The Twins Join the Team

"Harry, Eli, I didn't see either of you all day!"

After Eli and Harry finished their practice for the day, they went looking for Ron. He was not in the common room, but they happened to run into him in the Great Hall.

"Ron, we were just looking for you!"

Harry ran over. They actually wanted to bring Ron along to study magic with them.

Eli had suggested it. After all, who knew what dangers these hardheaded kids would face in the future? It was always safer to improve their strength.

"Looking for me?"

"I've been learning magic with Eli, and I've really improved a lot! So I wanted to ask if you'd like to join us!"

Harry was truly an enthusiastic evangelist, but Ron's head hurt the moment he heard the word "study."

Ron's reluctance was practically written all over his face. It was clear just how much he resisted studying.

"Um... I'd better not..."

Eli knew Harry would never be able to persuade Ron like this. He needed both threats and incentives!

"Ron, do you want to end up with a bunch of Ps on your O.W.L. exams? Especially in Potions. Snape isn't exactly a nice guy—one slip, and you'll get a low mark."

Eli looked like a bad uncle trying to scare a little kid.

Ron really was frightened silly. The thought of being thrashed by his mother after failing his exams, then mocked by Fred Weasley and the others, made his expression immediately turn sour.

Seeing Ron begin to waver, Eli quickly struck while the iron was hot. "Look, if you study with us, you won't have to put up with Snape's nasty face, you won't have to worry about embarrassing yourself in class, and you won't have to fear getting bad exam results. Harry's already joined!"

Now Eli looked even more like a bad uncle, and poor little Ron quickly fell into his trap.

Ron just did not like studying; it was not that he did not value his life. He knew perfectly well what would happen if he messed up his exams.

His brother Percy Weasley, a prefect, was constantly used by Molly Weasley as an example to lecture him.

He was even carrying Molly Weasley's expectation that he would become a prefect!

"Then... all right."

Ron agreed, looking thoroughly unwilling. He really did hate studying!

Wasn't Quidditch great?

A triumphant smile appeared on Eli's face.

Harry stared from the side in amazement.

There was actually a way to do this? Harry might be awakening a truly remarkable talent.

"You were plotting something behind our backs!"

"Intolerable!"

The twins made their grand entrance, bantering back and forth like a comedy duo.

"Come on, tell us. Did you just make some kind of shady agreement?"

"Or form a secret organization?"

Eli listened to the two of them tossing out one line after another, black lines practically forming across his forehead.

What was all this supposed to mean? How had it become a secret organization?

"Actually, it's not some earth-shattering secret."

Eli deliberately played it up, and the twins really fell for it.

"What secret?"

"Tell us, tell us!"

Eli put on a profound expression. "Want to know? You have to agree to one condition."

The twins exchanged a glance. "What condition?"

"You have to keep it secret. You must promise never to reveal our secret to anyone else."

The twins loved this mysterious sort of thing. Their curiosity was practically jumping out of them.

"We promise to keep our mouths shut!"

Eli nodded in satisfaction and lowered his voice. "Our secret is..."

"What is it?!"

"Harry and Ron are going to learn from me!"

The twins froze, then their faces filled with disdain.

They had thought it was something big. That was it?

"So, do you want to join us?"

The twins looked as though they had heard a hilarious joke. "Eli, even if you are the hero who bravely fought a Troll, you're still no match for us third-years."

To put it bluntly, although the twins believed Eli had dealt with the Troll, they had always thought he had simply gotten lucky. They did not believe he could truly face a Troll head-on.

In fact, most of the others thought the same way.

The moment Eli heard that, he bristled. They did not believe him?

He slammed a hand on the table. "I, Eli, am a respectable person. Since you don't believe me, let's have a match."

The twins laughed even louder. They suddenly felt like teaching this little kid a lesson.

"Of course we can, but don't cry when you lose. Your big brothers will go easy on you."

Eli felt a chill run down his spine. He glanced at Ron. Were they always this disgusting?

Ron's pained expression told its own story.

The group went to the Room of Requirement. When the twins saw this perfect secret base for pranks, they were so delighted they nearly jumped for joy.

Eli did not mind revealing the place to the twins, because he was confident he could make both of them join.

He summoned a dueling arena, with Eli on one side and the twins on the other.

Harry and Ron acted as both referees and spectators.

The twins were rather carefree, clearly not taking this first-year kid seriously at all.

"Fred, you go first."

"George, you probably won't even get a chance to step in."

Eli watched the two discuss things as if no one else were around, paying him no attention whatsoever.

He had to teach them a lesson!

"Stop discussing it. Come at me together!"

The twins were stunned. Were kids these days really this arrogant?

"What are you looking at? Don't tell me you're scared?"

Eli continued provoking them, acting outrageously cocky.

How could the twins possibly keep their cool now? "We should teach this arrogant little kid a proper lesson!"

As the twins came at him together, Eli remained calm and unconcerned.

Last time, he had suppressed the entire first-year Slytherin group by himself.

Dealing with two people would be easy.

"Densaugeo!"

"Locomotor Mortis!"

The two worked together with remarkable coordination in battle, one attacking high and the other low.

They were both using spells students commonly used for pranks, since this was only a friendly spar.

After casting the spells, both of them looked smug. They did not believe first-year Eli could undo either spell.

Eli did not move at all, and they thought he had been frightened stiff.

The spells were fast, reaching Eli in the blink of an eye.

Harry and Ron widened their eyes as well, eager to see how Eli would deal with them.

"Finite Incantatem!"

With a wave of Eli's wand, both spells vanished without a trace.

"What?!"

The twins were dumbfounded. They had never expected Eli to neutralize their spells so effortlessly.

"Getting distracted in battle isn't a good habit. Expelliarmus!"

The twins were standing close together, so Eli's Expelliarmus targeted both of them at once.

In truth, this was also proof that Eli's magical skill had improved.

The twins did not react in time at all. They were knocked to the ground, and their wands flew into Eli's hand.

They had both been disarmed and utterly defeated!

"Well? Convinced now?"

Eli looked unbearably smug.

The twins were somewhat bedraggled. "We're convinced."

"You have to teach us!"

And just like that, the twins boarded Eli's pirate ship, while Eli revealed a triumphant smile.