Facing Link's request, Harry and Hermione were both a little confused, but after she realized what he meant, Hermione happily agreed.
She had long been displeased with the "black workshop" that George and Fred had set up, and now she just happened to see this as a good chance to have Link shut it down for good.
George and Fred's workshop wasn't actually inside Gryffindor Tower, but rather in several abandoned classrooms near it.
Those classrooms were once proof of Hogwarts' glorious prime. Back then, nearly every wizarding family in Europe would choose to send their children to study at Hogwarts.
But now, with the rise of Beauxbatons and Durmstrang, Hogwarts' enrollment had dwindled, and those extra classrooms had naturally been left unused.
When Link finally learned where exactly George and Fred's workshop was located, he immediately understood why the two brothers had been so anxious to "greet" him and look for a "protector."
Those classrooms might be abandoned, but they were still Hogwarts property.
So what George and Fred were doing was basically illegally occupying school property.
When Link and his group arrived, the corridor where those abandoned classrooms were located was pitch dark. The windows of every classroom seemed to have been covered with paper, making it impossible to see what was inside. The floor was coated with a thin layer of dust, a clear sign of Filch's laziness.
Nearly Headless Nick, the Gryffindor ghost, was hanging upside down from the ceiling, dozing off.
Link wasn't sure if ghosts needed sleep, but perhaps they were still affected by some form of gravity.
Because Nick's nearly-severed head, held to his neck by just a thin strip of skin, was hanging down completely, swaying gently with his ghostly breathing, an eerie sight to behold.
The sight made Link and the others instinctively soften their footsteps.
Even so, as they drew closer, Nearly Headless Nick suddenly jerked awake.
He stared blankly at them.
"Sir Nicholas, what are you doing here?"
Hermione stepped forward, frowning as she spoke.
Her voice acted like a signal, the ghost's blank expression suddenly came to life.
"Ahhh!"
A piercing scream erupted from Nick, so shrill that everyone, including Link, had to cover their ears.
Taking advantage of the moment, Nick dashed through the wall and into one of the abandoned classrooms.
"Oh no, he's going to warn them!"
Hermione's face changed drastically. She shouted a spell and burst through the locked door.
Link and the others followed, not too hurriedly.
Once inside, the sight made both Emily and Link frown deeply.
The classroom wasn't very big, yet it was crammed with dozens of worktables. On top of each were cauldrons, potion tools, and various ingredients.
What was surprising, however, was that the number of students working here was quite small compared to the number of tables.
On average, each student was juggling two workstations at once. They darted back and forth, chopping ingredients here, stirring a cauldron there, looking extremely busy, but their movements were complicated and showy rather than skilled.
Handling two cauldrons at once didn't mean they were any good.
In fact, Link immediately noticed that although all these students were upper-years, none of them had taken the N.E.W.T.-level Potions class.
Their technique was full of flaws, even dangerous ones disguised as shortcuts to save time and effort.
And now, after Nick's scream and sudden appearance, their panic only made their already poor control worse.
On top of that, the sanitary conditions in the room were appalling.
George and Fred clearly hadn't bothered cleaning before starting production. The dust on the floor was deep enough to cover shoes, and the air was filled with a revolting stench.
'Wait, A stench?!'
Scenes he'd just seen flashed rapidly through Link's mind. Something clicked, and he stopped, staring hard at the nearest workstation, or rather, at the pile of materials on it.
"Toad eggs… boomslang glands… troll foot callus… unidentified creature droppings…"
He muttered the names in his head one by one, and the further he went, the darker his expression grew. Finally, his eyes widened in disbelief.
"Bloody hell! George and Fred are making Dungbombs in here!"
Link's enormous magical power burst out of him, forming a sealed sphere of water that wrapped around Emily, Hermione, and Harry as it blasted them out of the classroom.
The student workers clearly knew what they'd been making.
They had been desperately trying to stabilize the volatile contents of their cauldrons, but the moment they saw Link flee, they panicked too and bolted for the door.
Unfortunately, they didn't have Link's kind of speed.
Without anyone tending to them, the mixtures in the cauldrons became unstable again.
BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!
A chain of explosions followed, and with it came a wave of terrifying, greenish fumes.
Dungbombs were simple in function, once thrown, they exploded into a stench so foul it defied description.
And because they were magical objects, the smell couldn't be removed by normal means, lingering for as long as half a month.
Thanks to that charming trait, Dungbombs had become one of the most infamous prank products in history, banned in nearly every public institution, Hogwarts included.
Although the ones in the classroom weren't fully complete, the stench they released was still beyond human tolerance.
The unfortunate students who hadn't escaped in time were swallowed by the green gas. Tears and snot poured from their faces as they gagged and crawled desperately out of the classroom.
But that wasn't the end.
The thick stench, darkening toward black, spread outward with the fleeing students.
From Link's experience, if this level of gas wasn't contained immediately, it could easily contaminate half of Hogwarts.
"Damn it! Those two troublemakers!" Cursing, Link twirled his wand rapidly.
