"Stop poking, you're almost blinding other people's eyes."
In a dormitory, Lee Jordan was poking around with a golden stick he had just bought from Zuo Ke's joke shop.
The golden rod is called the Honesty Detector, a very primitive dark magic detector that can detect hidden spells and magical items.
There are naturally not so many hidden spells and magical items in ordinary dormitories, but their dormitory has the genius Albert, and Lee Jordan actually discovered quite a few hidden spells, such as cabinets, books, and mirrors that all reacted.
Anyway, Lee Jordan is now poking around with the honesty detector with an excited look on his face.
"Be careful, Albert may beat you up when he comes back." Fred, who was playing cards, couldn't help but warn.
"As long as you don't tell him, he definitely won't know." Lee Jordan threw a chicken-flavored bean into his mouth, poked Albert's cabinet with his golden stick and said, "I know that many of the magic items made by Albert are kept in it."
"Don't try. It's enchanted. The Arahok opening spell can't open it."
"What about picking the lock?"
"If you pry it open, Albert will definitely beat you up later."
"Lee Jordan can't pick locks." George was very depressed. He lost again. It seemed that he had never been able to beat Fred in playing cards. Albert always said that there was something wrong with his deck, but George didn't want to change it.
"What do you think Albert bought this Silver Arrow for?" After Fred put away the wizard cards, he took out the Silver Arrow from under Albert's bed and put it on the table for careful observation. Although it was an antique broom, the workmanship was indeed very delicate, not at all as rough as other antique brooms.
“I don’t know, maybe, probably… want to collect this antique broom?” George said uncertainly.
"Look, there's a hidden spell on the broom, too." Lee Jordan said excitedly as he poked the broom with the golden stick.
"Don't fiddle with that thing here." Fred glared at Lee Jordan unhappily. "I'd rather believe that Albert is going to study the structure of the broom and make a new broom for himself!"
It is not actually difficult to manufacture a flying broom. The real difficulty lies in how to make the craftsmanship of the flying broom better.
"Help me pick the lock." Lee Jordan poked George with his stick and asked, "The Gryffindor treasure map you found last time is also in there."
"By the way, where's he?" George asked impatiently, pushing Lee Jordan's stick away.
"I don't know." Fred shook his head.
Just after returning from Hogsmeade, Albert disappeared inexplicably.
"While he's away..."
"I'm telling you, are you annoying? If you have time, go and take care of the wizard card competition."
George walked to the counter and took out a pile of cards from a box. Those were the wizard cards that he and Fred were trying to make. However, compared with Albert's wizard cards, there was still a gap.
Lee Jordan took the opportunity to move the golden stick down and poked George who was looking for materials. Fred was a little stunned watching this scene, and seemed to be looking forward to what would happen next.
…
…
At this moment, in the Room of Requirement, Albert was practicing the Traceless Stretching Spell.
He has been practicing for more than ten minutes so far, but the Traceless Stretching Charm has never taken effect, and the Traceless Stretching Charm has not appeared on the skill panel.
"It's indeed advanced magic. It feels really difficult." Albert murmured.
"Capacity expansion!"
He concentrated highly and waved his wand again to cast a spell on the box.
However, the Traceless Stretching Spell still had no effect, which made him a little depressed. He felt that he was cheated by the reward on the task panel.
Why not just take control of it yourself
"Where could the problem be?" Albert tried to recall the process of Professor Smith casting the spell.
My magical power should be enough, and there should be nothing wrong with the spells I cast and the gestures I wield my wand with.
Although we cannot rule out the possibility that Professor Smith deliberately misled me, this possibility should be small!
"But what exactly is the problem?"
Albert took a deep breath and suppressed the irritation in his heart. He temporarily gave up practicing the Traceless Stretch Charm and flipped through the book he borrowed from the restricted area. It did have a record of how to learn the Traceless Stretch Charm.
Albert spent a lot of time carefully reading the part about the Traceless Extension Spell several times. When he closed the book, he realized where he went wrong and his face suddenly darkened.
The Traceless Extension Charm is considered to be a difficult and advanced spell to master, and there is a reason for that. When using the spell, one needs to confirm again and again how much capacity to expand, similar to how Apparition requires knowing the destination accurately and the Patronus Charm requires pleasant memories.
However, Professor Smith never reminded Albert of this problem, so it is not surprising that the spell failed.
"The reward for this mission is such a rip-off!" Albert muttered.
He wasn't sure why Professor Smith only taught him spells and hand gestures, but didn't teach him the key points of casting spells. Did he not want to learn it, or... Never mind, he would find out next time he went to see Professor Smith.
