Chapter 72. Professor, It's Not What You Described!
The Slytherin and Gryffindor students moved through the forest, working hard to look for any trace of the pixies.
They had thought that catching a single Cornish pixie would be very easy, and that they could get full marks without trouble.
But they hadn't expected those pixies to be like well-trained special forces, leaving them without a trace to find.
"Do you think those little things have run outside the teaching area?" Lee Jordan's eyes rolled as a crooked idea popped into his head.
"Should we go out and have a look?"
Fred shot Lee a glance.
"If you trust me, drop that idea now and stay put in the teaching area."
"Why?" Lee asked curiously.
"Because Professor Kettleburn's assistant is named Duncan Scamander," George said with a grin.
"He's full of nasty tricks and bad ideas.
One look at the way he was smiling just now and I knew he must've set all sorts of disgusting traps along the edge of the teaching area, just waiting for us to deliver ourselves."
"As expected, anyone who hangs out with you lot isn't any good…" Lee sighed.
"We are not—" Fred opened his mouth to retort.
"Shh, quiet." George clapped a hand over Fred's mouth and lowered his voice.
"I think I've found those pixies."
"Mmph… wh—mmph—where?" Fred mumbled, eyes darting around.
"Over there." George guided Fred's head to the left, and Lee looked with them.
A few metres away, beneath a large tree, dense shrubbery and the rise and fall of tree roots formed a hidden angle.
An electric-blue creature, half covered by leaves, was crouched in the corner with its back to them, seemingly digging at the ground.
"Shall we move in slowly and grab it?" Lee whispered.
"Don't rush," said Fred, who couldn't shake the feeling that something was off.
"Let's watch a bit longer…"
Voices sounded off to the side at that moment, as if other students were approaching.
"No more waiting.
While it hasn't noticed us, we should grab it now, or someone else will beat us to it."
Lee flicked a glance sideways and sounded a little impatient.
In his mind, finding a pixie was harder than catching one.
"Mm…" Fred didn't answer, still observing ahead.
He'd had this feeling during pranks before, and whenever he chose not to trust it, he got into real trouble—without exception.
"You're overthinking it.
Professor Kettleburn said Cornish pixies aren't all that bright."
Imitating Kettleburn's tone, Lee added, seeing that Fred and George still weren't moving forward, "All right then, leave this one to me.
I'll come with you to find others afterward."
No sooner said than done, Lee lightened his steps, itching to move, and crept forward.
When Lee had got halfway there, Fred's sharp eyes suddenly caught the fallen leaves on the ground trembling.
"Watch your feet!" Fred warned, on alert.
"Huh?" Lee answered reflexively, but didn't stop, and took one more step forward—
Snap—snap—two sounds rang out.
The leaves sprang up and finger-thick ropes whipped round Lee's ankles in an instant.
With a savage yank upward, Lee's view flipped, and he was left dangling upside down in mid-air, swinging back and forth with a yell.
"Well, if it isn't Jordan.
Gone for a moment and you end up like this…"
A mocking voice came from the side.
Fred and George turned toward the sound to see Graham Montague leading a large crowd of students over.
Smirks of schadenfreude were plastered across their faces, but they themselves looked bedraggled and not much better off.
George gave Graham a leisurely once-over.
His school robes were in tatters, the edges frayed into strips that dangled like a grass skirt, his hair was a mess and flecked with leaves, and there were three scratches on each cheek like a cat's whiskers.
At least he wasn't badly hurt enough to need the Hospital Wing.
Otherwise, their Galleons would be gone.
"Montague, your look is quite fashionable!" George jibed.
"What, did you hire someone to design it specially for this Care of Magical Creatures class?"
"Such thoughtfulness!" Fred added cheerfully.
"If Professor Kettleburn doesn't award you fifty points, I'd say it would be a disgrace to that carefully curated outfit—wouldn't you?"
"You two!"
Stung by the twins' sneering tone, Graham gripped his wand and pointed it at them in embarrassed fury.
Those damned pixies had put him through the wringer just now, and he'd only just escaped.
His belly was full of pent-up anger.
"Oho, you want to have a go with us?" Fred said with a smile.
"Or are you going to use the only two spells you know to dust off our clothes?" George chimed in.
"Don't bother with them," a Slytherin next to Graham whispered.
"If we waste any more time here, those blasted pixies will catch up.
Let's go and let this lot hold them off."
"You're right!" Graham's eyes lit up as he came to his senses.
"Let them strut for a bit first."
He lifted his head and glared viciously at Fred and George.
"You two just wait!"
Having let off steam, Graham led the others away by the opposite path without looking back, for fear of being a moment too slow.
"What's with them…" Fred watched Graham go and raised an eyebrow.
He'd been about to draw his wand.
"Forget it.
Get Lee down first.
If they're in that much of a hurry, there's a scheme brewing.
We need to move."
As George spoke, he flicked his wand.
The ropes loosened and Lee crashed to the ground with a thump.
"George, could you be a bit gentler?" Lee complained, rubbing his sore back.
"That's what you get for not listening to us," Fred said mercilessly, giving Lee a light kick.
"Up you get.
We're leaving too."
"You two have hearts harder than Snape's…" Lee muttered, climbing to his feet.
"Wait…" George stopped, studying their surroundings intently.
"Do you hear something?"
"A sound?" Fred and Lee frowned and cocked their heads.
"Seems like there is…"
"Sounds like it's over there…" George's gaze shifted—toward the direction Graham and the others had just come from.
"This is bad…" George's heart sank.
He reckoned they were about to take the hit for Graham and his lot, and he hurried to move.
But before they could take a step, several arrows shot out of the thicket, each with a round black fruit tied to the tip.
Fred dodged fast, glimpsed electric-blue figures flickering through the branches, and had a brainwave.
"We're friends of Duncan's!
The lot just now went that way!"
The pixies recognised Fred and George.
After a quick chatter among themselves, they flitted away at once.
Lee let out a long breath.
"Didn't Professor Kettleburn say Cornish pixies aren't very bright?
Setting traps, hiding and ambushing—none of that looks dim to me.
Professor, this is nothing like what you told us!"
Fred and George exchanged a look.
They each saw the same answer in the other's eyes.
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