The Strange Album

After the last Flying Class incident, quite a few people had gained a deeper understanding of the group chat. Some had begun treating it like a crystal ball that could foretell the future.

For example...

Last night, Quirrell had come up in conversation by chance, and the group members had hurled abuse at him as if he were their fathers' murderer. One had even made a furious threat along the lines of "Voldemort, I'll f**king kill you."

Since only some students had phones so far, those who did were now especially popular.

It had also led to...

Quirrell felt uneasy during Defence Against Dark Magic Class today as he faced pair after pair of suspicious and wary eyes.

That can't be right! My disguise is perfect!

How could a bunch of little brats see through it?!

Dumbledore fell into thought after seeing those messages in the group.

According to the main group, the only teacher who had been remotely normal throughout Harry's seven years at school was Professor Lupin in his third year.

Is my judgment in choosing people really that bad?

Dumbledore pondered this as he looked at another group chat.

It was called The Midsummer of That Year.

Summer really was a season that brought back memories.

But as for that boy Tom...

Old Dumbledore felt the wrinkles at the corners of his eyes deepen a little. The question was, should he deal with the matter in advance, or leave it to Harry as a test?

To be fair, he wanted to leave it to Harry as a test.

Naturally, Harry hadn't missed the conversation in the group either.

Bug Ming: If only Dumbledore had dealt with Voldemort in first year...

Kerun: True, but that was pretty unlikely.

Red-Lipped, White-Toothed The Chosen One: After all, who the fuck would have thought a stuttering professor who reeks of garlic would be fucking Voldemort?

Number One Sister of the Indeed Section: Indeed.

Harry froze for a moment when he saw those messages.

Garlic smell? A stutter? A professor?

Given those three clues, find one Hogwarts professor who fits the description.

Did he even need to guess?

Fred could have figured out it was Quirrell with his toenails.

Honestly, the smell of garlic hit everyone square in the face during class every day, especially the students sitting close to the lectern.

Harry fell silent. Professor Quirrell was Voldemort? But how could that be?

"If you want to know the truth, go find out for yourself, Harry."

At the dining table, Fred and George came over, one on either side of him. They exchanged a smile.

"We've decided to pull that cloth off Quirrell's head. He wears it every day, and George and I have always suspected there's something underneath."

"That's right, and we've got a perfect plan."

Harry hadn't even had time to speak before Fred and George swept away like the wind.

Ron shrugged. "Will they pull it off?"

Hermione rolled her eyes helplessly. "I don't think so."

"There's a new message."

Harry suddenly stood up. "Is... is that what we look like??"

Meanwhile, in the group chat:

[Admin] Yan: Uploaded three pictures to the album: Hogwarts Express Slow.

Mrs. Malfoy: Ahhh! Great Yan has made more fan content!

As Long as My Name Is Long Enough Someone Will Read It: Lemme see! What kind of content is it this time!

[Admin] Yan: Damn, it's the first-year trio!

Harry clicked on it instinctively. The picture showed him, Ron and Hermione gathered together, laughing their hearts out.

"They really do know everything about us." Hermione could hardly believe it. "We haven't even met them."

"But they know what we look like. Look, they even drew my freckles and Harry's scar!?" Ron cried out in surprise.

His shout attracted quite a few people.

"What is it?! Is there another new prediction in that group chat or whatever?!"

"God! That drawing is amazing!"

"Didn't you notice? It's Harry and the others in the picture."

There was a great commotion over at the Gryffindor table.

At the neighboring Slytherin table, quite a few people frowned.

"Are those people like this every day?" a first-year said, pouting in annoyance. "They're disturbing my lunch."

An older student snorted. "Those stupid lions have always been this ill-mannered."

Blaise had naturally seen it too while browsing his phone. With a mischievous streak, he even opened the full-sized picture and showed it to Draco. "Look how happy the Chosen One is."

Pansy frowned deeply. "Blaise, do you have to disgust us while we're eating? Seeing those people's smiles at a time like this really makes the food go down easier."

Draco frowned too. "What kind of weird thing is this?" Although he could tell at a glance that it was those three, the artist had clearly made them better-looking! How could that blood traitor and Mudblood possibly look so good?

Blaise raised an eyebrow. After taking his phone back, he accidentally tapped on the group albums, and the first thing he saw was a very eye-catching title:

Gryffindor Malfoy and Slytherin Potter.

?

All right, Blaise had to admit it-what kind of weird thing was this?!

Malfoy in Gryffindor? That was funnier than their head of house awarding points to Gryffindor.

Curiosity got the better of reason, and Blaise opened it.

A half-body portrait of Malfoy in a Gryffindor uniform, wearing an arrogant expression, left Blaise speechless.

Though he didn't know why he had recognized him as Malfoy at a glance.

