As November approached, the weather became very cold and the mountains around Hogwarts Castle were covered with snow.
In the morning, a layer of frost appeared on the windows. Albert covered his yawn, turned over and curled up in the quilt, reluctant to get up. Suddenly, a desperate scream and curse came from the dormitory, "Damn it, why didn't it rain today?"
"George, shut up," Lee Jordan complained as he pulled the covers over his head. "Don't yell so early in the morning. It's killing me."
"It's so cold, close the window." Albert, curled up in the quilt, couldn't help but mutter.
"Are we going into the woods today?" Fred asked, poking his head out of the quilt and looking through the closed window. "Can we find jumping toadstools in this weather?"
"It's hard to say." Albert suggested, "We should go to Hogsmeade. Remember the Hog's Head Inn I mentioned before? It is said that it is a black market trading place. Today is the day when Hogwarts students go to Hogsmeade. Even if someone accidentally breaks in, it won't seem too abrupt."
Albert looked quite mature, so it was no problem for him to pretend to be a third-year student. After all, no one who didn't know him would know that he was a second-year student.
"Black market? I haven't been to the black market yet. What kind of place is that?" Lee Jordan immediately agreed with Albert's suggestion. Although it was impossible to go to the Forbidden Forest to find jumping toadstools, it was actually not bad to visit the black market in Hogsmeade.
"I don't know, but it's best not to expect too much." Albert explained, "I heard about this from Hagrid."
"To Hogsmeade!"
After a brief discussion, the few of them decided to go to Hogsmeade.
At breakfast time, everyone was talking about Hogsmeade and seemed particularly excited. Several younger students listened eagerly to other older students talking about the only wizarding village in the UK and the interesting and novel things in Hogsmeade.
After breakfast, the four played two more rounds of wizard cards. After digesting the food a little, they went to Hogsmeade through the secret passage. This journey was very time-consuming. When the four came out of the secret passage, they were shivering with cold.
"Let's go to the Three Broomsticks and have a cup of hot butterbeer to warm ourselves up." Albert's suggestion was unanimously agreed by everyone.
Ms. Rosmerta looked at the four young customers in front of her in surprise, turned her head to look at the mechanical clock next to her, and asked in surprise, "How come you arrived earlier than the other students?"
Albert put his hands on the cup of butterbeer to warm them, smiled at the bar owner and said, "This is our secret!"
"Oh, well, secrets!" Madam Rosmerta said to herself. "I guess I should get ready. It's going to get busy here soon."
"When do you think the first batch of students will arrive?" Fred sat by the fireplace, warming himself.
"Anyway, he didn't get here as early as us." Lee Jordan took a sip of butterbeer, squinted his eyes comfortably and said, "It would be nice if I could take some back to drink slowly."
"That's a good idea." Albert turned his head and asked Ms. Rosmerta, "I want to buy a small barrel of butter beer."
"That won't do," Madam Rosmerta said flatly. "I don't want the headmaster of Hogwarts writing to me complaining about a student getting drunk at school."
"Can this thing make you drunk?" Albert couldn't help but mutter.
“What a shame.”
"I know where I can get a large amount of butterbeer." Albert said mysteriously after the bar owner left the counter.
"The Hog's Head?" Fred immediately guessed what Albert meant.
Albert nodded, indicating that Fred had guessed correctly.
After drinking butter beer and warming up their bodies, they left the Three Broomsticks and began to look for the location of the Hog's Head Inn in Hogsmeade. It should be a more remote bar or inn, and it should be on the side of a path. It should not look very good, and the sign hanging on it should be a pig's head.
Hogsmeade is actually just a small village with not many wizards. Before the students from Hogwarts arrived, they had already found the location of the Hog's Head Inn.
"Is this the place?" George pointed to the tattered wooden sign with a pig's head painted on it and said to his companions. It didn't take them much time to find the pub. They just walked around Hogsmeade Village and then turned into a small road beside the post office on the central avenue and found the pig's head pub.
Albert pretended to be just passing by, glanced inside, and walked in casually. The bar was small, dark, and very dirty, with a strong smell of sheep in the air, which was a bit similar to the black market he guessed.
