When they learned that they could help Rhys, both of them were incredibly excited—finally, they were useful, right?
Rhys had successfully ignited their fighting spirit.
"No problem!"
"We'll definitely complete the mission!"
Hearing Daphne and Astoria's firm voices, Rhys nodded in satisfaction and left the Slytherin common room.
...
The moment the door closed behind him, Rowena Ravenclaw's voice continued to come from the crystal ball.
"You played that quite excessively."
"Aren't you enjoying it just as much, Rowena?"
No further sound came from the crystal ball, and Rhys cast a Disillusionment Charm on himself, heading toward the Great Hall. He needed to confirm whether another key player had been drawn into the plan, just as he'd intended.
...
After parting ways with the Greengrass sisters, Harry fell into a brief state of confusion.
His rational mind told him that as long as Daphne and the other two arrived, the problem would be easily resolved—but his emotions kept urging him over and over: do something.
Maybe it was the shame of lying back and letting the "big shots" carry him that got to him.
He desperately wanted to take action—he couldn't just be the "messenger," could he?! What would that make him, a dictionary? A quest-giving NPC in a video game?
Of course, if Harry knew how Rhys saw him, he might actually think being a "translation dictionary" wasn't such a bad role after all.
Wanting to do something was one thing—being able to do something was another.
After thinking it through carefully, Harry realized he couldn't do a single thing.
His conversation with Professor McGonagall had already shut down any hope of support from the school's faculty—if he couldn't even convince his own Head of House, how could he expect any of the other Heads to believe his "nonsense"?
As for support from other students—well, hadn't Daphne already agreed to help him? Who could be more reliable than Daphne and her group? Ron? Better not. He was terrified of spiders. It wouldn't be right to drag him into this.
While Harry was spiraling into a whirlwind of thoughts, the library's closing time arrived. The last few students were ushered out by Madam Pince.
In truth, hardly anyone stayed until closing time. Most packed up a few minutes beforehand to avoid any chance of conflict with the notoriously short-tempered librarian. Only a rare few exceptions stayed until the final moment—like Hermione Granger.
Today, she and Neville from Hufflepuff had been organizing their Herbology notes for the year, and then they'd gone over some key points in Potions together. The two had been completely absorbed in the world of magic, right up until Madam Pince appeared—and then they were promptly kicked out.
"I completely don't dare look Madam Pince in the eye..."
"It's not your fault, Neville. Are you coming back to the library to study tomorrow?"
"Sure! There are still a lot of things I don't quite get in Potions—wait, isn't that Harry? What's he doing here this late? Curfew's almost up!" Neville had noticed Harry leaning against the corridor wall. He looked troubled, as if something serious was bothering him.
Kind-hearted Neville wanted to help. Even if he couldn't do much, just chatting with Harry might help lift his spirits.
"Harry, what are you doing? Curfew's coming," Hermione stepped forward and asked about Harry's situation.
"Uh..." Harry hesitated, unsure whether he should drag the two of them into this.
The entire conversation was observed from a distance by Rhys.
He waved his hand, casting a charm to isolate all sound around him, then connected to Rowena Ravenclaw's "call." From within the dungeons, Ravenclaw could see everything happening before Rhys through the crystal ball in his hand.
"Oh? Looks like someone unexpected is getting involved," Ravenclaw's voice came through the crystal ball. "Who is he?"
"A Hufflepuff boy. His name is Neville Longbottom," Rhys gave Ravenclaw a brief introduction to Neville.
"Keeping a toad as a pet but not good at Potions? Interesting."
"That's also related to the current Potions professor, Snape—his teaching style is rather unpleasant. Bringing Neville along is fine. I won't interfere further." Rhys thought it over and felt there was no problem including Neville—if you're already carrying one burden, you might as well carry a second.
Just as Harry was still debating whether or not to reveal the truth to Hermione and Neville, Daphne and Astoria arrived.
Now Neville and Hermione both sensed something was off: Harry was clearly waiting for those two. Being associated with them, and doing something right before curfew, definitely didn't sound like an ordinary matter.
Seeing that there were others with Harry, Daphne immediately furrowed her brows—she didn't want any complications. All she wanted was to solve the problem in the Forbidden Forest as soon as possible.
"What's the call?" She leaned toward launching a direct attack and getting rid of the two nuisances.
"Fine by me," Astoria nodded, though she had another idea in mind.
"Oh, hi Daphne, Astoria, um.. what are you all upto—"
As the Greengrass sisters approached, Hermione stepped forward to question their intentions.
"Stupefy!"
"Petrificus Totalus!"
Hermione was determined to figure out what the three of them were up to—but instead of a greeting, she was met with two spells.
Caught off guard, Hermione barely managed to dodge to the side. The spells grazed her robes and hit Neville, who had been standing behind her in a daze.
Neville was knocked out cold by the spells.
Hermione's eyes went wide. She whipped out her wand and shot a jinx back in retaliation. Then she and the Greengrass sisters exchanged several more spells. Their magic collided midair, bursting into colorful sparks, leaving Harry stunned on the sidelines.
"Oh? You have trained her well, Ravenclaw. Although Daphne is only using minor spells so as to not hurt her, Hermione is holding on quite well." Rhys muttered to Ravenclaw.
"I just gave her some of my notes. She is very studious." Ravenclaw's voice coming from the ball was very proud.
The two sides reached a standoff—Daphne couldn't secure a quick win, and Hermione couldn't gain the upper hand over the two of them either.
"Um, should I use leather spells?" Daphne muttered to herself.
"Stop!" Astoria suddenly shouted, urging everyone to cease fire. "I think we can bring her along—"
"Are you crazy?!"
"What are you doing???"
Everyone started speaking at once—then fell silent at the same time, and the corridor descended into a heavy stillness.
"This—this breaks like, a hundred school rules!" Hermione finally burst out, her voice full of fury, shattering the silence.
"Please, let us explain—"
"We don't have time! This is for your own good!"
Hearing Daphne's words, Hermione raised an eyebrow. "You ambushed us with Petrificus Totalus and a Stunning Spell… and now you're saying it's for our own good?"
"That's right." Daphne lifted her chin, showing no sign of backing down. "This mission is extremely dangerous. If you can't even block our basic spells, you'd only be a liability."
Hermione: "??"
"Then you should've gone to the professors instead of—"
"I already tried. It didn't work."
Harry, who had been standing to the side and almost invisible in presence until now, finally spoke up.
Hermione: "??"
She felt like her brain was about to short-circuit.
_______
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