As night deepened, the Gryffindor common room gradually emptied, with most of the remaining students busy with their homework.
"Finally finished." Lee Jordan rose from the sofa, stretched lazily, and put away the parchment with his summary of Gamp's Law of Elemental Transfiguration.
After their last experience, the three no longer borrowed Albert's homework to compare, to avoid feeling disheartened.
"How's your Transfiguration practice coming along?"
"No, I can only do this much for now." Fred sighed lightly and showed his attempt; the needle was really a bit… well, very thick, merely changing the shape of the matchstick into a crude needle.
If he couldn't turn the matchstick into a fine needle, he definitely wouldn't pass Professor McGonagall's inspection.
"Come on, it's already good. If you could easily learn Transfiguration, what would other people's efforts count for?" Albert said in annoyance. He was reading, with only a few pages left of Nineteenth-Century Spell Selection.
"You should at least take a look before you judge!" Fred waved the "needle" in front of Albert irritably.
"By the way, you haven't finished that book yet!"
"Only a few pages left." Albert looked up and scanned Fred's practice results; that "needle" was indeed unusually thick.
"How do we solve this situation?" Fred handed the "needle" to Albert.
"Practice a few more days, and you'll definitely succeed," Albert said without hesitation.
"Isn't that obvious?" George rolled his eyes. His own needle was a bit thinner than Fred's—reluctantly it could be considered a needle rather than a small iron rod with a tip. What Fred had transfigured could even be called a nail without exaggeration.
"I've also encountered your situation." Albert picked up his wand and transfigured a thumbtack.
"You first need to transfigure the needle, and then consider how to make more subtle changes to it."
"Why are you giving us this?" George asked, puzzled, after taking the thumbtack.
"Of course, it's for reference. You need to transfigure a needle, but it doesn't have to be identical—just an ordinary needle." Albert looked at the three and said, "Try again."
"A needle," George murmured.
He raised his wand, pointed it at the matchstick, and after reciting the spell, a somewhat ungraceful thumbtack appeared before them.
"Succeeded?" Fred picked it up and examined it, feeling it was quite incredible.
"Too many failures, lacking confidence," Albert explained. "You should have some confidence in yourself—believe that you will succeed."
"Then why did you give me this needle?" George asked, still puzzled.
"To distract you, so you stop dwelling on your failures, and also to give you a comparison." Albert casually made something up.
"By the way, how's your Disillusionment Charm coming along?" George asked abruptly.
"It should be almost ready next week." Albert unwrapped a chocolate and popped it into his mouth. "Why do you ask? You're not thinking of…" His finger made a sneaking motion.
"Yes, tonight, let's go!" Fred blurted out. "I heard Filch has a cold—this is a good opportunity."
"Don't get caught." Albert closed his book and glanced at his task list; sure enough, the progress for Reading Maniac had become 1/100.
"You're not going?" George asked.
"No."
"We misjudged you." Fred and George exchanged looks of mock disappointment, then turned to Lee Jordan, but were interrupted before they could speak.
"Don't look at me." Lee Jordan shrugged, clearly not wanting to go either.
"You guys… alright." The twins looked at each other, shrugged helplessly, and said, "It seems only the two of us will go out at night."
"If you want to go out at night, choose Friday. After all, there's no class the next day." Albert reminded them kindly. "If you don't rest at night, how can you attend class the next day? Dozing off in class—that's not wanting to make it."
"That makes sense, let's choose Friday." Fred nodded.
"Choose Friday for what?" A voice suddenly rang out.
Fred felt a dark shadow in front of him, and when he looked up, he saw Percy standing right there.
"What are you planning to do on Friday?" Percy asked sharply.
"Practice Transfiguration!" George said without hesitation.
"Don't think I didn't hear you." Percy glared at the twins, saying coldly, "Night wandering—do you know how many points will be deducted if you get caught?"
George innocently blinked at Percy and said, "I heard Gryffindor hasn't won the House Cup in years."
"I'm keeping an eye on you two. Don't cause any trouble." Percy was thoroughly annoyed; he naturally understood George's implied meaning.
See, everyone doesn't care about points, right? Otherwise, how could they not try to earn them and win the honor of the House Cup for Gryffindor?
Gryffindor students don't care about honor.
No, of course they do.
However, the reality was that no one took earning points seriously, so they naturally had no chance with the House Cup.
After all, points don't appear out of thin air.
And repeated losses in Quidditch matches made things worse.
"Percy is so annoying."
"I think so too!"
"I'm telling you, next time you discuss important matters, find a place where no one is around!" Albert shook his head and reminded them. "If you talk here, won't everyone hear about your plans to go out at night?"
"I seem to hear someone planning to go out at night?" Mark walked over, placed a hand on Fred's shoulder, and said meaningfully, "That's a good habit; how can you call yourself a Gryffindor student if you've never been out at night?"
Listening to Mark recount his "glorious" deeds, Albert's facial muscles twitched slightly, and he couldn't resist interjecting, "Got caught by Filch?"
"N-no."
"I heard Filch knows most of the secret passages, and he also has a clever cat to help him keep watch." Albert stated a cruel fact. "Unless you are more familiar with the castle's secret passages than Filch, it's very difficult to escape him. Or did you cast a spell on Filch?"
"Well, Confundo. It's very effective." Mark said casually.
"Don't listen to Mark's nonsense." Irene walked over and pulled him away, reminding them before she left, "There's Quidditch practice on Wednesday afternoon."
"I bet Mark was out on a date at night and got caught by Filch." Back in the dormitory, Lee Jordan brought up the matter again.
"Are you really not coming with us?" Fred asked again.
"Even if we go out at night, it's not now." Lee Jordan said in annoyance.
They had been at Hogwarts too short a time, and their understanding of the castle was limited; they really didn't understand Fred and George's reckless behavior.