Time rewinds to several dozen minutes earlier.
"There doesn't seem to be anything particularly strange happening. That large black dog is simply eating, and it genuinely appears to have been starving for quite some time."
Listening to the sounds of food being devoured through the wiretap in her earpiece, Hermione turned back to relay what she'd heard to Glenn while brandishing the monitoring terminal in her hand.
When Hermione had set down the food and plates earlier, the clever girl had already positioned a listening device beneath the bowl for subsequent monitoring and surveillance. Her hair-brushing gesture after standing had merely disguised the act of inserting the earpiece.
The large black dog's initial behavior and actions had indeed seemed rather peculiar. Though she hadn't voiced it aloud, Hermione believed Glenn shared her assessment, so she'd maintained her vigilance, wanting to observe whether the black dog would do anything after she and Glenn departed The Shrieking Shack.
However...
Were we simply being overly suspicious?
"Then don't concern yourself with it. Put away the monitoring terminal and earpiece. Watch your footing carefully—this passage may be extremely winding, but the ground is equally treacherous and slippery. You nearly tumbled just moments ago, and there's a downward slope not far ahead."
Glenn spoke while gripping the back of Hermione's robes.
The spirited girl had almost stepped into empty space and crashed to the ground because she'd been too focused on watching the terminal screen and eavesdropping. Fortunately, Glenn had caught up with Hermione's pace, sparing her posterior from a painful encounter.
"Alright, alright, I understand."
Hermione waved her hand dismissively, stored away the monitoring terminal, removed the earpiece she'd been wearing, dropped it to the ground, and crushed it underfoot.
After all, the wizarding world listening device Glenn had crafted for use at Hogwarts operated through magical means, so it was prudent to completely sever the connection between earpiece and listening device to avoid future complications.
"But seriously, what's the actual purpose of this secret passage? It's narrow and dark, the tunnel is irregular, there are no moisture-prevention measures, it's far too damp, the ground is slippery and treacherous, and it connects The Shrieking Shack on one end to The Whomping Willow on the other..."
Hermione bent slightly forward, head lowered, supporting herself against the wall as she carefully stepped on the protruding sections of ground leading down the passage below. Her free right hand wielded her wand, continuously casting Lumos to illuminate the path ahead for both of them as she voiced her complaints.
"The secret passages within Hogwarts were all developed by Hogwarts personnel, weren't they? I can still comprehend the passages within the castle—after all, they can shorten distances between different floors and locations, saving considerable time. But the purpose of passages connecting to the outside world remains rather unclear..."
"Wait—could it be that former students developed them privately to sneak out for recreational purposes?"
Hermione's brow furrowed as something occurred to her.
"What you're describing now—the two passages to the outside world that have been discovered so far: one leads to Honeydukes' cellar in Hogsmeade village, and one leads to The Shrieking Shack..."
"...The more I consider it, the more plausible it becomes!"
This genuinely sounded like something mischievous young wizards would accomplish.
Just imagining being able to reach Honeydukes candy shop directly through a secret passage for shopping even on ordinary days made Hermione somewhat excited... oh no, ashamed of her own thoughts.
How could she harbor such notions about her predecessors? Shame, shame.
Creating such a massive undertaking purely for amusement... that's actually rather impressive, isn't it?
Hermione's imagination had soared beyond the stratosphere, while Glenn behind her maintained his grip on Hermione's robes with one hand and examined the passage walls with the other, analyzing the various characteristics and composition of the surrounding soil and stone.
"There's a slope ahead, and... this is impossibly narrow. I suspect we'll need to crouch down to proceed."
Hermione directed her Lumos charm forward, illuminating the path below.
This secret passage had indeed been constructed extremely narrowly. Throughout their journey thus far, even though they were merely third-year students, they still required bending halfway over to navigate through.
"How about we slide down? This approach appears quite feasible."
"And considerably faster too."
Hermione made this suggestion.
"Play if you wish. There's no danger below."
Glenn saw straight through her intentions.
Hermione, whose playful motives had been exposed, showed no embarrassment whatsoever. She cheerfully cast Transfiguration to create a sliding board for cushioning her descent.
As a proper young lady, she still needed to maintain some dignity and cleanliness. Sliding down directly and acquiring mud all over her posterior—what manner of behavior would that represent?
"Shall I transfigure a sliding board for you as well?"
"Unnecessary."
"Then I'm off!"
The anticipated response. Hermione positioned the sliding board beneath herself, then leaned forward.
The girl's delighted squeals grew increasingly distant as Hermione slid downward.
At this, Glenn chuckled softly, then crouched low—left foot forward, right knee bent, both hands braced against the passage walls—and slid down as well.
Let it be stated clearly—this wasn't because Glenn desired to play too. It was simply that this method allowed him to examine the passage structure more efficiently while catching up with Hermione.
Naturally.
Compared to the initial serpentine twisting, this downward slope proved considerably straighter. The spirited girl rode her sliding board all the way down, the scenery before her eyes rapidly retreating as the passage's sensation became increasingly smooth. After an indeterminate period, when the passage began sloping upward, she gradually decelerated to a stop.
Glenn followed immediately behind, applying slight force with his limbs to rapidly reduce his sliding velocity, coming to a precise halt behind Hermione.
"What an absolutely exhilarating slide!"
Hermione turned back toward Glenn with a radiant smile and offered him a thumbs-up.
"Quite satisfactory. This method of travel is indeed remarkably swift, particularly since the gentler sections of the passage consist almost entirely of straight pathways..."
Glenn employed a cleaning charm to remove the mud that had accumulated on him during the slide, surveyed their surroundings, and assessed:
"We're nearly at the secret passage's exit now. Beyond this upward slope lies The Whomping Willow. It's rather steep, Hermione."
"Mm, I understand."
Hermione responded, then immediately employed Transfiguration. White light erupted from her wand tip and swiftly spread upward through the passage.
Where the white light passed, loose soil began transforming into handholds arranged step by step, extending continuously upward.
"Um... perhaps you should proceed first this time."
Hermione had just prepared to rise and advance, but due to the narrow passage requiring crawling to proceed, she'd barely grasped the handholds before shrinking back and making this suggestion to Glenn.
"Very well."
Glenn naturally harbored no objections and exchanged positions with Hermione by turning sideways.
"...Aren't you going to inquire why?"
After hesitating momentarily, Hermione posed this question.
Glenn looked back at Hermione with puzzlement and replied:
"Isn't it simply because you're wearing a skirt and wish to avoid any... compromising situations?"
Only then did Hermione laugh and gently pat Glenn's shoulder.
"You pass the test."
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