Chapter 27: Taking the Blame

"Immobulus."

Albert stared at the almost torn apart wooden door, his eye twitching involuntarily.

"Merlin's beard, what do we do now?"

The Weasley trio looked at the broken door, swallowing nervously, taking a step back without realizing what had just happened.

"Are we...?" Fred made a quick gesture with his hand, indicating that it wouldn't be good if someone caught them.

"Don't be foolish. Skilled wizards often use Trace and Reveal spells to determine who has been here recently," Albert said, placing a hand on Fred's shoulder, reminding him it would be best not to slip away.

"So, what do we do?" George anxiously looked at Albert.

"I should be able to fix it. I remember the spell... Reparo," Albert quickly regained his composure, raising his wand and directing it at the broken wooden door, focusing his attention and casting the repair spell.

The wooden board that had been torn off from the hinge flew back onto the door, the crack slowly closing, and it quickly returned to its original state.

However, before the wooden door could fully recover, it suddenly opened from the inside.

All four of them froze in place, as Professor McGonagall emerged from behind the door, looking at the slowly repairing wooden door, then at the four of them standing in front of her. The atmosphere immediately became awkward.

"What on earth are you all doing?" Professor McGonagall's face twitched, and she sternly stared at the four of them. Just a moment ago, she had heard some noise coming from the secret entrance to her office. When she came to investigate, she found that her office door had been dismantled?

This scene had completely stunned her.

"Apologies, Professor. We didn't know 'Open Sesame' was a spell," Albert immediately straightened up and apologized, admitting his mistake. "I believe this was... an accident."

"No need to say more, Mr. Anderson. Come inside, all of you," Professor McGonagall looked at the four of them expressionlessly, instructing them to enter her office.

"It was just an accident, Professor," Albert repeated softly. The twins and Lee Jordan behind him held their breath, too nervous to speak.

"A very impressive repair spell. However, Mr. Anderson, I must remind you that 'Open Sesame' is a centuries-old unlocking spell. Modern wizards do not use such crude magic," Professor McGonagall reminded Albert. "If you have studied 'Standard Spells, Beginner's Level,' you would know that nowadays, we prefer the dexterity of the Alohomora spell."

"I am aware. However, Alohomora doesn't work on this door."

"Because a counter Alohomora spell was released on the door," Professor McGonagall explained. "So your spell didn't work. This falls under the domain of curses. I believe Professor Flitwick would be delighted to answer your questions on this matter."

"I'll keep that in mind."

"Consider yourselves lucky, gentlemen, or it's detention," Professor McGonagall seemed unwilling to blame them. She turned around and fetched a parchment from her desk, handing it to Albert with instructions. "This is the first-year timetable. Help me post it on the notice board in Gryffindor."

"There won't be a next time, I promise," Albert coughed lightly, taking the new timetable handed to him by Professor McGonagall. He quickly nudged the twins and Lee's backs, swiftly walking out of Professor McGonagall's office.

"That scared the life out of me." It was only when they were far away from Professor McGonagall's office that they dared to speak.

"We actually dismantled the door to Professor McGonagall's office?" Lee Jordan still couldn't believe it.

"We're lucky. No points deducted, no detention," Albert opened the timetable given by Professor McGonagall and glanced at it. The first class next Monday was Charms.

"But Albert, that door-breaking spell of yours was amazing," Fred's eyes sparkled with excitement.

"It was just an accident. I didn't know it was a spell," Albert tapped the parchment with his wand, and the original timetable split in half and then into quarters.

He handed out the timetables to the three of them.

"Why isn't there any Flying class?" George, feeling a bit disappointed, asked after reading the timetable. He was really looking forward to riding a broom in the sky.

"Don't you think the number of classes is a bit low?" Albert frowned after reviewing the week's timetable. Hogwarts felt more like a self-paced education.

"The number of classes is low, are you out of your mind?" Lee looked at Albert incredulously, as if he had been bewitched by something strange.

"In Muggle schools, there are at least twice as many classes." Albert thought for a moment and guessed the reason.

With only a few professors in the school, if each year had two classes per week, one professor would have to teach 24 classes (with the 6th and 7th years combined).

Saturday and Sunday were rest days, which meant their entire week's timetable was already full.

Now that he thought about it, he could somewhat understand.

"What are you thinking?" George asked.

"Nothing, let's go. We need to continue finding the classrooms." Albert stuffed the timetable into his pocket and led the way towards the marble staircase.

Currently, the four of them have found the Transfiguration classroom and the History of Magic classroom on the second floor of the castle, as well as an abandoned washroom. He remembers that it is the entrance to the Slytherin Chamber of Secrets, where a dangerous snake monster resides.

Since it is a girls' washroom, the four of them just passed by without intending to go in, so as not to be misunderstood.

The exploration of the castle has yielded some results. Near the corridor of the Charms classroom on the fourth floor, the four of them discovered a secret passage behind a tapestry. This secret passage leads to the vicinity of the Armory corridor and the Trophy Room.

"I think the tapestries at Hogwarts hide secret passages." Lee Jordan joked when he emerged from the secret passage.

There's no helping it. The secret passages they discovered today were all hidden behind tapestries, so it's not surprising to have such a misconception.

"I dare say most people can find these secret passages." George sounded a little disappointed. He had hoped to find more hidden passages that others were unaware of.

"We'll find them. Let's go and take a look at the Trophy Room," Albert suggested. In fact, he was curious if the medals and trophies were made of gold and silver.

"George, Fred," Lee Jordan pointed at a cabinet. "Look at this. I remember Charlie is your brother, right? He won the Quidditch Cup for the house."

"That was shortly after Charlie joined the team. He had always hoped to win the Quidditch Cup again before graduating," George said, looking a bit dejected as he stared at the sea of Slytherin trophies. Gryffindor and Slytherin had always been at odds.

"Sometimes those Slytherin folks will go to any lengths to accomplish their tasks," Fred muttered. He added, "Percy told me."

"Yeah, those Slytherin students are the most annoying," Fred agreed. "Percy said that once Slytherin falls a bit behind in the rankings, they will do anything to undermine the leading houses. Snape even favors his own students and never deducts points from them. Many students in the school don't like him and call him 'Old Bat'."

Albert's face twitched upon hearing the twins' words.

Although it was meant as a joke, don't just blame everything on Percy. He's your brother after all, not a scapegoat!

(End of this chapter)