"Early?" Albert looked around the Great Hall, not seeing the other three, he reached into his pocket, pulled out his pocket watch and looked at the time 4:10.
Right on time.
Albert suddenly thought of something and couldn't help but sigh lightly, the trio are only eleven year olds, and they weren't expected to have much of a sense of time.
What's more, the trio didn't have pocket watches!
"I hope I don't have to wait too long." He muttered.
Idly Albert pulled out his wand and wiped the fingerprints on it with his handkerchief while recalling what he knew about Conjuration from Transfiguration Theory.
"Orchideous." He whispered.
Well, nothing happened.
Albert immediately checked his list of skills and suddenly realised that someone was sitting down next to him.
Not from the trio, it wouldn't be so quiet if it was one of them.
Albert scanned the skills and didn't find Conjuration, so sure enough, he still had to borrow a Fifth Year book to look through.
"Something wrong?" Albert asked, looking to Shanna.
"Can... you…" Shanna was a little hesitant, she hadn't finished her sentence when she was interrupted.
"Albert, this way..." The twins were waving at him from the entrance to the Great Hall.
"I have to go." Albert looked over at Shanna and asked, "What were you going to say?"
"Nothing." Shanna looked a little lost.
"If you want me to teach you Transfiguration, I'm afraid I can't right now, I have an appointment." Albert recalled a few problems he had encountered when he first learnt magic and reassured, "Don't be too hasty, getting started is the hardest part, it took me a long time to learn Transfiguration as well."
"Oh, thank you." Shanna thought for a moment and said, "In the evening, can you spare some time..."
"If there's time, it's not impossible... so... See you tonight!" Albert walked quickly towards the outside of the Great Hall.
"See you tonight." Shanna's looked at Albert's departing back and whispered softly, "Why is there such a large gap?"
"What were you guys just talking about?' Fred asked curiously.
"Talking about where you guys were." Albert said in a nonchalant manner, "It's almost time for the appointment with Charlie."
"You know, it's not like we have pocket watches." All three had a slightly embarrassed look on their faces and naturally knew they had just been late.
"Didn't blame you guys, I should have known you'd be late." Albert looked up at the sky, the afternoon was still a bit muggy.
"Say, is your brother really going to let us take a test flight on his broom?" Lee Jordan stiffened and changed the subject.
When it came to flying on a broom, Lee Jordan was still a little nervous. After all, he hadn't really tried to fly a broomstick, and although his family had bought him toy brooms, the toys ultimately didn't fly as high or as fast.
"He will, if he's a competent captain he won't mind spending some time seeing if there's any newcomers amongst the freshmen who are good flyers, even if they can't make the team in First Year, they can wait for next term as reserve players." Albert casually reassured.
"Albert's right." George reached over and tapped the frightened Lee Jordan's shoulder, "I think the biggest problem you need to worry about is not falling off your broom."
"You're the one who's going to fall off your broom." Lee Jordan glared George.
"Albert, have you ever played on a broom before?" Fred asked suddenly.
"I was born into a muggle family, don't you remember?" Albert rolled his eyes at Fred and bent down to pick up a modest stone from the ground.
"What are you doing picking up that broken rock?" George was a little puzzled.
'You'll find out later.' Albert tossed the small stone in his hand, not answering George's question.
The four of them made their way to the Quidditch pitch, Charlie hadn't arrived yet, their appointment was at 4.30pm.
"I reckon your brother might turn up a little later." Albert arrived at the entrance to the Quidditch pitch and the door was locked. However, it couldn't stop them. Albert used the Alohomora Unlocking Charm to easily open the door.
The lower part of the Quidditch pitch was a soft grassy field, and the middle part was sandy, which could reduce the injuries for players who fell during the game.
Hundreds of seats lined the surrounding stands, and there were three poles at each end of the pitch, each 50 feet tall with large rings at the top, shaped a little like the small plastic sticks that children used to blow soap bubbles.
"Charlie must be late." Fred was a little depressed.
"What are we going to do now? I should have known he'd be late." George regretted being early too, and it was certainly sucked that they didn't have a broom of their own.
"You can practise your charms." Albert kindly reminded the trio as he sat in the shadows of the lawn, "Practise illumination charms, you're idle anyway, give yourself something to do."
"Okay, you're right." The trio was a little depressed, but had to admit that Albert's words were right, there was nothing to do anyway, might as well find something for themselves, this way the time would pass faster.
Albert likewise drew his own wand and began to practice the Disillusionment Charm with the stone he had just picked up.
"Now, I can see how you were able to learn the spell so quickly." Lee Jordan stared at his flickering wand, a little depressed.
Anyone who practised this hard, unless they were really stupid, there was no reason why they couldn't learn it!
That's why they didn't consider Albert having external help.
It was about almost five o'clock when Charlie Weasley came in a hurry, and also brought his broom... a Cleansweep Seven along with him.
Of course, it was the twins who had made a point of introducing it to Albert before he learnt the name of the thing, which he had heard was an older broom.
"How did you guys get in here, I remember there was supposed to be a lock on this place." Charlie's looked quizzically at the four boys coming his way.
"Using the Unlocking Charm, of course." The twins said as a matter of course.
"Cough, don't use that tone of voice, making it sound like you guys know how to use an Unlocking Charm." Lee Jordan couldn't help but spit out.
"You didn't open it either." George gave Lee Jordan a blank look and said without a smile.
"Alright, the test is simple, you guys just need to fly around the Quidditch pitch on my broom!" Charlie looked over at Albert and Lee Jordan inquiring, "Have you guys ever ridden a Broomstick before?"
"No." Albert answered dryly.
"I've only ever ridden a toy broom." Lee Jordan mumbled in a small voice.
"When the two of them are done flying, you guys can try it too!" Charlie's wasn't going to exclude the friends that the twins had brought with them, and twisting his head back to the twin brothers who were fighting over the broom, he warned, "You two, fly around the Quidditch pitch honestly, and you better not be up to any tricks!"