Chapter 456: It's All Together (Edited)

"I didn't expect the Champion selection test to be so easy!".

On the way back, George and Fred were talking with smiles on their faces.

"That age line sure can be fooled by aging potions, we've already invented it! Once your name is on that cup, you can smile happily.... It won't tell who's seventeen and who isn't!".

Fred's eyes sparkled and he even wanted to take this opportunity to make a fortune.

"George, should we create more aging potions?"

He winked at his twin and George quickly understood.

"Of course! Not only did we buy more ingredients, but we also put a little more into the mix."

The two's words quickly attracted several underage students, who rushed over to buy them some aging potions or aging potion ingredients.

Fish was about to ask the twins for an aging potion as well, but Hermione restrained him.

"Professor Dumbledore's methods aren't that simple," she whispered in Fish's ear, "And we have all day tomorrow, why don't we let the twins try it first? It's not that hard to make an aging potion, just go to Professor Snape and get the ingredients." "

Fish thought about it, and since he knew how to make an aging potion himself, he stopped.

Everyone was talking excitedly about the Champions campaign and heading to their dormitories, while the Beauxbatons and Durmstrang students planned to return to their carriages and boats.

The two vehicles were large enough to hold the students, even without the same undetectable extension enchantment as the tent used by Fish. ...

Igor Karkarov, the headmaster of Durmstrang, seems to have had a confrontation with Mad-Eye Moody on the way back, and judging by the way Karkarov fled, Moody won.

"Do they have a grudge?" asked Seamus curiously.

"Maybe Professor Moody used to hunt Professor Karkarov," Harry guessed. "Malfoy once said that his father knew the headmaster of Durmstrang well and that they taught dark magic to the students there."

They all looked at Professor Moody again and saw that he was still staring at Karkarov's back with that magical eye, an expression of extreme revulsion on his mutilated face, and they all thought that Harry's guess was most likely true.

Back in the dormitories, everyone stayed awake and continued to talk loudly about the Goblet of Fire in the common room or back in the dormitories.

Most of the younger students had been preparing for it for some time, and although most had given it up long ago, their enthusiasm had been rekindled by the appearance of the Goblet of Fire, and they had gathered in small groups to discuss what to do.

"We could try your invisibility cloak." Ron proposed the idea to Harry.

"Don't George and Fred have an aging potion?" asked Harry suspiciously, he had just been planning to get one from the twins.

"Don't mention it!" Ron objected, grumbling hatefully, "They want me to pay for it! I'm his real brother!"

Harry couldn't respond to this, smiled dryly and said, "If you're going to sign up, I think you'd better wait until no one's around...if the cup crumpled up your name and threw it away, it would be very embarrassing!"

Ron nodded approvingly at first, then suddenly his eyes lit up and he whispered, "Why don't we secretly put on the invisibility cloak and try it out tonight?"

"There's a chance we might run into Fish..." Harry hesitated.

Ron, however, waved his hand casually and said, "What does it matter if Fish sees us? We might as well go with him, even if we run into the professor on his night watch, he'll probably let us off for Fish's sake."

Harry thought about it for a moment and realized that it was true, even if the cat saw the rejection of his name by the Goblet of Fire, it didn't seem like a big deal.... Fish had seen most of the times he'd been humiliated anyway, not least this time.

As time went on, the students who were still talking about it dispersed, as they had to get up early tomorrow to sign up or see how the others were signing up.

Fish, as usual, took Hermione out for a walk when he heard Harry's subtle call.

"Wait for me outside, wait for me outside..."

After last year's experience of catching Sirius Black together, Harry knew how to sneak up on Fish.

The cat's ears twitched twice, then he raised his right hand and waved it nonchalantly before walking away with Hermione.

Soon after, Harry and Ron, covered in the invisibility cloak, did the same.

"Why is there someone else?" The Fat Lady shouted in disgust, but there was no one in sight, so she got even angrier, "Who is it? Who's playing a joke?!"

Of course Harry and Ron couldn't answer, they headed as fast as they could towards the exit of the corridor where the Fat Lady's portrait hung, and as they rounded the corner they saw Fish and Hermione waiting there.

"Here comes nya."

(?ΦΦ?)?

Seeing Fish waving in the direction where no one was, Hermione immediately realized what was going on.

"Harry?"

"It's me, Ron's here too." replied Harry in a whisper.

"You came here to..." said Hermione, halfway through her sentence, before it dawned on her, "I don't think you can get past the age line Professor Dumbledore set up by relying on the invisibility cloak."

"What if it works?" said Ron very optimistically, "Anyway, it won't hurt to try, and if it works, Harry may even lend you the invisibility cloak."

"Not for me," Hermione shrugged, "I don't think I've learned enough...".

"George and Fred are here too nya."

(?ΦΦ?)?

Just then, Fish raised his head abruptly, looking out the window diagonally above him.

Two magpies flew from the window Fish was looking out of, then turned into two familiar figures of Hermione, landing in front of her and Fish.

Since the twins had never revealed their Animagus form, and Fish had been taught by Professor McGonagall not to say anything, Hermione felt startled by the two.

But before she could say anything, Ron, who was hiding under his invisibility cloak, snarled through gritted teeth, "So it's you two!"

Ron finally knew why spiders fell on his head from time to time during the summer vacations.

"Oh...shit...it's Harry's invisibility cloak isn't it? What a bummer..."

George slapped his forehead in annoyance, saying he'd been unlucky, but in fact he still had a playful smile on his face.

An equally playful Fred bargained in the direction where Ron's voice was coming from, "I'll give you and Harry an aging potion as an apology, and you'll keep our Animagus form a secret."

"...Deal!" Ron pondered for less than two seconds before nodding decisively.

"What are you guys doing here looking for Fish?"

()

Fish asked as he finished the deal between the Weasley brothers.

"To be precise, we're not here to see you." George wagged his index finger.

"We were on our way to sign up, and we happened to see you and Hermione, and came over to say hello," Fred continued.

"As it turned out..." George looked helplessly in the direction of where Harry and Ron were, though there was nothing there.

"Why did you go secretly checking in at night?" asked Hermione puzzled, "Wouldn't it be better to use the aging potion tomorrow during the day?"

"Don't tell me you think there's a good chance the aging potion would work as well?" spat George, "Since Dumbledore told us beforehand that there would be a test at registration, that age line would never be that easy to fool."

"Hey, that's not what you said at night!"

Ron shouted, who hadn't been happy with the aging potion in his hand for two minutes.

"That's because we're selling the extra aging potions, of course, my dear Ronnie."

Fred continued playfully, "If it works, it goes without saying; if it doesn't, we'll have to use other means, and we can make a fortune tomorrow."

The twins had been going crazy trying to make money lately because Bagman had screwed them out of their start-up capital.

And Ron felt he was going crazy now, They didn't even have confidence in the aging potion they were using to make him keep his mouth shut!

"Of course, if we find the right way, we'll take one of you," George said reassuringly before Ron could explode, "But by the same token, if Harry's invisibility cloak works, you'll have to lend it to us as well."

"No problem." Harry agreed.

Ron, who hadn't been able to make his temper show, stifled, but after muttering a few indignant words, he relented. After all, he and Harry had very little to do compared to the twins.

Then the twins turned back into magpies, slipped into Harry's invisibility cloak, and stood on Harry and Ron's shoulders respectively, led by them, followed by Fish and Hermione who turned into cats, they headed for the hall where the Goblet of Fire was located.