Gryffindor students are a fearless bunch, and many wander the castle late at night every year.
"What about you?" George asked.
"What do you think?" Albert irritably tossed the towel he had used to dry his hair to George.
"By the way, why are you taking another shower tonight?" George caught the towel, then threw it back to Albert.
"Showering in the morning puts me in a good mood, and showering at night helps me sleep well," Albert said matter-of-factly.
The three of them looked at him speechless, unwilling to argue, knowing Albert could always find a pile of appropriate reasons for anything.
"Does it really help you sleep well?" Lee Jordan asked suddenly, then went off to take a shower himself.
Albert sat back on his bed, listening to the twins talk about secret passages in the castle. Casually, he picked up the wand from his pillow and tapped the towel lying next to him.
The Disillusionment Charm took effect, and the towel seemed to vanish from the bed.
Albert picked up the invisible towel, held it in front of him to examine it, then placed it over his hand. The covered part disappeared, though there was still a strange sense of incongruity.
He crumpled the towel into a ball, observing the effect of the charm; at certain angles, the flaw became even more pronounced.
"Your hand… how did you do that just now?" Fred stared wide-eyed at Albert's left hand under the towel.
"You mean this?" Albert handed the towel, on which he had cast the Disillusionment Charm, to Fred. "I used a Disillusionment Charm on it."
"Amazing." George leaned in to examine it. "But there are still some flaws."
"For now, it can only achieve this level." Albert's Disillusionment Charm had reached Level 1, but the invisibility effect was still unsatisfactory; any clever wizard would easily spot the flaw. "Some wizards use this magic to create inferior invisibility cloaks."
"Invisibility cloaks?" Fred asked, puzzled. "I've heard of them, but why do you say they're inferior?"
Albert explained, "The invisibility effect on the cloak will gradually fade over time."
"Look, my hand is gone." Fred covered his hand with the invisible towel, winked at George, and said, "If you don't look closely, you really can't tell."
"Wrap it around your head," Albert reminded him.
Fred and George exchanged glances, mischievous smiles spreading across their faces.
The door closed again, and the oil lamp in the room suddenly went out.
"What on earth are you doing? Why aren't the lights on in the dorm? Is everyone asleep?" Lee Jordan, freshly showered, pushed open the wooden door to find the room pitch black. He frowned and complained.
A glimmer of light appeared in the darkness. Lee Jordan looked toward the source and saw one of the twins standing by the table, turning to face him. The pale glow from the tip of his wand moved up his body, finally stopping at his shoulder.
Lee Jordan saw clearly: this person actually… had no head.
"This…" Lee Jordan froze, dumbfounded.
To be honest, the scene looked terrifying, especially in the dark.
"Ahem, stop messing around, you've scared him stiff!" Albert stifled his laughter, reaching out to pull the invisible towel off Fred's head, revealing it again.
"Is he okay?" George re-lit the lamp, looking uneasily at Lee Jordan, who was still frozen in place. He cast a reproachful look at his twin, as if everything were Fred's fault.
"I don't know, he wasn't scared silly, was he?" Fred reached out to touch Lee Jordan, but Albert stopped him.
After a tense moment, Lee Jordan still hadn't moved, and unease spread through the room.
"Hahaha!" Lee Jordan suddenly burst into laughter, startling the three.
"Are you alright?" Fred asked tentatively.
"I'm fine." Lee Jordan pulled a funny face; his earlier reaction had clearly been feigned. "But you really did scare me."
"You're the one who scared us," George said irritably.
"Speaking of which, that scene just now was really terrifying." Lee Jordan took the invisible towel Albert handed him, examined it, then asked, "What do you think—if we used this to scare Filch, would it make him faint?"
"Probably not. After all, there are ghosts in the castle." Albert dismissed the idea. Wizards had a much stronger ability to accept and endure the unknown than ordinary people.
If Albert made his head disappear and walked around a busy street late at night, he would probably terrify many Muggles—and it might even make tomorrow's headlines.
"But seeing someone's head suddenly disappear is still quite scary," Fred said. "Why doesn't Zonko's Joke Shop have something like this?"
"Zonko is not young anymore; he's past the age of active thinking. Although he has the ability to turn ideas into joke props, his inspiration has probably dried up," Albert explained casually. "Without inspiration, he naturally can't make a headless hat."
"Headless hat?" Fred's eyes lit up. "That's a good name."
"Write it down, write this down!" George quickly searched for a quill and parchment. "Someday, maybe we can create our own headless hats."
"Before that, you'll probably have to study spells diligently," Albert reminded them.
"Uh, what's going on?" Lee Jordan noticed the invisible towel was no longer invisible.
"The Disillusionment Charm on it is wearing off." Albert checked the towel. "This kind of thing ultimately can't maintain invisibility permanently like Harry Potter's cloak."
Speaking of which, it was a bit like optical camouflage.
"It disappeared so quickly?" Fred grumbled.
Albert picked up the pocket watch from his pillow, glanced at the time, and said, "It lasted about half an hour."
"The duration is so short." George sounded disappointed.
"You haven't thoroughly mastered it yet; how long do you expect it to last?" Albert rolled his eyes. The duration of magic depended on the wizard casting it.
For the Disillusionment Charm, Albert was only at the initial stage of mastery. If it were Professor Flitwick, he could probably create an invisibility cloak that lasted a very long time.
Of course, truly skilled masters of spells don't even need cloaks; they can make themselves invisible at will, undetectable to ordinary wizards.