The most important thing is that there are no customers here, which is why Albert brought Fred and others in.
"It's so dirty." George couldn't help but mutter.
"Is this the black market?" Lee Jordan couldn't hide his disappointment on his face, but after being glared at by Albert, he shut up obediently.
As soon as they entered the Hog's Head, Fred and his friends began to look around the bar. It was like two different worlds from the Three Broomsticks.
Thick dirt accumulated on several windows, and the light from outside could hardly penetrate into the bar. There were some candle stubs burning on the rough wooden tables on both sides.
"It's really terrible here." Albert suppressed his irritation. There was no other way. Dirt had accumulated for centuries under his feet. At first glance, he thought the ground was compacted mud. This reminded Albert of the feces roads in medieval Europe. It was really disgusting.
"What would you like to order?" the bar owner asked in a muttered voice as he sidled out from a back door and came towards them.
"Is this a bar?" Albert asked uncertainly, looking at the tall and thin old man in front of him.
"Yeah." The old man with gray hair and white beard responded casually.
"Can we buy a small bucket of butterbeer here and take it away?" Albert asked again. They had just drunk butterbeer and had no intention of continuing to drink it here. Moreover, the sanitary conditions of the Pig's Head Bar were worse than expected.
"One Galleon." The man bent down and pulled out a dusty and dirty oak barrel from under the counter and placed it heavily on the bar.
"Here." Albert took out a Galleon from his pocket and placed it on the rough counter.
"It's really heavy." George reached out to move the barrel, only to find that the small barrel was a bit heavy.
The bar owner put the money Albert gave him into an old wooden cash box, and the wooden drawer slid open automatically and swallowed the money.
He took out a dirty rag and began to wipe the wine glass, looking at the four people with interest, as if he wanted to see how they would deal with the heavy little barrel.
"Get out of the way." Albert reached out and pushed George away, pulled out his wand from his pocket, waved it at the keg of beer, and chanted a spell to shrink it greatly. Then, in full view of everyone, he picked up the keg of beer and put it into the pocket of his robe.
"Why didn't I think of that?" George patted the back of his head and couldn't help muttering.
"Let's go." Albert asked everyone to leave the Hog's Head Bar. He didn't want to stay in this place any longer.
"Do you feel that this bar owner looks familiar, as if you have seen him somewhere?" Lee Jordan suddenly said.
"I feel like I've seen it somewhere before," Fred and George echoed.
Albert glanced at the bar owner and muttered, "Probably a relative of Professor Dumbledore."
His voice wasn't loud, but it was loud enough for everyone in the bar to hear.
"Relative of Principal Dumbledore?" Fred and the others were very surprised and turned back to look at the bar owner. In the eyes of most students, Dumbledore was no different from a great man.
"Why are you here?" A familiar and surprised voice suddenly sounded behind them.
"Good morning, Hagrid." Albert turned around and greeted Hagrid with a smile.
"You shouldn't be here." Hagrid looked at Albert, frowned and said, "Besides, I remember you seemed to..."
"By the way, Hagrid, the owner of the Hog's Head Inn is a relative of Headmaster Dumbledore, right?" Albert interrupted what Hagrid was about to say.
"What?" Hagrid was also stunned. He probably didn't expect Albert to ask such a question. "Why do you ask that?"
"Eye Hagrid," Albert reminded, "they have similar eyes."
"Oh, well, it seems they are relatives." Hagrid said vaguely, seeming reluctant to mention these things.
"Why are you here?" George continued to interrupt.
"I..." Hagrid didn't want to answer.
"Are you going to feed Fluffy?"
"What is Lu Wei?" Fred asked curiously.
"Hagrid's new puppy," Albert explained casually.
"Oh, Hagrid, you saved it?" Aberforth looked at Hagrid in surprise. He certainly knew that Hagrid bought a sick three-headed dog from a Greek, but he was even more surprised that Hagrid seemed to have a good relationship with the four children in front of him.
"Well, Fluffy is very healthy now, but it has been raining for a while and he doesn't like rain very much." Hagrid muttered vaguely.
"Can we go see your new puppy?" Fred noticed Albert's suggestive look and continued the topic.
