The three of them leaped up at once. Whoever controlled the thin wire seemed to sense the danger and yanked it upward.
Too late. Luo Bin, Harry, and Ron all grabbed the wire and pulled together. Snap! It broke.
"Ow, my butt... Huh? Is this... an Extendable Ear?"
Ron froze mid-rub as he stared at the thing hanging from the end of the wire. It looked just like a human ear.
"What's an Extendable Ear?"
Harry picked up his glasses, sounding helpless and confused. That fall had cracked the lenses into spiderwebs again.
He had just reached for his Wand when he heard the Mending Charm beside him.
"Reparo."
Luo Bin put away his Wand and explained, "An Extendable Ear is a magical listening device. It works a bit like a wired telephone. One fake ear picks up sound, which travels along the wire to the other end. But it only works over short distances."
Luo Bin looked up and studied the space above the lamp. A few seconds later, he spotted a loose stone brick. The wire had come through the gap between it and the other bricks.
"Extendable Ears are an old trick of Fred and George's. Back home, they used them to eavesdrop on Dad, Mum, Charlie, Ginny, and me. You had to watch everything you said. It was so... annoying!"
"Ron, could this be... a prank by Fred and George?"
Harry held the soft, springy fake ear as he asked.
"No way. Last summer, they tried this again and apparently overheard... Uh, anyway, Mum and Dad came out in their pajamas that night, gave them a proper thrashing, and confiscated the Extendable Ears!"
"If they'd brought any to school, they'd have used them to cause trouble ages ago, gotten a lecture, written a reflection report thousands