"Perhaps, but let's not talk about that tonight. Can you pass over the grilled steak from your side... not the one you've already gnawed on." Ian's stomach had been growling for a while now.
"Your gas mask can actually stuff food into your mouth, huh." Aurora marveled at Ian's design. Ian, who was eating, didn't take off the gas mask from his face.
He was afraid of being suddenly ambushed.
"Of course! This is my creation! After this turmoil is over, my gas masks will have a stock value; they can block the harm from at least five hundred kinds of poisonous magic potions."
Ian wore an expression as if the more people bought, the less profit he made.
Perhaps such an expression indeed made one want to punch him, but the truth was that the stuff he sold was worth its price. Anyway, once people bought it, they wouldn't regret it.
Of course.
The German girl sometimes had a very sharp perspective on issues.
"So, for the damage caused by more than these five hundred types of poisonous magic potions, are you planning to launch an upgraded product in the future?" she said in a tone that seemed to see right through Ian's scheme.
"..."
The little wizard was left speechless.
Usually, only when the truth is exposed does he become so embarrassed.
"Who are you planning to prank with your candy next semester?" Aurora, appearing satisfied and full, asked curiously, propping her face with one hand on the long table.
"How can you call my candy a prank? You chose the wrong word again!" Ian corrected Aurora's words, choosing to ignore her inquiry.
"Didn't you prank the Gryffindor twins badly? They're still in the school infirmary in quarantine, and even though they've taken your antidote, Madam Pomfrey wasn't comfortable letting them come to the banquet."
Aurora intercepted the onion ring Ian was about to fork away with her other hand.
"Their desire was to avoid exams, so tell me, wasn't their desire successfully fulfilled?" Ian, with a more twisted answer, successfully silenced Aurora.
"..."
The German girl suddenly didn't know how to respond.
"And their feedback was a five-star rating!"
Ian's account was indeed truthful; many little wizards could testify to this, after all, they saw him selling gas masks in the hallway while the twins were carried away in a clear container.
"Oh! He's actually making a second fortune off us!"
That was George's exclamation at the time.
"Even though we were used, didn't I just say, he's the future of the prank world, and facts prove my vision was simply amazing!"
That was Fred's five-star review.
In any case, that's how Ian understood it at the time.
...
The joyful time of the banquet began and ended.
With the arrival of a new day, the little wizards' wardrobes were emptied, bookshelves cleared, and all luggage packed into trunks, which were sent onto the Hogwarts Express by the house-elves ahead of time.
The dawn of a new morning.
It marks the beginning of the holidays.
A school year had flown by, and it was time for the little wizards to head home.
The Hogwarts Express had stopped early, and after the house-elves placed the little wizards' luggage, it welcomed the passengers to be escorted back on this journey.
"This train is really quite vintage." Ian remarked, as it was his first time on the Hogwarts Express, everything on the train seemed quite novel to him.
The Hogwarts Express was a typical steam train, featuring a long body and an impressive steam chimney. The body consisted of multiple carriages interconnected to form a long train, and it didn't look like a magic alchemy creation from the outside.
Of course.
Entering it, one quickly feels this point. The carriages were divided into several sections, including passenger carriages, a dining car, and sleeping carriages. Each carriage was gorgeously decorated and much more spacious inside than it appeared, evidently employing the Traceless Extension Charm.
"Next year our brother will be enrolled, and you must prank him too. Together we'll make a 'brother fortune'." George and Fred were beside Ian, not bothered by missing the banquet due to isolation. They were even keen to discuss with Ian ways to prank Ron Weasley.
Not only that.
For the Instant Escape Sugar with a 'smallpox outbreak' effect, they even had new suggestions.
"The Black Death! Let's create an infectious Black Death in the school! Let our brother be patient zero!" George enthusiastically voiced his idea.
"The Black Death? Making your brother a biological host? Don't you think your mom would kill you?" Ian looked at the pair across from him in disbelief.
Aurora had not left Hogwarts, not knowing what she stayed to do, and to avoid the harassment from senior sisters, he chose to join the twins in the same train carriage.
With all the little wizards aboard and seated, a slight tremor ensued, and the unique rhythm of wheels on rails followed.
The train began its journey.
Steam from the locomotive rose in the morning light, intertwining with the surrounding mist, cloaking the journey in a slightly tense atmosphere.
"It's just a prank, it's not like he'd catch the actual Black Death... that expression of yours, hiss, your Instant Escape Sugar didn't actually contain a plague, did it!"