Harry had always known the twins knew how to have fun, but he had never expected them to take it this far.
Shoving someone into a Vanishing Cabinet was nothing, but shoving someone into a broken Vanishing Cabinet? That move was beyond outrageous. It was downright outrageous.
Vanishing Cabinets were not particularly rare. Harry had seen them in more than one place.
Hogwarts, Weasley Manor, Black Mansion, and Neville's house all had them.
They were not rare, and for a time they had been quite popular.
That had been during Voldemort's reign of terror. Although Voldemort had not dealt with many people personally, the Death Eaters had rather taken advantage of his backing to act with impunity, often attacking wizards from Muggle families.
To escape them, many people had kept a Vanishing Cabinet at home and hidden its counterpart somewhere safe and secluded.
Vanishing Cabinets were used in pairs. After entering one, you could emerge somewhere else. Unlike Floo Powder, they could not be monitored, and unlike Apparition, they left no trail that could be followed, sometimes even directly, by a skilled wizard.
Vanishing Cabinets left no traces. As long as you closed the cabinet on the other end immediately after coming out, the people on this end could not find you. Even if they used the Vanishing Cabinet again, they would not vanish or be transported.
But the broken Vanishing Cabinet at Hogwarts had no counterpart.
Yet unlike other Vanishing Cabinets without counterparts, it could still activate. Once its door closed, it would activate normally and transport whoever was inside, but there was no telling where they would end up.
Yes, no telling. It transported people at random.
Someone had experimented with it before. Three people had used it separately and ended up in completely different places.
One had