Children, This Isn't Funny

Molly was deeply worried about these conflicting opinions.

She certainly hopes her child can make progress, but she hopes even more that her child won't be so tired.

Parents' hearts are always full of love and worry; there is no one like them.

After sitting at the Weasley family for a while, the Mr. and Mrs. Malfoy took their leave.

After all, Mr. Weasley wouldn't be back anytime soon, and the two of them were out of place in the Burrow.

Of course, when they left, they didn't take Draco with them. Instead, they simply told him, "I'll have Dobby clothes," and then left the Burrow.

"Your mother doesn't want you anymore," Fred whispered.

"You're talking nonsense!" Draco raised his head indignantly.

"Your dad is too," George said gleefully from the side.

Draco:...

Then, the Twins were each hit with a frying pan by Molly.

"Don't be so rude!" Molly glared at them. "They're just letting Mr. Malfoy and Harry go back to Black family home together!"

That makes sense. Narcissa originally intended to send the child back, but Lucius insisted that the child should stay with Harry and learn some useful Charms in his spare time.

Narcissa switched sides in an instant. After all, in the current perilous Magical World, learning a few survival skills from a legendary wizard was a good idea.

That evening, Arthur returned to the Burrow, followed by a sullen Percy.

"What's wrong with you?" Molly asked Percy with concern.

Percy remained silent, his head bowed as if deep in thought.

When he lowered his head, he was muttering to himself, looking like he was talking nonsense.

"It's nothing, just a little hiccup," Arthur said softly. After Percy returned to his room and closed the door, he continued, "Contrary to what he expected, Old Barty Crouch didn't like him very much, at least not immediately... I could even sense that he was a little unhappy."

"Why?" Molly asked, frowning. "After all, Percy graduated with twelve 'O's, so why is he unhappy?"

"Perhaps it's because of his son," Arthur said. "Barty Crouch Jr. was Ravenclaw with twelve O's, but what happened? He still sided with the Dark Lord. Old Barty almost became Minister for Magic, but then this happened, and Fudge got the job for nothing..."

"There's such a story?" Sirius asked with interest. "Before I went to jail, I always heard that Old Barty handled a lot of Death Eater cases and almost became Minister for Magic..."

"What can you say about that?" Arthur said cheerfully. "Anyway... at least it's not a bad thing, right?"

He quickly changed the subject, saying, "Alright, Sirius — the Quidditch World Cup is coming up soon, are you planning to watch it with us? I've invited Mr. Granger, Hermione's father, he's very interested in such a grand event... You know, as the parent of a young wizard, he has the privilege of not having his memory erased."

"I wouldn't mind coming along," Sirius said, glancing back at Harry chatting with Cassandra. "But we have a lot of people, so we should get a private box instead of crammed in outside like this."

Upon hearing Sirius's words, Arthur slapped his forehead.

He's rich now, a far cry from the poor family he once was, where he'd split a single Knut in half to make ends meet.

"You're right, Sirius." Arthur nodded quickly and said, "How about this, I'll go ask Ludo Bagman, he has a way—yes, he assured me, he can get the tickets..."

"Ludo Bagman?" Sirius thought the name sounded familiar.

"Oh, he used to be Chaser for the Wimbourne Wasps," Arthur introduced Ludo Bagman to Sirius. "Around the time you went to jail, he retired and came to the Ministry of Magic, where he is now the Head of Department of the Department of Magical Games and Sports."

"I see." Sirius nodded knowingly. "In that case, it seems he wasn't exaggerating after all—or if you have time, could you introduce us? We can sit down and talk about the private room."

"Okay," Arthur nodded in response.

"If I remember correctly," Fred said, looking down at George, "Percy should be preparing to pass the exam, right? You know, the Apparition exam—he's reached the age, and I saw him talking about it all day at dinner yesterday... I bet the way he was looking down, he was thinking about it."

"You have to pass a test to Apparition?" Draco asked with interest.

"Oh, yes," Arthur said, sitting down in a chair nearby. "Your father probably told you about it, right? One day, the Department of Magical Transportation fined two people for Apparition without a license. It's not an easy thing to do; if you do it wrong, it can cause a lot of trouble, and it's really annoying—the two I'm talking about ended up being beheaded."

"A split?" Draco asked curiously.

"They left half their bodies behind," Arthur said, picking up a teapot from the table and pouring plenty of tea into a cup. "So, naturally, they were stuck there, unable to move, waiting for the Department of Magical Accidents and Catastrophes to handle it. Let me tell you, that means preparing a ton of paperwork, since those Muggle saw their mangled bodies..."

"I hope they're alright," Sirius said gleefully.

"They're fine, of course, but they were heavily fined. I doubt they'll act hastily again." Arthur then turned to the group and said very seriously, "Children, you must never take Apparition. Many adult wizards don't want to get involved in this; they prefer to use a broom—it's slower, but safer."

Is a broom safe? Well, compared to Apparition, it is indeed safe.

After spending the night at the Burrow, the group returned to the Black family home.

This time, the Weasley twins and Draco also joined them.

As Sirius reached the door, he was about to open it when he suddenly turned back and warned, "Yes, you—you have to be careful. My mother used Permanent Sticking Charm to fix her portrait to the wall. I hope you won't be scared; she's just a portrait now."

"Don't worry, Sirius," the twins chuckled. "We're not sure who's scaring whom yet."

