Adam found the twins by the stairs. They were quite proper about it and had not waited at the entrance to the Hufflepuff dormitory.
"Did you need something from me?"
"Oh! Adam, you're finally here, my friend!"
One of the twins' eyes lit up when he saw Adam, and he strode over with his arms spread wide.
Faced with such an enthusiastic welcome, Adam could not help taking half a step back.
"Hey! Fred, you scared him."
George hooked an arm around his brother's collar and pulled him back.
"Ahem, all right, then let's be a little more reserved."
Fred cleared his throat. He and George looked at Adam and said in unison:
"My dear friend, would you be interested in joining the great enterprise of Fred and George?"
"...A great enterprise?"
Adam raised an eyebrow. Weren't these two only good at pranks?
"Yes!"
The two of them produced a pile of brightly colored sweets as if by magic.
"These are Fred and George's great inventions!"
Fred picked up a sweet and said smugly:
"With just one of these, you'll start spurting nosebleeds, letting you skip class openly and honestly!"
"One thing to note is that your health won't be affected at all during the process. Of course, it's best if you put on a weak and sickly act."
George added.
The two then introduced the other sweets: some made people vomit, some gave them fevers, and some knocked them unconscious... They called them Skiving Snackboxes.
"Well? Aren't they super-great inventions? Don't they make you want to buy them just by hearing about them?"
For most students, these might indeed have been extremely practical tools for skipping class, but clearly, the two had not done much research on Adam beforehand.
"These sweets certainly... are quite innovative. So what did you come to me for?"
Adam suddenly had a rather unpleasant suspicion.
"Let me make this clear first: I won't help you sell these things. I want the food I sell to bring people happiness."
"Our inventions bring people happiness too!"
After defending their inventions, Fred waved a hand.
"But that's not what we came to ask you about. In fact, as far as we're concerned, they're nowhere near finished products yet."
"That's right. Although we've given these Skiving Snackboxes all sorts of practical effects, they don't taste anything like sweets. You can tell something is wrong the moment you smell them, never mind the flavor. They have none of the subtlety we planned for."
The brothers sighed together.
"We've spent almost as much time working on the flavoring as we have on preparing the ingredients!"
"Want to try one?"
"No, thank you."
Adam decisively refused the sweets they offered and roughly guessed why they had come to him.
"So you came to me to... flavor these prank tools?"
"That's right! That's why we came to you, the candy-making expert!"
All four eyes shone as they looked at Adam.
"You can even make sweets shaped like Hogwarts! What a genius talent! If we work together, these Skiving Snackboxes will definitely sell like hotcakes!"
"Actually, there's more than that. We have lots more great ideas, but while working on the Skiving Snackboxes, we realized that making these things properly takes more than genius prank ideas. It also requires other talents, like cooking..."
"With you on board, we can turn even more ideas into reality!"
After hearing the last line the two said in unison, Adam considered it.
"It's not completely impossible. It does sound like these would sell well."
At those words, smiles had already appeared on the brothers' faces.
"But how much are you planning to pay me? You can't expect me to work for free, can you?"
"Ahem—we would never do something like that!"
Although they had never planned to make Adam work for nothing, the cash-strapped twins' eyes darted about.
Before coming here, they might not have asked about Adam's studies, but they had clearly looked into his business. Even when Adam had only sold within Hufflepuff at low prices, his earning power had still seemed astonishing to them.
After all, Adam's profits had been small, but his sales volume had been huge. Almost all of Hufflepuff had been his customers, and Hufflepuff was the largest house at Hogwarts.
"Although we don't have much money right now, we can give you a share of the profits!"
Adam was indeed more interested upon hearing that. The fact that they had thought to use this method to bring him in showed that the twins had seriously considered the matter.
Were they already seriously thinking of turning their hobby of pranks into a future career?
"You can see the future potential of Skiving Snackboxes, can't you? Once this product launches, the other students will definitely scramble to buy it!"
"We can make this product our first joint project. We'll give you thir... forty percent of the profit from every sweet! And if things go well, we can start more collaborations."
It had to be said that what the twins were doing now was a little like entrepreneurs trying to convince investors with a pie-in-the-sky PowerPoint presentation. Except these two did not even have a PowerPoint; they were selling the dream with nothing but their mouths. Worse, they had brought the half-finished product directly to Adam, their possible investor, without holding anything back.
Perhaps Adam's little shop had inspired them, prompting them to try making a profit from prank items earlier and with greater urgency.
After listening to their proposal, Adam fell into thought.
It had to be said that this dream was certainly tempting. Even setting aside his fondness for the amusing twins from what he had seen before, this business was a guaranteed profit for Adam.
After all, he knew that Weasleys' Wizard Wheezes would do extraordinarily well in the future, especially the Skiving Snackboxes.
The only issue was that joining them would mean he genuinely had to put effort into flavoring the sweets. Was it worth that effort? This was not something that could be easily solved with the magic of the Sweet Card. He had no intention of teaching the Sweet Card's magic to anyone else, but he could hardly have every batch of sweets sent to him for handling before leaving the factory, could he?
If profit were the only consideration, then putting effort into flavoring these sweets would certainly be worthwhile. But honestly, Adam did not lack money. Even if he did not run his little shop, his parents' restaurant and tavern would be enough to let him live comfortably for centuries, not to mention that the Sorcerer's Stone could turn stone into gold.
The twins saw how much money he made selling desserts, but in truth, his purpose in selling them was much like cooking for himself. The enjoyment he got from it was the main reason he did these things.
Flavoring these prank sweets...
As Adam thought, his brow furrowed tighter and tighter, while the twins' hearts rose ever higher.
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