Study Days at Hogwarts

"Ahem, do you want to go shopping together in the evening?"

Albert coughed lightly, trying to divert everyone's attention so that the topic would not embarrass everyone.

"It's not very safe here at night, especially for outsiders." When Catherine spoke, she deliberately lowered her voice: "Moreover, many of the products in Kahale Square are prepared by locals for wizard tourists. The fake products are not only expensive, but also very unreliable.”

"No matter where you go, there is a phenomenon of robbing customers." Albert was not surprised. He had seen many such things in his previous life.

"Kathleen actually likes you very much!" Valeria winked at Albert.

The atmosphere at the scene suddenly became a little strange.

"I'm honored." Albert nodded and smiled at Kathleen.

He felt that Valeria in front of him was trying to cause trouble.

Katherine didn't retort, she just stared at Valeria dissatisfied, as if to say: "It's okay for you to be in heat, don't drag me into this."

Isobel was very calm throughout the whole process and didn't care about Valeria's little thoughts at all. She had actually seen a long time ago that both Valeria and Catherine had a crush on Albert.

But so what?

Even if Valeria made it clear, that would be it.

For a moment, everyone was silent.

The weird atmosphere at the scene left Albert speechless. Is this the legendary Shura Field?

In the past, I actually wanted to find two or three girlfriends, and my mind was definitely caught in the door.

The arrival of Serra and Nicholas broke the awkward atmosphere.

"Long time no see, Mr. Nicholas." Albert couldn't help but breathed a sigh of relief and took the initiative to stand up and give the old man in front of him a hug.

"I heard that you won the Barnabus Finkley Gold Medal for Outstanding Spellcasting Techniques a while ago." The old man sat down next to his granddaughter and said to Albert with a smile: "With your current rate of winning awards, in a few years You can collect all the international awards. However, I am more curious now, what alchemical results do you plan to use to win the gold medal of the International Alchemy Conference?"

"I made some small discoveries in the research on mandrake." Albert took out the mandrake wine and flying ointment again. Then, he briefly explained the effects of the two things to the two old men.

After listening, Serra and Nicholas exchanged glances with each other, and Serra finally spoke.

"One thing, I think you need to know. Participating in the International Alchemy Congress means that you need to provide the formula and related information of the research results. You should know what this means!" Sera lowered her voice and said: "We recommend that you Take out both the mandrake wine and the flying ointment, and then go to the International Alchemy Congress with only the flying ointment."

"Why?" Valeria asked puzzled. She felt that there was probably something fishy in this matter that they didn't know about.

"Because if you provide the formula, it means that other alchemists will soon know the alchemical formula. Although the Egyptian Alchemy Research Center will apply for a patent, the patent is actually useless, because other people can produce it privately, and their interests will be damaged. Otherwise, it is almost impossible to hold those guys accountable across borders." It was not difficult for Albert to guess the reason. However, he actually doesn't care much about these semi-finished products. Both mandrake wine and flying ointment have room for improvement. If they can use semi-finished products to complete the panel task, it is actually quite cost-effective.

"There is another reason. Wizards under the age of thirty can only win the Gold Award for Pioneering Contributions, while wizards over the age of thirty can win the International Alchemy Award. Although the medals and bonuses given by both awards are the same, But the meaning is very different.”

"Why should the awards be separated?" Valeria asked doubtfully, "Is it to give young people a chance to win the award?"

"Yes, that's it." Sera nodded and said: "It gives young people a chance and saves some face for other alchemy masters. If the interests of both parties do not conflict, the International Alchemy Conference will be more harmonious."

"Of course." Nicholas looked strange, "Another reason is to let young people share the results of alchemy."

Everyone looked at Nicholas, waiting for him to finish speaking.

"Actually, many wizards don't want to hand over their research results, especially those more profitable inventions. You must know that nothing in this world is more profitable than a monopoly. Especially mandrake wine, believe me, many wizards will like it , that means a lot of wealth."

"If you want to sell this kind of wine in the Americas, you can find Kathleen. This is not the first time you have cooperated anyway." Nicholas was very satisfied with Albert, and even thought about bringing him and Kathleen together.

Unfortunately, after Catherine became his heir, this became impossible.

"I will consider it." Albert nodded.

However, he was not ready to consider such things just yet.

Valeria winked at Catherine, and she also felt that Nicholas also intended to bring the two of them together and deepen the relationship between them.

As far as Valeria knew, Albert and Katherine not only collaborated on the development of beauty potions and sold Buffy Awakening Potions, but also had other reasons. However, Kathleen never said it, which was why she suspected that there was something going on between the two.

"By the way, here you go, this is the ticket to participate in the International Alchemy Competition." Sierra took out a piece of parchment from her pocket and handed it to Albert, and then reminded: "I'm afraid you have to go to bed early today, because You need to get up early tomorrow morning, around five o'clock, do you have any questions?"

"I want to buy some specialties here. It would be better if I could buy a few books about alchemy back home." Albert said. He felt that there were some things that should not be missed when visiting Egypt.

