Two days passed in a flash, and today was Wednesday—Christmas Day.
Last night had been Christmas Eve.
Thanks to the physical enhancement from [Dragon Knight], his sleep quality was extremely high, but also relatively short.
So, when the first ray of morning sun brushed his cheek, he woke up.
The sky was still yellow, tinged with a little red, like a smear of oil paint.
As usual, he checked the Minister for Magic and Senior Undersecretary's offices.
Empty today.
Sad! Fudge and Umbridge wouldn't be getting their daily Stupefy combo meal today!
His attention shifted back to the dormitory.
The window he had deliberately left open for owls hadn't been needed.
The gifts had been delivered by House-elves, each wrapped in a tea towel bearing the Hogwarts crest.
Basil didn't open his bed curtains; he watched it all through the Hogwarts map in his mind with his eyes closed.
They Apparated into the Owlery, took the gifts from the owls, and then Apparated into the dormitories where students were still sleeping.
However, they skillfully controlled the crack sound produced during Apparition.
Unless one listened carefully, Basil wouldn't have heard it at all.
Basil had asked Riddle about the Apparition spell.
The volume of the crack and the intensity of the pressure from the "dark world" during the transition from Disapparition to Apparition depended on the distance and proficiency.
Proficiency here didn't just mean mastery of the spell, but also familiarity with the destination.
The farther the distance, the less familiar the location...
The louder the crack, and the stronger the pressure.
Since these House-elves Apparated frequently and were extremely familiar with the destination, it wasn't surprising they could do this.
After the elves left, Basil got dressed and walked toward the pile of packages by his bed.
In his past life, having become an orphan early on, he had rarely enjoyed such a festive atmosphere.
It was only after becoming an adult and finding a girlfriend that he stopped being lonely.
But waking up after Christmas Eve to find a pile of gifts at the foot of his bed, instead of discarded clothes, balls of paper, and used condoms...
It was a truly marvelous feeling.
"Merry Christmas."
A voice suddenly sounded in his ear.
It was Harry.
He fumbled out of bed and put on his dressing gown.
"Merry Christmas to you too," Basil said as he picked up a lumpy, large paper package.
Inside was a thick, hand-knitted black sweater with the letter 'B' on it, along with a large box of homemade fudge.
"I didn't expect to get one too."
Clearly, this was a gift from the Weasleys—the legendary Weasley jumper.
"What's this?" Harry asked from his side.
He had just unwrapped a package labeled "From Basil to Harry."
Inside was a black top hat.
But he didn't believe Basil's gift would be that simple.
"A Headless Hat. It makes the wearer's head disappear (along with the hat)," Basil replied.
This was a product from Weasleys' Wizard Wheezes.
In fact, he had specifically sent several prank items—[Trick Wands], [Boxing Telescopes], and [Edible Dark Marks]—to the Weasley twins, and by extension Ron, as gifts.
To stimulate the twins' creative inspiration so they would produce even more interesting products in the future.
As for the origin of these items, Basil had made up a story.
He said they were inventions of his distant uncle who had been killed by Death Eaters.
They were part of the inventory his uncle had prepared for opening a shop.
He claimed that if his uncle hadn't died, he would have opened a joke shop to sell prank items.
However, the money spent wasn't Basil's own.
He had withdrawn it directly from the Lestrange family vault.
The gifts for Hermione and Old Tom were the same.
From now on, he didn't plan on spending his own money.
"This might be... Basil, come look at this!" Headless Harry waved a piece of parchment. Next to him was something fluid and silvery-gray.
That had to be one of the [Deathly Hallows]—the Invisibility Cloak.
But Basil didn't plan to inscribe it into a card.
Even Ravenclaw's Diadem, made into a Horcrux, cost 10,000 Gems.
Basil had tested the Philosopher's Stone and the Elder Wand; they cost 20,000 and 27,000 Gems respectively.
This was definitely an expensive item he couldn't afford to inscribe right now.
If he really needed to use it, he could just borrow it from Harry.
And as long as Harry was at Hogwarts, he could commandeer it at any time.
Just like he could transfer the Elder Wand from Dumbledore's pocket to his own using spatial displacement whenever he wanted.
Even though he thought this, he couldn't help but blink at the Invisibility Cloak.
[Obtained photo of [Deathly Hallows · Invisibility Cloak]. Spend 30,000 Gems to create Summon Card?]
Crap! 30,000! That's more expensive than the Elder Wand!
Basil suppressed his frustration and walked over to Harry.
Headless Harry handed him the parchment.
It read:
[Your father left this in my possession before he died. It is time it was returned to you. Use it well. A Very Merry Christmas to you.]
There was no signature.
Harry's excited voice rang out again. "Look at this handwriting! Thin, loopy... the handwriting on the note in the package you received before was just like this! The tone and format are similar too! Maybe the person who sent me my father's keepsake is the same person who sent you yours!"
"Ah, right, right, right," Basil nodded.
But inwardly, he thought, Looks like the original Diary can't be kept.
Through his interactions with Riddle these past few days and his observations of Dumbledore...
Dumbledore's image had become three-dimensional in his mind.
Riddle had also said: "Dumbledore won't force Harry to stop Voldemort from stealing the Philosopher's Stone. But Dumbledore will do everything he can to ensure Harry knows what he needs to know."
So, the appearance of the Mirror of Erised and the conversation between Dumbledore and Harry were inevitable.
This was to understand Harry's heart. By letting Harry know about the mirror in advance—in this altered timeline influenced by Basil—Dumbledore might even speak to Harry directly about the Philosopher's Stone.
Basil couldn't stop these things unless he exposed his control over Hogwarts.
Even if he told Harry not to go out at night—meaning not to "use it well"—...
Maybe one day, on his way to dinner, Harry would be sent by a shifting staircase to the room with the Mirror of Erised.
That bastard Lucius Malfoy had really shot himself in the foot—mimicking Dumbledore's handwriting and tone for the note attached to the Diary.
Once Harry met Dumbledore and learned the origin of the Invisibility Cloak note, the Diary would inevitably be exposed.
Thus, giving the Diary to Dumbledore for inspection and subsequent destruction was already destined.
However, although the Card Riddle hadn't revealed his identity to the Original Riddle in the Diary...
What if the Original Riddle sensed something?
When Dumbledore destroyed it, he would definitely exchange a few words with it.
So, the Original Diary needed to be destroyed.
A suitable plan that Dumbledore would accept was needed.
Being controlled, going to the Chamber of Secrets, then breaking free with the help of plants, and having the Diary pierced by the Basilisk—this seemed like a very suitable scenario.
And the witness to all this...
Basil looked up and whispered, "Harry, I recently discovered a secret passage."