[Alchemy Professor Kaisen Heath is seeking adventure assistants for the holidays. Hogwarts students in their third year or above are cordially invited to apply.
—Dumbledore]
"What does this mean?" Ron asked, sipping his milk tea and looking at the notice on the wall in front of him.
"Isn't it written quite clearly? Professor Kaisen is going on an adventure after this term and needs a pair of assistants," the Weasley Twins said casually.
"Hmm!"
Harry's small head suddenly perked up, while Neville, next to him, had already started to move.
"Don't go yet! The notice says for third year and above," Hermione quickly reminded him.
Neville, who was halfway there, stopped awkwardly.
"Huh?"
"Yeah." Ron nodded, as if to say, 'Didn't you see we haven't moved?'
"That's right, you guys stay put. Oh, and our dearest little brother, and Harry, Neville, Hermione, we two have a small favor to ask of you."
".....Huh?" Ron asked subconsciously.
George then pulled the wand out of Ron's sleeve, placed it in Ron's palm, and then held Ron's hand, pointing it at Lee Jordan, who was putting on his robes.
"Petrificus Totalus!"
A flash of light instantly struck Jordan, while Fred, almost in sync with George, placed Hermione's wand in her hand, then held her hand and cast a flying charm at Angelina.
Angelina suddenly shot up like a rocket, as if pulled from dry ground.
"George! Fred! I'll get you for this!" Angelina roared from above.
"We're very sorry, but we really hope you can cover for us for a bit, just a bit, don't worry." The Weasley Twins comforted a bewildered Ron and a bewildered Hermione, then quickly left the Gryffindor common room.
"...Huh?" Hermione looked at Ron, a little bewildered.
"Professor Kaisen, we're here... What is this? Professor, is the campus ice hockey game you mentioned finally starting?"
"But I remember it was supposed to be polo?"
...Ice horse?"
The Weasley Twins walked into the alchemy office and saw an incredibly huge circular ice track that stretched from the office entrance to the desk at the end of the office, turned there, and returned to the office exit, forming a closed loop.
"Did we forget to bring ice skates?" George said excitedly.
"No need, look at this." Fred looked at a launcher carved from stone beside the ice track. There was a lever next to it, and a notice board below the launcher.
[Pull the lever to get a skating boat and come to my side.]
Fred pulled two levers in a row. With two clacking sounds, two wooden boats were spat out by the launcher.
"Cool!"
The two sat in the small boats, which Kaisen had modified. There were no oars, only small ice wheels on both sides of the boat, and a throttle, brake, and steering wheel were all present.
"Just like Dad's car, let's try it!"
Fred sat in the small boat and stepped on the throttle. At first, the boat moved slowly with the rotation of the ice wheels, but it seemed to accelerate constantly, without any limit.
"I, I, I, I'm going to lose my mind!"
Kaisen, who was sitting on the sofa pouring himself tea, looked at the two small black dots rapidly flying close to the ground in the distance and shrugged helplessly.
He hoped that the Weasley Twins, who played Quidditch, would have slightly better boat-driving skills.
As he mumbled, the Weasley Twins drew a perfect arc in mid-air right before his eyes, then flew straight into the wool pit Kaisen had already prepared.
Bang!
"Uh... Professor, why aren't the brakes working?" George struggled to climb out of the wool pit and asked.
"Hmm? Oh, the brakes on this boat, if not entirely for show, aren't much different from being for show. After all, it's on ice," Kaisen said, taking a tactical sip of tea.
"Alright, good thing we didn't lose our minds..."
"Fall out!" The latter half of the sentence was said by Fred, who had just climbed up.
"Don't worry, I've cast protective spells in the office. They'll definitely keep you breathing until Madam Pomfrey arrives."
"Professor, that's not very reassuring," Fred said, his face flushing.
"I'm just joking with you. That wool pit was specifically left for you to get off. Other places on the boat and the edge of the ice track have magic protection, so you can just crash into them when the time comes."
Kaisen said, pointing to Sirius, who was drifting on the ice track.
"Look, Bruce drives so well."
...This dog drives..."
...Better than little Ron."
"Little Ron? Ron?" Kaisen frowned and asked.
"Oh? Professor, you didn't know his nickname, did you?" George said with a sidelong grin.
"No, I didn't. Where's your homework?" Kaisen said, pouring two cups of tea for the Weasley Twins.
The Weasley Twins awkwardly pulled out their amulet casings: "Uh, Professor, we've studied this in detail before, so we'd like to ask, if we may be so bold, what's the purpose of using gold for the casing of this Withering Charm?"
"We've figured out the principles and uses of the other materials, like obsidian and mithril, but it's just this gold..."
"Oh... you're asking what gold is for?" Kaisen nodded.
"Yes, exactly."
...Actually, it's not for anything, purely for aesthetics."
...Huh?" The Weasley Twins were a bit bewildered.
"The gold on the casing of the Withering Charm is just for fixing the obsidian and mithril. So, theoretically speaking... if you can use any other metal to fix them, it's perfectly fine. We gave you gold purely because gold has good ductility and is easy to process," Kaisen explained.
"Oh... Then, if that's the case, can we..."
Kaisen glanced at the Weasley Twins' black robes, which were so washed they had turned somewhat gray.
"You can, just remember to replace it with another golden metal, or even just paint it."
The Weasley Twins exchanged glances, then simultaneously shook their heads: "That's not what we meant."
"We didn't mean to embezzle your gold."
"Then why are you asking this? Could it be that you're genuinely just asking questions?" Kaisen wondered.
"Uh... Hehe, well... Professor, I remember you're going on an adventure to the Amazon and Africa this holiday, right?" the Weasley Twins said, rubbing their hands together like flies.
"...Yes, how did you know?"
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