Chapter 765 Bad intentions
Even though it has already entered March, the weather around Hogwarts is still very cold. I don’t know if it is affected by a large number of dementors, but the snow around the castle has only begun to melt now.
Albert walked through the muddy fields and along the gravel path towards the hunting lodge on the edge of the Forbidden Forest. Something seemed to catch his attention on the road. Albert squinted his eyes and looked towards the woods, and found a black dog on the edge of the woods, secretly walking across the lawn. There was also a cat next to the black dog, which was Hermione. Crookshanks was walking quickly beside the black dog. The cat and the dog seemed to notice Albert's gaze and quickly disappeared into the forest.
Albert regained his sight and walked towards Hagrid's hunting cabin.
There was light coming from the window of the hunting cabin. When Albert knocked on the door, there was a scratching sound in the house, and then Hagrid's voice sounded: "Back up, Fang, back up."
“I’m sorry, I’m looking for you at this time.”
Hagrid opened the door and let Albert into the room.
"It doesn't matter." Albert noticed Hagrid sticking his head out of the door. After carefully observing the actions around him, he frowned and asked, "What's wrong?"
“I don’t know.” Hagrid said casually, “There’s always been a strange feeling lately, as if someone is watching here, maybe someone from the Ministry of Magic. They are probably worried that I let Buckbeak go without permission.”
“Someone is 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 warning, but I always feel a little weird.” Hagrid mumbled and walked towards the fireplace, preparing to boil a kettle of water for Albert’s tea.
Albert was definitely not from the Ministry of Magic. Those people would not do such a thing. Lucius Malfoy also wished that Hagrid secretly released Buckbeak so that he could find an excuse to throw people into Azkaban. prison.
Albert had already guessed what was going on. He took out the map from his pocket and looked at the situation around Hagrid's hut.
There were five names in the hut. In addition to him, Hagrid, Fang and Buckbeak, there was also a guy who should have been dead: Peter Pettigrew.
He was indeed hiding in Hagrid's hunting lodge.
No wonder Sirius Black and Crookshanks were nearby.
“Did you find anything?” Hagrid turned around and asked.
“A mouse,” said Albert softly.
“A rat?” Hagrid was even more confused.
"Yes, a mouse." Albert cast an ear-blocking spell without warning to prevent Peter from eavesdropping on the subsequent conversation between the two.
“Oh, that’s okay. There are often mice coming here to steal food. I even saw one a while ago.” Hagrid didn’t care about this and said casually, “How about you lend me the cat for a while.”
“My Tom can’t catch mice,” Albert said helplessly. He actually wanted to introduce Hermione's Crookshanks to Hagrid, but gave up thinking that doing so might scare Peter away.
“Cats can’t catch mice?” Hagrid felt incredible.
Albert did not answer these words, and his eyes fell on Buckbeak. The hippogriff also raised his head and stared at Albert, without any sense of danger that he was about to lose his head.
"You have to rename it in the future. Buckbeak can't be used anymore." Albert stepped forward, looked into Buckbeak's eyes, completely ignored Hagrid's "be careful" warning, and reached out to touch its head.
"You should be careful." Hagrid somewhat blamed Albert for his reckless move, "But you are right, I will give him a new name."
He took the boiling kettle from the fireplace and poured it into a large teapot. While pouring Albert a cup of black tea, he placed a piece of chocolate cake in front of Albert, along with a piece of parchment paper. , that was the notice sent to Hagrid by the Ministry of Magic.
Albert opened the letter, read it quickly, raised his head and said to Hagrid, "The current situation is not too bad."
“Not too bad?”
“At least the Ministry of Magic didn’t bring an executioner to hear your appeal.”
Albert picked up the cup of hot tea, gently blew the heat away, took a sip and said, "I guess after the appeal fails this time, the next time you appeal, the Ministry of Magic will bring executioners to listen to you. Appealed."
"Then what should I do?" Hagrid looked at Albert uneasily, hoping that the other party could give some useful suggestions.
“Aren’t you and Hermione always helping me?” Hagrid asked in confusion.
"No, you misunderstood me. What I said are professionals who help people." Albert explained, "In the Muggle world, there is a profession called a lawyer who specializes in helping people with lawsuits."
