Outside, snow was falling heavily, c the world in a b of white. In such terrible weather, no one was willing to veside. Evewins stayed obediently in the warmth of the on room.

  The circur on room acked with students, scattered in groups of threes and fives. The best spots he firepce had already been cimed, so the twins had to settle for a random spot in the er.

  The brothers were busy dismantling a Fizzing Whiz-Bang firework, studying its inner ws. They wao uand the meism behind its magical self-ignition and water-activated blooming effect so that, when they had the skills, they could attempt to recreate it.

  The twins had been inspired by Eda's proactive attitude and decided that even while still in school, they should start pnning for their future. They hoped to use their time at Hogwarts to gain experiend save up some initial funds for their ventures.

  Fortunately, selling the Marauder's Map earlier ierm had earhem a det sum. Otherwise, they wouldn't have been willing to dismantle a Fizzing Whiz-Bang for research. As long as they didn't squaheir money oing how long the Defense Against the Dark Arts professor would st, their earnings would be enough to support their experiments for a while.

  Eda, carrying her schoolbag, returo the on room early. Couples with nowhere else to go had turhe library into a dating spot, and there were more lovestruck pairs than readers.

  Fuck them! Humph!

  Eda couldn't stand the atmosphere there, especially with the occasional odd hat broke the silence.

  Sing the on room, Eda spotted the twins in the er. She walked over to them, but the brothers, engrossed in their study, didn't notice her arrival.

  "Ehm.."

  Eda cleared her throat softly, finally catg the twins' attention. Gee reached out to take Eda's schoolbag, but he wasn't prepared for its weight and nearly toppled over.

  "Ah! What oh do you have in here? Why is it so heavy?" Gee asked in disbelief. "Did you pack the entire library in this bag?"

  "I wish I could, but it has to fit in the bag first!" Eda sighed. If she could carry aire library with her, she wouldn't have had to endure such a ge-worthy se today.

  Fred packed away the dismantled Fizzing Whiz-Bang from the table and asked, "Why are you back so early today?"

  "Outside, it's clearly a snowy winter, but the library feels like ...spring," Eda replied helplessly.

  At first, the twins didn't uand what Eda was talking about. What did leaving the library early have to do with the seasons?

  But it didn't take long for them to figure it out—they realized the true reason behind Eda's early departure.

  The atmosphere brimming with "springtime" romance was no pce for a single dog like Eda.

  "What's this?"

  Gee spotted a thick book stig out of Eda's bag. The book was so heavy that it seemed more suited for knog someo than for reading.

  "Obviously, it's a book. What else could it be?" Eda g the book Gee ointing to. "It's Fatal Potions. Most of the potions in it easily strip a person of their life."

  "This isn't another one of Cecil's reendations, is it?"

  Fred pulled Fatal Potions out of the bag and flipped through it. The first sentence of the book read: Is every sip of water you drink and every bite of food you eat truly safe?

  "Damn.. Who else but Cecil would reend such a dangerous book to Eda?" Gee leaned over to read along. After only a few pages, he uood why the book was in the Restricted Se. The potions described were wicked and dangerous.

  Eda nodded in aowledgment and said, "Just expanding my knowledge of potions to handle Snape."

  "Where there's oppression, there's resistahe twins chimed in unison. "Are you finally pnning to make a move against Snape?"

  ".." Eda gave each of the twins a fli the forehead. "Are y to seo Azkaban?!!!"

  "Just like your doting grandfather did!" Fred teased.

  "Who?" Eda was taken aback—she didn't even know she had a grandfather.

  "Glover Cecil, bahaha" Gee expined. "Don't you think the old man might be feeling too lonely, so he wants to adopt you as his granddaughter? Maybe even his heir or something?"

  From Hogwarts to Azkaban, and in just two years—wouldn't that make Eda the ultimate prodigy, surpassing her so-called "grandfather"? She might not be the you prisoner in Azkaban's history, but it wouldn't be an easy record to beat.

  The twins dodged Eda's punches while tinuing to tease her. The on room was bustling with people, noisy enough that no one paid attention to the trio pyfully scuffling in the er.

  "He's always reending dark magic to you," Fred said. "Maybe he really sees you as his successor and wants to groom you into a dark wizard."

  After Eda told them about Cecil's behavior, the twins had been discussing it incessantly. Cecil's as were too much like a shady figure trying to lure children in a dark alley.

  bined with his time in Azkaban, it was hard not to question his iions.

  "Are we about to withe rise of the Dark Lord?" Gee k on one knee in front of Eda. "My Lord, I am your most loyal servant. May I kiss the hem of your robes?"

  Though the twins joked around, their underlying message was clear: they wanted Eda to be cautious with Cecil and, more importantly, to avoid delving into dark magic.

  They feared that Eda might lose herself, as few who studied dark magic met a good end.

  Eda pnted her palm firmly on Gee's forehead and pushed him over onto the floor. "You don't even qualify to wash my clothes!"

  The three of them burst out ughing. Fred and Eda chuckled from the armchair, while Gee ughed from the carpet. The warmth of their friendship and melted away the winter chill.

  "Tomorrow's a Hogsmeade day, right?" Eda asked.

  She extended her hand to pull Gee up, but he tried to yank her out of the armchair iurn. As soon as he applied force, Eda let go, and Gee nded right ba the floor with a thud.

  "Hey!"

  Hogsmeade was a small, all-wizarding vilge he school, the only such vilge in all of Britain. No Muggle preseed there; everyone you entered was a wizard or witch.

  School rules stiputed that only third-year students and above could visit on designated Saturdays, provided they had a signed permission slip from their guardian.

  Eda and the twins weren't ihird year, nor did they have signed permission slips from their guardians, but they had already been to Hogsmeade. They'd simply snu through one of the secret passageways.

  "Perfect timing. Gee and I were pnning to head to Zonko's Joke Shop anyway. We're running low on dungbombs."

  Eda holy couldn't uand what was so eaining about those rotting-smelling magical stink bombs.

  Wouldn't homemade rotten eggs work just as well?

  They were just as stinky and far more eical.

  The twins loved using dungbombs to prank Filch. Every time they created chaos with those bombs, Eda couldn't help but think of them as mischievous little kids brawling in an outhouse. Fortunately, not many students at the school resorted to dungbombs; otherwise, the castle would eventually bee uninhabitable due to the stench.

  "I have a lot of things to buy, so you two better be ready to carry my bags!"

  The twins groaned in unison and flopped dramatically onto the armchairs. Shopping truly seemed to be a universal trait of women, whether they were witches or not—evehe wit question was only thirteen years old.

  "I'll buy you some butterbeer."

  ________

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