"If you want to buy alchemy items, you can go to the black market here. It is open every Saturday afternoon. If you want to go in, you must have an acquaintance recommend it to the bar owner." Nun Las introduced to Albert: "Of course, you can also go to the card Heller Square. Well, it's near the Muggle Liberation Square. However, I suggest you use Floo powder to get there directly from here. It will be much faster. Although it will cost some money, I think that money is worth it to you. A piece of cake."

"Are you going together?" Isobel invited Valeria and Catherine. "

"No, we've already gone shopping." Kathleen refused.

"I think it would be good to go shopping again." Valeria said, "Last time, I went there during the day and left after a quick walk. I heard someone said there might be a circus performance over there at night."

"Who told you that, yourself?"

In the evening, everyone dines in the tavern. The staple food here is flatbread, and it is said that they will add some barbecued meat and fresh vegetables to it. A kind of gray-green thick soup that tastes pretty good, a bit like mixed vegetable soup, but a bit ugly. It is usually used to dip flatbreads.

Albert prefers grilled chicken, which is filled with green wheat and rice. It has a good texture, a bit similar to chicken wings with rice, and tastes great.

The drink is roselle tea, which is said to have beauty effects, so the price is a bit more expensive than black tea. It is said that a small amount of honey is added to it to make the taste sour and sweet. Many girls like to drink it.

During the meal, Kathleen also mentioned that roselle essence is used as a beauty potion in Egypt.

After dinner and sitting there chatting for a while, the four of them went to find the bartender together. Under the guidance of the service desk, they went to Kahale Square through a fireplace, for which they paid a gold coin.

Kahale Square was quite lively at night. There were oil lamps on both sides of the street. Many vendors were setting up stalls on the roadside, selling some random things. I told Albert directly that 80% of what those vendors were selling was deceptive stuff. .

What is more regrettable is that there is no circus performance in the square today. However, when Albert found a stall selling delicious food, he was even more surprised to find that roasted sweet potatoes were being sold here.

However, since they had just eaten dinner not long ago, they only bought two portions.

"It tastes very good, much better than baked potatoes." Isobel took the piece of cheese-covered sweet potato handed to him by Albert, took a bite and commented.

"You can ask the house elves to make them for you, but it may be difficult to buy sweet potatoes in the UK." Albert felt that he could hire Dobby to help him grow things in the future. It's best to build a greenhouse so you don't have to worry about running out of vegetables and fruits in the future.

Not knowing that this place was like this on weekdays, Albert found the bookstore.

However, what disappointed him was that there were not many books here that he wanted. He had read through the so-called "Introduction to Alchemy" and "Skillful Victory over Dark Magic". It would be a pure waste to buy them back. money. In the end, Albert only bought a few advanced books that he was interested in. It was not a wasted trip, because the situation in the magic props store disappointed him even more. Although alchemy was very developed, there was not much new stuff in the store. s things.

Most Alberts could basically guess the principle as long as they had seen it, and the last few people went back holding some snacks.

In addition to a bunch of books that Albert bought and a few suspicious dark magic defense items in the magic shop, Isobel bought a bottle of roselle essence for beauty potions and the pile of delicious food in the hands of the two girls.

"I told you, there's nothing interesting there at all," Kathleen said calmly.

"You're right." Albert nodded and said, "Let's go back and rest first. See you tomorrow."

Looking at the closed door, Valeria took a bite of the barbecue and sighed softly, "It seems that we have no chance."

"You have no chance." Kathleen said, "Go back and rest. You have to get up early tomorrow. If you can't get up, don't blame me for leaving you here and go to the International Alchemy Conference by yourself."

"Don't be so heartless!" After Valeria closed the door, she looked at her friend helplessly and said, "Anyway, it's not that you don't plan to get married, why do you care about this? If you don't marry, it doesn't mean that you don't want a man, you have to find someone. It’s suitable, do you plan to use your fingers to solve it in the future?”

"There's nothing wrong with strengthening contact with Albert. You don't have business contacts. Further strengthening the relationship can make you closer. As for the future, you can also have a child, and he doesn't need to be responsible anyway." Valeria persuaded.

"Are you very enthusiastic about bringing us together?" Kathleen looked at her friend with strange eyes.

"There is no way, Isobel is my first love, and Albert himself is a rational guy." Valeria muttered softly, "But as long as there is a first time and a second time, I will have a chance. .”

"Is it really necessary to go to this extent?" Kathleen felt like she got to know her friend again.

"It's necessary." Valeria said seriously, "I long for money, I hope to maintain my beauty, and I dream of having an excellent, gentle and considerate man, living a free and comfortable life, and doing what I like every day. "

"And now, Albert has shown me that what I want is close at hand. Why don't I pursue it? I won't fight with Isobel, because I can't win, but what if I become a lover? Anyway, I I don’t care.” Valeria said calmly, “Ukraine is a terrible place. If you have really been there and understood where it is, you will know why I did what I did.”