"Hiss!" Xenophilius grunted. He no longer had the mind to worry about his eyes and started scratching at his hair again. "This is giving me such a headache!"
Seeing Xenophilius's troubled expression, Fred could not help but say, "How about... we just pretend none of this ever happened?"
"How could we?" Xenophilius immediately refuted him. "This will spread sooner or later!"
"Lupin and the others just said that they heard about Vizet's disappearance from North America. Even if the Ministry of Magic intends to keep the news under wraps for now..."
"What George actually meant was..." George cut in. "How about we pretend you never wrote Luna that letter?"
"Huh?" Xenophilius froze, pointing at his own nose in confusion. "Pretend I never wrote her a letter?"
George spread his hands and nodded. "Exactly! Before Luna gets here, we slip away. Once Luna actually comes into the room, there'll be no escaping!"
"Hiss!" Xenophilius sucked in a breath. "Now that you put it that way, it actually... does make a lot of sense!"
He had to admit that, at least at that moment, Fred and George's suggestion truly tempted him.
Fred continued, "Right? Once we've slipped away, if Luna comes over and finds you aren't here..."
"She'll probably write to you then. You can just say... say that you never wrote her a letter. At least that'll let you muddle through this."
Neville shrank back, his voice trembling slightly as he asked, "Isn't that... a little bad?"
"Of course it's bad!" Xenophilius quickly shook his head, his tone becoming firm.
"As a father, how could I do something like that? I really did write her a letter. How can I pretend this never happened?"
"All right!" Fred and George leaned back in unison, fully resting against their chair backs.
They spread