Moisture in the air gathered, forming a giant circular "mouth" of water that trapped the reeking students inside, scrubbing them clean like a magical washing machine.
Then, a massive oval lid of water slammed down over the door, forcing the stench back inside.
But the fumes seemed to dissolve into the water itself. The instant the water barrier touched the green gas, it turned green, and the color only deepened by the second.
"Ugh!"
Link spat in disgust, waved his wand, and froze the water into solid ice, finally blocking the spreading stench.
Behind him, Hermione and Harry were completely stunned.
Until now, they could never have imagined George and Fred would dare to illegally set up a workshop inside Hogwarts to produce Dungbombs.
Emily, on the other hand, was simply furious.
The students who hadn't escaped were still trapped inside that spinning water sphere, being rinsed clean of the smell.
If Link hadn't reacted so fast, she and the others would probably have been getting the same treatment.
Meanwhile, George, Fred, and Ron were crouched in a corner, peeking nervously in their direction, with Nearly Headless Nick floating behind them.
"George, our Dungbomb workshop is ruined! Sure, the tools were the workers' own, and we won't owe them compensation, but the raw materials were ours! That's five whole Galleons' worth!"
"I think the raw materials are the least of our problems right now, Fred. You saw it yourself, that Hermione and Harry brought Link Flamel here! After what just happened, what do you think he's going to do to us?"
"George, Fred, you've ruined me! We're finished!" Ron wailed.
"Ron, how is this our fault? Who could've guessed your Miss Know-It-All would bring Link along?"
"Exactly, Ron, you can't blame us. And technically, this is covered under our agreement, meaning you're responsible for helping us sort this mess out."
"George is absolutely right. Remember, we paid you a whole Galleon for that!"
"Y-you two!"
Ron's hair practically stood on end with fury, about to explode, but before he could speak, three invisible cursed hands seized the brothers.
The sudden shock made all three Weasleys yelp. They waved their wands frantically, but it was useless, they weren't remotely on Link's level.
Amid a chorus of screams, George and Fred were dragged right up to stand before him.
Silence fell.
Forcing a grin, George said stiffly, "Ah, Link, fancy seeing you here again."
"Yes, and Harry and Hermione too," Fred added weakly. "Thanks for bringing him over."
Even without Legilimency, Link could hear the gritted teeth behind their words.
But if Link was intimidating, Hermione was even scarier.
She charged up to the twins and shouted furiously, "As Gryffindors, how dare you do something like this! Do you have any idea how many points you've cost us? Don't you have the slightest bit of shame?"
In her fury, Hermione looked so much like Professor McGonagall that even the seasoned pranksters George and Fred froze for a second.
As for Ron, he had kept his head down the whole time, too scared to speak.
Unfortunately for him, Hermione didn't overlook that.
"And you, Ron!" she snapped. "What are you doing here?"
"I… I just came to have a look, "
"Look at what?" Hermione cut him off sharply. "Looks to me like you were joining in with your brothers! Honestly, you're a prefect, for Merlin's sake!"
Ron's head, which had just started to lift, drooped again.
Hermione was about to keep going when Link stepped between them.
"You and Harry take Ron and leave. I still have a few things to discuss with George and Fred about this workshop."
Link's tone was calm, even gentle, in a way that made people instinctively trust him.
Hermione, convinced, grabbed Ron by the ear with one hand and Harry by the arm with the other, he was still dazed from shock, and started dragging them toward the stairs.
Before leaving, she called back expectantly, "Link, make sure to teach them a real lesson! Don't go easy on them for our sakes! If they deserve point deductions, do it! If they need to be reported, report them!"
At those words, Emily's lips curved upward.
For the first time, she realized that the so-called "know-it-all" Hermione might not be quite as clever as her reputation suggested.
From what Emily knew of Link, there was no way he came here just to enforce school rules or hand out punishment.
And Hermione still thought he was some fair, law-abiding good guy.
That thought alone put Emily in an exceptionally good mood.
Unlike her, Link paid Hermione no more attention.
Once the trio disappeared down the dark corridor, Link turned his gaze downward, cold and steady, toward George and Fred.
The twins were still glaring in the direction Hermione had gone, their faces twisted in frustration.
But when their eyes accidentally met Link's, the anger vanished, replaced by forced smiles.
"Link, would you believe us if we said this was all a misunderstanding?"
"Yeah, Link, you shouldn't just take Hermione Granger's word for it!"
They were still trying to talk their way out.
Link ignored them. With a snap of his fingers, the invisible hands restraining them vanished.
"Now," he said flatly, "get up and show me your workshop. And tell me everything about what's going on here."
Hearing that, sweat began to pour down the twins' faces.
They'd spent nearly all their savings setting this place up.
If Link shut it down, or worse, confiscated everything, their dream of opening a shop after graduation would be ruined.
Just then, Emily said sweetly, "Well? What are you two waiting for? Lead the way."
The brothers exchanged a long look. Their eyes flicked between Link's expressionless face and Emily's smiling one.
After a while, something seemed to click in their minds, and their expressions turned very strange indeed.
At last, George sighed and said, "Ah… right. Sure thing. We'll show you around."