Hiccuping sweets are hard throat drops that cause continuous hiccuping for five minutes after ingestion. As for the Squeaking Sugar Mice, they were shaped like little mice. Fred took the initiative to try one; biting into it produced a mouse-like squeak, just as if one were actually biting into a real little mouse, startling him so badly that his mouth flew wide open and the soft candy inside dropped right onto the floor.
"How does it taste?" Albert asked curiously.
"Not bad, just ordinary soft candy."
"What are you buying?" Albert looked at Lee Jordan.
"I want to buy this?" He pointed at a Frisbee with sharp teeth along its edge.
"That's a Fanged Frisbee." Zonko picked up a Frisbee and tossed it, and all four of them heard a roaring sound coming from the whistling Frisbee. "You need to be careful when playing with this, and watch out not to get bitten."
He placed a slip of paper into the Frisbee's mouth, and in the blink of an eye, it was shredded into scraps of paper.
That packing quite a punch.
"Let me check if there is anything else." Lee Jordan looked at the price and felt a little disappointed that this gadget cost three Galleons—not cheap at all!
Before leaving, Albert purchased two inflatable screaming skull balloons. This gadget was only about the size of a fist, but as soon as it was thrown, it would rapidly expand to the height of a person and let out a scream to startle people, while also scattering a white powder upon explosion that would coat someone's face.
Lee Jordan bought a stretchy sticky hand. This thing could stretch indefinitely; when thrown, it would grab the nearest person by the ear. Although it didn't hurt, when retracted it would make a loud *snap* sound, giving the other person quite a fright.
When the four of them left, their arms were loaded with large paper bags filled to the brim with things bought from Zonko's Joke Shop.
Lee Jordan also bought a bag of Dungbombs.
The three of them were quite surprised that Albert didn't buy any of those.
These were practically mandatory purchases whenever anyone came to Zonko's Joke Shop.
"No, I'm not interested in that kind of stuff," Albert said irritably.
The moment you touched the stuff, your hands would get filthy, and throwing it would cause it to burst open into disgusting sludge while emitting a foul rotten-egg stench.
It was practically a biological weapon.
"You'd better not make the dormitory reek of that stuff," Albert warned them sternly.
"Don't worry, we'll definitely be careful. We're buying this stuff to deal with Filch," George said, evidently still holding a grudge about being punished by having to scrub chamber pots.
"That place was brilliant, wasn't it?" Fred asked with a smile.
"Brilliant, a very interesting place." Albert nodded in agreement, then suddenly remembered something. "You guys seem to really like these novelty items. Perhaps you could open a joke shop of your own like this in the future."
He still remembered that the twins really did open a joke shop after graduation, and business had been pretty good too.
"That actually sounds like a pretty good idea." The twins' eyes lit up; unlike Albert, they had never really considered what they wanted to do in the future.
"I think you need to master your charms well. A portion of these items also involves alchemy," Albert reminded them, picking up a piece of candy to examine it.
"What about yourself?"
"I haven't decided yet." Albert was still considering.
He had no intention of giving up breaking into the New York financial markets—after all, that was an easy gig. Based on the experience and quest rewards he was currently hoarding, by the time he graduated, he could easily max out various economic and financial skill trees. Making money while lying down was definitely more suitable for him!
Right, prophecies seemed pretty good too; he could predict the winning lottery numbers and win a hundred million dollars or something.
Oh, and the Time-Turner seemed nice as well—he could win the lottery anytime, anywhere.
Come to think of it, finance seemed like an easier way to make money.
Albert found that using magic to make money legitimately was also a decent idea, but the only problem was that if the Ministry of Magic found out, it might cause trouble.
Prophecy might be a bit better; after all, as long as no one knew he was a seer, there wouldn't be any problems.
Just as Albert was pondering his grand blueprint for the future, the four of them stepped into Honeydukes Sweetshop. Although the twins had already been cleaned out of pocket money at Zonko's Joke Shop, that didn't stop them from coming inside to look at the merchandise—they could always wait until next time they had money to buy candy.
Chapter 35: Enthusiastic Galleons
As soon as they stepped into Honeydukes, a rich aroma of fudge rushed to meet them. Looking around, the sweetshop was lined with numerous shelves laden with all sorts of candies and pastries.
Albert recognized several of them at a glance: the large jars up front held peanut butter fudge, toffee, and nougat respectively.
Neatly hung beside the shelves were some green lollipops. Albert picked one up and was about to check the description on the tag when a familiar voice sounded behind him.