"Capacity expansion!"
Albert picked up the wand and tried again. This time the spell finally worked. He reached into the box and found that the space inside had indeed increased a little.
He flipped through the skill panel again and successfully found the skill of the Traceless Stretching Spell.
The difficulty of the Traceless Extension Charm is related to the area being expanded.
Albert was not in a hurry to upgrade, but began to think about how to make a pair of protective gloves for himself using the fur of the swamp digger. The fur of the swamp digger that Mundungus helped him buy was not small, so he could make gloves first and then make a container for mandrake grass.
There was no tailor in his skill panel, and a first-level tailor probably couldn't make any good gloves. It would be best to find someone to help. Albert remembered that there was a tailor shop in Diagon Alley. He could write a letter to the fat witch. It would be best if she was willing to lend a hand.
If the other party is unwilling, you can only find a way yourself.
The first-level tailoring skill always feels a bit unreliable.
…
At lunch time, Albert showed up in the hall on time. His three roommates were already there and were waving at him.
"What happened to your eyes?"
When Albert walked over, he found that Lee Jordan's eyes were a little swollen, as if he had been punched. Fred next to him was laughing secretly.
"He poked around with the honesty detector, and the result was..." George shrugged helplessly.
"I was just joking, you were too harsh." Lee Jordan couldn't help but accuse.
"I didn't mean to do that. It was just an instinctive reaction, an instinctive reaction."
"Why don't you ask Madam Pomfrey for help?" Albert sat next to him and took a slice of bread to prepare a sandwich for himself.
However, Lee Jordan's face was a little dark, and there was no sign of the dark circles under his eyes from being beaten.
"Yes." Fred said, "Where did you go?"
"Practicing spells on the eighth floor!" Albert said casually.
"You wouldn't have... learned it already!" George looked at Albert in horror.
"How is that possible? I've only got some clues. I still need a lot of time to practice." Albert took a bite of the ham sandwich, reached out and picked up Lee Jordan's golden stick and touched it to the protective bracelet on his wrist. He found that this thing actually had some reaction.
"This thing is called an honesty detector," Lee Jordan introduced. "It can detect hidden spells and hidden magical items."
"The effect is very poor. It's probably a low-quality product." Albert took the gold rod away from the bracelet and found that the reaction on the gold rod disappeared immediately.
To be honest, Albert felt that the magical items in the wizarding world were very unreliable, and most wizards still needed to rely on their own wands.
"After all, you can't expect anything from two Galleons." Lee Jordan muttered. He took the golden stick and poked Albert's body, and then... he found a fist enlarged in front of him.
"That's enough for you!" Albert glanced at Lee Jordan.
"Then you don't have to hit me!" Lee Jordan covered his eyes and couldn't help but protest.
"Who told you to be so naughty?"
Fred and George tried hard not to laugh. If Lee Jordan wasn't so dark, the two dark circles under his eyes would have been too funny.
"By the way, next time I want to make a joke prop that can give others dark circles under their eyes. Write it down, write it down." George took out parchment and quickly wrote down this good idea.
"Wow, when did you get to wear this thing?" Lee Jordan looked at George in disbelief, as if he had seen something incredible.
"Hehe, I learned this from Albert." George waved the parchment proudly and explained casually, "There are some interesting ideas recorded in it. We will realize these good ideas one by one in the future."
"With your ability, it's difficult to succeed. If it were Albert, it would be easier." Lee Jordan couldn't help but make fun of George to express his dissatisfaction.
"We are still accumulating useful knowledge. In two years, we will definitely be able to start trying to make these things." Fred and George did not care too much about Lee Jordan's sarcasm. They did not have such ability now, but in a few years, they would definitely be able to complete it. Now they recorded it down to reserve some inspiration for the future. Even if they could not use it, there would be no loss.
"You won't make much money selling those things." Albert suddenly interrupted after eating his sandwich.
"Then what do you say is valuable?" Fred asked back.
“This thing.”
Albert shook his wooden bracelet and explained softly, "Professor Smith once complained to me that most wizards are very bad at defense against the dark arts. They can't even use the Shield Charm properly."
"You mean protective equipment?" George guessed immediately.
"Except for wizards performing dangerous tasks, I guess few people would buy it, right?" Fred frowned.
"Recently, I got some very useful information. In a few years, this thing will definitely sell well!" Albert grinned, "The field of defense against the dark arts is the real money-making field."
"What news?"
"The news is shocking," Albert said mysteriously, "You certainly don't want to know, nor do you want to believe it."