Douglas really had not expected these professors to hold a grudge like this. More than ten years had passed, and they still remembered it.
He turned to George and Fred and said:
"Have you realized what you did wrong?"
The two replied listlessly:
"Yes!"
Douglas sneered and said:
"Then tell me, what did you do wrong?"
George and Fred sighed and said:
"We shouldn't have compiled those questions into an answer key..."
"We thought you'd keep using last year's questions..."
"We... we only wanted to earn some pocket money."
"But we promised them we'd refund their money if the answers were wrong..."
"They didn't trust us. They actually came to collect their debts as a group..."
Professor Snape rose and said mockingly:
"No, your mistake was using such a clumsy method. I imagine Douglas Holmes must have spotted it during the very first lesson today."
George and Fred hastily shook their heads and said:
"Impossible! They weren't caught during the first lesson..."
They could admit their answers were wrong, but they absolutely refused to admit their method was clumsy.
Snape continued:
"It seems your dear older brother Bill Weasley never told you that he and Holmes once did the same thing. Their methods were far cleverer than yours, though. If it hadn't been for..."
Professor McGonagall and Professor Sprout sternly cut Snape off:
"Severus!"
Professor Flitwick also tugged at Snape's clothes from beside him.
They had come today with another purpose, but it certainly was not to undermine Douglas's image in the students' eyes.
As his elders and former teachers, they could bring this up for a laugh, but the students absolutely could not.
After interrupting Snape, Professor McGonagall said to Douglas:
"Today's matter concerns Defense Against Dark Magic, so we'd like to hear how you intend to handle it,