When Scrimgeour arrived at the Acromantula valley with the Aurors, a sizzling sound echoed through it.
Enormous, black-haired spiders loomed in the shadows. The Aurors instinctively activated all their defensive equipment and held their wands ready.
Only Tonks's hair changed from rose red to bubblegum pink.
In the center of the basin occupied by the Acromantulas.
Outside the laboratory.
George and Fred were tugging at a length of silver-gray fabric, their faces flushed from arguing. Their voices were loud enough to disturb the Centaur Tribe three miles away.
"I told you, George! The warp circuits need reinforcing with three strands of detoxified silk! Otherwise, once the instantaneous magflux exceeds 30 Wilder, the circuit's magical resistance will overload and fall out of balance, and the magical energy dissipating along the robe's edges will scorch and curl the hem! It'll look like a burnt Yorkshire pudding!"
Wilder was a unit in the "Modern Quantitative Magical Energy Studies" the two were researching.
"Rubbish, Fred! Force in three reinforcing strands, and the magical resistance of the entire fabric medium will shoot up! The overall weight and magic loss will skyrocket together! Aurors need to chase Dark Wizards, not slog through weighted endurance trials in high-resistance armor!"
Sharp-eyed Fred glanced aside and happened to spot Sirius at the back of the Auror group, making faces at them with a mischievous smirk on his lips.
The Twins' minds worked faster than a flying broomstick. They exchanged a glance, veins instantly bulging on their faces as they immediately entered Douglas performance mode.
"Well, well! Look who's here!"
Fred tossed aside the fabric in his hands.
"Black, our illustrious boss! With Professor Holmes busy teaching the First Year kids in the Defense Against Dark Magic classroom, you just couldn't wait to bring Auror Command over to raid his