"Scabbers!"
The moment he saw his big black rat return, Ron Weasley ran over happily and scooped him up from the floor.
"Where did you go? I was worried sick." Ron Weasley soothed the squeaking Scabbers while stroking him gently.
"Huh? Why are you all wet? And why do you smell weird?" Ron Weasley looked down in confusion at the dampness on his hand, then instinctively raised it to his nose and sniffed.
"Ugh." Ron Weasley's face twisted, and he nearly gagged from the stench.
"Scabbers! What is that smell?" Ron Weasley's whole face scrunched up like dried orange peel. "Did you pee all over yourself?"
Since people were supposed to take care of their own pets, Ron Weasley rushed toward the nearest bathroom with Scabbers in his arms, passing right by Leonard.
Seeing him carrying Peter Pettigrew, whose whole body was soaked in urine, Leonard's expression turned deeply complicated.
"That's revolting. Is he really going to bathe a fat, scruffy, middle-aged man covered in piss?" Leonard wore a thoroughly indescribable expression and silently offered Ron Weasley his condolences.
He sincerely hoped Peter Pettigrew would never turn back into human form in front of Ron Weasley.
...
The first-stage command for the Chamber of Secrets was now in hand.
Leonard walked toward the Hufflepuff dormitory, thinking through his next move as he went.
The Chamber of Secrets was not somewhere you could wander around with just one command. Besides the entrance in the abandoned girls' bathroom and the underground entrance, there was also the statue of Salazar Slytherin, which required its own command.
Unlike the first two, where all you needed was to say "open" in Parseltongue, the latter required a much more complicated Parseltongue phrase.
"Speak to me, Salazar Slytherin, greatest of the Hogwarts Four."
Once those particularly self-important words were spoken in Parseltongue, Salazar Slytherin's statue would open its mouth and release the Basilisk hidden inside.
That was Leonard's real goal.
But that phrase was far more complicated than a single word like "open." It even involved grammar and sentence structure, which made it much harder to trick out of Tom Riddle.
"Unless... I make Tom Riddle hate me so much that he wants me dead immediately, even if it means losing the diary somewhere no one else can reach."
Leonard muttered to himself.
Only then would Tom Riddle do something completely deranged, like deliberately not telling him there was a Basilisk inside the Chamber and hoping Leonard would lock eyes with it and die on the spot.
"So in the end, maybe I really should soak the diary in sewage. That's probably the fastest way to piss him off." Leonard suddenly had the urge to give Tom Riddle a nice little surprise.
A few more rounds of that, and Tom Riddle would probably hate him enough to want to tear him limb from limb.
Just as Leonard was lost in thought, two figures stepped in front of him and blocked his path.
He looked up and saw George and Fred grinning at him.
It had been a while since he had seen the two of them. Looking at their smiling faces, Leonard said, "Long time no see."
"It really has," George said with a nod. "Our department's been working flat out lately."
"That's right," Fred added with a solemn nod. "And considering how hard we've been working, I think you should give us a little extra."
"Working hard? Extra?" Leonard looked baffled. "So what exactly have you two been doing lately?"
"You forgot?" George stared at him in shock. "Unbelievable."
"So what is it?" Leonard asked blankly.
There had been far too much going on lately. How was he supposed to remember every tiny little matter involving these two?
"You actually forgot something this important." Fred shook his head. "Do you remember the thing you asked us to do?"
"Asked you to do?" Leonard froze, thought for a moment, and suddenly remembered. "I think I vaguely remember now... the flying item, right?"
The moment it clicked, Leonard brightened.
"So you succeeded?"
"Of course," George said proudly, lifting his chin.
Fred followed up, "That's why we came to tell you the good news."
"That is good news. I knew I could count on you two," Leonard praised.
"That has absolutely no credibility coming from you," George said, rolling his eyes. "It's obvious you completely forgot about it."
"No, that was just an accident," Leonard said earnestly. "I always believed you'd succeed. So... where's the finished product?"
"Right here." Fred held up a package, then unfolded it to reveal a neatly folded piece of clothing whose full shape was still hard to make out.
"We put a lot of effort into this," George said seriously. "We even asked our father for advice before we managed to make this."
"Yeah, it was a lot of work," Fred chimed in from the side.
Hearing the unmistakable hint that they wanted more money, Leonard, being thoroughly rich, nodded without concern.
"Don't worry. As long as the item works properly, the payment will definitely satisfy you."
"Heh, good." George handed the garment over to Leonard. "Go on, try it."
"Did you test it?" Leonard asked curiously as he took the clothing.
"Uh... does testing it on gnomes count?" George scratched at his cheek.
"Gnomes?" Leonard blinked, stared at the clothes in his hand for two seconds, then flung them straight into George's face.
"Get lost!" Leonard slapped his hands together as if trying to knock invisible filth off them. "Take it to the house-elves and have it washed before you hand it back to me!"
Gnomes were creatures that spent all day eating garbage and burrowing through the dirt. They might sound a bit like earthworms, but in reality they were far filthier.
At least earthworms had smooth bodies that did not trap grime. Who knew how dirty those humanoid little pests were?
"Uh... we did wash it, actually," Fred explained.
Leonard's face darkened. He pointed at George, who was frantically peeling the clothes off his face with obvious disgust.
"You two are disgusted by it yourselves, aren't you?"
"Ahem..." Fred coughed awkwardly, looked away, and started whistling as if he had seen nothing at all.
"Enough nonsense. Go wash it again. Meet me in the courtyard when you're done." Leonard looked down at his hands in disgust, as if he wished he could chop them off and grow a new pair.
Then he paused.
Wait. He did not have that ability.
Well, never mind. A good wash and they should still be usable.