The three of them quickly moved through the secret passage and it took them a while to reach the eighth floor.
After hearing Albert's account, Fred, slightly out of breath, felt incredulous. "So, Professor Broad didn't help Filch catch you?"
"Albert is an outstanding student in the eyes of the professors," George joked, then his mouth dropped open in surprise, because a door had actually appeared on the wall opposite the tapestry of the troll beating Barnabas.
"As expected…" Albert murmured softly.
"What do you mean, 'as expected'?" Fred asked curiously.
"It's nothing, come in!" Albert pushed open the door and went into the room of Requirement first.
"I can't believe it's true." Fred and George exchanged bewildered glances and followed Albert inside. Their mouths were agape as they were greeted by a beautifully furnished room they had never seen before, filled with...
The excited expressions on their faces froze, and they stared in astonishment at the various exquisite and luxurious chamber pots displayed in front of them.
Albert, seeing the astonished expressions on the Weasley brothers' faces, winked mischievously and said, "Well, aren't you surprised?"
"You didn't happen to find this place by chance when your bladder was really full and you ran here?" Fred couldn't help but ask.
"How could that be? Am I that stupid?" Albert couldn't help but roll his eyes.
"Is this really the broom cabinet we found before?" George curiously examined the luxurious chamber pot, then suddenly realized something and asked, "So, you need to pee?"
All three of them couldn't help but laugh and each picked out a style they liked.
"But it feels a little strange that we're actually hiding here," Fred said, scratching his head. After all, nobody likes hiding among a bunch of chamber pots.
"It's nothing, we can just go out and find another room," Albert said casually.
"This place isn't within the Marauder's Map's area. Maybe Forkhead, Moonface, Wormtail, and Bigfoot haven't discovered the secret here either," George said, looking at the Marauder's Map in his hand.
"Pointy fork, moon face, worm tail, big feet?" Albert asked, feigning confusion.
"The creator of the Marauder's Map," Fred explained.
"Oh, them," Albert nodded. "They probably haven't discovered it; after all, very few people know the secret of the Room of Requirement."
"No problem, Filch is still on the fifth floor," George said after checking the Marauder's Map.
After the three left the House of Requirement, Fred asked, "Where do you want to go?"
"A place where we can rest," Albert suggested.
"I'll do it this time."
"I want one too."
The twins put their hands on each other's shoulders and tried again. The door opened, and this time they found themselves in a comfortable room with a roaring fire in the fireplace.
"That's great." Fred patted the armchair. "By the way, you still haven't told me how you found this place."
"I'd like to know too," George chimed in.
"This is the result of my analysis of you. You passed through here many times back then, didn't you? You were looking for a place to hide, weren't you?" Albert brought out his prepared statement, and in some ways, what he said was actually true.
That's correct.
"So, I took the time to try and pass through here many times, looking for a place to hide," Albert explained.
"And then?" George asked.
"Of course I failed. I tried many times before I finally opened the door, and only after categorizing and summarizing did I figure out the correct way to open it." Albert began to exaggerate the difficulty of discovering this place. In fact, he succeeded on his first attempt.
"Later, I tested turning this place into other rooms, and after many attempts, I finally discovered the correct way to use it," Albert blinked. "So, I started calling this place the Room of Requirement. Because this room can transform into any room you need according to your requirements, it's truly apt, isn't it?"
"So, you found this place using these clues?"
"That's right, I found this place using the clues you provided. Aren't I amazing?" Albert nodded and said, "Praise me if you want!"
"You..." The twins swallowed back the words they were about to say, but they still admired him greatly. They never expected that Albert would find such a place based on just this one clue.
"We can make the garlic crosses here," George suddenly said, "that way we won't have to worry about filling the dorm with the smell of garlic."
"You haven't given up yet?" Albert thought they had forgotten about it, but he didn't expect them to bring it up again at this time.
"Why give up? We already have enough garlic," Fred nodded. "This is the first alchemical tool we've ever made."
Albert wiped the cold sweat from his forehead, unsure whether he should tell them that it wasn't actually an alchemical tool.
But... he was really too embarrassed to speak up and shatter the teenagers' unfulfilled dreams.
After all, the two of them are destined to become the kings of comedy.
The three rested for a long time in the Room of Requirement, waiting for Filch and Professor Broad to give up the search for them. Meanwhile, the twins, who were warming themselves by the fireplace, were engaged in a fierce battle with Albert, compared to Filch's ongoing search.
Two wizard chess games were placed on their table, and Albert easily defeated both of them, playing against one opponent.
"Fred, keep it up! You still have a chance to turn things around!" George encouraged loudly.
"How do you suggest we add to it? By the way, you've already lost before me." Fred rolled his eyes at his brother sitting next to him making sarcastic remarks; he knew he was about to lose.
"Ahem." George coughed lightly and quickly changed the subject, "Filch seems to have gone back to rest, let's go to the library."
"That's a good idea, let's go." Fred immediately stood up, ready to renege on the game.
"Well, alright." Albert didn't expose the other's thoughts, but simply moved the queen to checkmate Fred.
"You lost too," George said gleefully, patting Fred on the shoulder. "You're much better than our good-for-nothing brother."
"Brother?" Albert asked doubtfully. "That poor guy whose tongue got burned through by candy."
"Ahem, that was just an accident." George coughed and quickly walked out of the Room of Requirement.
The three of them walked toward the school library.
The Hogwarts library closes at 8 p.m., and to the three's surprise, the library door was unlocked.
Albert opened the door and went in first. The interior was pitch black and eerily terrifying.
Albert raised his wand, using its light to look around, and then walked toward the restricted section at the back of the library.
After crossing the rope separating the restricted book area, the atmosphere became even more sinister.
