George and Fred, the two brothers, were geniuses—and Leonard admired geniuses.
Their brilliant ideas, when paired with a wizard's magic, always produced surprises. Some were simply amusing, while others could be downright lethal.
And it was the lethal ones that Leonard valued most.
All they needed was a bit of encouragement and a modest amount of financial support.
After a friendly round of negotiations, George and Fred sold Leonard the exclusive purchasing rights and the sales rights for their finished Portable Swamp prototype—for the "high price" of fifty Galleons.
The purchasing rights didn't matter much. What Leonard truly wanted were the sales rights.
George and Fred probably didn't understand the significance of those rights. They only cared about the exclusive purchasing agreement. Leonard had promised that however many Portable Swamps they made, he'd buy every single one—and at a very generous price.
At the very least, that meant their product finally had a market. The income would surely impress their mother, who had never approved of their "hobby."
Leonard, however, was only interested in those sales rights. He even went out of his way to write up a meticulous and binding contract.
In the wizarding world, there was no need for a notary office—a single parchment contract carried full legal force, much like the one Leonard had once signed with Damocles to purchase the patent for the Wolfsbane Potion.
His fixation on securing those rights was simple: to prevent what was dismissed as a prank item—but which was, in reality, a strategic weapon—from circulating freely in the market.
It would also keep others from discovering countermeasures while allowing Leonard to keep his own cards hidden.
When the time came to set traps or eliminate threats, no one would see it coming.
...
The incident of Harry Potter and his friends breaking into the third-floor corridor concluded soon after the group's trophy room cleaning. What followed was a period of calm, uneventful school life.
Leonard woke every morning at four to train in the Forbidden Forest and tend to his botanical garden.
He attended his regular classes, occasionally helped out in the greenhouse to please Professor Sprout, and often pestered Professor Flitwick for advanced charm lessons beyond the standard curriculum. He studied with genuine enthusiasm.
Yet outside of his studies, Leonard had a small headache to deal with.
Apparently, his habit of disappearing over the weekends had angered Padma, who had finally worked up the courage to come find him. She didn't make a scene or act petty; instead, she fixed him with a quiet, lingering stare filled with wordless reproach.
That look sent a chill down Leonard's spine, leaving him uncomfortably on edge. There was no malice behind it, but the sheer weight of her gaze was impossible to ignore.
Because of that, Leonard found himself making small mistakes during Potions class—and under Snape's sharp, calculating eyes, those errors always earned him point deductions.
By the end of the lesson, Padma—who had started off full of resentment—actually felt embarrassed and approached Leonard to speak and apologize.
She had a good temperament and a kind disposition, and Leonard didn't mind spending time with her.
Aside from that, word quickly spread about Leonard's acts of heroism—saving Malfoy and rescuing Gryffindor's reckless quartet. The fact that Hufflepuff had received two consecutive hundred-point rewards only drew more attention to the story.
George and Fred, two of the infamous quartet, took it upon themselves to spread the tale far and wide after finishing their trophy room punishment. They made sure everyone knew Leonard had earned two brand-new Special Achievement trophies now displayed in the trophy room!
The result was dramatic: within a week, the number of visitors to the trophy room skyrocketed, with attendance in just a few days rivaling that of half a year.
This incident left Filch, the caretaker, absolutely furious. Someone had brought a prank item called a Dungbomb into the trophy room during a visit—and in a fit of madness, had actually thrown it.
The item, which released a foul stench and exploded into an incredibly sticky, long-lasting mess with an odor that lingered far beyond imagination, was the flagship product of Zonko's Joke Shop in Hogsmeade—the favorite haunt of the Weasley twins.
One could say those two brothers were a bit petty. Punish them with cleaning duties, and they'd always find a way to make the place as dirty as before—or even worse—once they were done.
Compared to the thin layer of dust that had once coated the trophies, the Dungbomb's stubborn residue nearly drove Filch to the brink of collapse.
After all, Filch was a Squib—he couldn't use magic.
...
Time flowed quietly, and the only notable event during this period was flying lessons.
These classes were meant to teach students how to handle broomsticks and, later on, basic knowledge about Quidditch. The instructor was Madam Hooch, a witch whose sharp eyes and hairstyle made her resemble an owl.
Leonard wasn't interested in Quidditch itself, but flying—that caught his attention. Yet when he finally got his hands on a broomstick, what truly fascinated him was the broomstick's enchantment.
He couldn't help but wonder—what kind of magic allowed a broom to fly?
With that question in mind, Leonard sought out the Weasley twins, George and Fred.
"Flying brooms are complicated. Fred and I can't make one," George said helplessly.
"Yeah, forget a real broom—we can't even get the toy ones right," Fred added.
They began rambling to Leonard about how broomsticks worked—the embedded Stabilization and Shock-Absorption Charms, the Cushioning Charm (the one that prevents riders from feeling sore after sitting too long), and other essential details.
From their scattered explanations, Leonard understood one thing: high-end broomsticks were like Muggle sports cars—fast, stable, and very difficult to manufacture.
"But our dad might know how," George said. "He's got a flying car. He modified it himself."
"Then I suggest you learn from him," Leonard said, glancing at the twins. "If you can create the kind of flying device I have in mind, I'll pay you a large sum of Galleons."
"A large sum? How much?" Fred asked, curious.
"Two hundred Galleons," Leonard said with a smile.
"Two hundred Galleons?!" The twins nearly bit their tongues in shock. George stared at Leonard in disbelief. "Wait—you're a Muggle-born wizard, right? How do you have that kind of money lying around?"
Their father, Arthur Weasley, had a decent position at the Ministry of Magic, but his monthly salary barely reached one hundred twenty Galleons—just enough to cover the family's living expenses.
Two hundred Galleons! Neither George nor Fred had ever seen that much gold in their lives.
"Because I'm very good at making friends," Leonard replied with a mysterious smile.
"Sounds like you've got a really rich friend," Fred muttered. "Wish I had one of those too."
...
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