"Go on, Hermione," George said as Fred pulled Magnus inside. "He might not come out for a whole term."
"George..."
Magnus disengaged himself from Fred and rushed to the door before George shut it on a still-confused Hermione. If she took the implied hostility seriously, she might fetch a prefect or, worse, a teacher.
"Hey, I will be fine here," he said with a lighter note, and Hermione seemed to relax. "Remember what we have agreed on."
Then Fred yanked him back inside.
"Yeah... see you next year, Hermione," George snickered as he shut the door on Hermione.
"What's up, mate? You have been scarce of late," Fred said as he let go of him, and George joined them.
"Yeah... so have you. I thought you guys even took your meals in the kitchen; haven't seen you in the Great Hall for a while."
The twins looked at each other and grinned.
"Well, we weren't in the kitchens," Fred said, patting Magnus excitedly. "But now that you mention it, I think that would be a brilliant idea, bro," he added, looking at his brother thoughtfully.
George nodded, pretending to mull over the matter.
"No kidding, bet our little friends are dying to see us," he said, grinning excitedly. "We haven't been there since term started. I almost forgot how much I have missed their 'Here is a cookie for Mister Weasley and Mister Weasley,' and 'Would you like some pudding, Weasley and Weasley, sir?'"
George had stooped down, probably to mimic the size of an elf as he demonstrated the actions. He was trying to bulge his eyes to look big enough like a house-elf.
Magnus had to smile, but he recalled his urgency.
"Anyway, what's up with this kidnapping thing?"
"Privacy," Fred grinned mischievously, "and it looked like the only way to get your attention," he added, and Magnus noted he had become serious. "What's up with you and Hermione? I hear you are being seen together quite a lot lately."
Magnus frowned.
Freaking school rumors... I mean, what else had he expected? His interactions with Hermione were purely in his goal of reviving Pokémon potential in this world. Pichu was one of the best candidates for his projects, but good luck trying to get adolescent students to understand that. He decided not to waste his breath.
"Well, if Dumbledore believed everything he heard about you, you would probably be expelled already."
"He does have a point, bro," George told his brother mockingly.
"He does," Fred agreed, still glaring at him. "He is also changing the topic... What's up with you two? I assume it's not what I heard that Lavender girl 'whispering' to her friends," Fred asked knowingly.
Magnus wanted to ask what Lavender had been saying, but the girl had drugged Ron with love potion chocolates... it did not take a genius to figure out what kind of rumors she would be spreading.
"I'm only interested in the Pichu," Magnus answered, not falling for Fred's bait.
"The what?" the two exclaimed in genuine confusion, making him recall that Pichu wasn't a familiar name in this world.
"Her Pokémon."
"I knew it," Fred exclaimed, and not in an excited voice. "Ditching us already, are you? Are you forgetting our bargain?"
He was actually surprised to notice they were serious.
"Crap... come on, guys," Magnus grinned smugly. "Of course not. Our deal stands, but I told you I can't do anything before we have a functioning ball... remember?"
The twins looked relieved on hearing that.
"And I really have to go, or I might force Hagrid into nicking more points from Ravenclaw."
Of course, he knew that would never happen. One would have to work their ass off to get Hagrid furious enough to do that.
"Well, that is great to hear," George grinned, patting him on the shoulders, "because we have something to show you."
With identical grins plastered on their faces, the two reached for something within their robes and simultaneously tossed whatever it was into the air.
Magnus immediately noticed that they were dung balls—except he was waiting for them to stupidly hit the floor, but that never happened. The pair of yellow balls remained hovering mid-air.
"Cool, right?" George asked, having seen his gawking mouth.
It wasn't... that was obviously the work of a levitating charm, and although he could not do it himself, Magnus knew even a first-year like Hermione could cast that.
Of course, there was the fact that the twins had not used a wand nor cast any verbal spell, but still... pretty basic.
He, however, had a feeling the two were not done with their revelation; they were merely building tension for maximum effect.
"Okay... watch this," Fred said as he turned to his brother. "Together in one, two... Accio Fweg!" he cried just as his twin followed suit. "Accio Goj!"
The two balls suddenly swelled to the size of a pumpkin before splitting in two halves just like the dung ball.
The difference, however, was instead of sucking whatever dirt that might have been in the room, the two identical Eevees, Fweg and Goj, burst out of the swollen balls and skidded on the floor.
"The fuck...?" Magnus swore as he jumped back, his heart thundering at the sudden apparition of the two Eevees.
"Language, Magnus," George admonished with a voice full of pride on seeing his reaction.
Then Magnus suddenly realized what this meant.
"Holy... you actually made it... you guys created a Poké Ball?" he exclaimed, his eyes running between the Eevees and the hovering balls.
"I don't know what the hell you are talking about," Fred said, frowning. "This is called a Fred Ball," he said, indicating the pair of hovering balls.
"Hell no, your balls are in your pants, bro... what you are looking at are the George Orbs," George countered his brother.
Magnus wasn't even listening to the twins fight over something so petty.
I mean, did they even know just how close their invention was to the actual Poké Ball in the Pokémon world? Especially the hovering part?
Of course, they didn't. They must have done it just as a fancy effect, but that still didn't change that it was a brilliant effort on their part.
The Eevees were now playing around the classroom excitedly like they were awed by the change of their usual environment.
"How... how did you manage it?" he asked while reaching for one of the balls.
"Sorry, mate... that is a trade secret," George said, and Magnus looked up from scrutinizing the ball.
He smiled. "You can't be serious... it's literally my idea."
"True," Fred said solemnly, "but our blood, sweat, and tears." He added, and George gave him a thumbs up.
"Which you shed none of," Magnus muttered. "Seriously, guys," he pleaded. He was really intrigued.
He could so far deduce the use of a levitating charm and the summoning charm, but what he would pay to know was how they had navigated the atmosphere hurdle.
"We are serious, bro... we can't tell you until we patent it," George explained.
"You..." Magnus stopped when he realized what the two were insinuating.
"But that would have to involve the Ministry," it wasn't even a question. He knew that to legitimize any invention in the magical community, one would inevitably have to go through the Ministry of Magic.
"Yeah... we plan to do just that... mate, can't you see... this is actually bigger than—"
"Stop," Magnus called, suddenly becoming all business. "How many of this lot did you make?" he asked dreadfully because somehow he already knew the answer.
"Forty... we plan to make forty more tonight."
Magnus flinched. "I thought we agreed to make only four?"
"Yeah..." George countered, "but, mate, that was when we thought it was almost impossible to do it... turns out it wasn't, thanks to those ideas you left on that Brainbook."
Magnus recalled the clipboard they had offered him at the Room of Requirement, but if he remembered right, it had erased his thoughts. But that was beside the point.
"Forty balls? I told you it would destroy the entire plan."
"Mate, it can't be that bad," Fred said desperately, but Magnus was already shaking his head.
"It is."
These two, older as they were, were still naive. The Ministry hardly operated based only on facts… there was bureaucracy and power games in play, and for them to imagine that such a serious invention made by some thirteen-year-old teenagers would just be welcomed into the Wizarding World with open arms was actually stupid.
Even worse, it threatened to spoil all his plans.
"Let us discuss it tonight, guys..." he said, already heading for the door, deep in thought.
"What is that, anyway?" George called, like he was seeing the Zorua for the first time since pulling him into the classroom.
Somehow, Magnus knew that was the case… somehow, the Zorua had managed to use some illusion as soon as Fred had grabbed him.
He smiled, his worries momentarily leaving him.
"That too… tonight," he said as he rushed out of the door.