George still looked uncertain, but he obliged. He bent down and snapped his fingers.
"Come here, boy… to me."
The Eevee actually stood and walked toward George but stopped almost a foot away. Magnus noticed that it halted right where the shade cast by the tree ended.
George moved further back and called the Eevee once more.
This time, the Pokémon just stood at alert, its shiny eyes following its owner's movement but not making a move.
George stood up and pretended to walk away toward the castle.
"Goj, come on."
For a few seconds, the Eevee looked uncertain, as if expecting its owner to turn around and walk back. But George kept moving.
When he had taken a few more steps away, the Eevee looked almost regretful as it stepped out of the shade and ran toward him.
This was the moment Magnus had been waiting for. His eyes were glued to the Pokémon's every move.
George had stopped and was ruffling its fur. That was the first change Magnus observed. Unlike when Goj was under the shade, his fur had now fallen naturally. He also noticed that despite George's attempts to play with him, Goj looked almost uninterested, his eyes instead fixated on the shade he had left behind—almost suggestively.
George finally gave up and stood.
"I don't know what you expected to see, mate, but I think you can see my point now."
"I do," Magnus said, raising a hand to stop George, who had begun returning to where Fred and Lee were watching keenly.
"I know I'm bothering you, but can you try playing with him over there?" He pointed to the shade where the Pokémon had been resting.
George spread his hands helplessly. "Can't see your point, but why not?"
He walked toward the shade, and the Eevee, seeing where he was headed, ran ahead and waited for him.
The moment George stepped into the tree's shade, Goj suddenly became playful, jumping up at him excitedly.
George looked at Magnus in mild surprise. "Blimey… what's wrong with him? You think he's allergic to the sun?"
Magnus smiled, but even that smile couldn't fully portray the joy he felt at this discovery.
To his three friends, it looked like Magnus had done nothing more than prove that Goj didn't like the sun. But they were wrong.
On the contrary, Magnus knew he had hit the bullseye.
You see, he had known all along that if he wanted quick success in figuring out the evolution puzzle of this world's Pokémons, his best shot lay with Eevee.
The species had one of the most dynamic evolution lines, but the good thing was that most of the requirements for its evolution were readily and easily available.
Take the twins' Eevee as an example.
When Fred had said his Pokémon had become clingy and quite playful, Magnus had immediately made his guess, but he still took a few minutes to observe it himself.
When he saw the energy the Eevee displayed and its aversion to the shade where its owner sat, he decided he had to be right.
Fred's Eevee would likely evolve into a Psychic-type Espeon.
On the other hand, the test he had conducted with George's Pokémon made him strongly inclined to believe that under the right circumstances, Goj would evolve into a Dark-type Umbreon.
He didn't mention any of this to his three friends. He might as well start speaking Latin to owls.
"Do you guys want to win this year's
Pokémon Battle?" magnus asked trying to sound casual
The looks they gave him almost screamed, 'You're barking mad.'
Fred, however, answered as politely as he could.
"Winning? Not a chance, mate. Not with this." he said indicating the two Eevees
"Plus, I heard Snape's guy will be training the Slytherin team's Pokémon this term as well," Lee added.
"Well, fuck Snape's guy," Magnus said, forcing confidence into his voice. "You will win it this year."
The three looked momentarily unsure, as if trying to figure out what gave him so much confidence.
"We appreciate your faith in us, Magnus, but you haven't seen Slytherin fight. They—"
Magnus cut Fred off. "I haven't, but I've seen professional players battle, and I think it's trash," he said with astonishing confidence.
That made them pause, giving him long, searching looks.
"You will win—only if you let me train your Pokémon."
That was it. That broke whatever seriousness they had, dissolving it into wild laughter.
"You alright, mate?" Fred asked between bursts of laughter. "I mean… no insult, but you haven't even got a starter Pokémon. How… will you…?"
Magnus decided to speak a language they understood.
"Alright, here's the deal—I bet you twenty Galleons if you don't win."
The laughter stopped. They knew he wasn't bluffing. He had the Galleons, and he was risking almost everything he had.
