Fred and George didn't really despise Ron — they were just a bit disappointed in him. If they truly didn't care about him at all, they wouldn't have said what they just did.
"You can't really say that." Kyle said after a moment's thought, "At least Ron is honest, and that counts as a good quality, right? By the way, why did they even have a wizard's duel with Malfoy?"
"Apparently it was because of that new student, Neville." Fred explained, "Malfoy hid his map and mocked him for having a bad memory. Ron and Harry stood up for him, and that's how the conflict started. A three-on-three wizard's duel — I can't believe they came up with that."
"He has a sense of justice and loyalty... those are two more good qualities." Kyle nodded solemnly, "So Ron isn't as hopeless as you make him out to be... at least he's better than the fish in the Black Lake."
"We never denied his actions." Fred said, shaking his head with a mix of laughter and exasperation.
If it weren't for the fact that Ron's intentions were decent and he hadn't disgraced the Weasley name, they wouldn't have bothered with their foolish brother at all.
"We're just questioning his intelligence." George said angrily, "Even reporting to Professor McGonagall would have been better than foolishly going to the fourth floor after curfew. And after getting into so much trouble, he just sleeps it off and forgets everything."
Kyle raised an eyebrow, seemingly guessing the real reason for their anger.
The conflict between Gryffindor and Slytherin was a historical issue. It was always tit for tat — you give me a punch, I give you a kick. You might not always come out ahead, but you certainly wouldn't admit defeat.
Even Percy, whom they called a bookworm, would go complain to a professor.
George continued, "If it were me, I'd have at least five ways to make that Malfoy regret his actions."
"Like hiring an owl to deliver a dungbomb that explodes when he opens the package during breakfast."
"Or pouring failed potions into his shoes."
"That's a bit difficult." Kyle said, stroking his chin, "Snape always cleans up substandard potions immediately. If you don't mind losing points and getting detention, I think it's better to create an accident and splash it on him directly."
Fred and George looked at him in disbelief.
Using failed potions to splash a Slytherin student during Potions class? Even if it were truly an accident, Snape would deduct at least a hundred points, minimum.
Did Kyle really think they were "Griffindork-who-loses-all-the-points"?
No matter how little they cared about house points, they didn't want to finish last in the House Cup every year. That would be too embarrassing.
Fred and George rolled their eyes simultaneously, completely ignoring his terrible idea.
"We've figured it out." George said, looking back with a meaningful smile.
"To improve Ron's crisis awareness and vigilance..."
"To prevent him from falling for such obvious traps again..."
"We've decided to give him special training..."
"Special training?" Cedric asked, confused, "This isn't Quidditch, so how could you train him?"
"Yes, we're calling it 'Hogwarts' Darkest Hour'!" Fred declared, "To perfect this plan, we stayed up all night."
"We have no choice — he is our most beloved brother after all."
"Of course, this might cause Ron a bit of suffering, but he'll gain much more."
"At least we know our limits. We won't actually harm him."
"He'll definitely thank us in the future."
"…"
Kyle wasn't sure if Ron would thank Fred and George in the future, but he was certain the red-haired boy's days ahead would be far from pleasant.
Hogwarts' Darkest Hour... the name alone was ominous. Though he lacked details about the plan, he knew it wouldn't be anything good.
Poor Ron, cursed with such mischievous brothers.
"Need any help?" Kyle offered.
"Not at the moment." Fred said with a shake of his head, "The initial plan is already well-developed — we can implement it tomorrow."
Kyle responded with a hint of disappointment, "Alright, just let me know if you need anything."
"Don't worry, we won't be shy about it."
Just then, Kyle felt his fishing rod plunge downward. The force was tremendous, nearly dragging him into the Black Lake.
He had a bite — and it must be a big fish!
Crack—
The fishing rod snapped in half with a crisp sound.
Kyle instantly forgot about the Weasleys, grabbing the remaining half of the rod and pulling back with all his might.
"Quick, Cedric, use a Reinforcement Charm!"
Since they were only using simple fishing rods made from pear tree branches and spider silk, a large catch breaking the rod wasn't unusual.
"Coming right up, hang in there!" Cedric tossed aside his own fishing rod.
But before he could draw his wand, Kyle tumbled backward, his fishing rod flying upward and flinging a silver-white fish onto the grass nearby.
Ignoring the grass stains on his clothes, Kyle scrambled to his feet and hurried over. It was a one-foot-long broad-backed fish, weighing roughly two pounds.
He frowned. This type of broad-backed fish common in the Black Lake was generally small, with two pounds being quite large.
But the tremendous force he had felt earlier didn't match what a small fish like this could generate. Pear wood had considerable hardness and toughness — a two-pound fish shouldn't have been able to snap it so easily.
"Strange..." Crouching beside him, Cedric seemed to notice something and pointed at the fish's belly, "Kyle, look here."
"What is it?" Kyle looked where he was pointing and suddenly froze.
He discovered there was no hook in the fish's mouth. It had been caught because someone had tied it up. The thin spider silk fishing line was wrapped around it twice and finished with a neat butterfly knot.
"Kyle..." Fred asked uncertainly, "Does your fishing rod have an automatic knotting charm?"
"How could it possibly!" Kyle replied irritably.
He was just fishing to pass the time — why would he bother with something so complicated? Automatic knotting... he hadn't even heard of such a spell.
In fact, after seeing the tightly bound fish, he had a pretty good guess about what was happening. The giant squid in the Black Lake, or perhaps the merpeople...
This broad-backed fish had most likely been manually tied to the spider silk fishing line by one of them and then sent over.
As if to confirm his suspicion, soon the others' fishing rods also showed activity. When they pulled them up, they found all the fish were neatly tied up.
Kyle's expression darkened.
What was the meaning of this? They hadn't caught anything for over an hour, but to be given fish... that was a bit insulting.
I'm not that bad at fishing!
✭✭✭
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