Hogwarts' Golden Glory

The morning mist had not yet dissipated when the Ford Anglia landed in the crooked yard of the Burrow.

Ginny, wearing a bathrobe and rubbing her eyes, peeked out the back door.

I was so shocked when I saw Harry's green hair that I almost tripped over the threshold.

Molly Weasley leaned out of the kitchen window.

The frying pan in his hand was still smoking: "Oh my god! Honey, your hair—"

Harry pointed helplessly to the twins who were trembling from trying not to laugh.

Molly's face immediately turned bright red, just like the sausages frying in her pan.

"George! Fred!" Her scream startled the owl in the tree. "What have you done?!"

The twins immediately put on pained expressions: "Mom, we just wanted to help Harry adjust to his new environment..."

"One semester's allowance! No, two semesters!" Molly announced, waving her wooden spoon.

"Oh no!" Fred wailed, pulling out a handkerchief to pretend to wipe away tears, but ended up spilling a handful of Galleons all over the floor.

George hurriedly reached to pick them up, but several Gringotts deposit slips fell out of his sleeve.

The goblins in the courtyard immediately swarmed forward, fighting over the Galleons as if they were shiny toys.

"This is...this is..." George stammered.

"Our payment for running errands for Kane Malfoy at school!" Fred hurriedly interjected, but it was too late.

Molly squinted, about to lash out, when a noise came from upstairs.

Percy, dressed in his neat pajamas, came downstairs and adjusted his glasses when he saw Harry. "Good morning, Harry. Is this... the new Quidditch cheering outfit?"

Harry subconsciously touched his still-green hair.

He chuckled somewhat awkwardly: "Uh... I guess it's the Weasley brothers' latest invention."

Percy raised an eyebrow, a knowing glint in his eyes behind his glasses: "I should have guessed."

He turned to the twins and said in that serious tone typical of a prefect, "Are you using the guests as guinea pigs again?"

"An experiment?" George clutched his chest, feigning injury. "We call this an 'image makeover service'."

Fred leaned closer to Percy: "Seriously, Percy, you need a new look. How about trying our 'Prefect's Glory Gold' hair color? I guarantee Professor McGonagall will look at you in a completely different light."

Percy's ears turned red instantly: "I don't need—"

"Oh come on," George interjected, "we all know you secretly use hairspray."

"I didn't!" Percy's voice rose an octave.

He happened to run into a warning look from Molly coming from the kitchen.

He immediately straightened his pajama collar and coughed, "I'll go help Mom prepare breakfast."

After saying that, he strode towards the kitchen, his back stiff as a broom handle.

With Percy gone, Harry finally had the chance to properly look around the Burrow.

The house seemed to have a life of its own, exuding wondrous magical traces everywhere.

As Harry approached the stairwell, the old mirror with its brass frame suddenly began to wink.

The mirror rippled like water, reflecting not Harry's image, but a comical face with sausage lips and frog eyes.

"Good morning, Scarface!" the mirror greeted in a hoarse voice, the bronze vine patterns on its frame twisting eerily.

"Do you like your new hair color? It's so much better than your old, lifeless black hair!"

When Harry stopped in surprise, the image in the mirror immediately became even more intense.

Its nose stretched into a pig's snout, its ears became teapot handles, and its green hair swelled into a cauliflower.

Even more outrageous, it gave Harry an exaggerated set of rabbit teeth.

"Ignore it," Ron pushed Harry forward from behind. "This mirror is a prank by my great-great-grandfather, meant to scare first-time guests."

Just as they turned to leave, the mirror suddenly became serious and revealed Harry's true appearance (except that his hair was still green).

"Just kidding," it said in a much gentler voice. "Welcome to the Burrow, Harry Potter."

"Do you like our home?" Ginny appeared behind Harry at some point, holding a cup of hot tea.

Her ears were red at the tips, but her eyes were surprisingly bright.

Harry nodded, unsure how to describe his feelings.

Compared to the cold and tidy Dursleys' villa, the Burrow, though crooked and cramped, was brimming with a warm vitality.

Even the aroma of frying bacon in the air seemed to be under a spell of happiness.

"Um..." Harry pointed to the automatically stirring coffee cup, "Won't it spill?"

Ginny laughed: "That was Dad's invention. It could sing last year, but Mom shut it down—she said listening to a coffee cup singing 'A Pot of Hot Love' at six in the morning was too torturous."

A sudden clattering sound came from the kitchen, followed by Molly's booming voice: "Children! Breakfast is ready! Goblins, get out!"

Five or six little goblins dressed in tattered rags emerged from various corners and reluctantly lined up to walk towards the back door.

One of the particularly mischievous ones, taking advantage of a moment when no one was looking, stole one of Fred's socks and proudly waved his prize around.

"Never mind them," George and the others said as they returned from the garden, their hands still covered in paint.

"Goblins are much easier to deal with than scrambled grass. Last year, a bunch of scrambled grass came to our garden and ate all of Dad's car tires."

Harry followed the Weasleys to the dining table, each step feeling like entering a brand new magical world.

Unlike the ancient solemnity of Hogwarts, the magic of the Burrow is vibrant and alive.

Just like the Weasleys—lively, warm, and with a touch of harmless chaos.

When he sat down at the table, he found a plate of fried eggs and bacon piled up like a small mountain in front of him.

The fork eagerly jumped into his hand, while the napkin took it upon itself to tie around his neck.

Harry couldn't help but laugh—at the Dursleys' house, he wasn't even entitled to sit at the table for a meal, let alone be treated like this.

"The Burrow is amazing, isn't it?" Ron mumbled, his mouth full of sausage.

It was only then that Harry noticed the several large boxes piled up in the corner.

It was printed with the words "Weasley's Wizarding Tricks".

"Your business..." Harry asked in surprise, "has already started production?"

Fred waved his hand modestly, "Just some trinkets. Thanks to Kane for the seed money he lent us—"

"And the fairy craftsman he introduced," George added, then suddenly realized he'd let something slip and quickly stuffed a piece of bread into his mouth.

Molly's ears twitched, but surprisingly she didn't ask any further questions.

She simply flipped the fried egg over and said meaningfully, "As long as you don't use these 'little gadgets' to play pranks on your family..."

Just as everyone was getting ready to eat breakfast, the front door was suddenly kicked open.

A bald head poked in—it was Arthur Weasley.

But at this moment, not only was he completely bald, but even his eyebrows were gone, making him look like a gleaming copper kettle.