Harry stood in the corridor, watching Lucius's figure disappear around the corner, stunned for a long time.
He was prepared to be ridiculed, and even prepared for Lucius to expose him on the spot as having a fake diary.
After all, who is Lucius Malfoy?
An old fox who can slip Dark Magic items into a first-grade girl and then wash his hands of it all afterwards.
How could someone like that be fooled by a twelve-year-old boy with a fake notebook made by a Muggle?
But Lucius, oblivious to this, actually tossed the diary to Dobby.
"Just like that... it's done?" Harry looked down at his hands, somewhat incredulous.
He had prepared a whole speech, ready to explain the diary to Lucius, even prepared to argue with Lucius. But he didn't have to say a word.
Standing in the corridor, he suddenly realized that Lucius Malfoy wasn't as hateful as he had imagined.
Okay, it's still awful.
He was the one who did the diary incident, almost killing Ginny and causing Hogwarts to close down. There's no way to clear his name about that.
But the way he turned and left so decisively did make Harry's determination to "fight him to the end" waver a little.
It's like you clench your fist, ready to fight someone, but they just shrug and walk away.
The feeling of punching cotton is more disheartening than actually fighting.
" Harry Potter!"
A shrill voice came from behind, pulling Harry back to his thoughts.
Dobby was standing in the middle of the hallway, holding the diary and the sock, his two green tennis ball eyes so big they seemed to fill his entire little face.
Tears streamed down his face, running down his flat nose and dripping onto his dirty pillowcase.
" Harry Potter!" Dobby called again, and this time it pounced on Harry, wrapping its long, thin arms tightly around his waist and burying its face in his robes.
Harry was knocked back half a step and almost lost his balance.
" Dobby is free!" Dobby's voice muffled inside Harry's robes, sounding like he was both crying and laughing.
" Dobby is really free! Harry Potter did it! Harry Potter set Dobby free!"
Harry looked down at the trembling little thing in his arms and suddenly felt a lump in his throat.
He patted Dobby on the back, the movement a little awkward. "Alright, alright, you're free now, stop crying."
" Dobby didn't cry!" Dobby raised his head, his face covered in tears, his eyes as red as two ripe tomatoes.
Dobby is happy! Dobby is so happy! Dobby has never been happier in his entire life!
It released Harry's waist, took two steps back, and then stood up straight solemnly—the first time Harry had ever seen Dobby up straight.
Back when he Malfoy family, Dobby always hunched over and shrugged, as if he were always ready to be beaten.
" Dobby wants to Harry Potter," Dobby said, bowing deeply so that its nose almost touched its knees.
Dobby will remember Harry Potter's kindness for the rest of his life.
"No need for that." Harry quickly waved his hand. "It's good that you're free. You don't need to go back to the Malfoy family anymore."
Dobby straightened up, tears still glistening in his large eyes, but a wide smile had spread across his face.
It looked down at the diary and socks in its hand, carefully folded the socks, and stuffed them into a hidden pocket inside the pillowcase.
" Dobby's going to look for a job." Dobby puffed out his chest, his voice carrying a confidence Harry had never heard before.
Dobby has heard that many House-elf work in the Hogwarts Kitchen, Dobby he wants to try it out.
"You're going to the Hogwarts Kitchens?" Harry, somewhat surprised.
"Yes, sir." Dobby nodded, his expression extremely serious.
" Headmaster Dumbledore is a good wizard. Dobby would never have been beaten if he had worked at Hogwarts."
It paused for a moment, as if calculating something. " Dobby has calculated that if Dobby is careful with his money and saves up Dobby a few years, he can buy himself a decent set of clothes."
Harry couldn't help but laugh as he listened Dobby Dobby's serious accounting.
This House-elf, who had been used as a tool in the Malfoy family for who knows how many years, is now seriously planning how to spend his future salary.
"Then you'll definitely find a job you like," Harry said earnestly. " Hogwarts Kitchen would definitely need someone like you... uh..."
He wanted to say " House-elf," but then he felt that the phrase didn't quite fit.
" Dobby is a free House-elf." Dobby finished the sentence for him, not minding at all.
"Free House-elf are much better at finding jobs than House-elf. Dobby will prove that."
It bowed to Harry again, this time not as deeply, but with a dignity that Harry had never seen before.
" Harry Potter, Dobby's leaving," Dobby said. " Dobby, go to the Hogwarts Kitchens now and see if they need anyone."
"Good luck, Dobby." Harry waved at it.
Dobby grinned, then popped away.
Harry was the only one left in the corridor, along with a faint, lingering smell in the air, like a mixture of old rags and dust.
Harry stood in the corridor for a while, then finally felt a sense of relief and turned to walk towards the Gryffindor Tower.
Time passed day by day.
The turmoil caused by the attack gradually subsided, and Hogwarts returned to its usual rhythm.
As usual, footsteps and laughter echoed in the corridors, the Great Hall was filled with the aroma of toast and fried eggs, and the library was packed with students rushing to finish their assignments.
It was as if the Chamber of Secrets incident had never happened.
However, one thing is different from before.
Merchandise from the Muggle world became popular at Hogwarts.
At first, it was just a few Muggle-born Gryffindor students who received packages from home, opened them, and fiddled with the items in the common room.
