The ingenuity of the twins' invented spell proved quite helpful once Magnus had explained the purpose.
Of course, they had the Brainbook to assist them, but that did not water down their contribution.
The "Shock Who?" spell had been created and tested two days after the group's meeting at Hagrid's cabin.
Then they had to interrupt their evening sessions by practising it. Mostly, it was Hermione who was supposed to master it, but there wasn't anything to stop the rest from learning.
"Shock Who?" worked by creating an invisible, super slim barrier that prevented anyone from making actual skin-to-fur contact with the Pichu.
One could feel like they were still holding it, but in truth, they were holding the flexible barrier around the Pokémon.
This prevented any electrocution in case the Pichu began discharging electricity.
As for the Pichu shocking itself, the barrier now allowed Hermione to be able to let the playful Pokémon interact with other Pokémon as well as their trainer.
This meant the Pichu began to slowly become comfortable around strangers.
Hagrid had agreed that the Zweilous had to stay inside the ball in case he wasn't around or when he came to the castle.
This way, he could carry it around just in case Malfoy or someone else decided to break into the cabin looking for proof.
With the immediate threat of exposure having been contained, Magnus and the group now shifted the focus back to the training of the Eevees.
The twins seemed more than pleased with the progress the Eevees were displaying. Fweg, the Espeon candidate, had become quite popular already amongst students.
It was like the first trick Magnus had instigated had opened its intelligence reserves, and now Fred seemed more than happy to display new tricks to the curious students who flocked to what had been their spot on a daily basis.
Of course Fred enjoyed the attention... I mean, he and his twin had already been popular due to their mischief as well as 'helpful' inventions as far as students were concerned.
Now, however, he had become the equivalent of a school rockstar.
Girls from most houses, with the exception of Slytherin, were always flocking around him begging to be allowed to play with the Eevee... mostly he was more than happy to allow them, but Magnus began to notice he had begun to be selective...
Often only the 'pretty' ones got the chance.
George's Eevee, on the other hand, did not enjoy such attention, much to the disappointment of its owner.
not that Goj cared.
The potential dark type mainly came alive at night, especially when the group was breaking curfew.
Peeves had been one of their biggest problems, especially when he walked in on them after hours.
The poltergeist often threatened to alert the caretaker and only agreed to keep quiet if the twins continued to provide more dung bombs for his mischief.
Of late, though, the sight of Goj and Magnus' Zorua jogging ahead of the group seemed to put him off...
Something specifically about the Zorua seemed to scare Peeves, which was a rare thing to happen .
Maybe Peeves could pick up the aura coming from the two, since they both were dark types.
Whatever the case, the situation worked to their favor.
Magnus ran past groups of students on his way to the Ravenclaw store, but someone pulled on his robes, making him skid to a halt and almost throwing his Zorua off.
He turned around in frustration.
His mood lightened up when he saw Ron and Harry.
His Zorua began to look around in search of the Vulpix and Ron's Meowth, but either they had been left at the daycare or their trainers had used the ball they had been given by the twins.
"Hey, what's…" he trailed off on seeing what Harry was holding.
"Is that a broomstick?" Magnus asked, excited, but Ron looked at him as if he was playing dumb.
Actually, he had used a broomstick on their Fast Pokémon Battle League, but only as a portkey to the stadium. But now… now he remembered.
"You're on the Quidditch team?" he asked as the three of them descended towards the grounds.
"It's just tryouts," Harry said modestly.
Magnus immediately recalled that Harry had been spotted as the new Gryffindor Seeker by Professor McGonagall during the tussle with Malfoy for Neville's remembral ball.
Now, he did not know whether that was how this version had happened, but it didn't matter.
"If you hurry, you might catch up on the practice," Ron said as they turned towards the Quidditch pitch where the rest were heading.
Magnus had been on his way to perform his dung boy role, but now he changed his mind.
His obsession with his Pokémon plan had almost made him forget that Quidditch was also an exciting sport in the magical world...
It had actually been the best—back when it enjoyed monopoly.
Now that Pokémon battles were here, it was a matter of preference.
But by the time he was done, Pokémon battles would be in a league of their own.
Still, he wasn't about to miss Harry's first training session.
Not only because they were a team now, but he also wanted to see Fred and George...
Hopefully, they might have brought their Pokémon with them.
"Scratch that, I'll clean later," he said, knowing well that Edgar would would be breathing fire by then
They could already see Hermione waving to them from the stands.
The trouble was that she was surrounded by students all around her, that Magnus felt immediately discouraged to head there.
Since the creation of the twins' spell, Hermione had to endure similar attention towards her Pokémon.
Magnus reminded himself that it was partly his fault, as he had been the one who had insisted she tolerate as many interested admirers as she could, so as to expose the Pichu to strangers.
That, though, meant he couldn't discuss anything related to the team in such an environment.
"See you later, guys," Harry said tensely as he diverged towards the Quidditch changing room.
"Break a leg, mate," Ron patted him before heading towards Hermione. Magnus, however, did not join him.
"You coming?" he asked, seeing his hesitation.
Magnus nodded.
"Right behind you " he said as he hurried after Harry.
Something had been bothering him of late, something that made him feel like he had come into a sort of deadlock.
"Harry, a sec please…"