October at Hogwarts is always spent in strong winds and heavy rains. The damp chill sweeps in from the wind and rain, filling the entire castle.
There was a sudden outbreak of colds among the faculty and students, especially in the Defense Against the Dark Arts class, where there were always several students showing symptoms of severe high fever every day, and the number was tending to increase dramatically.
Umbridge suspected that someone was behind this and ordered the head nurse, Madam Pomfrey, to find a way to cure the students' strange fever symptoms. However, the results were minimal because the symptoms seemed unpredictable and there was a possibility of recurrence even if they were cured.
As a result, Fred and George's fever candies sold like hot cakes and they earned a large sum of Galleons. They were happy every day, as if it were a holiday. It was obvious that they had enjoyed the pleasure of making money and getting rich.
In this humid environment, the fireplace in the common room has become a popular spot and the most crowded area. Many students like to stay by the fireplace to warm themselves, chat and do homework.
Albert used to like staying there to warm himself by the fire, but now he is more casual about it.
At this moment, he was sitting by the window in the common room. Although the thick curtains blocked the humidity outside, this place was still outside the range of the heat radiation from the fireplace. Few students would come here, but Albert didn't care, because he brought a small heater with him, which could keep him away from the cold and dampness in the corner. He felt as warm as if he was by the fireplace, and no one would disturb him.
Tom was lying on the cushion, staring at Albert who was writing something with a quill. He yawned and lay back on the cushion to rest.
After hearing the footsteps of someone approaching, Tom opened his eyes and looked at the wet human in front of him with a little disgust.
"What's up?"
Albert put down his quill, took a sip of hot milk tea and asked.
"Can you teach me Occlumency?" Harry asked straight to the point.
This was the advice Sirius gave to Harry. Black thought that since Albert thought it would be best for Harry to learn Occlumency, it would be better for him to take the time to learn it. It would never do any harm. Albert was always very accurate in his predictions in certain aspects, and basically would not go out of his way to trick Harry.
"I can't teach you. If you want to learn Occlumency, you have to find Professor Dumbledore." Albert reached out and scratched Tom's chin, and said calmly, "If you can't find Professor Dumbledore, ask Black to write a letter to the headmaster for you."
In fact, Fred, George and Lee Jordan all learned the art of Occlumency from Albert, but none of them mastered it, so Albert did not intend to teach Harry the art of Occlumency. It was a thankless task, and it was not a good thing to have long-term contact with Harry Potter.
"Sirius said he wanted to talk to you about something."
"Let's forget about it!" Albert refused directly.
Harry didn't dwell on it any longer. Albert said he couldn't teach him. He probably didn't intend to teach him, or he thought he couldn't teach him.
"What if I wanted to teach myself?" Harry asked again.
"There's a copy of 'Advanced Occlumency Guide' in the restricted section," Albert reminded.
"Thanks."
Harry dragged his wet body away and prepared to take a hot bath first.
Albert continued to write his potion thesis. Since he entered the seventh grade, he basically did not do homework. He wrote the thesis casually, and no professor would complain about it.
Well, except Snape!
The Potions Professor was very unhappy with Albert's failure to teach him homework, and had threatened to put him in detention if he didn't hand in his homework. In the end, after Dumbledore's "friendly" communication, Snape had no choice but to turn a blind eye instead of letting Albert go.
Of course, the only person who had this privilege was Albert.
After Umbridge learned this "good news" from the Slytherin students, she wanted to make a big fuss about it.
Unfortunately, Albert took some time to manually convince the other party.
“I hate the rain.”
"Angelina is absolutely possessed by Wood."
Fred and George had just returned from the Quidditch field. Unlike Potter, all the water stains on their bodies had been evaporated by the spell, and most of the remaining dirt had also been cleaned away by the spell. They did not look as disheveled as Harry.
"I thought you didn't do your homework."
