Ear-to-Ear Communication Charm

Just after the seventh-years left.

There was another knock at Douglas's office door.

This time, it was George, Fred, Ron, and Harry.

"Professor, we're here to write out the text from memory!"

Without even setting down his teacup, Douglas gave a light wave of his left hand.

Four notebooks and some very fine-looking quills appeared on the other side of the desk.

"George and Fred, continue where you left off yesterday.

"Harry and Ron, those two blank notebooks are for you.

"The quills are specially made. They'll mark any mistakes you make, so don't worry about that."

When Douglas finished, the four thanked him and hurried over.

After sitting down, George and Fred even took care to adjust the ink bottles on the desk.

Once George made sure he could see Douglas behind him reflected in an ink bottle, he winked at Fred.

Harry and Ron were baffled by this.

But they soon noticed words actually beginning to appear on George's and Fred's cuffs.

"Cheat-Sheet Sleeve Cuffs!" Ron mouthed to Harry in surprise.

Seeing this, Harry cautiously turned his head to glance at Douglas, who was drinking tea and reading some parchment.

He found that Douglas wasn't paying attention to them.

George and Fred had clearly noticed their little movements.

Evidently prepared for this, they each winked at one of the two boys.

They mouthed to them:

"Two Dungbombs. Keep quiet!"

Harry thought for a moment and said nothing. It wasn't that he wanted the Dungbombs; he simply didn't want to be a student who told tales.

So he pretended not to see and lowered his head to write out his own text.

Ron, however, had a few ideas, and mouthed back:

"Lend them to me next time, or I'll tell Mum!"

George and Fred exchanged a helpless look.

They nodded silently.

Ten minutes later.

Harry rubbed his aching hand.

Looking up, he saw Ron staring blankly at his notebook with a miserable expression.

If he could have seen Ron's notebook, he would certainly have found it covered in error marks.

Of course, Harry could see plenty of error marks in his own notebook too.

But he kept remembering what Hermione had told him before he came: if there was something he really couldn't remember, he could skip it for now.

After writing everything out once, he would be able to memorize it much faster when he went back.

At that moment, Fred and George nudged each other's arms.

Finally, Fred stood up helplessly and took what he had written over to Douglas.

"Professor, I've written out part of it. Could you see if this is all right?"

Without looking up, Douglas said:

"Not enough. Keep going!"

Fred obediently returned to the desk.

Then he winked at George.

The two resumed their grand cheating enterprise.

Harry and Ron didn't understand what they were up to.

But remembering that the two had already been here once before, Ron copied them quite convincingly.

He picked up his notebook, which was covered in marks, and walked over to Douglas.

"Professor, I've written out part of it. Could you see if this is all right?"

Douglas turned his head and glanced at the notebook full of problems.

Then he looked up at Ron, took out Dark Forces: A Guide to Self-Protection, handed it to him, and said helplessly:

"Stop writing it out for now. You're simply wasting ink.

"I really don't know how Miss Granger manages to be so tolerant of you.

"Take the textbook and memorize the material again first."

With that, he ignored the scarlet-faced Ron and addressed Harry, who was sitting on pins and needles:

"Mr. Potter, don't just sit there either.

"Bring what you've written over for me to look at first."

Harry hurried over with his notebook and handed it to Douglas, thoroughly embarrassed.

At that moment, he really wanted to tell Professor Holmes something.

Memorizing something and being able to write it out from memory were simply two different things.

Douglas took Harry's notebook and sighed.

"You stop writing for now too. Join Ron and memorize the material first."

At that moment, two snorts of laughter came from the twins' direction.

Ron shouted furiously, "George! Fred! Believe it or not, I'll..."

The twin brothers hurriedly gave him apologetic smiles.

Douglas said to Ron and Harry:

"Once you've memorized it, get your notebooks from me and write it all out again!"

Then, before Harry's and Ron's astonished eyes, everything they had written vanished.

Next, Douglas was very considerate.

Without drawing attention to it, he cast a See No Evil, Hear No Evil Charm on himself, George, and Fred.

George and Fred soon discovered that they couldn't hear any sound at all.

They turned their heads in surprise and saw Ron and Harry looking at their textbooks, their mouths opening and closing.

But they couldn't hear a thing.

They exchanged a glance, and Fred said loudly:

"George! How come I can't hear anything?"

George read Fred's lips:

"I can't hear anything either!"

Their voices immediately caught Harry's and Ron's attention.

They were puzzled as to why the twins were suddenly speaking so loudly.

They turned to look at Douglas, who seemed not to have heard them.

Next, they saw George and Fred begin doing all sorts of inexplicable things.

First, they slapped the desk and found they could no longer hear any sound.

Then they exchanged grins and picked up various things on the desk to make noise.

This was a very rare experience for them.

George couldn't help praising it:

"A silent world is wonderful."

Although Fred couldn't hear his brother's voice, he still spoke in perfect accord with him:

"If we could cast this spell at home, wouldn't that mean we wouldn't have to listen to Mum nagging?"

Just then, a voice suddenly seemed to rise from deep inside them before thundering in their ears.

"Is that so? I've also got a Speechless Charm here. Would you like to try that as well?

"I'll make you a pair of deaf-and-mute twins!"

The voice came so suddenly, and was so loud, that it left their heads ringing.

They soon realized it was Douglas's voice.

But when they looked over, they found that Douglas wasn't looking at them at all.

Harry and Ron were equally bewildered. They had been enjoying watching the two make all sorts of noises as though performing a comedy act.

Suddenly, George and Fred clutched their heads and trembled all over, as though struck by some spell.

Before they could call Douglas, they heard him tell them without looking up:

"Leave them alone. Get on with your memorizing!"

That voice had indeed come from Douglas, but it was itself a spell.

Douglas had given it the imposing name of the Ear-to-Ear Communication Charm.

When the Ear-to-Ear Communication Charm was paired with the See No Evil, Hear No Evil Charm, it produced the effect the Weasley Twins had just heard.

During his travels, Douglas had once relied on this trick to knock seven dark wizards unconscious at once.

P.S. The See No Evil, Hear No Evil Charm was a spell Professor Holmes invented during his school days. At a basic level, it created an environment of absolute silence around the target's ears; at an advanced level, everyone within a certain radius of the caster would be unable to hear any sound. Feature: it could be used on both wizards and spirits, including poltergeists such as Peeves.

The Ear-to-Ear Communication Charm was a spell Professor Holmes invented during his school days, based on the principle behind using the Patronus Charm to deliver messages. Within a certain range, this spell could deliver precisely what the caster wanted to say directly to another person's ears.

Fun fact: when the Ear-to-Ear Communication Charm was paired with the See No Evil, Hear No Evil Charm, it created a 3D surround-sound effect around the target's ears. Its side effect was that, if the volume was poorly controlled, it could knock the caster unconscious or deafen them. In severe cases, it could cause irreversible harm to the target.

The Speechless Charm was a spell Professor Holmes invented after an unsuccessful search for Langlock. Based on the principle of vocal cord removal in Muggle medicine, it used magic to temporarily seal the vocal cords, making the target unable to produce sound. Feature: its effects were gentler than those of Langlock, making it the ideal companion for practicing Nonverbal Spells.