Chapter 175. Pro: "I Protest!"
At dawn the next morning, the sun had only just risen from the edge of the horizon, stingily scattering a few rays of light.
In the Hufflepuff dormitory, a copper bed-warmer was burning with a blazing fire, and the whole room was wrapped in warmth.
Duncan lay in the soft bed, eyes shut, sleeping sweetly, dreaming of riding a fire dragon to soar through the sky on a round-the-world journey.
But peals of deafening thunder suddenly resounded out of thin air in the blue sky, and it even sounded like it was calling his name.
Duncan's brows furrowed.
The thunder in his ears grew louder and louder, and before long it actually shook cracks into the surrounding space.
A few seconds later, the cracks spread in an instant, and darkness surged towards him like a tide.
Duncan snapped his eyes open and woke from the dream, heart pounding, drawing a deep breath.
But before his mind cleared, he saw two identical big faces pressed right up in front of him, provoking an irresistible impulse…
Duncan's hands lifted of their own accord as if executing a preset programme, and he gave two quick slaps left and right.
Crisp smacks rang out and echoed in the room for a long time.
"Ow!" Fred and George screamed at the same time.
Clutching their faces, they backed away and looked at Duncan like wronged girlfriends.
"Duncan, what are you doing?"
Creeped out by their staring eyes, Duncan hurriedly scrambled up from the bed.
Then he said apologetically, "Sorry, sorry.
Opening my eyes to see two faces this handsome, I couldn't help myself for a moment."
"Hearing you say that, I don't even know whether to be happy or angry…" Fred rolled his eyes and said, a bit helpless.
"Of course you should be happy.
By the way, what are you doing coming to me so early?"
Duncan stretched lazily and leaned against the headboard, his sleepy eyes roving up and down over the twins.
"Come on, it's the weekend.
Don't you want a proper lie-in?"
"Have you forgotten?" Fred sat down on Duncan's bed and yanked him into a tight side-hug.
"We agreed yesterday, didn't we?
We're going to the eighth floor today to check that mysterious room!"
"Tsss…" Duncan bared his teeth from Fred's squeeze and tried hard to prise his fingers off.
But those fingers were like solid steel.
Even straining with all his might, Duncan couldn't budge them an inch.
Duncan gave up and said, "But there's no need to go this early.
The Room of Requirement isn't suddenly going to grow legs and run off."
"What if it does?" George said with a grin.
"Things with magic are unpredictable.
What if it does have legs?
Duncan, up you get!"
"Alright, alright.
Fred, let go already.
My arm's about to snap."
Shoving Fred away, Duncan unwillingly slipped out of his comfortable quilt.
With a tap of his wand, he was dressed in an instant.
At that moment, Neville woke up as well.
He blinked sleepily at the sight of the twins, got a huge fright, and sprang up from bed at once.
"Hi, good morning, Neville!" Fred and George wore warm smiles and greeted him enthusiastically.
Neville didn't answer.
He quickly looked around the dormitory, and only after confirming there was nothing wrong did he let out a long breath.
"You scared me to death.
I thought I'd gone into the wrong dormitory last night and slept in the wrong bed," Neville muttered under his breath.
The twins exchanged amused looks and bowed to Neville like gentlemen.
"Apologies, Mr Longbottom.
Our timing was poor.
For the fright we caused you, we express our deep regret, and for that, we—"
Before they could finish, Duncan lifted a foot and gave each of their stuck-out bums a light kick, then hopped back.
"Alright, don't start performing like stage actors at the crack of dawn.
Let's go."
By now, Pro—who had been asleep—was awake too.
It decisively gave itself two sharp slaps on the cheeks to clear its head.
Then it scampered up to perch on Duncan's shoulder, terrified that Duncan might leave it behind and sneak off alone.
"Where are you going?" Neville asked curiously, blinking his not-so-big eyes.
Duncan briefly explained the Room of Requirement to Neville, then asked, "Well?
Do you want to come along?"
"Of course!" Neville replied in delight, nodding like a pecking woodpecker.
He hurriedly changed clothes and left the dormitory with Duncan and the others.
After dinner in the Great Hall, Duncan and the others left the hall, took the side staircase and laboured up to the eighth floor, and on the way they ran into Filch.
"By the way, did you two clean the classroom you dirtied last night?"
Seeing Filch's expression twist violently with anger, Duncan turned his head and asked the twins in a low voice.
"It's clean.
We guarantee there isn't a speck of dust," Fred replied.
Duncan nodded slightly and looked ahead.
Filch had halted in front of them, snorting through his nose, glaring at them viciously.
"It was you two last night, wasn't it?" Filch ground the words out at the Weasley twins through clenched teeth.
"Esteemed Mr Filch, what are you talking about?"
Fred looked completely innocent, blinking his big dewy eyes in confusion, as if he hadn't understood a word.
"Next time I'll definitely catch you.
Don't think you can escape again!"
Filch's expression grew even angrier.
His bloodshot eyes bulged like lightbulbs as he leaned in close to the twins, shrilled a warning, then turned with Mrs Norris and stormed off.
"He just left like that?" George was genuinely baffled this time.
It was the first time Filch had let them off so simply.
Duncan chuckled.
"If you hadn't cleaned that classroom properly yesterday, he would absolutely have let you feel his burning love today."
Following behind Duncan up the stairs and listening to him, Fred shuddered all over and muttered, "That's a disgusting way to put it."
When they reached the eighth floor and found the troll tapestry, Duncan took the lead, wanting to try the thing he'd suddenly thought of while falling asleep last night.
Holding the thought, "I want a room that can find the key to the Black Lake treasure vault," he paced back and forth in front of the wall.
"There's definitely something wrong with this place!"
Duncan glared at the smooth, jade-like wall without a single seam and spoke in frustration.
Pro flopped limply onto Duncan's head like a dead fish, because it had just tried as well and also failed.
"Let us do it!" Fred and George pushed Duncan aside with grins and pranced past like ballet dancers.
A door quickly appeared in the wall.
They shot Duncan a triumphant raise of the eyebrows, cackled with glee, and excitedly pushed the door open and went in.
"Why is it that they can succeed?" Pro tilted back its head at the ceiling and howled, "How can this place discriminate against Nifflers?
I protest!
Nifflers have Niffler rights!"
"I didn't succeed either," Duncan said as he followed the twins into the room, tossing out a casual bit of comfort.
"I know the reason!" Pro declared with conviction.
"You definitely passed your bad luck on to me!"
"Get lost!" Duncan pinched Pro by the scruff and, in a foul mood, tossed it to Neville, then turned his gaze to their surroundings.
Inside was a composite-type workshop with a great many tools piled everywhere—cauldrons, volumetric flasks, and lots he didn't recognise.
"This place is amazing.
It's practically paradise for us!"
Fred and George hugged in the middle of the room with tears in their eyes, excitedly shouting through their business plan.
"Big-Head Bubblegum!" "Jet-Flame Lollipops!" "Cluck-Cluck Chocolate Frogs!"
"We can make them all!"
Listening to those product names, Duncan suddenly felt that the lives of Hogwarts students would definitely be very happy in future.
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