizing that completely overhauling the printing press was simply not a large undertaking they could manage.

"We could try outsourcing this to someone else," Lee Jordan suggested after a moment's hesitation. "Don't the things we bought also come in boxes? They'll definitely know where to find someone to make those boxes."

"These things can indeed be solved by Muggle, but..."

Albert closed his notebook, raised his hand and shook the Wizard Card in his hand, reminding him, "If you want to create exquisite Wizard Card, you will inevitably need to use magic, Muggle can't help us with that."

Moreover, the "Statute of Secrecy" is a big problem. Wizards and Muggle cannot have too much interaction, and cooperation with Muggle is basically impossible. Furthermore, Muggle merchants will not accept orders that are purely loss-making.

The rain was still pouring down outside. Four men with steaming heads sat by the fireplace chatting. Their dream of opening a shop still had a long way to go.