"Wait, wait, wait—" Fred was the first to come over, plopping down on the armrest next to Ron and peering over the diary. "This thing looks familiar."
"Familiar?" Ron instinctively pulled the diary closer to himself. "What do you mean?"
George walked around to the other side, peered over Ron's shoulder at the black-covered notebook, and squinted at it for a moment:
"Dude, don't tell me you didn't know. This is exactly the same as what's written in that book."
"What book?" Ron asked, then realized what he meant. "Oh, you mean the one in ' The Chamber of Secrets '..."
" Tom Riddle's Diary," Fred finished for him, his tone tinged with a strange excitement.
"Where did you get that? Didn't Headmaster Dumbledore throw it into the Fiendfyre?"
Ron was jostled back by the two people. "Don't push! This isn't the one!"
"These are merchandise items sent by Hermione's parents from the Muggle world."
"The surrounding area?" George raised an eyebrow.
"Yes, it's... Muggle made based on what's in the book." Ron handed over the diary. "You can see for yourselves."
Fred took the diary and flipped through it, then touched the gold lettering on the cover with his fingertips.
The letters were crafted with great texture, gleaming slightly in the fireplace light.
" Merlin's beard," he muttered under his breath, "Is so realistic."
George leaned over to look at it with him, flipping through the diary page by page, his eyes sweeping over the aged paper and the imitation handwriting.
"These Muggle are amazing! They even made the inner pages look so realistic."
" Hermione said the book described what a diary looked like, so the Muggle publisher just copied it," Ron explained.
"Her parents sent her a whole set, including a diary, brooches, quill pens, glass cups, blind box figurines, and the like."
George exclaimed, "That's so cool!"
Fred saw a quill pen on the table, picked it up, and asked Hermione, "What is this pen related to?"
Hermione shook her head. "This pen isn't an accessory; it comes with the diary. The ink inside disappears automatically when it's written on."
Fred's eyes lit up, and he asked himself if he could give it a try.
Seeing Hermione nod in agreement, he eagerly pulled off the pen cap and quickly wrote a line on the first page of the diary.
The ink faded slowly as soon as it touched the paper.
He stared at the line of text for a few seconds, as if waiting for something magical to happen.
"Stop staring at it. It's not a real diary that can talk to you," Ron said. "It just erases your handwriting."
But Fred kept staring at the page until the last trace of ink disappeared completely, then he exclaimed, "Wow!"
George snatched the diary from his hand and wrote a few words in it as well.
His handwriting was more illegible Fred's, and it disappeared quickly as well.
After he finished writing, he closed the diary and looked at the cover as if he were looking at something extraordinary.
" Muggle," George whispered, as if uttering a very important word, "They're making this kind of merchandise, and it's all Muggle."
"Yes," Ron said.
George looked up at Fred: "Just think about it, they managed to make this thing without knowing anything about magic, just by following the descriptions in the book."
Fred nodded, a rare serious expression on his face.
He picked up the diary again and flipped through it, this time reading much more slowly than before.
"And they put a lot of effort into it. Look at these details: the color of the pages, the wear on the edges, the embossing on the cover... They must have studied every relevant description in the book."
" Muggle stuff," George chimed in, "Sometimes the things they make are even more ingenious than magical items."
"I remember my dad saying that Muggle use something called 'science' to solve a lot of problems, and the things they make don't need magic to work."
"Think about it, what would they do if they really knew magic?" Fred suddenly said.
George glanced at him, something flashing in his eyes.
He closed the diary and placed it on the table, then leaned close to Fred's ear and whispered something.
After hearing this, Fred's lips slowly curved into a smile, revealing a mischievous glint in his eye.
He leaned close to George's ear and whispered something back, which made George's smile even wider.
Ron frowned as he watched their familiar actions. "What are you talking about?"
Fred and George turned to look at him at the same time, both wearing the same mysterious smile.
"It's nothing," Fred said.
"It's really nothing," George said, but his tone clearly didn't mean "it's really nothing."
"You guys are definitely up to something again," Ron said.
"A bad idea?" Fred put his hand to his chest, feigning injury. "When have we ever had a bad idea?"
"Exactly, we've always been decent people," George chimed in, his expression even more serious Fred's.
Ron rolled his eyes, too lazy to argue with them.
He put the diary back on the table, along with Hermione's other belongings, and then picked up his Wizard's Chess set again.
Fred and George exchanged a glance and stood up from their armchairs in unison.
"We have something to take care of." Fred patted Ron on the shoulder.
