Charlie's letter arrived a bit later than expected.
On the third day of their stay at the Burrow, a beautiful red-footed falcon arrived carrying Charlie's letter.
"Hey! Lynn, Harley! The letter's here!"
Fred waved the letter in his hand and shouted towards Lynn and Harley, who were preparing to eat lunch.
"What letter?"
Mrs. Weasley looked at the twins with some confusion. "Getting you two this excited... talk about it later, eat first."
"Okay, Mum."
The twins grinned, plonked down in the seats next to Lynn, and stuffed the letter over to him.
"So we head out this afternoon?!"
After taking the letter Lynn handed over, Harley scanned it quickly, then spoke up excitedly.
"I have absolutely no problem with that."
"Mum, we're going out with Lynn and Harley this afternoon, heading to Romania."
"To find Charlie? Or to do something else?"
Mrs. Weasley's expression was somewhat puzzled.
"To find Charlie. We have something very important to discuss together. Bill went over there too, so you can rest completely assured. Your two most outstanding sons are both there, so no need to worry."
"What do you mean 'the two most outstanding'?" Percy protested from the side.
"You haven't become Head Boy yet, have you, Percy?"
"Like Bill, I achieved 'Outstanding' grades in twelve O.W.Ls. I just need to wait until seventh year. Is there any doubt about this sort of thing?"
Percy spoke as if it were a matter of course. His grades were the best across all four houses; who else would they choose? Surely not Marcus, that Slytherin troll-blood?
"Alright, we'll count you in."
The twins spread their hands helplessly. Regarding the imminent arrival of the second Head Boy in the family, they could only hold their noses and accept it.
"Then let us congratulate you in advance on having a Humongous Bighead." (The abbreviation for Humongous Bighead and Head Boy are both HB).
Percy's face went dark. Just as he was about to sternly warn the twins about the inviolable status of the Head Boy, Ron, who had long been going stir-crazy at home, chimed in.
"Can I go too?"
Having been thoroughly lectured by Mrs. Weasley and forced to retake first-year textbook lessons under Percy's tutelage during the holidays, Ron wished he could grow wings and fly away.
"No," the twins said in unison.
"Unless you can prove that all the English letters add up to twenty-five."
"The Floo Network station codes use a combination of the twenty-six English letters and numbers."
"But you use a twenty-five letter version. It's incompatible, you know?"
Percy, whose face had been dark just a second ago, pinched his own thigh, his face flushing red as he suppressed a laugh. Putting on a serious expression was hard work.
"Why not!" Ron looked at the twins unconvinced. "It was just a momentary slip of the tongue!"
"Then go explain to Mum that your final exams were also just a momentary slip of the pen."
Ron shrunk his head back. Mrs. Weasley's gaze at that moment looked murderous.
"If you don't study seriously with Percy during the holidays, don't even think about going to Hogwarts next term. Your father and I can't afford that kind of embarrassment!"
"Only passing one out of seven subjects, and Potions was actually a T? We've never even heard of that grade! Troll? It must have been hard work for Professor Snape to invent a new lowest score just for you to break the bottom limit!"
Under Mrs. Weasley's low pressure system, the twins, Lynn, and Harley quickly finished their lunch.
The two went back to their room to tidy their luggage, then rushed downstairs carrying two small suitcases. Everything was already packed; they just had to grab it and go.
"Mum, we're leaving now!"
"I'll pass on your regards to Bill and Charlie."
"Ask them if they're free to come home for Christmas." Mrs. Weasley hurried over to the twins and gave them a hug. "Take good care of Lynn and Harley, understood?"
"Don't worry, Mum, everything will be fine."
Fred guaranteed with a grin, patting his chest.
"And we have money. Here, take this to buy Ginny a beautiful set of robes. She's starting school this year, after all."
George pressed Mrs. Weasley's hand back.
"We're going to the Ministry of Magic first. Dad has contacts in the Floo Network Authority, so we can cut the line a little bit."
"We know the place well. You just need to say 'Ministry of Magic'."