"If I were you, I wouldn't touch that. Those are Acid Pops, and they're extremely sour." George draped one arm over Albert's shoulder and pointed at the product description to explain: "Fred bought one for Ron—that's our younger brother—once, and it burned a hole right through his tongue. Mum gave Fred a thorough beating with a broomstick for it."
Fred glared indignantly at his twin brother and protested, "You were the one who actually bought that Acid Pop!"
"I didn't make you give it to Ron to eat," George said with an innocent face.
Looking at the unrepentant twin brothers, Albert quietly put the Acid Pop back on the shelf.
It could actually burn a hole through someone's tongue—was this thing made of sulfuric acid?!
"What is this?"
In the corner of the wall to the left of the entrance, various colored little mice were hanging and crawling along a plastic panel on the wall, looking remarkably like live mice.
"Those are Ice Mice," Lee Jordan introduced to Albert. "If you eat them, you'll feel freezing cold—so cold your teeth will chatter. After you finish the candy, there's still a crunching, squeaking sound in your belly. Oh, and they're sort of similar to Zonko's Squeaking Sugar Mice."
"Interesting candy." Albert withdrew his gaze from the Ice Mice and walked over to the right-hand shelf, where a large barrel of assorted Bertie Bott's Every Flavor Beans sat, next to a large plastic tub filled with various fruit gummies, followed further down by neatly arranged chocolates of all kinds.
Albert picked up two boxes of Chocolate Frogs, then set his sights on the large blocks of chocolate. He had bought some once before on the train and felt they tasted better than the Chocolate Frogs.
Oh, right, he needed some chocolate drops too.
Carrying his assortment of chocolate products, Albert walked over to the counter.
Behind the counter, a smiling woman said, "That comes to 4 Sickles and 10 Knuts."
"Oh, madam, we meet again!" Albert looked in surprise at the saleswoman from the train. He hadn't expected her to be the owner of Honeydukes!
"It's you, my dear! Do you need any other sweets?" The woman recognized Albert as well. After all, it wasn't every day a customer bought out every single item on the trolley cart.
"Got any recommendations?" Albert thought to himself that it was no wonder he saw so many train-sold candies here.
"Exploding Bonbons. These are very popular with the students; they give a slight explosion when you bite into them. Of course, they won't hurt anyone." The woman scooped an Exploding Bonbon out of a jar and handed it to Albert.
"Want to try one?"
She never skimped on smiles and service for potential customer segments. Of course, that had a lot to do with the Galleons in his pocket.
Albert took the Exploding Bonbon, put it in his mouth, and bit down. A strawberry-flavored filling oozed out from the center of the candy, and the next moment, a faint explosion went off near his mouth. Anyone unaware of what it was would probably be startled.
This probably fell into the category of prank items, but the texture of the candy was actually quite pleasant.
After Albert bought some Exploding Bonbons, the proprietress of the shop became even more enthusiastic. She helped Albert place the Exploding Bonbons into a paper bag, tied it up, and began introducing various other sweets and pastries in the shop.
"Jelly Slugs—you might have tried those already. They're one of our best-selling products."
Albert glanced at the long slug-shaped gummy candies and raised an eyebrow slightly. Rather than Jelly Slugs, calling them jelly little snakes seemed more fitting. However, he didn't care for gummy candy, so he had no intention of buying them; slugs and the like felt a bit gross just thinking about them.
The sweetshop also offered a wide variety of candies and desserts, including the famous Cauldron Cakes, Chocoballs, Sugar Quill lollipops, and Fizzing Whizzbees... The sheer array of sweets in the store left the four of them dazzled.
"Are these... cockroaches?" Albert looked at the black bugs crawling inside a glass jar, feeling a slight sense of discomfort in his stomach. Next to the glass jar were some cockroach clusters, their legs still twitching slightly.
"Those are Cockroach Clusters," the woman introduced. "Headmaster Dumbledore is one of our frequent customers for this candy. Of course, not everyone can accept candy shaped like this."
Presumably, only Dumbledore would like that kind of stuff!
"Have you guys ever eaten them?" Albert tilted his head to ask, but the three of them shook their heads in unison.
The woman winked at Albert and said, "We've got Fudge Flies—they burst with liquid in your mouth when you eat them—and blood-flavored lollipops, which are very popular with most vampires."
