That night, Ron was escorted out of Gryffindor Tower by the twin brothers as the three of them made their way toward the Chamber of Secrets, located deep beneath the castle.
The twins had originally planned to take Ron to the Akatsuki hideout—the Room of Requirement.
That was where the bloodline fusion potion for the Eight-Tails, Gyūki, had been brewed.
However, considering that Ron was a total blabbermouth who, upon learning how to enter the Room of Requirement, would undoubtedly run off to tell Harry, who would then tell his roommates...
And among the other three boys in Harry and Ron's dormitory, aside from the chubby Neville Longbottom, Dean Thomas and Seamus Finnigan were almost as big of blabbermouths as Ron.
If Ron went and did that, the Akatsuki base would be completely exposed.
So, the Chamber of Secrets was the better option.
The precise location of that place had already been exposed to a large number of Hogwarts students after the Basilisk Incident.
Because the underground space beneath the castle was extraordinarily intricate and complex, even though the "Father-Troublers" had converted it into an automated magical munitions factory, there were still overlooked spots that might harbor unknown dangers.
Thus, Dumbledore had stepped in to seal off all the passages leading to the Chamber of Secrets using magic, preventing ordinary students from entering—though it couldn't stop the Father-Troublers.
During curfew, three sneaky figures slipped out of Gryffindor Tower.
The twins, bold in their prowess, didn't even bother casting the Disillusionment Charm. Utterly familiar with the route, they knocked out Mrs. Norris using catnip and walked right past Filch's blind spot in plain sight.
The twins' smooth operation left Ron dumbfounded; cold sweat practically drenched him as they skirted through the shadows right behind Filch's back.
The three arrived directly at the entrance of a girls' bathroom on the first floor.
Don't get the wrong idea—they weren't here to make a late-night call on Moaning Myrtle. Ghosts could be seen but not touched, so what was the point?
Besides, Myrtle didn't stay in this bathroom anymore, and the door had been sealed with a barrier by Dumbledore.
A barrier personally set by Dumbledore was naturally beyond the Weasley twins' ability to break.
However, they had other methods.
Dumbledore might have placed a barrier on the bathroom door, but the adjacent wall didn't have one.
George drew his wand and waved it continuously through the air, casting a soundproofing barrier around them.
Fred reached into his pocket, pulled out a large lump of a milky-white, sticky, unidentified substance, and plastered it onto the wall beside the bathroom door.
Judging by the sheer quantity of Explosive Clay, it had to be at least ten kilograms.
Seeing Fred's actions, Ron's face turned completely black. Are you bloody bastards trying to breach a door or execute a demolition?!
Muttering under his breath, Ron didn't slow his pace down for a second; he sprinted at top speed to hide at the far end of the corridor, staying as far away as possible from that wall slathered with Explosive Clay.
Once the setup was complete, George and Fred retreated ten meters back.
Not a single sound echoed out, and the shockwave generated by the explosion was rendered completely invisible and harmless by the barrier. All that could be seen was a flash of fire light; while the wooden door of the girls' bathroom remained completely unscathed, the wall beside it crumbled into a pile of pulverized debris.
As long as the payload was large enough, there was no magical defense in this world that couldn't be blasted open.
After entering the bathroom, George flicked his wand lightly, and the wall restored itself in the blink of an eye as if a rewind button had been pressed.
The bathroom remained just as it always was, but after the sink moved aside, what appeared before their eyes was no longer the original bare, pitch-black deep hole, but an elevator.
Just like the Hive from the Umbrella Corporation, the three brothers rode the elevator for several full minutes before reaching the underground depths.
Stretching out before them was a subterranean plaza expanded countless times over by the Undetectable Extension Charm.
Though an underground space, the environment wasn't dark to the point where one couldn't see their own hand. Under the light of a fake moon generated by a Weather-Modifying Charm, the lighting was just enough to make things visible.
Had it been daytime, the light would have been even more abundant.
Lined up across the plaza were rows upon rows of tanks, self-propelled artillery, and missile launcher vehicles, stretching as far as the eye could see.
There were easily over ten thousand of them—a veritable landslide of the magical world...
Bah! A steel torrent!
If the American Magical Congress and the Ministries of Magic from Britain and France had actually managed to form that so-called Anti-Grindelwald Alliance during the previous International Confederation of Wizards meeting, Kyle would have definitely dragged these toys right onto the battlefield.
Kyle: What the hell is an International Confederation of Wizards? I'm hitting the Confederation itself! Even if Albus Dumbledore is the Supreme Mugwump, I'm beating him up all the same!
After riding flying broomsticks over these war machines modified from tractor chassis, the three flew for quite a while longer before arriving at the edge of an underground lake.
The lakeshore was filled with jagged, bizarre rocks. Kyle and Cedric were each sitting on stone chairs created with Transfiguration, clearly having waited here for a long time.
Beside them sat a simmering cauldron on a stand, its green potion bubbling with thick, viscous bubbles.
Seeing this pot of potion, Ron's face turned almost as green as the liquid inside.
He had already heard from his two older brothers that the first thing he needed to do was drink this bloodline fusion potion.
Looking at this color... Is this bloody stuff even fit for human consumption?!
Didn't Fred say that the bloodline fusion potion was the same color as tomato hot pot broth and looked particularly nice?
Why did it look like this hideous monstrosity?
In the past, the various versions of the bloodline fusion potion that the Father-Troublers brewed for practice—Thunderbird, Re'em, Basilisk, Fire Dragon...
The bloodline fusion potions for those ordinary magical creatures were indeed all red.
However, the Eight-Tails, Gyūki, was no ordinary magical creature; it was a fusion of two magical creatures, a giant squid and a Re'em, which had then undergone Dark Magic modifications by the two Dark Wizards, Kyle and Cedric.
For such a mismatched, chaotic concoction of a creature, a potion color change was entirely understandable.
Kyle had already conducted toxicity tests on this pot of potion.
Though the color had changed, it was fine—he could drink it bold and fast; as long as it didn't kill him, it was fine.
Under Ron's terrified gaze, Fred pulled out a cup, scooped up a full serving of the unidentified liquid from the cauldron, and handed it to him.
"Drink it, Ron. This is your destiny," Fred said, staring directly into Ron's eyes. "Drink it, and you will gain immense power."
Under the reflection of the green potion, Ron's face grew even greener.
He stared at the cup in his hands, unable to bring himself to take a sip for the longest time. In the end, failing to summon the resolve, he looked up and silently locked eyes with his unscrupulous older brother.
After a long stare, Ron finally opened his mouth: "Then, Fred, what is the price?"
Fred lifted his hood slightly. The cauldron beside them was still simmering over the fire, and the flickering flames underneath illuminated Fred's face, casting deep shadows across his sharp features.
After pondering for a brief moment, Fred gave his answer:
"—To become as outstanding as me."
Ron's face darkened even further. What kind of bloody answer is that?!
He suddenly didn't want to be a guinea pig anymore.
Just as he was about to pour the potion back into the cauldron, Kyle's cold, emotionless voice floated over from the side.
"You dare refuse this gift?"
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