Hermione on the Attack

Filch had no professional tracking skills to speak of, so Eli and the others had noticed his daily, relentless surveillance long ago.

"He's here again?" Eli asked just as Ron led a group inside.

Ron stood with his hands on his hips, hooked a thumb toward the door, and grinned. "With hiding skills that pathetic—he's not even half as good as Fred and the others. How could he possibly keep up with us?"

"That's good, then."

Filch had kept up his tracking these past days. Luckily, they were clever enough, and the entrance to the Room of Requirement could actually shift within a certain area, so Filch had never truly caught them.

Outside, Filch was furious. He had dragged over a chair and planted himself where the students had vanished, chewing on toast while Mrs. Norris prowled around from time to time.

Inside the Room of Requirement, the students had all gathered together. This time, they did not begin practicing right away.

Standing at the front, Eli called out, "Everyone has trained seriously for quite some time now. I think it's time to test the results of that training."

"Hurry up! My wand can't wait any longer!" Fred shouted from the crowd.

"Hurry up and let me teach this fool a lesson!" George shouted as well, refusing to be outdone.

To stop the two from going at each other right then and there, Eli hurriedly waved his hands. "All right, all right, I'll stop talking. We'll do this in a king-of-the-hill format. Only two people on the stage at a time. Anyone who wants to challenge can come up."

The moment Eli finished speaking, the crowd spread out into a circle, and Fred and George were the first to leap into the middle.

Their duel was honestly the least interesting