"What's this?"
The Weasley Twins pulled out a large bag that attracted everyone's attention. Just finishing his bread, Ron curiously leaned over and picked up a red telescope, fiddling with it with some curiosity—
"Obviously, my silly Ron—this is a telescope."
"Does it have anything special?"
Ron asked while putting the telescope to his right eye, "It doesn't seem any different—"
"Grab the sides and squeeze hard—"
"Okay..."
Ron obediently nodded, then just as Fred had suggested, he squeezed—"Bang—" The next moment, a small fist popped out from the end close to Ron's eye and punched him squarely in the eye socket—thus, Ron's black eye finally became symmetrical.
"Punching Telescope! When you find someone annoying, give them a good punch!"
George waved his arms, striking a muscle-showing pose, "We even made new models just like those in Astronomy class."
Everyone laughed at Ron, who had turned into a panda, while George was chased around by his enraged brother before finally returning to his seat. Neville grabbed one of the square boxes and shook it gently, listening to the clinking sounds inside, before looking at the seal on top, "...Quick-Effect Skipping Class Candy?"
"It's a set—"
Fred took the box and opened the lid, introducing it excitedly, "Vomiting Candy, Fainting Cotton Candy, Fever Fudge, and Nosebleed Nougat!" he said as he unwrapped the nougat and popped it into his mouth—
The effect was immediate, with two streams of blood shooting out from his nostrils like arrows. George, panting beside him, took out a notebook and began to record Fred's condition. Finally, after collecting about half a bottle of blood, Fred took the antidote.
"The perfect choice for skipping class or slacking off—"
After finishing the advertising slogan, George picked up a pointed hat adorned with pink feathers, "Headless Hat!" he shouted, while Fred took the hat, "Ladies and gentlemen, watch closely!"
With that, Fred laughed and put the hat on his head, looking utterly ridiculous for a moment before both the hat and his head vanished.
A few girls around screamed.
"Hat off!"
George continued to shout, as Fred fumbled around his shoulders until his head reappeared, and he removed the pink-feathered hat.
"How did you make that hat?"
Hermione was stunned, observing Fred and George with a mix of surprise and fascination, "Well, it's obviously some kind of invisibility charm, but expanding the invisible area beyond the enchanted object is quite clever... I imagine the spell won't last long..."
"Indeed, it currently only lasts for about half a month—" Fred sighed, sounding a bit dejected, "We bought a whole bunch of Invisible Beast hair for it—"
"And there's more, such as the fake magic wand... which can turn into a rubber chicken, the ten-second pimple remover potion... which works quite well, although the ingredients are a bit pricey, and the Anti-Curse Hat, which can block some evil curses... plus the Extendable Ears..."
George elaborately explained these one by one to their "big shareholder," William.
"Wait, what was that just now?"
William felt like something crucial had slipped by.
"Extendable Ears, they're for eavesdropping—"
George explained while gesturing with a pair of fleshy ears.
"No, I meant before that—"
"The pimple remover..."
"After that!"
"The Anti-Curse Hat?"
"Yes, can this thing repel curses?"
William grabbed the hat from Fred's hand and rubbed it—it was made of cloth and looked quite ordinary.
"It can repel some minor evil curses, as long as you're wearing the hat—"
George was explaining while putting on another hat, "Come on, cast a curse on me—" Seeing William pulling out his magic wand, he instinctively flinched, then decisively turned to Ron, "Actually, you do it, Ron!"
"Me? Any evil curse will do?"
"Of course! Aim at my head—"
"Densaugeo!"
Without hesitation, Ron cast the spell, and just before the charm hit George's face, it seemed to encounter resistance and was deflected, bouncing back onto Ron's chest—there's no denying, Ron's minor curse was quite effective.
"Good stuff—"
Having watched the entire scene, William's eyes lit up. This was a defense tool, after all.
"But it can only repel minor evil curses; the Unforgivable Curses are a different story—"
Fred continued to explain, but William felt as if he had hit the jackpot, drawing another SSR after getting Grindelwald's SSR—the Little Inventors, the Weasley Twins!
Those two are definitely geniuses, held back by their studies!
Now it can only resist small Evil Curses, but what if you add a Magic Rune?
Hmm, very good, should I find a chance to send these two to Dumbledore for some training?
