"Are we really going to leave it here?"
In a corner of the second-floor corridor, the Weasley twins were whispering to each other. Thanks to yesterday's efforts, Fred had successfully mastered the Lockpicking Charm. The next morning, the two couldn't wait to cause trouble for Filch, hence the scene before them.
"Yes, throw it here." George looked up at the end of the corridor, nodded and said, "Yesterday, third-grader William threw feces bombs here. I heard from others that it took Filch a long time to clean up the feces bombs on the ground."
"Alright, remember to cover me later." Fred looked like he was going to his death. He saw Filch walking towards them, quietly reached into the paper bag, pulled out a dung bomb, and was about to chat with George for a few more words when he suddenly realized that his twin brother had already disappeared.
"Damn, he got away really fast." Fred took a deep breath, and as Filch passed by, the dung bomb in his hand fell to the ground.
With a soft "poof".
A stench of decay wafted from the ground, instantly filling most of the corridor. Filch lowered his head, his face contorted in rage. He suddenly looked up, his eyes darting around furiously, before settling on Fred, who was holding a paper bag.
"You wretched brat, do you know how long it took me to clean up that dung bomb yesterday?" Filch's face was flushed red, his cheek muscles twitching, looking like he was about to explode with anger. He reached out and grabbed Fred's hand, lifting it up.
Fred's hands were filthy from escaping a manure bomb from a paper bag.
"The evidence is conclusive. Come with me. This time, you're going to be locked up no matter what," Filch grabbed Fred and prepared to drag him to his office. "I should have convinced Dumbledore to go back to those old-fashioned punishments. You guys would hang from the ceiling for days or get a good whipping to teach you a lesson."
After Fred was taken away by Filch, George emerged from another passageway. He swallowed hard as he watched Fred being led away by Filch, staring down at his paper bag before quickly following behind them.
Fred glanced back and saw George following behind, and breathed a sigh of relief. Luckily, his brother hadn't backed down, otherwise his efforts would have been wasted if Filch had caught him.
Meanwhile, the ground beneath his feet reeked of rotten eggs, and he was muttering incessantly, venting his anger.
Not long after, Filch took Fred to his office.
"Don't even think about running away. If you do, you'll be in even worse shape." Filch said in a low voice, pointing to the chains hanging behind his desk with a gloomy face. "I oil them occasionally. Who knows when they might come in handy? Only by giving you little brats a good lesson will you think twice before breaking school rules again, right?"
Fred completely ignored Filch's nagging and looked around at the place that most students would avoid.
He began searching for his target, the location of that drawer.
Filch took a roll of parchment from a drawer in his desk, spread it out in front of him, then picked up a long black quill pen, dipped it in the inkwell, and asked...
"Name…" Filch, noticing the lack of response, raised his head sharply and asked, "Your name…"
"Fred Weasley," Fred replied somewhat casually, having already located the drawer.
"offense..."
"Using joke props in the hallway."
"You are defiling the castle."
"Punishment and confinement…" Before Filch could finish speaking, a large turd was thrown into the office from outside, and a nauseating smell of rotten eggs instantly filled the entire office.
Filch looked stunned for a moment, then dropped his quill and frantically lunged toward the door, trying to grab the guy who dared to provoke him.
"Hopefully George can buy us some more time." After Filch chased after him, Fred immediately strode to the filing cabinet, took out his wand, pointed to a drawer that read: Confiscated Supplies, High Danger, and gently tapped it, saying, "Alohomora open."
Fred had practiced the spell many times last night. He quickly pulled open the drawer, grabbed an envelope, stuffed it into his pocket without looking at it, and then closed the drawer again, returning to its original position.
Outside the office, Filch's footsteps were already approaching. He had grabbed George and dragged him into the office by the ear.
"Very well, another little brat." Filch panted, then pointed to the traces left by the dung bomb and said, "I will make you clean up the mess you've made. I will be watching you. No one will escape. Now, come with me to see Professor McGonagall."
A few minutes later, Filch knocked on Professor McGonagall's office door and recounted the Weasley brothers' glorious achievements. The Gryffindor headmaster's expression immediately fell; Professor McGonagall was already in a bad mood yesterday because of William's affair, and now this had happened again.
"Twenty points deducted from Gryffindor, gentlemen Weasleys. And so on, solitary confinement. I really don't know what you're thinking." Professor McGonagall nodded at Filch. "You'll arrange their solitary confinement."
"I will make them realize their mistakes." Filch smiled triumphantly as he led the twins out of Professor McGonagall's office.
"I think we should clean up your pranks before putting you in solitary confinement." Filch immediately went to Professor McGonagall's office and looked at the twins with malice in his eyes.
Fred and George exchanged glances, and one of them muttered under his breath, "We have class in the morning."
"Then I think you need to ask for leave. Come with me." Filch strode toward the first floor of the castle.
The twins had no choice but to follow behind Filch, a scene that attracted curious glances and whispers from many people.
Fred turned his head and winked at his brother, indicating that he had succeeded.
George breathed a sigh of relief; their adventure hadn't been in vain after all, otherwise they might have really gotten themselves into trouble.
Sure enough, when you're causing trouble for Filch, you really can't let him find out.
The two were led by Filch to a broom shed under a spiral staircase on the first floor of Hogwarts Castle, where Filch took out a bucket, mop, and broom and handed them to the twin brothers.
"Alright, let's start mopping." Filch gave the two of them a malicious smirk. "It'll be a good opportunity for everyone to see what kind of punishment naughty kids should receive."