"If you're looking to prank someone, I recommend Pepper Imps. Eating those will make your mouth feel like it's breathing fire..."They spent at least half an hour in Honeydukes. Before they left, the proprietress enthusiastically shoved a shop order form into Albert's hands, winked at him, and said, "If you want to buy any sweets, you can use an owl post. It's best not to sneak out on your own."
When they left the sweetshop, Albert had an extra paper bag in his hand containing the candied pineapples he had bought, for which he paid ten Sickles.
"These are pretty good," Albert said, taking a bite of a candied pineapple.
"I still think that proprietress was acting especially warm toward you," Lee Jordan said, sounding a bit jealous. From start to finish, the owner of Honeydukes had treated Albert with exceptional hospitality.
The twins nodded in agreement with Lee Jordan, their mouths already stuffed with candied pineapples.
"She's just warm toward Galleons, not toward me," Albert said, finding the look on Lee Jordan's face rather amusing.
Besides the bag of candied pineapples, Albert had bought plenty of other things in the shop. The thoughtful proprietress had assured him she would help mail his purchases directly to Hogwarts so he wouldn't have to lug so much stuff around.
By the time the four of them returned to the Castle, it was already two in the afternoon. Having spent hours walking around Hogsmeade, they were all thoroughly exhausted, but they agreed it had been a wonderfully fun trip.
"Where have you been?" Percy Weasley asked, sitting down beside them and fixing a slight frown on the paper bags resting in front of them.
"That's a secret!"
The twins exchanged a knowing, mysterious smile. Of course they weren't going to admit they had just been to Hogsmeade; otherwise, Percy would be writing a letter home straight away.
The proprietress of Honeydukes was remarkably efficient. Not long after Albert returned to the Great Hall, an owl arrived carrying his package.
"I think we'd better head back to the common room," Albert said, noticing that the parcel was beginning to attract attention from others. He motioned to the other three and helped carry the packages back to the Gryffindor common room.
As he watched the four figures depart, Percy's eyes flickered, though there was no telling what he was thinking.
***
On September third, the official first day of the new term at Hogwarts, the gloomy, rainy weather suddenly cleared up.
Albert blinked and woke from his deep sleep. He slowly crawled out of bed, padded barefoot to the window, and pushed it open to let the crisp morning breeze sweep into the room.
His three roommates were still fast asleep, having spent the entire previous night talking about the Quidditch match from the Daily Prophet until the early hours of the morning, so Albert had no intention of waking them just yet.
After all, classes didn't start until nine o'clock, and waking up right now would be far too cruel for a bunch of night owls.
After a quick wash, Albert glanced at his timetable, checked his schoolbag for books, quill, ink, and parchment, and then slung the bag over his shoulder to head down to the Gryffindor common room.
There were already a few people in the common room, including another student from his own year.
"Morning, Wilson," Albert greeted a first-year girl who was currently thumbing through Miranda Goshawk's *The Standard Book of Spells, Grade 1*, presumably preparing for the first Charm lesson of the morning.
"Morning..." Shanna Wilson looked a bit awkward because she couldn't quite remember the name of the boy greeting her, even though she knew he was in the same year as her.
"Albert Anderson. You can call me Albert." Sensing Shanna Wilson's embarrassment, Albert casually introduced himself. Then he added, "Are you heading down to the Great Hall for breakfast?"
"Oh—yes, please, Albert!" Shanna stammered, gathering her books and hurrying along right behind Albert as he left the common room.
Along the way, Shanna didn't say a word, just trotting closely behind Albert while casting nervous glances left and right, desperately trying to memorize the route they were taking.
Noticing her movements, Albert couldn't help thinking to himself, *Don't tell me she doesn't know the way?*
That was entirely possible.
Back when he attended his very first university lecture, he had almost ended up in the wrong building himself.
Hogwarts was undoubtedly far more complicated, so it was only natural for someone with a poor sense of direction to get lost.
Just as Albert had suspected, Shanna really hadn't the faintest idea how to get to the Great Hall, which was why she had been lingering in the common room hoping to tag along with someone else.
To be honest, Gryffindor students weren't particularly enthusiastic about giving tours, and a large portion of the older students actually enjoyed watching new arrivals panic. This rotten habit stemmed from the fact that they had all been through similar trials themselves, eventually devolving into a spiteful amusement at seeing others stumble.
Just yesterday, upon returning from the kitchens, Albert had watched several older students stand idly by and roar with laughter as a first-year fell straight into a trick stair, making no move to help at all.
Of course, those were merely exceptions.
