While Bruce had resigned himself to some teasing about the bats, the story managed to get beyond just the first year Ravenclaws. Five people in particular could not contain their enthusiasm for it. Without fail, any member of the Elites who spotted him would dramatically shout "Look out, it's a giant bat!"

"You'd think it'd get old after the first few times," he muttered to George one morning as Ramporatek collapsed in the throes of hysterical laughter in the Charms corridor, a full week later.

"They'll get theirs."

Indeed they will. He, George, and Miles handed in their Herbology assignments and, just as expected, Professor Sprout had sent them out of the greenhouses to cultivate their blaue blume. Their classmates thought the three of them were crazy for choosing a project that had to be raised outside in the middle of February, but they ignored the sidelong glances and carried out their potion and seeds.

George held both the bottle and the tiny parchment packet while Bruce carefully worked his wand around the planter to warm it. He needed to get the soil in their little pot cold enough to mimic the high mountains where the flower grew without letting it actually freeze.

Every so often, Miles tried to work his fingers into the soil and shook his head, shivering. Then he hastily pulled his hand into his robes to warm it up again. Since this had been his idea, George and Bruce agreed that he should be the one who had to take off his mittens to check the soil temperature and do the actual planting.

Eventually, Miles was able to work his hand into the dirt. He looked up at them and nodded, it was finally warm enough. He scooped out a small hole and, at his signal, George poured the seeds in and Miles patted the soil back down.

They stood, "Okay. Ready."

Bruce paused from warming the pot and all three pulled scarves over their noses and mouths, just in case. Once they were ready, George uncorked his Floral Growth Potion and emptied it into the planter. In a matter of minutes, four green buds sprang out of the soil, followed by stems, then they grew leaves and soon sprouted beautiful blue flowers. It was like the time-lapse videos Bruce remembered from science class, but live.

Now was when they should have carried the planter back inside, but there was something to take care of first. While George stood as lookout, in case Professor Sprout came out to check on them, Miles teased one of the four stems out of the soil from its roots and placed the whole thing onto a small cloth, cautious to avoid touching the flower itself. Bruce waved his wand again and the cloth closed itself over the flower, folding into a small, tight bundle. He silently thanked Professor Flitwick and slipped the bundle into his bag.

Miles patted down the soil again to hide the missing flower. Now they were ready to head back into the greenhouse and present three fully grown flowers to Professor Sprout. Bruce tried to conceal his anxiety when she looked over their project, and he could feel George rocking on his toes so hard he was sure the professor would suspect something was amiss. But she simply said, "Good work, boys, this looks fine," and sent them back to their seats to warm up.

With that, phase one of the plan was complete.

Phase two required a quiet area where they wouldn't risk being discovered. Now that they had a single blaue blume, they had to prepare it. If a prefect or professor caught them while they were working, there wouldn't be any way to hide what they were up to. They couldn't even try to explain it as homework, since no potion-making was allowed outside the Potions classrooms, which Professor Desmond had made clear included "just" preparing potion ingredients. Never mind the trouble it would cause if someone accidentally breathed any in!

"We can't use a classroom," Bruce had said while they debated the plan.

George nodded, "The grounds are too cold, so we can't go there either."

"Definitely not any of the common rooms, either."

"Well, where then?" Miles threw up his hands.

Bruce paused, and tried to think of all the places on the grounds or in the castle he knew of where they could be sure no one would intrude. "Well, I can think of one place, but you won't like it."

They hadn't liked it but, since no one had a better idea, it was agreed. During their next break they pulled open the door between the enchanter twins and went down the into the musty darkness. This time, at least, they had no intention of going too deep. That small storeroom right next to the stairs was perfect for their purposes. The small, grey stone room was empty except for the shape of a full-sized mirror covered by a sheet in one corner. The room looked to have remained untouched since they'd last peaked inside.

The boys left the mirror alone and set their bags down in the center of the room. Miles withdrew a small lantern, which he lit with a gesture from his wand. George laid out a mat to work on and Bruce set out his potion-making kit. All three tied cloth masks around their faces. Finally, with everyone as ready as they could be, Bruce pulled out the small bundle and slowly unwrapped it.

