In the end, after being washed and dried by the house-elves, the clothes were delivered into Leonard's hands by George and Fred.
In a corner of the courtyard, George and Fred watched Leonard inspect the freshly cleaned outfit, both of them lifting their chins proudly.
"We put a lot of work into making this," George said. "Don't worry, it absolutely meets your requirements."
Leonard said nothing. He simply unfolded the neatly folded garment and examined its appearance.
It looked as though it had been altered from an old set of clothes. There were worn tears and rather sloppy patches at the cuffs, elbows, and collar.
In short, it gave off an overwhelming feeling of being thrown together carelessly.
And then there was the outfit itself...
"Looks good, right? Doesn't it look handsome?" Fred said with a grin.
Leonard: ...
"Why does this thing have lace on it?" Leonard asked, pointing at the collar.
"It came with it," Fred said, his smile growing even brighter. "We worked really hard to dig out this old... uh, no, this best outfit. It's a dress robe, you know. We sneaked it out. No idea when Mum's going to notice."
George blinked expectantly beside him. "Yeah, it's really valuable. Mum hid it very carefully."
Naturally, neither of them was going to admit that they just wanted to see what Leonard would look like wearing it. That would definitely have been hilarious.
Leonard rolled his eyes and instantly saw through their little prank.
This dress robe looked suspiciously like the one Ron Weasley wore to the Yule Ball during the Triwizard Tournament in the original story, a long robe with huge lapels, lace trim, and embroidered frills.
It had a distinctly Celtic style. Even in the present-day wizarding world, it counted as a genuine antique, probably older than Mr. and Mrs. Weasley themselves.
It was not exactly ugly, but a few subtle additions had been made in places where they clearly did not belong.
There were magical symbols and patterns added to the lining and cuffs. They were not the mysterious symbols of ancient magic, but runic letters known as Runes.
And besides those, there were also some completely inexplicable feather decorations.
The runes themselves were not really a problem, but what exactly was the point of the feathers?
When Leonard pointed at the feathers and questioned them, George and Fred scratched their heads.
"Well... they're kind of fun," Fred said. "No practical purpose or anything."
Leonard looked at Fred and George suspiciously, then handed the clothes back to them.
"Then put them on and show me."
"Uh... that's probably not a great idea." Sure enough, George immediately looked hesitant.
"No. If you won't try them, I'm not taking them. When people sell products, don't they demonstrate them first?" Leonard raised an eyebrow.
George and Fred exchanged a look, and both saw the same helplessness in the other's eyes.
Could they somehow tackle Leonard and force him into the robe?
But the moment they thought of Leonard's terrifying combat ability, the two exchanged another glance and reached the same conclusion.
They were both weaklings.
Since there was no way to make Leonard wear it, then there was only one option left.
Internal sacrifice.
"Fred, why don't you try it on?" George said with a straight face.
"No way. You do it." Fred glanced at the nearby students strolling around and chatting, then refused without hesitation.
"So you really did hide some prank in it, didn't you?" Leonard said as soon as he heard that. It was obvious now that the two of them really had wanted to see him embarrass himself.
"No!" they both denied at once.
"Ahem... this doesn't count as a prank. Uh... it can only count as a new product. Yes, a new product." George explained with a completely serious face, not noticing Fred sneaking up behind him at all.
"Ha!" Fred lunged forward and tackled George to the ground, then quickly waved at Leonard. "Leonard, get over here. I've got him. Hurry up and put it on him!"
Leonard twitched at the corner of his eye, but in the end he decided to give Fred a hand.
He pinned the struggling George down with one hand on his back, then watched as Fred, grinning like an idiot, shoved the dress robe onto George.
Then Leonard let go and stepped back.
Curious, he looked at George in the robe. George climbed to his feet with a look of pure frustration, shot Fred a glare, then opened his mouth.
"Cheep!"
Leonard: ???
What was that supposed to be?
"Hehe, it's starting..." Fred said excitedly, pointing at George. "Watch closely. You're about to see something amazing."
The moment he finished speaking, large patches of pale golden feathers suddenly sprouted all over George's body, and clusters of feathers also emerged across the robe itself.
Before long, George, still dressed in the robe, had turned into a giant fluffy golden ball.
Such a huge furball suddenly appearing in the courtyard naturally drew attention. In no time at all, a group of bold onlookers had gathered around, pointing at George and whispering to one another.
Most people in that situation would probably have felt socially dead and fled in panic, desperate to get out of everyone's sight.
George, however, thought nothing of the sort.
Not only did he fail to run away in embarrassment, he actually raised his feather-covered hand and waved to the surrounding students like an idol at a fan event.
Fred also started cheering and making a fuss from the side, even taking the opportunity to advertise some of their prank items to the nearby students.
The feathers looked dramatic enough, but they vanished just as quickly. Before long, every feather on George had disappeared, and he returned to normal.
Once that happened, the crowd gradually dispersed, leaving only the three of them in the secluded corner.
"So? Pretty interesting, right?" George had clearly been unwilling to put on the suspicious robe at first, but after actually wearing it, he did not look upset in the slightest. Instead, he asked eagerly about his own performance.
"What was the deal with those feathers?" Leonard asked.
"We soaked the feathers sewn into the inside of the robe in a special potion. It temporarily turns people into canaries," George explained with great enthusiasm.
"Turns people into canaries?" Leonard looked deeply doubtful. "You call that giant fluffball a canary?"
"Uh... just a tiny little accident. We'll improve it." George casually took off the robe and handed it back to Leonard. "It's fine now. You can try it and see how well it flies."
Leonard took the dress robe with some skepticism. Just as he was about to ask about precautions, he saw George pounce on Fred and the two of them start wrestling.
Clearly, even between brothers, accounts had to be settled properly. George might have found turning into a fluffball amusing, but he absolutely could not let this kind of backstabbing from family go unpunished.