Hogwarts: I'm Truly a Model Wizard-Chapter 799: The Fishing Plan

"Just say it—what exactly do you mean?"

Fred and George eyed Kyle warily, instinctively edging back until they were leaning against the door.

They knew Kyle too well... Whenever he had that look on his face, it was never anything good.

Feeling the doorknob behind them gave them some reassurance. This spot was perfect—right by the exit. If things went south, they could bolt out the door at any time.

"Here’s the thing."

Kyle chose his words carefully. "The Committee for the Disposal of Dangerous Creatures has hit a rough patch lately. I saw Cedric today—he’s lost so much weight, could barely walk straight. He looked completely worn out."

"He really needs help. As his friends, you’re not just going to stand by, are you?"

"What about you?" Fred immediately picked up on the problem. "You’re his friend too. Why aren’t you helping?"

"To be honest, I want to help," Kyle sighed, spreading his hands. "If You-Know-Who wasn’t making my life difficult, I’d have moved into the Ministry by now."

"That sounds a little sketchy."

"Doesn’t sound true."

Fred and George spoke in unison.

"If you don’t believe me, ask Mr. Weasley. Ask him if I spent the whole day in the Committee’s office."

Kyle pointed toward the door. "If I’m lying, you can come back and do whatever you want to me—punishments, chores, even making me work at your shop. I won’t argue."

"Seriously?"

"Of course," Kyle said confidently. "Trust me, I really just want to help Cedric. He’s overwhelmed. As his friends, it’s only right that we give him a hand, isn’t it?"

"Everything else is fine, but going back to the Ministry... let’s not," Fred said.

"Exactly." George nodded. "No matter what you say, we’re not going back."

"Especially not now..."

"Just look at Hermione. We’re not about to be out past midnight every day."

"Don’t turn me down so fast."

Kyle placed a golden goblet filled with mead on the table. "Hermione’s only that busy because the department she’s in is understaffed. The Committee is the second largest department in the Ministry. Sure, it gets hectic sometimes, but it’s usually manageable. This is just a rare emergency."

Fred and George had been ready to walk out without listening, but the rich scent of the mead in the room stopped them in their tracks.

They weren’t heavy drinkers, but Kyle’s mead was something else. One taste and you couldn’t forget it.

They were no exception.

Exchanging a glance, they seemed to come to a silent agreement, then cautiously approached. One of them spoke up first.

"Whatever you say, we’re not going to the Ministry."

"No matter how good the reason is, it won’t work."

"That’s fine," Kyle said with a grin. "Just thought I’d bring it up. If you don’t want to go, you don’t have to."

"By the way, have you given any thought to communication items?"

Just like he said he would, Kyle didn’t mention the Ministry again and shifted the conversation.

"I should remind you—efficiency isn’t the main concern. What Bones values most is preventing leaks."

As he spoke, Kyle brought over two plain glasses and poured the mead from the golden goblet into them. "If the enemy can use it just by getting their hands on it, she won’t touch it."

Seeing that Kyle had really dropped the Ministry topic, the twins finally relaxed.

"That’s simple. Just set a password," Fred said, taking a sip. "Like the Marauder’s Map—only works if you say the right words."

"Or use a numeric code," George added. "Like Muggle phones—I remember you had to punch in a number before it worked."

"How do you know that?" Kyle asked, curious. As far as he knew, the twins hadn’t had much exposure to Muggles.

"Didn’t Dad mention it earlier? He got hold of a phone once."

"And we used it before—Ron called Harry with it."

"Only, it wasn’t Harry who answered. We barely said anything before the line went dead."

"Must’ve been his aunt and uncle. That family’s unbelievably rude," George muttered, setting down his glass with a hint of irritation.

Every time they’d tried to contact Harry, those two had gotten in the way. Just thinking about it was enough to sour their mood.

"Passwords and codes, huh..." Kyle mused. "Is that all we’ve got?"

"It could be more complex," Fred said. "You could add a spell that only allows specific users."

"But that would drive the cost way up," George pointed out. "Those restriction spells are never simple, and applying them to magical objects is even harder. Even if we started now, we’d need at least half a year."