In the few days since they'd stolen it, the flower had started to dry out. Bruce cut the flower from its stem with his small ingredient knife and put the blue bulb into his stone mortar. With the pestle, he ground it into a fine, blue powder. Perfectly smooth, no chunks or clumps, even Professor Desmond couldn't find fault with this, he thought with pride at the results. Once the powder was ground, Bruce tipped it into a small mixing bowl and added a small amount of clear glue.

While he worked on the that, Miles brought out the final piece, a deck of Exploding Snap cards, which he separated and laid out before each of them. Discrete observation of their quarry had revealed an opening, Ramporatek was enamored with Exploding Snap and regularly cajoled his gang-mates into playing with him.

Each boy took a paintbrush and brushed a thin layer of the blue mixture onto the blue backs of the cards. Once the glue dried, the powder should be nearly invisible. When the cards inevitably exploded, it would burn the powder, kicking up a cloud that anyone who was too close would breathe in.

Phase three of their plan would be the trickiest part, slip the modified deck into Ramporatek's bag or pocket without anyone noticing. Bruce intended to plant it at the upcoming Ravenclaw-Slytherin match, using the crowd to get close enough without being spotted. He'd practiced sleight-of-hand and picking pockets before, and planting objects was usually easier than lifting them. They could then take shifts with the Shadow Cloak to look for an opportunity to trigger an explosion. Of course, it was also possible that one of the Elites would manage to set the deck off in their own face before they even had a chance.

They all had a good laugh when George suggested that possibility. He pressed on when the laughter started to die down, "What do you figure they'll see?"

"I bet Rampo's biggest fear is a barber," Miles said, prompting a few more chuckles at the image of Ramporatek desperately trying to protect his long, oily hair from an imagined comb and scissors.

Bruce tried to imagine what might terrify the other Elites and quickly arrived at an image of Eddy, alone, imagining his new "friends" turning on him, and fearing he'd lost what acceptance he'd gained within his house. It wasn't very funny, so he didn't say anything. He also didn't laugh when George added, "Jones is probably just afraid of falling down the stairs again," though George was too pleased with himself to notice; he did join in when Miles went on, "Manny'd imagine everyone ignoring him."

"I wonder if Pamela would picture Robin coming at her, but the size of an eagle this time," Bruce finally managed as he set down his last card, prompting chuckles.

Miles had also completed his stack. He looked at the spread of cards in front of him, "I wonder what it feels like."

"What?" George was the last to finish.

"This stuff," Miles pointed to the empty mortar. "What's breathing this in actually feel like? Would it be like the boggart or like a nightmare or what?"

"I'unno," he pulled the end of his brush from his mouth and started to clean the bristles, "Does it matter?"

"Kinda. I mean, we're gonna use it on someone."

George snorted, "Well, we'll have to ask them."

"I wonder if it's like the boggart or - " Bruce trailed off, looking vacantly the wall to his right, feeling as though he could see through it and down the corridor where cut stone cellars gave way to natural caves and then something else entirely. George and Miles froze. By unspoken agreement, they'd never mentioned the underground passageway after escaping it, not even when discussing this part of the plan.

After a long pause, George finally mumbled, "Yeah, probably."

The conversation trailed off into silence, each boy alone with his own thoughts. This was the closest Bruce had been to the caves in months, closer than he'd prefer but just far enough to feel almost safe. It was the first time he'd been willing - or did he feel forced? - to consider what he'd experienced down there. After getting away the first time he'd almost managed to treat the experience like another nightmare. Was that what it was?

"What did you guys see down there?"

Bruce was so surprised by the question that it took a second to even realize that he'd been the one who asked it. Nobody said anything. Had his whisper been too soft for them to hear? That was a relief -

"A nightmare." Miles breathed back. He blinked and noticed that they were now staring at him. After a deep breath, he continued, "I remembered a nightmare from when I was little.