Albert raised his wand and, by the pale light, read the title of the book.
"Find me the Book of Spells. Also, don't open those books casually, and don't take them off the shelves. Nobody knows if they've been cursed," Albert warned. "Remember, whatever you do, don't open the books. That could get us into a lot of trouble."
"Understood." The twins looked at each other, but nodded nonetheless.
Searching for the books you need in a sea of books is undoubtedly a waste of time. Albert spent a long time but still couldn't find what he needed.
The books in the restricted section all looked very old and worn, and Albert was a little suspicious that there might be many rare and unique copies stored here.
"Albert!" Fred said in a low voice, "I heard faint whispers coming from some of the books over there."
"Whisper?" Albert frowned. Hearing the twins say that, anyone who didn't know the situation would think that Voldemort's Horcruxes were hidden in the forbidden section.
The three of them crowded together, pointing their wands at the peeling, faded gold lettering. They all felt the hairs on the back of their necks stand on end, and they could hear whispers coming from the books.
"This is the restricted area, so it's not surprising to find a book like this. Don't open it," Albert warned. "It's definitely a book about black magic."
"Do you think this contains powerful black magic?" The twins looked at the book with a hint of awe.
"Maybe, I don't know," Albert cautioned. "But I'm sure you'll be in trouble if you open it now."
"You're right." Fred abandoned his suicidal thoughts, worried that the book might contain some bad dark magic, since some books could lead to unpleasant consequences after reading them.
The best examples are "The Story of the Poisonous Mushroom" and "The Wizard's Sonnets," the former of which will make you nauseous and vomit, and the latter of which will make you speak only in five-line doggerel for the rest of your life.
"Find me the Book of Spells; the spells in it are more suitable for us to learn now," Albert reminded him again.
Fred and George both nodded in agreement to help; they also wanted to learn some evil spells, and the somewhat powerful ones in the Book of Spells were obviously perfect for them to practice.
"Separating your search will be more efficient. As long as you don't touch the books carelessly, you'll be fine," Albert reminded him before continuing his search for the books he needed.
The restricted section contained a considerable number of books, and as Albert passed through one area, he could vaguely hear people talking in hushed tones.
Albert immediately held his breath and listened intently. He could vaguely hear that the sound was coming from a bookshelf next to him, but not from the books on the bookshelves in front of him; it was coming from somewhere else.
There seems to be something here, but it's hidden by magic.
"How strange…" Albert muttered. He didn't try to uncover the secret, but continued to search for the books he needed, which was the purpose of his visit.
It took the three of them about an hour, or even longer, to basically browse through the restricted book section before they finally found the books they needed.
"I knew these books wouldn't be so easy to take," Fred said, pointing to the chains on the books. "What do we do? Opening the Alaho Cave isn't working; these chains must be enchanted."
"You're not planning to break the chains by force, are you?" George and Fred didn't want Albert to do that, fearing it might have bad consequences.
"Of course I wouldn't do something so stupid. The presence of the Anti-Aloth Hole-Opening Curse is to my surprise." Albert pulled a small knife from his pocket.
He bought the knife for Christmas. Albert didn't want the knife itself, but rather some of its multi-purpose accessories. One of them was a lock-picking tool. He had already practiced at home, and opening these old locks wasn't too difficult.
"What do you plan to do?" Neither of them understood why Albert had suddenly pulled out a small knife.
"Using Muggle tricks."
"Muggle tricks?" Both of them were curious about what Albert planned to do.
"You all need to open your eyes wide and look carefully." Albert began fiddling with the lock on the book.
A moment later, a soft click was heard, and the lock on the book was opened.
"How did you do that?" the twins asked Albert in astonishment.
"I told you, this is a Muggle lock-picking trick." Albert brandished the knife in his hand and said, "Most wizards overlook some of the Muggle's tricks. Although they are not as good as the lock-picking spell and are a bit slower, they often overlook this point, which gives me an opening."
Although Hogwarts had cast spells on these locks, and even breaking the chains by force might trigger an alarm, he believed that using the key to open the locks would have absolutely no side effects, because that was the correct way to do it.
Although Albert didn't have a key, he obviously had no problem using Muggle lock-picking techniques.
"Next time you have the chance, you must teach us this technique." The twin's eyes shone; he thought Albert's method was very useful.
Most wizards tend to look down on Muggles because they don't know magic, which gave Albert an opening. Even Hogwarts clearly overlooked this.
"This lock-picking trick is easy to learn. I'll teach you when I have the chance," Albert said casually. Whether the twins could learn it, he didn't know.
When they left the library, it was already four in the morning. The three of them carried the spoils of the night: the original "Book of Spells", the "Book of Potions", and the "Powerful Potions".
Just a quick plug: I've been using a novel app lately, [Mimi Reading app], which supports both Android and Apple phones!
After confirming that no one was around, the three quietly left the scene of the crime and returned to the Gryffindor common room, dodging a ghost wizard with a cane along the way.
When they returned to the dormitory, Li Qiaodan was already awake, looking at the three people who had just returned from their night out with displeasure.
"You guys should have woken me up," Li Qiaodan complained.
"Who told you to sleep like a pig?" Fred held up his spoils of the day and showed them off to Lee Jordan. "We got them from the library."
"Let me see what books are available," Li Qiaodan asked curiously.
"Look for yourself, but don't break it. Let's take a nap first." Fred covered a yawn, started taking off his clothes, and prepared to go back to sleep. He hadn't slept like Albert before, and after the excitement of the night out, he really wanted to sleep.
"Good night."
"Good night"
"What a bunch of bastards." Looking at the three of them lying back on the bed, Li Qiaodan cursed under his breath, then turned his gaze back to the three brick-sized books they had brought back.