"How did you know it was fake?"

George asked.

Wizarding world or not, crystals were crystals. They were of the same weight, being a bit heavy. They were also regular on all sides, with no air bubbles like bad plastic. In addition to being heavy, they were extremely resistant and hard.

"He wouldn't be walking around in a place like this, selling expensive items in a small, flimsy suitcase like that if they really were the real thing. He would sell to a bigger store."

Ron replied, walking George into the shop recommended by the goblin.

The shop had an exotic and dusty decor, with shelves that displayed all kinds of trinkets, some of them useless and some of them scary. It also had some weird potion bottles and cracked elixirs.

George looked around the shop, curious about what was inside.

At the back of the store, a carved wooden counter displayed enchanted objects, such as knives that moved by themselves and mirrors with dark images. Black candles were scattered throughout the entire store.

Across the counter, a wizard wearing an old black robe with gray hair was reading silently, but Ron could see the man staring at them through an inconspicuous mirror behind him.

Some strange wizards were hanging around the shop. They were just as unpleasant looking as everyone else, making George and Ron stand out only for having cleaner clothes than the others.

Ron walked up to the counter. He had to stand on his tiptoes to get support on his arms.

"Do you have the Mesmits Stone?"

Ron asked directly.

"Good morning."

The man lowered the book, revealing his face a little less unpleasant than the others. The man's eyes gleamed for a moment, thinking he could make money from that sale.

"The Mesmits Stone is a rarity, child. What would a little boy like you do with it?"

The man asked mockingly.

Ron stared at the man without saying a word, waiting for the man to bring the stone over for him to see.

"Stubborn, are you? Alright, fine. Take a look."

The man looked at Ron impatiently and bent down to pick up the rock from the counter. Meanwhile, George was distracted by some objects on the next shelf.

The man opened a wooden box with some valuable stones inside. He picked up an oval-shaped crystal, with a smooth, polished surface that emitted an intense glow and deep dark purple. Inside, you could see intricate spiral patterns, almost mesmerizing. Clearly, that was a real crystal.

"How much is it?"

Ron asked, gently placing the crystal in the box.

"130 Galleons."

The man replied slowly, with a mischievous look.

Ron was surprised to learn the price, but tried not to express it to the man. He could pay for it and still make a profit from paying the old lady, but he didn't want to get only 20 Galleons.

"You don't have the money, do you?"

The man seemed to frown. Realizing that Ron wasn't going to buy anything, he started showing boorish behavior.

Before Ron could say anything else, a noise came from behind him.

"THUD!"

George had knocked some books off the shelf, causing a mess in the corner of the shop.

"HEY, WHAT ARE YOU DOING?"

The enraged man stormed out from behind the counter, walking towards George.

"I… I was just…"

George began to stutter, shaking with fear of what the tall wizard would do to him.

In seconds, Ron looked at the box of crystals without thinking, and took the Mesmits stone from inside the box, put it in his pocket and closed the box again.

"Forgive my brother, sir. We are already leaving here."

Ron grabbed George by the collar and left the shop quickly, running outside.

"I'm sorry, Ron. I didn't want to get in the way of your negotiation with the guy. I'm sorry I got distracted with some books and…"

George began to apologize. He looked genuinely sorry for what he had done.

"Don't sweat it. Let's just get out of here."

Ron said, trying to get out of there with George as quickly as possible. He knew that the man would notice the stone missing in a short time, so they had to run away quickly if they didn't want to be killed by the wizard.

"CATCH THEM!"

The wizard yelled angrily, but he still didn't know the real reason Ron and George should be caught.

Some of the strange wizards started running after the two like rabid dogs.

Ron and George started to run desperately, pushing everything in front of them aside.

The wizard tried to chase the two through the streets, but the boys were small and managed to lose the man in the middle of the scary wizards that walked like zombies through the place.

After running like crazy through the muddy street, they finally reached Diagon Alley. Being able to see ordinary wizards again had never been so relieving for Ron, but they still weren't entirely safe just yet.

