HP: I beat the otome game at Hogwarts

Chapter 152 The Triumvirate

When Lyra returned with a huge pile of crucible cakes and pumpkin pies, Fried and George were no longer in the box. Only the hungry Harry and Ron, and Hermione, were there, reading "The Rise and Fall of the Dark Arts."

"Where did they go?" Leila asked as she distributed the food.

"...Fred and...George...went to sell......fake wands and stuff again..." Ron mumbled between mouthfuls of crucible cake, "...fake wands and stuff like that..."

“Ron! You sprayed cake crumbs all over my book—” Hermione said, annoyed.

“I don’t understand,” Harry said, his appetite slightly better than Ron’s, holding a piece of pumpkin pie. “Didn’t they just make a fortune in Galleons? Why are they in such a hurry to sell jokes again?”

Yes, he just made a lot of money, but now he's skipping lunch and going to sell to first-year students.

Leila, recalling the twins' recent strange behavior, narrowed her eyes and decided it was time for a "good" heart-to-heart talk.

Lyra cornered Fred and George in the lower-grade box. A group of young wizards, each holding a chubby toffee and a fake wand, were laughing and playfully fighting with each other.

George spotted Lyra, who seemed to have ill intentions, first, and quickly nudged Fred, who was still counting money. The two of them walked out with awkward smiles.

“Hey buddy,” Fred said, trying to sound casual, “I’m hungry. Do you have any more pumpkin pie?”

"Business is good, isn't it?" Leila crossed her arms and glanced at the twins' empty pockets. "You've sold out, haven't you?"

“It’s alright—” George said cheerfully, putting his arm around Leila’s shoulder. “Let’s go back to the private room—”

With a snap, Lyra slapped George's hand away.

George exaggeratedly covered the back of his hand, looking as if he were in pain.

“Stop acting, just tell me,” Lyra said. “What really happened?”

George and Fred handed the storage box containing spatial magic to Lyra, who opened it and looked inside; it was quite clean.

All the finished products were sold out, and there wasn't much raw material left. The frog piggy bank, which contained the savings for opening the shop, also lost two-thirds of its weight.

Five minutes later, Fred and George, having confessed, squatted down at Lyra's feet like two dejected dogs.

"So," Lyra said expressionlessly, "you two used all your savings—except for my royalties—as capital to gamble on football?"

“We were confident we could predict the outcome of the game, but we didn’t touch the portion of the opening fund you put in,” George explained. “We felt it was safer that way.”

"You won the bet, but didn't get your money back?"

“We got it back, but all the gold coins are gone—” Fred said in a low voice, “These were the goblin's gold coins—”

“We think there might be some misunderstanding,” George frowned. “Bagman is a respectable person; he wouldn’t deliberately renege on a debt. We are the children of his colleagues.”

"So, have you cleared up this misunderstanding?" Leila asked, hands on her hips.

“We’ve written a lot of letters to Bagman, but he hasn’t replied,” Fred said, looking rather grim. “He’s probably too busy.”

“We were thinking of selling the stock first to get some cash back,” George said, “and then Bagman will pay us back later.”

"Why did you keep such a big thing from me?" Leila also squatted down and looked at the two of them.

“We didn’t mean to hide it from you,” the red-haired twins said somewhat awkwardly, “we just feel like things went wrong, and we were a bit stupid…”

Seeing the twins looking unusually gloomy, Leila didn't say anything more, but simply took out the pumpkin pie she had specially saved for them and handed it over.

When the three of them returned to the carriage after making up, they found that the atmosphere inside was not quite right.

Ron was furious, his face turning ugly.

Harry and Hermione were also unhappy, glancing at Ron worriedly every now and then, and acting very cautiously.

"What happened?"

When George and Fred heard that the Malfoy boys had come to their carriage to cause trouble, they still had the leisure to jokingly comfort their little brother Ronnie.

When Harry later told him that Malfoy had also mocked and insulted their father, Mr. Weasley, his face turned as somber as Ron's.

“Dad could get promoted anytime, he just loves his current position too much,” Ron said angrily. “...Rank...power and all that, Dad doesn’t care at all…”

“Of course—” George continued, his face darkening. “Dad has always been like this. He doesn’t like to fight for power, he doesn’t care about these things, and neither does Mom—”

“The Malfoys maintain their relationships by donating huge sums of Galleons to the ministry,” Ron said. “But Dad doesn’t have to do that; he’s always the most popular person in the ministry!”

“Of course,” Lyra said quickly, “Mr. Weasley got our World Cup tickets, he really knows how to get things done—”

“Dad always has a way,” Ron said. “He makes friends everywhere, and these tickets didn’t even cost money. Dad is always popular.”

Fred remained silent, and Lyra glanced at him with some concern.

George stopped talking after that. He and Fred sat together in silence, seemingly communicating with each other through brainwaves, occasionally exchanging glances, communicating silently in a way unique to twins.

Ron was fiddling with his wand in a foul mood, seemingly imagining casting some powerful spells on that wretched Malfoy.

When the train finally arrived at the station, even though it was still raining outside and thunder was rumbling in the sky, Lyra, Hermione, and Harry breathed a sigh of relief.

The Weasley brothers were not very happy for the rest of the journey, and they didn't know how to comfort them, but in any case, returning to Hogwarts was always a happy thing.

In fact, Hogwarts has never disappointed. After the Sorting Ceremony, the dining table was immediately filled with delicious food, which soothed everyone's mood and stomach.

After the meal, Headmaster Dumbledore announced a few things to everyone, one of which was that the House Cup Quidditch tournament would not be held this year.

"what?"

All the sullen Weasley brothers looked up immediately, and Harry was so surprised he could hardly breathe. The boys' attention was immediately focused.

“That’s not fair!” Fred and George stared at Headmaster Dumbledore with their mouths agape, as if he had said something unbelievable.

"This is because a large event will begin in October and continue throughout the school year, taking up a lot of teachers' time and energy—but I believe you will all enjoy it greatly—"

Headmaster Dumbledore smiled and reassured the many Quidditch enthusiasts who were either surprised or protesting.

"I am very pleased to announce that the Triwizard Tournament will be held at Hogwarts this year!"