At dusk, in the Hogwarts kitchen, the house-elves were busy coming and going around the long table, preparing a sumptuous dinner for the students of Hogwarts.
Suddenly, a series of harsh and discordant "pa pa" noises came from a corner of the kitchen, startling the house-elves who were originally busy and exhausted.
Several house-elves were so frightened that the food they were holding almost flew out of their hands.
The plate of stewed potatoes that almost fell to the ground actually stopped in mid-air, as if someone had pressed the pause button, and then returned to the plate in the house-elf's hand as if it was being replayed.
"Sorry for scaring you."
A gentle voice sounded in the kitchen. The house-elves, who were originally busy and exhausted, stopped what they were doing and turned their heads to look in the direction where the voice came from.
"Mr. Anderson!"
I don’t know which house-elf recognized the owner of that voice, but he was the first to call out Albert’s name. The other house-elves also showed happy smiles on their faces.
They put down what they were doing and gathered here, but they noticed Hermione and Dobby beside Albert. Immediately, they showed undisguised disgust and aversion on their faces and avoided the two of them, as if they were carrying some terrible infectious disease.
However, two house-elves still brought Albert tea and pie.
"Thank you for your hospitality. I won't disturb you from working." Albert picked up the pie brought by a house-elf, thanked them with a smile, and left the kitchen with Hermione and Dobby to avoid causing unnecessary trouble to the busy house-elves.
"They seem to like you very much. How do you do it? I mean, how do you make them like you?"
Hermione looked at the closed kitchen door, then turned her head to look at Albert holding the pie with envy, and curiously asked Albert the secret of his popularity.
The treatment she and Albert enjoyed really made Hermione feel inexplicably sad. Sometimes she would wonder if she had really done something wrong.
"As long as you can respect them, they will naturally like you. Give... a piece of pie and don't think too much." Albert shared the pie he had just taken from the plate with Hermione and Dobby.
"Thank you sir."
Dobby hesitated for a moment, but still reached out to take the pie from Albert, took a bite happily, and did not forget to thank Albert.
"It's that simple. You just need to treat them as normal people, but many people can't do that." Albert handed the remaining pie to Hermione and reminded her, "Don't do things that they hate. Even if you think something is right, it may not be right for others. After all, many things are relative."
Hermione took the pie stupidly, looked at Albert who was waving at her, not knowing what to say.
"Well, I should go back. I think you must be hungry. Let's go eat. Your friends must be waiting for good news from you." Albert stretched out his hand to Dobby and let the house-elf take him away from Hogwarts.
"goodbye."
Hermione looked at the place where the house-elf disappeared with Albert, and fell into a brief silence again. She looked down at the pie in her hand, put it in her mouth and took a bite, not knowing what she was thinking.
After finishing the pie, Hermione headed straight back down the passage to the hall.
As soon as she entered the hall, it didn't take Hermione long to find Harry and Ron who were enjoying dinner and talking in low voices.
When Hermione walked over, she found her ears were buzzing. Harry and Ron had obviously cast an ear-blocking spell. Hermione removed the spell and heard the two talking about Lavender. Ron seemed confused about this relationship.
"I wouldn't do that if I were you."
Hermione sat down in the empty seat next to Harry, glanced at Ron with a scumbag look, and said indifferently, "How long have you been dating? You're planning to dump him?"
"Hermione, when did you come back?" Harry asked in surprise.
"I didn't say I was going to dump her, I just thought she was a little too clingy," Ron stammered, "like an octopus."
"Albert sent me back just now. Things at home have been dealt with." Hermione lowered her voice and said, "A lot of things happened in the meantime. Thanks to the help of Albert and Kings, things were finally solved smoothly."
"Would you mind telling us?"
Harry was curious about what had happened while Hermione was home on leave.
"This isn't the right place. We need to find another place to talk." Hermione didn't intend to say it here. Even using the ear-blocking charm wasn't safe, and she didn't want Harry to abuse these spells.
