The weekend was a lifeline for the students of Hogwarts, a brief, blessed respite from the academic pressure cooker. It was a time when the demands of ancient runes and complex potions could be set aside, allowing for a natural awakening and the indulgence of pure, stress-free time.
For some, however, 'relaxation' was merely a shift in focus.
The beds belonging to the Weasley twins were empty long before breakfast was even served. They had risen at dawn, fueled by their newly formed, absurd entrepreneurial vision.
Their goal: to establish their secret garlic farm in a secluded, sun-drenched clearing they had meticulously identified on the very edge of the Forbidden Forest. This spot was deliberately chosen for its sparse visitation—a crucial factor for their clandestine agricultural operation.
Honestly, Albert found their dedication baffling. Did they genuinely expend this much time and effort to cultivate garlic solely for the purpose of making that ridiculous, smelly amulet?
Perhaps, Albert mused, stirring his porridge. They possessed uniquely contrary minds, so he had learned that nothing they undertook should be deemed truly strange.
Before Albert had finished his relatively sedate breakfast, Fred and George returned, their faces alight with success and their robes and hands thoroughly caked in rich, dark earth.
After a hurried, muddy scrub-down in the communal bathroom, they burst into the common room and immediately began regaling Albert with a breathless, detailed account of their morning's successful planting—the soil preparation, the careful spacing of the bulbs, and the strategic camouflage of the site.
Listening to their chattering, mud-stained enthusiasm, Albert had to forcefully restrain himself from asking the simple, frustrating question: Why didn't you just plant it in a pot? The elegance of a simple potted plant versus a large, hidden field operation near dangerous woods seemed lost on them entirely.
Albert politely declined Lee Jordan's enthusiastic invitation to join Quidditch training. As the minute hand of his pocket watch swept precisely to ten o'clock, he stood, straightened his robes, and proceeded to the second floor. He paused outside the office of his favorite professor and rapped sharply on the wooden door of the Defense Against the Dark Arts office.
He took a moment to reflect. The last time I entered a professor's office on this floor, I ended up accidentally demolishing Professor McGonagall's door, he recalled with a flicker of amusement. The fact that they had escaped any real, formal punishment for that incident still struck him as mildly unbelievable.
The door was opened instantly from the inside by Professor Broad. The Professor greeted Albert with a warm, open smile. "It is precisely ten o'clock, Mr. Anderson. You are commendably punctual!"
"I hope I'm not interrupting anything important, Professor," Albert replied, stepping into the comfortable, surprisingly cozy room. The office was welcoming: several soft, worn sofas invited lounging, a magnificent bronze rug covered the floor, and along the walls, towering bookshelves held hundreds of well-loved volumes.
Blue silk curtains softened the light filtering in from the windows, offering a tranquil view of the castle courtyard, where a handful of students were already enjoying the mild sunlight.
"Not at all. Please, make yourself comfortable. What would you like to drink?" Broad asked congenially.
"Milk tea, please, Professor." Albert then voiced a question that had been lurking in his mind. "If you don't mind me asking, sir, are you a graduate of Ravenclaw?"
"Yes, that's not particularly difficult to guess, is it?" Broad winked playfully. He then raised his wand, and with a light tap to the empty teacups before them, the air was immediately filled with the rich, inviting aroma of perfectly brewed milk tea.
Albert added a few sugar cubes to his cup, stirring slowly and deliberately. He took a sip before continuing. "I just recalled hearing that the eagle-shaped bronze door knocker to the Ravenclaw common room is quite a memorable feature."
"It is," Professor Broad confirmed, nodding. "The magic is elegant. The door knocker presents a fresh riddle every time a student attempts to enter. Only those who can answer the question correctly are granted entry to the Common Room."
Albert merely smiled, an imperceptible shake of his head accompanying the thought. While the Professor made it sound intellectually welcoming, Albert knew the reality: no student from another House would be genuinely welcomed into the private sanctuary of the Ravenclaw Common Room, regardless of their riddle-solving prowess. Tribalism ran deep in the Houses.
