"Alistair, are you okay?"
"Of course, no problem."
"Come on, this way."
At eight o'clock in the night, Alistair put on a black cloak with the Weasley twins, vanishing into the darkness. They bypassed classroom after classroom, climbed flight after flight of stairs, and finally stopped in a corridor on the eighth floor.
Alistair had a vague guess about where they were going.
George pulled Alistair to stand on the right side of the corridor—where a huge tapestry hung on the wall depicting Barnabas the Barmy trying to teach ballet to trolls. On the left side of the corridor, Fred began pacing back and forth against a blank stretch of wall, walking from the huge tapestry to the vase at the corner and back again, pacing back and forth three times.
A very smooth, ornate door began to materialize on that white wall. Before Alistair could say anything, George pulled him inside. "Fred, hurry up!"
Fred entered through the door last and closed it.
Alistair looked at the garish interior before him. The walls and ceiling were hung with all sorts of toys, and in the middle sat a long table with two benches, the table littered with numerous pieces of parchment.
"What is... going on here?"
The Weasley twins no longer seemed as nervous as they had just a moment ago.
Fred hooked his arm around Alistair's neck and led him toward the long table. "Oh! Naturally, it's mine and George's secret base!"
"Surprised?" George said, raising an eyebrow.
"O—of course, I couldn't be more surprised." Alistair reined in his look of astonishment; he had never imagined... "Hey, how did you guys find this place?"
"We've been waiting for little Alistair to ask that—"
"Thought you'd be surprised for ages—"
Fred shrugged and continued, "One night during a night stroll, George and I were hungry—"
"Then we went down to the kitchens and accidentally found an enchanted house-elf—"
"We said, where can we make toys to our heart's content without anyone finding us?"
"And the enchanted house-elf told us how." George smiled smugly.
"You guys really exceed my expectations..."
"Don't get too touched, mate. If we hadn't seen you looking so upset, we wouldn't have planned to tell you at all!"
"Oh!" Alistair smiled and gave Fred and George a light punch. "Thanks."
"Ooh, how mushy!" Fred exaggeratedly rubbed his arms.
The three of them burst out laughing together.
"All right, Alistair, come take a look at our research. Fred and I have both run into a problem." George pulled Alistair down to sit by the long table, searching for something among the messy pile of parchment on the table.
"Hey! Found it!" Fred, holding a roll of parchment covered in writing from the other end, shoved it in front of Alistair's eyes. "Take a look!"
Those pieces of parchment were covered in writing as well as some sketches. Alistair studied them closely.
"Last time in the dormitory, didn't we talk about getting magic toys to move around? Fred and I studied it for a long time, but we still don't understand some of the principles," George said.
"We figured since you love reading so much, maybe you'd understand something."
Alistair looked again at the columns detailing the principles and frowned. "To be honest, I don't really understand much. You guys are giving me too much credit. But I figure since we can't invent something like this on our own, why not just make use of it? For instance, if you can take apart a mechanical bird into its body and its drive mechanism, you could use the drive mechanism to make things in all sorts of other shapes."
"I think the mechanics behind this are still too difficult for us to understand right now; it involves charms, transfiguration, and so on. Why don't you guys just use existing components first, and then figure out how to build your own once you've got the hang of it? There are plenty of materials at the joke shop in Hogsmeade."
"Good idea! We could apply this method to the Biting Doorbell—"
"Though we still haven't figured out how to make it move," Fred said, pointing to the escaping alarm clock sitting on the table. "If we use magic to make it move, as soon as the magic runs out it won't move anymore. That's such a waste of magic."
"Aren't there any tools on the market that can drive toys to run around autonomously?"
"Apparently not." George shrugged with a trace of regret.
"Then I can only wish you good luck." Alistair put down the parchment and comforted them, "We're only in first year, there's still plenty of time."
In fact, Alistair figured the Muggle world probably had things like drive mechanisms; he'd have Cali send some over the next time he wrote home.
"Well, looks like we'll just have to go study sweets instead—"
"Skiving Skivington candies that make you break out in pus or cause pain—"
"Good idea!" The twins high-fived and got to work excitedly.
Alistair smiled as he looked at the things hanging on the walls and ceiling, occasionally poking one with his finger.
"Mate, be careful or your fingers will swell up! They won't fade for three hours," Fred warned, lifting his head from the long table.
Alistair, who was just about to touch a bottle filled with shimmering gold powder, pulled his hand back upon hearing this. "Does touching this make whatever part of you touched it swell up?"
"Obviously. We wouldn't mind if you gave it a try, though." George winked at Alistair and encouraged him with a smile.
"I think I'll pass." Alistair backed away to observe from a distance. After a moment, he pointed at a butterfly-shaped bottle filled with pink powder and asked, "And what's this?"
"Sprinkle a little bit and you'll itch like crazy—"
"——Itching Powder!" George chimed in with Fred without lifting his head, still hard at work with his quill over the parchment.
Alistair suddenly had an idea. "Hey! Can I join you guys in developing these things?" He pointed at the bottles.
"Oh!" Fred looked at Alistair with some surprise. "Of course you can."
Granted permission, Alistair walked over to their side. They were now getting ready to make a batch of sweets, and the workstation had shifted to the cauldron in the corner.
"Toad pustules, Billywig stings, and..."
Alistair watched as they tossed the ingredients in. The liquid in the cauldron turned green and bubbled away from the heat.
"All right, sprinkle just a tiny bit of knotgrass powder," Fred was in charge of stirring while George handed over the materials. Fred cast a Levitation Charm, and the light green liquid flew out of the cauldron, gradually solidifying in the air into a long strip.
"Wingardium Leviosa!" George used a Levitation Charm to lift a small knife and slice the light green strip floating in the air into many small pieces, then caught them on a plate. "Perfect!"
"Brilliant!" Alistair really wanted to applaud them. "George, how do you know the Levitation Charm?"
Fred blinked. "Mum uses it in front of us all the time—"
"—— learned it ages ago."
"Who knows how well these sweets will work? Want one, Ali?" The Weasley twins looked at Alistair with mischievous grins.
"No!" Alistair hurriedly clamped a hand over his mouth.
"Ali's a bit cowardly, aren't he?"
"You need to toughen up!"
"No," Alistair tried to keep a straight face, "I am definitely not trying that! Especially not without knowing what it does!"
Fred could only pout in resignation, turning to George. "Well, looks like it's just the two of us trying them again."
"You know I'm happy to keep you company, Fred." George raised an eyebrow. "Come on! One piece each."
Before Alistair could stop them, they had already tossed the candies into their mouths. Alistair watched helplessly as pustules erupted across their faces, which then burst and leaked green liquid. Alistair silently covered his eyes.
"Oof! Guys, do you need me to go find Madam Pomfrey for some potion...?"
"No need, Ali." Another pustule burst while Fred was speaking.
"Good grief!" Alistair glanced at them and quickly looked away, finding the pustules rather gross. "I think... I might need to step out for a minute..."
"Oh! Poor little Ali baby, go on then," George said cheerfully.
Before leaving, Alistair asked uncertainly one more time, "Do you really not need potion?"
"Don't worry! There's actually some healing potion right over there—" Fred pointed toward the pile of toys.
"——we stole it from the Hospital Wing." George winked at him.
"Fine." Alistair could only wave a hand. "I'm heading out then."