The room immediately fell silent—naturally, nobody was about to step up. Everyone was glancing at each other, all putting on the most innocent faces, like nothing at all had happened.
"I saw it, Professor Karkaroff." At that moment, a Slytherin student pointed in a direction and said, "It was Fred Weasley, he said it."
"Hey, I'm George. Can you at least tell us apart before you start blaming people?" Fred grumbled, pulling a face.
"So, was it you just now, Mr. Weasley?" Professor McGonagall asked.
"Of course not." Fred put on an exaggerated expression.
George nodded, "I was in Transfiguration just a minute ago! I don't even know what happened."
"I can vouch for that," Professor McGonagall said, "They really were in my Transfiguration Class."
"Slandering your fellow housemate..." Sirius plowed through the crowd, sounding fierce, "Slytherin, minus ten points. Maybe it was you who said that, too, Millicent Bagnold."
"It wasn't me! I didn't do anything!" Millicent shouted, "You're making things up—"
"Ah, disrespecting a professor..." Sirius raised an eyebrow, "Slytherin, another ten points down."
Millicent was about to lose it. She looked to the others for help, but the nearby Slytherins all immediately edged away from her.
Read the room, why don't you! Still dumb enough to suck up to Karkaroff at a time like this—how did someone like that even get sorted into Slytherin?
She really belonged in Hufflepuff!
"What an absolute idiot." A few Slytherins cast her a look of disgust, then turned and left.
And throughout the whole thing, Professor McGonagall hadn't said a word. Only when Sirius docked points for the second time did she finally frown and say, "You're being a bit too harsh with the points, Professor Black."
"Really? I'll keep an eye on it next time," Sirius replied with a shrug, completely unfazed.
"And Filch," Professor McGonagall continued, "For the next few days... let Mrs Norris have a good rest. I've noticed she's gotten a lot skinnier; some downtime would do her good."
Filch's face had gone so red it was almost purple. He shot Karkaroff a look that was pure venom, and only after a long moment did he grumble a reply.
Karkaroff didn't care at all... Just a squib who had to rely on cleaning supplies and a mop to tidy up the castle. If he was at Durmstrang, someone like that wouldn't even be allowed through the door.
Still, he kept his mouth shut, because over on the staircase, Professor Moody was now hobbling toward them.
Karkaroff could ignore Professor McGonagall and brush off Sirius, but Professor Moody—well, that was a different story. Running into him was the last thing he wanted.
Yet just as he was about to lead the students out of the entrance hall, a round little ball suddenly came flying out of the crowd.
Karkaroff knew that thing all too well. Because of it, he'd barely eaten for half a month.
Once is bad enough, but again...? Did they really think he was dumb enough to get hit by the same trick twice?
Karkaroff whipped out his wand on the spot and flicked it casually.
The Dungbomb burst in mid-air, spraying a splatter of greenish-brown goo everywhere. People instantly fled, holding their noses as they ran.
Even Professor McGonagall had to hold her breath, pulling out her wand to try and clear away the stench.
But the very next second, the slime suddenly drew together, then shot straight at Karkaroff like an arrow.
Karkaroff was still busy feeling clever—he never saw it coming. The stuff splattered all over his face. The worst part? His mouth was open, laughing.
And so...
"Urgh—"
The entrance hall echoed with an earsplitting sound of retching. Karkaroff bolted, one hand clamped over his mouth, the other cradling his belly, scrambling out in full retreat. The students with him scrambled after.
The crowd exploded with laughter at the sight.
"Quiet," Professor McGonagall said—but the corners of her mouth were twitching too.
She looked straight at Fred and George; this time she saw it clearly: they were definitely the ones who threw the Dungbomb.
"Gryffindor, minus two points... Don't let this happen again."
...
"What a harsh punishment."
Once in the auditorium, Fred grumbled in a low voice.
"But it was just two points, wasn't it?" Conna asked, not getting why he was upset. "And Professor McGonagall didn't even give you detention. That's already pretty nice."
"You don't get it." George sighed. "Because of those two points, Gryffindor just dropped from third place all the way to dead last. It's all our fault..."
Kael couldn't help sneaking a look at the scoring hourglasses in the corner of the auditorium...
Hufflepuff was so far ahead you'd need a broomstick to catch up. Then came Ravenclaw.
But Gryffindor and Slytherin lagged hopelessly behind; even if you combined their scores, it still wouldn't add up to half of Ravenclaw's total.
All thanks to Snape and Sirius. If point-deduction were a contest, those two would take home gold and silver for sure.
"By the way, how'd you do it?" Cedric asked, curious. "You could actually control the Dungbomb?"
"That's the magic of Weasleys' Wizard Wheezes!"
Fred grinned. "We upgraded the Dungbomb so it would bounce a second time after it exploded."
"Like a Chocolate Frog." George added, "We actually got the idea while eating candy."
"The downside is, it only jumps once more, and you can't change its direction—so if it misses, you're out of luck..."
"But that's a minor flaw... And you all saw it—even the headmaster from Durmstrang fell for it! Proof that our invention totally works."
"We're planning to sell these Dungbombs along with Skiving Snackboxes as the very first products for Weasleys' Wizard Wheezes."
"No, they should be the star products! Karkaroff himself just gave us the best advertisement ever."
"He's already spread the legend of our special Dungbombs far and wide..."
"Next time, we'll see if we can get him to try out a different Skiving Snackbox." George put on his most devilish grin. "Ideally, he'll get to test each kind—personally."
"I'm warning you lot, you'd better go easy," Kael shook his head. "One more stunt like that and Professor McGonagall probably won't let you off so easily next time."
"Durmstrang is still a guest at Hogwarts, and Karkaroff's a headmaster. You still have to give him a bit of face."
"That's no problem." Fred answered, full of confidence. "We already have a plan. Nobody'll catch us."
Seeing the two of them looking so pleased with themselves, Kael didn't bother saying more.
As long as you don't get caught red-handed, it's fine. At most the professors will suspect you, maybe dock a few points or stick you in detention or something.
Detention for Fred and George is just a walk in the park—it's like being sent home for them, honestly. And as for getting points docked... well, if Gryffindor still has any left by then.
The auditorium was still buzzing as everyone talked about what just went down—they were all in high spirits.
Even Harry and the others, who didn't care for Karkaroff's smug attitude, had to admit he'd finally done something good... He got Mrs Norris kicked out of the castle.
At least as far as they were concerned, that was a win.
Harry and Ron had already lost count of how many times that cat caught them over the years.
Every time it happened, Filch would show up in a flash, yelling at them for making noise or running around dirtying up the castle floors...
They lost a full year's worth of points every school year, all thanks to that.
And whenever they snuck around at night, Harry's worst nightmare was bumping into Mrs Norris—Invisibility Cloak or not, it didn't work on cats.
So now, any time he saw a cat in the hallways, his heart would start pounding and he'd want to run for it on reflex.
It was almost a trained instinct by now.
Well, now that problem was finally solved.
Harry, Ron, and just about everyone else, felt like a huge weight had finally been lifted.
From now on, they didn't have to worry about Mrs Norris suddenly leaping out at them. Sure, Filch was still around, but alone he'd never be as efficient as before, and they could dodge him that much easier.
With this in mind, the auditorium turned downright festive, everyone celebrating together like it was Christmas.