After finishing the prediction about the Horcruxes, Albert did not leave the headmaster's office in a hurry, but chatted with Dumbledore like an old friend who had not seen each other for a long time. However, the topic of their conversation was soon led off by Albert, first turning into an academic exchange, and then into a mode where Albert asked questions and Dumbledore helped answer them.
Although Dumbledore has not been very interested in academic issues in recent years, he was once a professor at Hogwarts and was still happy to answer questions for the diligent and studious Albert.
However, as Albert pulled a quill from his pocket and began to take notes, Dumbledore began to suspect that the Sorting Hat had put Albert into the wrong house.
The exchange between the two sides was pleasant, but the topic was so boring that the portraits in the principal's office all closed their eyes and took a rest.
An hour later, Albert finished asking Dumbledore all the questions in his notes.
Half an hour later, Albert left the headmaster's office contentedly, holding the borrowed ancient rune notebook. The notebook recorded Dumbledore's research on ancient runes.
It was a fruitful evening, all thanks to the thick skin he had developed over the past few years: Albert said he was going to write a "Book of Runes" and hoped to get help from Dumbledore and come over occasionally to discuss ancient runes with him.
So Dumbledore generously lent his old notebook to Albert.
In the entire British wizarding world, there are actually very few experts who are good at ancient magic runes. If those notes are not lent to other people, they will eventually be left gathering dust or even be completely forgotten by people. If they are lent to Albert, maybe he can really publish a "Book of Magic Runes".
Dumbledore didn't know whether "The Book of Glyphs" could benefit other people, but he knew that it wouldn't hurt to have more reliable friends. What's more, Albert was a fellow traveler like them. After establishing a good relationship between the two sides, he could invite him to join the Order of the Phoenix.
Although Dumbledore was reluctant to admit it, everything that was happening now seemed to be a foreshadowing that something terrible was about to happen.
Dumbledore had heard rumors about the Second Wizarding War a long time ago, and he even went to the Forbidden Forest to consult the centaurs who were good at divination. Magorian told him that Mars, which can bring war, was shining brightly in the sky, suggesting that war would definitely break out again soon. The centaurs believed that the people in the wizarding world were just passing through a brief period of peace between the two wars.
To be honest, Dumbledore was not willing to believe in prophecies, as they involved too many causes and effects, and prophecies were not always accurate. But now he had to admit that the centaur's prophecy might come true, because Albert seemed to have predicted the upcoming turmoil, otherwise he would not have invited himself to his wedding in advance.
After all, invitations are sent out one or two months before the wedding, rather than notifying the couple two years in advance.
Albert actually guessed what Dumbledore was thinking, but he didn't pay much attention to it.
Join the Order of the Phoenix
That was obviously impossible. Not to mention that he himself was not that great, his own life was more important, and he did not believe in Snape. At most, he could help a little and give them a push from behind, so that Voldemort would be on his way sooner.
As for not being able to cause trouble for little Barty again, although it was a bit regrettable, Albert could also see that Dumbledore still retained the most basic trust in his old friend, so he knew he couldn't be impatient. When Harry became the fourth warrior, he believed that Dumbledore would definitely remember his old friend and pay special attention to him. This was what Albert wanted to do, to subtly influence Dumbledore's judgment.
After all, someone like Dumbledore obviously wouldn't easily believe other people's one-sided words. He would rather believe himself.
…
Becoming a candidate member of the Wizengamot did have some impact on Albert's life.
At least during those few days, Fred, George and Lee Jordan were somewhat hesitant to speak to him. It was obvious that they could not adapt well to their good friend suddenly becoming a "big shot".
However, this situation did not last long. Perhaps because they found that Albert was still the same Albert as before, and his attitude towards them did not change because he became a big shot, everyone gradually returned to normal, and the three of them began to practice the protective magic mentioned in the "Defense Guide" magazine with Albert.
After spending two weeks teaching them to master protective magic, Albert took advantage of the sunny weekend to take Fred, George and Lee Jordan to the Forbidden Forest for practical tests and to collect some intelligence to accumulate experience data for future wilderness survival guides.
Hagrid saw four people walking towards the woods from the window of his cabin, waved and shouted at them, "Hey, what are you going into the woods for?"
