Chapter 29

As it approached noon, the silent castle began to make more noise. Hogwarts was full of people chatting and bickering as it approached lunch time. The gang saw more people in the corridors as it approached noon, but it was unusually quiet, as some of the older students said compared to previous years. They said it was most likely attributed to it being a Saturday, people sleeping in after some went out to party and lessons haven't started yet.

There was a light shower of rain outside and as a result, most students will eat lunch in the Great Hall today. Most days, when it wasn't cold or raining, students would take their food outside and eat with friends from other houses or take food back to the common room to have something while they finish their homework.

While they were exploring the castle, the twins and Lee could wait for Albert, so they went off ahead. Albert took his time exploring and every time he saw something interesting, he took a photo. After walking for about four hours, Alberts legs were hurting, so he headed to the Great Hall. It is worth mentioning that {I'm Dora the Explorer} has gone up to 26.7%.

When Albert found a seat away from the rowdy bunch of Gryffindor students, he sat down and got his incomplete map out. He drew out everywhere he had been today, including the secret passageway behind the griffin statue. He also added where they found secret passageways but were locked.

During this time, the Great Hall continued to fill up and two people came to sit next to Albert. It was Angelina and Alicia. Angelina sat next to him while Alicia sat opposite to her friend.

"Hey stranger, where are your friends?" asked Angelina.

"Good morning," said Alicia.

"They're still exploring the castle. They got bored with me stopping and taking pictures, so they went on ahead." Albert said as he buttered his bread. "They won't come down till the end of lunch. Can you pass me the chocolate hazelnut spread, please?"

"How is your map going? Can I have a look?" Angelina said as she gave Albert the chocolate hazelnut spread and withheld it until Albert gave her the map to look at.

"I still think should go around the castle myself later so I can get a better look at the layout. I enjoyed doing it," Albert said as he opened the Chocolate hazelnut spread and spread it on this buttered bread.

"What is that?" Alicia asked as she saw lines coming off the page and writing next to it. She struggled to read it, as it was far away and was upside down. Angelina passed the sheets of paper she was down with and Alicia studied the incomplete map.

"Before I forget, here is our timetable," as he got one out. He used | Geminio | in case he saw another first-year student because it bothered him to get another one out. He then gave the duplicates to Alicia and Angelina.

"What spell was that?" Angelina asked.

"That was | Geminio |, the Doubling Charm. It duplicates an object of the casters choosing, but when used to multiply objects indiscriminately, it is the Gemino Curse. It comes from the Latin 'gemini' which means twins, and you pronounce it 'jeh-MIH-nee-oh'," Alicia said. Angelina looked at her in disbelief. "What? My family hired tutors so I could be ahead of the rest of the year and do my family proud."

It surprised Alicia to see Albert use magic that she couldn't do easily. She received her Hogwarts admission letter earlier than the muggle borne and half-bloods like most pure-bloods do. She also received her wand earlier and her family hired some of the best tutor to teach her magic before Hogwarts. Alicia was proud as she was better than most of her peer but when she saw a muggle born performing magic better than her, she was surprised but not shocked. Her family had told her to be friendly with muggle borne that were talented with magic, as they could prove to be a useful asset to them later on in life.

"It's a very useful spell, isn't it?" Albert said, as they looked at him in confusion. "Say you have a transfiguration or potion theory test coming up. You have made any notes but your friend had. You could ask them to 'borrow' it, and then use the Doubling charm to have your own set of notes."

Alicia looked at Albert in surprise once again. She had never thought about using it in that way. Her family said that she must make her own way and never cheat as you're only cheating yourself. But with this, she can copy other people's notes and have time to do more productive things like making connections.

"Can I have a copy of your map once you're done?" Alicia asked.

"Aren't you worried I'll give you a wrong version?" Albert asked.

"No, I'll check it myself once I get it," Alicia said as she ate her lunch.

"Yes, please and thank you," Angelina said as she smiled at Albert. Hogwarts was massive and with his map, the chance of her getting lost or being late to class will drop.

"I remember you're a muggle born, right?" Alicia said as Albert nodded. "How are you good at performing spell? Most muggle born and half-bloods and some pure-bloods aren't as good as you."

"I'll tell you the same thing as I told the others. I used a magic spell called practice," Albert said as the girls looked at him as if he were stupid. "If you read 'Hogwarts: A History' you piece together that the trace is put on wand around the time we join Hogwarts. There have been recount of muggle borne using magic before Hogwarts and not getting a letter from the Ministry. So I practiced before I arrived here plus, most of the spells were simple."

"Simple?" both girls said in unison.

"Yeah, simple," Albert said as he eat his fried eggs.

After Angelina got her wand, she tried some charms and got the easier ones. She tried to do some transfiguration, but she stopped after she failed a couple of times. Alicia did some of the more complex spells on the curriculum after she did the basic ones. She couldn't do most of them as they were too taxing on her.

After a while, they changed topics and discussed food. Both girls have been abroad and tasted different cuisine.

"I just can't stand having roast meat with potatoes," Albert said, as he wrinkled his nose in disgust. "I much prefer the variety and flavour of French and Italian food. A bowl of creamy carbonara or a plate of Paňa de chocolate would be heavenly right now."

Angelina and Alicia couldn't help but laugh at Albert's enthusiasm for foreign food. "We'll you could ask the house-elves to make you some French or Italian food. I'm sure they wouldn't mind and they'll jump at the chance to do something new."

"That's not a bad idea. Next time I go to the Kitchen, I'll ask the house-elves to do something different regularly for the school," Albert said, writing the idea in his notebook of thing to do that he got out of his robe.

"Are you even allowed to do that? You'll have to ask Dumbledore permission for that."