"My dad took me through London and we saw a big crowd on a corner, laughing and clapping. In the middle was one of those Muggle magicians. At first I thought it was real, I thought it must be a witch breaking the Statute of Secrecy, but my dad explained that it was a show. He said Muggles like to see other Muggles doing tricks that look like magic but aren't. Later, we walked by another place, where they had one of those glass portraits that Muggles have, the ones that show plays. In it there was a crowd shouting about burning a witch and in front there was another group of laughing people. Dad told me there was a time when Muggles tried to burn any wizards or witches they found.

"That night, I had a dream where I was on stage trying to do magic but the tricks didn't work and the audience kept getting angrier at me. Then the whole stage was on fire, and I couldn't get away, and then they were all laughing and clapping, and the more I tried to get away or shout for help, the more they laughed."

Miles finally looked up from the folded hands in his lap as he finished his story, "When we went down there I felt like I was walking onto that stage. The walls turned into curtain legs and there I was staring at this packed house. The audience was booing and the footlights started to explode and the announcer kept saying it was part of the show."

Relieved not to be the first to open up, Bruce told his own story. He started at the point where he'd noticed the stone tunnel turning into the alleyway, though he left out that it had been their bodies and not his parents that he'd seen. " - then he squeezed the trigger and... well, that was when we ran," he finished lamely.

"Well!" George slapped his knees, startling his friends, "These look dry!" He hurried to bundle up the cards in front of him, and then grabbed more from them when the others weren't fast enough about it. Before Miles or Bruce could register what was happening, George was on his feet with the hastily gathered Exploding Snap deck in his hand. "Come on! Don't want to hang around here all day!" With that he was out the door, leaving them with no choice but to gather up their bags and hurry after him.

When they reached the door at the top of the stairs, George pressed down the latch and tried to push it open. It didn't give. He pushed harder, put his shoulder against it and Bruce could see the door start to move. He and Miles joined in and managed to get it moving.

It gave way all at once and the boys spilled out.

Bruce looked up at a pair of stained shoes. His head drew back and his eyes walked up along a pair of loose trousers, dingy coat, clenched jaw, and into the narrowed eyes of Argus Filch. He swallowed. Beside him, George swore quietly and Miles groaned.

Filch glared down at them, "What are you three miscreants up to?"

Excuses and apologies tumbled over each other. Filch grinned and opened his mouth to say more, but his eyes flicked to the side. His expression grew puzzled. Bruce followed his gaze.

There, lying on the floor where it had landed after George had dropped it, was their modified Exploding Snap deck. Bruce tried to snatch it out of sight, but Filch saw his move placed a foot over the deck.

"Well well, what do we have here? What were you trying to hide, eh?"

"Nothing at all, sir," Miles said quickly, pushing himself to his feet. Bruce and George followed him as he went on, "Just some cards."

"'Just cards,' eh? What were you doing with 'just cards' hiding in that broom closet?"

"Well - " Miles trailed off and looked to George and Bruce for inspiration, but nothing struck. Bruce didn't think they'd broken any rules, at least, none that Filch could see, but that didn't mean he wouldn't come up with something. It seemed there was nothing the Caretaker liked better than inventing some way that students had broken the school's rules so he could propose various punishments.

"Hmm! That's what I thought."

Filch bent down to retrieve the deck. Bruce tried to make another grab for it when the shoe lifted but was too slow. They both ended up grasping part of the cards. The string gave and cards exploded in all directions.

And then the cards Exploded.

Bruce held his breath and backed away as quickly as he could. George and Miles did the same and all three had their masks back on before they dared take another breath. They had known an accident was possible and were prepared for it.

Filch, however, had not and was not.

His eyes widened and his mouth fell open in horror. He fell to his knees, and stared first at one enchanter twin and then the other. He began to sob, "Please! No, please!" He started to wail, and the words became unintelligible. Rapid footsteps echoed from the ends of the hallway.

The boys watched the scene through the already dissipating blue mist. George said, "We're in trouble."