"Welcome to Dumbledore's Army."
Albert looked at the people opposite him and found that they were all Harry's acquaintances and supporters.
No one spoke, but just looked at Albert quietly, wanting to see what he would say.
Albert said straight to the point, "Let me be frank. In today's British wizarding world, many wizards choose to remain neutral, sit on the fence, or join the mysterious man. Now we can only gather some like-minded people to fight against the mysterious man together."
"Of course, there is a more important reason."
"What's the reason?" Hannah asked.
"According to the prophecy from more than a decade ago, Harry will inevitably have a battle with the mysterious man, and he needs everyone's support." Albert revealed some explosive news.
"Is this the important thing Harry said?" Dean couldn't help but ask.
"Yes, Harry is preparing for that."
"We can't just watch him fight alone, facing the mysterious man and his large number of minions. He needs help, and we are the only ones who can help him right now."
As soon as Albert finished speaking, he received a round of applause.
"Of course, fighting against dark wizards is a very dangerous thing, and meaningless sacrifice is unnecessary, but don't be discouraged. Even if some of you are too young or your fighting skills are not good enough and you don't end up on the battlefield, you can still contribute your part to help Harry defeat the You-Know-Who."
"I can and will fight. We are not afraid of death." The Creevey brothers protested dissatisfiedly.
"I know." Albert said gently, "Don't worry, you still need to undergo strict dark magic defense training to better protect yourself."
"Are you coming to teach us?" Dean looked at Albert expectantly. "By the way, are we now considered to be a member of the Defense Association?"
Everyone pricked up their ears and listened; they were quite concerned about this matter.
"You are already peripheral members of the association."
"Outlying members."
Everyone looked stunned.
"Official members of the Defense Association have all undergone rigorous training. Take Cedric for example. He now has a level of defense against the dark arts that is not inferior to that of an Auror. He can easily take down three or four of you by himself." Albert introduced Cedric directly. "If you don't believe me, you can try it later to see if he can handle the attacks of several people alone."
Cedric couldn't help but roll his eyes. He knew that Albert must have done this on purpose.
"How do we become official members?" Justin couldn't help but ask.
"You still need to work hard to hone your combat skills. Then we will be happy to welcome you to join us." Albert did not set any so-called standards. "But I have to inform you in advance that once you join the Defense Association, you will face real dangers and challenges, and you may even lose your life. You need to be mentally prepared in advance."
Several people looked at each other, obviously a little frightened by Albert's words.
"Okay, I'm here today to solve your problems." Albert raised his hand and signaled everyone to keep quiet. "First, we need to improve your living environment and make your life more comfortable, but this requires you to use magic to accomplish it yourself, instead of complaining like those guys outside, always hoping that someone will help them clean up."
"I know food is expensive and scarce here, but you can grow some vegetables that mature quickly to improve your diet. I think this should be no problem for people from Hufflepuff College!" Albert said to Hannah, "I will help you with the seed problem."
"It should be fine, but we don't have the right soil. And here..."
"You have a magic wand, so you can build a greenhouse on the roof by yourself." Albert said calmly, "Don't underestimate yourself. Many things depend on whether you are willing to do them. For example, use 'Clean Up' to clean up the filth here, right? This is not a very difficult task, so why not start taking care of it? I think you probably don't want to live in a very bad environment!"
Everyone looked at each other, and finally, at Hannah's urging, began to clean the room according to Albert's instructions.
It didn't take the seven of them much time to clean the room again. Even if there were some difficult-to-clean stains, they were scrubbed clean over and over again with a brush.
"Look, you can definitely do it. It's just a matter of whether you are willing to spend some time to do it." Albert said gently, "I'll give you half an hour now to clean up the room you live in. I think you should also want a comfortable environment. I'll treat you to a meal when you're done."
"Do you tell other people the same thing?" Cedric asked doubtfully.
"Yes, I did, but it's difficult. They don't want to do it, so what can I do?" Albert shook his head and said, "To be honest, the food has been put on the table, but they are too lazy to reach out for it. They deserve to starve to death."
"Your metaphor..."
Everyone was speechless, but this was actually true.
"But didn't Hannah and the others follow your advice?" Cedric couldn't understand.
"They were probably members of the DA at school. They all support Harry, are more willing to believe Albert, and are easier to persuade," Shanna explained to everyone.
"That's it. As long as we teach them how to change their environment by themselves and how to learn and improve themselves, they will gradually get on the right track and stop complaining about the bad environment here, because they know they can change their living environment by themselves, and they will feel a sense of accomplishment. As for others who are unwilling, they will have to continue to endure it, and no one can be blamed for this."
"After all, it is always easier to convince a few people than to convince the majority!"
“I didn’t expect it to be like this.”
"Most of your attention has been on Qiu Zhang recently, you just didn't notice it." Albert teased with a smile.
Cedric was a little embarrassed because other people around him had started to make a fuss and asked when they were going to get married.
"Ahem, I'm still young, there's no rush to get married."
Of course Cedric liked Qiu, but the current situation was not suitable for discussing this matter. Bill and Fleur's wedding was a lesson for everyone.
"You should seize the opportunity!" Albert kindly reminded, "Once time passes too long and you miss the first few years, your desire will fade."
"Fred, what about you?" Cedric tried to change the subject.
"I do have a reason, but Angelina wants to play for a few more years before retiring." Fred shrugged and said, "So, we decided to wait until the war is over..."
"Maybe you should consider getting engaged first. It's okay to consider getting married later." Albert interrupted to prevent Fred from setting a flag for him for no reason.
