At this, the grins on Fred and George's faces faded.
Fred covered his face dramatically and groaned, “Forget it—let’s try to stay friends.”
“Wood must have loaned his brain to a troll,” George muttered, shaking his head. “He actually believes our little brother Ron inherited Charlie’s Quidditch skills and wants to make him Seeker.”
“Merlin help us—Ron as Seeker…” Fred shuddered as if envisioning a disaster. “If that happened, we might as well forfeit every game just to spare ourselves the humiliation.”
“Luckily, Professor McGonagall shot that idea down,” George said with relief. “Even Harry Potter’s a better option.”
Kyle gave them a curious look. Did these two actually have a knack for predicting the future?
“Anyway,” Fred said, picking up a drumstick and chewing on it between words, “we’re planning an expedition to the fourth floor. You want to come?”
Cedric raised his eyebrows. “You don’t mean the room at the end of the fourth-floor corridor, do you?”
Fred gave him a conspiratorial wink. “Is there any other part of the fourth floor worth exploring?”
“But…” Cedric hesitated. “Didn’t Headmaster Dumbledore say we’re forbidden from going there?”
“Don’t be silly,” George replied, wagging a finger with an air of knowing authority. “It’s only the forbidden places that are worth exploring. No one’s sneaking out at night just to visit the Transfiguration classroom.”
“The Potions classroom could be interesting,” Fred added.
“We tried that in our first year,” George said, “and tossed a couple of Dungbombs in there for good measure…”
“Sadly, the smell was gone by the next day,” Fred finished.
Kyle’s eyes lit up with interest. “Night-walking to the Potions classroom... not a bad idea.”
“No, Kyle,” Fred said, shaking his head. “We already scoped it out. There’s nothing worthwhile in there.”
“The fourth floor’s the real prize,” George said, grinning. “Dumbledore’s a legend, setting up something right at the start of term.”
“So, are you in or not?” Fred asked again, leaning in.
“But…” Cedric still looked hesitant. “It’s dangerous there. Aren’t you worried?”
“That’s because you don’t know Dumbledore well enough,” Fred replied, putting on a serious expression. “If it was truly dangerous, he’d never have mentioned it.”
Sensing Cedric’s uncertainty, Fred and George exchanged glances before pressing on.
“Actually, we took a quick look before term started,” Fred whispered. “There’s just one door—no portraits, nothing.”
“It’s got to be some kind of test,” George said, his voice persuasive. “Pass it, and our house could earn a hundred points.”
“Or even better, a Special Award for Services to the School!” Fred added with a gleam in his eye.
Cedric looked intrigued. The Weasley twins had a point. Hagrid guarded the Forbidden Forest to keep students out, but no one seemed to be watching the supposedly dangerous fourth floor. That was certainly odd.
“Alright… I’m in!” Cedric finally agreed, though he added, “But I’m keeping an eye on you two to make sure you don’t get into too much trouble.”
“I see… Then we’ll be counting on Mr. Diggory’s supervision,” Fred said with mock seriousness, bowing slightly.
Then they turned to Kyle expectantly.
Kyle blinked, neither agreeing nor disagreeing, and instead asked directly, “When are you planning on going?”
“Anytime is fine, but we need to solve two issues first,” Fred began. “We’ve tried, and the Unlocking Charm doesn’t work on that door… Kyle, didn’t you say you have a master key?”
Kyle nodded. The master key had arrived with his invisibility cloak, though he hadn’t had much use for it until now.
“Then that’s covered,” George said. “But we still need to figure out how to distract Filch. He’s been lurking around the fourth floor every night, so we’ll need to draw him off somehow.”
“What if we just dropped a few Dungbombs somewhere else right before we head to the fourth floor?” Cedric suggested.
“That was our first thought too, but no,” Fred said, shaking his head. “The Dungbombs would only get us inside the room, not out again. If Filch sticks around near the door and there’s no other exit, we’ll be trapped.”
“Filch can’t stay there all night,” Cedric replied, doubtful.
“He can and he will,” Fred and George said together, shaking their heads. They had been keeping an eye on Filch’s movements with the Marauder’s Map for the past few nights, and every time they checked, Filch was stationed on the fourth floor.
“Maybe we could ask someone to help,” Cedric suggested. “Agree on a time, say an hour or two in, and have them set off a distraction to pull Filch away.”
“Are you sure they’ll be awake and able to do it exactly on time?” Fred asked, sounding uncertain.
Cedric hesitated, realizing he couldn’t guarantee perfect timing. If Filch wasn’t properly distracted or they didn’t get out quickly enough, their plan would fail.
“Let’s check Zonko’s,” Kyle suggested suddenly. “They should have something that’ll let us distract Filch whenever we want.”
“Haha, you’re on the same page as us!” Fred and George said, grinning as they quickly finished dinner. They took Kyle and Cedric through a secret passage to Hogsmeade and returned with a familiar-looking book in their hands.
“Dark Forces: A Guide to Self-Protection?” Cedric asked, puzzled. “Why would you buy that?”
“This isn’t your average book,” Fred said mysteriously as he led the group out of sight of the castle. He took out a quill and held it up. “Watch this.”
With a quick snap, Fred broke the quill in half. Instantly, the book began to shake violently, its pages scattering as a series of loud, crackling explosions rang out.
“It’s Zonko’s latest prank item,” Fred explained with a grin. “Perfect for young wizards looking for an excuse to skip class. It’s kind of like an early version of our Skiving Snackbox but with a bit more… impact.”
“With this, we can pull Filch away anytime we like,” George said, pulling two more identical books from his pocket.
“What’s the range?” Kyle asked, examining the fake book.
“Not too far,” Fred replied, “but it’s more than enough to lure Filch to another floor.”