Looking at the two still somewhat bewildered boys, William flashed a "naughty" smile, "Don't worry, you won't die—"
...
Time flew by quickly with everyone's anticipation.
Because he quickly resolved the misunderstanding with Ron and also got along well with Cedric, the other Champion from Hogwarts, Harry, who somehow became a Champion, wasn't ostracized too seriously, except by those old friends from Slytherin —
Of course, excluding Snape—
"Antidote!"
Snape said in his greasy voice as he looked around at the class, those cold black eyes flashing unpleasantly. Finally, he fixed his gaze on Harry, "You should have your formulas ready by now, I expect you to brew them carefully, and then we'll choose someone to test them..."
Even though he said "choose someone," Harry felt as though he had already been chosen—
Harry knew what was going to happen, Snape definitely wanted to poison him, so the boy imagined himself suddenly lifting the boiling Cauldron and rushing to the front of the classroom, dumping it on Snape's greasy head—
At that moment, the door to the underground classroom was knocked, interrupting Harry's thoughts.
Everyone's eyes turned to the door, and Snape's face darkened several shades as he watched William walk in sideways, speaking harshly, "What are you doing here? There's no place for you in my advanced Potions Class—"
"Hey, why so distant, haven't seen you for so long, don't you miss me at all?"
William sighed as if feeling very hurt by Snape's distant attitude.
"You... what exactly do you want?"
Snape couldn't sit still, the moment he saw William like this, he felt the other was up to no good.
He wanted to curse, but his survival instinct made him hold back.
"Harry."
William's gaze swept the room, finally locking onto the boy gloomily chopping Dittany, "Come with me."
"Mr. Potter still has an hour of Potions Class left..."
There seemed to be a hint of reluctance in Snape's words, but after a few seconds of eye contact with William, the man decisively shut up, waving his arms, "Get out, Potter! Follow that bastard, and take your bag with you! Get out of my classroom together!"
"We'll be going now, Professor Snape."
With a sly gesture, William discreetly grasped a fully loaded Kabuda in his hand and led Harry out of the classroom with a smile.
"Senior, where are we going?"
The boy, clutching his book bag, quickly followed. As he stepped out of the classroom door, he noticed Cedric spacing out against the wall. Just as the boy was forming a guess in his mind, he saw William nodding, "We're going to test your Wands, take some photos and do interviews—"
"Interviews?"
Harry asked instinctively.
"Yes, pre-event interviews, to be spliced into the live broadcast since the events need breaks in between—"
William nodded, after more than half a month of discussions, they had decided to turn the Eight-Team Tournament into a variety show.
The three chatted as they headed for the staircase leading to the entry hall.
Soon, they arrived at a smaller classroom where most desks had been pushed to the back, leaving a large open area in the center.
"You finally arrived!"
Harry's eyelid twitched, stepping back instinctively—noticing the sudden burst of Ludo Bagman had startled him, but the fat Wizard in black robes didn't seem to notice Harry's emotion. Instead, he enthusiastically pulled Harry and Cedric to stand behind a Witch in a maroon robe.
Behind the Witch was a black box-like object propped up by a tripod—
This thing was probably called a camera?
Harry recalled William once introducing this thing.
There was a crowd of people in the room; Champions from various Houses were gathered here.
And right now, sitting opposite the maroon-clad Witch was Fleur Delacour. The two seemed to be having a "friendly" conversation, but for some reason, Harry felt Fleur's pretty face was a bit stiff, stiff like—on the day William mentioned something stuck in his teeth.
Thinking of William, Harry instinctively turned his head, only to find William hadn't left. Instead, he had put on a dark blue baseball cap and sat on a low stool.
"How's the effect of the interviews?"
As the "director," William sat down and looked at Lupin, serving as the assistant director.
"If you're looking for sensational topics, then it's not so successful."
Lupin twirled the pen in his fingers, laying the "dialogue" he'd recorded before William — glancing over the lengthy, unremarkable conversations, William couldn't help but frown, what's going on? Has Rita Skeeter's skill diminished?
So, William curiously glanced at the content Rita's Speedwriting Quill had captured... All right, misunderstanding resolved, seems like the downside of video recording not yet allowing for malicious editing has possibly restricted the performance of this "sensationalist" journalist.