Professor Broad gestured toward a platter on the table. "Freshly baked pumpkin pie. Perhaps you'd like a piece?"
"I'd love one. It's best when it's still warm," Albert accepted, taking a steaming piece. He decided to lead the discussion directly to his primary concern.
"Professor, I did finish Simple Alchemy. While I found the author's perspective highly amusing, I confess it left me with a strange feeling. I can't reconcile the contents of that book with my previous understanding of what alchemy is. Can you shed any light on the author's intentions?"
"I don't claim to be an expert in the High Art of Alchemy myself, Mr. Anderson," Professor Broad replied, his expression thoughtful.
"My knowledge, much like yours, is largely confined to what I've encountered in books and scholarly research." He placed his teacup down. "But I assume you didn't come here today solely to discuss Mr. Zonko's peculiar talents?"
Albert knew the subtle cue. It was time to transition. He smoothly shifted the topic to the Defense Against the Dark Arts textbook, Dark Powers: A Guide to Self-Defense, detailing specific doubts he had about the efficacy of certain defensive spells mentioned within.
"I am very glad you raised this, Mr. Anderson," Professor Broad said, suddenly cheerful. "You are correct. As you've noticed, Dark Powers contains very few truly useful defensive spells. But do you understand the fundamental reason why this particular, quite tame book is required reading?"
"I believe so," Albert nodded, taking another careful bite of his pie. "The book's value is in its exhaustive cataloging of the Dark Creatures that exist in the world, and its practical advice on how to avoid or non-lethally deal with them."
"Precisely. And for a gifted student like yourself, that simply isn't sufficient," Professor Broad acknowledged. He leaned forward conspiratorially. "The fact is, the Ministry of Magic takes a rather conservative, even fearful, view of allowing students to be exposed to powerful, moderately offensive spell-work."
"Yes, that much is obvious," Albert agreed. "If I want to learn more effective self-defense, do you have any suggestions for supplementary texts?"
"I absolutely do," Professor Broad said, rising to pull a book from a high shelf. "I highly recommend 'Practical Defensive Magic and Its Countermeasures Against Dark Magic.'" He held the book out. "This set of books is quite expensive and the school library unfortunately doesn't stock it yet. If you want to study it, I can lend you this volume."
"Oh, what a coincidence, Professor!" Albert exclaimed, pulling out a handkerchief to wipe the crumbs from his hands before accepting the book.
"I actually managed to acquire this entire set recently. I found the principles behind the Shield Charm and the Disarming Charm fascinating. Though I've found the Stunning Charm and the Obstruction Charm quite useful as well, I feel I still lack a solid foundation in complex curse-breaking."
Professor Broad's eyes flashed with undisguised surprise and an appreciative smile. "No, no, Mr. Anderson, the fact that you have already mastered those spells, and even acquired this entire set of texts, in your first few months here... that is truly remarkable."
He paused, his tone shifting slightly. "I hear from Professor McGonagall that she is quite optimistic about your future achievements in Transfiguration, too."
"I believe I have a decent aptitude for magic," Albert said modestly, "and I practice diligently. Learning more spells can only be an advantage in the long run. It never hurts to be prepared."
"Greed for knowledge is not a fault, Mr. Anderson," Professor Broad said, his expression becoming theatrically exaggerated. "By Merlin's beard, you possess a mind more typical of Ravenclaw than many who wear the blue and bronze! The Sorting Hat must have had a difficult time with you."
"It did. It said I was suitable for every House except Slytherin," Albert confirmed with a wry blink. "I actually chose Gryffindor simply because I had already made friends with the boys on the train."
"An excellent quality. To be unbiased in your judgment is a rare and difficult trait for many to achieve." Professor Broad smiled warmly.
"I suspect that once you finish Practical Defensive Magic completely, your skill level will likely exceed that of the vast majority of our current sixth and seventh years. It's a sad reality, but due to the curse placed upon this course, the incredibly important subject of Defense Against the Dark Arts has become rather ineffective, resulting in low general skill among the student body."
