Chapter 96. Pro's Little Secret
"Harry's last move was really cool!"
Ron bounded down the stairs, flailing his hands in the air as though he had been the one to catch the Golden Snitch just now.
"Do you think Harry saw the Golden Snitch and deliberately dropped," Neville asked curiously, "or did he fail to hold on and just happen to catch the Golden Snitch as he fell?"
"The Golden Snitch moves that fast—how could it be by chance?" Ron declared with absolute certainty.
"Harry definitely saw the Golden Snitch first and threw himself off on purpose!"
"But his movements didn't look like that to me at the time..." Neville recalled Harry's flustered actions as he fell earlier.
"That's not even the main point, all right?" Hermione looked at Ron and Neville, a bit angry.
"What we should do now is figure out quickly what exactly happened on the pitch."
"Was there something wrong with Harry's broom, or was someone trying to hurt him?"
"Otherwise, he could run into danger again in the next match!"
"Hermione, you're right, that's a very serious problem!" Ron nodded in agreement.
But he didn't think about it for long before his attention wandered again.
"With great excitement," he said to the others, "by the way, did you see who cast that last spell?"
"It looked absolutely brilliant—if only I could learn it!"
"Maybe Professor Sprout," Neville spoke up first.
"She's familiar with all sorts of plants."
"Neville, you can't give her the credit just because she's your Head of House!" Ron patted Neville on the shoulder.
"If you ask me, it had to be Dumbledore or Professor McGonagall!"
"Professor Dumbledore didn't even come to watch today!" Neville retorted.
"Then it was Professor McGonagall—she could definitely do it!" Ron said.
"All right!" Hermione pressed a hand to her forehead, a bit helpless; she found discussing serious matters with Ron and the others super difficult.
"Duncan, we're going to wait for Harry at Hagrid's hut—do you want to come?" Hermione asked.
She was inwardly hoping Duncan would say yes so there'd be at least one clever person to talk things through with later, and she was also very curious about the magic Duncan had used at the end.
"Sorry." Duncan shrugged.
"There's still something I need to deal with in the case, I've got to head back quickly."
"Oh... all right." Hermione's tone held a touch of regret.
Duncan turned his gaze aside.
"Neville, are you going?"
"Mm-hmm." Neville nodded.
"I'll come back later."
Compared to before, Neville had become much more confident, and his relationship with Harry and Ron had, inexplicably, got better.
"Right, I'm off then—have fun." Duncan waved with a smile and headed for the castle.
But after only a few steps, Hermione's voice suddenly rang out.
"Duncan, wait a moment, I've got one more question!"
Duncan stopped and turned, raising his eyebrows to signal Hermione to go on.
"Have you been to the fourth floor," Hermione asked in a low voice, "the place Professor Dumbledore doesn't allow us to go?"
An anxious look instantly flashed across Ron's face, as if Hermione's question were a huge mistake.
"Of course... not." Duncan smiled.
"That would be breaking school rules, and if you're caught you'll lose points, Hermione."
"Don't tell me you've been there?"
"N-no, of course we haven't either!" Hermione's expression froze for a moment, and her eyes drifted as she spoke.
So the ones he'd run into that night weren't just Harry and Ron, but Hermione as well?
He just didn't know why they'd gone out for a nocturnal stroll together—and even gone up to the fourth floor.
Duncan thought for a moment.
"Anything else you wanted to ask?"
"No, that's all!" Hermione shook her head quickly, her bushy hair flying in the air.
"Right, see you another time then." Duncan smiled, turned, and left.
As he went, he glanced back.
Hermione and Ron were arguing in low voices, and Neville, a bit at sea, was trailing along behind them.
"She wanted to ask me about the three-headed dog, but for some reason she doesn't want me to know they broke into the restricted area?" Duncan thought for a moment, then tossed the matter to the back of his mind.
With bigmouth Hagrid around, they'd only need a little prodding—when the time came, they'd hardly be able to avoid finding out.
Back in the dormitory, Duncan took a bag from a drawer, looked around the room, and called, "Pro, come out—dinner time!"
But unlike usual, Pro didn't go mad and fling himself at Duncan's feet, and in fact did not appear for quite a while; the room was very quiet.
"Hm? Where's that little guy run off to?" Duncan looked around suspiciously, bending down to search every corner of the room.
Just then, out of the corner of his eye, Duncan noticed the side door inching open a crack.
Pro's little body silently squeezed in from outside and, while Duncan had not yet turned around, darted at great speed under the nearby table.
"Pro, are you there? Come out—it's time to eat!" Duncan called, playing along.
"Here, here..." Pro hurried out from under the table.
"I just fell asleep, so I didn't hear you at first."
"Did you?" Duncan crouched down, holding the bag in one hand, smiling benignly at Pro.
But from Duncan's smile Pro sensed danger.
It was as if gusts of cold wind were blowing through the room.
A bit stammering, he said, "I—I played too late with Neville yesterday, so I've been a bit sleepy all day."
"Mm, that's it!"
"Did you?" Duncan asked again.
Pro met Duncan's eyes for a moment, sighed, and let his head droop in dejection.
"This morning, while you weren't here, I sneaked out of the dormitory."
"What did you go out to do?" Duncan asked, curious.
Pro looked at Duncan with pleading eyes.
"Can I not say?"
"Sorry," Duncan said with a smile, "you can't."
Pro hesitated for a moment, then spoke in a small voice and at great speed.
"I found something the last time I went out with Neville."
"What was it?" Duncan hadn't caught that.
Resigned, Pro looked at Duncan and said, "Have you ever gone treasure-hunting in the Great Lake?"
"Mm?" Duncan narrowed his eyes at Pro.
"The other day, Neville took me out to play," Pro said.
"When we were passing the big lake, I noticed there seemed to be something in it."
"So today I sneaked out to take another look."
"You went out from inside the castle?" Duncan asked.
Pro going out in broad daylight—wouldn't he be discovered?
"How could I be that foolish?" Pro said with disdain.
"There's a gap in the corridor outside."
"I dug a tunnel there that leads out of the castle."
"I squeezed out through that—nobody noticed me."
"That's brilliant—just don't tunnel the castle down," Duncan joked, then said, "What exactly did you discover in the Black Lake?"
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