Chapter 162: A Few Things Before the Holiday

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If there's one thing that's most frustrating, it's coming close but not quite making it.

However, sometimes, being close is just not close enough.

Ravenclaw House, in the end, missed out on the opportunity and remained in second place for the House Cup, trailing behind by five points until the end-of-year feast. If the Ravenclaw students didn't feel frustrated, it would definitely be false.

On that evening, Albert went to the Great Hall with his roommates to attend the end-of-year feast.

The Great Hall was already decorated with the intricate red and gold decorations representing Gryffindor. A large banner depicting the Gryffindor lion hung on the wall behind the high table.

Gryffindor students were talking loudly, their words filled with the joy and confidence of winning the House Cup.

In comparison to Gryffindor, their neighboring house, Slytherin, had no hint of joy. It was no wonder they couldn't be happy. Slytherin House had won the House Cup for four consecutive years, and now... it had been broken, and to top it off, it was lost to their most detested Gryffindor. It would be strange if their mood was good.

The Ravenclaw students were probably the most conflicted and frustrated in the room. They were only a few points away from victory, and nobody missing out made the Ravenclaws feel regretful. But at the same time, they were also pleased to see Slytherin's bitter defeat.

As for the Hufflepuff students, they hadn't won the House Cup in a long time, so they didn't really care about it. They were just as happy to see Slytherin's fair competition end in defeat.

Shortly after, Dumbledore hurriedly arrived and stood on the podium. He raised his hand to signal everyone to be quiet, and the noisy hall gradually quieted down.

"Another year has passed!" Dumbledore said cheerfully. "I'm sure you don't want to listen to this old man's ramblings before enjoying the delicious feast. However, we still need to proceed with the House Cup award ceremony. The specific scores for each house are as follows: fourth place, Slytherin, with 250 points; third place, Hufflepuff, with 395 points; second place, Ravenclaw, with 439 points; and first place, Gryffindor, with 444 points."

At that moment, a thunderous cheer erupted from the Gryffindor table, the sound deafening. Some students shouted so loudly that they strained their voices. Fred, George, and Lee Jordan also stood up and cheered loudly, applauding. Albert also clapped hard, pretending to be excited. But in his mind, he couldn't help muttering, "What an ominous score."

As George cheered, he nudged Albert with his elbow and pointed to their neighboring table. The expressions on the faces of the Slytherin students were not pleasant at all. They looked as if they had just been punched in the nose.

In the Great Hall, everyone, except for the Slytherin students, applauded. Whether it was celebrating Gryffindor's victory or Slytherin's bitter defeat, applause filled the hall.

On the head table, Professor McGonagall also stood up and shook hands with Professor Snape, a joyful smile on her face.

The banquet was delicious and plentiful. During the meal, Fred and George invited Albert to their home for the summer holidays.

Unfortunately, Albert politely declined the invitation because his family already had their own summer plans. Recently, the Weasley family had sent a letter informing Albert that they were going to spend the summer in France.

Fred and George were disappointed. They had always wanted to thank Albert for saving them, and the Weasley family seemed to have a similar idea.

At the banquet, everyone ate heartily, except for Fred and George.

After all, eating and drinking too much made people drowsy. If they missed tonight's retaliation, they wouldn't have another chance to get back at Filch for the rest of the term, which was clearly not what the Weasley brothers wanted.

Finally, after midnight, Fred and George took action. Using Albert's Disillusionment Charm, they created some commotion in the castle to attract Filch, who was ready to rest, to the fourth-floor corridor.

Then, while Filch was distracted, George sneaked into Filch's office and spread the jar of garlic-scented beeswax in a corner. It turned out that the smell was really overpowering, even more remarkable than the effect of a dung bomb.

After all, with a dung bomb, you could see the source of the smell, but once the beeswax was spread in a corner, it couldn't be easily found, let alone the source of the smell. In just a moment, the entire office, plus Filch's bedroom, was filled with a choking garlic scent.