Although Sirius only spent half a year at the school, he still got to experience the Weasley twins' whimsical ideas.

Hmm... that makes sense, they're not even sure who's scaring whom.

As soon as they opened the door, they saw Walburga Black sleeping in the portrait, wearing a nightcap.

Upon feeling the sunlight hitting his face, Walburga angrily opened his eyes.

Upon seeing that it was Sirius, she merely mumbled a few words and yawned.

Sirius then remembered that his mother's temper was much better now; she was no longer the kind of person who would fight anyone she saw.

Walburga saw through the identities of these "Pure-blood traitors" from the Weasley family at a glance.

The problem is that Harry Potter has a good relationship with these Weasley, so Walburga turns a blind eye to it.

However, she was clearly very satisfied when she saw a platinum blonde head mixed in with the crowd.

That's so distinctive, you can tell at a glance it's definitely a Malfoy.

After exchanging a few simple pleasantries with Draco, Walburga went back to sleep.

"Alright, kids," Sirius raised his hand in a kingly manner, "Go pick your own rooms—I mean the rooms without names on the door numbers. Some of those rooms are already taken, like Harry's, like Ron's— "

"Okay, Sirius!"

After the Weasley twins finished speaking, they exchanged a glance and ran away.

While running, he didn't forget to shout, "Hurry up, or all the good ones will be taken!"

Hearing his words, Draco panicked and took off running after him.

Nobody wants to pick up what others have left over, no matter what they do.

At dinner, Fred and George sheepishly approached Sirius and pulled out a bunch of colorful candies from their pockets.

"These are another of your prank props, aren't they?" Sirius picked up a piece of candy with interest. "I remember your Instant Class-Skipping Candy was pretty good... Tell me, what do they do?"

"Tongue-Tying Toffee." The twins exchanged a glance and said in unison, "Eating it will make your tongue swell up—"

"Kids, this isn't funny." Sirius put down the candy. "You should know that an overly swollen tongue can cause suffocation. Pranks themselves are fine, but when it comes to someone's life..."

"Of course we know," the Weasley twins said quickly. "Don't worry, Sirius, the candy will be fine—at least it won't kill you from a swollen tongue. We always experiment with pranks near Madam Pomfrey's Hospital Wing..."

"Living so close to the Hospital Wing, are you worried about something happening to you?" Sirius looked at the two of them with a half-smile.

The Twins nodded together, joking. Although they enjoyed playing pranks, they didn't want anyone to die.

"These little things are nice." Sirius picked up a candy, and under the admiring gazes of the Twins, unwrapped it and popped it into his mouth. "The taste is pretty good too, hmm... let me see how it goes..."

As he spoke, Sirius's tongue quickly swelled up and drooped out, as if it had been soaked in water for several days.

He couldn't speak, but that didn't stop him from giving a thumbs up.

After a while, the prank's effect wore off.

"I must admit, this little gadget is really great," Sirius chuckled, praising. "If I didn't know your grades in school, I would definitely advise you to focus your energy on developing these novel gadgets instead of wasting it on studying."

"But Mom thinks we're just messing around with useless stuff," Fred said, shrugging helplessly. "Yesterday she even confiscated all our ingredients. If it weren't for our tacit agreement to hide some of the Tongue-Tying Toffee, she would have taken all of it."

"Yes, Mom just wants us to study hard instead of spending all our time researching these useless things," George chimed in. "She wants us to be like Bill or Charlie, to find a respectable job, like Curses Specialist at Gringotts in Egypt, or raising dragons in Romania..."

"But that's not the only way out, kids," Sirius said, spreading his hands. "Perhaps that's the lifestyle Molly wants, but it's not what you like—believe me, I know better than anyone how parents force you to do things you don't like."

Sirius continued, "Actually, opening a shop in Diagon Alley wouldn't be bad, just selling your little trinkets—I know you guys were quite popular at school, lots of people bought your products...maybe after you graduate, you could work in this field?"

"This..."

The Twins were clearly tempted; mischief was in their souls.

Compared to a monotonous job where the end of life is predictable, they yearn for this kind of unbridled freedom.

"Trust me," Sirius said. "Zonko's Joke Shop hasn't updated its products in a long time. I can't even remember when they last updated their products. Maybe it was fifteen years ago? Twenty years ago? At least when we were in school, they were already selling these things, and they haven't changed at all over the years."

"Prank products need to be constantly iterated. If you keep relying on the same old tricks, everyone will get tired of them eventually." Sirius concluded, "So this is the time when the market needs you. Don't worry about Molly's opinion. As long as you achieve results and show her that you can live well without going to work, that's enough."

"You're right, Sirius." The twins' gazes gradually hardened, and it was clear that they had been completely convinced by Sirius.

Actually, they had this idea before, but Sirius's words catalyzed it.

"Then we need to save money now," Fred said with a chuckle. "Fortunately, we've accumulated quite a bit of savings over the years selling prank merchandise—thanks to Harry's advice two years ago... At least we have enough for the rent, so... our next goal is to start saving."

"Go for it!" George's eyes blazed with excitement. "Maybe we can publicize the success of our pranks during this World Cup, what do you say, Fred?"

"That's right!" Fred patted George on the shoulder heavily. "Let all the wizards in the world witness the magical tricks of the Weasley brothers from Britain!"

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(End of this chapter)