A Web Of Magic

Magnus stood in front of an abandoned classroom on the second floor. The Weasley twins called him here this afternoon and since he had no classes, he obliged. As soon as he opened the door, he dodged a flying projectile and looked exasperated at the giggling twins.

"I told you he'll dodge it Jordan," Fred said smiling.

"Aww, man, here are your 10 sickles," Jordan paid up for his lost bet.

"What's this all about?" Magnus asked them. He could see a table filled with all kinds of food, no doubt taken from the kitchens, and there were other Gryffindors in the room including Percy and Charlie who gave him a wave.

"We have been selected as the Beaters of the Gryffindor team," Fred and George announced excitedly.

"Congratulations then. Did you know they don't allow you to prank on the field?" Magnus asked them.

The twins replied with a stiff smile," Of course we do. It's only after we promised not to do so did they promoted us from the reserve team."

"What about Angelina and Alicia? They were in the reserve too, right? And what about you Jordan? You wanted to be on the team too, right?" Magnus enquired.

"Little Angelina made it into the team as a Chaser. Alicia is not so lucky. She's still on the reserve. Jordan here somehow convinced McGonagall to become the Commentator. He wouldn't tell us how," George said the last part with a suspicious expression.

"Sorry, mate. Secrets of the trade, not telling you," Jordan shifted nervously on his feet. Magnus had a suspicion whatever he did with McGonagall involved a lot of begging, if not he would be bragging about it already.

Angelina stood a few feet away talking with her friends and seems to have heard her name so she turned back to look and said," Hey Magnus. Why don't you too join the Ravenclaw team? Heard they could use some help."

"Hello Angelina, Alicia. I don't have enough time to play Quidditch. Who's going to heal you lot when you fall off your broom?" Magnus joked. The girls just rolled their eyes at him and went back to their conversation.

"Go on Magnus, have some food," George pointed him towards the table. Magnus too felt hungry as he came here directly from his morning classes. He moved towards the table to fill a plate with food not noticing the eager looks that people were giving his back.

Just as Magnus was about to pick some pudding, the focus crystal tied to his right wrist with the chain turned grey. 'No wonder they were so eager to make me eat. They laced the food with something. It's not going to work this time boys,' Magnus thought with arched lips. He only picked the food items that haven't been tampered with. Once he was done, he made his way back to his friends like nothing happened. As Magnus started eating without showing any side-effects, Fred and George realized that they had been had.

"I told you he'll find out. He's somehow finding out all our pranks since last week!" George exclaimed.

"Alright George, you won the bet. But how do you reckon he's doing it?" Fred looked suspiciously towards Magnus who just raised the smuggled Butterbeer as a toast. Fred and George shook their heads in annoyance. They can only raise their mugs back as a toast. They were glad they could convince Charlie to bring some for them. Well they had to give him a Wit-Sharpening potion that Magnus gifted them, but it was worth the price.

Just as they were conversing, they heard screams and exclaims from behind. Fred and George laughed as some students finally got caught in their prank. It was mostly first years, though there were the occasional seniors. They were sporting comically large lips, elongated tongues and one unlucky first year grew a nose so large he fell down face forward. They all had their laugh, but in the end, they lined up in front of Magnus as he pulled out his wand to heal them back one by one.

Madam Pomfrey would throw a fit if she found these many disfigured people at once. For that reason, Magnus is becoming somewhat of a celebrity among the students in the know. He can easily heal them back when things go wrong and they can avoid the hassle of getting scolded by Madam Pomfrey or some professor and lose house points. They still had to report if it was something serious. Magnus was all too happy to heal them. Not only will it increase the proficiency of his Healing, but also give him impact points. Like right now, he got 60 points. Once the last of the disfigured students was healed back, the party was wrapped up and students moved out in twos and threes.

Fred and George walked with Magnus as they whispered, "Hey mate. You want to take a look at our secret hideout?"

"Alright lead on," Magnus gestured. 'Isn't this just another abandoned classroom?' Magnus rolled his eyes. But soon his thoughts were proven wrong. The twins took him through a series of secret passages and they ended up coming out of the castle. "Quick, this way before someone comes," they urged him to move faster.

Soon, they reached the edge of the Forbidden Forest. "Wait a minute. Are you guys daft? Your hideout is in the Forbidden forest?" Magnus exclaimed loudly. The twins just gave a grin but the trio never stopped walking.

"Well, Filch keeps finding us wherever we go. I think it's that bloody cat of his. I think it's a dog disguised as a cat. Blasted thing keeps sniffing us out somehow," Fred said in frustration.

"The last time he caught us, Prof. Greasybat was just around the corner and he made us scrub smelly cauldron bottoms. So, we decided. What if we don't hide in the castle? Then Filch can never find our hideout," George told him proudly.

"Uhuh, now you only have to hide from werewolves and who knows what knocking on the door of your hideout," Magnus replied sarcastically.

The twins acted like they haven't heard his words. They reached their hideout after sometime. It took some five minutes for them to reach the hideout from the edge of the forest. It was still in the outskirts of the forest, so Magnus thought they haven't lost it completely.

The hideout was a hollow under a tree cleverly hidden behind some bushes and what looked like a replica of Venomous Tentacula. They even somehow made a potion that smells like it and sprayed the surroundings. Magnus had to give them some points for creativity. 'But there's something missing. There you go.'

Magnus pulled out his wand and pointed at the fake Venomous Tentacula. The next moment, the plant started waving its tentacles like the real plant would.

"Wicked! You have to show us how to do it," George said smiling. They quickly entered the hollow and once they lit it up, Magnus observed the interior. There were small boxes of their supplies with two cauldrons and a table that they somehow managed to bring in. There were even some food and drinks stashed around in case they got hungry or thirsty.

"So, what do you think?" they asked him excited.

"It's a bit rough around the edges, but it's like a drug dealer's paradise," Magnus replied honestly.

"What���s a drug dealer?" the twins asked curiously.

"It's better you do not know."