"We plan to go into the woods to test the magic." Albert said without hesitation.
Hagrid was a little speechless for a moment, not understanding why Albert could talk so confidently about violating school rules.
"You should know that students are forbidden to enter the forest, Albert. You are the prefect, but you are the leader in violating the school rules." Hagrid poked Albert's chest with his finger and warned, "Be careful or I will deduct points from Gryffindor."
What do you mean we plan to go into the woods to test the magic
Is this telling him directly that we are planning to break school rules
"Come on, Hagrid. I don't think you want Slytherin to win the house cup, do you?" Albert explained with a smile, "We are just testing some magic in the nearby woods. If you are worried, you can come over and take a look. By the way, bring Fang with you."
"Well, I want to see what you are up to!" Hagrid was still a little worried, worried that the four of them would really get into trouble.
When they came to an open space, Albert took out a disc-like object from his pocket.
"What's this?" Hagrid asked puzzledly.
"I call this thing a danger warning device." Albert handed the thing to George.
"Danger warning device?" Hagrid looked at the palm-sized gadget suspiciously.
"Yes. As long as a wizard approaches, the danger warning device will issue an alert. If the other party has malicious intentions, a red alert will be issued."
Fred, George and Lee Jordan could understand the usefulness of this thing. If they were in the wild, they would need this thing to give themselves an early warning.
"What the hell is this?"
Hagrid saw Albert take out four metal pillars with carved patterns and handed them to Fred. This guy always had a lot of weird stuff on him.
"This thing can make the spell last longer. In fact, there is something similar on the wall of Hogwarts." Albert explained.
"Really?" Hagrid obviously didn't believe it.
"Of course there are, they are just hidden. They are part of Hogwarts' defense system." Albert said to himself, "That's why I said that ancient magic runes are very important, but many people don't know how to decipher them."
This thing is actually one of Dumbledore's research results.
"Come on Hagrid, we'll come over and check out the situation here later."
“What’s the point of doing this?”
Hagrid followed Albert away in confusion, not understanding what on earth they were doing.
"Of course it makes sense." Albert explained, "These spells can build a safe temporary camp in the wild in a short period of time.
"Temporary campsite, do you mean camping?"
"You can think of it that way." Albert didn't lie. It was not wrong to say that it was camping in the wild, but the nature was different.
He mainly wanted Fred, George, and Lee Jordan to understand that building a safe temporary camp is not about the more protective magic, the safer it is, but it should be safe for people to not know the specific location, to find it, and to know it. That is the real safety, because most protective magic can actually be easily cracked. "
This was also one of the topics that Albert wanted to discuss with Dumbledore, but Albert was not in a hurry. He believed that Dumbledore would come to him again, and then he would slowly dig out information from him, just like digging for treasure.
"You think something bad might happen later?" Hagrid asked in a low voice.
"Yes, I have such a premonition, especially after the Dark Mark appeared in the World Cup, the premonition has become stronger. There will be turmoil in the wizarding world. I remember the centaurs made a similar prediction.
"The Centaur's prophecy?"
"They think the people of the wizarding world are just enjoying a brief period of peace between two wars." Albert said calmly: "Actually, I think the centaurs are right."
"Two wars?" Hagrid was panicked. Albert didn't seem to be trying to scare him.
"Well, I have a feeling that after a while, you will be able to feel the approach of war." Albert took out his pocket watch to check the time: "Hogwarts will no longer be safe by then."
"Hogwarts is unsafe? This is the safest place in the whole of Britain. Dumbledore is here, and even the mysterious man doesn't dare to get close to Hogwarts." Hagrid thought this was ridiculous.
"Come on, Hagrid, let's go back and see what the three of them have done." Albert and Hagrid returned to the clearing along the same route, but the clearing over there had disappeared, replaced by a lush jungle.
"What's going on?" Hagrid was even more confused. "I remember there seemed to be an empty space here just now?"
"It's a disguise spell."
Albert took out a pair of dragon-skin gloves from his pocket and put them on. He raised his hand and reached forward, feeling as if he had touched something.
In Hagrid's vision, he saw Albert's hand seemed to touch something invisible and tapped it twice.
