"Look, Dumbledore, what we brought you!"
Professor Slughorn pushed open the door into the Headmaster's office and spoke directly to Dumbledore, who was sitting at his desk.
Albert and Isobel followed him into the principal's office.
"I received the news yesterday, Slughorn." Dumbledore looked at Albert who placed the golden cauldron symbolizing the championship on the desk and said gently, "Well done, Mr. Anderson. Since I became the headmaster of Hogwarts, the school has not won the Potions Championship again."
"This is really all thanks to Mr. Anderson. You don't even know that shameless old man Bernard..." Professor Slughorn seemed to realize that his words were a bit inappropriate. He coughed lightly and changed his words: "That guy actually changed the rules of this Potions Championship and planned to let his grandson win the championship directly."
"He must be furious." Dumbledore said softly, "By the way, Mr. Anderson, the reporter from the Daily Prophet would like to interview you."
"Could it be that Rita Kister is in charge of the interview?" Albert raised his eyebrows slightly.
"Yes, if you don't want to be interviewed, I understand."
"I don't like Rita Skeeter very much either." Professor Slughorn saw that everyone was looking at him, shrugged and explained, "Although her reports are sometimes interesting, more often than not, you can't figure out what is true and what is false."
"Okay, I'll take the interview."
Albert nodded in agreement, believing that the woman who was eager to create chaos in the world would give Bernard an unexpected surprise.
The other three people in the principal's office were a little surprised. They probably didn't expect Albert to agree to be interviewed. They all thought he would refuse directly.
Albert noticed the flash of surprise on Isobel's face and explained with a smile: "If you don't accept the interview, Rita Kister will definitely make a bunch of messed up reports again."
"I think the Daily Prophet will be very happy. I will have someone inform you of the specific time." After Dumbledore finished speaking, he asked the two to go back and rest.
"You don't seem very happy?"
After leaving the principal's office and walking some distance forward, Isobel finally spoke.
"Nothing. I thought the principal would give us some reward after taking the golden crucible." Albert said half-jokingly, "After all, we won a championship for the school. At least we should be given some points, or a sumptuous celebration banquet should be prepared for us. In the end, there was nothing."
"Haven't you already received a huge bonus?" Isobel stared at Albert for a long time.
"What's wrong?" Albert asked.
"I find that you are becoming more and more profit-oriented."
"Alas, it's always easy for people to become the people they hate." Albert sighed softly.
"You always have some wise words coming out of your mouth." Isobel looked at Albert with a scrutinizing look: "They are right, you are becoming more and more like Dumbledore. You will definitely graduate from school with countless dazzling halos."
"I'm not Dumbledore, and I don't want to be as great as him. I'm not going to be single like the headmaster for the rest of his life." Albert remembered a joke from his previous life: Dumbledore only loves Grindelwald.
"My life goal is to be rich, marry a beautiful wife, have two children, and then live the rest of my life freely." Albert thought of his life goal and nodded with satisfaction, "I think I can achieve all of them before I turn 30."
"You don't have to find two or three girlfriends now."
"This happened a long time ago. Don't keep teasing me about it." Albert changed the subject. "By the way, your boldness really scared me earlier."
"It's just to satisfy your vanity." Isobel was obviously not happy that Albert brought this up.
"You are very kind. That kiss really satisfied me more than that gilded cauldron ever could," said Albert earnestly.
Isobel asked with a smile, "What about your bag of Galleons?"
"Of course it is appropriate. Gold always makes people happy."
"I find that you are actually quite greedy and lustful."
"Yeah, all men are like that." Albert did not deny it. "This time, I made a lot of money, but I stole your championship. If I hadn't participated, the championship of this Potions Championship would most likely be yours."
"You think too highly of me." Isobel shook her head and said, "I'm not afraid of normal competition, but in this situation, it's hard to win the final championship by strength. I'm not like you who has bad intentions. Besides, it's very difficult to make a perfect Bafe brain-stimulating agent. It's hard to imagine that you are willing to take the risk."
"Taking risks? No, I didn't take any risks because I was sure I would succeed."
"You cheated?"
Isobel seemed to realize something and shook her head again, "But how can you be sure that you can brew the perfect Bafe Brain Refresher?"
"It's the Felicity Potion."
Albert put his head close to Isobel's ear and whispered, "With it, I can stimulate all my talents and naturally reduce the probability of failure to the lowest level. That's why I dare to gamble."
"Everyone cheats anyway?" Isobel had a strange expression on her face.
"Yes, I didn't plan to use it originally, but they took it too far. Aren't you curious about what Kathryn and I are working on?"
"Bafey Brain Refresher, she provides you with the raw materials for practice, isn't that guy afraid of losing money?"
"It turns out that she didn't lose money. She is a shrewd woman."
