"...What exactly are you planning to do?"
Inside the dimly lit passageway of the pyramid, the flickering flames were encapsulated in a layer of rather grimy glass, casting shadows on faces that were unclear and ambiguous. Ron stared speechlessly at his two brothers, who were huddled together whispering.
The Khafre Pyramid, the second largest in the entire Giza Pyramid Complex and connected to the largest Sphinx statue visible from Cairo City, had long been developed into a tourist area—
Of course, Wizards would never "join forces" with Muggles.
The Muggle-Repelling Charm would unconsciously keep all the Muggle tourists away from this part of the area, not shown in the back of the tourist guide, and here was exactly where the Egypt branch of Gringotts temporarily stored some magic items excavated from within the pyramids.
Of course, everything here would eventually be moved to Gringotts Headquarters, as the Goblins would not allow their precious treasures to remain "outside."
As a human Curse-Breaker employed by Gringotts, Bill's daily work was quite varied. It included entering pyramids or ancient tomb relics, breaking protective curses, safely bringing the magical items back to Gringotts for sealing, evaluation, or auction, repairing damaged ancient magical artifacts to prevent curse leaks, and so on...
He even sometimes had to act as a liaison between Gringotts and the Ministry of Magic, as all Goblins, without exception, had quite a temper.
This time, his visit to the Khafre Pyramid was to retrieve some magic items excavated from within the pyramid a while ago. The "dangers" he might encounter during this task were just the scorching sun along the way and the decades-old, fermented sock-like stench within the pyramid...
If not for this, Mrs. Weasley wouldn't have agreed for him to take Ron and the twins along to broaden their horizons.
But Bill, who had been away from home for years, apparently had somewhat forgotten the capabilities for mischief of his two younger brothers—
Watching as Bill was already deeply engrossed in work with the accompanying Goblin, Fred and George stopped keeping secrets. Under Ron's eagerly anticipating gaze, George pulled out a somewhat tattered piece of parchment from his pocket and carefully spread it out before the other two.
George's cautious posture seemed to suggest that if he applied just a little more force, the paper would tear in half.
"What's this?"
Staring at the abstract strokes on the parchment for a long time and failing to make any sense of it, Ron couldn't help but ask.
"This is a..."
George's voice lowered at this point, while Fred seamlessly picked up the second half of the sentence, "...a treasure map."
"..."
In Ron's non-reactionary silence, the scene suddenly cooled down. He merely looked down, stared at the few lines on the slightly abstract "treasure map" for a long time, then finally lifted his head, looking at the two with complete mistrust, "You still want to trick me..."
"..."
Fred and George did not show any change in expression upon hearing the blunt truth. Instead, they looked deeply pained, clutching their chests, "We never thought Little Ronnie would doubt his brothers so much..."" Tragic, really—"" He's no longer the sweet Little Ron he used to be..."
Their synchronized act was incredibly well-practiced.
"You... you just want to trick me!"
Seeing them act this way, Ron, who used to be morally blackmailed, was now entirely convinced that they planned to prank him—at the very least, they intended to use him as a scapegoat. Rich experience had given Ron a very keen intuition.
"Alas, it seems Ron doesn't want to join the adventure—""Even if this adventure could lead us to treasures far exceeding the prize money.""It's fine; Little Ronnie is our brother after all. Giving him a few Sickles isn't out of the question..."
"You guys..."
Ron's face turned bright red. Even though he didn't believe in the treasures worth more than seven hundred Golden Galleons that they mentioned, he couldn't help but feel annoyed at the thought of getting only a few Sickles—after all, they were siblings.
"Alright then, you stay here with Bill..."
With this, Fred threw a glance full of "sorrow" at Bill, who was appraising a wand, as if spending time here was a tragic waste—incidentally, Ron thought so, too. After a simple look around, he was certain he had no interest in being a Curse-Breaker.
"...Is the treasure you're talking about nearby?"
Watching the two already scattering along the passageway, fiddling with this and that, Ron hesitated in place for a while but ended up walking to George. He lowered his voice, fearing Bill might hear.
"Of course, why else would we come here?"
George stared at the boy with an incredulous look, as if puzzled by why he'd ask such a silly question.
"...Include me."
George's openly judgmental look made Ron's face burn, but he didn't back down and instead continued in a low voice, "Or else I'll... I'll tell Mum. She did say you weren't allowed to cause trouble." Obviously, the Gryffindor "genes" within Ron were wildly at play.
Adventuring inside the pyramids of Egypt, Ron could already imagine how he'd recount this to Hermione and Harry once school started again. Missing an entire year of classes and adventures due to petrification, Ron suddenly felt a "generation gap" with those two best friends—and that wasn't good.
He needed an adventure story of his own, and his audience need not be limited to just Harry and Hermione.
As for what if this adventure turned out fruitless, just another prank by the Weasley twins?
No problem, making up stories was always an option—as long as he avoided doing so in front of George, who loved debunking him in every possible situation.
"Of course."
Fred and George exchanged a knowing glance. Over more than a decade of living together, Ron may have had a thorough understanding of them, but the two brothers were equally familiar with their little brother's personality—they hadn't intended to fight it—
But having an extra person as a cover was always better than none.
"This way."
After Ron had pretended to participate in the search for a short while, Fred, who had already gone around two corners, suddenly signaled the others somewhat excitedly. Once they got closer, Fred reached out and pressed on a dark grey brick in the wall—
"Boom—"
The next moment, with the slight sound of stones being moved, a dark passage appeared before the three of them.