After graduating from Hogwarts, Mafalda Hopkirk had been working for the Ministry of Magic and was now an assistant to the Head of the Improper Use of Magic Office.
Hopkirk's daily job was to mail a warning letter to offenders on behalf of the Head after receiving information about violations, explaining the statutes they had violated. If the situation was serious, she needed to notify the emergency team to take action.
However, today, Hopkirk encountered something that made her extremely frustrated.
Someone actually wrote back telling her: The Ministry of Magic made a blunder.
The sender was Albert Anderson, currently studying at Hogwarts.
In the letter, Anderson clearly stated that he and his family were on vacation in France at the time, and he did not carry his wand when he left the country, nor would he use Accio. The Ministry of Magic must have made a mistake, and he hoped the Ministry of Magic could resolve the misunderstanding between them and send him a reply.
In fact, Hopkirk did not think Anderson was lying, because the most compelling evidence was that Anderson simply could not use Accio; he had just finished his first year at Hogwarts.
A first-year student using Accio?
Even Hopkirk herself did not believe it.
If he could not use Accio, he naturally could not cast the spell.
So the Improper Use of Magic Office had undoubtedly made a mistake. This was not the first time such a thing had happened, and Hopkirk was not too surprised.
But... what did this have to do with her?
Hopkirk was only responsible for sending letters and notifications; she was not responsible for handling such problems, nor did she have the authority to do so.
Oh, no, this actually did have something to do with her.
Hopkirk had the right to decide whether to hand this letter to the current Head of the Improper Use of Magic Office, or simply throw it into a trash can.
From her understanding of her superior, he probably would not care about such a thing!
After all, this seemed like a minor matter, with no need for excessive investigation.
Mafalda Hopkirk was preparing to handle it privately.
Well, what she meant by 'handling it privately' was actually destroying the letter or throwing it into a trash can, as she was only an assistant herself.
Although she had some understanding of the regulations for reasonable restraint of underage Wizards, she was ultimately just an assistant, and her duties were merely to help write warning letters and such tasks.
As Hopkirk was about to throw the letter into the trash can, she suddenly remembered something from last year. She still recalled the blunder caused by the trace, which had caused quite a stir at the time.
Eventually, it was exposed by The Daily Prophet, and Nataly, who was responsible for handling the matter, got into a lot of trouble because of it, almost being transferred to the Centaur Liaison Office.
"It doesn't seem right to throw it away. I'll hand it over to the Head!" Hopkirk hesitated for a moment, still believing it was her duty. As for how her superior would handle it, that was none of her business.
Of course, Hopkirk could also guess what the outcome would be once the letter was sent.
As Hopkirk expected, her superior didn't even glance at the letter and simply threw it on the desk.
When Hopkirk saw the letter again, it had already been thrown into the trash can.
However, what Hopkirk did not know was that this outcome was also within Albert's expectations.
But Hopkirk was even more unaware that they had unknowingly stood before a large pit dug by others, and behind them, someone was already preparing to kick them into the pit... After returning home, Albert began writing replies to the people who had sent him letters.
The Weasley Brothers naturally also received mail from Albert, along with a gift Albert bought for the Twins: a rubber duck.
Well, the yellow rubber duck was actually a gift Albertbought at a grocery store near his home. He knew, of course, that Fred and George would not like this gift, because it was for Mr. Weasley.
Albert wanted the Twins to ask Mr. Weasley how to handle a situation like his.
Fred and George expressed sympathy for Albert's predicament in their reply, writing:
...Dad thinks it's a minor matter and tells you not to worry. He suggests you should write a letter to the Head of the Improper Use of Magic Office and explain the situation clearly to him... At the end of the letter, they also wrote: "Oh, and Dad asked me to ask you, what exactly is a rubber duck used for in the Muggle World?"
"A minor matter?" Albert muttered, "That's right, for those who are not concerned, it is indeed a trivial matter."
Albert put the Twins' letter aside and continued to open the second letter.
Professor Broad's reply was a bit unexpected for Albert; he also considered it a minor matter and told Albert not to worry about it.
In Professor Broad's reply, he shared some information about the Extraordinary Potioneers Association, also expressed his liking for the gift Albert gave him, and briefly mentioned MacDougall's new book at the end.
"A minor matter?" Albert put the letter aside, picked up the gold card, and grumbled, "Now let's see Hertok Dagworth's reaction. Will he also think that losing his gold card is a minor matter?"
From Professor Broad's letter, Albert could easily deduce the value of the gold card in his hand.
He believed Hertok Dagworth would not be indifferent... There were several letters, and it was impossible to reply immediately.
The last letter was from Rowena Smith. Besides discussing some common interests, Rowena Smith also mentioned in the letter that she would give Albert an unexpected surprise soon.
Albert could probably guess what the so-called unexpected surprise was: Rowena Smith was preparing to take on the role of Defense Against the Dark Arts Professor at Hogwarts.
After reading all the letters, Albert put them into a box, stood up, stretched lazily, drank the now cold milk tea, petted Tom, who was lying on the soft cushion beside the desk, and refocused his attention on the remaining summer homework.
This was the homework Albert had left before his vacation in France. Since he didn't have the habit of doing homework while on vacation, he had temporarily set aside his summer homework when he went to France.
For his vacation in France, Albert only brought the books on Ancient Runes that MacDougall had given him.
By carefully studying these books, his Runes skill experience would increase at a gratifying rate.
Now, he was one step closer to Level 3 Runes.
It wasn't that Albert disliked using experience to level up directly, but rather that he preferred the feeling of researching magic.
Each slight Breakthrough in Runes would give Albert a strange sense of accomplishment, and this kind of accomplishment was what Albert desired.
The door suddenly knocked, and Nia pushed it open, peeking her head in. She said to Albert, who was sitting at the desk: "Dad told me to tell you to go to bed early tonight. We're going shopping in Diagon Alleytomorrow."
"Got it." Albert knew why Nia was so excited, because she would also be going to Diagon Alley in London with them.
"Tom, time for bed!" Nia reached out and picked up Tom, who was lying on the soft cushion, placing him on the floor. "Walk by yourself, you've gotten so heavy, I can't carry you anymore."
"That's why I said Tom should go on a diet." Albert said with a smile, "Go back and rest early."
"Come on, Tom, otherwise your rations will be halved tomorrow." Nia's threat was quite effective; Tomobediently got up and followed Nia out.
Albert watched the door close again and focused his attention on his homework.
These holiday assignments were not difficult; they just required time to write the answers on parchment.
He was considering whether to stay up late and finish all the holiday homework at once. In the end, remembering Nia's anticipation for shopping in Diagon Alley tomorrow, he gave up the idea.
Half an hour later, Albert capped the ink bottle, put his quill back into the pen holder, stood up, and lazily covered a yawn.
Shera had just returned from foraging. Ever since Alberttold her not to bring prey home last time, she had never brought dead mice into the house again.
"Goodnight!" Albert looked at his Owl, then at the night sky outside the window, covered a yawn, and lay back on his bed to rest.