Chapter 64
Chapter 64
The four Heads of House met, exchanged glances, then separated again.
“Children, search the corridors, empty classrooms and every corner of the castle,” Professor McGonagall called before leaving. “Divide into groups now, but everyone must assemble here again in two hours.”
The students of Hogwarts were ecstatic.
This was probably the one chance in their entire school career to wander and explore the castle late at night with complete legitimacy.
Ashwinders? One Freezing Charm dealt with those.
Once all four houses joined forces, they no longer operated separately. Friendly witches and wizards formed their own teams and departed to “explore”.
Suer was no exception. He abandoned his dormitory mates without hesitation and threw himself into Hermione’s embrace.
It would have been perfect without the three lanterns named Ron, Harry and Neville.
“There’s an Ashwinder, Suer!” Ron cried.
A blue beam shot past, freezing the snake and the egg it had just laid before it could burst into flame.
“Neville, the egg is yours. Be careful when you collect it.”
Ron stared.
He looked resentfully at Suer, who had already moved ahead beside Hermione. “If only I knew the Freezing Charm…”
“Suer didn’t mean anything by it, Ron. Don’t brood.” Harry patted Ron’s shoulder. Truthfully, he had no objection to Suer’s distribution of duties.
Ron had already crushed three Ashwinder eggs. The little things were unexpectedly fragile.
Neville was much better at delicate work.
As they cleared the Ashwinders, one question refused to leave Suer’s mind. If Voldemort had engineered this disturbance to muddy the waters while he stole the Philosopher’s Stone from the fourth floor, would simply becoming invisible not have been easier?
Why go to such unnecessary trouble? First the troll, now the Ashwinders. Did splitting one’s soul cause intelligence to decline exponentially? Or was this the full extent of Quirrell’s cunning?
“Professor Quirrell?”
No sooner had the thought appeared than the fire-clearing party encountered a pale Quirinus Quirrell at the entrance to the fourth-floor corridor.
He swayed where he stood and, on closer inspection, trembled.
“G-good… evening, M-Miss Granger.” Quirrell seemed startled. “A-and you, M-Mr Bones…” His stammer appeared worse than ever.
“S-so late… y-you…”
“We’re looking for Ashwinder trails, Professor.” Suer knew the stammer was false and had no desire to wait for the sentence to end. “Are you clearing Ashwinders as well?”
“A-Ashwinders? O-of course…” Quirrell hurriedly nodded, struggling to appear composed. “I-I have already c-cleared this area.”
“Then Hermione and I will continue on the next floor, Professor.” Suer bade Voldemort Quirrell a courteous farewell.
Good evening, Professor. Goodbye, Professor!
“G-goodbye.” A proper smile rested upon Quirrell’s pale face as he watched them disappear.
That had nearly cost Suer his life.
Still holding Hermione’s hand, he walked faster and faster until they had hurried up to the next floor.
Judging by Quirrell’s condition, he had surely just visited the place where the Philosopher’s Stone was hidden, failed to find what his master wanted and received a vicious punishment.
If some damaged part of Quirrell’s mind had chosen that moment to draw a wand and seize a student as a hostage, matters would have become disastrous.
Voldemort would certainly kill the hostage. A being so cruel to himself had no reason to show mercy to any other life.
“Suer…” When they reached the fifth floor, Hermione spoke quietly. “Could you let go of my hand now?”
“Hm?” Suer instinctively raised their joined hands and gave hers a squeeze.
Oh. Quite soft.
Hermione’s ears changed at once from pale pink to gleaming red. She wrenched her hand free and thrust it deep into her robes, hiding it completely.
“Pervert,” she muttered.
“Ha… ha ha…” Suer laughed dryly, rubbing the hand concealed behind his back without meaning to.
One lingered over the memory while the other blushed. They wandered aimlessly across the fifth floor. They claimed to be extinguishing fires, yet an Ashwinder slithered directly past Hermione without receiving the slightest response. Suer reacted in time and struck it with a Freezing Charm.
Then pounding footsteps and ragged breathing approached from behind.
“Harry?” Hermione released a small breath and turned towards the two boys running up, her face still flushed.
“Where did you go?”
“Never mind that, Hermione. You’ll never guess what Ron and I just saw downstairs!” Harry bent over with his hands on his thighs, breathing hard, his face troubled.
“Snape. He was on the fourth floor, forcing poor Professor Quirrell to hand over–”
“You needn’t explain, Harry.” Hermione interrupted and glanced at Suer. “Isn’t it exactly what we already knew? Snape discovered how to get past it, then learned all Professor Quirrell’s little ‘tricks’.”
“Professor Dumbledore is away tonight. What better opportunity could there be?”
“Exactly. Perhaps Snape has already succeeded,” Ron said.
“Not necessarily,” Harry argued. “Otherwise we wouldn’t have seen him threatening Professor Quirrell.”
“Forgive me for interrupting.” Suer shook his head as the three galloped earnestly farther and farther from the truth.
And what was that glance for, Hermione? Did she think he might inform Snape?
“Would any of you care to tell me where Neville is?”
“Neville?” Harry froze. “We didn’t see him when we ran upstairs. Did you, Ron?”
“No.” Ron looked equally surprised. “Perhaps he couldn’t find us and returned to the Great Hall.”
Suer pressed a hand to his forehead.
“I’ll look for him. See you in the Great Hall later.”
He turned and retraced their route, parting from the trio.
He did not see Hermione bare her teeth at his back, stamp one foot and glare.
Suer knew his little ostrich well. She would probably refuse to speak to him until at least the following day, merely because he had held her hand.
Leaving now would make her more comfortable.
Still, compared with before, only one day of silence represented progress. It meant Hermione was becoming less guarded about physical contact and beginning to grow accustomed to it.
Next time, perhaps she would ignore him for only half a day, and the interval would continue shrinking.
At that rate, one day…