Chapter 27

"What just happened?" Lee Jorden said as he saw the mess in front of him.

"I don't know. We just need to fix it," George said.

"And when George said 'we', we meant you," Fred said as he stared at Albert.

"Why me? Why can't you or George or Lee do something about it?" Albert said.

"Because you know the most magic," the twins said in unison.

"And out of us four, you're the most responsible one here," Lee Jorden said.

"Good point. Fine, step back and left me focus," Albert said.

Albert again got his wand out of his wand holster. The twins were left agape at what had happened. Albert had just said 'Open Sesame' and the wooden door in front of them, or what's left of it, opened. Once it did, they heard a loud bang, and the door fell off its hinges. The wooden broke into multiple pieces and went everywhere.

"Are we going to get in trouble?" Fred asked.

"Of course we are. Did you not hear how loud it was and don't you remember seeing Professor McGonagall in her classroom?" George said.

"No, I don't recall seeing here." Fred said.

"Are you blind or what..." George said before Albert cut him off.

"Shut up. I'm trying to focus. Unless you want to fix this, be quiet," Albert said, with a hint of venom in his voice. The other three boys groaned and then kept quiet.

Albert calmed himself and took a deep breath. He was under a great deal of pressure. Albert cast | Reparo |. Suddenly, the splintered wood mended itself, the pieces fitting together as if they never had been broken. The door was as good as new. The young Gryffindor stepped back to admire his handiwork with the other boys.

They heard a cough from behind them. They knew they were busted and had no choice but to face the consequence. The four boys turned around to see a stern Professor McGonagall shaking her head. She looked impressed and disappointed at the same time. She looked the boys up and down and then waited for what seemed like an eternity in awkward silence.

"What.." she stopped and took a deep breath, "In the name of Merlin is going on here? Would you boys care to explain yourself?" McGonagall said in an angry tone. She was in her classroom and she heard the exit of the storeroom connected to her classroom break. When see went outside to see what it was, she saw four immature boys trying to fix the damage they created.

She heard them bicker and the saw Albert perform an excellent Mending Charm to fix her door. Honestly, she was both happy and disappointed. Happy because she had gained a generational talent like she did with Lily Evans and disappointed as he looked like he was going to turn out to be a troublemaker like one of her favourite student, James Potter.

"This was an accident, Professor. We didn't mean to cause damage, and we also cleaned up after ourselves," Albert said as the twins and Lee Jorden were too nervous to come forward to speak on their behalf.

"That does not matter. Follow me boys," Professor McGonagall said as she lead them into her classroom. She made them sit down in silence for five minutes while she did something in the storeroom. The boys were too scared to make a sound.

"That was an excellent rendition of the Mending Charm, Mr Anderson. I think Professor Flitwick would be proud of you, but I have to remind you not to do whatever you were doing again. I shouldn't be telling you boys this, but 'Open Sesame' is a generalised override key we professors use when we need the secret paths to get to the other side of the school. I will have to talk to Albus to change the override key now." Professor McGonagall said, then adjusted herself to sit up straight. "If you boys had read 'The Standard Book of Spells, Grade one', you would have known to open an unlocked door. You need the spell | Alohomora | not the abomination you used, Mr Anderson."

"We did, Professor, but the door didn't open. Then I said 'Open Sesame' and after the door opened it broke apart," Albert said as he cut of Professor McGonagall.

"If you would let me finish, Mr Anderson. The school has warded all doors that are connected to the classroom we use in this school against | Alohomora |. Any sensible student would try once and the leave but you didn't. For that, I should remove points from your house, but school hasn't started yet. Then that's it. For punishment, you four will post these on the Gryffindor notice board in the common room and then hand these out to your classmates. Now off you boys go." Professor McGonagall said as she stood up and handed the timetables to Albert as they left the room.

"Before you go, I must remind you again. While you are at Hogwarts, your triumphs will earn your House points, while any mischief and rule-breaking will lose House points. At the end of the year, we award the House with the most points the House Cup, a great honour. Slytherin has won it for the past four years and I do not want you four to be the reason we lose it again this year. I pray that this does not happen again, otherwise you will face terrible consequences." Professor McGonagall as she shut the door in their face.

The boys fled the vicinity. When they were far enough away, Lee Jorden and Fred slumped onto the floor. They were sweating and looked as if they had seen a dementor.

"She scared me sh*tless," Fred said as his legs collapsed.

"We broke McGonagall's door," George said.

"I can't believe we just did that," Lee Jorden said with an incredulous look.

"We were lucky that she didn't give us detention or took away any points," Albert said as he looked at the timetable in his hand. The first lesson they had was charms.

"I can't believe 'Open Sesame' could do that," Lee said.

"That was lucky. I won't be surprised if the Headmaster changes it by tomorrow morning," Albert said as he split the pile into four and handed it to the others while he kept the large timetable of the first and second-year lessons.

"That's not fair. Flying lessons on Thursday first thing and astronomy the night before." George said, as he complained about the timetable.

"Doesn't it look quite empty?" Albert said, as he looked at it.

"Why, you want more lessons?" Lee Jorden said.

"No, in muggle schools, we have more lessons than this," Albert responded.

Now that Albert thought about it, it was reasonable. Two classes per year until sixth year and one class in sixth and seventh. Two sessions a week and each session is two hours except NEWTs where they only do practicals. They left students to self-study the theoretical aspects. That makes twenty-two sessions and each of them is two hours. So that makes forty-four hours of teaching and almost nine hours a day. School runs from nine till five and the limited lessons we have, it makes sense the empty timetable.

At present, they have found the Transfiguration and history classroom and the girls' bathroom that houses the 'Chambers of Secret' and the library. They continued exploring and found a secret passageway behind a portrait that led them to the trophy room.

"I think there's a secret passage behind every portrait," Lee Jorden said.

"Yeah. He's right," George said.

"Most people must have found them. When will we find some that people don't know about?" Fred said.

"We will soon. While we're here, why don't we look around?" Albert said as he entered the trophy room.

They entered and saw a lot of trophies, medals and shields, as well as photos. Lee ran towards to Quidditch section and the twins followed him. Albert went to the trophy section, where he saw a special contribution award. Before he could read the name, he heard Lee shout.

"Guys look. I think that's your brother, Charlie," Lee said as he waited for everyone to gather around. "Imagine winning the quidditch cup and have your picture hung up here. It would be incredible."

"Yeah. That can only happen if we win," George said as he looked at the more recent trophies.

"Percy said that Slytherin will do whatever it takes to win," Fred said as he also looked at the trophy cabinet.