Hogwarts: Starting with full Unforgivable Curses

George immediately chimed in, winking at Filch, "Do you remember those things Muggles play called video games? We were thinking, what if you get frustrated and quit because you can't keep up with us? That's why we've been providing you with this fake wand, so you can occasionally have a 'target' to chase."

Filch's Adam's apple bobbed, he swallowed, and his voice carried a barely perceptible tension: "So... this wasn't Dylan's doing?"

“He made the first few, and then we thought it was fun, so we learned to make them ourselves,” Fred said, patting the water stains on the ground and splashing a few drops. “This school year we even improved them and made them into ‘toy magic wands,’ which have many more functions than before.”

Upon hearing this, Filch's tense shoulders instantly relaxed. He let out a soft breath, the anxiety on his face dissipating considerably, and his tone softened considerably: "I see, that's good, that's good..."

“It’s a bit of a shame though.” Fred suddenly sighed, his tone tinged with regret. “We had agreed with Dylan to keep it from you until we graduated, so we could see your surprised expression then. But now, it’s all out in advance.”

“Actually, it’s pretty good now.” George said, deliberately raising his head and looking up at Filch’s chin, unable to help but laugh out loud. “At least now we can clearly look up at your double chin! Hahahaha!”

"Double chin!" Fred's eyes lit up as if he had suddenly come up with a brilliant idea. He nudged George's arm. "Could we make some 'double chin gummies'? Using the same approach we used to work on the swelling potion, it would be really interesting!"

"Great idea!" George whistled loudly and clapped his hands excitedly, completely forgetting his pathetic state of being lying on the ground.

Just then, Dylan emerged from the shadows of the corridor and walked straight to Filch. Looking at the chaotic scene before him, he bowed slightly to Filch and said sincerely, "Mr. Filch, it was my fault for not informing you beforehand about the fake wand. I'm very sorry."

“Dylan…” Filch quickly waved his hand, looking a little embarrassed, and his tone became more polite, “I was already very grateful that you were willing to design a fake wand for me and help me with the cleaning of the castle. How could I blame you?”

"Hey, Dylan! Why aren't you asleep yet? It's so late!" Fred and George saw Dylan and immediately raised their hands, giving him a not-so-standard salute, their tone full of familiarity.

"Good evening." Dylan took a few steps toward the two of them and slowly squatted down in front of them. He first raised his wand and waved it lightly above the puddle of water. He could clearly feel the faint magical fluctuations remaining in the air at his fingertips. Then, he extended his index finger and gently touched the puddle on the ground. After withdrawing his finger, he gently rubbed it between his thumb and index finger, carefully feeling the texture of his fingertips.

"That's strange!" Fred and George stared intently at Dylan's movements. Seeing his reaction, they said in unison, "Why does the water you're touching seem like ordinary water, but the water we're touching is so slippery?"

Dylan looked at their puzzled expressions, pondered for a few seconds, and slowly said, "Perhaps this is Mr. Filch's 'special treatment' for you. The magic he cast should only be effective on the two of you, and won't have the same effect on others."

He paused, then continued, “The cleansing spell Mr. Filch used just now is different from a regular ‘cleanse’ spell. The core of this spell isn’t ‘cleaning’ itself, but rather it extends the concept of ‘cleaning’—he was thinking of ‘trapping’ you, so the magic was transformed into the power to create soapy water, making it impossible for you to stand up.”

"Oh...so we're quite valued?" Fred sniffed, deliberately feigning a touched expression, which made George chuckle to himself.

George chimed in, "But to be honest, I still don't really like cats."

As soon as he finished speaking, Mrs. Loris, who was standing next to him, seemed to understand and gave him a short "meow," her voice carrying a hint of dissatisfaction.

"Wait!" Fred and George suddenly seemed to realize something, their smiles vanishing instantly, replaced by utter shock. Fred looked at Filch, his voice trembling, "Dylan, you just said this magic only works on us? But Mr. Filch is a Squib, how could he possibly cast a spell?"

"Shut up!" Filch hissed reflexively upon hearing the word "Squib," but the next second, as if suddenly realizing something, his previously dim eyes instantly brightened. He turned to Dylan urgently, his voice filled with barely suppressed excitement and anticipation, "Dylan, could it be... could it be that I can cast spells? I... I'm not a Squib anymore? I've suddenly become a wizard?"

"Can we get up first?" Fred and George exchanged a glance, raised their hands in protest, and said, "We want to hear about something this important too. We can't just keep lying on the ground!"

"Yes, yes, get up! Get up now!" Filch was preoccupied with his spellcasting abilities, so he quickly raised his fake wand and shouted the incantation at the water stains on the ground, "Disappear!"

In fact, Filch had never given up on the idea of ​​learning magic. He had even secretly enrolled in magic courses before, practicing the pronunciation of many spells and the gestures of casting spells repeatedly with the help of the textbook. However, because he lacked magical talent, he had never succeeded.

As he recited the incantation, he stared intently at the water stains on the ground, his heart pounding faster than ever.

Filch gripped the fake wand tightly, took a deep breath, and raised his arm again, his voice trembling slightly with tension: "Disappear!" The moment the spell was cast, he stared intently at the ground, even instinctively holding his breath.

The water stains on the stone slab remained, gleaming faintly, showing no sign of fading.

His eyes, which had just lit up with anticipation, dimmed as quickly as a candle flame extinguished. His shoulders slumped, a long, heavy sigh escaped his chest, and his wand fell limp to his side. Just then, Dylan stepped forward, his long fingers lightly gripping his wand. With a slight turn of his wrist, a clear incantation escaped his lips: "Disappear!" A pale blue magical glow flowed from the tip of the wand, landing on the water droplets.

