Chapter 252: Is Leonardo Interested in Valentine's Day?
"How does it look?"
"Er, they've gotten smaller, and whiter too, no, wait, they've shrunk down to almost nothing!"
Harry's panicked cry rang out through the Room of Requirement.
Watching the teeth in Ron's mouth rapidly shrinking, Harry scratched at his head in a flurry, even whipping out his wand to cast something at Ron.
But this was where Harry's true Gryffindor nature showed itself, because he didn't actually know any spell for restoring teeth; drawing his wand was just so much waving and gesturing.
Ron, by contrast, was a good deal calmer and waved a hand.
"Relax, worst case we just make another trip to the hospital wing. Madam Pomfrey and I are practically old friends by now!"
Ron's voice was gradually taking on the sound of an old man who'd lost all his teeth, and his expression seemed a touch gentler for it.
Thanks to all the new prank gadgets he'd tested for the twins, whenever a symptom cropped up that wouldn't go away on its own, they'd haul Ron off to "pay a visit" to Madam Pomfrey. By now, he was a regular at the hospital wing.
And although every visit came with a thorough scolding from Madam Pomfrey, all three Weasleys were perfectly happy to carry on.
Ron might look calm now, but he'd shown his Gryffindor recklessness only moments earlier. While Harry was still hesitating, Ron had already downed the potion in a single gulp. The part he'd left unsaid was that it smelled pleasantly sweet, nothing like a poison, and besides, Madam Pomfrey was there as a safety net.
It wasn't so much a physical tolerance as a psychological one.
Harry couldn't help clapping a hand to his forehead. With a flick of his wand, he packed the potion tools into a shrinking rucksack, then made to take Ron to the hospital wing.
He felt his potion improvements were always just short of something, and he simply couldn't work out how to make the breakthrough. He could hardly go and consult Snape, after all…
Harry pictured the scene and found it strange just to imagine it.
"So this is where you all are?"
Harry's thoughts were interrupted by the voice that came out of nowhere, and at the same time, he felt a hand settle onto his shoulder. Instinctively, he turned to look, and Ron turned around with him.
"Leonardo?!!"
Seeing that familiar face, Harry and Ron were both stunned, thinking they'd started hallucinating.
Hadn't he gone off to that foreign land, to Beauxbatons, for the exchange match? How was he suddenly back?
Ron couldn't help frowning, eyeing Leonardo suspiciously.
"George? Fred? Have you two cooked up some new prank invention again?"
You couldn't really blame Ron for reacting that way. The twins had spent this whole stretch of time messing about with all sorts of strange magical gadgets, including something that turned you into the likeness of someone else…
Leonardo glanced from Harry to Ron, lingering in particular on the latter's gap-toothed grin, every word accompanied by a faint whistle. Then he casually raised his wand and gave Ron a light tap.
The uneven teeth in Ron's mouth were restored in an instant, good as new, even straighter and whiter than before.
Watching this, Harry's mouth twitched. He couldn't help wondering whether he should just ask Snape after all. Otherwise, when was that potion ever going to be finished? At worst, he'd just have to drink a few more bottles of eyesight-clearing potion and finally get rid of his glasses...
With his teeth back to normal, Ron clicked them together a few times. They felt sturdier than before, and even the cavity that had just formed seemed to have vanished.
Ron was now completely certain that the person standing before him wasn't Fred or George in disguise. If it had been the twins and they'd seen the sorry state he'd been in a moment earlier, they'd have laughed themselves silly first, then marched him around the castle a few times before finally taking him to the hospital wing, rather than casually fixing everything with a wave of a wand.
"Leonardo, how come you're back? Isn't the exchange match still several days off?"
"Mm, I snuck back in secret," Leonardo said, holding the index finger of his right hand up before his lips. "There are a few things I've come back to deal with. Could you two do me a favour?"
Curious as they were about how Leonardo had "snuck" back and about his time at Beauxbatons, Harry and Ron agreed to his request first.
Leonardo then handed the two of them several thick stacks of survey questionnaires and explained what they needed to do.
"Help me hand these out to the other students. Don't worry about collecting them. Once they're filled in, they'll make their own way back here..."
As he spoke, Leonardo produced a pink letterbox and handed it to Harry. He was just about to explain how the alchemical letterbox worked when—
"Squawk, squawk!!!"
Even Leonardo started at the sudden, bizarre cry. Turning towards the sound, he saw a metal contraption shaped like an owl waddling across the floor, its rear end wobbling incessantly.
In truth, aside from its shape, nothing about it—not its cry nor the way it moved—was remotely owl-like.
His face burning with embarrassment, Ron lunged over and scooped the owl up.
Reckoning he still needed to find some other familiar classmates to help out, Leonardo said a quick goodbye and hurried out of the Room of Requirement.
Only then did Harry and Ron take a proper look at the thick pile of paper. Seeing a whole heap of questions about Valentine's Day, they couldn't help lifting their heads to look at each other, each finding the same bewilderment in the other's eyes.
Was Leonardo really that interested in Valentine's Day?