Disclaimer: I don't own anything. This is not meant to infringe upon copyrights.
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At this point, the smiles on Fred and George's faces vanished instantly.
Fred covered his face and said, "Let's not talk about this and we'll still be friends."
"Wood seems to have lent his brain to the troll," George shook his head and said quietly, "He actually thinks our little brother Ron has the same Quidditch talent as Charlie and wants to recruit him into the team."
"Merlin, making Ron the Seeker..." Fred seemed to think of something terrible and shuddered, "If that's really the case, we might as well just surrender, at least we won't embarrass ourselves in front of everyone."
"Luckily, Professor McGonagall didn't agree."
"Harry Potter is more reliable than him."
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Kyle glanced at them thoughtfully... Could these two really have some kind of prophetic talent?
"Let's not talk about this." Fred stuffed a chicken leg into his mouth and said indistinctly, "We're planning to explore the third floor, do you want to join us?"
Cedric frowned and said, "You're not talking about the room in the corner of the third-floor corridor, are you?"
Fred blinked.
"Besides that, is there anywhere else on the third floor worth exploring?"
"But..." Cedric hesitated, "Didn't Headmaster Dumbledore say we weren't allowed to go there?"
"Don't be silly." George shook his finger, as if to say you know nothing.
"Only forbidden places are worth exploring, just like no one would sneak into the Transfiguration classroom at night."
"The Potions classroom is a possibility, though."
"We went there in our first year..."
"We threw two big dung balls there..."
"Unfortunately, the smell dissipated by the next day."
Kyle's eyes lit up, and he said thoughtfully, "Sneaking into the Potions classroom at night, that's a good idea."
"No, Kyle," Fred shook his head. "We've already confirmed it, it's not interesting at all."
"The third floor is much better," George said with a smile. "Headmaster Dumbledore is simply amazing, giving us such a wonderful surprise on the first day of school."
"Have you thought it through? Do you want to come with us?" Fred asked again.
"But…"
Cedric still hesitated. "It's dangerous there, aren't you afraid…"
"You don't know Dumbledore at all," Fred said seriously. "If it were really dangerous, he would never have let us know."
"This…"
Seeing Cedric's hesitation, Fred and George exchanged a glance and continued,
"Actually, we went there before the first day of classes."
Fred lowered his voice and said, "There's only one door there, not even a portrait."
"I think it was a test for us," George said persuasively. "If we pass the test, we can add a hundred points to our house."
"Maybe even better, we can get a special contribution award!"
Cedric was tempted; he thought the Weasley brothers made a lot of sense.
The Forbidden Forest was guarded by Hagrid, who prevented young wizards from entering, but the equally dangerous third floor was completely empty… something was definitely not right.
"Alright… I'll join!" Cedric thought for a moment, then added, "But I'll keep an eye on you, lest you cause any serious trouble."
"I see…" Fred said solemnly, "Then I'll leave it to Mr. Diggory."
Then they looked at Kyle.
"Don't look at me…" Kyle blinked, neither agreeing nor refusing, and asked directly, "When are you planning to go?"
"Anytime is fine, but before that, there are two issues to resolve," Fred said. "First, we tried before, and the unlocking charm didn't open that door… Kyle, I remember you have a master key, right?"
"Yes." Kyle nodded.
The master key had been sent along with the invisibility cloak, but he hadn't used it much.
"That should solve the problem," George continued. "Now we only need to deal with Filch. He's been loitering around the fourth floor these past few nights. We need to find a way to distract him."
"How about diverting his attention?"
Cedric suggested. "For example, before going to the third floor, throw a few dung balls somewhere else."
"That's what we thought… but it won't work,"
Fred shook his head. "That would only get us into the room on the third floor, but not out."
"If Filch stays at the door and there's no other exit or secret passage in that room, we'll be trapped inside."
"Filch can't stay there all night, can he?" Cedric said dismissively.
"He really can," Fred and George said in unison.
For the past few nights, they had been observing Filch using Marauder's Map, but no matter when they checked, he was always on the third floor.
"How about getting help from others?" Cedric continued. "We'll agree on a time, an hour or two, to distract Filch again with dung balls."
"Are you sure… they'll be awake by then?" Fred said quietly.
Cedric paused, unsure for sure.
And thinking about it, even if the person woke up and did as agreed, it would be useless if they didn't time it right or got trapped and couldn't get out in time.
"Let's go check out Zonko's," Kyle suddenly said. "There should be something there to distract Filch."
"Haha, you're on the same page as us."
After dinner, Fred and George went to Hogsmeade through a secret passage.
When they returned, they carried a book everyone recognized.
*The Dark Arts: A Guide to Self-Protection*?
Cedric asked, puzzled, "Why did you buy it?"
"This isn't an ordinary book," Fred said, leading them outside the castle and taking out a quill pen, saying mysteriously, "Watch closely."
With a snap, the quill pen broke in two.
At the same time, the book began to shake violently, its pages flying everywhere with a series of crackling sounds.
"Zoko's latest prank," Fred said with a smile. "It's tailor-made for little wizards who don't want to go to class, and it's practically the perfect substitute for our Skiving Snackboxes."
"With this, we can cause trouble for Filch anytime." George pulled two more identical books from his pocket.
"What's the controllable distance?" Kyle asked.
"Not very far, but enough to lure Filch to another floor."
[End of the chapter]