Chapter 217

Chapter 217

Raindrops began to fall one after another, then became a downpour the instant Suer and Hermione left the Forbidden Forest. Fortunately, the Invisibility Cloak also kept off the rain. Even so, mud and water coated the hems of their robes and their shoes.

“Haa… haa…”

Hermione panted as she scraped mud from her shoes before the castle doors, slender brows knitted. The thick layer upon her soles thoroughly disgusted the fastidious young girl.

“Tell me…” Suer complained while folding the Invisibility Cloak. “Have you forgotten you’re a witch?”

“Oh, right…” Hermione stopped, raised her head with an adorably blank expression and blinked several times at him.

“Mr Bones? Miss Granger? What are you doing outside the doors?”

It was Professor McGonagall. She was patrolling the entrance that night and had heard murmuring outside, along with the scrape of soles against stone.

Hermione had only just drawn her wand when the stern voice sounded behind her. She jumped like a rabbit, lowered her head and obediently gripped the wand in both hands.

“Good evening, Professor McGonagall.” Suer also greeted the professor whose exterior was stern but whose heart surely contained a cat.

“You two…”

Professor McGonagall wore dark-green wizarding robes patterned with stars. She studied them, her gaze sweeping almost imperceptibly over the silver fabric draped across Suer’s arm.

Then she noticed the dirty step where Hermione had scraped her shoes and frowned.

“What have you been doing?”

“Well, Professor, we were practising magic outside after dinner when it suddenly began to rain…” Suer answered carefully, employing a little verbal trickery.

No, wait. They truly had gone to practise magic–advanced magic in the form of becoming an Animagus. Good children did not lie.

Professor McGonagall regarded Suer suspiciously. She studied the mud on their shoes and robe hems for so long that Hermione shifted one foot unnaturally before the professor finally spoke.

“Is that so, Miss Granger?”

“Yes, Professor McGonagall. We really were practising magic.” Hermione’s quiet answer sounded so guilty that anyone could tell it was a lie.

The girl truly had no talent for deception.

Professor McGonagall gave them a look that was almost amused. “Do not leave the castle after dark. This school year is especially dangerous.”

“Go inside. Curfew is nearly upon us.”

Both students lowered their heads like ostriches and prepared to enter, but Professor McGonagall stopped them again.

“Do you intend to walk inside like that? Mr Filch spent a very long time cleaning the entrance hall.”

“Oh, sorry, Professor McGonagall.” Suer immediately drew his wand, silently formed Scourgify in his mind and pointed first at himself, then Hermione.

Professor McGonagall’s eyes brightened with approval.

“Non-verbal magic. Very good, Mr Bones.”

“You flatter me, Professor.” Suer lowered his head with a modest smile.

“Off you go, then.”

At that moment, someone heaved open the oak doors. A group of soaked figures crowded inside, clutching brooms and shivering. They had not yet noticed Professor McGonagall, Suer and Hermione beside the entrance.

“We’ve got the three best Chasers and two unbeatable Beaters.”

“And a Seeker who’s never lost a match! What is there to worry about?”

“If the weather on match day is anything like today, we’ll use the tactics we practised. Harry, watch the Quaffle. Its path is much harder to judge in the rain…” Unlike the others, who looked half-dead, Wood remained wildly energetic.
“Oliver!” Professor McGonagall called ominously.

The team jumped and stopped at once.

“Professor McGonagall.” Wood gave a sheepish smile. “Sorry. I was arranging tactics for our first match and didn’t see you.”

Without speaking, Professor McGonagall looked behind Wood and the others. A large mixture of mud and water stretched across the floor in a long brown trail.

The castle was everyone’s home, and keeping it clean was everyone’s responsibility.

Cleaning the trail with magic posed no difficulty for a seventh-year like Wood. He dried his teammates while he was at it.

After seven years in Gryffindor, Oliver Wood knew Professor McGonagall’s temper. He offered several flattering remarks, and at last she allowed them to leave, though her gaze lingered deeply upon Harry.

“Suer, my good friend.” Fred approached with a broad smile.

“You haven’t forgotten our agreement, have you?” George handed his broom to a teammate and joined them.

“Of course not.” Suer nodded. “After the match, perhaps? I still need time to get information from Hagrid. He refuses to say where the spiders moved.”

“Why not leave it to us?” Fred gave a mischievous little chuckle.

“We have ways of obtaining the information.” George chuckled in precisely the same fashion.

“You’re not planning to give Hagrid Veritaserum, are you?” Suer stared at them.

“That’s illegal, and we don’t know how to brew it,” Fred said. “For Hagrid, the best truth serum is–”

“A bottle of firewhisky,” George finished. “And it must come from Hogsmeade.”

“Just wait for our good news,” Fred declared conclusively.

“George, Fred, what are you doing back there? I’ve just thought of a brilliant plan. It is guaranteed to win us the match.” Wood’s voice came from ahead.

“Oh, this is torture. I only want to go back and sleep.” Fred groaned, yet obediently hurried after him.

“Remember our agreement.” George patted Suer on the shoulder, then also quickened his pace with a long-suffering sigh.

“What agreement?” Hermione asked beside him.

Oh. He had completely forgotten Hermione was still there.

“We’re planning to hunt Acromantulas,” Suer whispered, making no attempt to hide it from her.

“What? You’re going to–mmph!” Suer felt Professor McGonagall’s gaze from across the entrance hall and decisively covered Hermione’s mouth.

“Quietly, my lady. Quietly.”

Hermione irritably pulled his hand away.

“That’s completely mad! If you were only walking around the edge of the Forbidden Forest… Hunting Acromantulas? Have you lost your minds? Harry and the others were almost eaten last year. If not for…”

“We aren’t going to the Acromantulas’ lair.” Suer glanced back at Professor McGonagall, who had already looked away. He took Hermione’s hand and led her several quick steps in the other direction.

“We’ll only deal with one or two isolated Acromantulas…”

“The plan is to do this… and then that…”