Lee Jordan nodded solemnly beside him.
"Boss Gerald isn't wrong about that. Talents for divination and prophecy really are mostly innate. Take our Professor Trelawney, for instance. Her great-grandmother was one of the greatest seers in history. That ability to foresee the future is hereditary. You can't learn it."
Gerald couldn't actually perform divination, of course, but he didn't offer much explanation.
Lee Jordan had inadvertently given him the perfect way out.
Gerald had brought this up to lay the groundwork for the future.
After all, he knew the original story well. Sooner or later, he would inevitably predict something before it happened, or even reveal information to certain people.
In the wizarding world, the gift of prophecy was indeed considered hereditary and innate.
That meant anything he could "foresee" could be explained as a natural talent.
He wouldn't need to explain why he knew so many things he shouldn't, because no one could prove he didn't possess that gift.
Besides, there was someone Gerald absolutely had to catch.
Peter Pettigrew.
He already knew the exact time and location of his father Victor Green's death.
He just needed to find the precise street and time at which Peter Pettigrew had blown up a dozen or so Muggles while faking his own death.
Then he could determine whether his father's death had anything to do with Peter.
But to find the exact time, his only options were to ask someone who knew or consult that year's Daily Prophet.
Gerald had searched the library for those old newspapers, too. But eight or nine years had passed, and the Daily Prophet wasn't an academic text. The library hadn't kept its copies for long; the oldest ones were only from two or three years ago.
So Hagrid remained his best lead.
Beyond that, there was another practical problem.
Peter Pettigrew might have been the least conspicuous member of the group of four.
But his abilities were still far beyond anything Gerald, a beginner who had only been learning magic for a month, could contend with.
Peter Pettigrew was currently tucked away in Percy's pocket. A surprise attack was Gerald's only chance of capturing him.
Still, none of that was urgent. He had come to the Room of Requirement today for another reason.
Alchemy.
Gerald looked up and found Fred and George already sitting at a workbench, their heads close together.
"Fred, look here. This trigger mechanism is completely different from what we came up with."
"Yeah. Ours was pressure-activated. This one seems to respond to temperature?"
They traded remarks so rapidly that their discussion sounded almost like a fight.
Gerald sat down in a nearby chair. Watching their intense concentration, he remembered a saying from his previous life.
Interest was the best teacher.
And according to the twins themselves, they had begun studying alchemy at eight.
Eight.
At that age, most children from wizarding families were still playing with toy broomsticks. These two had already gone through their father's collection of alchemy books.
Fred and George's love of prank devices burned inside them like a fire, one that had blazed from the age of eight right up to the present.
Barring anything unexpected, three years from now, five years from now, even ten years from now...
That fire probably wouldn't go out.
"Does your family have an alchemy library or something?" Gerald couldn't help asking.
"Pretty much. Dad loves collecting Muggle objects, and he's collected quite a few books on alchemy, too. He says a good alchemist can make anything he wants, far better than the rubbish the Ministry of Magic hands out."
"There are at least two hundred alchemy books piled up in our attic."
Fred added this with a hint of casual pride.
"Charlie's read about half of them, and Bill's read them all. Percy only reads textbooks because he isn't interested in all this 'frivolous knowledge.' Then there's us. We started sneaking looks at them when we were eight, and by now we've read about two-thirds."
Just as I thought. There isn't a single weak link in the Weasley family.
Gerald marveled inwardly.
People's stereotype of the Weasley family was always that they were poor. Dirt-poor, too poor for anything but secondhand robes, too poor to give their children new wands.
But few noticed that every Weasley child was a top talent in their own field.
Bill was an academic star who had earned twelve O.W.L.s, Charlie was a legendary Seeker and Dragon Tamer, and Percy, irritating though his personality was, had also earned twelve O.W.L.s.
Fred and George would independently develop a line of prank products that sold throughout the wizarding world. That ability to research and develop products was itself proof of top-level alchemical skill.
Even Ron, who hadn't started school yet, would become a brilliant chess player capable of beating Professor McGonagall at wizard's chess, as well as a trusted helper of the Chosen One.
People only saw the Weasley family's poverty, never realizing that every one of their children was a genius.
Gerald picked up an empty glass bottle from the workbench and turned it twice in his hand.
His gaze settled on George and Fred, busy at the workbench, and his eyes grew brighter.
Alchemy really is interesting.
Transfiguration also had striking similarities to the transformation methods of the immortal arts.
The underlying principles of Potions overlapped with pill refining. He had already confirmed that in Potions class today.
And now he had discovered that alchemy also shared similarities with artifact refining in the cultivation system.
Could it really be that the three thousand paths of the Great Dao all lead to the same destination?
He had been coveting Newt Scamander's suitcase for a long time.
In a sense, that suitcase was even more valuable than a Spatial Ring from the cultivation world.
After all, an ordinary Spatial Ring couldn't hold living creatures.
The suitcase is still too big, though. It would be even better if I could combine the two.
Wait, wouldn't that make it a little world I could carry around with me?
"Hey, shouldn't we head back? We've been here for hours."
Lee Jordan's voice drifted over from the sofa, thick with sleepiness.
Fred looked up from the workbench and rubbed his eyes.
"What time is it?"
"Eleven at night," Lee Jordan said irritably after checking the pocket watch hanging around his neck.
George put down the plans in his hands and gave a long yawn, too.
"Let's come back tomorrow. It's not as though the place can run away."
"That's not necessarily true. For all we know, it'll turn back into a wall tomorrow and we won't be able to get in," Fred muttered.
"It won't. I guarantee it." Gerald stood, his tone certain.
He glanced around the room, already planning something else.
The Room of Requirement really is amazing. Once there's no one around, I could come and get a room for myself, too.
In the future, I can practice pill refining, talisman drawing, artifact refining, and any techniques that aren't suitable to use in front of other people here.
As for Potions and alchemy, he could work on those with George and the others.
After all, he was a complete novice when it came to alchemy. This was the perfect chance to learn from the Weasley brothers.
Absolutely perfect.
"Come on, let's go."
Gerald draped one arm over Fred's shoulders and the other over George's, the sudden familiarity making both twins turn toward him warily.
"What are you doing? Just talk. Keep your hands to yourself." George ducked his neck.
Gerald chuckled.
"Don't laugh like that. You're giving me the creeps." Alarm appeared on Fred's tired face, too.
"So, could you teach me alchemy?"
"..."
Before you continue