In the blink of an eye, the puddle of water that had troubled Fred and George for so long disappeared completely, as if all the water had been drained away, leaving only a dry stone floor.

Fred and George immediately pushed themselves up from the ground, their movements so agile that there was no trace of their previous disheveled state.

George raised his hand and scratched the back of his head, his hair slightly messy from being rubbed by his fingertips, his face full of confusion: "What's going on? When Mr. Filch was chanting the spell, the water stains didn't react at all, so how come Dylan's spell worked as soon as he did it?"

“That’s right!” Fred immediately chimed in, hands on his hips, his gaze darting between Filch and Dylan. “Mr. Filch, you were able to use the Cleansing Charm to create bubbles that trapped us, so why didn’t you use the Vanishing Charm? Does magic only work at certain times?”

Dylan didn't answer immediately, but turned to Filch with a probing look in his eyes: "Mr. Filch, there's something I'd like to ask you. When did you first discover that you could create bubbles with the Cleansing Charm? Was there any particular scene, or anything unusual that happened?"

Upon hearing this, Filch's previously low spirits eased slightly. He frowned and tried to recall carefully, his fingers unconsciously rubbing the edge of his pocket: "I don't remember the exact time... It seems like it was one day when I used the Cleansing Charm, and I suddenly felt something was different. If there's anything special about it, it's that after that, whenever I use the Charm, I can always vaguely smell something."

"It smells?" Fred and George exclaimed in unison. After exchanging a glance, Fred couldn't help but joke, "I didn't expect the Cleansing Charm to have a 'scent effect.' This is much more interesting than the fake wands we made before."

Dylan, however, didn't take the joke to heart and continued to press, "Mr. Filch, ever since you got this fake wand, has the Cleansing Charm been the one you use most often?"

“That’s for sure!” Filch nodded immediately, his tone very certain. “There are always places in the castle that need cleaning every day, and the Cleansing Charm is the spell I use most often.”

“Especially this school year,” Dylan continued, his gaze falling on the portrait hanging on the corridor wall as if confirming something. “I remember the school arranged for you to help the house-elves with a thorough cleaning. Did you use the Cleansing Charm more often than usual during that time?”

“Yes! That’s right!” Filch said, bending down to pick up Mrs. Lorris from his feet and put her in his arms. The black cat nestled obediently in his arms, her tail gently brushing against his wrist. “Hogwarts is the best magic school, so it must be kept absolutely clean and tidy. We can’t let other magic schools laugh at us! So I’m extra serious every time we do a big cleaning, and I’m almost constantly using the Cleansing Charm.”

"I've also heard that you use various cleaning agents together to remove those stubborn stains, is that right?" Dylan continued to steer the conversation, his tone calm yet carrying an undeniable seriousness.

Upon hearing this, Filch's eyes suddenly lit up, as if he had remembered a crucial clue: "Now that you mention it, I do have a vague recollection! It seems that it started bubbling up after the big cleaning at the end of October when I used the Cleansing Charm! This has never happened before."

“So it really started around that time!” Fred and George spoke in unison again. George leaned forward and asked, “Mr. Filch, what were you thinking when you used the Cleansing Charm? Did you intentionally want the spell to bubble? Or did you have some other idea?”

Filch frowned, trying to recall, his brow furrowing into a knot: "I can't quite put my finger on what I was thinking... it's just that watching the house-elves clean, sometimes I think that if the Cleansing Charm could produce bubbles like the cleaning agents they use, maybe it could clean the stains even better. Also, I've seen those students use the Cleansing Charm when the professor punished them with solitary confinement; their charm produced bubbles that stuck all over their armor."

At this point, he suddenly raised his voice, his tone filled with dissatisfaction: "Those bubbles are the hardest to clean! Every time the students' confinement ends, I have to go back and clean up all the remaining foam on the armor. It's so annoying!"

No sooner had he finished speaking than Filch seemed to suddenly realize something, abruptly raising his head and staring sharply at Fred and George, his tone turning vicious: "Wait! Could it be that you guys did this? Did you tamper with the fake wand to make the Cleansing Charm turn out like this?"

Fred immediately raised his hands in a gesture of surrender, a grin on his face: "Mr. Filch, your reaction is too quick! As soon as something strange happens, you immediately suspect us. Do you really think of us as people who would play pranks?"

“Mr. Filch,” George pointed to Dylan beside him, his tone slightly mocking, “it seems you trust Dylan completely! You know, Dylan was the one who designed the fake wand in the first place, and now that things have gone wrong, you're the one who suspects us first. That's not fair, is it?”

“How can that be the same!” Filch retorted without hesitation, tightening his grip on Lady Lorris’s arm. “How many bad things have you two done? Every time there’s a prank in the castle, it’s because of you two behind it all. Dylan is different; he would never do such messy things.”

Fred shrugged, looking exasperated. "Come on, we're not as bad as you think. At least we've never blown up a toilet, which is pretty good, isn't it?"

“How about this,” George suddenly raised an eyebrow at Filch, his eyes full of cunning, “next time if we’re planning to blow up a toilet, we can let you know in advance so you can come and see for yourself just how many bad things we can do.”

Dylan spoke up in time, interrupting their joke and steer the conversation back on track: "Actually, the essential effect of the Cleansing Spell is the same as its incantation 'clean and refresh,' both are to restore the object to cleanliness. However, the Book of Spells records a trick for using it."

He paused, looking at the focused gazes of the crowd, and continued, "The first part of the spell 'Clean and Fresh' originally means 'detergent' in English. So when we cast the spell, we can use this trick, treating the spell like 'detergent,' which will be more effective at dealing with stubborn stains." (End of Chapter)