But Blaise had clearly overestimated himself. He silently switched off the screen and slipped his phone into his pocket.

Yeah, I'll look at it tonight instead.

There happened to be another Defence Against Dark Magic Class that afternoon.

For the third-years.

For once, Fred and George arrived at the Defence Against Dark Magic Class classroom an hour early to set things up.

They made a contraption to try to yank Professor Quirrell's turban off while he was walking around during class.

As for the result...

Their plan was exposed, and congratulations to Fred and George on earning a week of detention.

Either way, Quirrell wasn't sleeping tonight.

Harry had discovered a new world in the albums. He had also seen that AU about the houses.

It was strange, and he had noticed there were especially many pictures of him and that Malfoy. Why?

Harry was puzzled. The two of them didn't look like friends, so why did it seem these people liked putting them together so much?

But when he saw a little comic of himself in a Slytherin uniform bullying Malfoy in a Gryffindor uniform, well... Harry felt pretty good about it for a few seconds.

And so he spent another night browsing the albums.

Harry: I don't want to either, but my parents are in the albums!

He even saw comics of the trouble his father had gotten up to back in the day.

One showed James posing to impress Lily with a rose between his teeth. Three little figures behind him each wore a different expression, while all that appeared above Lily's head was an ellipsis.

Sirius looked as if he were thinking, That's my good homie for you. Lupin silently covered his eyes, while Peter wore an admiring expression, like someone who had never seen anything like it before.

Harry couldn't help laughing at the three little figures as he wondered who they were. His dad's friends?

There was even a Snape reaction image: Ten thousand points from Gryffindor.

Of course, Harry also saw pictures he didn't understand.

A young Dumbledore appeared in one with a blond man. The two of them were lying under a tree, laughing happily.

Who was that?

There were even comments under the picture.

Just Stab Me: GGAD forever! I'm bawling my eyes out!!!

Bug Ming: Who else will love you, Dumbledore? QAQ.

Harry's hand suddenly stopped scrolling.

He recognized every word in that sentence, so why did he have trouble understanding them when they were put together?

"So you stayed up another whole night???"

Ron could hardly believe it. "Hey, bro? Is it really that compelling?"

Hermione frowned in strong disapproval. "Harry, I think you should pull yourself away from it. Staying up every night will affect how well you function." With that, she took a sandwich and left. Hermione's plan for today was to go to the library.

She had a lot of things to study.

"I don't think I will tonight," Harry said stiffly, stuffing a toasted biscuit into his mouth.

Fred and George had finished their detention. They came over and sat down beside Harry and Ron.

"He thought detention could stop the two of us." The look on Fred's face made it clear he wasn't giving up.

"Now I'm even more curious about what's under his turban." George casually picked up a muffin.

The two of them had failed, but that couldn't stop them. Instead, it had made them even more determined to succeed.

"So did you manage it?" Ron's mouth was stuffed full.

"No, but..." Fred was good at building suspense. He took out his phone and fiddled with it for a while. "We found this picture."

They gathered around and saw a picture of Professor Quirrell with his turban off. This wasn't a drawing; it looked as though someone had secretly taken a photo. There seemed to be a face on the back of his head.

"Is it real?"

"Or fake?"

"We want to know." The twins' eyes lit up with excitement. "If it's real, that's incredible!"

Harry's expression wasn't very pleasant. "Where did you find it?"

"In another group, mate. They've made loads of groups," George explained. "There are fan groups for most of us too. Fred and I spent all last night joining every one of those group chats."

Actually... it was just a movie screenshot.

"Can you believe it? Even Snape has a fan group." Fred found it incredible. As far as he was concerned, nobody outside Slytherin could like that old bat who played favorites so blatantly.

Ron was so surprised that the sausage fell out of his mouth.

"Don't be surprised, Ron. You have one too, after all." George patted his little brother on the shoulder.

Ron: ?

He felt offended.

At the neighboring Slytherin table, Malfoy had just sat down to eat.

Blaise silently glanced at Malfoy, then looked away. He couldn't quite get the image of the Gryffindor version of Malfoy being bullied out of his head.

But it was unexpectedly kind of appealing.

Then, all of a sudden, an owl flew in from outside carrying a familiar package, and quite a few people looked up.

That familiar package? Could someone be about to receive one of those!!

Some people immediately grew serious and nervous, hoping they would be the next lucky person to receive one.

Then the package landed squarely on Malfoy's head as he was drinking soup... on the soup in front of him.

"Pfft-"

He nearly died on the spot.

As for the reason, Blaise had taken Malfoy's original one.

So a replacement had been sent.

Wasn't that especially thoughtful?

A note bearing those words lay safely beside the phone in the box.

Soup dripping from his face, Malfoy saw the note and nearly lost control and cursed aloud.