"Filthy! Useless! Lazybones!"
Vernon Dursley completely ignored the fact that Harry mowed the lawn under the blazing sun yesterday while Dudley couldn't even wash his own socks, furiously roaring:
"I've never seen such a lazy bug, can't even do basic chores..."
The man's shout seemed to make the walls buzz and tremble, Harry turned a deaf ear, slammed his door shut, rushed to the bed and flipped open the Friendship Book, his chest heaving with rapid breaths.
He eagerly contacted Ron, no response;
Then tried Hermione, who hastily replied: "I know what you want to say, I'm asking as well."
Next, Harry attempted to contact Vid, but the page remained silent as always.
As he flipped two pages to send inquiries to Fred and George, the Communication Pea in his pocket suddenly started trembling.
Harry fumblingly put on the Communication Pea, and upon connecting, he heard Ron's yawning voice:
"Merlin's beard, it's still summer break, why are you all up so early? Hermione was just urgently looking for me too, did you two plan this?"
"That TV show!" Harry disregarded politeness, lowered his voice and spoke urgently: "I saw Fred and George! Have they gone mad? They're actually daring to use magic on television!"
"Oh, I knew you'd all bring this up..."
Ron muttered: "Luckily, I had the foresight to borrow Mom's Communication Pea..."
"Percy even sent an owl this morning to scold us! Says Fred and George are causing him trouble—like I could ever control them! He knows the twins won't care about him, so he came to show off in front of me..."
Ron grumbled complainingly, and Harry couldn't help but shout: "Ron! What's going on? Aren't we not supposed to use magic during the holidays?"
"Alright alright, don't be so loud..." Ron rubbed his ear, nearly jumping off the bed from Harry's noise.
But he still didn't want to get up, so he just turned over and said:
"First, about what you're most concerned about, Fred and George didn't use Levioso."
"Um, well, the spell is real, but the wand is fake, and the spell wasn't cast. They actually used Muggle magic props."
"But you can't say there was no magic at all... During the program's recording, my dad secretly used Levioso... To ensure their magic performance didn't fail..."
What Ron said was somewhat confusing, but Harry understood. However, upon comprehending, he became even more bewildered.
"Why do this?" Harry asked, puzzled: "Are Fred and George going to become stars?"
"Them? More like comedians!"
Ron sneered a bit sarcastically, then added: "My dad said this is a strategy from the Ministry of Magic."
"Strategy?" Harry replied.
Ron turned over again and said: "Apparently it's because Muggle cameras are becoming more numerous. To avoid some clueless wizard getting caught casting magic, they decided to first create seemingly genuine videos, then reveal they're all hoaxes or illusions."
"That way, even if real magic is filmed later, Muggles will foolishly think it's a show recording. They called this capturing the public opinion high ground."
"Fred and George thought it was extremely interesting and volunteered to participate. You know, no one enjoys a spectacle more than those two!"
"Especially when they can publicly violate the Confidentiality Law with the Ministry's permission, those two almost went crazy with joy..."
"Ronald Weasley! Are you planning to grow on the bed? Get up now!"
Mrs. Weasley's shout came faintly through the Communication Pea, accompanied by a loud "thud."
It took Harry two seconds to realize that was Ron falling off the bed.
After another two seconds, Ron climbed up, hurriedly trying to dress while quickly saying to Harry:
"I have to go down, Mom's knocking the ceiling with a broom! Remember, don't spread what happened just now!"
The call ended hastily, and Harry was a bit dazed before realizing Hermione had also replied.
"...I have to say, the Ministry's method is quite ingenious. Actively creating controllable magic performances, attributing all wondrous phenomena to human-made magic is indeed more gentle and effective than rough isolation."
"From this, it's clear the new Minister of Ministry of Magic's governance style is very different from Fudge's. I'm pleased to see he's not someone who blindly covers his ears..."
"But I'm a bit worried too. Considering the long-term, this is weaving a lie that can easily be pierced. If wizards relax their vigilance because of this, sooner or later, the truth will still surface..."
"Is the Ministry of Magic's real intent to gradually abolish the Confidentiality Law? I don't know, but I feel uneasy..."
Unlike Ron, who was lazy to write, Hermione as usual wrote a long piece. Her writing was very small, filling three pages of parchment, and the handwriting seemed almost to fly due to the rapid speed, showing she was filled with anxiety.
Harry sat on his bed, using the daylight filtering through the small window, and took quite a while to finish reading.
When he set down the parchment, the same worry slowly rose within his heart, spreading in ripples.
Meanwhile, another voice sounded in his mind:
This matter... could Dumbledore be unaware?
Impossible! Fred and George are involved, Mr. Weasley couldn't not tell Professor Dumbledore.
So if he knows, why would he tacitly approve this deceitful tactic?
Harry opened the Friendship Book, looking at the narrow and long words at the top of the page: "Albus Dumbledore." He dipped his quill in ink, intending to write, but hesitated.
Dumbledore hadn't told him about this matter ahead of time... Of course, Harry wasn't arrogant enough to think the headmaster should report everything to him. But why didn't Sirius and Remus mention it either?
Do they think it's unimportant, or that Harry doesn't need to know?
Harry stared out the window towards the closed doors and windows of the Black Family house, then paced around the room.
Since Sirius was injured and hospitalized, Remus seemed to have a lot to do. That house recently had no owner residing, and Harry moved into the Dursley Family early. They could only contact each other in the evenings.
During these days, aside from the day he went on the Little People Country Adventure with friends, Harry felt as if he returned to a few years ago—trapped in the Dursley Family home, unable to use magic, unable to easily leave...
"Buzz buzz buzz..."
Suddenly, the Communication Pea trembled again.