"Let's go to the Room of Requirement, where no one will bother us," Ron suggested.
After the three of them had a simple dinner, they hurried to the Room of Requirement on the eighth floor. It was obviously safer to discuss private matters there, at least they didn't have to worry about being overheard.
However, what puzzled Harry was that there was someone in the Room of Requirement and they could not get in.
"Someone is using it, let's find another place!"
Harry frowned at the closed Room of Requirement and took Hermione and Ron to a nearby empty classroom.
After making sure that there was no one around and using the ear-blocking charm, Hermione told the two of them what had happened after she returned home.
From the three time clues Cassandra left before her death, to the mysterious man using spells to locate her family and set traps, intending to use it to kill Albert, to Albert discovering something was wrong at the first time, successfully rescuing Hermione's family and successfully getting rid of the mysterious man's pursuit, and finally with the help of the Order of the Phoenix, he sent his family away from England at the airport.
"That guy is really powerful. If he were an ordinary person, he would probably step directly into the trap of the mysterious man." Harry couldn't help but sigh after listening to Hermione's story.
It is not difficult to see from Hermione's words how dangerous the whole thing is. If Albert is not decisive enough, not only Hermione's family will be in danger, but even Hermione may be in danger.
"Isn't the point of this matter that Hermione's family was almost innocently killed by Albert?" Ron muttered softly.
He actually felt that Hermione's family was very unlucky, as they almost lost their lives for no apparent reason.
"Albert didn't mean it, and this matter is related to my asking him for help." Hermione never blamed Albert for this, even if her family members really lost their lives because of it.
She knew very well that sooner or later she would run into similar troubles when she followed Harry to fight against the mysterious man. It was enough to be able to solve the problem. She never had too many extravagant hopes.
"Can… "
Ron hesitated to speak, but finally shut up.
"I heard from Kings that your uncle and his family will be sent away next summer and hidden to avoid being found by the Death Eaters," Hermione said to Harry.
"My family can't all hide, they still need to work." Ron also frowned because he thought of the situation of his own family.
The Death Eaters undoubtedly hated the Westley family. Fred and George followed Albert to fight against the You-Know-Who, and he also followed Harry to fight against the You-Know-Who. No, it should be said that their family, except for the traitors Percy and Ginny, were all fighting against the You-Know-Who.
Definitely blacklisted.
Oh my God, Ron really couldn't imagine what terrible things would happen if the mysterious man set his sights on their family.
Or, they would torture his family and try to tell them the whereabouts of Harry, or take them hostage and send the Order of the Phoenix to rescue them. The bleak future made Ron's face look even uglier.
"Don't worry Ron, Kings came to say the Ministry of Magic has other plans for your family."
"But what if the Ministry of Magic collapses? Didn't Albert predict the collapse of the Ministry of Magic?" Ron said gloomily.
"Maybe they should find a house protected by the Fidelius Charm to hide in!" Hermione whispered to comfort her. "Sirius doesn't mind them using the headquarters of the Order of the Phoenix. At least it's safe there for the time being."
"Why is the mysterious man so eager to get rid of Albert?" Harry asked the question in his heart. This matter was very abnormal no matter how you looked at it. The mysterious man actually set a trap himself to hunt down Albert.
"I'm not sure, but I think Albert probably made him feel threatened." Hermione thought for a moment and analyzed, "Albert's divination is very accurate. Basically, the results of the divination have all come true. Moreover, he is so powerful. If he really joins forces with the Ministry of Magic and the Order of the Phoenix to fight against the You-Know-Who, the situation will probably be very unfavorable to them. In fact, the recent cases are the best proof that the Death Eaters have suffered heavy losses."
"In fact, sometimes I think Albert is more suitable to be the savior than me." Harry said self-deprecatingly, "He can definitely do better than me. As you know, that guy can do almost anything."
"Harry!" Hermione looked at her best friend worriedly.
