Fudge's Visit

When Fred and George arrived in the kitchen, they happened to see everyone roaring with laughter.

"Hey, what are you all laughing about?" Fred asked curiously.

George sat down at the dining table. "Is there something worth celebrating today?"

"Of course there is. It's Harry's birthday." Mrs. Weasley served them each a huge bowl of porridge and said with a smile, "And his most important birthday yet—his seventeenth."

"We know that—"

"After all, you've been going on about it for a week."

"This is your present, Harry." Fred pulled out a box and placed it on the table.

It was a huge box, taking up nearly half the table, and it was filled with Weasleys' Wizard Wheezes' latest products.

Hardly anyone went shopping in Diagon Alley these days, and the joke shop had few customers. Fred and George had plenty of time to work on new products.

Over the past few days, they had come up with quite a few good things: anti-curse cloaks, Foe-Glasses that could detect Dark magic, portable Portkeys—everything had been bundled together as a gift for Harry.

Hermione's gift was also Foe-Glasses, only she had given him six of them, each with a different purpose, from guarding against Werewolves to detecting Dark magic.

"So, what did you prepare?" she asked Ron. "Come on, take it out."

"Er, my gift—I already gave it to Harry." Ron rubbed the tip of his nose.

"What was it?" Hermione narrowed her eyes suspiciously. Her intuition told her there was something off about Ron's reaction.

Ron darted a glance to the side.

"Nothing. Just—well, a book."

"You gave Harry a book?" Hermione looked up in surprise, with the same expression she might have worn if she had heard that a Troll was seriously reading in the library and wanted to take