George took off his hood as soon as he stepped out of the room, but without realizing it, he ended up revealing his identity to the gnome who tried to sell them the fake crystal. The gnome was chasing the two brothers from the moment they walked away, but they didn't have time to realize it.

Coming close to the shop, Ron could see Fred pacing anxiously beside Molly.

"We're back!"

Ron said, approaching with a sheepish smile on his face.

"Oh, there you are. Are you okay George?"

Molly asked with concern.

"Huh?"

George was confused.

"Fred said you needed to go to the bathroom and asked Ron to come with you. Because of how long you took, I assumed that he ended up feeling sick. No need to be ashamed, you can talk to me about it."

Molly said, trying to comfort George.

George looked at Fred who looked away.

"Ohhh, it's true, Mom. I'm a little queasy."

George went with the story.

"Then we better go home. I'm going to prepare a little recipe to help with that. Good thing we got it all sorted."

Molly said, squeezing a bag she had on her arm, indicating that the objects were inside her.

Everyone went home in a hurry.

Later, Ron was in his room with Mrs. Lora's cauldron. He was holding the Mesmits stone, trying to understand how it worked.

'How could that old woman lose such an expensive stone?'

Ron wondered, admiring the stone's radiant glow.

Knock. Knock.

"You may come in."

Ron hid the stone in his pocket quickly.

"What are we going to do now, Ron? Return the cauldron without the stone? What if she starts bad-mouthing our work out there? Oh, I'm so worried. I'm sorry for messing things up."

George walked into the room wailing. Ron could tell he could hear George's anxious breathing from afar.

"It's okay, George. I told you, you don't have to worry about it."

Ron replied, taking the rock out of his pocket to show George.

"W-what?"

George asked, looking around quickly. He closed the door to Ron's room silently.

"How did you get this? You stole it, didn't you?"

George whispered.

"I didn't steal it. I just took it… and am keeping it forever."

Ron replied, trying to keep George from panicking.

"We're in a proper mess, aren't we? If that man finds out, he'll kill us. What do we do? I don't mind being arrested, but dying? I'm too young to die."

George said, pacing back and forth.

"George, he's not going to kill us."

Ron answered.

"How do you know?"

George asked, starting to get annoyed.

"Because he won't know!"

Ron answered.

"How could he not know? We went after the stone and mysteriously it disappeared right after we left there?"

George asked, irritated.

"He knows it was us, but he doesn't know who we are. What difference does it make?"

Ron replied, picking up the cauldron and trying to figure out how to fit the stone in there.

"Huh? Like this?"

George asked.

Ron looked at George and pulled the hood over his head, hiding the color of his hair, and making Ron's face not so easily recognizable.

"OH, THE HOOD! YOU ARE RIGHT!"

George said loudly, pointing at Ron.

"How did I not think of that? Oh, I'm a lot calmer now hahaha. Of course we're not dying."

George said, taking a seat in a chair next to Ron's bed, relaxed.

"And are we going to tell Fred? He would freak out if he knew."

George questioned.

"Best not. He doesn't know how to deal with stuff like that. I would be anxious and thinking about it all the time."

Ron said, running his finger along the cauldron's fitting.

"You're right. Let's say we were able to buy the part for a fair price then."

George these.

"If he doesn't ask, don't say anything. We better avoid getting into the subject."

Ron answered.

"GEORGE. YOUR SYRUP IS READY!"

Molly called from downstairs.

"BE THERE IN A MINUTE, MUM!"

George shouted back at her.

"Well, I'm going to have Mum's syrup again. Couldn't Fred have come up with something else? It tastes so bad… Yuck!"

George made an expression of disgust, getting up from the chair and walking out of the room.

After a few minutes of fiddling with the crystal, Ron decided to fit it into the cauldron.

The crystal fitted perfectly into the missing hole in the cauldron.

It had no effect on the cauldron, or any glow on the stone. It just clicked into place, like a simple ornament. This caused Ron a bit of disappointment, as he had expected something incredible for such an expensive stone.

At least, now it was ready to be returned to Mistress Lora.

----

[ Toru's notes ]

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