Disclaimer: I don't own anything. This is not meant to infringe upon copyrights.
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Fred and George weren't really disgusted with Ron; they were just a little disappointed in him. If they truly didn't care about Ron at all, they wouldn't have said what they just said.
"You can't say that," Kyle thought for a moment. "At least Ron is honest, which is a good thing.
By the way, why did they have a wizarding duel with Malfoy?"
"It's said to be because of that freshman named Neville," Fred said after a moment's thought. "Malfoy hid his map and mocked him for his bad memory. Ron and Harry stood up for him, and that's how the conflict started.
A three-on-three wizarding duel. How did they even come up with that?"
"A sense of justice, and loyalty…that's two more good qualities."
Kyle nodded, saying seriously, "So Ron isn't as bad as you say…at least he's much better than the fish in the Black Lake."
"We didn't deny his actions," Fred shook his head, somewhat amused. If Ron hadn't had decent intentions and hadn't embarrassed the Weasleys, they wouldn't have bothered with their dim-witted brother.
"We're just questioning his intelligence... even going to Professor McGonagall to complain would be much better than stupidly going to the fourth floor during curfew," George said indignantly. "And after suffering such a huge loss, he just slept it off and forgot everything."
Kyle raised an eyebrow, seemingly guessing the real reason for their anger.
The conflict between Gryffindor and Slytherin was a historical issue; it was always a tit-for-tat exchange, with neither side necessarily gaining the upper hand.
Even Percy, whom they called a bookworm, would go to the professors to complain.
George continued, "If it were me, I have at least five ways to make that Malfoy regret his actions."
"For example, hire an owl to deliver a giant, exploding dung bomb to him at breakfast."
"Or pour a failed potion from Potions class into his shoes."
"That's a bit difficult." Kyle stroked his chin and said, "Snape always just throws away any substandard potions.
If we don't care about points and detention, I think it's better to create an accident and splash it on him on the spot."
Fred and George looked at Kyle in disbelief.
Splash a failed potion on a Slytherin student during Potions class?
Even if it was an accident, Snape would still deduct a hundred points, at least a hundred.
Did Kyle really think they had too many "points"?
Even if they didn't care about their grades, they didn't want to be last in the House Cup every year.
It was embarrassing.
Fred and George rolled their eyes at the same time, completely ignoring Kyle's terrible idea.
"We've thought of something." George glanced back and gave a meaningful smile.
"To raise Ron's awareness of danger and vigilance…"
"To prevent him from falling for such flawed traps again…"
"We've decided to give him special training…"
"Special training?" Cedric was a little confused. This wasn't Quidditch; how else could they train him?
"Yes, we're calling it Hogwarts' Darkest Hour!" Fred said. "We didn't sleep a wink all night to perfect this plan."
"But what can we do? He's our beloved brother."
"Of course, this might make Ron suffer a little, but he'll gain much more."
"At least we're careful not to actually harm him."
"He'll thank us in the future."
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Kyle didn't know if Ron would thank Fred and George in the future, but he knew that Ron's days ahead were probably going to be tough.
Hogwarts' Darkest Hour… the name itself spoke volumes.
Although the specifics were unclear, it certainly wasn't good news.
Poor Ron, stuck with two such unreliable brothers.
"Need any help?" Kyle asked.
"Not now," Fred shook his head. "The preliminary plan is quite complete; we can implement it tomorrow."
Kyle said with some disappointment, "Alright, just let me know if you need anything."
"Don't worry, we won't hesitate."
At that moment, Kyle suddenly felt the fishing rod in his hand sink. The force was immense, almost pulling him into the Black Lake.
It's hooked, and it's definitely a big fish!
"Crack..."
The fishing rod made a crisp sound, breaking in two.
Kyle immediately forgot about the Weasley twins, and with lightning speed, grabbed the remaining half of the rod and pulled it back with all his might.
"Quick, Cedric, Reinforcement Charm!"
They were only using a makeshift fishing rod made of pear branches and spider silk; if the fish they caught was too big, this was normal.
"Coming, hold on!" Cedric threw his own fishing rod away.
Before he could even take out his wand, Kyle suddenly fell to the ground, his fishing rod soaring high, casting a silvery-white fish onto the grass a short distance away.
Ignoring the blades of grass clinging to him, Kyle scrambled to his feet and rushed over.
It was a foot-long broadback fish, roughly weighing about two pounds.
Kyle frowned.
Broadback fish, common in the Black Lake, were generally small; two pounds was quite large.
But the immense force he had just felt didn't seem like something a small fish should possess.
Sapium sebiferum trees were quite hard and resilient; a two-pound fish couldn't have snapped them in two in an instant.
"Strange..."
Cedric, squatting nearby, seemed to have noticed something, pointing to the fish's belly. "Kyle, look here."
"What is it?"
Kyle looked in the direction he was pointing, then suddenly froze.
He realized the fish had no hook in its mouth; it had been caught because it was tied up.
A thin, long spider silk fishing line wrapped around its body twice, finally securing it with a neat bow.
"Kyle..." Fred asked uncertainly, "Your fishing rod has an automatic knot-tying magic?"
"How could that be!" Kyle said irritably.
It was just fishing to pass the time; why go through all this trouble? Automatic knot-tying... he'd never even heard of such magic.
In fact, after seeing the tightly bound fish, Kyle had a pretty good idea of what was going on.
A giant squid from the Black Lake, or perhaps a mermaid… this broadbacked fish was probably manually tied to a spider silk fishing line by one of them and then brought over.
As if to confirm his guess, soon, the other fishing rods also stirred.
When they pulled them up, they were all also bound broadbacked fish.
Kyle's face darkened. What was this all about? They hadn't caught anything for over an hour, but bringing fish over... that was a bit much.
[End of the chapter]