Hermione received a set of merchandise from her parents, and Ron borrowed the diary and kept flipping through it. After Fred and George caught them, things spiraled out of control.
Who are Fred and George? They are the people at Hogwarts who are best at spotting opportunities.
They spent the entire afternoon examining the pile of things on Hermione's desk, taking everything apart to look at it and then carefully putting it back together.
" Muggle- made stuff," Fred concluded, turning the snake-shaped brooch over and over in his hand, "Is much more impressive than we imagined."
"More exquisite than magical artifacts," George remarked, holding the Fawkes quill pen up to his eyes and examining it under the lights of the common room.
From then on, things that had never been seen before began to appear in the corridors of Hogwarts.
A student carrying a canvas bag printed with the image of the Snake of the Chamber of Secrets went to class and was stared at by Professor Flitwick for quite a while.
In the end, the professor had no choice but to say nothing, simply shake his head, and continue walking forward.
Another student was taking notes with a Fawkes quill during Potions Class. When Snape walked by, he paused, startling the student so much that his hand jerked.
The most popular item is the Golden Egg pendant.
The Hogwarts students opened the Golden Egg, listened to the deep Parseltongue whispers inside, and then argued among themselves about what it was saying.
"It sounds like 'open'," said a Ravenclaw girl.
"No, I think it's 'torn apart'," her roommate countered.
"You're both wrong," a Slytherin boy passing by said without turning his head. "It's clearly the word ' Chamber of Secrets '."
Ron asked Harry curiously, " Harry, can you understand what the Golden Snitch is saying?"
Harry twitched his lips and shook his head helplessly, indicating that he didn't understand either.
Of all these related products, the most popular is a card game.
Muggle publishers created a set of battle cards based on the first two Harry Potter books, called Magic Cards.
The rules are that it is a battle between two or more people, with each person playing as a faction, choosing a certain number of cards from that faction's deck to form a deck, and then starting the duel.
These cards are divided into different function types: Domain Cards, Power Cards, Ability Cards, History Cards, Follower Cards, Treasure Cards, Monster Cards, and Wealth Cards.
Different card combinations will produce different effects, and some combinations can directly turn the tide of the game.
The Hogwarts Deck is one of the most popular.
This deck's theme is Hogwarts School itself, with core cards including professors like Dumbledore, McGonagall, Snape, and Flitwick, as well as cards representing various magic courses, the House Cup, Quidditch Match, and more.
But what excited Ron the most was that the Hogwarts Deck included [ Harry ], [ Ron ], and [ Hermione ].
These three are follower cards.
You can summon a follower as soon as you draw it, but they are generally not very strong.
Other minions in the Hogwarts Deck, such as [ Wood ], [ Percy ], and [ Neville ], have average stats; they're neither particularly strong nor weak.
However, the initial stats of the three follower cards [ Harry ], [ Ron ], and [ Hermione ] are ridiculously low, making them among the worst follower cards.
However, all three cards have a line of small print. "If this card is present in the game and the other two cards are also present at the same time, trigger [ Bond of Never Leaving or Abandoning One Another ]."
[ Bond of Never Leaving or Abandoning One Another ]: When [ Harry ], [ Ron ], and [ Hermione ] are all present, gain +1/+1 each round.
As long as none of the three members die in the same round, all members who die in this round will be resurrected at full health at the start of the next round.
How excessive is this effect?
A one-cost minion can be repeatedly resurrected, which is equivalent to having a free minion on the board every turn.
Even more outrageous is that if the opponent can't eliminate all three people at the same time in one round, then it's as if they'll never be able to eliminate them.
Furthermore, as long as one minion is strengthened, it will retain its strengthened state even after resurrection.
When Ron first saw the effect of this card, his expression looked like he had been shoved a whole lemon into his face.
"Who designed this?" He held up the cards in front of Hermione. "Why are the three of us so weak?"
Hermione glanced at the card and rolled her eyes. "Because the book says we're first and second year students. Do you want a twelve-year-old to have attributes as high as Dumbledore's?"
"That can't be that low, can it?" Ron muttered. "One mana for 0/2? I can't even beat a fart."
"But you have bonds," Hermione said, her tone implying, "What more could you want?"
Ron glanced down at the card again, and a slight smile crept onto his lips.
Although the stats are so low it's infuriating, the synergy effect is ridiculously strong.
And he had to admit that the card's description was indeed quite accurate.
The three of them were indeed practically inseparable.
Besides their synergy effects, there are many other interesting combinations in the Hogwarts Deck.
For example, if you play [ Malfoy ], [ Crabbe ] and [ Goyle ] at the same time, you will gain a domain card [ Pure-blood's Contempt ], which can weaken the attack power of non- Pure-blood characters within the domain.
This card is particularly popular among Slytherin students.
For example, after using [ Harry ], if both the treasure card [ Sword of Gryffindor ] and the monster card [ Fawkes ] are present on the field at the same time.
This allows you to draw [ Dumbledore ] directly from the deck; this combination is known among students as " The Chosen One Awakens."
There's also a historical card called [ Chamber of Secrets Opens ], which, when played, allows you to draw a monster card [ Basilisk ] from your deck.
[ Basilisk ] has extremely high stats, but it needs to hibernate for three turns. If the opponent has [ Fawkes ] on the field, [ Basilisk ] will be destroyed immediately.