At this, the smiles on Fred and George's faces suddenly disappeared.
Fred covered his face and said, "We're still friends as long as you don't mention that."
"Wood seems to have lent his brain to a troll." George said, shaking his head gloomily, "He actually thinks our little brother Ron has the same Quidditch talent as Charlie and wants to recruit him for the team."
"Merlin's beard, Ron as a Seeker..." Fred shuddered as if thinking of something terrifying, "If that happens, we might as well surrender right away—at least we won't have to embarrass ourselves in front of everyone."
"Thankfully, Professor McGonagall didn't agree."
"Even Harry Potter would be more reliable than him."
Kyle looked at them thoughtfully... could these two actually have some prophetic talent?
"Let's not talk about this anymore." Fred said, stuffing a chicken leg into his mouth and speaking with his mouth full, "We're planning to explore the fourth floor. Want to join?"
Cedric frowned, "You're not talking about the room at the corner of the fourth-floor corridor, are you?"
Fred blinked, "Besides that, what other place on the fourth floor is worth exploring?"
"But..." Cedric hesitated, "Didn't Headmaster Dumbledore say we weren't allowed to go there?"
"Don't be silly." George wagged his finger, looking like Cedric understood nothing, "Only forbidden places are worth exploring, just like nobody would sneak out at night to visit the Transfiguration classroom."
"The Potions classroom is another story."
"We went there in our first year..."
"Dropped two Dungbombs there..."
"Too bad the smell was gone by the next day."
Kyle's eyes lit up as he thoughtfully said, "Sneaking into the Potions classroom at night — that's a good idea."
"No, Kyle." Fred shook his head, "We've already confirmed there's nothing interesting there."
"The fourth floor is better." George said with a smile, "Headmaster Dumbledore is truly great, giving us such an amazing surprise on the first day of school."
"Have you decided? Do you want to come with us?" Fred asked again.
"But..." Cedric still hesitated, "Isn't it dangerous there? Aren't you afraid...?"
"You don't understand Dumbledore at all." Fred said with a serious face, "If it were truly dangerous, he would never let us know about it."
"Well..."
Seeing Cedric becoming hesitant, the mischievous twins exchanged a glance and continued.
"Actually, we already went there before the first day of school." Fred lowered his voice and said, "There's just one door there, not even a portrait."
"I think it's a test for us." George said persuasively, "If we pass the test, we could earn a hundred points for our house."
"Or even better, receive an Award for Special Services to the School!"
Cedric was tempted; he thought the Weasley brothers made sense.
The Forbidden Forest had Hagrid guarding it to keep young wizards out, but the equally dangerous fourth floor had nothing... that was indeed strange.
"Alright... I'm in!" Cedric thought for a moment, then added, "But I'm going to keep an eye on you, to prevent you from causing any serious trouble."
"So that's how it is..." Fred said solemnly, "Then we'll be troubling Mr. Diggory."
Then they looked at Kyle.
"Don't look at me..." Kyle blinked, neither agreeing nor refusing, instead asking directly, "When are you planning to go?"
"Anytime works, but before that, we need to solve two problems." Fred said, "First, we've tried before, but the unlocking charm can'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 that problem." George continued, "Now we just need to deal with Filch. He's been prowling around the fourth floor these past few nights. We need to find a way to lure him away."
"How about distracting him?" Cedric suggested, "For example, dropping some Dungbombs somewhere else before heading to the fourth floor."
"We thought of that too... but it won't work." Fred shook his head, "That would only let us enter the room on the fourth floor, but not get out."
"If Filch stands guard at the door, and there's no other exit or secret passage in that room, we'll be trapped inside."
"Surely Filch can't guard there all night." Cedric said skeptically.
"He really will." Fred and George said in unison.
For the past few nights, they had been observing Filch with the Marauder's Map, and no matter when they checked, his position was always on the fourth floor.
"How about getting someone else to help?" Cedric continued, "We could set a time — one hour or two hours would work — and have them use Dungbombs to lure Filch away again."
"Are you sure... they'll definitely wake up at that time?" Fred said ominously.
Cedric was startled; he couldn't be sure about that.
And thinking carefully, even if that person could wake up and follow through with the plan, if they didn't time it right, or if something prevented them from getting out promptly, it would still be useless.
"Let's check Zonko's." Kyle suddenly said, "They should have something that can lure Filch away at any time."
"Haha, you and we think alike."
After dinner, Fred and George went to Hogsmeade through a secret passage.
When they returned, they had a book that everyone was familiar with: 'The Dark Forces: A Guide to Self-Protection'.
Cedric asked in confusion, "Why did you buy that?"
"This is no ordinary book." Fred led them outside the castle, then took out a quill and said mysteriously, "Watch this."
With a snap, he broke the quill.
At the same time, the book began to shake violently, its pages flying everywhere and making a series of popping and crackling explosions.
"Zonko's latest prank product." Fred said with a grin, "Made specifically for young wizards who don't want to attend class. You could say it goes hand in hand with our Skiving Snackboxes."
"With this, we can create trouble for Filch anytime." George said as he pulled two identical books from his pocket.
"What's the control range?" Kyle asked.
"Not very far, but enough to lure Filch to another floor."
✭✭✭
T/N: Hey! Liked what you read? Support your friendly neighborhood translator on Patreon! Think of it as buying me a coffee... or ten!
For just $1.50 (that's less than your daily meme budget), get extra chapters! Want more? $2 gets you bonus content, $5 unlocks premium stories, and $10 makes you my hero (and gets you everything I have, including earlier acess to new books)!
That's it and happy reading! (-‿◦)
https://www.patreon.com/collection/1305453