Astoria instinctively wanted to stop George. Even in Slytherin, she had heard of the twins' "notorious reputation": idle, good-for-nothing, and obsessed with pranks.
The things they handed over were definitely suspicious. If there was no problem, Astoria would be willing to bet ten of Daphnes that the candy Fred offered absolutely had something wrong with it.
But then she thought again. What kind of person was Rhys? Trying to prank him with such petty tricks was simply wishful thinking.
So she closed her mouth and silently stood to the side, observing how things would unfold.
Fred quickly glanced at the two young witches standing nearby. He noticed that although Daphne seemed uninterested in them, Astoria kept watching the two of them, clearly showing great interest in their prank candies.
This was a good sign.
If they could gain the approval of the Greengrass sisters, their prank products could enter Slytherin and open up this completely untapped blue ocean market.
Fred and George didn't particularly like Slytherin students, but they certainly had no prejudice against the gold Galleons in their pockets. With two piles of Galleons, who could tell which belonged to righteous Gryffindor and which to evil Slytherin?
Galleons were equal to all!
Rhys unwrapped the toffee and tossed it straight into his mouth.
"Hmm, not bad. The flavor is quite rich—" Rhys nodded repeatedly, but his words suddenly cut off. His tongue began to grow rapidly, and within seconds it broke past his lips and shot out of his mouth.
Astoria: ???
How could Rhys fall for such a simple trick? Is there some deeper meaning behind what he was doing?
Astoria's mind began to race, trying to uncover the true meaning behind Rhys's actions.
However, there was no deeper meaning. Rhys had simply swallowed the problematic candy without hesitation. He wanted to see what effect the twins' enchanted sweets would have, and he even allowed that small strand of magic to act on his body.
Now he knew what Fred's toffee did.
The sensation of his tongue lengthening was quite interesting.
Rhys slightly manipulated his magic, stopping the growth of his tongue and leaving it at about three times its normal size, just enough to extend a short distance past his lips.
Then he raised his hand and lightly traced across the tip of his tongue. It transformed into the shape of a snake's tongue—long and slender, with a forked end.
When Fred saw that Rhys's tongue had suddenly stopped growing, his breathing nearly froze. According to their design, the Tongue-Ton Toffee would cause the user's tongue to grow almost endlessly. Even the Weasley twins didn't know its maximum length—their own internal tests had reached three feet, and it could still keep growing.
Yet Rhys's tongue hadn't even reached one foot before it stopped. Had something gone wrong?
Just as Fred was about to step forward to fix the issue, Rhys's next action made him freeze on the spot.
Daphne, who had been focused on her breakfast, looked up and was immediately captivated by Rhys's new appearance.
"Rhys, your tongue looks exactly like a snake's!" she exclaimed in amazement.
"Right?" Rhys also found it extremely amusing and flicked his tongue like a snake. The candy Fred and George made was actually quite interesting.
Hiss~~<<
Fred and George both fell into silence.
"These Slytherins really know how to have fun!"
The two couldn't help but sigh in admiration.
"Tongue-Ton Toffee—it makes your tongue grow endlessly. Rhys, how did you do that?" Fred introduced their new product, then couldn't resist asking another question.
"Just a simple little spell, nothing particularly complicated."
Fred didn't believe a single word of that.
"Do you have anything else interesting?" After getting bored, Rhys retracted his tongue. He wanted to see what other surprises Fred and George could offer.
"Of course, we've got plenty of our 'best stuff'!" The two rummaged through their pockets and pulled out a variety of strange little items: a fake wand that would croak loudly and turn into a rubber animal when touched, chewing gum that made the user roar like a lion, and nougat that would cause a nosebleed as soon as it was eaten.
"If Mum hadn't searched us before we left, we could've brought even more fun prank toys," Fred and George lamented regretfully.
They had originally planned to make a fortune selling small items during the World Cup finals.
"Shows how important it is to make use of the Undetectable Extension Charm," Rhys replied with a smile.
Not far away, Mr. Arthur immediately put down the match in his hand and very seriously reminded the children that the use of the Undetectable Extension Charm must be registered with the Ministry of Magic, otherwise it was illegal.
"Yes, sir!" Fred and George answered loudly.
Once Arthur went back to studying how to light a fire with a match, the two of them lowered their voices, exchanged knowing looks, and said to Rhys, "But it's only illegal if you get caught, isn't it?"
Rhys nodded with a smile.
In his view, many laws merely set a price for certain improper behaviors.
For example, if stepping on the grass resulted in a fine of one Galleon, then it essentially meant that as long as you were willing to pay that one Galleon, you could walk all over the lawn.
Of course, he wouldn't say that out loud, or Slytherin's reputation would only get worse.
"How much? Name a price. I'll take all of these," Rhys said, very satisfied with Fred and George's prank products. He planned to buy them and let Rowena and Helga have some fun with them.
The two sides quickly reached a deal.
"You could consider adding more variety. For example, that lion-roar gum—you could develop different animal sounds for different houses. Badger, eagle, snake, all work. You could also try other creatures, like lynx, snow leopard, or even dragons."
Fred and George nodded repeatedly.
Although they hadn't managed to impress the Greengrass sisters today, getting Rhys interested was already a good result.
After finishing the transaction, the two of them returned to their own campsite to help their father start a fire.
"Pretty interesting little toys, aren't they?" Rhys casually tossed the fake wand to Astoria. The wand immediately turned into a wriggling snake in her hands, startling her.
Next came breakfast.
While they were eating, quite a few important figures from the Ministry of Magic passed by from time to time. Almost every one of them would come over to Daphne and Astoria, exchange a few words, and then leave.
Ludo Bagman, the Head of the Department of Magical Games and Sports, even tried to get Daphne and Astoria to join his bet. However, under Rhys's gaze, the two of them simply placed a single Galleon on Ireland to win.
"Kid, do you have a team you want to support?"
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12 Chaps ahead at Patreon.com/HornyFBI