Fred scooped a few biscuits from the plate and started to eat them with a crunch. They hadn't had dinner yet and they were already starving.
“This is not it.”
"Not what?"
George also started eating the biscuits, and then he produced a teacup and poured himself a cup of steaming milk tea.
"The research and improvement of the elixir." Albert said without hesitation.
Of course, this was actually an excuse. Albert had upgraded the Felicity Potion to level three through the panel, and compared it with the notes given to him by Hetok, and copied down the knowledge in the panel skills.
If it weren't for the skill point and experience limit, Albert would like to upgrade the Lucky Potion to level four, or even higher. Perhaps the side effects of the Lucky Potion would be greatly reduced, or even turn it into a potion with a strong buff effect instead of a so-called lucky potion.
Although Albert did have a lot of experience and skill points, he did not dare to squander them, but left enough for himself. Albert had a hunch that once Voldemort was defeated, it would be extremely difficult to continue to gain a lot of experience and skill points.
No, it should be said that after leaving Hogwarts, it will become difficult to trigger and complete the tasks.
Of course, Albert had no good intentions when he wrote these down and sent them to Hertok. He believed that his old friend would be very interested in the improvement of the Felixir. Then he could use the excuse of studying the Felixir together to invest some Galleons to sponsor the improvement and research of the Felixir, and then he could get some Felixir for free from the other party.
To be honest, Albert had no confidence that he could successfully brew the Foling potion in one go, especially since this potion was brewed by two people together, the probability of failure was even greater.
Thinking about the dangers he might have to face in the future, Albert felt that he should stock up on some Felicis to give himself peace of mind.
"You are finally going to brew the Felicia Potion!"
Fred and George looked very happy. They were also very interested in this magical potion. At least the magical candy made from Felix Felicis would definitely sell for a high price.
Albert was amused by Fred and George's idea.
There are actually very few Potions Masters who are truly good at making Felicis, because the cost of trial and error is too high.
If we fail, the price we pay will be too high.
Be it loss of time or money.
Therefore, few people would make the Felixir of Life, and even if they succeeded, they would rarely sell it. The price of the Felixir of Life on the market is simply a joke, because it is impossible to buy it in the first place.
"Have you seen the latest education order?"
Just as George and Fred finished most of the biscuits on Albert's plate and were about to take a hot bath, Lee Jordan hurried into the common room and said to Fred, George and Albert.
"New Education Order, what weird policy has Toad introduced again?" Fred and George looked at the panting Lee Jordan, raised their eyebrows and asked, "How could it make you so excited?"
Li Jordan took a few seconds to recover and said loudly, "Anyone who forms or joins any organization, association, team or club without the approval of the senior investigator will be expelled immediately."
The three of them looked at each other and were silent for a while.
"There's something odd about this," George said in a low voice. "Did Toad hear something?"
"That's normal." Albert was very calm, and didn't think there was anything surprising. "This kind of thing is only a matter of time. Maybe she will tell Fudge that she successfully stopped Dumbledore from organizing an army."
"Do you think she really believes that ridiculous rumor?" George thought this was ridiculous.
"Is this important?" Albert asked.
"Isn't it important?" Li Jordan was a little confused.
"It doesn't matter. It's just an excuse at most, and I don't think she needs an excuse." George shook his head.
"Toad has a strong desire for control. I think that guy is a pervert." Fred muttered.
"The Quidditch team is included. Angelina is about to cry." Lee Jordan reminded, "She is very worried that Umbridge will not allow Gryffindor to reorganize the team."
While they were talking, the three girls in the team had returned to the common room, cursing Umbridge.
When Angelina saw the latest educational order, she went straight to Umbridge, and the result was predictable.
"How's it going?" Fred asked.
"Umbridge said she wants a written application. She doesn't seem to intend to reorganize the Gryffindor Quidditch team." Angelina looked a little exasperated.
"There's something wrong with your way of thinking." Albert said suddenly.
"What?"
