As Fred continued to wave his wand, the sticky material in the air stretched and elongated, gradually taking the shape of smooth, flat rubber strips.
On the other side, George levitated a mixture of mithril-mercury alloy into midair. As a liquid metal, its strong surface tension caused it to naturally form a sphere without much manipulation.
When Fred finished shaping the rubber into strips, the twins exchanged a glance.
"Ready, George?"
"Ready, Fred!"
"Then let's begin!"
With a shout, the twins stared hard at the floating rubber strips and the ball of mithril-mercury, raising their wands with effort.
They strained so hard that their faces flushed red. Their cross-legged posture was distorted, their rear ends lifting slightly off the ground.
Hermione had to cover her mouth to stop herself from laughing. The sight was simply too ridiculous—their faces red, their backsides raised—completely undignified.
They flailed their wands like madmen, but didn't seem to be casting any spell.
Hermione silently cursed herself for not bringing her camera from home. She made a firm decision: next year, second year or not, she would bring it!
Still, she was a bit disappointed. Though she was smart enough to know that Vaughn had tried to spare her feelings, she had guessed the truth—she likely had no talent for alchemy.
Because she couldn't see the symbols.
It was clear that Fred and George were using alchemy now. What looked like bizarre gestures to her likely had real purpose—but only if you could see what they saw.
And Vaughn could see them.
Hermione looked up at him. He'd shot up in height recently and was focused intently on the twins. She whispered, "How's it going?"
"Difficult," Vaughn replied, "But the symbols are collapsing. It's going smoothly enough."
In Vaughn's eyes, as the twins performed their alchemy, glowing symbols—oddly flat and dimensionless—trembled and began to collapse inward toward a center point.
Eventually, the lights condensed inside their bodies into a single glowing core.
Vaughn wasn't sure how it worked. Maybe it was the flow of magical energy, maybe a specific alchemical technique—but the glowing energy flowed like a gentle stream from their cores, down their arms, through their wands, and into the rubber and mithril-mercury.
As the energy completely transferred and the "circle" reappeared faintly on the rubber and metal, the twins gasped and slumped with relief.
But they didn't dare rest yet.
Fred and George resumed waving their wands. The rubber strips curled inward, forming tubes, while the mithril-mercury suddenly split into dozens of pea-sized spheres.
Hermione could see this part, but when Fred began shaping the tiny spheres into alchemical symbols again, even the mithril-mercury vanished from her view.
Now she finally understood why Fred hadn't tried showing her the symbols—it was pointless.
She watched as George's rubber tubing collided with something invisible, and suddenly, the previously pure white rubber was tinged with faint gold—like someone had painted it with golden lacquer.
Beside her, Vaughn silently raised his hand.
Without a word or a wand, he cast a Levitation Charm on the copper wire on the ground. Nodding at the exhausted twins, he began wrapping the new rubber insulation around the wire—splicing, joining, cutting.
Finally, a 30-inch long wire, coated in shimmering golden insulation, landed softly on the floor.
Fred and George were gasping for breath. George collapsed onto the floor, while Fred, still with some energy, dug into their satchel and pulled out a small diesel generator and a connector, handing them to Vaughn.
"This is the one you gave us earlier. We've already modified it the same way—Vaughn, give it a go yourself. We're done in."
Vaughn glanced at their weary faces. "Did you use raw magic to power the alchemy in the end?"
Their exhausted state could only mean one thing—magical depletion.
"Of course," George muttered. "Alchemy is magic, my foolish brother."
"How dare you talk to the boss like that?" Fred scolded half-heartedly, laughing. "We need our boss's approval to fund our future, remember?"
Vaughn, still connecting the wires to the generator and a lamp with Hermione's help, replied, "Don't worry. If the test goes well, I'll fund your little... prank shop."
The twins exchanged a glance.
George grinned obsequiously, "Actually, dear brother, we're thinking maybe not a prank shop anymore. I mean, we'll still make some joke items for fun, but..."
Vaughn gave them a look but didn't stop wiring.
"You said before that once we figured out how to overcome magic interference with electricity, we'd forget about joke shops... You genius, you predicted us perfectly!"
"Of course! How could a troll like you understand a genius's mind?"
"Fred, your flattery is too blunt. Unlike me, I keep my admiration for our brilliant brother deep in my heart."
"You—!"
As the twins bickered, Vaughn and Hermione completed the wiring. Vaughn pressed the generator's ignition.
It roared to life.
The four of them watched as the treads spun rapidly, the rubber-coated motor trembled, and the golden wire vibrated slightly, emitting a faint magical glow.
At the other end, the lone bulb flickered...
And then, in the Room of Requirement—lit until now only by fire pits and torches—a warm, yellow light bloomed.
A light unlike any magical flame.
Fred murmured, "You were right, Vaughn. We've found something far greater..."
(Continued in next chapter..)
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