"And that’s just for one item," Fred added.

"That won’t work. Too slow." Kyle shook his head. "With that pace, even if we gave one to every hundred Aurors, it’d take a year."

"Then we’re out of options." Fred downed the rest of his drink. "Honestly, there’s nothing in the wizarding world that’s completely secure. The most complicated password can be bypassed with Legilimency, and restriction spells all have counters too."

"So I say we focus on the communication items themselves."

"What do you mean?" Kyle refilled his glass.

"Make them look like ordinary objects—buttons, strings, stuff everyone wears. That way, even if a Death Eater spots them, they won’t think twice. Just like the DA coins—no one would guess a Galleon was our signal."

As he spoke, his eyes wandered to the golden goblet Kyle had been pouring from.

It wasn’t the material that caught his attention.

Gold utensils were rare, but not unheard of. The house they were staying in had a full set—cups, candlesticks, plates, bowls, knives, forks—all of it.

All left behind by the Black family. Sirius had just shoved them into storage and never used them.

What intrigued him was the goblet itself.

It didn’t look big at all, but it had already poured two rounds and still wasn’t empty.

At first, he thought it might be an Auto-Refill Charm—but Kyle hadn’t cast any spells, and Fred hadn’t sensed any magic.

As a joke shop owner, Fred trusted his instincts. From the outside, that goblet looked perfectly ordinary...

"You..."

"Fine, do it your way."

Kyle cut him off just as he was about to say more.

"Make one first, the kind with a password, then send it to the Ministry for Bones to look at."

"If she’s satisfied, great. If not... just tweak it. Hardly anyone’s in Diagon Alley right now anyway. You’re not exactly swamped."

"What do you mean ’not swamped’? We’re very busy, okay?"

"Yeah, yeah, my bad. You’re all bigshots, raking in a thousand Galleons a day." Kyle waved toward the door. "Alright, if that’s all, get going. I need sleep."

With that, he stood up to see them out.

This should’ve been a good thing for Fred and George—if they just left while they had the chance, they wouldn’t have to worry about what kind of trap Kyle might spring on them next.

But Fred couldn’t hold back his curiosity.

"Wait a sec." He craned his neck toward the table. "That cup of yours..."

"Oh, that?" Kyle replied casually. "Nothing special. Just Hufflepuff’s Cup. You Gryffindors have a sword, don’t you?"

"What did you just say?"

"That’s Hufflepuff’s Cup?!"

Now Fred and George had no intention of leaving. Anything left by one of the Founders was an irresistible prize for any alchemist.

And while they weren’t technically alchemists, they were close enough—they worked with magical items all the time.

...

Truth was, they already knew Kyle had it. He’d never hidden it from them, not even the Horcrux part.

But knowing and actually seeing it were two different things.

They brushed past Kyle and lunged for the table.

"Hufflepuff’s Cup..." Fred’s eyes lit up. "Didn’t you say it was with Nicolas Flamel?"

"It was," Kyle said. "But once the Horcrux issue was sorted, he gave it back."

"When was this?" George asked angrily. "You never told us!"

"Last Christmas," Kyle replied. "You two weren’t at Hogwarts then. How was I supposed to tell you?"

"That’s no excuse. You could’ve written us a letter!" Fred snapped. "I don’t care. As punishment for deceiving your friends, we’re holding onto the Cup for a while."

"Nope." Kyle shook his finger, and the Cup flew off the table into his hand.

"I’m planning to lend it to Cedric for a while. If you want it, get in line."

"For how long?"

"Who knows? Maybe a week, maybe a month," Kyle said thoughtfully. "Depends on when he’s done with it."

"That’s way too long."

"Not knowing was fine. But now that we know, how can we possibly wait that long?"

"We won’t be able to sleep..."

"Why’d you lend it to him in the first place..."

"Exactly! We’ve known you since we were three, and he’s just some latecomer!"

They both protested indignantly, sounding more than a little hurt.

"Don’t use that tone. Gives me the creeps." Kyle shivered and rubbed his arms. "Anyway, I have my reasons for lending it to him first."

"What reasons?!" Fred blurted out, eyes still locked on the Cup in Kyle’s hand.