"What's the point of this kind of competition?"
"Give yourself a good reputation and give yourself the title of genius pharmacist. Do you think that if the Bafe Brain Stimulant is endorsed by me in the future and sold for a thousand Galleons each, wouldn't that be a huge profit?"
"You see it more clearly than anyone else."
"Okay, don't think about it." Albert reached out and held Isobel's hand, and suggested with a smile, "Let's go and celebrate. Let Beat prepare a celebratory dinner for us, and then we'll see how to spend the money."
Since I can't count on the celebratory party at Hogwarts, I might as well hold one myself. There are house-elves anyway, and it's more romantic to have a meal and date together.
As soon as they entered the Room of Requirement, Albert saw a dark shadow rushing towards them. Upon closer inspection, he found that Fat Cat Tom was excitedly using his body to support his ankle.
"Master, Bit has been following your instructions to help Tom cat lose weight." When the house-elf saw Albert coming back, he bowed slightly to the two of them.
"Thank you for your hard work, Bit."
"This is what Bit should do, and it is Bit's honor." Bit said excitedly.
"Please prepare a candlelight dinner for us. Isobel and I plan to celebrate winning this year's Potions Championship here." Albert thought for a moment and added, "If you can't help, you can ask other house-elves in the school to help."
"It's my pleasure." The house-elf bowed slightly, then quickly left, obviously intending to share the good news with other friends.
As soon as he sat down on the sofa, Tom began to nudge Albert with his head and lick his face with his tongue.
"It seems to stick to you."
Isobel sat down next to Albert and reached out to scratch Tom's chin.
"It must be that Beetee was tossing it around a lot." Albert shook Tom's weight. "Being too fat is not a good thing after all. It can easily affect your health."
"Valeria is also afraid of getting fat. She always says that women will quickly age into old women after they turn thirty." Isobel looked at Albert's profile. "Aren't you curious about what the three of us are talking about?"
"Even if you're curious, you probably won't tell me." Albert stopped stroking Tom's hair, turned his head to look at the girl beside him and said, "After all, this is a secret between you girls."
"It's not a secret. We were talking about what to do after graduation, and Catherine gave us some advice. She thinks we should find something meaningful to do, so as not to become an old and worried housewife." Isobel said with emotion: "I think what she said makes sense. Mom still looks very young, and so does your mother. They are not housewives."
"That's because they are actually still very young." Albert said the truth. "Most people are struggling to make a living after graduation. Only a few people with decent jobs can live like Catherine said, helpless. That is the norm of life."
"Moreover, I think people get old and ugly at the age of 30 because they don't know how to take care of their bodies." Albert reminded seriously: "Tom often overeats, which is why he becomes a piglet. As long as you have a young mentality, live a self-disciplined life, exercise regularly, eat well, and take care of your skin with magic potions, you will definitely be able to live younger than others."
"Your way of comforting people is still so lame."
"I'm just telling the truth." Albert shook his head. "If it were someone else, I would probably say that I would help her invent a potion that could keep her young forever, but saying this to you is simply treating you like a fool."
"Perhaps, we should control our diet from now on." Isobel hoped to hear the first sentence, although she also knew that it was just a way to coax a girl.
"I think we still need to celebrate this hard-earned victory."
"You know what? Both Catherine and Valeria want to keep their looks." Isobel leaned her head on Albert's shoulder. "Valeria always said that girls are most beautiful between the ages of sixteen and twenty-three. She said she envied me because I could find someone I like and marry him when I was the most beautiful."
"It seems that their family is not rich."
Isobel tilted her head and asked, "Why do you think so?"
"Youth is a girl's greatest asset."
"What about you?"
"I, I have money." Albert said without hesitation, "If I didn't have money, I probably wouldn't have gotten married so early."
"If I don't have money, you won't marry me?"
"So, I've been working hard to make money." Albert said seriously, "Luckily, I also have this ability. Most Muggle wizards don't have a good life in the wizarding world."
"You know what? I told Valeria that she could support herself with her talent for potions, and she said 'youth is my greatest asset'."
"She's a very realistic girl. She must not be having a good life," Albert commented.
"Actually, I can see that both Catherine and Valeria are interested in you." Isobel said suddenly.
"But I can count the time I have known them on my fingers." Albert didn't dare to let himself be blamed, and quickly said that he had no other thoughts.
"I know, but you're too easy to offend those girls." Isobel couldn't help but sigh, "Valeria even mentioned coming to England to develop. If I were a man and met Valeria's requirements, she would probably just pester me!"
"You will probably marry her too. After all, it's obviously easier to chase a beautiful girl," Albert said jokingly.
"Unfortunately, I'm not a boy. If you were single, Valeria would definitely be willing to have a passionate love affair with you."
"I already have a girlfriend."