It was nearing seven and Shawn was already falling asleep. He had had such a long day. With so many classes, studying for O.W.L.s gave him very little time for anything else. Lewis had been right. Fifth year was not going to be an easy year.387Please respect copyright.PENANAc0JDOv6cu4
Shawn had dozed off for about three minutes when a loud pounding awoke him. He sat up and turned around.387Please respect copyright.PENANAL4uVZ7Bmrn
Tobias was standing right behind him and appeared to be out of breath. He clearly had been running for a while.387Please respect copyright.PENANALBVWOZkO7v
“What are you doing?” Shawn asked.
Tobias took a moment to catch his breath and then spoke.
“Just getting some work done.”
“I really hope you mean schoolwork.”
Tobias laughed. “Don’t even count on it.”
He pulled a small, round object out of his pocket. Shawn took a look and rolled his eyes.
It was an invisiball. Tobias had bought it from Goodwyn’s Joke Shop before the semester began. Of course, it was confiscated on the second day.
“It was right on top of Seavers’ desk in plain view,” Tobias said, sitting on one of the chairs. “What a fool.”
Shawn sighed.
The invisiball was invented about eighty years earlier by the late George Weasley. It could make any object turn invisible simply by saying the name of the object while bouncing it. The invisiball, like all other items made by Weasley, was banned from Hogwarts. Nonetheless, it was still sold at Weasleys’ Wizard Wheezes and many other joke shops, including the recently opened Goodwyn’s.
“You do know that O.W.L.s are next week,” Shawn said. “Am I right?”
“I can pass those in my sleep,” Tobias said. He then bounced the invisiball and said: “Chair I am sitting on.” The chair turned invisible.
“Look, I’m floating!” Tobias shouted.
Shawn continued with his school work. “Do you ever act like your age?”
“Chair that Shawn is sitting on!” Tobias said, bouncing the ball. “Ha, ha! Now you’re floating!”
“Tobias! I’m trying to do my work!”387Please respect copyright.PENANAjrrdBGKRJF
“Gee, I’m sorry.” Tobias bounced the ball and said: “Unvisible.” The chairs then returned to normal.387Please respect copyright.PENANA9GSEJ02SwQ
“How did you get into Seavers’ office?” Shawn asked.387Please respect copyright.PENANAM5yR0prGcn
“I knocked on his door and ran down the hall. Then I made a bunch of firecrackers explode from my wand in the opposite hall. That was enough for him to leave his office and go see what was going on. I then quickly ran back to his office, grabbed the invisiball, and ran back here. I actually hadn’t planned any of it. I just walked past his office and thought: ‘Gee, I wonder if I can get the ball back.’ Everything that happened was just a bunch of quick thinking. But it all worked.”387Please respect copyright.PENANAt5DsInqAmd
Shawn sighed again.
“Come on!” Tobias said, tossing the ball in his other hand. “Let’s go have some fun!”
“I’m not getting myself expelled just because I was trying to ‘have some fun,’” Shawn said, trying his hardest to focus on his Potions notes. “If you want to, be my guest.”
“Why do you have to be so serious all the time? Can’t you have a sense of humor for at least five minutes?”
“Because I actually care about my future. I often wish you had the same mentality.”387Please respect copyright.PENANAv1HR0pi23F
Tobias said something else afterwards, but Shawn was completely ignoring him. O.W.L.s were one week away and he had no time for any of Tobias’ wild antics. At this point, it was obvious that Tobias wasn’t going to mature anytime soon. When the two of them began their first year of Hogwarts, Shawn had hoped that Tobias would mature by at least his third year. He was now nearing the end of his fifth year and appeared to have gotten even less mature. Not even O.W.L.s were enough to get him to shape up.387Please respect copyright.PENANAGZYwqgfZ60
“Come on, Shawn!” Tobias yelled. “Let’s go make Douglas Harpole’s pants disappear!”387Please respect copyright.PENANAE3gl6NW5PK
Shawn ignored him.387Please respect copyright.PENANAu82UvuVkpc
“Oh, Shawny boy!”387Please respect copyright.PENANAn3VcaNKYUx
Shawn again ignored him.387Please respect copyright.PENANAPo3Ex1N9En
“Shawn’s notes!” Tobias said, bouncing the invisiball. Sure enough, all of the notes disappeared. Shawn was enraged.387Please respect copyright.PENANAqiiZ21pvHv
“TOBIAS!” He roared.387Please respect copyright.PENANA5VB9zwSpNN
Laughing quite hard, Tobias left the chair and ran to the common room door.
“You need the invisiball to turn everything back to normal,” Tobias said, still laughing. “Too bad you won’t be able to get it.”
With that, Tobias stuffed the ball in his pocket and ran out of the common room.
“TOBIAS!” Shawn screamed again. He sped away from the desk he had been sitting at and out of the common room, vowing to give Tobias a broken nose when he caught him.387Please respect copyright.PENANAykuDn4Cp1V