"That Toad really doesn't want the Gryffindor team to be reorganized. It's normal for her to suppress the Gryffindor team." Albert said calmly.
"Then what should I do?" Angelina asked with wide eyes, "Looking for Professor McGonagall?"
"Even if you go to Professor McGonagall, Umbridge will most likely not agree. In the end, Professor Dumbledore will probably have to step in to solve the problem." Albert knew Umbridge's tricks too well. That woman had been in the system for decades and was very good at using the system's tricks, and people in the system always liked to use these tricks.
"That's good."
Hearing Albert say that, Angelina couldn't help but breathe a sigh of relief. As long as the Quidditch team could continue, it would be fine.
For Angelina, who plans to join a team after graduation, Quidditch is almost everything to her.
"Even if it barely passes, what can we do?" Albert asked, "Do you really think Toad will just let it go?"
"You mean Umbridge will target Harry." Arya guessed what Albert meant.
"So what should we do?" Katie asked.
"Just stop the Quidditch game." Albert said calmly.
"Stop the Quidditch game?" Angelina's eyes widened. She couldn't believe what she heard. "How can this be possible?"
"I'm just making a suggestion." Albert packed up his things and took Tom back to the dormitory.
He knew very well that it was unrealistic to expect others to change anything if he didn't fight for it himself.
Most people in this world think this way.
But if you don't want to save yourself, you can only endure it silently.
Whether it was Angelina, Alia or Katie, they all looked at Albert's departing back in a daze.
"What are you going to do? If you can't do it, go find Professor McGonagall!" Fred looked at Angelina. Although he wanted to help her, he didn't have a good idea. Fred's intuition told him that Albert was right. If Umbridge wanted to target the Gryffindor team, then the conflict with Slytherin would be unavoidable. Toad would find an excuse soon. He might not be expelled, but he would definitely be banned from participating or disband the team.
Toads are definitely capable of doing these things.
"It should be said that the idea was wrong from the beginning." George suddenly said: "Once a Quidditch team is missing, there will only be three teams left. What if we convince another team to give up the game? Then there will be no need to compete. Even if Slytherin wants to compete, they have to find an opponent."
"What if Umbridge still disagrees?" Angelina asked back. She was really afraid that Umbridge would not be willing to compromise.
"That's nothing we can do!" George shrugged. "You can either compromise or fight to the end. You are the captain, make your own choice. Fred and I don't care anyway."
"No big deal?"
"We're not like you," Fred shook his head.
"What's the difference?" Katie asked.
"Find a few more substitutes. I think Charlie's idea of finding substitutes before was a good one. Anyway, we are going to graduate this year, and you will have to leave a few experienced players for Katie or Harry. It is not easy to train from scratch." George smiled and called Fred back to the dormitory to take a shower.
They would not devote all their hearts to the Quidditch game like Angelina did, nor did they take Umbridge seriously. After all, they were ready to cause trouble in the school with the attitude that it didn't matter even if it meant leaving Hogwarts early.
George actually hoped that Angelina would give up and persuade other colleges to give up this year's Quidditch game and give the championship directly to Slytherin.
Once that happened, the Slytherins would no doubt accept the Quidditch trophy with great pride.
When the Slytherin students realize that they have picked up a trophy for free, they will definitely not be happy, because it does not bring any honor at all. Instead, the trophy will become a shame for Slytherin and they will be nailed to the pillar of shame in Hogwarts forever.
All students who come to Hogwarts in the future will know that this trophy was won by a Slytherin student directly due to the interference of Umbridge, an official of the Ministry of Magic.
And the name Dolores Umbridge will remain forever in Hogwarts and be firmly nailed to the pillar of shame.
However, George probably guessed what Angelina would choose, just as Albert guessed Angelina's choice.
"Don't worry, Angelina, the situation is not that bad." Lee Jordan comforted her and turned back to the dormitory, but even he didn't believe what he said.