The small bowl containing Floo powder was passed over. Lynn grabbed a small handful of the glittering green powder and threw it into the Weasleys' fireplace.
With a few bursts of flames, the four figures disappeared into the fireplace.
The golden atrium was a bit blinding, but during lunch hour, there were far fewer wizards coming to the Ministry for business.
"Follow us, just go straight in. No need for the troublesome wand registration."
The twins waved to them. "We've been here a few times, we're pretty familiar with it."
Passing through the golden hall and walking past the wizard fountain carved with the words "Magic is Might," they arrived at the wand registration desk in front of the elevators.
"Uncle Oliver! Remember us?" Fred called out to the wizard at the registration desk who was reading a newspaper with his legs crossed.
"You're those two troublemakers from Arthur's family, right?"
Hearing the voice, the wizard looked up and recognized the twins immediately.
"We're taking our classmates to find Dad. That's alright, isn't it?"
"Of course it's alright, go ahead."
Skipping the wand registration process entirely, the wizard named Oliver nodded and pointed to the elevator nearby. "Level Two. Do you know where it is?"
"Of course, we've been here a few times."
"Thanks, Uncle Oliver."
After entering the elevator, the twins pressed the button for Level Six, the floor for the Department of Magical Transportation.
"We don't need to go find Dad, otherwise he'll just nag us again. Mum will tell him after work anyway."
The twins were actually a bit impatient themselves.
"Although there are a lot of people working at the Ministry, most of them are familiar faces. Before Dad was in charge of Muggle artifacts, he was quite a famous 'firefighter' within the Ministry."
"He knows a bit of everything. Whether a picture frame is acting up or there's an accident somewhere, when the Ministry is busy, he can still find time to put out fires for various departments. I bet Dad knows more than half the people in the Ministry. He even supervised the maintenance and repair of the Knight Bus back in the day."
"It's a pity Fudge doesn't like Dad much. I feel like it's because Dad's too popular in the Ministry and threatened his position as Minister. Fudge had just taken office back then, so he stuck Dad as the head of an office responsible for trivial matters."
"Although it's technically on the same level as the Improper Use of Magic Office, the Misuse of Muggle Artifacts Office gets completely different treatment."
When speaking of their old man, the twins wanted to stand up for him a bit.
With a "ding," the elevator doors opened.
The twins scanned left and right, then led them down the corridor to the left and knocked on the door of the Floo Network Authority.
"Is that Auntie Audrey? We're Fred and George."
"Arthur's two troublemakers?"
The middle-aged woman sitting behind a small desk, drinking some kind of heavily bitter tea, said exactly the same thing as the wizard at the entrance.
"We're done for. Our reputation has been ruined by Dad."
"Hahaha!"
The middle-aged witch laughed heartily. "My daughter was in Gryffindor too. When she graduated last year, she told me the Weasley twins blew up a toilet in the second week of school."
"That was because those Slytherin bastards played dirty against Charlie during the new recruit tryouts!"
"The Charlie who won the last Triwizard Tournament?"
"Yes, he's our brother. We're going to Romania to find him today."
"Ah~ him." The witch nodded. "I heard he went to Romania. A pity he didn't go into professional Quidditch; my daughter was quite charmed by him. A handsome lad."
She lowered her head and stamped a form a few times, then asked directly, "Four people? Fill in your names, go to the second room at the end of the hall, pay the fee, and you can go straight through."
"Thanks, Auntie Audrey!"
Fred happily took the form she handed over and quickly wrote down their four names.
"Easy peasy."
"Didn't think we could still trade on Charlie's face this time."
"I'll cover the travel expenses then. Swipe Harley's card."
Lynn fished around in his pocket, grabbed a handful of Galleons, and handed them over.
"We wouldn't believe it if there wasn't a story behind that."
The twins didn't act shy; they reached out and took the money, but didn't forget to crack a joke.
"A pure monetary transaction, transcending the vulgarity of the flesh."
Lynn shrugged indifferently. "I'm this handsome; is it too much to farm some gold coins from a little sugar mommy?"