"Merlin, he's serious, mate," George exclaimed.
"Like hell I am… so?" Magnus extended his hand.
George looked at his brother, then slipped his hand into his.
Fred looked hesitant but followed suit.
"Guess we got rich, bro," Fred muttered winking at his twin.
Magnus smiled.
Now the real work was about to begin .
****
Magnus guesed it was close to 10 o'clock when he left the dungeons.
He stretching his aching back as he climbed the winding stone stairs leading away from the oppressive gloom of Snape's quarters. His fingers still smelled faintly of metal polish, and he swore he had breathed in enough dust to shave a few years off his life.
"You'd think even the Hogwarts house-elves had boycotted dealing with such a miserable git," he muttered under his breath, shaking his hands as if that would rid them of the lingering grime.
Either that or snake was intentionally accumulating dust in his souvenirs just for the sake of his detention victims.
The corridors were frighteningly silent at this hour, the torches flickering lazily along the stone walls. Most students were already in their dormitories, fast asleep or, at the very least, pretending to be.
Keeping his footsteps light, he made his way up the staircase, wary of any sudden movements. He wasn't foolish enough to assume he could just waltz through the castle at this hour without drawing unwanted attention.
And, as if summoned by the mere thought, a soft but unmistakable meow echoed through the corridor ahead.
Magnus froze.
Miss Norris.
The bloody cat was sitting right at the top of the staircase leading toward the seventh floor, her lamplike eyes glinting in the dim light.
She tilted her head, her ears flicking, as if sensing that someone was exactly where they shouldn't be.
Then she saw him.
"Damn it."
Filch was never far behind his wretched cat, and Magnus had no interest in explaining why he was creeping around Hogwarts after hours. I mean even snape would not vouch for him because he should have been in Ravenclaw by now.
His mind raced. He needed a way out before Filch showed up
Thinking fast, he did the only thing that made sense—he spun on his heel and walked briskly in the opposite direction, feigning casual confidence as though he had every right to be here. He took a sharp left, making a beeline toward the stairs leading to the Ravenclaw tower.
He just needed to sell it. Act normal. Look like you're heading to bed. Don't give her a reason to be suspicious.
He made it halfway down the corridor before daring to glance back.
Miss Norris still sat at the top of the stairs, watching him.
After a few agonizing seconds, she finally turned away and padded into the shadows.
Magnus exhaled a breath he hadn't realized he was holding.
'Time to double back.'
He reached the seventh floor without further incident.
Now all that was left was to wait.
Magnus stood in the dimly lit corridor, shifting his weight from foot to foot, hoping for his sake that the damn cat wouldn't double back as well and burst him before the twins arrived.
A few tense seconds passed. Then, just as he was beginning to worry, a door materialized out of what had been solid stone. It swung open slightly, and George poked his head out.
"Psst... in here, quick," he whispered.
Magnus didn't need to be told twice. He rushed toward the door, and George practically yanked him inside before shutting it behind him with a swift thud. Without missing a beat, he pressed his ear against the wood, his face tense with concentration.
"Filch," he mouthed rather than spoke.
Magnus swallowed hard and took a careful step back, instinctively lowering his breathing. He didn't dare move too quickly, in case even the smallest sound betrayed them.
Across the room, Fred stood at the center, breathing shallowly as he stared down at a parchment in his hand. Magnus didn't need to ask what it was—he recognized it immediately.
The Marauder's Map.
Silently, He closed the distance and peered over Fred's shoulder.
His eyes immediately locked onto a lone red dot moving back and forth in the corridor outside. A thin black line was the only thing separating it from the three labeled Fred Weasley, George Weasley, and Magnus Magnus
Filch.
'Could he have seen the door before it disappeared?'Magnus wondered, his stomach tightening.
For their sake—especially his own—he hoped not.
Filch might not be able to access the Room of Requirement. Hell, he might not even know of its existence. But Magnus knew that if the old caretaker had even the slightest suspicion, nothing would stop him from fetching a professor. And if that professor was Dumbledore or, Merlin forbid, Snape...
Well, then they were well and truly screwed.
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