"Albert successfully united the Ministry of Magic and the Order of the Phoenix to work together to fight against the You-Know-Who's power. This was something that even Dumbledore couldn't do, but Albert accomplished it easily." Harry said with a wry smile.
He felt that it was completely reasonable for the mysterious man to want to kill Albert. Perhaps Albert was even higher on the mysterious man's blacklist than he was.
"Don't think like that, Harry. Albert also thinks you are the real savior." Hermione comforted him softly, "He also said that there are many things that you are more suitable to do than him and Dumbledore."
"A lot of things?"
Harry looked at Hermione a little confused, but soon understood what she meant. The search for the Horcruxes needed to be kept secret, and Albert and Dumbledore were undoubtedly under Voldemort's special attention. Once their actions were exposed, they would be completely doomed. He was undoubtedly more suitable to complete this task. At least compared with the first two, Voldemort was obviously more willing to keep an eye on their every move.
“Is this the benefit of being too weak?”
There was an undisguised bitterness in Harry's voice. If only he could be better, if only he could be as good as Albert... Unfortunately, he, the so-called savior, was just an insignificant underage wizard.
Therefore, Scrimgeour never regarded him as a so-called savior, but as a signboard that could influence the reputation of the Ministry of Magic.
After the brief conversation, the three of them went straight back to the common room. As soon as Ron entered the common room, he was entangled by Lavender. The two were performing a wrestling-style kiss on the sofa. Ron was obviously enjoying this experience, which made their friends quite embarrassed.
At this moment, Ginny walked over here quickly. After glancing at the hypocritical Ron, she handed a piece of parchment to Harry.
"Harry, Professor Dumbledore asked me to give this to you."
"Thank you, Ginny... Dumbledore is going to teach me again!" Harry said to Hermione in a low voice, unfolding the parchment and quickly scanning the contents on it.
"By the way, Harry, when is the next DA meeting? Everyone can't wait." Ginny asked.
"Well... I've been busy lately. I've also promised to help out at the Wizard Card Club, and I've got Quidditch training, so I simply don't have time. The next gathering will probably have to wait until after the Christmas holidays." It's not that Harry doesn't want to hold a DA gathering, but he's been too busy lately.
"Or, I'll let Sai..."
Just when Harry was about to ask Cedric to host the party, Hermione stepped hard on his toe, and he swallowed the words back into his stomach.
"Hermione, why are you stepping on me?"
After Ginny left, Harry reached out and rubbed the toe that Hermione stepped on, and couldn't help complaining.
"Albert hopes that you can gather popularity through the DA gathering and gain more support and advocacy from students." Hermione reminded him seriously: "If you throw the DA gathering to Cedric, it will be nothing. The meaning of the DA gathering will be largely lost."
"I thought this party was mainly to teach everyone Defense Against the Dark Arts." Ron broke free from Lavender at some point and asked in surprise.
Although he knew this, Hermione's words were indeed somewhat unexpected to him.
"Although it does sound a bit far-fetched, this is what Albert is planning. He thinks you need some loyal supporters." Hermione looked at Harry and Ron and said seriously, "Teaching everyone Defense Against the Dark Arts is just a side job."
"I need to?" Harry muttered.
To be honest, Harry didn't really like this, but Albert obviously thought there was a real chance that he would go through what happened last term again.
"Albert hopes to use the DA gathering to gather everyone around you and support you in fighting against the mysterious man." Hermione thought that Albert's action made sense. "It's not easy to fight alone, Harry. You need allies. No, we, even the Order of the Phoenix, need allies."
"But... I really don't have time recently, if I cancel the Wizard Card Club."
Actually, Harry doesn't play Wizard Cards very often, and he doesn't like this game very much, because playing this game requires not only carefulness but also the use of brains.
"No Harry, we promised." Hermione refused bluntly.
Luna has no idea how to run the Wizard Card Club. If she doesn't lend a hand, the Wizard Card Club might be gone. And she promised Albert a long time ago that she would help.