The next day, Albert woke up early in the morning. After stuffing his packed suitcase into a seamless stretch bag, he went downstairs with his three roommates to have breakfast.
As they still had some time left before their appointment with Professor Slughorn, Albert and Isobel decided to have a date in the Room of Requirement to kill the remaining time.
As for, going to class first
Of course not.
Both of them are geniuses, and it didn't matter to them whether they attended the class or not.
Nearing ten o'clock, the two knocked on Professor McGonagall's office on time. When they pushed the door open, they saw Dumbledore, Professor McGonagall and another pot-bellied old man waiting for them inside.
The strange old man should be Professor Slughorn. His stomach is really hard to describe.
As soon as Albert and Isobel entered the room, Professor Slughorn's eyes fell on them.
"These two..." Dumbledore stepped forward and introduced, "are Mr. Albert Anderson and Miss Isobel MacDougal. This is an old friend of mine named Horace Slughorn. Because of Sirius Black, I can't leave Hogwarts School for the time being, so I can only ask my old colleague to take you there. He has many experiences of leading teams to participate in magic school potion championships."
"Don't worry, leave them to me!" Professor Slughorn almost patted his chest to make the promise.
There was another knock on the office door. Hagrid pushed it open and said to Dumbledore, "The carriage is ready and we can leave at any time."
Professor Slughorn pulled his pocket watch out of his pocket, checked the time and said, "I can tell them the rest on the way."
"Where's your luggage?"
Hagrid asked Albert and Isobel, who had nothing in their hands, in confusion. In fact, he came to help with the luggage.
"On my body."
Albert gave Hagrid a look, signaling him to shut up.
The two followed Professor Slughorn to the outside of the castle, where a carriage pulled by five Thestrals was parked.
"Hagrid, are you driving?"
"Yes, I'll take you there." Hagrid stepped forward quickly, opened the door for them, and let Professor Horace Slughorn get on first, followed by Albert and Isobel.
There was no sign of the carriage being extended by the Traceless Extension Charm, and after the three of them got in, the space inside was a little crowded. After Hagrid closed the door of the carriage, he sat in the driver's seat and drove the Thestrals forward for a distance, and the entire carriage was gradually pulled into the air by the Thestrals.
The commotion here immediately attracted the attention of the Dementors, and the group of guys surrounded it, seeming to try to force the carriage to stop for inspection.
The car windows were immediately covered with frost.
"What are they doing here?"
Professor Slughorn frowned when he saw the Dementors surrounding him. "I remember Dumbledore told those Dementors that we were going to participate in the competition."
"Maybe he wants to find out if Sirius Black is in the carriage." Albert pulled out his wand from his pocket expressionlessly, opened the window of the carriage, and let the wind pour into the carriage without caring. He turned his head and said to Isobel beside him, "Let the Patronus protect Hagrid. I will drive them away while there are no Muggles around."
"Oh, I don't think it's necessary..."
Before Professor Slughorn could finish his words, two Patronuses emerged from the tops of their wands. One surrounded Hagrid to protect him from the Dementors, while the other rushed towards the group of Dementors and drove them away.
“They are just routine matters.”
Professor Slughorn said helplessly that he had not expected Albert to hate Dementors so much that he actually used the Patronus Charm to drive them away.
"Dementors are never friendly. They often do disgusting things under the guise of routine duties, such as attacking Harry Potter or taking some happiness from us to fill their stomachs." Albert closed the window again to isolate the cold wind outside the carriage. "There is no need to be polite to them. Dementors will never reason with us anyway."
Albert's tone was very calm, as if he had just been shooing away a group of annoying flies.
"They really do that," said Professor Slughorn, greatly surprised.
"The Ministry of Magic has never been able to control the Dementors. At the beginning of the school year, the Dementors came on the train under the pretext of inspecting the trains and sucked the students' happiness. Harry Potter was almost sent to the school hospital." Albert picked out Harry Potter's case as an example and directly put the blame on the Dementors. Anyway, they would attack Potter during the Quidditch match next time, so he couldn't get rid of this blame anyway.
Professor Slughorn raised his eyebrows slightly. Not wanting to make too many comments on this matter, he changed the subject and said, "Great Patronus. Being able to drive away those Dementors shows that your Patronus is very powerful. It's really amazing. Many wizards can't do this. By the way, I remember that you are also the International Wizard Chess Champion this year."
"Albert is recognized as a genius by everyone." Isobel said jokingly, "Everyone says he will be another Dumbledore."
"Yes, yes, like Dumbledore back then, your future is bright." Professor Slughorn recalled: "I believe you can be promoted to Minister of Magic in less than 20 years, maybe even shorter. Before that, you can become the British Youth Representative of the Wizengamot. I heard that the Wizengamot intends to give you this title. Wizards with this title usually become members of the Wizengamot."
"I'm a Muggle wizard." Albert reminded, "The Wizengamot will not tolerate a Muggle wizard occupying that position, just like the last time I won the International Wizard Chess Championship, many pure-blood wizards had opinions about it."
"That's just their jealousy and ignorance." Professor Slughorn comforted him, "You have such amazing talent and ability, you must come from a respectable wizard family. Believe me, I have never misjudged a person."
Albert and Isobel looked at each other. To some extent, what Professor Slughorn said was actually correct, but Albert would not admit it. He liked to use the title of Muggle wizard to disgust certain people. What's more, his parents were ordinary people, so it was not wrong to say that he was a Muggle wizard.
"It's been a long time since Britain won the Magic School Potions Championship. If you can work harder and win this potions competition, I think the Wizengamot will have to give you the title of Wizengamot British Youth Representative even if they have to hold their noses." Professor Slughorn took out various snacks from the small cabinet next to him and shared them with the two.
"I don't plan to work in the Ministry of Magic, but thank you anyway, Professor Slughorn." Albert also took out the snacks he bought from Honeydukes Candy Store from his seamless stretch bag.
"Ah, you are really like Dumbledore, very much like him. You are both talented, wise, kind, gentle, and have excellent insight." Professor Slughorn picked a piece of candied pineapple from the box and sighed softly, "In the past, people often predicted that Dumbledore would become the Minister of Magic, but he never had such ambition. I think you will definitely achieve the same achievements as Dumbledore in the future, or even surpass him."
Isobel looked at Albert and wanted to laugh.
Professor Slughorn was almost praising Albert to the skies, and although Albert could certainly handle it, he was not one to like being praised.
"Ahem, Professor Slughorn, how long will the Magic School Potions Championship last?" Albert changed the subject. Listening to Professor Slughorn praising himself, Albert did not feel any joy, but only a pain in his balls.
"It usually lasts for a week. We need to wait for other colleges to gather, which takes about two days, and then we will start the first round of selection. You need to prepare a potion. As long as the potion level is not too bad, one student from each school will enter the second round."
"Only one student per school?" Albert asked.
"Yes, most schools will bring one to three students, only one of whom will participate in the finals, and the others will serve as substitutes. This is the unspoken rule of the Potions Championship, which allows some schools to avoid the embarrassment of being eliminated at the beginning." Professor Slughorn was relieved when he saw that Isobel was very stable, and continued, "However, contestants are usually selected through trials."
"Let Albert participate. I don't mind." Isobel didn't care much about it. She winked at Albert and said, "But you have to bring back the golden crucible that belongs to us."
"I will," Albert said affirmatively.
"I believe you." Isobel smiled.
Professor Slughorn's eyes moved back and forth between the two of them, as if he understood something. For some reason, he felt a little sour in his stomach. It turned out that he shouldn't eat too much candied pineapple.