"Let's go, Evan!" Fred said suddenly. "I'll show you upstairs!"
"Yeah, let's show you where you're sleeping!" George followed, winking hard at Evan.
"YOU STAY WHERE YOU ARE!" snarled Mrs. Weasley.
Fred and George froze and looked bitter.
Evan, Harry, and Ron looked at each other. They carefully slipped out of the kitchen sideways, and Hermione and Ginny followed.
They set off along the narrow hallway and up the rickety staircase that zigzagged through the house to the upper stories.
"What on earth is going on?" Harry asked.
"Fred and George were discovered by Mom, and the two of them were too careless!" Ron whispered. "Mom found a lot of Gold-Galleons when cleaning Fred and George's room!"
"Gold Galleons?!"
"Yeah, Professor Lupin sent them a hundred!" Ron looked at Evan, "I never knew they had made so much money through the aid you gave them and the props they sold in the store."
"Seeing such a big sum of money, Mom was terrified!" Ginny said. "She began to ask them where they got it from. She thought they had stolen the money from somewhere and had a whole night's argument."
"Fred and George had intended to hide it, but later they could only tell her. They told mom that the money was your aid and start-up fund for their research career." Ron said to Evan, "You'd better be careful. Before you came, Mom had been talking about it countless times. She seemed very dissatisfied with your help in their research."
Evan gulped and remembered Mrs. Weasley's wrath.
"Oh, my God, Evan, you've been helping Fred and George with these things!" Hermione said in surprise, "I always thought you spent all your newspaper money on serious things, like buying magic potions…"
"Most of it is spent on that, but there was some left, and I gave it to…. Fred and…. George…"
Under Hermione's gaze, Evan's voice was getting smaller and smaller.
Things seemed to be getting more troublesome. Hermione looked even angrier than before.
Hermione was angry just because Evan didn't stop Fred and George from playing mean pranks on Dudley. It was only now that she suddenly realized that Evan was behind the whole incident.
Looking at Hermione's face, Evan knew that nothing could explain it.
"Mom is making too much of a fuss. I have seen their supply list, and all the things above are very interesting." Ron didn't notice Hermione's anomaly, and said carelessly, "Great long price lists for stuff they've invented. Joke stuff, you know; fake wands and trick sweets… loads of stuff. They've worked on this so much…"
"I thought they were just making some candy, and the Skiving Snackbox was very good!" Ginny said. "We've been hearing explosions out of their room. I thought they just liked the noise!" "
Hearing both of them, Hermione's face became even uglier.
She stared at Evan angrily, her brows wrinkled tightly, thinking about something unknown.
"Of course, Mom has a point. Most of the things they make are dangerous." Ron said. "She went mad that night. She found all Fred's and George's stocks and burned them up and warned them not to do it anymore. From that day on, she's been furious at them all the time, and their O.W.L.s scores have also disappointed her."
O.W.L.s were Ordinary Wizarding Levels, the examinations Hogwarts students took at the age of fifteen.
For the young wizards, they were very important.
Only in the case of sufficient certificates and achievements could they continue their senior years at Hogwarts.
This was an important exam that would affect future employment and career development, and it should not be ignored.
"Because of their bad results, they quarrelled again and they made a lot of noise!" Ginny said, "Mom wants them to go into the Ministry of Magic in the future, like Dad, but they told her all they want to do is open a joke shop."
"I heard that, do you know how mother answered at that time?!" Ron added, "She said that if that was to happen, she would sever any links she had with them and never care about them again."
Hearing this, Evan had already felt a little guilty.
If Fred, George and Mrs. Weasley were at odds with each other because of this, then he was the real culprit.
Hermione apparently thought the same way. She had been staring at Evan all the time.
Despite the pressure, Evan still believed that it was the right way to let Fred and George continue their research.
Both of them had a lot of potential in this regard. With the introduction of practice technology, they could make a lot of really powerful magic props instead of the prank props used by the young wizards.
By then, not just a joke shop, their store would become a giant in the wizarding world.
The blueprint for their future had already been forged, and it was exciting enough just to think about it.
Of course, before that, they had first to convince Mrs. Weasley and Hermione to support them.
Mrs. Weasley said that as long as Fred and George achieved enough results, they could make her agree.
As for Hermione here, it was mainly Evan's trouble!
It seemed that he needed to find time to communicate with Hermione in depth…
Just as Evan was thinking about how to persuade Hermione, a door on the second-floor platform opened.
A face poked out wearing horn-rimmed glasses and a very annoyed expression.
"Hi, Percy!" Harry stood by the door and said quickly.
"Oh, it's you guys, hello!" Percy said, and then saw Evan standing in the back. His eyes lit up, "Evan, where did you go at the end of the last term? You missed my graduation ceremony and I was hired by the Ministry of Magic!"
"Congratulations!" Evan said quickly.
"Thank you!" Percy said proudly, his eyes moving to Ron. "I was wondering who was making all the noise. I'm trying to work in here, you know. I've got a report to finish for the office; and it's rather difficult to concentrate when people keep thundering up and down the stairs."
"We're not thundering." Under Percy's gaze, Ron looked irritated. He gnashed his teeth and said, "We're walking. Sorry if we've disturbed the top-secret work for the Ministry of Magic. "