"Let us go! Peeves! You little brat!"
...
The words of the two brothers made Peeves very unhappy.
"You should beg me! Though even that won't make me let you go! But with your current attitude..." Peeves immediately floated towards where Filch had left.
"Here! Those two annoying brats are here! They're so awful! Not only do they not praise me! They even scold me! They need to be punished more severely!"
Amidst the shouting.
Peeves' figure disappeared from Ian's sight.
"George! My magic wand! I think my wand got snapped!"
"Stop yelling! Fred! We need to find a way to quickly save ourselves!"
The two unlucky brothers were trapped under a pile of armor, shouting and poking their heads out to look around, and then they saw Ian standing on the stairs.
"Prince!"
They saw Ian, but before they could call for help, they were already caught by the approaching caretaker, their faces showing a despairing expression of resigning to their fate.
"It's them, right?" Filch returned to the hall led by Peeves, one of the rare times he's gotten help from Peeves over the years.
"Where are the night-roaming little wizards?"
Filch looked around eagerly. Without a flashlight or his cat, his night vision was apparently a bit of an issue.
"You should say to me—Great Peeves, please tell me where the criminals you've captured are!" Peeves, though complaining, still led Filch in front of the twins.
"We're doomed!"
The twins looked ashen-faced.
"I found them first!"
Filch was quick to claim credit.
"You don't have that ability; it's my great skills!" Peeves sneered.
He wasn't wrong.
As the caretaker of Hogwarts, without his cat, Filch lacked the ability to catch outstanding night roamers; most of the time, he was the poor guy being played like a fiddle by them.
"Damn Peeves! You clearly hate Filch too!"
"Why make Filch happy? You're betraying your own life creed!"
George and Fred shouted loudly, their tone indignant and their faces as pained as if they'd lost a loved one, clearly considering getting caught by Filch an utter disgrace.
"I hate you guys even more, hehe." Peeves made a face at the two brothers. He seemed to think their trapped condition was still not secure enough, so he moved a bunch of junk over to them.
"Little wizards! Not sleeping! Running around! Must punish!" Peeves sang as if in a merry tune, and George and Fred's heads were once again almost completely buried by the stuff he brought over.
"You'll get your comeuppance, Peeves!"
George Weasley's curse came out from under the pile.
"That's right! You'll be expelled from the school!"
Fred obviously knew Peeves' fear well, and maybe that was why Peeves hated them so much; even prank elves didn't like their secrets known.
"Shut up, you annoying Gryffindor students!" Filch roared through gritted teeth, failing to frighten George and Fred.
They kept on sighing.
"I've seen you countless times wrecking havoc in the school at night, trampling the school's order with your vile behavior!"
"Finally caught you today... I'll have to teach you a lesson with severe punishment!" Filch had a look of deep revenge satisfaction, his smug expression strongly evident.
"You don't have that authority!"
"Yes! The school won't allow you to hang us up like in the old days! At most, you can just give us detention!" The two brothers clearly weren't worried about the punishment.
Their nonchalant attitude instantly infuriated Filch.
"I'll propose to Dumbledore! For scoundrels like you who won't listen, we need to restore the old punishments! Only handcuffs, whips, and candles can make you change your ways!"
Filch venomously started to threaten, his saliva flying through the air.
"Who are you trying to scare?"
George finally managed to pop his head out.
"Peeves has to pay for my magic wand!"
Fred's head was still in the junk, loudly lamenting.
"Heh, you two little brats won't need a magic wand anymore because you'll be expelled from Hogwarts, and your parents will weep as they take you back to your rat hole."
Filch grinned sinisterly.
"This eerie tone... learned from that man, maybe." Seeing the farce conclude, Ian was already slowly walking down from the stairs.
George, who had poked his head out, was winking at him, seemingly reminding Ian to quickly slip away while Filch hadn't noticed, as the line of night roamers always needed a spark to be kept alive.
"You won't scare me! Dumbledore won't expel us!" His voice suddenly grew very loud, probably trying to divert attention to help Ian.
However, Filch still was a shrewd old hand and immediately sensed George's little ploy, turning his head swiftly to see Ian, who was waving his hand as if saying "goodbye" with his back to the twins.
At this time, Ian headed towards the basement, not trying to hide himself, as he had realized two days ago that he only needed to worry about being caught by the professors.