"Do you know what this means?" George said, slapping Magnus on the back.
Fred, however, shot him a look behind Hermione's back, and Harry caught it immediately.
Hermione was quite patient with their little mischief, but Fred knew that patience would not stretch to gambling, which was exactly what they were hinting at.
"Come on, guys, we have something to show you. A boyish thing," Fred said, trying to be vague.
"Oh, come on. Do you think I'm a fool?" Hermione said sharply. "Just say you don't want me to know."
The twins looked uncomfortable.
"Well, if you put it that way, thank you, Hermione, for making it less awkward," George said. "Right, lads, we have something to show you that we don't want Hermione to see"
"Find me in the library," she said, turning to Magnus.
"Write me the notes. Won't you? Please?" He pleaded
"Oh, okay. I already said I would."
The three of them quickly excused themselves and ran toward the castle. Magnus, however, called them to a stop just as they were about to enter the entrance hall.
"Guys, you said we needed to write them two days in advance," Magnus said. "The game is tomorrow. I think we are too late."
"oh scratch that," George said. "We are always ahead of things. Mate, what do you take us for? You said you had some galleons saved early in the term, remember?"
"Yeah?"
"Well, we assumed you would still have about five galleons by now, even if you spent some."
"Well, I didn't. I still have like ten," Magnus said.
"Good, because we wrote you in," Fred said. "We wrote to the Lucky Brothers for three tickets. One was for you, mate. It was five galleons."
"You did?" Magnus exclaimed. "Thank you, guys. You didn't tell me the league was starting."
"Well, you got caught up in things. You know, the hearing and all. We had been planning to tell you anyway, but forgot."
"That doesn't matter now, does it?" George added. "come on, You are the pro here."
They were now inside the castle. Magnus waited for them to produce the ticket, but they didn't.
Instead, the twins turned toward the Gryffindor tower.
Magnus hesitated at the corridor that led toward Ravenclaw.
"Come on. It's the weekend. No one will care."
Magnus still hesitated before George pushed him along. He had read the books and seen the films, and he had rarely seen students enter other houses. The only time he remembered was when Harry and Hermione had used Polyjuice Potion to access Slytherin.
Still, he had never heard of any rule that strictly forbade it. The real barrier was the password, which in this case he didn't need.
He followed them and waited at a distance as Ron gave the password. The twins waved him over.
The reaction was immediate.
Every student in the common room turned to stare at him as if he had committed some terrible crime. Some even moved to stop them when they saw his Ravenclaw robes.
Fred waved them off as they entered entered the twins' room
George jumped onto his bed and opened his trunk. He dug through it before pulling out a red sheet of paper.
Magnus immediately recognized it.
The tickets. The Lucky Brothers tickets.
"Here is yours, mate," Fred said. "We chose the game."
"There was only one way to choose from anyway. The Manticores will play the Griffins in the opener, and then other battles will return next weekend. Thing is, we wanted to bet on the Griffins, but their odds plummeted, mate."
"They have a 1.9 chance of winning," George added. "That means if you put five galleons, you get eight after owl service fees. Not worth it."
Magnus understood immediately.
Of course the bookies would never make the same mistake again. Last time, they had given Gyarados zero chance against Charizard, simply because it was a dragon type in this world. Then it shocked everyone with Ice Beam.
"Can't tell you the stories people are spinning about Gyarados, mate," Fred said. "You'd think he's the new Boy Who Lived. I think he's beating Harry at his own game. No offense, Harry."
Harry blushed but said nothing.
It was the first time Magnus had heard someone say that out loud. He had almost forgotten that Harry was famous.
"What I mean," Fred continued, "everyone now thinks Gyarados is unbeatable. After that duel, I don't think Charizard stands a chance."
"What are the odds for Charizard?" Magnus asked.
"They put it at seven."
"What? Seven?" Magnus exclaimed. "That's insane."
"Bloody stupid, right?" Fred said. "Charizard only lost once."
George, however, didn't look convinced.
"That loss didn't look like luck," he said. "Didn't you hear the handler? He said they trained that move. Ice attack or something. That means they can do it again."
Bullshit, Magnus thought... The Griffin handler had been bluffing, Magnus was in fact the one who had called that ice move
"Besides, the Manticores haven't shown any way to counter it."
"Well, I'm putting mine on the Griffins, I ain't losing again," Fred said "Five galleons times seven. That's thirty five."
"You'll lose all of it," Magnus said.
The twins froze and stared at him.
"Are you certain?" George asked.
"I'm sure."
"You know something," George said. "He knows something."
"Of course I know something," Magnus said. "Charizard is a fire type. Gyarados is a water type. Normally, water beats fire. It's like rock, paper, scissors."
"Yeah, you told us that already."
"The thing is, I think last time Gyarados was lucky,the handlers don't even know this type thing" Magnus said.
He wasn't ready to admit that he had called the move himself
"Lucky?" Fred scoffed. "You saw it. It froze a dragon midair."
"No one has seen it repeat it," Magnus said. " and Now the Manticores will be ready. The handler learned. Charizard will be ready."
He paused.
"But... That's a pretty big risk." Fred said uncertainly
"well That's gambling for you" magnus added
"I say we take the risk," George said.
"How much are you staking?" Magnus asked.
"Eight each."
"That means you'll get fifty six if you win," Magnus said.
"That's a big if," Fred muttered.
George nodded. "Last time we doubted him. I say we trust him."
Fred pulled out three quills and handed one to Magnus.
"Go on. Scribble it."
Magnus wrote clearly.
Charizard to win.
The twins watched, then followed his lead and wrote their own.
"You three are mad," Ron said. "That's twenty one galleons gone."
"Shut up," George said. "Wait until it pays."
Fred sealed the tickets into an envelope.
"I'll send them now. Express delivery. You all owe me a galleon for that."
"How will we watch the game?" Magnus asked.
"Leave that to us," George said. "Tomorrow is Sunday. You'll join us at the lab won't you? ."
Magnus nodded.
He was actually enjoying being in Gryffindor. Ravenclaw was fine, but everyone was always buried in books. Here, it felt alive.
"Wait," Magnus said suddenly.
Fred paused.
"What now? Don't tell me you changed your mind, we can't undo it mate"
"It's not the bet," Magnus said. "It's Hagrid's Zweilous. He needs somewhere to send it and I thought... What about the Griffins?"
The twins froze.
"He's giving it away?" Fred said.
"no... no way," George added.
"Dumbledore knows," Harry said quietly.
That shut the twin
"what?" Fred yelled suddenly tensed up