“But there are no lawyers in the wizarding world,” Hagrid said with wide eyes.
"I know, but you can pay to hire a consultant who understands Ministry of Magic law and ask him to help you win this case." Albert explained.
“But didn’t you say that we can’t win this lawsuit?” Hagrid was a little confused by Albert’s words.
"Yes, we may not win, but that doesn't mean we can't use this to disgust Malfoy." Albert grinned maliciously.
"Besides, if you have a wizard who knows the law to help you, it can save you a lot of trouble. Of course, it would be better if you can win."
“I don’t know such a person.” Hagrid said awkwardly.
"I can ask for you, and then you can do this, this, and this." Albert lowered his voice and told Hagrid his plan.
"Is this okay?" Hagrid looked at Albert dumbfounded. Was he planning to let Malfoy bribe his own advisers and then divide Malfoy's money together?
"Of course, the Daily Prophet will be happy to report these tidbits. As long as they don't want this matter to be exposed, they will definitely have to bribe him to make you completely fail."
"But...why don't we just win the case?" Hagrid asked confused.
"Because you can't win, even if this matter is exposed, your probability of winning the lawsuit is still not high. At most, you will cause some trouble for Malfoy." Albert took a bite of the chocolate cake and frowned, The cake didn't taste very good, it was a bit hard. It had probably been stored for several days.
"So, it's the easiest and most effective way to do it, and don't you think it's interesting? The Malfoys tried their best to kill Buckbeak. They spent a lot of galleons, but at the last moment they actually let it die. Sneaked away, I think their family will be furious because of this!"
"You're right, that family should have been punished long ago!" Hagrid recalled what happened last semester and had no good impression of 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 locked up in Azkaban Prison forever.
It would be great if this plan could seriously trick Malfoy, and it would also be a good way to vent his anger.
"However, if you reveal a little bit about how you plan to deal with this matter, at least it will put my mind at ease!" Hagrid was convinced that Albert had found a way to let Buckbeak escape. He asked tentatively, "Don't you want to take Buckbeak away on the day of execution?"
"Of course not, I won't use that kind of risky method." Albert shook his head and said: "However, I can't tell you the method now. Your mouth is not strong enough. It's best for you not to even think about it, and I I think it’s best not to let other people know about this, so as not to leak the news.”
"Okay, okay! As long as we can save Buckbeak, everything else doesn't matter." Hagrid finally compromised and was no longer curious about what method Albert planned to use.
“It’s already dark, let me take you back to the castle!”
Hagrid stood up and prepared to **** Albert back to the castle. Although he did not think that 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. After making sure that no one was around, he cast a disembodiment spell on himself and quietly went to the bathroom on the eighth floor, waiting for the arrival of his other self.
After he heard three knocks on the door, he counted thirty seconds in his mind, and when he walked out of the bathroom, Fred, George and Lee Jordan were all waiting for him outside.
“Are you really not going to use the Room of Requirement on the eighth floor?” The three of them continued the topic.
“I plan to make a room by myself.” Albert briefly stated his plan.
"Make a room by yourself?" Fred, George and Lee Jordan were all in a daze. They couldn't understand how Albert could make a new room in the castle.
"Have you forgotten that there is a kind of magic called the Traceless Stretch Spell?" Albert reminded with a smile: "We can use the Traceless Stretch Spell to create an empty room, and then move some of the things in the Room of Requirement into the room. There, 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 bothered 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 existence of the Room of Requirement? If too many people know about that place, it will be difficult for us to use it in the future." Albert explained, "Besides, this is also an attempt. We will continue to use it in the future." There’s a lot of use of this technology.”
"I think your method is great, others will definitely be shocked." George felt that Albert must have his own reasons for doing this, so he didn't say more, and he also wanted to take the opportunity to learn from Albert. Traceless stretching spell.
"As for the secret passage, we know a lot about it." Fred thought for a moment and said, "The secret passage with the portrait 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 that the secret room used by the party has turned into a secret passage.” Lee Jordan seemed to have thought about the shocked expressions of others who were about to use the secret room outside the party, but found that the secret room was missing.
(End of this chapter)