Filch had just been about to scold the dog, but then he suddenly remembered—this was Marius Cloud's dog. His tone instantly changed, face awkward as he stammered:
"Ah—what I meant was… well, no wonder, this dog of Mr. Cloud's is truly intelligent."
Behind the hidden door, the Weasley twins nearly gagged.
Fred even made a little tail-wagging motion for George, who returned it with a set of exaggerated winks, silently mouthing that the act was spot on.
Filch rubbed his hands together nervously.
"Mr. Cloud, how on earth did you teach your dog to talk? Could you… teach me?"
After all, Filch often spoke with Mrs. Norris, and while she seemed to understand him most of the time, it was still nothing compared to an actual conversation.
Cloud was equally curious. "Sorry, but I honestly have no idea why this is possible."
"Is that so…" Filch's shoulders slumped in disappointment.
Wait—could this be an Animagus sneaking into the school?
The thought hit him suddenly, and he cast a suspicious glance at the Doge. But the more he stared at the animal's grin-like expression, the more dizzy and suffocated he felt, until he finally averted his gaze.
Thinking it over, it was absurd. No wizard would willingly transform into an animal just to be kept as someone's pet—that ambition was way too low. Probably impossible.
Still, Filch had no idea that Ron Weasley's pocket actually contained exactly such a wizard.
"Well then, I won't bother you any further, Mr. Cloud. Good night."
With a polite nod to Mrs. Norris, Filch limped away.
The twins let out a massive sigh of relief once he was gone—only to remember, with a groan, that they had just been forced into an unfair deal with Marius Cloud!
And then they saw it—Cloud smiling at them in a way that made goosebumps race up their arms. But instead of saying anything, he simply reached down, grabbed Doge by the scruff, and walked off.
"Hey!" Doge's dissatisfied bark echoed down the corridor.
"Can't you show me a bit of respect in front of my little bro?"
"That's not your little bro, that's your little sis. And besides, she's already gone."
"At least Crookshanks is still here!"
"Want to eat boiled cauliflower for every meal?" Cloud shot back casually.
That shut the dog up instantly.
"How did he even know about that secret passage?" George asked in disbelief once Cloud was out of earshot.
"Exactly," Fred agreed. "Even Filch doesn't know about it! I thought it was just the two of us."
"And his dog can talk, too?"
They stared at each other in bafflement.
"No, wait—didn't you catch something more important just now?" Fred suddenly said.
"He said Snape called him over…" George began.
"…to talk about the Quidditch team!" Fred finished.
Both brothers shouted together:
"Snape wants to recruit him for Slytherin's team!"
It was pure speculation, wildly unsubstantiated—but they had somehow hit the nail on the head. The only thing they didn't know was that Cloud had already refused.
"My Merlin, this is unprecedented!" George exclaimed.
"I can smell a massive headline coming!" Fred was just as thrilled.
Even though they'd just been coerced into an unequal agreement with Cloud, that didn't stop the twins from caring about Gryffindor's Quidditch team. And now, believing they had a top-secret scoop, they were downright capsizing-a-boat excited.
"Extra! Extra!"
It wasn't long before the Weasley twins' booming voices were shaking the Gryffindor common room.
"Breaking news from Slytherin House—no, wait, news that concerns all of Hogwarts!"
"Quiet!" Percy, who happened to be in the room, snapped. "Don't be so loud—you're always exaggerating."
Fred and George, who had zero fondness for their hypocritical older brother, just smirked.
"This is definitely huge news—don't you know the George-and-Fred combo never misses? We always deliver accurate intel—"
"Yeah, yeah, we've all heard it before," a few students grumbled. "Our ears are sprouting blisters already."
George puffed up. "Don't say we didn't warn you—this one's going to shock you."
Fred added with a smug hum, "It's about Marius Cloud himself!"
The moment the name dropped, the Gryffindor students froze for a second—and then the room erupted.
"What? This has to do with him?"
"No way! It's only been a day—how much trouble can he possibly cause?"
"Morning—he blows up the prefects' meeting. Afternoon—he curses out Snape. And now you're telling me something happened tonight, too?"
"Is this for real?" someone asked skeptically. "I heard he was called away by Snape this evening."
"Yeah, so how would he have time to make more headlines?"
Even Harry and Ron were all ears.
For Harry, news about Marius Cloud was like hearing the latest about a celebrity crush.
For Ron, it was like receiving fresh intelligence on a sworn enemy.
Fred grinned mysteriously. "And it is related to that old bat Snape. Guess what it is?"
Students nearly spat blood. Guess your sister's husband, why don't we?
You barge in yelling about huge news, get us all hooked, and now you want us to guess? At that moment, more than a few people were ready to strangle the twins.
Realizing the crowd's patience was fraying, George hurried to spill it:
"Reliable sources say the reason Snape called Cloud tonight was because he wanted him to join Slytherin's Quidditch team!"
If he'd delayed another few seconds, George wasn't sure they'd make it out of the common room alive.
Now the room went dead silent. You could have heard a quill drop. Everyone needed time to process this.
First-year… no—second day of school… and already personally invited by the head of house to join the Quidditch team?
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