Using the Marauder's Map, Fred discovered that George had returned to the Gryffindor common room, so he quickly left, leaving Filch still searching for their whereabouts on the fourth floor.

When Filch realized he had been tricked, he angrily returned to his quarters.

As Filch opened the wooden door of his office, he was immediately overwhelmed by the strong garlic smell, shaking all over. He rushed into his office, wanting to find the source of the odor.

For a while, angry roars echoed from Filch's office, and as for his wife, Mrs. Norris, she wisely stayed far away from the garlic-filled office.

"Do you think this will cause a big fuss?" George asked Fred as they listened to Filch's angry roar.

"If I were you, I'd go and get rid of the garlic smell on you so that nobody suspects it's you," Albert quietly appeared in the common room, reminding the two who were discussing.

"Oh, you're right!" George also smelled the garlic on his hands and hurried off to wash them.

The next morning, news of Filch's retaliation spread throughout the castle. Everyone was speculating about who caused Filch's office to reek of garlic.

However, no one sympathized with the caretaker; there was more schadenfreude than anything.

Albert and his friends pretended not to know about the incident. In fact, their attention was more focused on their end-of-term exam results.

Hogwarts would announce the students' exam scores on the last day.

"Look, you really are the top student in our year," Fred nudged Albert with his elbow, smiling.

"Your scores are all excellent too."

Fred, George, and Lee Jordan all passed their exams with high scores.

"I knew you would be the top student," Shannon walked over with a smile to talk to Albert. "But I think Katrina must be fuming."

Albert shrugged, smiling, indicating that he couldn't do anything about it.

In truth, he didn't feel much about being first. The students in their year were just a few people, and being the top student didn't seem like something to be proud of. His goal was to complete the panel tasks, and fortunately, both the "In the Name of Genius" and "Completely Crushed" tasks had been completed.

Although Katrina had proposed a competition to see who could achieve better grades, she was ultimately rejected by Albert. However, this competition seemed to have been effective, at least in the panel's judgment.

Katrina achieved second place this year, also with all Outstanding, but her score was slightly lower than Albert's.

At this moment, Katrina, who was also checking her results among the crowd, stared at Albert with intense frustration.

She was angry, angry at herself for losing to someone who didn't even study properly for the final exams.

While everyone was still enthusiastically discussing their exam results, Professor McGonagall appeared with a stack of notices.

She asked the students to sign a pledge promising to adhere to the "Reasonable Restriction of Underage Sorcery" outside of school.

After signing, they were given the notices and warned not to use magic during the holiday.

"I really wish they forgot to give this to us," Fred Weasley regretfully waved the notice in his hand. Not being able to use magic during the holidays was simply torture.

"You don't need to worry. In wizarding families, the Ministry of Magic can't figure out who is using magic, so even if you use magic at home, you won't be warned by the Ministry," Albert explained with a slight sneer. "As long as you use magic in areas with a high concentration of wizards, like Diagon Alley, the Ministry can't determine if it's you using magic because the trace only detects and monitors if someone is using magic within a certain range around you."

"You seem to know a lot," Shannon was somewhat surprised that Albert knew all these things.

"He certainly does," Lee Jordan couldn't help but laugh. "After all, someone was fooled by him."

"Someone?"

"Hufflepuff's Dugald," Fred kindly reminded. "So, does that mean we can use magic at home without worry?"

"That's right, as long as you're at home. Pure-blooded students can only rely on their families to self-regulate," Albert said disdainfully, feeling slightly dissatisfied that he couldn't use magic during the summer vacation.

"If that's the case, how does the Ministry determine if we've used magic?" Shannon asked in confusion. "When did they secretly use the Trace on us?"

"Secretly use?" Albert's expression became a bit strange. "There was none."

"None?"

"You just signed it, didn't you? The magical contract," Albert reminded.

