As expected, the Weasley twins were more cunning than Filch had anticipated. With a few crumbs and a smirk, they had lured Mrs. Norris off their trail and led Filch chasing ghosts down the wrong corridor.
Watching from the shadows, Alex Gunter couldn't help but grin. In his past life, he'd always been entertained by the twins on screen — Hogwarts' crowned prank kings, always causing chaos in the most spectacular ways. But he also remembered how it ended.
Fred died. George was left alone, half of a whole.
It had felt unfair then, and it still did now.
Still, tonight wasn't a night for melancholy. Tonight was a night for payback.
After all, it was their fault his perfect night-time research had been interrupted. They'd brought the storm to his doorstep.
As the twins skipped carelessly ahead, blissfully unaware of what was coming, Alex's eyes narrowed with mischief.
He raised his wand silently.
With a sharp clatter, the helmet of a nearby suit of armor crashed to the ground, echoing thunderously through the empty corridor.
"BANG!"
The twins skidded to a halt like startled cats, spinning to see the cause of the noise — only to find a lonely, empty helmet resting innocently on the floor.
But behind them, echoing through the halls, came Filch's furious howling and Mrs. Norris' scratching meow.
"Oi, I know it's you two! Don't think you can hide! I'll have you in detention for the entire term!"
The twins didn't wait to investigate. They bolted for the nearest staircase, scrambling up toward the fourth floor.
Alex bit back laughter, following silently with footsteps like a whisper. But just as he was about to round the corner, a voice interrupted the chase.
"Heheheh… students out of bed? My favorite kind!"
It was Peeves.
...
Peeves the Poltergeist had been floating around, bored and irritated, looking for trouble. And then, like a gift from the chaos gods, the Weasley twins practically ran into his face.
"Ho ho! What have we here? The little Weasley pests!"
He grinned wide and swooped down gleefully.
"I could let you go… if you admit something. Say it loud and proud: 'Peeves the Great is Hogwarts' true Prank King!'"
Fred and George exchanged glances. Fred smiled innocently.
"Oh, you mean it, Peevesy?"
"Hogwarts' one and only mischief monarch?" George added sweetly.
And then, like synchronized devils, they both shouted—
"That's clearly us!"
They sprinted off in a fit of laughter, leaving Peeves in a fit of rage.
From the shadows, Alex lost it. A quiet chuckle escaped before he could stop himself.
"Who's there?!" Peeves barked, spinning in the air, eyes darting around. Someone had laughed. Someone was watching.
But Alex was already crouched low, hidden well. He spotted some chalk sticks lying nearby — probably Peeves' ammunition for the next student unlucky enough to pass beneath him.
Alex smiled.
"Waddiwasi."
One by one, the chalk pieces launched from the floor like magical missiles, pelting Peeves from every direction.
"Agh! What the—?!"
Peeves howled in outrage and scrambled away, heading in the opposite direction of the twins, vanishing into the dark.
...
Now able to breathe, Alex turned toward the hallway the twins had taken.
Something about this corridor stirred his memory.
Fourth floor. Right wing.
Wait.
His eyes widened.
This is where Dumbledore specifically told students not to go.
The forbidden corridor. The one guarding the trapdoor. The first challenge of the Sorcerer's Stone.
And the twins were heading straight into it.
"Damn it."
Without wasting another second, Alex muttered a Feather-Light Charm on his legs and sprinted after them.
Sure enough, just around the bend, Fred and George were standing before a dusty old door, their wands raised like explorers about to uncover buried treasure.
"Alohomora!" Fred intoned.
The door creaked open.
Alex winced. "Dumbledore really didn't put a Locking Charm on that? Was he hoping Potter would get in?"
The twins darted inside.
Alex groaned, ran in after them...
And stopped.
Lying atop a massive trapdoor, nearly blending into the darkness, was an enormous three-headed dog.
Its heads rested on its massive paws, all snoring gently.
And the stench.
Dear Merlin, the stench.
Alex gagged and held his breath. The thing smelled like raw meat and death and unwashed fur — a biological weapon if he'd ever inhaled one.
One of the twins — Fred, maybe? — wasn't so lucky.
"Ugh, what's that smell?!"
The moment the words left his mouth, all three dog heads snapped open.
Six eyes blazed with primal hunger.
Two heads turned toward the twins.
One turned toward Alex.
The illusion charm didn't cover scent.
"Crap."
The middle head snarled and lunged.
The twins raised their wands in a panic, both shouting defensive spells. Shimmering barriers flickered between them and the beast, but their magic wasn't nearly strong enough.
The dog barely stumbled. It shook off the spells like raindrops and charged again.
Alex had no choice.
Dropping the illusion, he aimed high.
"Depulso!"
A red flash burst from his wand, slamming into the creature like a freight train.
CRASH!
The dog yelped and was thrown backward, slamming into the stone wall with a sickening thud.
The twins blinked, stunned.
Alex didn't give them time to ask questions.
"Quick! Music! Sing something! Sing that ridiculous song you did at the Sorting!"
Fred and George looked at each other, confused but trusting.
Together, they launched into their own twisted version of the Hogwarts school anthem — the funereal dirge rendition they'd crooned during the feast.
"🎵 Hogwarts, Hogwarts, hoggy warty Hogwarts… 🎵"
The triple-headed monstrosity blinked once. Twice.
Then slowly, with a final low growl… each head drooped again, lulled into magical slumber.
...
Alex exhaled, heart still thundering.
That had been way too close.
Beside him, the twins were still singing, slightly off-key and thoroughly rattled. But alive.
And Alex?
Alex was already planning. He had a lot to think about.
Not just about the trapdoor and what lay beneath it.
But about what Dumbledore wasn't telling them.
Whatever secret the old wizard was hiding — Alex had just stumbled into its shadow.
And he wasn't going to stop now.
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