Heir to ancient magic, the Chosen One favored by the phoenix, the walking Fourth Natural Disaster of reality; in front of him, even Lord Voldemort wasn't worthy of carrying his shoes.
"Avada… Lightning Chain? Is that the Killing Curse?" Harley asked with some surprise.
"Back then nobody cared," Fred spread his hands casually. "The Ministry of Magic even had to bow and thank him for it. But because of that senior, after he left England to travel the world, the Ministry strictly banned the use of the Killing Curse and gave it a massive side effect."
"Meaning the moment you use it, you get thrown into Azkaban for a nice long stay," George cut in. "But honestly, that kind of rule only restrains the wizards who were never going to use the Killing Curse anyway. It barely touches Dark wizards. Even Aurors have special exemptions to use it on missions; you can't expect them to take down sneaky, ruthless Dark wizards with just Expelliarmus and Stupefy, right, Harley?"
"That… does make sense," Harley nodded. "Police carry guns, after all. How are you supposed to catch bad guys without weapons?"
"So, is that senior still alive?" Lynn asked the twins after swallowing his surprise. He was genuinely curious.
"Pretty sure he is. We haven't heard any news of him showing up anywhere in ages, but he's only a few years older than Professor Dumbledore. Our headmaster's still healthy enough to dance the Lindy Hop at the Yule Ball, so there's no way our legendary senior kicked the bucket young."
"By the way, Lynn," Fred suddenly changed the subject, grinning at him. "You interested in researching some fun stuff with us?"
"Charlie gave us a cut of the Tournament prize money as investment capital. The two of us are planning to develop some really awesome joke products, stuff that'll blow Zonko's out of the water. We desperately need a partner who's outstanding at Transfiguration. Originally we were going to ask Seds, but he's not interested. You, though? You might end up even better than Seds. Wanna come play with us?"
"Is that the shop that sells Nosebleed Nougat?" Harley suddenly remembered their trip down Diagon Alley. "They really do have tons of fun things."
"Exactly. But our goal is to surpass them."
"Become bigger and stronger! Create everlasting glory!"
The twins took turns finishing each other's sentences, their eyes burning with ambition.
"It sounds like it'll be super fun, Lynn!" Harley's eyes sparkled as she looked at him and tugged his sleeve.
"I'm planning to study wandcraft in the future," Lynn paused for a moment before agreeing. "But who knows, maybe I'll get some inspiration from you guys?"
"Ha-HA!"
The twins high-fived. "Best news we've heard all day! No rush though; honestly, we still have a ton to learn ourselves. Right now we're basically a two-man clown show, but we're definitely going to make this work. Welcome aboard, mate. You won't regret it!"
"What about me? Is there anything I can do?" Harley looked eager for a second, but quickly pouted in disappointment. "I don't have brains like Lynn's…"
Then her eyes lit up again as she blinked at the twins. "How about… I invest some Galleons as research funding? Like Charlie did?"
"To receive the approval of such a cute, beautiful, and clever young lady—"
Fred and George's faces lit up with excitement as they spoke over each other dramatically, "This is an honor beyond words!"
"It's actually because of Lynn," Harley stuck out her tongue, a little embarrassed. "I believe in him, that's all… So, how much should I invest? One thousand… two thousand Galleons enough?"
The twins froze, stunned by the rich-girl declaration. They'd thought Harley offering a few dozen or maybe a hundred Galleons would already be generous, but she'd just added an extra zero.
"Actually, Charlie only gave us two hundred Galleons as startup capital…"
The twins looked at Harley a little sheepishly. "That's way too much, Harley. We do want investment, but…"
"Then two thousand it is. Withdrawing it will have to wait until the holidays when we go to Gringotts. I think I only have a few hundred on me right now." Harley, who had never been particularly money-conscious, rummaged through her little purse. "How about I give you five hundred first if you need it right now?"
"No, no, no, not necessary yet!" The twins waved their hands frantically. Mischievous as they were, they were still good kids at heart. "And absolutely do not tell anyone you're carrying that much money at school. Someone might… you know. That's a huge amount, Harley."
"Is it really that much?" Harley glanced at Lynn, not quite understanding. She'd spent more than that just shopping in Diagon Alley before. The inheritance her parents left her was something she could never spend in a lifetime; mountains of gold taller than two or three Hagrids stacked together.
"I've got twenty-six Galleons and five Sickles in my pocket right now, and my wallet's still fatter than most students'. What do you think, Harley?" Lynn gently knocked the top of her head. "Put that purse away before you lose it."
"Then keep it for me. I'll ask you when I need money."
Harley stuffed the little money bag into Lynn's hand and patted her chest in relief. "I feel safer with you holding it. Oh, and Lynn, if you need to buy anything, just use mine. No need to be polite."
"So does this mean I'm being kept now?" Lynn looked at her with a strange expression.
"Keep dreaming. But seriously, spend whatever you want. You don't have to ask me."
In Harley's heart, she always felt she owed Lynn something. She hadn't been used to it at first, but as life got better and better, she was settling more and more comfortably into her current self. When it came to repaying him, though, aside from her mountains of Galleons, she really didn't have anything else to offer.
"Alright, you guys keep eating. I'm going to find Hermione and Parvati. Bye!"
Harley set down her knife and fork, wiped her mouth, and bounced up lightly to leave.
Once she was gone, the twins turned to Lynn with teasing looks.
"Harley seems to really li—"
"It's trust," Lynn cut them off. "Harley and I are good friends. And that's all we'll ever be."
"Such moving friendship."
"To friendship everlasting!"
They raised their goblets of pumpkin juice and clinked them against Lynn's.
"Speaking of which," Lynn touched his sadly flat money pouch and looked up at the twins. "Got any good ways to make money right now? I'm pretty broke."
"Of course—"
The twins grinned wickedly.
"Of course we do. But this isn't the place to talk about it. Come on, let's go somewhere else."
--
Support me & read more advance & fast update chapter on my pa-treon:
pat reon .c-om/windkaze