The vast majority of students were more than willing to lend a helping hand—Hufflepuff students, at least, would certainly do so.
Once they safely reached the Great Hall, Shanna Wilson looked immensely relieved.
Albert sat down at the Gryffindor table, poured himself a glass of milk, and drained it in one go. Looking up, he noticed Shanna staring at him with her mouth slightly open, as if she wanted to say something.
"What is it?" he asked.
"Oh, nothing. Does Albert like milk?" Shanna asked, trying to strike up a conversation with the boy sitting across from her.
After all, nobody wanted to go through school without a single friend, and Albert seemed like the approachable sort.
"Like it?" Albert shook his head. "I wouldn't call it love. It's just a habit. I've been drinking a glass every single morning since I was seven, and after a while, it just became second nature."
Shanna opened her mouth, suddenly at a loss for words. Secretly, she quite admired Albert; she was certain she could never manage such discipline herself.
Albert spread a thick layer of jam over a slice of toast and took a massive bite, while opposite him, Shanna was busy eating a fried egg—specifically, one of those hard-boiled eggs with the shell removed, rolled in flour, and deep-fried until the exterior turned golden-brown... British style.
Well, Albert figured "golden fried bomb" might be a more fitting description. Personally, he had zero interest in this unique British style of fried egg; a plain boiled egg tasted far better.
Having finished his slice of toast, Albert prepared two more slices, piled them high with vegetable salad, and topped them with cured meat and sausages to make a substantial sandwich.
He also had a small bowl of corn porridge. The so-called corn porridge was basically corn chowder made by boiling crushed corn with water and a dash of milk.
Compared to Daisy's corn chowder, the school's version was only mediocre at best. That was hardly surprising, though; Daisy's corn chowder was one of her absolute signature dishes.
Once breakfast wrapped up, Shanna started chatting with Albert about charms.
"I heard Angelina say you've already mastered quite a few spells. Is that true? How did you manage to learn all that magic in such a short time?" Shanna spoke very slowly, as if carefully weighing every word.
"Well... mostly you just need to develop an interest in it first, and then..." Albert paused to think. "...you also have to spend time studying and practicing."
He truly believed that interest was the most important factor. Once you were genuinely interested, you would be willing to put in the time and effort to master a subject properly.
"Interest, you say?" Shanna mused thoughtfully.
Students like Shanna, coming from Muggle families, had never expected to find out they were witches or wizards, and they still felt completely bewildered by everything around them. After all, Muggle-born wizards had a mountain of things to catch up on.
Without a doubt, students from wizarding families had a massive head start.
"Actually, you don't need to worry too much. Everyone's basically in the same boat; if you just put a bit more time into your coursework, you'll catch up with them in no time." Albert suddenly felt his own words sounded rather absurd.
Was he actually encouraging a Gryffindor student to study hard?
Not every student was Hermione Granger, and even she had almost been sorted into Ravenclaw back then.
"Are you?"
"Of course. What else did you think?" Albert replied as if it were the most natural thing in the world.
Yet as he said it, he couldn't help a faint pang of a guilty conscience. After all, Albert was different from everyone else—he had a game-like panel. To learn new knowledge, aside from studying it through conventional means, he could also spend experience points to level up his skills directly through the panel.
If he maxed out his wizarding bloodline right now, his speed at learning magic would leave everyone else eating his dust. But he hadn't done that, and he hadn't even claimed the rewards for the wizarding path quests yet.
Albert was still debating whether to wait until he raised his wizarding bloodline rank further before collecting those quest rewards, which would undoubtedly be the most efficient method.
The real dilemma was that Albert was still undecided about his future career path; he didn't particularly want to build his life in the wizarding world.
If he ultimately decided to establish himself in the Muggle world, he would need to reserve a massive stockpile of experience and skill points to level up various economics-related skills later on.
Never mind, no use fretting over those things right now.
Albert shook off these distracting thoughts, picked up *A Compendium of Nineteenth-Century Charms*, and began flipping through the pages leisurely. He was quite satisfied with his current situation, and as for the banked experience and skill points, he could always cash them in whenever the need arose.
***
Around half-past eight, Albert's three roommates finally stumbled into the Great Hall, looking bleary-eyed and half-asleep.
"Morning!" Lee Jordan muttered, slumping down next to Albert and shoving a huge piece of sausage into his mouth. "I feel like my legs are about to fall off."
"It's not nearly as dramatic as you make it sound!"