The Freely Floating Bottom Line

Evening, in an empty classroom at Hogwarts.

The dim, flickering oil lamp cast the shadows of the three people present obliquely onto the wall.

"I'm glad you came to us, Kyle, but we can't do this."

Fred lowered his head, hiding himself from the light.

"We've known each other for so many years, but this is the first time you've come to Hogwarts asking for our help. I can't even remember the last time we had a meal together."

"Last Wednesday," Kyle, sitting opposite him, paused slightly, thought for a moment, and said, "You wanted to sell my homework to Gryffindor freshmen."

"My friend, you rejected me very decisively back then."

George said calmly, "You have no idea how heartbroken we were when we left."

"I just don't need Professor McGonagall's confinement," Kyle said. "Bulk selling assignments? How could you even think of that? Do you think Professor McGonagall is Ron? You can't even find out about something like this?"

"Ahem... alright, even if what you said makes sense." Fred looked up and stared directly at Kyle, "Then why aren't you worried about whether Professor McGonagall will find out about us today?"

This isn't difficult; you can do it yourself, or just find someone in Hufflepuff, right?

"We're being watched very closely by Snape."

"I understand, they only think of us when it comes to the dirty work..."

George sighed. "You've found your place in Hufflepuff. You love it there, and the professors and students all love you."

To be frank, you may not need our friendship; you've never even called us "sir"!

"Stop talking nonsense, are you going to do it or not?" Kyle's lips twitched, and he said impatiently, "Gentlemen Weasley... I'll count to three, and if you don't answer, I'm going to find someone else."

"One!"

"Look at him, George, he's even threatening us!"

"Yeah, Fred, we're not falling for that."

"Two!"

"I think you can count faster."

Kyle didn't say anything, but simply reached into his pocket, pulled out a Winky card, and waved it in front of Fred and George.

"... three"

"We did it!"

Fred and George appeared on either side of Kyle behind him, immediately putting on smiling faces.

"Kyle, the card you just had, was it Agrippa?"

"Hmm..." Kyle nodded.

Fred pleaded, "Could I take one more look? Just one more look?"

Kyle took out the rare card again and waved it in front of the two of them.

Fred and George stared wide-eyed, their gazes following Kyle's arm as it swayed from side to side.

After looking at it for about ten seconds, Kyle put away the card and said to the two who were still eager for more, "See this Agrippa? After it's done..."

Before Kyle could finish speaking, George exclaimed with delight, "You're giving it to us?"

"You wish," Kyle said. "After it's all done, I can lend it to you for ten minutes."

"Ten days!" Fred said, frowning.

Nine minutes...

"No, it will take at least a week." This time it was George's turn.

"Five points..."

"One day, that's our bottom line!" the two said in unison.

"Make a deal."

Kyle reached out and gave the two of them a high five.

With the deal finalized, the next step is to discuss the specific plans.

"In fact, we never intended to refuse."

Fred chuckled and patted Kyle on the shoulder, saying, "Actually, we're always happy to do anything to make Slytherin suffer."

"However, you'll need to provide the props," George said. "Those things need to be custom-made and are very expensive; we can't afford them."

"Of course, I was prepared long ago."

Kyle took out a stack of Galleon and placed it on the table. "Here are twenty Galleon in total. That should be enough to buy those two things."

"Perfectly sufficient."

Fred picked up the Galleon from the table and gently stroked it in his hands... He had never seen so much money before.

Although he knew that Kyle had made a fortune buying maps recently, that was just a guess, and it was completely different from seeing so Galleon piled up together in person.

Is selling maps really that profitable?

"Kyle, we..."

George looked at the huge pile of Galleon in front of him, as if he had something to say.

Kyle gave him a puzzled look.

"Never mind, let's talk about it later." George for a moment, then shook his head and said:

"If it's twenty Galleon, Zonko's will definitely be able to deliver what you need on time."

Kyle didn't mind, and after discussing some more details with the two of them, he prepared to leave.

"I can't wait," Fred said excitedly. "Slytherin has really messed with you."

Kyle glanced at him and warned, "Don't talk nonsense. What does this have to do with me? I don't know anything about it."

"Ha, cunning Chopper."

"Ha, foolish Weasley."

After saying goodbye to Fred and George, Kyle didn't immediately return to the Hufflepuff Common Room, but instead wandered aimlessly for a while in the corridor on the third floor of the castle.

He needed to find a particular ghost; the Fat Friar told him that the ghost preferred to stay near the Defense Against the Dark Arts classroom.

However, Kyle wandered around here for more than ten minutes without finding anything.

Just as he was about to go back and come back the next morning, a balloon filled with liquid suddenly flew towards the back of his head.

Kyle tilted his head slightly, narrowly avoiding the attack.

The balloon hit the ground, emitting an unpleasant odor.

"Hehehe, you naughty first-grader, staying up all night instead of sleeping, tsk tsk tsk, naughty, you'll get arrested."

Suddenly, a dwarf appeared in mid-air, with a pair of evil black eyes and a big mouth, floating cross-legged in mid-air, holding two other balloons in his hands.

"Should I tell Filch? That big idiot and that brat, they're so funny."

Kyle stood there, looking at him with interest, and asked, "Are you Peeves?"

For a fleeting moment, a hint of doubt appeared in Peeves's small, dark eyes, but it quickly turned into anger.

The little brat didn't run away when he saw him; he clearly looked down on him. How could he tolerate that?

He tossed the remaining two balloons at Kyle. "That's right, I am the great Peeves. I'm going to tell Filch about your nighttime outings, and he'll lock you up."

He said in a very serious tone, "I'm going to tell him that this is for your own good, you know?"

Kyle took out his wand, tossed the two balloons aside, and said calmly, "I agree with you, but there are still five minutes until curfew, so it doesn't count as a night stroll. Besides, I came here specifically to see you."

"You came here specifically to see me?"

Peeves was somewhat surprised; it was rare to see a young wizard at Hogwarts actively seeking him out.

"Yes." Kyle looked around and lowered his voice, "I have an idea, and I wonder if you'd be interested in getting involved..."