"Speaking of Honeydukes, shouldn't we go check out the secret passage there?"
During their upward climb, the two chatted casually. Hermione, recalling her earlier thoughts about the passage creators, suddenly remembered this matter.
Though it was just a question—Hermione could more or less guess Glenn's reasons for not going there.
After all, unlike this passage beneath the Whomping Willow, that one led directly into the heart of Hogwarts.
"The entrance to that passage inside Hogwarts—the switch behind the hunchbacked one-eyed witch statue on the castle's third floor, as well as a section of space within the passage—has already been sealed off with alchemy. I've also observed the conditions inside beforehand. I'll go back once I've designed the renovation plans."
As Hermione expected, Glenn replied matter-of-factly. There was no way he'd allow a passage leading directly into Hogwarts Castle to exist without any defensive measures.
Since construction hadn't begun yet, it was best to block it off first.
"You really are thorough. In that case, I don't need to worry about it."
Hermione smiled, then noticed that the darkness above Glenn's head had begun to brighten slightly. The surrounding earth walls were cracking, and numerous new branches were breaking through the soil above, extending downward.
It seemed they were almost at the exit.
After crawling diagonally upward for another minute or two, Glenn was first to emerge from the opening. He then turned around, gripped the tangled roots extending from the edge of the hole, and reached down to pull Hermione up by her hand.
"We must have spent at least forty or fifty minutes walking through this passage. The slide really did save us a lot of time... Watch out!"
Before she could finish speaking, Hermione's expression changed. She grabbed Glenn and leaped backward.
Sharp whipping sounds filled the air, followed by the sound of something lashing the ground. Dust immediately rose all around them, and several deep, vertical gouges had appeared where they'd been standing moments before.
Along with the slowly rising branches of the Whomping Willow.
"Actually, I heard the wind just now—I could have dodged it."
Glenn showed no reaction to this dangerous scene, his tone completely calm, as if stating a fact.
"Well, I couldn't help it! I was facing directly toward where those branches were striking. Of course I had to dodge when I saw them coming, and while dodging, I couldn't just leave you behind, could I?"
Hermione rolled her eyes. This guy really was incredibly thick-skinned—how could he pull her out of the tunnel with his back to the outside?
"Mm, I know. I just wanted to say that."
Glenn nodded, then turned around, signaled to Hermione, and began running outward.
"The Whomping Willow's attacks aren't very fast. Just dodge carefully and we'll be fine. Let's go—time to return to Hogwarts."
"It's still pretty fast! When the Whomping Willow attacks with its branches, they move like whips, and the very tips can exceed the speed of sound."
Hermione followed close behind, still muttering under her breath.
"Judging the impact point is sufficient. The Whomping Willow's intelligence isn't enough for it to launch strikes that can change direction mid-attack. And even if it exceeds the speed of sound, that's not particularly fast—with your current reaction speed and physical condition, you can easily avoid it."
"But it has so many branches!"
During Glenn and Hermione's casual conversation while running, the enraged Whomping Willow had already begun launching storm-like attacks against these two intruders who had trespassed into its territory. Countless branches fell like rain, violently lashing the ground.
Just as Glenn had said, all of the Whomping Willow's attacks were straight-line strikes. Even though different branches attacked from different directions, the angles differed only slightly. By timing their movements and adjusting their direction of travel, they could easily dodge by merely changing their motion slightly.
The two figures moved nimbly through the storm of lashing branches, managing not to be touched even once. The Whomping Willow's attack range wasn't large either—after just over four seconds, Glenn and Hermione had left the Whomping Willow's attack range.
Once they left that range, the Whomping Willow's movements gradually slowed. The branches that had bent from attacking gradually returned to their original shape. The great willow tree stood tall and upright again as if nothing had happened, as though the battered, pitted scene on the ground and the dust swirling through the air had nothing to do with it.
Hermione looked back at the towering Whomping Willow and speculated:
"Could the Whomping Willow have been planted by the creators of this passage to The Shrieking Shack to protect the passage?"
"And both the passage excavation and the Whomping Willow's planting happened not too long ago."
"Why do you say that?"
Faced with Hermione's speculation, Glenn asked this question. He was quite interested in hearing Hermione's reasoning.
"Hogwarts: A History actually contains no records of this Whomping Willow, yet the tree itself is quite eye-catching and could even be considered a famous landmark of Hogwarts, not to mention it's a rare plant."
"Think about it—if this Whomping Willow had existed at Hogwarts for a long time, would Hogwarts: A History not record such a special thing?"
"Moreover, rather than saying the passage was built beneath the Whomping Willow, it's more accurate to say the Whomping Willow was planted above the passage."
"The opening nearly covered by the Whomping Willow's roots and the new branches breaking through the soil walls inside the tunnel are the evidence."
Hermione crossed her arms, confidently stating her thoughts.
"Hmm... that's quite possible."
Recalling the details Hermione mentioned, as well as his memories regarding the Whomping Willow, Glenn nodded in agreement with Hermione's speculation.
The girl's logical thinking remained as sharp as ever.
"Right, right? But using something as dangerous as the Whomping Willow as a guard for the passage—wouldn't that be very dangerous? If someone made a mistake or slipped up, they'd end up battered and bloody at the very least."
While she speculated this way, Hermione still couldn't quite understand why the passage builders would plant such an indiscriminately violent, frenzied creature above the passage that would lash out at any living thing entering its territory.
"Perhaps the passage creators were very powerful and completely unconcerned about being accidentally injured by the Whomping Willow they planted."
"But none of that matters now. As long as we can pass through the Whomping Willow unharmed, that's what counts."
"True."
Hermione agreed with this as well. The two didn't linger any longer, turning to walk toward Hogwarts Castle.
........................
Meanwhile, in the passage beneath Honeydukes' cellar.
A big black dog was staring in complete bewilderment at the end of the passage, where what used to be a path was now blocked by a stone wall.
"Wait, where's my passage?!"
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