After signing the contract, Albert returned to the villa, sat on the sofa in the living room, and chatted with others about alchemy.
Catherine would occasionally chime in with a word or two, and the atmosphere was very good.
However, the topic always deviated as they talked, and somehow it turned into Albert winning the International Wizard Chess Championship, and then turned into Nico giving up the Philosopher's Stone.
Nicholas expressed regret about this. When he was young, he had visited Mr. Nico and felt regretful about the decision of the greatest alchemist in history.
When Catherine heard that Nico planned to teach Albert knowledge in the last few years of his life, envy almost overflowed from her eyes.
If possible, Catherine would also like to study under Nicolas Flamel, but she couldn't say it out loud.
If I say so, it would be disrespectful to Grandpa Nicholas.
Nicholas naturally knew what his granddaughter was thinking, but he didn't have any better solution.
He himself was not familiar with Nico, so it was impossible for him to write a letter of introduction to his granddaughter. Moreover, after becoming his heir, Catherine would need to take on responsibilities, and she still had a lot to learn.
The conversation ended with Nicholas inviting the two to his alchemy workshop tomorrow.
As the night deepened, Albert leaned on the pillow, unable to sleep, so he used the table lamp in the room to read the book he borrowed from Catherine.
The spell book of Ilvermorny School of Witchcraft and Wizardry is called "Chadwick's Magic", which was written by Chadwick Boot, the founder of the school.
How to say it
The content isn’t bad, but it’s not great either.
Books from the early seventeenth century, even if written by powerful wizards, will have some problems to a certain extent.
After all, Chadwick Boot is not a professional writer of educational books.
Of course, The Charm of Chadwick is not the same book as the one written in the seventeenth century; it has been rewritten and revised many times.
The flaw is that this spell book obviously has the same problem as Miranda Goshawk's "Book of Spells", and the content of the evil spells in the book has basically been deleted.
How could an ancient spell book not contain evil curses
Those ancient books contain more or less some strange spells, and those that can be used as teaching materials have all been deleted and rewritten.
If we have to judge which spell textbook is better, it should be the "Standard Spells" series adapted from the "Book of Spells".
After all, this is a book that Miranda Goshawk has researched and adapted with great care.
Moreover, the fact that "Standard Spells" has become a textbook in many magic schools around the world explains a lot.
What interested Albert most was the history of magic, or rather the history of magic in the United States. The history of this country is obviously not very long, but the history of magic is particularly thick, at least it is the thickest book among the ones that Catherine gave him.
This book describes in detail some famous American history, such as the founding of Ilvermorny Academy of Witchcraft and Wizardry, the Salem Witch Trials, the establishment of the Magical Congress of the United States of America, the crimes of the Scourers (people who committed murder, trafficking of wizards, torture and other evil deeds), the birth of the twelve Aurors of the United States, the history of eliminating the Scourers, the leak of witch Dorcas Twelvetrees, and then the five relocation histories in the United States, and the Bigfoot rebellion.
In fact, as long as you read this history of magic in the United States, you will understand why the American magic world is different from the magic world in other countries.
The real culprits actually came from the Puritans in Britain and even in Europe.
After these remnant Catholic reformers fled to North America, they had low tolerance for faith and caused a lot of trouble.
Although only some No-Majs were unlucky, the relationship between wizards and No-Majs became quite bad.
In fact, we can see this from the first line of the school song of Ilvermorny School of Magic:
We are united,
Fighting the Puritans
…
Later, the witch Dorcas Twelvetrees caused a lot of trouble because she was obsessed with the handsome male assassin Troomeu Barebone (a descendant of the Scourers).
This led to the birth and implementation of Rappaport's Law, which completely severed the No-Maj and wizarding societies.
The law prohibited wizards and witches from befriending or marrying No-Majs, and imposed heavy penalties on wizards who became too close to them.
Wand licensing also appeared in Rappaport's Law.
The law stipulates that only male and female wizards who have reached the legal age (17 years old) can legally possess a wand outside of school, which is why the guy from the Ministry of Magic confiscated his wand.
As for the students of Ilvermorny Academy of Witchcraft and Wizardry, they borrow their wands from the school before graduation and leave them at school during the holidays. Only graduates can buy their own wands from the school.
The American wizarding community keeps a close eye on wand manufacturers.
In fact, the No-Maj's control over guns is even more lax than theirs.
The birth of Rappaport's Law further deepened the cultural differences between the American and European wizarding communities, which is the main reason why many wizards do not like to go to the United States.
Because you need to be extra careful, otherwise you may find yourself committing a serious crime for no apparent reason and end up in jail.
Later, the MACUSA probably felt that Rappaport's Law was undemocratic, so it abolished it in 1965.
Repealed the Rappaport Law
When Albert saw this, his expression became even weirder.
Yes, in order to demonstrate the freedom, equality and human rights of the Magical Congress of the United States of America, the Magical Congress of the United States of America announced the abolition of the Rappaport Law in 1965.
To be sure, MACUSA has repealed the term "Rappaport's Law".
It is not difficult to guess from the troubles Albert encountered when he came to the United States that most of the policies in the Rappaport Law have been retained, such as the need for wizards to have a wand license, the inability of No-Maj and wizards to marry or make friends, and wizard families cannot keep magical creatures... Well, these are all felonies.
Well, any wizard entering the United States needs to be supervised by the Magical Congress, otherwise it will be a felony.
Of course, the United States is so large that there are always shadows that are beyond the reach of the MACUSA. However, if these wizards living in the shadows commit serious crimes, they will be sentenced to death.
It is said that the Magical Congress of the United States upholds humanitarianism and carries out painless executions.
According to the records in the book, Newt, the author of the famous "Fantastic Creatures and Where to Find Them", almost lost his life in the United States. In the end, he helped the Magical Congress of the United States to arrest the Dark Lord Gellert Grindelwald and made amends, and then left this free and democratic land alive.
Albert closed the book and put the History of American Magic on the desk. It would be better for him to stay away from America in the future.
When he picked up the Defense Against the Dark Arts textbook, there was a knock on the door.
"Who?" Albert put the book on the table, got out of bed and walked towards the wooden door.
Outside the door was Catherine, wearing pink pajamas.
"What's the matter?"
"I saw that you didn't seem to be asleep yet, so I made you a cup of cocoa. This is my apology," Catherine said as she handed a cup of hot cocoa to Albert. "I'm sorry for causing you trouble for what happened today."
"Oh, I don't take it to heart. People like that can be found everywhere." Albert took the hot cocoa and took a sip, as if accepting the other party's apology.
He really didn't take the incident to heart. Anyway, he would never come to the United States again, let alone see the other person again, so it was useless even if he took it to heart.
"Good night, then."
"Thank you for the hot cocoa, it's delicious!" After Catherine left, Albert closed the door, went back to bed and read a book for a while. When he felt sleepy, he turned off the lights and went to rest.