One area that Harry simply couldn't match the twins on, however, was potions. Seeing them make potions was like... well, magic. They had begun their business on a shoestring budget, and had tested out hundreds of cheap alternatives that approximated the effects they wanted. The result was a lot of experience via trial and error. They could take almost any potion and almost instantly figure out how to make it easier to brew, cheaper to buy, or turn it into a candy. The latter skill boggled Harry's mind. For all of Snape's ranting about how precise and delicate potions work was, the twins seemed to be able to mix anything they wanted with sugar and caramel and not cause an explosion. Even Hermione was impressed, because she learned a lot from the twins' potions notebook. She suspected that the two of them could easily be potions masters if they desired.
Harry found an immediate use for their talent. Knowing that Snape would be asking for a minor fortitude potion (which made people a little more resistant to minor injuries) next class, he asked the twins if they had any variations of the potion. It turned out that they did. Since the fortitude potion was only good enough to last a few minutes and only protected against minor injuries from accidents like stubbing your toe, burning your tongue on a hot drink, or scraping your knees, few people ever took the effort to brew one of these potions other than as test material in Potions class. The twins had reformulated the potion into a gobstopper that lasted several hours, turning it into a useful candy that meant a full day without worrying about bumps and scrapes. Harry practiced the formula so he was ready for his next Potions class.
"And what was Snivelley's reaction?" Sirius almost choked on his salad from laughing too much.
"Well, he tried to ignore me. I mean, he really tried. He didn't talk to me at all, no matter how much that vein on the left side of his forehead was throbbing... you know what I'm talking about, right?" Harry smirked.
"Well? Go on! That can't be the end of it!"
"That's when I pulled out a bag of sugar and melted it into my cauldron."
"What? And it didn't blow up?"
"No, but Snape did. He said I was a danger to everyone in class and tried to vanish my potion."
"Does he usually do that to get rid of a potion? Slughorn used to drain it into an anti-reaction basin."
"Yeah, but normally only at the end of class when the flame's been put out and the potion's settled. He was a little too angry this time." Harry laughed again. "So, the spell ended up destabilizing the whole thing instead of vanishing it."
"I thought you said your potion didn't blow up!"
"It didn't! It belched out a big cloud of smoke. I threw up a bubble-head charm right away, but Snape caught it right in the face. I think it blinded him. That made him stumble back into Dean's bench, making his robes catch fire."
"You couldn't possibly have planned that."
"No, I was actually planning on him getting mad enough to haul me to Dumbledore, and when that happened I would demand to see Madam Maxime and Headmaster Karkaroff as well, and claim that a professor of Hogwarts was attempting to subvert the Triwizard rules. I've been trying to push him over the edge for the past two weeks now. I just didn't expect it to happen this way."
Sirius gave Harry a kindly smile and pretended to wipe away a tear. "I'm so proud of you, Harry. The first step to being a Marauder is giving a greasy git what he deserves."
"Oh, stop it, Sirius." Harry laughed.
"And you've already started step two, getting an animagus form. Are you going to use it in the tournament?"
Harry shook his head. "No, I was thinking it would be more useful to keep it a secret, like you. Just in case I ever find myself in Azkaban or something."
"How about your invisibility cloak? James was almost always the prank executor because he could sneak anywhere with that thing."
"I'm not going to accidentally rip up my dad's cloak over a silly tournament!"
"Well, what ARE you going to do, then? No sword, no cloak, no animagus... what else have you got?"
"I've been putting your successors to work, Sirius." Harry grinned.
"Didn't I just tell you you're the next Marauder? You don't seem to be working very hard right now."
"I'm talking about the official Hogwarts pranksters. The twins. They can make just about anything explode. Sort of like Neville, but with a lot more control over when and how."
"So you're going to use their little bombs and stuff to win? You'll need a better plan than that to win, Harry."
"Oh, I've got a lot more up my sleeve. Well... since you won't be able to watch my duel, I'll tell you what I've got planned..." Harry went over all the preparations with the twins. Sirius agreed that it seemed like a fairly well-rounded plan, more offensive than defensive, but he was more worried about Harry's opponents. Harry really had no idea what Krum, Fleur, and Cedric were planning. He'd expected the same things he thought of- a magical weapon like the Sword of Gryffindor, or some other magical devices. Not knowing exactly what to defend against, he just went for the basic combination of shield-charmed clothing and dodging for his defense. He hoped it would be enough.
"There's no such thing as having 'enough' ammunition, Harry," Hermione told him. She and the twins were spending the last two days frantically brewing, crafting, mixing, and packing up as many rounds of Harry's tools as possible. Harry was busy modifying several belts into holsters, each carrying several dozen packets, tubes, vials, and candies all within easy reach for him.
"She's right, Harry. Why launch one Whiz-bang at your opponent when you can toss five of them at once?" Fred gave a wicked smile.
"That sounds a little... excessive," Harry said. "I don't exactly what to kill them, you know."
"That's not what I meant!" huffed Hermione. "I don't want you to stand up there on stage with empty pockets and nothing left to use. Don't go wasting them by tossing them five at a time," Hermione said, glaring at Fred.
"And are you sure the engorgement vials are allowed? I think we're skirting the rules pretty close with the candies already, but the engorgement potion is a potion, no two ways about it."
"I asked Mr. Bagman already, Harry. As long as you're not drinking the potion yourself, you'll be fine."
The twins turned around. "So that means you can use our immolation potion, yeah?"
"What is it with you two and fire?" Hermione asked, shaking her head.
"Well, we don't get much of a chance to set fires at school, you know. It would cause too much actual destruction. Might get us expelled," George explained.
"We'll take what we can get."
Harry began making himself yet another belt to hold the potions. In the end, he'd be carrying nearly fifty candies, thirty potions, and almost a hundred assorted knickknacks... for each duel. Every belt had a quick-release latch, just in case something went wrong and he needed to forfeit the match very, very quickly. Harry hoped he wouldn't have to use it.
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