The Battle of Hogwarts

Chapter 816: The Battle of Hogwarts

Just as Silvan had said, solving Fred and George's problem was no trouble at all. All it took was a slight adjustment to the order of several runes on the parchment to maximize the speed of magical transmission.

Although the parchment design was still somewhat crude and nowhere near as perfect as a wand, it was far better than before—at least there was no perceptible delay at all. That was exactly the effect Fred and George wanted.

"Thank you so much, Silvan," Fred said. "We've set up over a hundred traps. If every one of them took several seconds to activate, that would be awful."

Silvan froze for a moment and looked up in disbelief. "Wait, how many traps did you say you made?"

"Over a hundred—probably," George said after thinking it over. "Maybe more. After all, plenty of Ravenclaw and Hufflepuff students still haven't come to us for help."

"Did you hollow out Hogwarts?"

"You flatter us. It wasn't entirely our work," Fred said with a grin. "Your advice was important too, remember? You suggested that Seamus and the others do whatever they could."

Silvan opened his mouth, but before he could say anything, a violent explosion sounded from downstairs.

The Death Eaters had still forced their way in. The first casualties in the castle lay in the corridor before the entrance hall—the two gargoyles that usually guarded the professors' offices had been hit by spells from outside and shattered into pieces. Their fragments twitched feebly across the floor.

"I only found out today that these things are alive," Fred said, raising an eyebrow slightly. "Do you think it'll remember that I once stuck chewed Drooble's Best Blowing Gum to its back?"

"I don't think you need to worry about that at all,"