Evening, inside an empty classroom at Hogwarts.
The dim oil lamp flickered, casting the shadows of the three people slantwise across the wall.
"I'm glad you came to us, Kael, but we really can't do this."
Fred lowered his head, hiding himself in the part of the room where the light couldn't reach.
"We've known each other for years, but this is the first time since you got to Hogwarts that you've asked us for help. I honestly can't even remember the last time we all had a meal together."
"Last Wednesday." Kael, sitting opposite, paused a moment and said, "You guys wanted to sell my homework to Gryffindor first-years."
"You shot us down pretty quickly, my friend."
George said lightly, "You don't even know how sad we were when we left."
"I just don't need Professor McGonagall's detention," said Kael. "Selling homework in bulk? Only you two could come up with that. Do you think Professor McGonagall is Ron, and wouldn't notice something like this?"
"Ahem... Okay, let's say you have a point." Fred raised his head and looked Kael right in the eye. "But today, you're not worried about whether Professor McGonagall will catch us or not.
This isn't hard, you could totally do it yourself, or just find someone else in Hufflepuff, couldn't you?"
"Snape's got his eye on us."
"I see, so when there's dirty work, you think of us…"
George sighed, "You've found your place in Hufflepuff, you like it there, and the professors and students all like you.
Honestly, you probably don't really need our friendship, and you never even call us 'sir'!"
"Cut the crap, are you in or not?" Kael's mouth twitched, growing impatient. "Two Weasley... Sirs, I'll count to three. If you don't answer me, I'll find someone else."
"One!"
...
"Look, George, he's actually threatening us."
"Yeah Fred, he doesn't know who he's dealing with."
"Two!"
...
"I think you could count a bit faster."
Kael didn't say anything, just reached into his pocket, pulled out a glittering card and waved it in front of Fred and George's eyes.
"…Three."
"We're in!"
Fred and George appeared on either side behind Kael, instantly switching to big grins.
"Kael, that card you just pulled—was that Agrippa?"
"Mhm…" Kael nodded.
Fred said eagerly, "Can I take another look? Just one peek."
Kael pulled out the rare card again, waving it back and forth in front of both of them.
Their eyes glazed over, following Kael's arm as he swung the card left and right.
After about ten seconds, Kael stashed the card away and said to the two still staring hungrily, "Saw the Agrippa card? After the job's done…"
Not waiting for Kael to finish, George said excitedly, "You'll give it to us?"
"In your dreams," Kael said. "After it's done, I can lend it to you for ten minutes."
"Ten days!" Fred frowned.
"Nine minu—"
"No way, at least a week!" This time it was George.
"Five min—"
"One day, that's our absolute minimum!" both chimed in.
"Deal."
Kael stuck out his hand, and they all smacked palms.
The deal was done, next up was working out the plan.
"To be honest, we never actually meant to turn you down."
Fred beamed, patting Kael on the shoulder. "As long as there's a chance to mess with Slytherin, we're always happy to help."
"But the props are up to you," said George. "Those things need custom work, and the price is insane—we're not made of Galleons."
"Of course, I've been saving up for this."
Kael placed a pile of Galleons on the table. "Here's twenty Galleons. That should be enough for both things, right?"
"More than enough."
Fred picked up the Galleons and rolled them around in his hand—he'd never actually seen this much money all together before.
Sure, he'd heard Kael made a killing selling maps recently, but that was just a rumor. Seeing all these Galleons stacked together was a different feeling entirely.
Is selling maps really this profitable?
"Kael, we…"
George stared at the pile of Galleons, seeming to want to say something.
Kael shot him a puzzled look.
"Never mind, I'll leave it for later." After thinking it over, George shook his head, then added:
"With twenty Galleons, Zonko's will definitely deliver what you want, right on time."
Kael didn't pay attention, but negotiated the rest of the details before getting ready to leave.
"I can't wait," Fred said excitedly. "Slytherin's in for it now, messing with you—big mistake!"
Kael gave him a sidelong glance. "Don't talk nonsense. What's it got to do with me? I know nothing."
"Ha, sly Chopper."
"Heh, foolish Weasley."
...
After saying goodbye to Fred and George, Kael didn't head straight back to the Hufflepuff Common Room. Instead, he wandered aimlessly through the corridors on the third floor of the castle.
He needed to find a certain ghost. The Fat Friar had told him that this one liked hanging out near the Defence Against the Dark Arts classroom.
But after wandering for about ten minutes, Kael hadn't found anything.
Just as he was about to turn back and try again tomorrow morning, suddenly a balloon full of liquid flew straight toward the back of his head.
Kael tilted his head slightly and barely dodged out of the way.
The balloon smacked the floor, releasing a truly awful smell.
"Hehehe, pesky first-year brat, wandering at night instead of sleeping—tsk tsk tsk, naughty, you're gonna get caught!"
A little dwarf suddenly popped up in midair, with a pair of evil black eyes and a wide mouth, floating cross-legged while clutching two more balloons.
"Should I tell Filch—big idiot and little brat, that'll be fun."
Kael stood where he was, looked at him with interest and asked, "You're Peeves?"
For a split second, Peeves's small black eyes showed a hint of confusion, but then quickly turned to rage.
The brat didn't even try to run away after seeing him—clearly looking down on him. Like hell he'd tolerate that.
He hurled the remaining two balloons at Kael. "That's right, I'm the great Peeves! I'm going to tell Filch about your night wandering—he'll lock you up!"
He said, absolutely serious, "I'll tell him—it's for your own good, you know?"
Kael whipped out his wand and sent the two balloons flying aside, calmly saying, "I totally agree with you, but curfew doesn't start for another five minutes—so technically it's not night wandering, plus I'm actually here to find you."
"Here to find me?"
Peeves was surprised; not many young wizards at Hogwarts actively sought him out.
"That's right." Kael looked around carefully and lowered his voice, "I've got an idea—I wonder if you're interested in joining in…"