“What if this is a trap set by Malfoy? Have you thought about what to do then?”
“Harry, Ron, don’t you care about Gryffindor’s House Points? I don’t want you to lose all the points I earned from Professor McGonagall…”
Hermione caught up to Harry and Ron, lecturing them incessantly.
Ron said impatiently, “Go away, it’s none of your business. This concerns a wizard’s honor!”
When the four arrived outside the Gryffindor common room, Hermione looked back and found that the Fat Lady’s portrait was empty.
Late at night, the Fat Lady had gone visiting who knows which other portrait, leaving the four of them locked out of the common room.
“Oh no, what should we do now?” Hermione was a little panicked.
Although she had been nervous on the way back from eating hotpot last night, at least the Fat Lady was still in her portrait, and she could return to her dormitory.
Now that the Fat Lady was gone, would she be stuck outside the common room all night, unable to get back in?
If she ran into Filch or other patrolling professors, she would also lose points.
Hermione, who always wanted to be a good student, was a bit flustered at this moment.
“That’s your problem,” Ron said. “Harry, Chen Yu, we have to go.”
Harry and Ron took the lead, walking forward without looking back.
Chen Yu pulled Hermione’s arm and said to her, “You come with us too.”
Hermione, her mind a bit muddled, was thus pulled by Chen Yu’s arm, jogging along.
“Chen Yu, why did you bring her along?”
Ron saw Chen Yu jogging with Hermione’s arm and was a bit displeased.
Chen Yu replied, “You can’t just leave Hermione outside the common room door. What if Filch finds her? How would you explain it then? Would you say she came out alone? Or that we abandoned her after we came out?”
Ron looked down at his watch, glared angrily at Hermione, and threatened, “If you get us caught, or make us late and laughed at by Malfoy, I will definitely use the monster curse Professor Quirrell mentioned on you!”
Hermione opened her mouth, probably wanting to say something.
Harry quickly turned back and shushed everyone, telling them to be quiet and to hurry up.
The group jogged along the corridor, and each time they reached a staircase corner, they would tentatively peek their heads out to see if Filch or his cat were in the hallway.
Their luck was very good this time too; they reached the Trophy Room on the third floor without finding any trace of the caretaker or his cat.
They stealthily pushed open a crack in the Trophy Room door, and the four entered the room, finding it pitch black. Malfoy hadn’t come at all.
Ron thought Malfoy was just delayed by something and would be late, and he firmly believed Malfoy would come.
Harry and Ron held their wands, staring intently at the two entrances to the room, preventing Malfoy and his cronies from suddenly rushing in.
Time passed minute by minute, and looking at the dark doorway, Ron also began to lose confidence.
But he couldn’t understand why Malfoy didn’t come.
Wizard dueling has a long history, dating back to the time of King Arthur.
For wizards, a wizard duel was not only a battle to prove oneself but also a way to gain honor.
In Ron’s opinion, Draco Malfoy was a Malfoy through and through.
The House of Malfoy revered pure-blood and valued honor.
How could a Malfoy like that break his word?
“Unless he was scared and didn’t dare to come,” Ron whispered to comfort himself.
If Malfoy really didn’t intend to come, then Hermione might have been right.
Just then, a door opened in the next room.
Harry and Ron tensed, raising their wands, thinking Malfoy had arrived.
“My dear, sniff around, where might they be hiding?”
It wasn’t Malfoy who came, but Filch.
Harry and Ron were terrified, frantically waving at the other two.
Chen Yu quickly pulled out the Serpent Spell and, pulling Hermione, began to turn invisible.
Seeing Chen Yu and Hermione disappear in an instant, Harry and Ron were immediately dumbfounded.
Then they felt their arms being pulled, and they too became invisible.
“The Serpent Spell can make people invisible, but it must be in contact with the other person’s body,” Chen Yu explained.
“We must not separate later; find the right moment to rush out of here.”
Harry, Ron, and Hermione all nodded.
Now was not the time for infighting.
Fortunately, there were many things in the Trophy Room, and Filch couldn’t use magic. With the bright moonlight and dim lantern, he couldn’t see the entire Trophy Room at a glance.