"Be back later." George patted his other shoulder as well.
The two walked side by side toward the door, their steps light and quick, talking in hushed tones.
Ron vaguely heard the words "patent" and "joke shop," but didn't catch anything more.
Just then, footsteps sounded at the door, and Harry walked in from outside the entrance to the common room.
He gripped his Nimbus 2000 broom in one hand and carried his Quidditch training gear bag in the other.
His head was slightly lowered, and he seemed somewhat dejected.
" Harry!" Fred greeted him as he passed by, his voice as loud as ever.
"Hey, Fred," Harry looked up and replied listlessly.
"Just got back?" George waved at him.
"That's right, George." Harry waved weakly at George as well.
Fred and George exchanged a glance, but neither of them asked any further questions. They simply patted him on the shoulder and left.
Their footsteps quickly faded into the depths of the corridor.
Harry slowly walked to the empty chair next to the fireplace, leaned the broom against the armrest, and sat down deeply into the chair.
He casually placed his protective gear bag at his feet, rested his chin on his hand, and stared blankly at the flames in the fireplace.
Ron looked up from the Wizard's Chess and glanced at him. "What's wrong? Is training not going well?"
"Training is going well," Harry said, his voice muffled.
"Then what's with that expression?" Ron placed a chess piece on the table; the piece looked rather menacing.
"You look like you ate three S.P.E.W.- flavored Bertie Bott's Every Flavour Beans in one go."
Harry didn't answer immediately. He stared at the fireplace, sighed, and then slowly began, "On my way back from training, I ran into Malfoy's father..."
" Lucius Malfoy?" Ron's brow furrowed immediately. "What's he doing at Hogwarts?"
"He's with Dobby, and it looks like he's heading to Headmaster Dumbledore's office," Harry said.
"He went to the Headmaster's Office?" Hermione looked up, her book turned to a page, but her gaze wasn't on the book at all. "What did he want with Headmaster Dumbledore?"
"I don't know... He's done so many bad things, but the law can't do anything about him," Harry said sullenly.
"I stood in the hallway watching him walk toward the Headmaster's Office, and there was nothing I could do."
"That guy." Ron's voice was filled with undisguised disgust.
"He slipped the diary to Ginny, which led to the Chamber of Secrets being opened, and now he's got nothing to do with it; the Ministry of Magic hasn't even questioned his status School Governor."
Harry nodded, his hands unconsciously clenching into fists. "I know, I get angry just thinking about it."
"Because no one can prove that he deliberately slipped the diary to Ginny," Hermione said, her tone also tinged with helplessness.
"The book states that there is absolutely no evidence that he stuffed the diary in, and in the end, because Dumbledore returned to Hogwarts, he was only removed from his position School Governor."
"But in reality, he didn't join forces with anyone to remove Dumbledore, which means he hasn't even been removed from his position School Governor."
"He didn't lose a thing!" Ron's voice rose. "He gave Dark Magic item to a first-year girl, almost causing a disaster, and he wasn't affected at all!"
"I know this isn't fair," Hermione said, "But the law requires evidence."
Harry sat in his chair, staring resentfully at the flames in the fireplace.
At that moment, Hermione suddenly looked up, a glint in her eyes.
" Harry," she called his name, her voice tinged with surprise.
Harry looked up at her, puzzled.
"You can use the method in that book," Hermione said.
"What method?" Harry didn't understand.
Hermione put the book she was holding on the table, leaned forward slightly, and spoke with an barely suppressed excitement in her voice.
"In that book, you eventually slipped the socks into the diary and handed them to Lucius Malfoy, right?"
"Yes," Harry nodded, "He tossed the diary to Dobby, Dobby caught the stocking, and then he was free."
"That's right," Hermione said. "He's completely stopped Dobby now, if you could use the same method—"
"Wait," Harry interrupted her, shaking his head with a wry smile. "I've already thought of this idea. I've thought of it a long time ago."
"Then why don't you do it?" Ron asked.
"Because that diary is gone," Harry said.
"Didn't you read the Daily Prophet? After Headmaster Dumbledore found the diary in Lockhart's possession, he immediately threw it into the Fiendfyre and burned it."
He sighed and leaned back in his chair. "The real diary is ruined. I can't give it to Lucius, and I can't put anything in it."
"That's true..." Ron's voice trailed off; he remembered too, "It was burned to the ground, not even ashes remained of the diary."
The common room was quiet for a moment.
Then Ron suddenly exclaimed, "That's it! The surrounding area!"