Both the Zweilous head had shut their eyes as it seemingly enjoyed Fred's "massage."
Then suddenly the trance broke.
It was so quick that they all had barely time to react.
Magnus heard Hermione yelp and rush behind Hagrid; Harry and Ron had jumped towards Hagrid's bed.
The original head had been the first to attack but was soon followed in a split second by the newborn head. Fred, having been caught by surprise, had failed to pull his hand out fast enough.
The first head had snapped its maw around the fingers and Magnus flinched on hearing the sickening crack sound. The second had buried its razor-sharp fangs around the wrist.
He was, however, surprised. Despite the viciousness of the attack, he still couldn't see any blood from the maimed hand, and Fred himself didn't look like he was in pain.
Hagrid had quickly closed in, in an attempt to help Fred free the hand, but the latter smiled and shook his head.
"I am ok, Hagrid. It's just a fake hand."
And to their utter surprise, he slowly wiggled his real arm out, leaving a hollow, rubbery extension that was still in the Pokémon's double mouths.
"Freaking hell, that anti-penetration spell was the only thing that saved my hand," he said, grinning in delight at Lee and his twin, who were watching the two heads fighting over the hollow arm.
Magnus could see the two had not reacted like the rest of them. Obviously, they had been expecting it.
"The devil it is," Hagrid recoiled, looking at the arm-like contraption in the cage. "I will thank ya not to scare the hell out o' me again," he said, heaving with tension.
The twins giggled but nodded.
The rest of them had eased and began nearing again, though no one went near the cage.
"Now yer gave them a reason to murder each other," Hagrid went on.
True enough, the second head had somehow managed to tear the fake arm from its twin, who was now snarling and attacking in an attempt to regain possession. Any second now, those razor-sharp teeth would tear into the second head.
"Accio fake hand."
Magnus watched as the hand was forcefully ripped from the Pokémon's maw and squeezed past the bars into the waiting hand of Hermione, who now had her wand in hand.
She easily grabbed it before carefully scrutinizing it.
Ron and Harry were right at her shoulder, and Magnus crossed the small room to join them.
"But... it's just rubber," Hermione queried as she passed the arm to Harry. "How come it sounded like crashed bones when... the... Hagrid's Pokémon bit it?"
Her eyes had gone back to watching the Zweilous in dread.
"Well, do you have two hundred Galleons?" George said. "Cos that is our trade secret."
Hermione looked for a second like she was willing to pay. "I can find out by myself anyway," she said, and Fred smiled encouragingly.
"That is the spirit, Hermione."
"What I can't understand is how an Impervio spell can stop those teeth," Ron said to his brother. "I thought it only makes something waterproof."
It was a good question, but it was met by the same stubborn answer.
"Fat chance, bro. You should borrow a leaf from Hermione's book," George reiterated. "and who said it was impervio anyway?"
Magnus had, however, taken the arm, smiling.
He had found a way of solving one of their problems.
He turned to Hermione with a curious grin on his face. It was also an opportunity to bring everyone back to the subject they had digressed from.
"I think we found a solution. Show them," he said to a confused Hermione.
"Come on, trust me."
Hermione reluctantly reached within her robes and produced the tiny yellow ball. The twins immediately turned to Magnus with accusing glares.
"Thought you said only four balls, and last I checked you gave yours to Hagrid," George accused.
"Sorry, guys," Magnus said with his focus on Hermione. "I had to borrow one of your extras... I know, I know... it was an emergency," he added quickly before they accused him of breaking his own decision.
As soon as Malfoy had told them he knew their secrets, Magnus had decided that it wasn't safe anymore for Hermione to walk with the Pichu exposed.
If truly Malfoy knew anything, then he would try to provoke Hermione and her Pokémon into revealing its electric discharge in public. He had therefore borrowed one of the twins' excess Pokéballs, and after a lot of persuasion, he finally managed to convince her to use it.
Of course, he had known the Pichu would not appreciate it and it might throw it into those uncontrollable shocks, but then it was the safest path for now.
"Accio Pichu," Hermione said, and the room watched as the ball swelled up before splitting open and the familiar yellow rodent jumped out.
Immediately, both Magnus and Hermione took a step back.
Just like Magnus had anticipated, the Pokémon didn't look pleased with the restricting environment it had been confined to.
Hermione, who was now holding the ball, gathered herself and stooped towards her Pokémon. Pichu, however, didn't look ready to forgive, and worse, the presence of the ball made it assume she was about to send it back. It immediately let out an angry squeal and jumped on the cage.
The sudden presence caused the two blind heads to lunge towards the roof of their cage. The snarls came too quick and too sudden. The freaked Pichu squealed in fear and jumped to the nearest person.
"Meer!" Fred, who had caught the Pichu with a wide grin, screamed and tossed it back to the floor.
Harry was fighting a losing battle to contain the laughter, but Ron made no such effort. He was rolling on Hagrid's bed in laughter, most likely in retaliation for his brother's earlier attempt to get him bitten.
"What... what the hell is that?" Fred stammered with a confused look on his face, the same look the rest had with the exception of the first years.
"That..." Ron snorted as he tried to suppress the waves of laughter. "That was a..." he broke down into more laughter, and Magnus decided to step in. Ron was certainly not the best person to explain this.
"That was electricity," Magnus explained, but there was no immediate comprehension. Then he recalled that the Weasleys were non-muggles and such had little information on whatever... it was.
Then George looked up, excited. "You don't mean that thing that powers those muggle plugs Father collects?"
"Exactly," Magnus grinned. He had forgotten how obsessed Mr. Weasley was with muggle stuff. This made it easier.
"I thought that was only inside ... stuffs, you know... like Feletone."
"It's telephone," Magnus corrected, "but you are right. Pichu, however, can produce it from its own body."
The three... well, four including Hagrid, were now observing the restless Pichu with a mixture of both awe and dread. No one seemed to want a taste of what Fred had experienced.
"That is why we need your help."
It took several seconds for the twins to realise he was addressing them.
"Us?" they chorused in obvious fear. "What could we possibly do, mate? I... we have never seen Ekle... Elec... well, we know nothing about it," George added, trying to wiggle their way out.
"Well, you can show us that non-penetration spell... that trade secret, remember?"