Furthermore, since the four were invisible, Filch didn’t detect their presence.
Chen Yu signaled everyone to leave quickly, moving silently towards another door.
When they reached the door, they saw Filch still searching the Trophy Room with his lantern for Little Wizards on night patrol, unaware of their situation. Everyone breathed a sigh of relief.
They quickly pulled the door open a crack, and the group immediately rushed out of the Trophy Room.
After running a few steps, Ron felt he stepped on something like a rope. Just as he was wondering, a miserable and heart-wrenching cat’s meow came from under his foot.
Everyone was startled and looked down to see that Ron had accidentally stepped on Madam Norris’s tail.
Filch wasn’t stupid. From Malfoy’s report, he knew Harry and the others were in the Trophy Room, so he naturally wouldn’t go in alone but had Madam Norris waiting outside for backup.
He also wanted to see if any Little Wizards would try to sneak out of the Trophy Room when he wasn’t looking.
Madam Norris was also dedicated to her job, squatting by the door, watching the other main door of the Trophy Room, ready to alert Filch if any Little Wizards came out.
The door opened, a gust of wind blew, she smelled humans, but saw no one.
Just as Madam Norris was confused, she suddenly felt a sharp pain in her tail, as if someone had stepped on it, and couldn’t help but let out a mournful cry.
As Madam Norris cried out, Harry, Ron, and Hermione were all stunned.
They all knew Filch’s affection for Madam Norris. If they were caught having stepped on Madam Norris’s cat tail, the consequences would be far more severe than just losing House Points.
The four immediately took off running.
Hearing the cat’s cry, Filch rushed out of the classroom but saw no Little Wizards, only his beloved cat licking her wound.
As Ron ran, he looked back to see if Filch was chasing them and accidentally knocked over a suit of armor in the corridor.
Immediately, a clanging sound echoed throughout the entire corridor.
It felt loud enough to wake the entire castle.
After running for a long while, through one staircase after another, and around one corridor after another, feeling that they were far from the Trophy Room, the group stopped and became visible again.
“I think we’ve lost him,” Harry said, leaning against the wall and panting.
Ron, supporting his legs, replied pale-faced, “Sh-should be.”
Hermione clutched the seam of her clothes at her chest, trying not to expose herself, and also said breathlessly, “I… I told you… Malfoy was definitely tricking you…”
Because Hogwarts’ food was free, Chen Yu had been eating a lot recently. With the boost from his Carnivore skill, Chen Yu’s physical fitness had grown rapidly.
He had already shed his scrawny, malnourished physique and was now the type who looked thin in clothes but muscular without them.
Looking at the breathless Hermione, Chen Yu took over her words and said, “Hermione told me earlier that Malfoy probably didn’t intend to meet you. He might have tipped off Filch, leading Filch to check the Trophy Room.”
Harry thought Chen Yu and Hermione might be right, but he didn’t want to give in to Hermione, who had always hindered him.
It was the stubbornness of a boy’s heart.
Just as they were about to leave, they saw Peeves emerge from the wall. Seeing Chen Yu, Harry, Ron, and Hermione, he let out a shrill laugh.
“Shut up, Peeves!” Harry said angrily to Peeves, his tone quickly turning to a plea, “Please… you’ll get us expelled…”
Peeves continued to chuckle.
Ron signaled Chen Yu and Hermione to quickly think of a solution.
Hermione was a bit frantic: “Percy said Peeves is afraid of the The Bloody Baron, but the problem is, where do we find the The Bloody Baron now?”
“Hehehe… Naughty first-years, wandering around in the middle of the night… So mischievous. Tsk tsk tsk, you’ll get caught and expelled like this!”
Peeves continued to provoke Harry and the others.
“Tongue-Tying Curse!”
Chen Yu immediately cast the Tongue-Tying Curse on Peeves.
Peeves’s tongue immediately stuck to his palate, preventing him from speaking clearly.
With his palate glued by magic, Peeves no longer bothered with Harry and the others and began to struggle frantically, sticking his hands into his mouth, trying to pull his tongue off his palate.
“Chen Yu, well done!”