Chapter 143

Chapter 143

The farce ended completely when Professor McGonagall arrived. Two dwarfs hoisted their companion onto their backs and slunk out of the Great Hall.

Harry lost fifteen points for violating a school rule: young witches and wizards were forbidden to use harmful magic in the Great Hall.

Head bowed, Harry silently gathered his belongings one by one.

Suer repaired the torn black schoolbag with Reparo and returned it to Harry. When Harry murmured his thanks, Suer patted him gently on the shoulder in consolation.

This was the tempestuous love-hate affair between Harry and Malfoy. As an outsider, Suer ought not interfere, though he could give Harry a hint.

There was no evidence that Malfoy had arranged the humiliation, but who else could it have been?

The inspiration had plainly come from the devastating card Snape received.

As for what happened to Malfoy afterwards, that was no concern of Suer’s.

As they left the Great Hall together, Ginny hurried past and collided with Ron hard enough to make him stagger.

“Hey, Ginny!” Ron exclaimed.

Ginny hurried away without looking back. Standing at the edge of the group, Suer noticed that her face was deathly pale and her manner panicked.

“What’s wrong with Ginny?” Ron, entirely innocent of wrongdoing, looked at Harry in confusion and rubbed the aching place where she had struck him.

Harry was still suffering the aftermath of his public humiliation. In low spirits, he had no desire to answer Ron.

Suer shook his head and remained silent.

She had probably seen the notebook.

Shortly before curfew, a small badger crept out through the barrel entrance. Claws braced against the corner of the wall, the badger carefully surveyed the entrance hall.

Rounded ears twitched. Apart from the crackle of oil burning in the lamps, the hall was silent.

“Whoosh…” A black-and-white shape flashed past.

Moments later, the same black-and-white figure bounded and raced up the staircases, drawing sideways glances from the portraits on the walls.

Outside the Gryffindor common room, the Fat Lady dozed drowsily in her frame. The badger, having successfully reached the tower, found a shadowed corner where the firelight cast a long black silhouette.

Had a young witch or wizard been present, they might have closed their eyes and screamed. Within the firelight, the shadow stretched and changed with unnatural speed, transforming from a four-legged animal into a human figure.

“Phew…”

Suer exhaled softly after cancelling his Animagus transformation and steadied his breathing.

Running all the way from the basement to the highest tower had consumed a great deal of strength, even in animal form.

The passage outside the Gryffindor common room was deserted. Only the faint sound of snoring emerged from the portrait. The Fat Lady sat asleep in a chair.

“Let’s have a look.” Suer drew a slip of paper from his pocket. He had obtained it from Neville.

Neville had a poor memory. To avoid being locked outside by the Fat Lady whenever he forgot the day’s password, he faithfully wrote it on a slip of paper each day and tucked it inside a book.

Suer knew this habit and had deliberately left his own book in the dormitory, giving him an excuse to borrow the volume containing Neville’s password slip.

A single use of the Duplicating Charm had solved the most difficult problem.

“Honeyguide.”

The portrait swung open in response. The Fat Lady awoke with a start, but her frame had already turned towards the wall. She did not see who was returning so close to curfew.

“What sort of hour is this to return to your dormitory?” she muttered with her face towards the stone. “Who are you? I don’t think I’ve heard your voice before.”

Suer ignored the Fat Lady and silently climbed through.
He quickly took the gift prepared earlier from his pocket: a vivid red rose.

Hmm. He had stolen it from the Great Hall.

Thank you, Professor Lockhart.

In a corner behind the portrait, he swiftly resumed his Animagus form and carefully took the rose between his teeth.

He followed the stone steps spiralling upwards from the entrance to the Gryffindor common room.

According to the information he had gathered, Hermione usually read in the common room until curfew.

The information proved accurate. Suer peered around a corner and immediately saw Hermione’s familiar back. She was not alone, however.

Harry and Ron were there as well. No sooner had Suer drawn close than he heard them loudly conspiring.

“Have you forgotten the dragon Hagrid raised last year?” Ron was saying. “Or that enormous three-headed dog?”

“I wouldn’t be remotely surprised if, as a boy fifty years ago, Hagrid heard there was a monster hidden in the castle and couldn’t resist searching for it.”

“Just listen to what he calls them. Monsters that would frighten a wizard to death merely by appearing are all ‘little darlings’ to him.”

“But I asked Hagrid, and he refused to tell me what happened fifty years ago.” The crackling firelight illuminated Harry’s face, revealing the worry upon it.

“I can hardly ask him outright whether he was expelled for getting a student killed, can I?”

“Perhaps… perhaps there’s another possibility,” Hermione said hesitantly. “Maybe a different monster hurt the student…”

“What sort of monster could hide here for fifty years or longer without being discovered?” Ron countered.

“All we know is that the attacks definitely stopped after Hagrid was expelled,” Harry said miserably. “That practically nails him to the cross.”

“And if Hagrid truly killed a young witch or wizard, he ought to be in Azkaban, not living at the castle,” Hermione insisted, still convinced that her reasoning was sound.

The group fell silent. Suer hid in the shadows behind Hermione and yawned.

“Remember when you met Hagrid in Knockturn Alley last summer, Harry?” Ron suddenly asked.

Harry answered instinctively, “He was buying slug repellent.”

Silence descended again. Hermione apparently grew tired of sitting on a cushion and leaned back on both hands. One palm encountered something furry.

“Ah!” She turned with a cry and found badger-Suer holding a rose between his teeth and blinking at her.

All three of them looked towards Suer.

“Isn’t that…?” Harry and Ron were astonished. They had seen this badger while Hermione was in the hospital wing.

“How did you get in?” Delighted, Hermione lay down and met Suer’s eyes.

Suer blinked, then placed the rose before her.

“Is this for me?” Hermione’s eyes shone, and she could not conceal the delight in her voice.

Suer nodded and prepared to retreat.

The moment he turned away, a pair of hands scooped him from the floor. Once again, he found himself looking directly at Hermione.

“Thank you,” Hermione said earnestly.

Yet Suer saw something different in her expression: not only happiness, but a trace of shyness.

Oh, no… Suer suddenly had a bad feeling.

Had she discovered the truth?