Hermione frowned. The rushing wind blew her fluffy hair wildly across her face, giving her serious nighttime expression a rather intimidating look.
"Guh~"
Ron shrank back slightly, intimidated.
"Maybe he's not even going to 'face' the dragon at all?"
Yet, his mysterious, half-whispered words continued without pause.
"Make yourself clear."
Hermione turned her head to look at him, puzzled and slightly annoyed.
Ron lowered his voice, speaking mysteriously: "Think about it—if he were really just going to deal with the dragon, why send us away instead of letting us witness his bravery?"
"Everyone says he loves showing off, right?"
Ron lowered his voice even further.
"What if… I mean, it's possible… he's in cahoots with that problematic Harry Potter? Maybe he sent us away so we wouldn't discover the secret in the Forbidden Forest!"
"Right now, he must be going to relocate the dragon they're keeping!" His voice grew more and more excited, his eyes wide as if he had uncovered some world-shattering conspiracy.
If his hands weren't restrained, he probably would have gestured wildly in excitement. Ron's imagination was truly vivid—his voice brimming with it—and the more he spoke, the more terrifying he found his own speculation.
Hermione rolled her eyes.
"Ron, can you try using that imagination on your homework instead?"
She clearly often let Ron copy her homework.
Neville also doubted Ron's reasoning. He shook his head gently and said, "Ron, you're probably overthinking it. Senior Prince isn't that kind of evil person."
"Even though he breaks school rules, fights, brawls, and bullies Slytherin students, he's a good person, a good senior. I believe he has his reasons for facing the dragon."
Neville seemed to understand Ian quite well. His tone was sincere, based on facts. However, Ron refused to listen, twisting his head forcefully under the blanket to glare at Neville.
"You're too naive, Neville. Who's to say the Ian we met is really Ian Prince? Harry Potter was swapped out; a Second Year student could be swapped too! Maybe Ian Prince has already been replaced, and now he's working with that scheming Harry Potter!"
"Damn it! Looks like more than one dark wizard has set their sights on Hogwarts!" Ron said, still a little unsure, but at least his logic made sense to him.
However…
Neville just shook his head helplessly.
And Hermione didn't believe a single word—or even a punctuation mark—of Ron's wild speculation.
Wrapped in the blanket, Hermione rolled her eyes as she listened to Ron's absurd rambling. "Ron, if that were true, we'd definitely be dead by now. Ian has the power to kill us in the Forbidden Forest, and no one would ever know the truth afterward, right?"
"That's the Forbidden Forest. If we went there, dying would be our own fault. The Ministry of Magic would just think we were reckless and got eaten by the dangerous creatures in the forest."
Hermione's reasoning was truly logical.
Hearing her words, Neville also felt that Ron's speculation was untenable. He nodded and said, "Makes sense, Ron. Guessing wildly without any basis could have consequences."
At this, Ron froze.
He seemed to ponder Neville and Hermione's words. After a long moment, he finally sighed and admitted, "Alright, Hermione, you're right. I might have been a bit too impulsive."
You could say he was just giving himself a nicer explanation.
It was clearly no longer just a matter of impulsiveness; his mind had been occupied by a conspiracy theory—not necessarily about Ian, but a subconscious desire to be a hero.
And so…
The three fell silent.
The flying carpets finally landed in front of the gates of Hogwarts Castle. Hermione and Neville's carpets slowly unfolded, letting them gently touch the ground, but Ron's carpet suddenly jolted.
"Ah!"
Ron hit the ground hard, landing squarely on his rear, wincing in pain. He rubbed his tailbone and looked up indignantly. "Why is it just you two who're fine?! My butt feels like it's split into four pieces!"
He had genuinely taken a heavy fall.
"This is exactly the consequence I was talking about…" Neville said awkwardly, scratching his head. His words made Ron groan and slap his forehead in frustration.
"Damn it!"
Ron wanted to curse—but didn't dare.
"See? Exactly like that." Hermione dusted off her robes and rolled her eyes at Ron. "You just can't keep your mouth shut, we never said a bad word about Ian."
She was clearly pointing out why she and Neville had landed safely while Ron had to suffer.
Neville cautiously glanced at Ron. Seeing his stubborn expression, he hesitated but finally whispered a warning.
"There's always been a rumor in the House… sometimes Senior Prince… can be a bit petty. Looks like you've run into one of those times."
Neville knew a lot about Ian—not just because of Ian's help at school, but also because when Neville first arrived, people had advised him on how to navigate life at Hogwarts.
Most wouldn't trust the twins' "Hogwarts Survival Guide," but Neville did. He even splurged to buy the deluxe edition, which had thirty extra pages teaching readers how to avoid getting targeted by the school's "Demon Lord." After reading it, Neville felt his money was well spent.
Seeing Ron now, he felt even more confident that it had been worth it.
"…"
Ron fell into a long silence after Neville's reminder. His own twin elder brothers had warned him about this too, but he rarely took their advice seriously.
Now he realized… he probably should have trusted his family.
The thought made him recall what his twin brothers had warned him about Ian, almost like they were trying to scare him.
In an instant, Ron's face went pale.
Panic set in.
The thought that Ian might hold a grudge against him made Ron think of the Slytherin pure-blood families' experiences—his own family had nothing to offer Ian to earn forgiveness.
"My damn mouth!"
Ron began to regret speaking so carelessly. He could already imagine himself being tormented by Ian with various jinxes.
Just then…
"What are the three of you doing here?!"
An angry voice suddenly rang out. The three turned their heads at once and saw a darkly clad Hogwarts professor standing not far away, his grim expression and sharp gaze sending shivers down their spines.
With such an aura, the professor could only be Ian's formidable uncle.
Snape.
(End of Chapter)
You can read ahead up to 110 chapters on my Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/darkshadow6395