Playing the Mystic

After dinner, they returned to the Gryffindor Common Room.

Albert needed to go back to the dormitory to feed the cat first, then bring Tom to the Common Room for some exercise and let him socialize with the other cats. It was not good for a cat to be alone for too long.

Fred, George, and Lee Jordan were unusually quiet as they read. The three of them needed to find useful material for their Potions Class essays.

There was no helping it. On the first day of term, Snape had assigned them an essay on moonstone, and it was due in the next Potions Class.

Albert had also said that he might not be free another day, so the three of them had no choice but to write the essay with him right after dinner. Otherwise, doing it themselves later would cost them even more time and effort.

"Moonstone's properties and its uses in potion-making. I think if we copy this in and write a little bigger, we should be able to make up twelve inches."

They pooled all the material they had found and checked its length. It seemed about enough.

"I think we should find some more. We can't copy down everything we found. It would be best to start with its medicinal value. I remember Love Potion needs a small amount of moonstone too... Er, Hermione, is something wrong?" As Albert flipped through the material the three had found, he built the overall structure of the essay in his mind. Sensing someone approach, he looked up at the newcomer, then let his gaze fall on the large ginger cat at the girl's feet.

"Your cat?"

"His name is Crookshanks," Hermione said. "I bought him in Diagon Alley during the summer vacation."

"He looks rather old. Seems