I Have an Idea

Fred suddenly sat up straight, his eyes blazing. Turning to George, he said, "George, look at me! I have an idea..."

George turned to him with a knowing smile. "What a coincidence. I've got an idea too..."

Fred swept out an arm, pointing at the competitors bent over calculations and diagrams, and said:

"Look at them, all cut from the same cloth! Calculating, drawing, testing over and over... Merlin's beard, of course it's important! Of course it works! But it's just too..."

"...Too boring!" George said. "No surprises at all!"

Fred nodded sharply. "So why can't we be more direct? More... well... instinctive?"

"The 'Weasley' way—skip all those steps that make you go bald from calculating, and get straight to experimenting, taking risks, and..." George tapped his temple. "...a little mad inspiration!"

"Exactly!" Fred said earnestly. "So we don't need to learn that proper, conventional Alchemy. We can forge our own path!"

George emphasized, "Crazier! More direct! More fun!"

"Deal!"

The Twins spoke in unison and slapped hands in perfect sync.

"Wow..." Harry watched them for a while before asking worriedly, "Will that really work?"

"Of course!"

The Twins both gave him an OK sign, and Fred added, "No problem at all! That's how Canary Cream was born!"

"Like hell it is!"

Moody suddenly reached out and smacked both of them on the head, roaring, "You two idiots! Keep doing things like that, and sooner or later you'll blow yourselves to pieces!"

Lupin had been smiling, but after hearing Moody's roar, he rubbed his nose and also tried to persuade them.

"You need to hold magic in awe, children. Those boring, rigid processes are exactly what keep their success rates from getting too low and their death rates from getting too high. There are more than a few Alchemists who've