The ring Arthur took out was nothing like the Undetectable Extension bag the twins had once made.
After working under Arthur for so many years, the Weasley twins understood one truth better than anyone—
Anything Arthur produced was guaranteed to be top-tier.
"Ahem!" Fred cleared his throat. "Well… if you really want to hand it out as an employee benefit, Boss, we suppose we could accept it."
George nodded vigorously beside him. "Mm-hm! Yes, yes!"
The corner of Arthur's lips lifted, a faintly amused smile forming.
"Alright," he said. "Since you put it that way, I'll give you this ring."
"But…" Arthur's smile turned distinctly unfriendly. "There's only one. Who gets to wear it—figure it out yourselves."
With that, he tossed the spatial ring to the twins.
Fred caught it. He didn't even have time to admire it—
George pounced on him like a feral kneazle, slamming him into the seat.
The two immediately started wrestling for the ring, rolling into a tangled mess of limbs.
Arthur could tell neither was truly trying to hurt the other. This kind of scuffle was practically normal between them.
He chuckled, shook his head, and ignored them—turning back to watch Hermione's match instead.
Dumbledore was standing at the podium, announcing the rules.
"This morning, Professor 'Moody' hid the Triwizard Cup within the maze. Only he knows its precise location. The first champion to reach the Cup will be declared the winner!"
As he spoke, Dumbledore glanced toward Snape in the stands.
Snape gave a small nod, rose quietly, and left the spectator area without fanfare.
Clearly, the two of them had made certain arrangements regarding the false Moody.
Ever since the night of Barty Crouch Sr.'s death—after Arthur had warned Dumbledore—Dumbledore had begun paying closer attention to "Moody."
After observing him, Dumbledore realized something was indeed off.
Using certain means, he confirmed that this "Moody" was not the real one.
But he didn't act rashly.
He chose to wait and watch.
One, he wanted to know what this impostor was planning.
Two, he needed to find where the real Moody was being held.
Snape's departure was exactly because Dumbledore had instructed him to search "Moody's" office for clues while the impostor was stuck here at the arena.
Dumbledore continued, "Since Miss Granger is currently in first place, she will enter the maze first. Next will be Mr Potter, followed by Mr Krum, and finally Miss Delacour."
Each time Dumbledore called a name, students from the corresponding school stood and cheered for their champion.
Originally, Fleur's results should have placed her second—
But she had forfeited the second task's points, making her last instead.
Still, the second task taught her one thing: as a witch, you should never—under any circumstance—be without your wand.
Then Dumbledore suddenly said, "Oh—and at this point, we would like to thank Arthur for sponsoring this event."
Arthur's name echoed across the arena.
Dumbledore went on, "We have placed the magical Recording Stones he provided throughout the maze."
"These Recording Stones will allow us to observe what is happening inside."
"In this way, we can monitor the champions' progress at all times, and better ensure their safety."
With that, Dumbledore pulled a Recording Stone from his pocket and tossed it into the air.
The stone hovered.
A flash of light—
And over a hundred separate images from inside the maze appeared in the air at once.
The stands erupted.
This time, they weren't cheering for the champions—
They were cheering for Arthur.
Even the Weasley twins stopped grappling long enough to shout and complain, "Boss! If you've got something this good, why didn't you give us one?!"
Arthur smiled and pointed toward Dumbledore. "Relax. Wait until our headmaster finishes the next part."
Sure enough, Dumbledore continued, "To thank Arthur for his sponsorship, we will now be inserting an advertisement."
"Arthur has said that if anyone is interested in these magical Recording Stones, you may place an order with the Weasley twins."
"Or, during next summer holiday, you may purchase them from the Weasley twins' shop in Diagon Alley."
"The Weasley twins have decided that after they graduate next year, they will open a shop in Diagon Alley to sell some of the alchemical devices they have invented."
"And not only that—some of Arthur's own creations will also be sold on consignment through their shop."
The twins were graduating next year, and they had already found a storefront in Diagon Alley.
Originally, they'd planned to rent it with the money they'd saved—
Only for Arthur to casually sponsor them with enough to buy it outright.
So their money went into renovations instead.
The shop was currently undergoing a full magical refit. With the convenience of magic, it would certainly be finished before they graduated.
And just recently, Arthur had "acquired" a batch of Recording Stones from Kunlun.
He analyzed them and modified them into a version usable by wizards.
That was why Dumbledore called them "magical Recording Stones."
Not only that, Arthur had added a real-time projection function—
Allowing one Recording Stone to project the scene captured by one—or multiple—other stones onto itself.
Arthur had even considered adding voice transmission and turning it into a magical video phone…
But communication systems were complicated. For now, he put the idea aside.
He planned to study Muggle technology properly when he had time, then revisit it.
In any case—
Using the Triwizard Tournament as a stage, Arthur brought out the magical Recording Stones to advertise the twins' future shop.
After all, the twins worked for Arthur.
Half the profits of their shop would belong to him.
In other words, Arthur was also advertising his own store.
Dumbledore's advertisement was wildly successful.
Students sitting near the twins began bombarding them with pre-orders.
The twins dealt with the eager crowd first.
Then they turned back to Arthur, faces bright with anticipation.
"Boss," they said, "Headmaster's done. Where's ours?"
They knew Arthur well.
Whenever he had them sell something, he usually handed over the production method as well—because he found it too troublesome to make everything himself.
That was the whole reason he sponsored the twins in the first place: dependable workers.
So now the two of them stared at Arthur like children waiting for gifts.
They were extremely interested in these magical Recording Stones.
Arthur pointed at the spatial ring clenched in Fred's hand and said, "I already put the production method inside the ring."
In truth, it wasn't just the method.
There were also more than five hundred unmodified Recording Stones inside.
Of the stones Arthur had taken from Kunlun, he'd modified some and sponsored Hogwarts, kept a small portion for himself…
And dumped the rest into that ring.
He had no intention of repeating such tedious modification work.
Better to throw it to the twins.
Arthur hadn't even finished speaking before George—fast as ever—grabbed Fred's hand and bit down hard.
Fred yelped in pain and loosened his grip.
"Aha! Now it's mine!" George crowed, triumphantly slipping the ring onto his own finger.
Then he froze.
Because he… had absolutely no idea how to use it.
So George had no choice but to ask Arthur how to operate the ring.
Arthur didn't answer him immediately.
Instead, he looked at Fred—who was clutching his hand and hissing in pain—with a strange expression.
"You might not be able to use it anymore," Arthur said.
George blinked. "Why?"
Arthur nodded toward the bite wound on Fred's hand.
"A spatial ring requires blood to acknowledge its owner," Arthur explained. "And now… it already belongs to Fred."
George's bite had been vicious enough to break skin.
Fred's blood had smeared onto the ring.
Which meant the ring had completed its ownership binding.
Unless someone violently broke the ring open, or used overwhelming strength to bypass its restrictions—
Like Arthur had done in Kunlun—
No one besides Fred could use that ring now.
Hearing that, Fred forgot the pain entirely.
He snatched the ring back from George and snapped out a clumsy line of Chinese:
"Give it here!"
Naturally, he'd learned that from Arthur.
They were twins. They weren't going to fall out over something like this.
After sensing the massive number of Recording Stones inside, Fred took out two of them and began studying them together with George.
As for the production method—
They both silently agreed not to bring it up here.
Too many eyes. Too public.
And besides, they still had a match to watch.
This wasn't exactly the place to start crafting magical Recording Stones in the middle of the Triwizard Tournament.
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