As Halloween approached, Hogwarts once again began its annual wave of festive decorations.
Taking advantage of the weekend, Louis met up with the Weasley twins in the Room of Requirement to show each other what they'd been working on.
"What's wrong with your owl?" Fred asked curiously, holding a squirming burlap sack while staring at the creature perched on Louis's shoulder.
Fafnir looked as if he'd been struck by lightning—his feathers stood on end, his whole body twitching uncontrollably. His sharp claws dug into Louis's shoulder, occasionally tearing small holes into his robes. The twins' faces twisted in sympathetic pain.
It looked agonizing… yet Louis didn't have a single scratch on him.
"Oh, him? Ate something he shouldn't have," Louis replied casually, smoothing down Fafnir's feathers. "Didn't want him causing trouble in the dorms, so I brought him along."
He still had no idea what that Perfect-grade bird gene fragment really was. Ever since injecting it into Fafnir, the poor bird had been in this state—and Louis didn't know how long it would last.
"I see… well, never mind that then," Fred said, shaking the sack in his hand. "We found the Boggart."
"It was in Filch's office cabinet," George added. "Peeves told us about it. We thought he was messing with us, but turns out he was actually right."
"You've seen it already? What did it turn into?" Louis asked, intrigued.
"It turned into us," the twins said in perfect unison.
"To be precise, it turned into Fred in front of me," George explained.
"And into George in front of me," Fred followed up.
The twins shrugged. "We have no idea what that's supposed to mean."
Well, they were probably the only two people who could instantly recognize each other anyway.
"Whatever. Maybe it means you two don't have any real weaknesses," Louis said offhandedly. "Go on, let it out. I want to take a look."
George nodded, untying the rope around the sack. As the knot loosened, a swirling mass of shadow and mist burst out before them, spinning and distorting like a miniature whirlwind.
"Oh, looks like it's set its eyes on you," George said with a grin.
"What do you think it'll turn into?" Fred asked, eyes gleaming with curiosity.
"I'm curious myself," Louis said calmly, steadying his thoughts as he drew his wand, ready for anything.
If it turned into something too private or dangerous to show others, he'd immediately end it with a spell.
A Boggart's transformation was easy to disrupt—either by someone else's emotion of fear or by a simple charm like Riddikulus.
The latter could even force it into whatever shape the caster desired. In the original, people usually defeated Boggarts by making them look ridiculous.
But Louis had no such intention. He wanted to see just how far a Boggart could go.
The swirling form finally stabilized—and the Boggart turned into Louis himself.
"It turned into Louis too?" George was astonished. "Why's that?"
"Guess that means Louis doesn't fear anything either?" Fred suggested.
"No," Louis said quietly, staring at his double. He had a pretty good idea what was coming next.
"Louis," the Boggart said in his exact voice, its lips curving into a faint smirk, "the truth is… I'm actually a Muggle."
"So that's it," George said, eyes wide. "Louis is afraid of being a Muggle!"
Fred snapped his fingers in sudden realization. "Makes perfect sense now!"
Louis said nothing, continuing to stare at the Boggart version of himself.
"Louis," the doppelgänger spoke again, "the truth is, I actually took the Philos—"
"Riddikulus!" Louis cast the charm immediately.
Of course, Louis's fear wasn't about being a Muggle. Whether it was being a Muggle, taking the Philosopher's Stone, or anything that might have followed—everything revolved around a single core: the fear of secrets being exposed.
That was what truly terrified him—the possibility of his secrets being revealed.
"This is way more useful than some tapeworm," Louis muttered, then flicked his wand—turning the Boggart into a 36D fox-eared beauty in white stockings.
"Ahh-woo!"
The Boggart didn't seem to notice anything wrong with its new form. It bared its fangs and posed menacingly—but apart from being irresistibly cute, it had no real effect.
George and Fred, on the other hand, had never seen such a sight. Their faces instantly turned bright red.
"W-What… what is that?" George stammered.
"The proper way to play with a Boggart… well, okay, just a little joke."
Louis waved his wand again, turning the Boggart into a balloon, which he caught and squeezed in his hand.
The twins exchanged a look, both feeling oddly disappointed.
"Don't get any weird ideas," Louis said dryly. "Come on, let's get to work."
He dragged over a cauldron and tossed the balloon-shaped Boggart inside.
And thus began the experiment…
After countless hours of persistence and trial, the three of them finally succeeded—just before Halloween arrived, the very first true Transfiguration Biscuit was born!
The so-called "Transfiguration Biscuit" was originally just a cookie infused with a special potion. But after numerous improvements, it now tasted surprisingly good—and could completely transform a person into any animal!
Fred volunteered as the first test subject. He transformed into a palm-sized golden canary and managed to stay that way for nearly five minutes.
Five minutes later, a puff of white smoke appeared, and Fred—still mid-flight—suddenly turned back, plummeting toward the floor. Louis caught him midair with a Levitation Charm.
"We did it!" Fred shouted excitedly, completely unfazed by his near fall.
"Yeah, we really did," Louis nodded, acknowledging the twins' hard work and success.
The Transfiguration Biscuit had evolved from the twins' earlier Canary Biscuit, but now it had completely transcended the old limitations—and the awful taste.
A single biscuit could let the eater transform into any animal they wished for five minutes—a temporary version of the Animagus Transformation Spell, but without restrictions. Any form imaginable was possible.
This success, of course, owed much to Peter Pettigrew's dedicated self-experimentation. Studying himself as the test subject—Louis had to admit, that kind of commitment deserved praise.
However, even though the Transfiguration Biscuit was now perfected, Louis reminded the twins they couldn't relax just yet.
"The special effect of the biscuit comes from this particular transformation potion," Louis warned. "You must not leak the recipe—understand?"
"Relax," George and Fred said, winking. "We've already handled secrecy measures. Just a drop of Locking Solution, and the potion's ingredients become impossible to reverse-engineer."
"I'm not talking about the potion," Louis said with a sigh. "I mean your mouths. Don't go blabbing about it. If anyone asks, say these biscuits are alchemical products, directly synthesized—no additional ingredients involved. That's the lie you'll stick to."
"That's a great excuse!" The twins grinned. "They could go mad trying and still never figure out the actual recipe."
"Oh, right—Louis," George added suddenly, "how about a magic performance at the Halloween feast? Fred and I can be your assistants!"
"Not a bad idea," Louis said with a smile, then shook his head regretfully. "But I'll have to pass. I already promised Nick I'd attend his five-hundred-year death anniversary banquet."
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