Hoare was stunned. He clearly remembered that what he gave to the headmaster was his newly developed healing potion. How could it have the scent of peppermint?

The only thing with a peppermint scent was...

The twins, seeing Hoare's realization, grinned wickedly. "You actually dared to give Professor Snape a Joy Potion!"

"Well done!"

The two of them high-fived excitedly.

The Joy Potion, as the name suggests, gives a sense of happiness, making everything seem wonderful.

Hoare knew this potion was created by the Half-Blood Prince.

Which meant the one who accidentally fell for it was Headmaster Snape.

When Hoare first learned about this potion, he was amazed at how miserable one's life must be to crave such false happiness.

Later, when he found out it was the Half-Blood Prince who created it, he wasn't surprised at all.

But how did the headmaster end up taking this potion? Hoare distinctly remembered destroying it due to poor sales.

However, Hoare couldn't let on that he was unaware. The twins were grinning mischievously, and he needed to figure out what they were up to.

"So, what do you want from me?" Hoare asked.

The twins hooked their arms around Hoare's shoulders and pulled him aside.

"We see you have a knack for pranks."

"And the guts."

"How about joining us to make the prank business shine and grow!"

George and Fred's eyes sparkled brighter than their red hair at the mention of pranks.

They wanted Hoare to join not just because of this prank, but also due to his exceptional potion-making skills.

When they made the same potion, it was impressive if two out of several bottles turned out perfectly.

But when Hoare made them, almost every bottle was perfect.

Of course, the most exciting part was having a Slytherin team up with two Gryffindors for pranks, which promised excitement and challenge.

Did you know this story is from Royal Road? Read the official version for free and support the author.

Just thinking about everyone's reactions when they found out made George and Fred eager to drink more pumpkin juice.

"Not interested," Hoare declined directly. He just wanted to eat.

Besides, the prank was an accident. If he really teamed up with them, the headmaster would punish him by making him scrub the Potions room by hand every day.

Ugh... just the thought of it was disgusting.

George leaned in close to Hoare's ear. "Don't be so quick to refuse."

Fred leaned in on the other side, holding up a small notebook in front of Hoare. "This is our profit from last month."

Hoare's eyes widened in disbelief as he looked between the two of them.

Goodness! He always thought their family was poor, but it turns out they were hiding two wealthy individuals!

Hoare grabbed the ledger and flipped through a few pages.

Since their second year, except for holidays, their monthly sales were at least a thousand Galleons, sometimes reaching two thousand.

Hoare also checked their cost of goods, some of which were raw materials they made themselves.

Their profit was actually 70% of the sales.

"You're really okay with showing me this?" Hoare raised an eyebrow.

Fred shrugged. "It's enchanted. If we don't open it and hand it to someone, it will self-destruct."

"And there's a time limit, so read quickly, Henry," George urged, pointing at the ledger.

Hoare had to admit that his two brothers were indeed talented, but not in business.

Their material costs almost consumed all their profits.

Hoare glanced down and saw the patched hem of Fred's robe, sighing.

"I can join you, but only behind the scenes." The twins were puzzled by Hoare's meaning.

"I'll provide the materials and formulas. As for the place to make them—I guess you were using it before, The Room of Requirement."

The twins' business was only within the school, so the consumption was manageable, and Hoare dared to offer materials.

But he wasn't interested in developing prank items with them.

After all, it was the twins' hobby, not Hoare's.

Hearing Hoare's words, the twins were taken aback.

The Room of Requirement was a secret even to upperclassmen. They only discovered it because the Marauder's Map showed something odd about the location, prompting them to investigate.

But for Henry William, who had just started school, to know about it too...

However, everyone has secrets, and the twins didn't press further.

"Will you provide all the materials? Even for our experiments?" George's eyes lit up. Research required countless experiments, and materials were the biggest expense.

Their miserable state was because all their money went into buying materials.

"Yes," Hoare assured, "except for rare materials, I'll provide the daily ones, but I'll review your experiment records to ensure there's no waste."

The twins eagerly nodded, thrilled at the unexpected windfall.

"Seventy percent of the profits go to me," Hoare continued, dousing their excitement.

"You know my formulas are unique. Since they're unique, they must be worth the price," Hoare's words left the twins silent for a moment.

Hoare calculated that they had almost no savings each month.

Considering they were family, he was generous to leave them with 30% of the profits.

But he hadn't expected the twins to have such a wide range of products and customers spanning all grades and houses at Hogwarts.

Hoare even saw Hermione and Malfoy's purchase records in the ledger.

He glanced at the twins, who were deep in thought.

If they ever found out that their biggest shareholder was Hoare, the one they'd bullied and pranked since childhood...

The thought of that scene made Hoare chuckle to himself.

It would be payback for years of pranks.

The twins exchanged a glance, their silent understanding needing no words.

"Deal," Fred spoke for the twins.

"Tomorrow, place the contract in the Room of Requirement. I'll pick it up after training. As for the materials, I'll leave them there in advance," Hoare rattled off the follow-up arrangements like a machine gun.

"Now," Hoare raised his hand, pushing away the arms around him, "I'm going to the Great Hall to eat."

"This is for you, goodbye," Hoare handed them a potion he had made out of boredom.

With that, he strode off.

Hoare's formula was very detailed.

It was a potion that would randomly make a part of the body extremely flexible.

It listed the exact grams needed for each ingredient, the effects of slight deviations, and the final successful outcome.

The twins, holding the formula, were too excited to care about anything else, eager to experiment with it immediately.

As Hoare left the twins and headed to the Great Hall, he waited until they were some distance away before reaching into his robe.

Inside was another identical potion. The last successful batch had only two bottles; he gave one to the headmaster yesterday, and the one in his hand was the last.

He glanced around, then hid behind a suit of armor.

Slowly, he uncorked the crystal bottle.

The crystal bottle could stabilize the potion, ensuring no changes occurred.

And at that moment, Hoare really did smell a faint peppermint scent from the potion in his hand.

What on earth was going on?

Hi everyone, if you like this novel and want to read more in advance, please support me on PawRead.

Discord:https://discord.com/invite/ua2A852bws