"You... you actually bet?" George Weasley swallowed hard. "That's 25 Galleons! What if... what if..."
He couldn't bring himself to say the words "we're wrong," afraid that speaking them aloud would make it come true.
"I trust my luck and intuition," Albert said calmly. "Why don't you try? If you guess right, you could win a fortune."
"We don't have that kind of money," the twins said, exchanging glances and shaking their heads. The Weasley family was relatively poor, and even if the twins had some savings, they wouldn't waste it on a gamble.
"Don't look at me," Lee Jordan said, shaking his head vigorously. "I want to save my money for other things." He thought Albert's move was reckless; if he had that kind of money, he'd never spend it like that.
As the four talked, the train sped out of London, racing through fields and meadows.
Albert flipped through his newspaper, listening to the others chat about Quidditch. He couldn't join the conversation; even though he knew the rules, he had to pretend he didn't.
After all, Albert came from the Muggle world and shouldn't know anything about Quidditch.
"By the way, did you hear about Gabriel Truman?" George suddenly asked, bringing up an incident from a few weeks ago.
"Natley nearly got expelled from the Ministry of Magic," Fred whispered. "He had to personally apologize to Gabriel Truman to smooth things over."
"I heard about that too. But Mom says Rita Skeeter's articles can't be trusted," Lee Jordan said. "That woman loves to exaggerate."
"Most newspapers do, but there's usually a grain of truth in their stories," Albert said, closing his newspaper. As one of the main culprits behind the incident, he naturally knew what had happened.
"I went to Truman's compartment earlier and overheard him talking about it," Fred suddenly said. "He said he met a new Hogwarts student practicing magic during the summer, and then he inexplicably received a letter saying he'd been expelled from Hogwarts. Dumbledore and someone from the Ministry of Magic showed up. The Ministry official was really rude and didn't even apologize, so Truman..."
Albert raised an eyebrow. Westerners were certainly more flamboyant. He'd warned Truman to keep it quiet, but Truman had clearly forgotten. At least he hadn't mentioned Albert's involvement.
Albert's soul remained fundamentally Eastern. The humility and restraint ingrained in his bones hadn't vanished, and he disliked drawing attention to himself.
"By the way, do you know how Hogwarts sorts students into houses?" Albert changed the subject.
"No, my family won't tell me," Lee Jordan said, shaking his head.
"Percy said it involves some kind of test," George said, sounding annoyed. "They always keep us in the dark, like it's some kind of joke."
"What's life like for a wizard? Is it really that exciting?" Albert pondered aloud. "When I first received my letter, everyone was shocked. My mother was even wary of Professor McGonagall, worried I wouldn't find a job after graduation."
"That's unlikely. Our eldest brother already graduated," the twins said in unison.
"Bill works for Gringotts in Africa."
"What about your father?" Albert asked, knowing the answer.
"He works at the Ministry of Magic," the twins replied, exchanging glances and speaking in perfect unison.
"I think I'll probably stay in the Muggle world after I graduate."
"Why?" the three boys asked in surprise, finding the idea hard to fathom.
"I came to Hogwarts mainly to learn magic and how to control it. Professor McGonagall said that if you don't study magic, it could become unstable later on."
"But in the Muggle world, we can't use magic freely, and we can't let Muggles know it exists, or we'll get ourselves into trouble."
"By the way, what do you all want to do in the future?"
"I don't want to work at the Ministry of Magic," George said.
"Me neither," Fred agreed. The twins exchanged a look and couldn't help but laugh.
"Being a Quidditch player would be cool. Charlie became Gryffindor's Quidditch captain this year, but you can't join the team until second year," George said regretfully.
"I haven't really decided yet," Lee Jordan said.
"What about you?" All three turned to Albert.
"Me? I want to find a job that's easy, relaxed, and pays well."
"Does such a job even exist?" The three exchanged skeptical glances. If it did, they'd want it too!
"It should. I'm looking for it," Albert said with a smile. He was curious about when the twins had first conceived the idea of opening their joke shop.
"If you find it, remember to tell me," Lee Jordan said earnestly, patting Albert on the shoulder before bursting into laughter.
"Mind if I take a photo of you all?" Albert asked, pulling out his camera.
"A photo?"
"Yes, my family wants to learn more about the magical world," Albert said, motioning for the three to sit together. He raised his camera and snapped a few photos.
"Why aren't the pictures moving?" Lee Jordan poked at the photo, trying to make it come to life.
"Muggle photos don't move," Albert explained, taking the photo and glancing at it with satisfaction. "Looks like my photography skills are improving."
"What's the point of a photo that doesn't move?" The three quickly lost interest in the still image.
As noon approached, a commotion arose in the train corridor.
Moments later, a witch pushed open the compartment door and leaned in, asking, "Dearies, would you like to buy any snacks?"
"I'll take a box of Bertie Bott's Every Flavor Beans," Lee Jordan said, having brought his own food. The twins also had sandwiches, but with little money, they didn't buy anything.
"I'll take one of everything," Albert told the smiling witch.
Having witnessed Albert's earlier gambling spree, the three were no longer surprised by his extravagant spending.
Albert paid a Galleon for the pile of snacks on the table.
"I bet your family is loaded," Lee Jordan muttered.
"Not exactly rich," Albert said, opening a jar of Bertie Bott's Every Flavor Beans. He popped one into his mouth—a bean sprout flavor. "They're all lawyers."
"What's that?" None of the three knew much about Muggles.
"People who represent others in court," Albert explained. "You might think of them as people who legally exploit loopholes in the law."
"Legally exploit loopholes?" The three were bewildered. "What does that even mean? How can exploiting loopholes be legal?"
What kind of twisted logic is this?
"Tell me about these foods," Albert said, gesturing to the table. He didn't want to end up eating something bizarre—wizards had rather peculiar tastes. Besides, this was an opportunity to build friendships, which, like any relationship, required nurturing.
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T/N— End of Mass Release! Hope you all enjoyed these 15 chapters. Updates will be daily at 4PM GMT.
You can read upto Chapter 50 and get daily two chapters a day at— Patreon.com/EtherealTL
Details about bonus chapters mentioned in Auxiliary, Chapter 0.