Chapter 197
When Albert woke up on Monday morning, he remembered what had happened yesterday and felt upset. Although he had resolved the misunderstanding between Ron and Harry yesterday, Albert still felt sad after his friends showed envy and jealousy towards him. Then, he got out of bed, put on his clothes, and went down to the common room. As soon as he appeared, those present in the room, who had finished their breakfast, began to applaud him and left. But Albert saw Harry, Ron, and Hermione at one of the dining tables eating ravenously!!
As soon as Albert pulled up a chair next to Hermione, Ron looked up at Albert, his mouth full of chicken legs!!
Ron chewed his food well, and let out a long sigh, which suggested he regretted what had happened. But Ron finally looked up and directed his words towards Albert, saying, "I am really sorry, Albert, for what happened yesterday. Envy blinded me. When I saw everyone praising you when you were chosen, those demonic thoughts began to control me. If it weren't for the truth you told us yesterday, Harry and I wouldn't be apologizing to you now!"
Albert looked at Harry, who, in turn, was also asking for forgiveness from Albert for doubting him.
But Albert did not joke with his close friends, but told them that he truly forgave them. After Ron and Harry felt that Albert had finally forgiven them for what happened, they began chatting with each other and talking about the Magical Tournament.
Hermione was watching everything that was happening between the three and enjoying the friendship between her three friends.
The school schedule for the day began with Hagrid's subject outside the Hall, where they would study with the Slytherin House near the Forbidden Forest.
When Albert and his friends finished their meal inside the Common Room, Albert and his friends gathered with the Gryffindor students to head towards the Forbidden Forest as was known.
But they were surprised to see the Hufflepuff students who were looking at them with looks of hatred and resentment, which reflected on the relationship between Gryffindor students and the students of the other Houses.
Even the Hufflepuff students began treating Gryffindor with clear coldness and hatred, as they thought that Albert had stolen glory from Cedric. They expected that Cedric was the more deserving to be the champion of Hogwarts, as he had everything a Hogwarts champion possesses: beauty... experience... charms... courage... Of course, Albert's friends from Hufflepuff did not speak to him at all.
Harry wished that Hagrid's class would go well after seeing the strange looks of the Hufflepuff students towards Albert, but the Care of Magical Creatures class also meant meeting the Slytherin students... and it was the first time he had faced them since what happened. Of course, Malfoy, Crabbe, and Goyle rushed to Hagrid's hut, and as soon as they saw Albert, Malfoy said to them, even though he no longer felt fear of Albert, "Ah... look... here is the champion.... Come on, where are your quills so you can get his signature, as I don't think he will stay here for long... Half of the champions of the previous Triwizard Tournaments have died. How long do you think you will stay alive, Harry?"
"I bet you won't survive for more than ten minutes in the first task!"
Albert did not answer him, as since everyone was looking at this place, any movement or harm Albert caused to Malfoy would be bad for himself.
But Albert was surprised by Malfoy's audacity towards him today. In previous days, whenever Draco saw Albert's face, he would run away and be afraid of him, but today the opposite of what Albert imagined happened.
But Malfoy's audacity came from one thing, which is Lucius Malfoy's authority. A week ago, when Draco told his father what happened to him in Hagrid's class when Draco fell on his face because of the tree trunk, Lucius felt extremely angry, which led Lucius to inform Headmaster Dumbledore about it and told him that if anything bad happened to his son again from Albert, Albert would be immediately expelled!!
Lucius Malfoy had unusual authority within the Ministry of Magic, so his word was great, and it was possible for Albert to be expelled if there was evidence of that. It was not difficult for Albert to be expelled if Lucius wanted to!!
Malfoy wanted to say something to Albert, but Hagrid came out of the hut carrying a group of boxes, each containing one of those white creatures, and to everyone's dismay, Harry explained the reason these creatures were killing each other was that they had too much energy, and so he suggested that the students take them for a short walk, and the best part of this plan was that it completely attracted Malfoy's attention. He repeated in disgust, looking at one of the boxes, "Take this thing for a walk??... And where can I tie the leash then?"
Hagrid replied to him, clarifying, "Around the middle exactly... and I think it's better to wear protective gloves as a form of protection... Albert, come and help me with this big one here."
