Foiled before they began

At that moment, George suddenly noticed something and searched the map carefully.

"Fred, who's the professor on patrol tonight? There aren't any professors' names at any of these patrol locations!"

Fred shook his head.

"Brother, we've been so busy lately that we forgot to keep track!

Good heavens, we're slipping!"

George looked equally regretful, then went right back to grinning without a care as he continued searching the map for something.

"Aha, aren't we out here now?

Now let's see where our crafty Professor Holmes is.

As long as he isn't in those classrooms, we'll have a chance to act!"

What the Weasley Twins didn't know was that, just a foot away from them...

In the shadows of that very same corner, someone stood awkwardly.

Douglas swore he absolutely hadn't used the Disillusionment Charm to spy on anyone on purpose.

It just so happened that he had wanted to revisit a certain place on the Seventh Floor.

But as soon as he arrived, he heard two sets of furtive footsteps suddenly appear in the empty corridor.

Douglas swore to heaven that it had merely been a reflex: he had instinctively cast the Disillusionment Charm and swiftly hidden himself in the nearest shadows.

By the time he remembered that he was no longer a student out after curfew, but a professor on patrol...

The twin brothers had already hidden right where he was hiding.

Apparently, Hogwarts' top nighttime wanderers all had the same eye for hiding spots.

Douglas wasn't particularly surprised when he saw the twins take out the Marauder's Map.

Just as the Marauders had chosen before him, he too had chosen to leave this gift to the students who came after him when he graduated.

If not for the fact that Douglas heard the two mention the classrooms he had arranged for the seventh-years to set up...

"Good heavens, Professor Holmes isn't on the map!"

"I think he must have left the school!"

"Then wouldn't that mean..."

"An opportunity sent from heaven!" George and Fred whispered fiercely, high-fiving in excitement.

"I bet those classrooms must have something to do with our practical exam!"

"Accidentally walking into the wrong classroom doesn't count as sneaking a look at the exam questions, does it?"

"Oh, Fred, what are you talking about? What exam questions? We're lost lambs!"

Hearing this, Douglas felt that, as the professor on patrol, he ought to give them a reminder.

Just as George and Fred were about to leave, a voice drifted eerily from beside them.

"I think you ought to consider explaining to me first why you're still in the castle corridors this late!"

When George and Fred heard that familiar voice...

They immediately exchanged a look, their eyes filled with surprise and fright.

But they didn't hang their heads and admit their mistake as Douglas had imagined.

Instead, they rolled two little balls out of their sleeves and took off in opposite directions down the corridor.

The moment the balls hit the floor...

Douglas sensed trouble, and in just one hundredth of a second...

A beautifully executed nonverbal Mending Charm restored the two balls to their original state.

Watching the two Weasleys flee in separate directions, Douglas gave a scornful smile.

Hmph! Such paltry tricks, and you dare show them off before a master.

Today I'll show you the mighty heavenly dragon, the great celestial spell, the wisdom of all Buddhas, prajna ba ma hum.

He then quickly added a few spells to the two little balls.

Immediately afterward, the two balls rose swiftly into the air, each flying in the direction one of the boys had fled.

Hogwarts was vast, and George and Weasley tacitly agreed not to run straight back to the Gryffindor Common Room.

That would make it far too easy to catch them red-handed.

The professors at Hogwarts shared an unspoken understanding: as long as you weren't caught on the spot, you had earned your escape.

They generally wouldn't give you detention on suspicion alone.

Of course, no student had ever suddenly run away after being spotted by a professor, either.

As for the Weasley Twins, they generally didn't get caught on their nighttime excursions.

Even Filch, who considered himself thoroughly familiar with the school's secret passages, could rarely catch them on the spot.

Especially after obtaining the Marauder's Map, they had never failed.

Tonight was purely an accident!

Part of the reason they dared to run was Douglas's relationship with the Weasley family.

The other part was that, precisely because of that relationship, they feared Douglas would tell their mother.

They knew all sorts of hiding places and secret passages in Hogwarts.

So they felt certain they could hide in time and avoid capture.

Unfortunately, perhaps because their opponent all these years had been Filch, who never used magic...

They had forgotten that magic could also be used to catch them.

Just as the two ran toward the nearest secret passage leading to the fourth floor...

There were two bangs!

The two little balls didn't explode very loudly, but Filch, whose ears had always been keen...

Heard the disturbance on the fourth floor while he was still on the ground floor, and furiously ducked into a nearby secret passage with Mrs. Norris in his arms.

"My dear, this time we'll catch them red-handed for sure!"

The Weasley Twins, who had been running, heard the explosion.

With despair on their faces, they watched as visually striking clouds of yellowish-brown smoke swept toward them, enveloping each of them.

Like men at the end of their rope, they reached toward each other across the stairwell and hysterically shouted their last unsullied words in this world:

"George! George!"

"Oh, my Fred!"

They knew perfectly well how powerful their homemade Dungbombs were.

As the yellow gas spread, both were covered in yellow filth, their hands coated in sticky matter.

It made them utterly unwilling to reach for their wands.

What plunged them into even greater despair next was watching someone emerge from the secret passage not far away.

Someone who had always gritted his teeth at them.

They had no doubt that, if he caught them...

The two of them might be locked in a dark cellar, enjoying the sting of a little whip every day.

Douglas walked downstairs at an unhurried pace, and as he approached the Weasley Twins...

He had to frown and cast a Bubble-Head Charm on himself.

He truly couldn't understand how Mr. Filch, who was even closer to the twins, could still look so excited.

Compared with Filch, who had lost all reason, Mrs. Norris clearly possessed an intelligence ordinary cats lacked.

She jumped straight out of Filch's arms and carefully skirted the twins, who were wallowing in dung and despair.

Then she leaped straight onto Douglas's shoulder.

"Oh, dear Mrs. Norris, it's been a few years. You've put on weight again."

Douglas distinctly felt his shoulder sink.

Then he casually gave Mrs. Norris a Bubble-Head Charm as well.

Holding his paraffin lamp, Filch kept shining it back and forth across the twins' faces, muttering nonstop.

He seemed to greatly appreciate those two despairing expressions.

The Weasley Twins saw that Filch had already blocked their retreat.

And Douglas stood in their way ahead.

They had given up resisting. This was their first crushing defeat since their second year.

Douglas looked at Filch's bloodshot eyes and slightly crazed appearance.

He couldn't help worrying about this man who had toiled for Hogwarts Castle for over twenty years.