"Please tell me, this isn't a dream, George..."
As the black curtains were pulled open, the faces of two twin brothers appeared before them, shining with blinding light, as they were filled with satisfaction for successfully entering a mysterious investigator's office!
They gazed blankly at the wall, disbelievingly rubbing their eyes, as if a Muggle who scoffed at magic was encountering real magic for the first time, with expressions both absurd and laughable.
"Sorry, bro--" George Weasley's mouth opened and closed feebly, whispering softly as he blinked furiously, trying to comprehend the great invention he had just witnessed. "I can't make any promises, but I think we've figured out how Mr. Brayne managed to spy on Hogwarts from his office...I can only say, this is madness!"
"Yes, it's madness..."
Fred's voice sounded as if he was stunned - he lowered his head and looked at the many words moving on the parchment in his hand, before fixing his gaze on the grid images one by one. The sound of his breathing grew heavier and heavier.
"Our map is not as good as this thing, oh, but... I still can't figure out how he managed to do all of this!"
The twins took about ten minutes to struggle out of their endless shock, and the first thing they did upon regaining consciousness was to fall against the wall, wishing they could embed their eyes into the wall.
Because of too excited, George nose had not been how much running blood, but he had now nose also seeped out dribble blood, but he didn't care more and more pale face and dizzy head, only paid attention to and Fred analyzing Mr. Brayne to what extent turned into this epoch-making invention!
"---I dare to bet with Percy's prefect badge, Fred, there must be some extremely advanced Transfiguration involved in this!"
George's eyes were shining with admiration, and he kept pointing his finger at the wall without stop, but his gaze was roaming all over the wall.
"There should be a transmutation artifact that transfers the pictures from all over the castle to this wall with transmutation magic and then restores them into comprehensible pictures."
"Not just that!"
Fred exclaimed loudly, "Look at the perspective of these pictures, George, he installed at least several hundred transmutation artifacts for surveillance in the castle... damn, what kind of stuff could possess such incredible functions!"
The twins stood in front of the wall, discussing and analyzing the possible technological methods used in this system. Ultimately, they reached a consensus that this monitoring equipment incorporated multidisciplinary magical knowledge, which was extremely profound and not something they could figure out at their current level!
"You say, if we ask him reverently, could he hand it over to us?" Fred looked eager, staring at the picture, suddenly feeling that the map he and George treasured was not as attractive as before.
"There is a question, brother--"
George covering his nose, looking unwell, "If Mr. Brayne has been in the office monitoring everyone's movements, does that mean..."
The twins looked at each other, and both realized that the adventurous experience they had in the castle several nights ago when they sneaked out of the dormitory at midnight might have been seen by Mr. Brayne all along.
"He didn't report it to Professor McGonagall... Maybe, we were out wandering when he happened to fall asleep..." Fred's face also didn't look very good. He guessed that kind of possibility even couldn't be believed by himself.
Regardless of why Mr. Brayne did not expose them, now is not the time to delve into that question. They hadn't forgotten that there were perhaps ten minutes left before Amosia Brayne would finish her grooming and return to this monitoring room. As Fred supported the dizzy George, helping him walk to the door, and when his hand touched the doorknob and turned it, his expression turned sorrowful,
"There's an interesting piece of information, George, I can't wait to share it with you!"
"I'm also very eager to know the interesting information in your mouth, Fred," George said with a tightened forehead and narrowed eyes. "But I'd rather wait until I lie in the bed of Pomfrey's office before you share it with me, Fred!"
"It looks like it won't be until then..."
Fred tried to twist the doorknob again with all his might, but as he had expected, the bronze handle didn't budge. "I think we're trapped..."
Silent silence descended, Fred and George stared awkwardly at each other, both seeing the absurd foolishness flickering in each other's eyes.
Having been entrusted with an important task by the Board of Governors, the witch or wizard sent into the school to investigate the dangerous Chamber of Secrets' opener must be experienced. How could such a wizard be so careless as not to defend this extremely important monitoring room?
In ten seconds, the self-rescue operation began!
George detached himself from Fred's support. They stood three feet apart, simultaneously drawing their wands and aiming them at the door handle, meeting each other's determined gaze and then lowering their voices together,
"Corpse-reaving!"
A faint, watery light flickered on the round door handle for a moment, and then it vanished, making no changes.
"Damn, this cunning guy!" Fred gritted his teeth and cursed. "He planned to catch the young witches and wizards who broke into his office, right!"
Undeterred Fred and George tried several times again, but it was all useless. All the spells were blocked by the strong defense spell on the door. Fred looked anxiously at the parchment in his hand and decided to take the most primitive approach--forcefully twist, expecting to break through the tightly closed door.
"Don't be foolish, Fred!" George looked around and quickly fixed his gaze on the window near the Forbidden Forest wall. "Come help me, brother, maybe we can escape through here!"
"You're crazy, George," Fred stared in disbelief, "This is on the third floor! I'd rather be caught by Mr. Brayne and given to Professor McGonagall than break my neck falling from here!"
Although that's what he said, Fred still ran after George and reached the window.
However, after a lot of hand-wringing and hustle, the two of them collapsed to the ground, utterly exhausted.
"Can you believe it, George," Fred ran his hands through his hair in a defeated manner, "Who would cast a charm on the window? Only a lunatic!"
....
Amosia emerged damp-haired from the prefect's washroom, looking quite pleased with himself. Passing by the statue of the Dummy, he even hummed a tuneless little melody.
To be honest, he somewhat regretted not asking Snape for the position of a prefect during his school years. Being a prefect did indeed enjoy privileges that ordinary little witches couldn't enjoy. For example, just using this bathroom with luxurious white marble flooring, big enough to be like a swimming pool, was enough to make others envious!
The only imperfection was that the painting of the mermaid asleep on the wall always tried to open its eyes and admire his eight-pack abs when he closed his eyes for a nap, making Amosia feel somewhat embarrassed.
Two minutes before the little witches were due to finish their lessons, Amosia sauntered down from the sixth floor to the third, finally pulling out a wand from his sleeve and standing at his office door with a smile on his face, his voice light and cheerful.
"Then, let me reveal the mysterious identity of the perpetrator!"