"I've actually already bought Lynn to serve as a low-level goblin servant," Harley said solemnly, crossing her arms and lifting her chin triumphantly.
"Pfft, pfft, pfft. Even if you're daydreaming in broad daylight, at least dream of something good. How twisted do you have to be to come up with a fetishy term like 'goblin servant'?"
"Lynn, don't you have a copy of The Saintess in the Goblin Cave?"
"Where on earth did you dig up that book? Don't stain my innocence, hey!"
Using the Floo Network for long-distance international travel wasn't actually too troublesome. By splitting the journey into several transfer points, the distance of each single Floo transport was reduced, significantly lowering the discomfort of travel.
The only regret was not being able to see the scenery along the way; one could only peek out the window at the surrounding area upon arriving at the next transfer station.
After arriving at the Romanian Ministry of Magic and simply registering their names, they made their way smoothly to Bucharest in the Balkans of Southeastern Europe, a city known as the "Little Paris of the East."
After sending an express letter to Charlie via the Ministry's Owl Post Office, the group left the Ministry and stepped out onto the streets.
"Can we use magic now that we've left England?"
Harley asked the twins excitedly as they stood on the streets of Bucharest.
"Still no." The twins spread their hands. "Unless we have an adult wizard with us, the Trace will still detect it, and we'll face extra fines. In any country that has signed the 'Decree for the Restriction of Underage Sorcery,' underage wizards aren't allowed to use magic without adult supervision, especially in front of Muggles."
"There is the International Confederation of Wizards, you know. Professor Dumbledore is the current Supreme Mugwump, though he'll probably retire in another two years."
"Sigh..." Harley sighed with some regret. "So where should we go look around? It'll take a few hours to get Charlie's reply, right?"
"He'll be here within an hour. As long as the letter gets delivered, it won't take him more than a few minutes to Apparate here. Didn't he say in his letter? We just need to wait for him here at Union Square; there's a café where we can sit."
"As for looking around... maybe we can come back after we finish our adventure. But Charlie isn't familiar with the Muggle world, and his workplace is quite far from here. A dragon sanctuary can't exactly be set up right next to a Muggle city."
"Lynn! Then after we finish the adventure, let's come here—"
Before Harley could finish, just as they were nearing the café, several pretty young women walking arm-in-arm stopped beside them.
Harley couldn't understand the Romanian they were speaking, but Lynn chatted with them completely without pressure.
"What were you saying?" Harley tugged on Lynn's arm and asked after the two young women left happily.
"Treating me to coffee." Lynn shrugged. "Then they asked if they could take a photo with me, and said if I'm free tonight, I could go to their place to hang out or something."
"What did you say?!" Harley looked at Lynn in shock. "You hooked up just like that? We haven't even been on the street for five minutes, have we?"
"Five minutes is just because there aren't enough girls here brave enough to come up and hit on me... Look, here comes another one."
"Now can you understand the distress and helplessness I felt when I was wandering abroad?"
Lynn looked slightly resigned.
After a brief conversation, the pretty but not-so-wealthy young lady left with some regret.
"You really are damnable..."
"Comparing people to people... some guys just aren't human..."
The twins grumbled weakly, watching the two pretty women from before return with coffee, happily taking a photo with Lynn.
"Either way, saved money on coffee, didn't I?"
Wiping a lipstick smudge off his face, Lynn lifted the coffee and took a sip.
"Why aren't you guys drinking? Do you not like it?"
Seeing three pairs of eyes staring straight at him, Lynn asked in confusion, "The taste is alright. It's not instant; it's hand-ground beans. It's pretty good."
"If we follow that logic," Harley furrowed her brows and pointed at herself, "I'm this good-looking, so why has no one come to hit on me?"
"Because being a lolicon is illegal; three years minimum, max penalty death."
"But so you guys don't get disturbed." Lynn skillfully pulled out a mask and put it on. "There shouldn't be any more now."
"Charlie, hurry up and get here! There's a dog here, and he's barking madly!"
Under the twins' prayers, after waiting only half an hour, Charlie arrived in style.
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