"That," said Professor Quirrell, "is a record of the magical researches of a Muggleborn who never came to Hogwarts. He refused his letter, and conducted his own small investigations, which never did get very far without a wand. From the description on the placard, I expect that his name bears rather more significance to you than to me. That, Harry Potter, is the diary of Roger Bacon."
Harry almost fainted.
Nestled up against the wall, where Professor Quirrell had stumbled, glistened the crushed remains of a beautiful blue beetle.
Chapter 27: Empathy
J. K. Rowling is 87% confident you will burst into flames.
Roger Bacon lived in the 13th century and is credited as one of the earliest advocates of the scientific method. Giving a scientist his experimental diary is sort of like giving a writer the pen, not of Shakespeare, but of someone who helped invent writing.
It wasn't every day you got to see Harry Potter beg.
"
Fred and George shook their heads again, smiling.
There was an agonized look on Harry Potter's face. "But I
Fred and George shrugged and turned to leave.
"If you ever do figure it out," said the Weasley twins, "be sure to let us know."
"
Fred and George firmly closed the door to the empty classroom behind them, and made sure to keep the grin on their faces for a while, just in case Harry Potter could see through doors.
Then they turned a corner and their faces sagged.
"I don't suppose Harry's guesses -"
"- gave you any ideas?" they said to each other at the same time, and then their shoulders slumped further.
Their last relevant memory was of Flume refusing to help them, though they couldn't remember
...but they must have looked elsewhere and found
How had they
At first they'd worried that they'd forged evidence so good that Harry actually
Whoever they'd hired would tell them after the statute of limitations expired, they desperately hoped. But meanwhile it was awful, they'd pulled their greatest prank ever, maybe the greatest prank in the history of pranking, and they
Their only consolation was that Harry didn't know they didn't know.
Not even Mum had questioned them about it, despite the obvious Weasley connection. Whatever had been done, it was far out of the reach of any Hogwarts student... except possibly
Fred and George had wondered whether to feel insulted about Harry Potter being questioned by the Aurors for
Unsurprisingly, Rita Skeeter and the editor of the
But everything was still all right, they'd tell Dad someday, and meanwhile...
...meanwhile Dumbledore had happened to sneeze while passing them in the hallway, and a small package had accidentally dropped out of his pockets, and inside had been two matched wardbreaker's monocles of
Of course they would have to be very careful never to get caught with the monocles in their possession, or they would end up in the Headmaster's office getting a stern lecture and maybe even threats of expulsion.
It was good to know that not everyone who got Sorted into Gryffindor grew up to be Professor McGonagall.
Harry was in a white room, windowless, featureless, sitting before a desk, facing an expressionless man in formal robes of solid black.