"You mean... that pledge?" Not only Shannon, but everyone else understood what was going on.

"According to the information I obtained from Professor Blood, the pledge we just signed is a magical contract, or the so-called Trace. Of course, there are loopholes in it."

"Why didn't you say so earlier? If I had known, I wouldn't have signed it," Lee Jordan looked frustrated.

"Not sign it?" Albert repeated softly. "Can you not sign it?"

"What would happen if we broke the contract?" Fred curiously asked.

"The Ministry of Magic would know immediately and send an owl to warn you," Albert replied.

"What about the loophole?" George was more curious about this matter.

"It can't determine exactly who used magic," Albert gave a simple example. "Let's say you live in a Muggle community, and when someone around you uses magic, the Ministry, upon detecting it, will assume it was you using magic."

"Did you trap Dugald like that?" Fred asked curiously.

"Yes, that's the loophole I mentioned. The Ministry can trace your location through the Trace. When you're in Diagon Alley or at home, and someone around you uses magic, the Ministry can't determine who used the magic because both the wizards in Diagon Alley and your family members are potential magic users."

"That's great! So, we don't have to worry about the Ministry finding out if we use magic," Fred and George high-fived each other in celebration.

"But you should worry about your family finding out," Lee Jordan said sarcastically.

Everyone returned to the dormitories to pack their things but found their wardrobes empty. Everything had been packed into trunks.

"It must have been the house-elves helping us pack," Fred explained to everyone.

"I had a feeling," Albert nodded. "Let's go, we don't want to miss the train."

As the group dragged their luggage to the entrance hall, Filch suddenly pounced from a hidden corridor. His eyes were red and glaring at Albert and his friends as he hoarsely said, "It was you, wasn't it?"

The four of them exchanged glances, pretending to have no idea what he was talking about.

"Don't think I don't know. It was definitely you who caused the garlic smell in my office."

"We have no idea what you're talking about!" the twins said in unison.

"We went to bed early last night," Lee Jordan coughed lightly, trying to defend himself, though it was unclear whether the Weasley brothers were included in "we" or not.

Albert helplessly shrugged, indicating that he knew nothing about it.

"You planted garlic!" Filch's eyes flickered with anger.

"Oh, that," Fred had an expression of realization, laughing, "Last time, Albert turned it into garlic scrambled eggs. It tasted quite good."

"If you don't believe us, you can ask the house-elves," George added, "They cooked that dish."

The four of them walked past Filch, who looked bewildered, and stifled their laughter as they boarded the carriage to the Hogwarts Express.

During the journey, they discussed Filch's situation and speculated on whether he would cause trouble for them next semester and how they would deal with it.

In reality, only Fred and George would have such worries.

As the train passed through the Muggle town, they were eating Bertie Bott's Every Flavour Beans provided by Lee Jordan, seeing whose luck was worse.

When the train stopped at Platform Nine and Three-Quarters at King's Cross Station, they took off their wizard robes and changed into Muggle jackets and T-shirts.

There was an elderly guard at the ticket barrier, allowing only two or three people to pass at a time. Albert took a long time to queue up and leave the platform.

"Over here, Albert, we're here!"

Just as Albert walked out of the platform, he saw Nia waving at him.

"Nia has become a lady," Albert complimented his younger sister with a smile.

"I've always been a lady," Nia complained dissatisfiedly.

"What about Tom?" Albert asked.

"He's temporarily staying with your Grandpa Luke," Herbert reached out to take Albert's luggage, casually explaining, "You know, we're going to France for the summer vacation and don't have time to take care of him. Your owl is also temporarily being cared for by Grandpa Luke."

"Oh my, I must write a letter to Grandma Sansa and ask her not to feed Tom too much food," Albert couldn't help but cover his face with his palm. He could already imagine Tom becoming a chubby cat by the time he saw him again.

"It's not bad for a cat to be a little chubby," Daisy reassured. "I think it's cute."

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