"Professor, the wizard who cursed the Defense Against the Dark Arts teaching post—is he still alive?" Albert asked, touching upon a piece of magical history he already knew but wanted confirmed.
"I'm afraid so," Professor Broad nodded somberly. "Otherwise, I believe Headmaster Dumbledore would have exhausted every known method to lift the curse permanently. After all, it's a tiresome process to hire a new professor every year, knowing they will inevitably leave."
"I heard that the Ministry of Magic has a profession called Auror—experts in defensive magic," Albert inquired, presenting his 'previous life' confusion as a genuine question. "Why doesn't Headmaster Dumbledore simply invite retired Aurors to teach the students?"
Professor Broad gave a slight, quick blink, and Albert was certain he saw a flash of contempt in the Professor's eyes for the general wizarding public. "Many people are simply afraid."
"Afraid?"
"They fear the curse," Broad clarified. "They believe the position itself is unlucky, and very few professors have managed to safely leave the post without suffering some sort of misfortune. Furthermore, the Ministry of Magic itself isn't necessarily keen on seeing Hogwarts students become too adept at combat magic."
"Professor, I have one last question regarding the curse," Albert said, carefully formulating his final point.
"What is it, Mr. Anderson?"
"Has Headmaster Dumbledore ever considered simply discontinuing the Defense Against the Dark Arts class? Or, perhaps, changing the course's name entirely?" Albert suggested.
"Since the curse was placed on the Defense Against the Dark Arts position, if the class ceased to exist, the curse would logically lose its target. The course could be renamed to something like Defensive Arts or Practical Self-Defense, keeping the content but removing the cursed name."
Professor Broad threw his head back and laughed heartily, genuinely amused by the lateral thinking.
"That is an exceptionally insightful and logical point," Professor Broad said, nodding emphatically as he recovered. "You are quite correct: Defense Against the Dark Arts is, after all, just a label. To abandon it when necessary is a pragmatic approach. I am quite certain Dumbledore has considered this exact point." He leaned in again, his tone lowering slightly.
"However, the wizard who placed the curse is not yet permanently gone. If Dumbledore abandoned the name, the culprit might simply retaliate by cursing the new class name."
Though the explanation was logical, Albert felt it was merely a convenient, public-facing excuse to maintain tradition. He decided not to press the matter further.
"If you continue to learn the spells from Practical Defensive Magic, I recommend you next look for 'Defense and Deterrent Spells' in the library. That book introduces many powerful, high-level defensive spells that should satisfy your curiosity," Professor Broad concluded. He then offered a final piece of wisdom.
"However, remember this: what you see in the spell books is only the surface of magic. The true power of a spell lies in the subtle, effective changes you make through your own imagination and intention. Powerful spells are not everything. Sometimes, a smaller, cleverly adapted spell can solve a massive problem far more easily."
Albert was still pondering the deeper, philosophical meaning of that statement when Professor Broad checked his watch. "Well, lunchtime is approaching. You should head down soon. It's been a true pleasure chatting with you, Mr. Anderson. Most students are too awestruck to sit down and have a genuine conversation with a professor."
"The pleasure was all mine, Professor. I have benefited greatly from your advice, and I look forward to our next discussion," Albert replied, offering a respectful nod before leaving the Defense Against the Dark Arts office, his mind brimming with new book titles and the subtle implications of curses, dark lords, and the stubborn persistence of a garlic-farming scheme.
Albert now has a clear path for his Defense Against the Dark Arts learning and a new task to create Magic Photos. To complete the photo quest and unlock the Alchemy skill, he needs to secure a supply of ingredients for the Developing Potion. Where should he go next: the Library Restricted Section (for formula information) or directly to Snape's Storeroom (for ingredients)?
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Announcement:
Since this fanfic is ur favorite, I decided to release regularly for 3chs/day instance for being last month of this great year 2025. It will be for 20-25 days.
Hope u can atleast check my p@treon account, I will be grateful. It needs much more time and resources to upload these chapters. I wish u can understand and support me there to maintain this motivation. I also updated a separated HP fanfics tier there.
And Lastly, thanks for the power stones that u send regularly. Good day to u all.