"So it looks like before we go back, our final destination is just The Shrieking Shack!"
Hermione radiated excitement, clearly anticipating their upcoming adventure with tremendous enthusiasm.
"I distinctly remember you saying that exact line before we had lunch."
After their satisfying meal, Glenn pushed open the restaurant door and emerged alongside Hermione.
"Well said, don't say it again. In any case, don't mind these trivial details—we can finally visit The Shrieking Shack."
Hermione smiled with dangerous sweetness and patted Glenn's shoulder as she delivered this pronouncement.
Glenn wisely chose to remain diplomatically silent.
Those who understand the times are indeed the wisest, particularly when Hermione begins issuing veiled threats.
Seeing that Glenn had ceased his commentary, Hermione nodded with evident satisfaction, thinking to herself that this fellow Glenn had finally learned to read facial expressions properly.
Thus the pair began walking toward Hogsmeade village's outskirts, where The Shrieking Shack stood in isolated splendor.
However, the greater one's expectations, the more crushing the disappointment.
"...This is the so-called 'most haunted place in all of Britain'?"
"No matter how you examine it, it's merely a dilapidated house that's been abandoned for some considerable time!"
"And why doesn't this building possess a proper door? Even the windows are sealed with wooden planks! Seriously? What was the bloody point of constructing this house in the first place?"
"And where exactly are these legendary ghostly screams? Blast it, we've been thoroughly deceived."
Hermione stared speechlessly at the ramshackle structure surrounded by weathered fencing. Apart from being rather aged and possessing an oddly asymmetrical appearance with no visible doors or windows, she couldn't detect anything remotely terrifying about the place.
Even the areas where actual ghosts resided within Hogwarts castle were infinitely more frightening than this—that constituted genuine haunting.
"Well then, shall we venture inside? I've conducted a preliminary scan, and there's nothing particularly unusual within."
Glenn withdrew his enhanced senses and turned to inform Hermione.
"...Oh, right. You habitually scan building interiors with your enhanced perception before entering them. Even if this place were genuinely haunted, it wouldn't achieve any dramatic effect. I'd completely forgotten about that capability..."
After a moment of stunned realization, Hermione covered her face in exasperation.
So their elaborate "battle plan" had possessed zero possibility of successful implementation from the very beginning.
"What's troubling you?"
"Nothing significant. Let's proceed inside. We'll examine that secret passage leading to Hogwarts. Once you complete your inspection, we'll return to the castle."
Thoroughly disillusioned with The Shrieking Shack, Hermione had entirely lost her enthusiasm. She pushed Glenn over the fence toward the decrepit structure.
"Incidentally, though there's nothing particularly strange inside, there is one rather peculiar black dog."
While being propelled forward by Hermione's insistent guidance, Glenn continued describing his observations.
"A black dog?"
Hermione's eyebrows arched slightly, and her pushing motion ceased abruptly.
A black dog... That was precisely the ominous portent other students had been discussing obsessively throughout recent weeks.
"Why do you characterize it as peculiar? Perhaps it's simply some stray that's claimed this abandoned house as shelter."
The spirited girl clearly harbored persistent resentment toward The Shrieking Shack's disappointing reputation.
"That's certainly plausible, though..."
The two had now reached The Shrieking Shack's immediate vicinity. Glenn placed his palm against the exterior wall and began employing alchemical techniques.
The wall before them immediately commenced melting, reshaping itself into an aperture sufficiently large for Glenn and Hermione to pass through together.
Glenn completed his observation.
"...this particular black dog appears to be glowering ferociously at a newspaper."
The Shrieking Shack's interior revealed itself to Hermione's scrutiny—furnishings as deteriorated as the building itself, including simple but obviously damaged furniture, grimy wallpaper that had extensively peeled away, an equally filthy floor, and corner stairs nearly collapsing from age, leading to the upper level. Most conspicuous, however, was undoubtedly the large black dog currently sprawled upon a tattered newspaper spread across the ground, fixing the paper with an intensely fierce stare.
This black dog appeared painfully emaciated, with matted and brittle fur that had accumulated considerable dirt and debris. It genuinely resembled a long-suffering stray.
The disturbance caused by the alchemically-opened wall startled the large black dog from its newspaper perch. As if electrified, the creature sprang upward from the floor, then adopted a threatening combat stance toward the intruders, baring its teeth and emitting intimidating growls.
However, upon clearly observing that the visitors were merely two young people, it inexplicably relaxed its defensive posture, though it maintained no intention of approaching Glenn and Hermione, regarding them with distinctly strange eyes.
"That's genuinely rather odd. It probably entered through that makeshift opening over there."
Hermione discretely withdrew her wand from her sleeve—the white light gradually fading—and made this assessment while surveying the room's interior, indicating a damaged wall section in the corner.
For one alarming moment, the spirited girl had anticipated an imminent attack upon herself and Glenn. She'd already prepared a Transfiguration spell, intending to convert this pitiful-looking black dog into a harmless snail the instant it launched an assault, but then the creature had suddenly abandoned all aggressive intentions.
So we were the ones who frightened it?
Glenn quietly returned the Beretta pistol to his left sleeve. For a brief instant, Glenn had detected fierce hostility emanating from the creature—not necessarily lethal but sufficiently menacing. At close range, firearms proved faster than wands. Upon sensing the black dog's aggressive aura, Glenn had immediately retrieved a loaded Beretta from his black ring and disengaged the safety, preparing to immediately fire and disable the animal's limbs, but then the hostile emanations had completely vanished.
So we were the ones who startled it?
After executing identical defensive responses, both young people reached the same conclusion, while the black dog remained entirely unaware it had just narrowly avoided severe injury. Now it glanced briefly at Glenn and Hermione, then nonchalantly closed its eyes in feigned slumber.
Yes, feigned—it couldn't deceive Glenn's enhanced perception.
"It appears so wretchedly pitiful. If it could eat properly and receive adequate grooming, this might prove to be quite a handsome black dog."
Hermione tilted her head to study the creature and offered this compassionate assessment, then retrieved food and water from her protective charm, arranging them in plates created through Transfiguration, placing them at her feet before crouching down and calling out gently.
"Here, big fellow. I've provided some food and water for you. Please come over and eat a little."
The black dog was clearly tempted, as physiological responses couldn't lie, and even without activating his enhanced senses, Glenn could easily detect its stomach's audible rumbling, yet it showed no inclination to move.
Uninterested in the canine, Glenn began examining The Shrieking Shack's internal structure to facilitate future defensive installation designs. During his survey, he noticed the content displayed on the newspaper the black dog had been using as bedding.
"A photograph of the Weasley family on holiday?"
"I recall Ginny Weasley mentioning something about this to Hermione..."
Filing this information mentally, Glenn continued his systematic inspection.
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