Hogwarts' Golden Glory

It was another night, and Harry was staring at the ceiling.

Counting down the days, we got through the long month of July.

The Dursleys now monitor his every move with even greater intensity.

Aunt Penny now checks his schoolbag every day and confiscates anything that looks like "magical items".

Dudley was like a jailer, yelling at Harry whenever he tried to get near the window!

To Harry's dismay, Hedwig is now also locked in a cage.

Whenever he wanted to send a message to Ron or Hermione, he could only talk to Hedwig.

Even the telephone line in his bedroom was removed, so he couldn't even make a call to Hermione.

As for whether he could finish his homework, no one cared.

Outside the window, Privet Road was shrouded in deathly silence.

Harry habitually glanced at Hedwig's cage.

The snowy owl blinked listlessly, as if trying to comfort him.

Since being locked in this room, Harry has started to have frequent auditory hallucinations—sometimes Ron's laughter, sometimes Hermione's hurried voice, and even occasionally Sirius's deep voice.

"Here it comes..." Harry rubbed his temples.

He clearly heard rustling sounds coming from downstairs.

"Is even your sense of touch malfunctioning this time?"

He felt the bed frame vibrating slightly.

Suddenly, a soft "thump" came from the window.

Harry looked up sharply and saw a familiar face pressed against the glass—George Weasley was winking at him.

Immediately afterwards, Fred's face appeared beside them, and the two waved in sync as if looking in a mirror.

"I must be going crazy..." Harry muttered to himself, pinching his thigh hard.

The twins outside the window wore exaggerated expressions of hurt.

George pulled a piece of candy from his pocket that read, "It's not an illusion, you fool."

Fred then held up a familiar telescopic lug—the very thing they had invented the previous year.

Harry's heart suddenly raced.

He tiptoed to the window and carefully pushed it open slightly.

"Finally awake?" George whispered. "If you hadn't woken up, we would have thrown feces bombs in your face."

"Keep your voice down!" Fred gestured for silence. "The Dursleys have a security system even tighter than Gringotts—"

"What security system?" Harry asked, puzzled.

The twins smiled mysteriously and simultaneously pointed downstairs.

Harry peered out and almost screamed in surprise.

Ron was standing in the yard, holding up a glowing sign that read: "Don't worry, we added a dreamless sleeping potion to your uncle's tea this afternoon."

"Hurry up and pack your things!" George handed a rope through the window. "Tie Hedwig's cage up."

Harry frantically stuffed his essentials into his backpack, then suddenly stopped. "Wait, underage wizards aren't allowed to cast spells outside of school. What are you doing—"

"Who said we used magic?" Fred said smugly, brandishing the Muggle lock-picking tool in his hand. "Father's Muggle studies notes came in handy."

After Harry had secured Hedwig's cage, George suddenly pulled a miniature firework from his pocket: "A souvenir for the Dursleys?"

The three exchanged a knowing glance and simultaneously grinned mischievously.

George placed the firework on Harry's pillow and lit the fuse. The firework began to transform, eventually becoming a dancing Uncle Vernon doll holding a sign that read, "Thank you for your hospitality!"

As Harry slid down the rope into the yard, the moment his feet touched the ground, the light in Dudley's bedroom suddenly came on.

"Damn it! Someone's awake!" Ron gasped.

Unlike Ron's panic, the twins were prepared.

Fred quickly pulled a rubber duck out of his pocket and threw it out the second-floor window.

The duck inflated and deformed in mid-air, and when it landed, it had turned into a giant inflatable crocodile, which blocked Dudley's window.

"Get in the car!" George opened the door of the familiar Ford Anglia.

Harry had just jumped into the back seat with Hedwig's cage in his arms when the Dursleys' front door was kicked open.

Vernon, dressed in his pajamas, charged out like an angry bull, only to freeze in place when he saw the car—it was hovering three feet off the ground.

"Goodbye, Uncle Vernon!" Harry waved from the car window. "Give my regards to Dudley!"

Fred stepped on the gas, even though the car didn't actually have an accelerator.

Anglia roared merrily as it slowly ascended into the air, leaving Vernon staring blankly.

George threw a handful of candy out of the car window. As they landed, they exploded into countless miniature Vernon dolls, which danced the can-can in the yard.

"How's it going?" Fred turned around from the front seat and handed Harry a box of chocolate frogs. "Our Muggle-style rescue operation?"

Harry took a bite of the chocolate, and the long-lost sweetness melted on his tongue.

Hedwig flapped her wings excitedly in the cage, seemingly knowing that she was about to regain her freedom.

"How did you find me?" Harry asked.

Ron proudly brandished the spyglass in his hand: "Hermione's idea—we put a tracking spell on all the letters we sent you. When they were all returned, the spyglass pointed here."

The car passed through the clouds, and moonlight shone on the four boys.

As Harry watched Privet Drive recede into the distance, he felt for the first time that the pent-up frustration in his chest finally dissipate.

In the rearview mirror, you can also see the Dursleys' yard, where the miniature Vernon dolls are forming the word "Goodbye".

The car flew smoothly above the clouds as Ron recounted his summer adventures at the Burrow.

Suddenly, George turned around mysteriously from the front seat and handed Harry a brightly wrapped candy.

"Try it, Harry," George winked. "It's our latest 'Daydream Gummy'."

Harry, unsuspecting, had just put the candy in his mouth.

Fred couldn't wait any longer and snapped his fingers.

Instantly, Harry's hair turned a dazzling pink and began to wriggle like an anemone.

"Hahaha!" The twins clapped their hands and laughed. "We did it! The 'color-changing octopus handing out candy'!"

Ron laughed so hard he slapped his thigh: "Merlin, Harry, you look like you've been kissed by a giant squid!"

Harry touched his wriggling hair in horror, only to find that it felt bouncy and jelly-like.

Worse still, every strand of hair was automatically changing color—from pink to fluorescent green, and then to a glaring purple.

"Don't worry," Fred said, wiping away tears of laughter, "the effect only lasts for about ten minutes."

George added, "Unless you sneeze, that could extend the time to an hour."

Just as Harry was about to protest, his nose suddenly started to itch—the stray strands of hair were tickling his nostrils.

"Achoo!"

After a loud sneeze, Harry's hair did not return to normal.

Every strand of hair had turned the same color, and now Harry's head was completely green.

"Oh, so that's the effect." George nodded, feigning seriousness. "After you sneeze, your hair color will stay set for an hour."