Although it is already March, the weather around Hogwarts is still very cold. I don’t know if it is affected by the large number of Dementors, but the snow around the castle has only begun to melt now.
Albert walked across the muddy field and along the gravel path towards the hunting lodge at the edge of the forbidden forest. Something seemed to have caught his attention on the road. Albert squinted his eyes and looked towards the woods. He saw a black dog sneaking across the lawn beside the woods. There was also a cat next to the black dog. It was Hermione's Crookshanks. It was walking briskly beside the black dog. The cat and dog seemed to notice Albert's gaze and quickly disappeared into the forest.
Albert retracted his gaze and walked towards Hagrid's hunting lodge.
There was light coming through the window of the hunting lodge. When Albert went up to knock on the door, there was a scratching sound from inside the house, followed by Hagrid's voice: "Stand back, Fang, stand back."
"I'm sorry to ask you to come here at this time."
Hagrid opened the door and let Albert in.
"It's okay." Albert noticed Hagrid sticking his head out of the door and carefully observing the actions around him. He frowned and asked, "What's wrong?"
"I don't know." Hagrid said casually, "I've always had a weird feeling lately, as if someone is watching this place. Maybe it's from the Ministry of Magic. They're probably worried that I'll let Buckbeak go without permission."
"Is someone watching you?"
Albert walked to the window and secretly observed the situation outside.
"There's no one around the hut, otherwise Fang would have given an early warning, but I always feel it's a bit weird." Hagrid muttered as he walked to the fireplace, preparing to boil a kettle of water for Albert to make tea.
Albert was sure that they were not from the Ministry of Magic. Those people would not do such a thing. Lucius Malfoy even wished that Hagrid would secretly let Buckbeak go so that he could find an excuse to throw him into Azkaban prison.
Albert had already guessed what was going on, so he took out a map from his pocket and checked the area around Hagrid's hut.
There were five names in the hut. Besides him, Hagrid, Fang and Buckbeak, there was a guy who was supposed to be dead: Peter Pettigrew.
Sure enough, he was hiding in Hagrid's hunting cabin.
No wonder Sirius Black and Crookshanks were around.
"Did you find anything?" Hagrid asked over his shoulder.
"A mouse," Albert whispered.
"A mouse?" Hagrid was even more confused.
"Yes, a mouse." Albert cast an ear-blocking spell without warning to prevent Peter from eavesdropping on the conversation between the two.
"Oh, that's nothing. I often have mice coming here to steal food. I saw one a while ago." Hagrid didn't care about it and said casually, "How about you lend me your cat?"
"My Tom can't catch mice." Albert said helplessly. He actually wanted to introduce Hermione's Crookshanks to Hagrid, but he gave up because he thought that doing so might scare Peter away.
"Cats can't catch mice?" Hagrid felt incredible.
Albert didn't respond, his eyes fell on Buckbeak. The hippogriff also raised his head and stared at Albert, without any sense of danger of losing his head.
"You'll have to give it a new name later. Buckbeak can't be used anymore." Albert walked forward, looked into Buckbeak's eyes, completely ignoring Hagrid's warning to "be careful", and reached out to touch its head.
"You should be more careful." Hagrid blamed Albert for his rash behavior. "But you're right. I'll give him a new name."
He took the boiling kettle from the fireplace, poured it into a large teapot, poured Albert a cup of black tea, and placed a piece of chocolate cake in front of Albert, along with a piece of parchment, which was a notice from the Ministry of Magic to Hagrid.
Albert opened the letter, read it quickly, looked up at Hagrid and said, "The situation is not too bad at the moment."
"Not too bad?"
"At least the Ministry didn't come with its executioner to hear your appeal."
Albert picked up the cup of hot tea, blew away the hot steam on it, took a sip and said, "I guess if you fail in this appeal, the Ministry of Magic will bring the executioner to listen to your appeal next time."
"Then what should I do?" Hagrid looked at Albert anxiously, hoping that the other party could give some useful suggestions.
Albert put down his teacup and said calmly, "You need help."
"Haven't you and Hermione been helping me all the time?" Hagrid asked puzzled.
"No, you misunderstood me. The helpers I mentioned are professionals." Albert explained, "In the Muggle world, there is a profession called lawyer who specializes in helping people with lawsuits."
"But there are no lawyers in the wizarding world," said Hagrid, his eyes wide.
"I know, but you can spend money to hire a consultant who understands the laws of the Ministry of Magic and ask him to help you win this case." Albert explained.
