When returning to the common room, Harry heard Ron and Hermione arguing.
"Oh my god, Hermione!" Ron roared, "Keep an eye on your beast, it's incredibly annoying! Banban is already old enough; it shouldn't be treated like that!"
As Harry walked over, he saw Ron holding his rat like a baby, glaring at Hermione with indignation.
"Parrots don't eat rats! Ron, how many times do I have to tell you, it only eats nuts or seeds. How could it eat your rat?"
Hermione retorted, holding Jack with her hair almost standing on end from anger.
"It doesn't eat rats! Look at what it did!" Ron exclaimed furiously.
"What's going on with you two?" Harry approached, asking Hermione and Ron with concern.
He casually picked up a small cookie from the table, about to eat it, when he noticed the Weasley Twins watching him expectantly.
Harry instantly realized what was happening. He discreetly put the cookie down and handed it to Ron, "Have a cookie first, and relax."
"Thank you, Harry." Ron, unsuspecting, took the cookie Harry handed him and without hesitation, swallowed it.
Seconds later, yellow feathers suddenly sprouted from his body.
"Tweet tweet tweet!"
Ron made a series of bird noises, stood up furiously, and turned to point at the laughing Weasley Twins, chirping away.
Yes, it was actual bird noises, not metaphorical.
Hermione couldn't help but burst out laughing.
"Canary cookies," the twins came over, saying, "as you can see, can turn the eater into a canary, just like our dear little Ronnie—look, isn't it pretty?"
"Sorry, Ron." Harry patted Ron's shoulder, causing a burst of feathers, "I didn't know there was anything wrong with the cookie... By the way, what happened between you and Hermione? Why were you arguing?"
Ron chirped again, and Fred and George came over, flanking Harry to explain what happened.
"Banban has a running wheel, you know?" Fred said, "He used to click and clack running in it when he was bored, but lately he hasn't been in good spirits so he stopped running—"
"—yes, so Jack found it unusual, and today, while little Ronnie took a break—"
The twins said in unison—
"—it picked up Banban, stuffed him into the wheel, and spun it by hand for almost an hour..."
Harry imagined the scene and couldn't help but laugh out loud.
Then he felt it was a bit inappropriate and patted Ron's shoulder, sighing.
"I didn't mean to laugh," Harry said, stifling another chuckle, "unless I really can't help it, hahaha..."
The evening was joyful; Harry was in a great mood, even finding the dinner in the Great Hall particularly delicious.
Harry, Ron, and Hermione, along with the other Gryffindors, followed their usual route to Gryffindor Tower. But when they reached where the Sphinx originally was, they found the corridor crowded with people.
"Why isn't everyone going in?" Ron curiously asked, "Do they not want to enter?"
Harry looked over the crowd to see that at some point, the Sphinx had disappeared, and the passage it guarded was now closed.
"Let me through." Percy's voice rang out as he walked out of the crowd, looking all official, "Why are you blocking the way here? Surely you can all answer the Sphinx's question, can't you? My goodness, won't you consult the smart students with good grades in the school? Sorry, I'm the head boy—"
"Oh, big-headed boy." The Weasley Twins interrupted in unison.
After Percy spoke, the crowd fell silent.
But after the twins' interruption, everyone burst out laughing again.
Percy's voice suddenly sharpened, "Quick, go to the Headmaster's Office to get Professor Dumbledore! Quickly!"
"What's going on?" Seamus and Neville curiously came over, having just finished dinner—tonight's dinner was too good, and Neville couldn't help but eat two more pieces of bread.
"The Sphinx is gone." Everyone answered together, "We can't get into the common room—"
"Great, then we'll wander together." Seamus said cheerfully, "Anyway, I don't want to answer any of its questions. Can I refuse to answer?"
"Obviously, even if you want to answer now, it's not possible."
At this moment, Peeves' voice rang out.
"Poor Gryffindor students—" he floated in the air, his tone full of schadenfreude, "The great Peeves sees a group of homeless young wizards!"
"Shut up, Peeves!" everyone shouted together.
"Nyeh nyeh nyeh—" Peeves started throwing chalk at the crowd.
But before Harry could deal with him, he saw a translucent green figure streak across the sky.
It was Sebastian the ghost.
Good old Sebastian, he roared and lunged at Peeves, pinning him against the wall.
"Saru! Saru!" Peeves panicked a little, genuinely afraid of this sinister Slytherin ghost with a grudge against him, "Can we talk this through, surely you wouldn't still hold a grudge about me reporting you a hundred years ago for going to the Forbidden Book Area?"