Hagrid's desire was to try to get Albert away from the rest of the students, so he waited until every student took one of them, then turned to Albert and said very seriously, "So you will be among the contestants... you will be the school champion."
Albert replied, "Yes, Hagrid..."
Hagrid asked again, "Don't you have an idea who caused that?" Hagrid didn't know that Albert was the reason for his participation in the Tournament!! He, in turn, did not know exactly what happened.
They both looked towards the courtyard to find that the students were facing a real difficulty in controlling these creatures, especially after their size had grown like this and their strength had increased, so they were no longer shell-less. They had grown a gray shell, so they had become something between giant scorpions and rectangular crabs, but they still had no clear eyes or heads. But Hagrid said happily, "Look... it's as if they are having fun... isn't it?!"
Albert knew that he meant those creatures, as what his colleagues were exposed to now had nothing to do with fun until Hagrid returned to say, "I don't know, Albert... all matters are going in one order for you!"
. . .
The Care of Magical Creatures class with Hagrid finally ended, and everyone returned to their common rooms, as Albert and his friends had only studied Hagrid's subject today, which made everyone return to their common rooms and play!
But Albert had something important he had agreed upon with the Weasley twins yesterday!
Albert left his room to head upstairs towards the Gryffindor sixth-year common room!
But Albert soon saw the Weasley twins waving their hands at him, signaling that they were here!!
The time Albert had agreed upon with the twins finally arrived, and Albert entered their room, which he, in turn, was surprised that only Albert and the Weasley twins were inside.
Albert asked, saying, "I don't see anyone here! Where are the others?"
Fred spoke, answering Albert's question and saying, "Some of the lads went to the castle courtyard to play, and the others went down to the Great Hall, but we stayed here to meet with you as agreed!"
Albert sat on a green sofa, placing a pillow on his back and another pillow on his legs to lean on, saying, "Well, what do you think of the matter?"
George spoke, saying, "It's extremely wonderful. For a long time, we have been having difficulty finding enough money to continue our project, but because of your offer, we no longer think about this problem."
Albert smiled at them, saying, "Well, in order to continue properly without problems, I'm not just thinking about establishing a partnership with you that will be small. I aspire to establish a huge company that competes with the noble families, which will monopolize everything within the magical world, both here and within the Muggle world. What do you think of that?"
The Weasley twins were surprised after hearing the strong ambition and goal that Albert aspired to. They did not expect that they would reach this extent!!
George smiled and said, "Well, since you are the one who says that, it is possible for us to achieve this goal that we see as difficult, but first we need product ideas and labor to reach this result that you aspire to."
Albert thought in silence about things that the world had not yet seen but would happen in the future.
Albert talked to himself, saying, "Smartphone screens haven't appeared yet, so it is possible to monopolize the phone market within the Muggle world and here also through this, and since I aspire to achieve enormous wealth, two years are enough to achieve half of this goal. Also, electric cars haven't appeared yet... Well, the world is now threatened with collapse. All meteorologists agree that environmental pollution, whether from the smoke of cars that run on fuel or fires, threatens to open the ozone layer, which poses a great danger in opening the atmosphere, which then leads to the entry of X-rays and the burning of the entire planet Earth."
"Therefore, since our project idea is to manufacture electric cars that do not cause any environmental pollution to the atmosphere, everyone will rush to acquire our product, and also, which helps everyone not to spend money on our product, as it is known that electric cars do not need you to spend money daily to fill them. You will only need solar energy or a very small cost that is not even half the cost of fuel to fill the electricity inside the car."
After Albert thought about this matter in the blink of an eye, he smiled about the topic and felt great relief, as he, in turn, knew well how to manufacture these things. Although he was not previously within this field, he spoke to the twins and said, "Well, now what do you think of naming our company?"
Fred spoke, saying, "Well, what do you think of this name?? The Strongest Trio!" After George heard this name, he gave an disgusted look towards Fred, saying, "What is this childish name, Fred? Do you want everyone to mock us?"
Albert stifled his laugh after hearing the name Fred had just suggested, but Albert spoke and said, "Well, what do you think of taking the first letter of each of our names here and adding the word Family at the end?" (Family means the family)
Albert then spoke and said, "I am Albert, meaning the letter A, and you, Fred, we take the letter F, and George, we take the letter G, to finally form the phrase
AFG FAMILY Company." ..
To be continued....