"It should be a protection spell, protecting everything, but it's a bit obvious. Anyone who finds that there is a transparent barrier here will find that there is a problem here." Albert glanced at Fang who was sniffing around at Hagrid's feet and said, "You forgot to use the spell to repel beasts."
Hagrid opened his mouth and saw Albert raise his wand and shake it lightly. A stun spell hit the area in front. The spell seemed to be slightly deflected, and it scraped off a piece of the bark of an unfortunate tree not far away.
"Safe guard? But I feel this spell is useless. Once hit by a large amount of magic, this spell will definitely be easily shattered." Albert muttered.
"At least it deflected your stunning spell."
Fred, George and Lee Jordan suddenly appeared in front of them.
"But you're right, these protective spells aren't very effective. They can be broken easily."
“Honestly, I feel like I was cheated by the Defense Guide.”
"Yeah, these spells don't work."
All three of them had the illusion that they had been cheated.
"You were wrong from the beginning. You have to remember that no matter how solid a safe house is, it is no longer safe the moment it is discovered." Albert reminded: "The main purpose of these spells is to prevent you from being found, to hide you and protect you, rather than to confront the invaders head-on. Their second greatest use is to delay you for a few seconds, giving people time to Apparate. And I dare say you must have forgotten to use the shielding spell to conceal your existence. They can easily find your location with the tracking spell or owl."
The three of them looked at each other and realized that they seemed to have misunderstood the usage of these spells.
However, they felt that it was not just them who had misunderstood, but that most other people had also misunderstood.
"You can find another place nearby. I will come over to check it out later. At least make sure that ordinary wizards can't find your camp."
"Ordinary wizard?" The three of them immediately ruled out Albert and looked at Hagrid and asked, "Hagrid probably didn't find the location of the camp just now!"
An hour later, on the way back to the castle, Fred said to Albert, "Can you teach us some more useful protective spells?"
"I think the magic taught by Albert is very useful, and what he said makes sense." George knew very well that it would be difficult to learn those advanced magics at their current level.
"Is it okay?" Lee Jordan also looked at Albert with anticipation.
"There is a very strong protective spell called the Fidelius Charm. As long as this spell is used, even the You-Know-Who cannot get past the Secret Keeper and break through the protection of the spell."
"Since there is such powerful protective magic, why do we still need to learn those things?" Lee Jordan asked puzzledly.
“Because it’s difficult. Very difficult.”
"Do you know how to cast the Fidelius Charm?" The three of them looked at Albert expectantly.
"Yes, but you certainly can't master it now." Albert shook his head. "It is an extremely complicated spell, much more difficult than the Patronus Charm."
“We can learn slowly.”
It was obvious that none of the three were going to give up.
"I will teach you, but not now." Albert seemed to have thought of something and suddenly said, "By the way, do you remember Harry's family? They once used this spell on their own house, but in the end they were betrayed by their good friend Wormtail and died at the hands of a mysterious man."
The three of them were silent for a moment.
Betrayal is undoubtedly a heavy topic.
"Do you know why Wormtail betrayed me?" George couldn't help asking, "To be honest, I can't understand it."
"The You-Know-Who probably threatened Wormtail's family to make him compromise." Albert looked at the three people and asked, "If it were you, what would you do?"
The three of them were silent again, because this was a very thorough question and they didn't know how to answer it.
"I have no idea."
"This is the weakness of the spell." Albert said calmly, "James' death can only be attributed to the fact that he chose the wrong secret keeper. Anyway, I will definitely not ask you to be the secret keeper."
The three of them couldn't help but breathe a sigh of relief.
Albert knew they were not ready, so he was in no hurry.
"Besides, you can't expect those who can't even use the Armor Charm to master such a spell." Albert changed the subject. "The things we just tested are more suitable for ordinary wizards. Believe me, they are not as bad as you think. As long as they are used properly, they can also play a very good effect."
"Well, you can always convince us."
"When do we start building the secret base?"
"I think Gryffindor's Chamber of Secrets is a good choice. It just needs a little modification before it can be used."
"Don't worry, we have to do things step by step." Albert comforted him, "After I finish writing the wilderness survival guide, we can discuss this matter again. Anyway, we will have time to build our secret base before we graduate."