Chapter 212: Schemes in the Dark
Those who enjoy watching others' misfortunes often become the joke themselves.
Blaise, the joker, deeply understood this point.
He was trembling and sweating profusely in the face of Jane Yu's invitation to the ball.
Such an invitation felt like a summons from hell, especially with the little snakes around him eyeing him like prey.
"Uh..."
Caught in a dilemma, he cautiously raised his head and met Theodore's gaze.
Half of that look said "Try agreeing if you dare," and the other half said "Try refusing if you dare."
"Of course, I would be hon..."
He closed his eyes and steeled himself to agree, but then he heard the murmurs of the little snakes around him.
"Some cunning and scheming people urge others to fight in the common room just to clear obstacles for themselves—"
"If he could use such wit to earn points for the house, we wouldn't need to work hard."
The words he was about to say were swallowed back, forced to take a turn, only to hear Daphne's sarcastic remark:
"Some people benefit themselves yet pretend to be unwilling martyrs."
"He wouldn't dare look down on her invitation, would he? Such ungrateful people are like that—"
Blaise felt his robe drenched in sweat, knowing he had no choice but to accept:
"Of course, it would be my honor."
Although Jane Yu noticed the tone of resignation in his voice and the frown on his face, she wasn't about to let him off easily.
Determined to make him suffer, she ignored Blaise's discomfort.
"Then it's settled."
She responded lightly and turned back to the dormitory.
Leaving Blaise to be beaten up again by the little snakes.
...
But what Jane Yu and the little snakes didn't know was that far away in the Gryffindor common room—
The Weasley family was gathered, loudly plotting something.
The four Weasleys, big and small, had just endured a round of howler bombardment, rubbing their sore ears.
In the words of one of the victims, Ron Weasley:
"If Percy were still in school, he'd be ashamed to death by this howler in Professor McGonagall's office."
But Mrs. Weasley's howler didn't dampen the Weasleys' enthusiasm.
—Especially when the trouble-loving twins Fred and George, their brave sister Ginny, and the youngest sibling Ron were gathered.
Ron, with a gloomy face, was trying to psych himself up:
"Oh well, not going to the ball is fine, I couldn't invite a girl anyway, and I don't want to wear that hideous robe."
His defeatist attitude was met with Fred and George's snickers, both shaking their heads at him.
"Oh, poor little Ronnie, so pitiful—"
Even his sister Ginny scooted a few meters away from him disdainfully.
"Do you have any ideas?" Ron protested loudly, "I bet we'll get caught by Filch at the entrance to the Great Hall and have Gryffindor's points deducted to negatives! Then sent to polish armor for a term!"
His twin brothers yawned, feigning helplessness as they spread their hands and lay back on the sofa:
"No ideas, but we could throw you and the dungbombs at the entrance to distract Filch while we sneak in to dance."
Ron was shocked speechless by this idea of sacrificing him for their own gain, and when he finally reacted, he wept in indignation:
"You—you—!"
Fortunately, he had a reliable friend in Hermione, and even more reliable was the fact that she had a book titled "Powerful Potions."
"Merlin—am I seeing this right—Polyjuice Potion—again—?"
Ron stared at Hermione in disbelief, seriously suspecting she was one of his brothers in disguise:
"Hermione, are you—you Hermione?—This must be against school rules—"
Hermione rolled her eyes dramatically and slapped the book on his head again:
"Come on, over the years, haven't you broken enough school rules? Besides, we used this back in second year!"
For some reason, she sometimes felt like she was carrying her teammates and trudging forward alone.
And this was especially evident when dealing with Ron.
Ginny unhappily retrieved the book from Ron's head and continued copying the Polyjuice Potion recipe.
"Ginny, you too—"
Ron felt like everyone around him had become surreal.
His sister also gave him an eye-roll, angrily shouting:
"Do you want to watch Yu dance with a Slytherin partner? The whole evening?"
"We just need to knock out her partner—then each of us takes a sip of the potion, enters in turns—switch out before the potion wears off—"
Ron was dumbfounded.
Although he already knew his sister was ruthless—
But this was too much for him!
"Brilliant idea!" Fred and George whistled, expressing their approval of Ginny, "We just need to find out who Yu's partner is, get his hair, and send him a few sacks—what color sacks do you think would be appropriate?"
Ron felt like the whole world had gone mad beyond his imagination.
"But—" he said weakly, "African Boomslang skin—these are only in Snape's private storeroom—"
He was horrified to find his twin brothers smiling devilishly at him.
They approached him, blocking his escape routes on either side, and Fred hooked an arm around his neck:
"That'll be up to you and Harry, causing a distraction in Potions class to get detention, we're sure you're both familiar with that."
"No—no—" Ron weakly resisted, feeling utterly defeated, "Why don't you get detention yourselves?"
"Because Snape forbids us from coming within ten meters of his dungeon."
Fred shrugged, and George quickly threatened:
"You wouldn't want Mom to find out about you playing video games in class, would you, little Ronnie?"
Ron, full of indignation, looked to Harry for help, only to receive a firm nod and a determined look:
"Yes, there's no way a snake is dancing with Yu all night, absolutely not!"
Ron sniffled, face down on the sofa, motionless.
"Alright, it's all for the great interest and bright future of the Weasley family—"
He repeated this mantra to himself, psyching himself up.
Clinging to the fantasy of a better life with family ties, Ron quickly won his revival match.
Revitalized, he sat up and began plotting how to get himself into Snape's dungeon.
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