"Okay, what are you doing here?" Hagrid demanded loudly.
"Today is the day when Hogwarts students go to Hogsmeade." Albert said seriously.
"Of course I know that today is the day when Hogwarts students go to Hogsmeade, but that is for students in their third year and above. I remember you are only in your second year." Hagrid couldn't help but complain, "That old idiot Filch actually let you sneak out."
"Don't be angry, Hagrid. We are just out for a walk. Hogsmeade is full of Hogwarts students now. It's safe here." Albert comforted him.
"But you've violated the school rules." Hagrid poked Albert's chest with his finger and warned.
"Rules are meant to be broken, don't you think, Hagrid?" Albert said in a careless manner, "Besides, this is not a serious matter."
Hagrid was stunned, and Fred and others beside him were all shocked. They didn't expect that someone could make it seem like a matter of course to violate school rules.
"I can't argue with you," said Hagrid, pretending to be angry. "Tell me, what are you doing here?"
"Come and see what the black market in the wizarding world is like. To be honest, I'm a little disappointed." Albert did not hide the disappointment on his face. Of course, he was pretending to show Hagrid.
"What are you going to buy on the black market?" Hagrid asked warily.
"Runeline snake eggs." Albert said without hesitation.
"You want to raise a snake?" Hagrid was very surprised and looked Albert up and down again.
"I'm not a Slytherin student, so how could I be interested in snakes?" Albert shook his head and explained, "I heard that eating runes snake eggs can make people smarter, so I plan to buy a few and taste them to see if they can make me smarter."
At this moment, not only Hagrid, but even Aberforth opened his mouth in surprise.
"You want to eat Runespoor eggs?" Hagrid's face twitched slightly, and he couldn't help but say, "I think you are smart enough."
"But no one would mind becoming smarter." Albert turned his head and looked at Fred and the others and asked, "Do you want to become smarter?"
"Of course."
"Look." Albert spread his hands towards Hagrid, then looked at the bar owner and asked, "Who is..."
"Albusford Dumbledore," said the barkeeper.
"Mr. Abusford, how much does a runespoor egg cost?" Albert asked politely.
"The trade in these snake eggs has been thriving on the black market for centuries." Albusford said after a moment's deliberation, "It's a bit difficult to get them. One egg costs about five to ten Galleons."
"If you can help me get one or two, that would be great." Albert smiled and quoted his price, "Ten Galleons each. Of course, don't fool me with fake ones. I still have some basic common sense."
Albusford raised his eyebrows, looked at Albert deeply, and said nothing for a long time.
"Albert..." Hagrid couldn't help but say, "You need to be extremely alert when dealing with guys in the black market."
"Of course I know." Albert said, "But isn't this man a relative of Dumbledore? I think he should be trustworthy to some extent. Besides, we each get what we need."
"One gold coin, and I can introduce you to a fairly reliable guy if you need anything." Albusford suddenly raised his finger and said to Albert.
"Albusford." Hagrid glared at the owner of the Hog's Head Inn in dissatisfaction.
Albert took out a gold coin and threw it to Albusford.
"His name is Mundungus." Albusford looked at Albert in surprise. He was extremely surprised by the other party's straightforward answer.
"That stinky little thief Mundungus?" Hagrid obviously didn't like the guy named Mundungus very much.
"His full name is Mundungus Fletcher," said Albusford, waving his wand and releasing a ball of white light.
"What is that?" Fred and others couldn't help but ask as they looked at the disappearing white light.
"It should be a patron saint." Albert explained.
"You know?" Albus was surprised that Albert knew about the Patronus, which was a very advanced magic.
"I know. I'm practicing. But, what do you want to do by releasing the patronus?" Albert asked with pretended curiosity. He naturally knew that the patronus could be used to send messages.
"Summon, Mundungus will be here soon," Albusford explained.
"I've never heard that the Patronus can be used for communication? Did you invent this method yourself?" Albert asked curiously.
"No." Albusford shook his head.
"That must be Headmaster Dumbledore. He really deserves to be the headmaster." Albert muttered to himself while secretly observing the changes in Albusford's expression.