"This is a good idea. I'll go back and discuss it with Angelina. I just don't know if she's willing." Fred agreed with Albert's suggestion.
"We have discussed this matter, and Qiu Zhang has agreed, but it is not appropriate for us to contact our family. You know it is not appropriate at this time."
While they were talking, Hannah had already finished the cleaning work with her team and came back to find Albert.
"I think you guys need beds!"
Albert looked at the empty room and gently waved his wand to summon cardboard boxes out of thin air. He then used a sticking spell to stick the boxes together to form a single bed.
"This thing collapses if you press it down a little bit."
"Of course, you need to deform it, like this."
As he spoke, Albert used a spell to transform the cardboard bed into a simple single bed.
"Tables and chairs can also be transformed in a similar way. Transfiguration magic is more practical than you expected, but you must know how to use it. If the success rate is not high, you can also try to transform the same thing with multiple people working together. If you want to transform inanimate objects into inanimate objects, generally as long as the areas of the objects are not too different, the difficulty will not be too high." Albert demonstrated it to them personally.
Hannah was stunned for a moment and said awkwardly, "But we don't know the spell, so we can't turn it into a bed like you can."
"Oh, well, this is indeed a big mistake on my part. I will tell you the spell." Albert really hadn't thought about the problem of these spells. Since he absorbed the knowledge in Dumbledore's Transfiguration Notes, he was basically no longer limited to spells.
"Okay, let's go to the kitchen. I think it should be ready there. I promised to prepare something for you to eat. Don't worry, it's not boiled potatoes."
Albert took them to the kitchen, where the house-elves had already prepared sumptuous food for everyone according to his instructions.
However, this whole table of food was made entirely of wheat and potatoes, which left everyone stunned.
"There are many ways to cook wheat and potatoes, you just don't know how to cook them, otherwise you would have no problem changing the taste every day."
Albert handed Hannah a bowl of steaming noodles and said, "Try it. I think this is more convincing than anything else."
"So, there's no share for us." Lee Jordan curled his lips. "I shouldn't have followed them. Watching them eat makes me feel hungry."
"Is this a vegetable pie?" Andy looked at the dumplings in confusion. "It tastes pretty good."
"Vegetable fried dumplings, made of wheat and vegetables." Albert introduced, "The fillings inside can be changed at will."
Everyone was a little skeptical about life. They didn't expect that flour and potatoes could be used to make food that they had never eaten before, and it tasted so good.
"Albert is very knowledgeable about food." Shanna waved her magic wand, and conjured two books out of thin air and handed them to Hannah, saying, "Albert's magical recipe book, which I compiled. Even if you use some simple foods, you can make very delicious food. So don't complain about the bad food in the future, it's because you don't know how to cook."
After that, Sana winked at Albert mischievously and said, "I plan to publish this book in the future, do you mind?"
"No problem."
"The house elves here can do it. I suggest you ask them when you have time. There is no harm in learning a little." Albert said to Dobby, "Especially for girls, this opportunity is rare. It will be difficult for you to find such qualified teachers in the future."
"Please." Albert said to the three house-elves.
“It’s our pleasure.”
The house-elves hurriedly bowed slightly to Albert.
Hannah's expression was a little strange, because Albert called the house-elf a teacher, which was simply unimaginable in the wizarding world. Perhaps only Albert could say such words so calmly.
After everyone wolfed down the food on the table, Albert continued, "That's about it. You need to stick together and spend more time practicing spells every day. We will also have people come to teach you. Believe me, as long as you work hard, you will definitely make greater progress than the students at Hogwarts because you have more time."
"Is it the same for the Defense Association?" Hannah asked Shanna curiously.
"Yeah, almost, but we spend most of our time practicing fighting."
"Most members have gone through the stage of accumulating spells, and this process takes about a year." Albert thought for a moment and said, "So don't worry, when you have mastered most of the spells, I will formally invite you to join the Defense Association and teach you how to fight against dark wizards instead of throwing spells at each other like children playing. This is knowledge that cannot be learned from books, and it is also one of the benefits of joining the Defense Association."
"Can we become as powerful as Cedric by then?" Justin was looking forward to it. He knew very well that only by having power could one protect himself in this terrible era.
"As long as you have mastered that part of the experience, you will basically have the combat level of the Ministry of Magic Aurors. You won't even have to face ordinary dark wizards, because their combat qualities are not as high as yours who have been systematically trained."
Albert looked at the group of people with shining eyes and was quite satisfied with it.
"By then, you will be able to defeat them more easily. With the help of some dark magic defense items, you will definitely have no problem protecting yourself."
They actually believed this because Fred and George had beaten several dark wizards who were monitoring this place a while ago.
Everyone was amazed after seeing how Albert convinced the DA members.
They also knew that this matter had probably already been accomplished. At least the future that Albert described was still very good, and everyone's situation would soon change.
Others may be dissatisfied after noticing this, but what can they do about it
They spent a lot of money to buy it. Do they have the nerve to rob it
No one would be that stupid.
For those who want to live a better life, gradually integrating into Dumbledore's Army is their destiny.
This is probably what Albert meant: Instead of trying to convince them, let them convince themselves.
"By the way, a communicator lit up today."
Back at the Defense Association headquarters, Lee Jordan recounted what he had discovered this morning.
"Then let's observe for two days first, lest they be controlled by the Death Eaters' Imperius Curse and trap us." Albert said calmly, "It's always better to be cautious."