It was all Peeves' fault. No, really; the start of the betting ring was definitely not Fred and George's fault.

The twins were perfectly happy with their plans for their new prank. It involved the suits of armour, pirates, and water balloons. Then, they bumped into the poltergeist, and it all spiraled down from there.

Peeves was holding two rather long checklists, and muttering about how boring it had gotten around Hogwarts lately.

'Well, dear chap, I do believe that's a rather dreadful insult aimed towards us,' Fred said, turning towards George with a mournful expression on his face.

'Absolutely, undoubtedly true, my dear partner. I wonder what we've been doing wrong.'

The two turned towards Peeves.

'Have our pranks begun boring our dear friend and partner-in-crime?' they asked with similar outraged expressions.

Peeves looked up at that, distracted from his lists.

'Twinsies!' he exclaimed, turning cartwheels in the air, 'no, no, no! Not the twinsies' pranks! The Defence teachers!'

This piqued the twins' interest.

'Now, this sounds fascinating. Tell us more,' George said with a wicked gleam in his eye.

Peeves pushed the lists he was holding towards the twins.

'This, twinsies, is a list of all the Defence teachers since the curse was placed on the post. And this is a list of reasons why each of them quit the job.'

'Huh. These are hilarious! Look at this one Georgie, he left because one of Kettleburn's fire crabs set him on, well, fire.'

'And this one was – bitten by a House Elf? Are you serious? Is that even possible?'

'Look at this! She quit because of – bloody hell, was she serious? She quit because she thought Dumbledore's beard gave off bad hippie vibes! What is wrong with these people? What is that even supposed to mean?'

'Anyhow,' George said, turning to Peeves, 'what does this have to do with things becoming boring around here?'

'Ever since the Marauders left, there are only BORING reasons left for quitting! See – war, becoming an auror, having children, Voldie-possessed, memory charmed – BORING!' Peeves grumbled, before abruptly spinning off towards the trophy Room.

One would think that his motive for telling the twins this piece of information was to spice up the reasons for leaving the Defence post, and it may well have been so. But the twins had rather twisted minds, minds that could sniff out a way to make money a mile away.

The next day, a notice went on the notice boards in each house.

Tired of having a long line of Defence teachers? Wondering how you can use the fabled curse on the position to your advantage? Worry not! Fred and George Weasley present you with a new way to make money!

HOW WILL THE DEFENCE PROFESSOR QUIT?

Some of the odds we offer are:

Bitten by a house-elf…20-1

Injured by one of Hagrid's creatures….10-1

A 'Harry Potter Incident'…2-1

More options offered! Contact Fred & George Weasley today!

Of course, Hermione made sure to inform the Professors about the betting as soon as she saw the notice, and they, unfortunately, did not find it as funny as the rest of the school.

The announcements were quickly taken off the notice boards, accompanied by a hefty point loss and long detentions for the twins.

The people that had already seen the notices made sure to spread the word, which meant the entire school knew soon enough. A few detentions was nothing compared to the amount of money the twins made.

But really, it was all Peeves' fault!

For:

The Diagon Alley Challenge, Category Wealeys' Wizarding Wheezes

The Wand Wood Competition, Category Dogwood

The Harry Potter Spells Contest, Category Riddikulus

The Greek Mythology Competition (Epimetheus)

A Completely Randomized Competition

The If you dare challenge, prompt 313. Comedian

The Things I'm Not Allowed to do at Hogwarts Challenge, Number 13. Starting a betting pool on the fate of this years' DADA teacher is tasteless and tacky, not a celever money-making concept.