"But didn't you say that we can't win this case?" Hagrid was a little confused by Albert's words.
"Yes, we may not win, but that doesn't mean we can't use this opportunity to disgust Malfoy." Albert grinned maliciously.
"Besides, having a wizard who understands the law to help you can save you a lot of trouble. Of course, it would be even better if you can win."
"I don't know anyone like that," said Hagrid awkwardly.
"I can ask for you, and then you can do this, this, and then this." Albert lowered his voice and told Hagrid his plan.
"Is this possible?" Hagrid looked at Albert in amazement. Was he planning to let Malfoy bribe his consultant and then divide Malfoy's money together
"Of course, the Daily Prophet will be happy to report these gossips. If they don't want this to be exposed, they will have to bribe him and make you fail completely."
"But... why don't we just win the case?" Hagrid asked confusedly.
"Because you can't win. Even if this matter is exposed, the probability of you winning the lawsuit is still not high. At most, it will cause some trouble for Malfoy." Albert took a bite of the chocolate cake and couldn't help frowning. The texture of the cake was not very good and it was a bit hard. It must have been left for several days.
"So, it's easiest and most effective to use other means. And don't you think this is interesting? The Malfoys tried their best to kill Buckbeak. They spent a lot of Galleons, but at the last moment, it slipped away. I think their family must be furious about this!"
"You're right, that family should have been punished long ago!" Hagrid recalled what happened last semester and had no good feelings towards Malfoy at all.
If Albert had not discovered the secret of the Slytherin heir in time, Ginny Weasley might have been in danger and he would have been imprisoned in Azkaban forever.
It would be great if this plan could give Malfoy a hard time, and it would also be a good way to vent his anger.
"However, how are you going to deal with this matter? Tell me a little, at least let me feel at ease!" Hagrid was convinced that Albert had found a way to get Buckbeak out of this situation. He asked tentatively, "You don't want to take Buckbeak away on the day of the execution, do you?"
"Of course not. I won't take such a risky approach." Albert shook his head and said, "But I can't tell you the method now. Your mouth is not reliable enough. You'd better not even think about it. And I think it's best not to let other people know about this matter, so as to avoid leaking the news."
"Okay, okay! As long as we can save Buckbeak, nothing else matters." Hagrid finally compromised and was no longer curious about what method Albert was going to use.
"It's getting dark, let me take you back to the castle!"
Hagrid stood up and prepared to escort Albert back to the castle. Although he didn't think Albert would be in danger if he returned to the castle alone, there were still some things he had to do.
After watching Hagrid leave, Albert found a secluded corridor, and after making sure that there was no one around, he cast an Disillusionment Charm on himself and quietly went to the bathroom on the eighth floor, waiting for the arrival of his other self.
When he heard three knocks on the door, he counted to thirty seconds in his mind and walked out of the bathroom. Fred, George and Lee Jordan were waiting for him outside.
"Are you really not going to use the Room of Requirement on the eighth floor?" the three continued with the previous topic.
"I plan to build a room myself." Albert briefly described his plan.
"Make a room by yourself?" Fred, George and Lee Jordan were all stunned. They totally couldn't understand how Albert could build a new room in the castle.
"Have you forgotten that there is a magic called the Traceless Extension Charm?" Albert reminded with a smile, "We can use the Traceless Extension Charm to create an empty room, and then move some of the things in the Room of Requirement into the room. The only problem is that we have to find a remote secret passage that basically no one knows about."
"Why not just use the Room of Requirement?" Fred couldn't understand why Albert would bother to get a room of his own when there was already a ready-made place to use.
"I don't want too many people to know about the Room of Requirement. If too many people know about it, it will be difficult for us to use it in the future." Albert explained, "Besides, this is just an experiment. We will use this technology a lot in the future."
"I think your method is great. Others will definitely be scared." George felt that Albert must have his reasons for doing this, so he didn't say anything more. He also wanted to take the opportunity to learn the Traceless Stretching Spell from Albert.
"As for secret passages, we know a lot." Fred thought for a moment and said, "The portrait secret passage on the seventh floor is very suitable. I dare say that even Filch doesn't know that there is a secret passage behind the portrait."
"Everyone will be surprised if they find out that the secret room used for the party has turned into a secret passage." Lee Jordan seemed to have thought of the surprised expressions of others who were about to use the secret room outside the party but found that the secret room was gone.