Back at the castle, Charlie arrived just in time for lunch.
Quite a few students had already gathered in the Great Hall, and the four House tables were laden with delicious food.
Charlie headed for the Hufflepuff table and took an empty seat.
"Charlie! Where have you been?" Ernie spotted him and hurried over.
"We've been looking for you for ages."
"Just wandering around, getting to know the castle."
Charlie answered casually and picked up a roasted chicken leg.
Justin was in the middle of a standoff with a chess piece. When he saw Charlie return, his eyes lit up at once:
"Charlie, want to play an exciting game of Wizard Chess?"
"No, I'm allergic to Wizard Chess."
Charlie took a bite of the chicken leg and mumbled through his mouthful. He was absolutely starving; he hadn't even had breakfast.
"Huh? All right, I'll ask someone else."
Justin's spirits immediately sank. Clutching the Wizard Chess set, he went to eat in a corner, looking dejected.
Ernie smiled.
"I just taught him how to play Wizard Chess, so he's really into it now."
Charlie nodded. Well, he was allergic to Wizard Chess, too.
Ever since an old man at the park had given him a rook, a knight, and a cannon—and then utterly crushed him, he'd been allergic to all kinds of chess.
Just then, the system's voice suddenly rang out in his mind.
[Congratulations, Your Majesty! Filch triggered a bomb. Tyrant Points +20!]
Charlie nearly choked on his chicken leg. This was the first time he'd gotten so many Tyrant Points at once.
Before this, he'd only been building them up slowly, one or two at a time. This time, he'd hit the jackpot.
He was so excited he nearly jumped up, but outwardly he stayed composed and kept chewing on his chicken leg.
"What's wrong?" Ernie noticed Charlie's odd reaction.
"Nothing. This chicken leg is just so good." Charlie hurriedly made up an excuse.
Just then, the doors to the Great Hall were flung open, and a brightly colored figure rushed inside.
Every student turned to look, then burst into laughter.
Filch was covered from head to toe in rainbow colors—red, yellow, blue, green, all mixed together until he looked like a walking paint palette.
His hair was multicolored too, and paint kept dripping from it.
Even funnier, he was holding a battered toilet seat, which was splattered with paint in every color as well.
"Hahahaha! Filch has turned into a rainbow!"
"What happened? Did he fall into a paint bucket?"
"That's hilarious! I'm dying!"
Laughter rose from every side, and the whole Great Hall erupted.
It was no wonder all the students were laughing. Filch was simply too unpleasant.
He'd even suggested that Dumbledore bring back punishments from the old days and discipline students with Iron Chains. The Weasley brothers had also found all sorts of instruments of punishment in his room.
Someone like that was never going to be popular with the students.
Filch trembled with rage and strode straight toward the Gryffindor table, making a beeline for Fred and George.
"You! You did this!"
Filch roared furiously and slammed the battered toilet seat down on the table.
Fred and George exchanged a glance, then put on innocent expressions.
"Mr. Filch, what makes you say that?" Fred asked, feigning confusion.
"We've been here eating the whole time. We haven't done anything." George put on an aggrieved expression, too.
"Still trying to deny it!" Filch was so angry his face turned green—oh, right, he was already green.
"You tampered with my toilet!"
At that moment, Professor McGonagall heard the commotion and hurried over.
Seeing Filch in such a state, she pressed her lips tightly together, her expression grim.
She had a bad feeling this had something to do with the Weasley Twins.
"What happened?" Professor McGonagall asked sternly.
"Professor! They tampered with my toilet!"
Filch pointed at Fred and George, his voice rising with rage.
"I sat down, and it exploded! It covered me from head to toe!"
Professor McGonagall first waved her Wand. A clear stream of water gushed from its tip, rinsing Filch from head to toe.
The paint washed away, and Filch finally returned to his normal skin tone.
Fred's face flickered with disappointment as he watched.
He'd been hoping to see Filch in rainbow colors all week. He hadn't expected Professor McGonagall to clean him up so quickly.
"Mr. Weasley, was this your doing?" Professor McGonagall turned to the Twins, her tone stern.
"Of course not!" Fred denied at once.
"Professor, we're innocent!"
"Exactly. We've been eating in the Great Hall the whole time. How could we have tampered with Filch's toilet?"
George hurriedly defended himself, too.
Filch gave a cold laugh and flipped over the toilet seat.
"Still trying to deny it? Take a look at this!"
On the underside of the toilet seat, a line of gold lettering read:
"Weasley presents the most creative magical prank."
Fred and George saw the words and looked chagrined.
"Oh no, we forgot to remove the label," Fred muttered.
"Now we're done for." George looked just as miserable.
Professor McGonagall's expression darkened further when she saw the evidence.
The proof was undeniable. She could no longer make excuses for these two students—and she didn't want to.
"Mr. Weasley, do you have anything to say for yourselves?"
Professor McGonagall's voice was cold enough to freeze.
Fred and George exchanged a glance, knowing there was no point denying it anymore.
"Fine, we did it," Fred admitted reluctantly.
"Mr. Filch was always picking on us last term, so we wanted to get back at him."
"That's no excuse for playing pranks!" Professor McGonagall snapped.
"Gryffindor loses fifty points!"
"Fred and George, one month of detention each!"
The entire Great Hall fell silent.
The Gryffindor students stared in shock. It was only the first day of term, and their House had already lost fifty points, putting it straight into the negatives!
"Fifty points?" one Gryffindor student cried.
"That's way too many!"
"We're doomed. We'll never win the House Cup now."
"A month of detention? Great Gorgons, Professor McGonagall is really angry."
Fred and George looked chagrined, their heads bowed as though regretting what they'd done.
But Fred turned his head and secretly exchanged a glance with Charlie.
They both had smiles in their eyes.
They hadn't forgotten to remove the label at all. They'd left it there on purpose.
It was like putting a giant advertisement for their prank product in front of the whole school.
Now everyone knew just how good the Weasley Twins were at pranks. Plenty of people would come to them for custom orders in the future.
As for House Points, what did Gryffindor losing points have to do with their own Gryffindor?
Charlie nearly burst out laughing. Those two were really something.
On the surface, they'd been caught red-handed, but this was actually their marketing strategy.
"Enough! Everyone be quiet!" Seeing the students still whispering, Professor McGonagall roared like a furious lion.
"Mr. Weasley, come to my office at eight tonight. We need to have a serious talk!"
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