"He’s been so busy lately, he barely has time to eat," Kyle said quietly. "The Cup can store food. At least with it, he’ll be able to have something warm."

At that, Fred and George snapped out of it. Their eyes shifted from the Cup to Kyle.

"So that’s what this is about."

"Don’t try to trick us into going to the Ministry."

...

"What are you saying? Trick you?" Kyle raised an eyebrow. "Relax, I already resigned. Whether you go or not has nothing to do with me."

"What? You resigned?"

"What else did you think?" Kyle said. "You think Bones would let me keep drawing a paycheck for doing nothing?"

"Well, technically, I didn’t really resign. She kept my position and office. I can go back whenever I want."

"But..." Before they could say anything, Kyle went on, "That won’t be happening anytime soon. I need to stay hidden from You-Know-Who, so I’m laying low here."

"Seriously?" George eyed him suspiciously.

If that was true, then he really had no reason to go out of his way for the Ministry.

"Stick around and see for yourself. See if I show up for work tomorrow."

The two didn’t respond, just huddled together whispering, clearly plotting something.

A few minutes later, Fred looked up. "If we help Cedric, will you lend us the Cup?"

"Don’t put it like that—makes it sound like I’m manipulating you." Kyle said. "I just want to make sure he’s able to eat properly. Don’t want him ending up like Hermione, nearly passing out from hunger outside."

"Of course, if you insist on going, that works too. If he gets some time off, he won’t need the Cup anymore. Then I don’t care who borrows it."

"Alright, we’ll go to the Ministry," George said, stepping forward. "Now hand over the Cup."

"Don’t force yourselves," Kyle said with a smile. "School’s starting soon. You’ll probably be busy with your shop. I’ll figure something else out for Cedric."

As he spoke, he made a show of putting the Cup away.

"No, no, not forcing at all!" Fred instantly plastered on a grin. "We were just messing with you earlier."

"Yeah, Cedric’s having a rough time—how could we, as his friends, not help out?"

"Honestly, even if you hadn’t asked, we were planning to go to the Ministry tomorrow anyway."

"But don’t you two hate working at the Ministry?" Kyle asked.

"We do, but for a friend... we can get over it," George said with a strained smile.

"And what about Diagon Alley?"

"You probably haven’t heard, but this year, Hogwarts is using owl post for back-to-school shopping. Everything gets sent straight to the school. No need for students to visit Diagon Alley."

"Kids from Muggle families will have their Galleons exchanged at Gringotts by professors."

"I doubt the professors will put our shop’s name on the supply list."

"So we won’t be part of the pre-term shopping rush."

"That can’t be," Kyle frowned.

"It’s true," George explained. "Ron got the notice."

"And this isn’t the first time it’s happened."

"Bill told me that before You-Know-Who was defeated, Hogwarts did the same thing—to stop Death Eaters from attacking new students."

"Plus, more than three professors will be escorting the train."

"If that’s how it is..." Kyle handed them the Cup. "Then there really isn’t much reason to keep your shop open right now."

As the most frequently banned shop on the Hogwarts supply list, no professor was going to buy from them.

"That’s cold."

"Even though it’s true."

They wiped their hands and solemnly took the Cup from Kyle.

But the next second, they broke into matching grins.

"Haha! Finally, it’s ours!"

"Didn’t see that coming, did you? Too late to back out now!"

"What, planning to go back on your word?" Kyle asked, giving them a meaningful look.

"We wouldn’t go that far. Since we agreed, we’ll definitely help Cedric," George said. "But if we find out you were lying to us, well... who knows when you’ll get the Cup back."

"That’s fine. Do whatever you want." Kyle smiled, completely unbothered.

As if afraid he might change his mind, the two bolted as soon as they got the Cup.

Once the door shut behind them, a smile crept onto Kyle’s face.

Well, he’d managed to rope in two strong hands.

As for the Cup... he really wasn’t worried. It’d be a piece of cake to get it back. Not even worth calling a challenge.

Put it this way—if he wanted the Cup back tomorrow, all he had to do was complain to Mrs. Weasley, and those two would cough it up without question.

Problem was, they’d never realized that.

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