Between Mist and Punishments
Percy walked with his hands in his pockets, his head a little lower than usual. Then Neville spoke.
"It's fine. I don't know why we were following Grover, but in the end he was just helping the unicorns," Neville said, after parting ways with Grover, having walked him all the way to the entrance of the Hufflepuff common room. Now, Percy and he were heading back toward the Gryffindor common room.
Percy seemed rather quiet, just rummaging inside his pocket, even though there was nothing there. It was simply a strange discomfort that kept his hands from staying still.
"Yeah… though he didn't tell us the whole story," Percy said, his tone serious for a moment.
"The whole story?" Neville asked, confused.
"What do you know about centaurs?" Percy asked, looking at him intently.
"Not much. Just what I barely read in the Magical Creatures books… and that they don't want to be listed as semi-humans," Neville replied immediately. "Why?"
"In the forest… that guy…" Percy began, his tone thoughtful. However, he did not continue, as if the thought had taken over his full concentration. "It's better if we look for Hermione and Harry. They should know a lot more," he said suddenly, urgency slipping into his voice. He turned around and broke into a run.
"Do we have to run again?" Neville said, clearly exhausted. After all, he had almost passed out from running earlier in the forest, and now again through the castle. This mission with Percy really was not fun at all.
…
Meanwhile, on Hermione and Harry's side, the two of them were carrying the massive and heavy cage holding Norbert, hidden beneath the invisibility cloak. That was not easy at all with all the castle's staircases. It had taken them quite a while to reach the meeting point. But before moving on, they heard footsteps, so both of them froze completely in place. After a moment, Professor McGonagall was standing in front of them, gripping Malfoy by the ear as she scolded him.
"Detention, and twenty points from Slytherin," she said, clearly furious. "Wandering around in the middle of the night… how dare you?" she added.
"You don't understand, Professor! Harry Potter will come here with an illegal dragon," Malfoy protested, wincing from the painful tug on his ear.
"What utter nonsense!" she snapped. "How dare you spread such lies? Come along, I will speak to Professor Snape about you. Hurry up," she said, dragging him away by the ear while Malfoy desperately tried to explain himself.
Harry, who was covering Hermione's mouth to keep her from making any noise, stared at her intently with a finger pressed to his lips. He let out a quiet breath as he watched McGonagall leave. Hermione immediately slapped his hand away, a faint blush coloring her cheeks.
"Come on, hurry. We need to finish this big problem as quickly as possible," she said at once, urging Harry to keep pushing the cage as they dragged it up the wide spiral staircase. For both of them, it suddenly felt much easier than before. Maybe because they had just seen Malfoy get punished.
When they reached the tower and stepped out into the cold night air, they removed the cloak that covered both of them, as well as the shrouded cage holding Norbert.
While they waited, sitting in a corner of the tower, the cage rocked back and forth, Norbert most likely tearing apart the doll Hagrid had left him. The two of them sat close together, since the air was cold.
"So… what was it you wanted to ask me earlier?" Harry said, remembering something and looking for a way to start a conversation. He realized that even though he spent a lot of time with Hermione, Ron or Percy were usually nearby. And when they were alone, they mostly just studied. Now, the silence felt much more noticeable.
"What do you mean?" Hermione asked.
"The other day, when Ron interrupted with the bite, you were about to ask me something," Harry said, jogging her memory.
"Oh… that," Hermione hesitated for a moment. "You know, I saw you use that ice magic when you were fighting with Percy and ruined Hagrid's pumpkins," she said.
"You saw that?" Harry asked, surprised.
"Well… yes. I had noticed Percy doing something in class before, and the professors always acted as if he was casting a spell, but everything looked completely normal. I didn't understand it… so I kind of… followed him," she admitted, a bit embarrassed.
"Ah, right. Percy's bad at magic. And if mist illusions aren't strong enough, any seer can see right through them," Harry said, nodding. "I guess Percy got careless because he thought no one would notice, even in a school of magic," he added with a small, amused laugh. Harry had realized almost immediately that Hermione had seen it. And there was someone else too, someone he still had not told Percy about, because he wanted to see what would happen when he found out.
Hermione glanced at the small bag Harry always carried with him, the one that held his book, the one he never went anywhere without.
"Yeah… that mist magic you told me about once. I wanted to know—" Hermione began, but before she could finish, four brooms approached at high speed and landed in the darkness. They were Charlie's friends, and once again Hermione was interrupted, making her frown slightly.
Harry spoke with Charlie's friendly companions, who showed him the harnesses they had prepared for Norbert. Together, they helped secure the dragon properly, making sure he would be safe, and more importantly, that none of them would get burned by his flames. Norbert looked clearly annoyed by the number of people around him.
Harry and Hermione shook hands with the group and watched as Norbert finally flew away. One less worry, which made them both sigh almost in unison.
The two of them headed down, so relieved to be rid of a danger that could have sent them all to Azkaban for covering it up, that they practically skipped down the stairs, smiling despite themselves.
But then, suddenly, Harry stopped and grabbed Hermione's hand, pulling her into a tight embrace as he slipped his other hand into his bag. Instantly, both of them vanished, becoming completely invisible.
Hermione's eyes widened at the sudden closeness. Harry made a silent gesture for her to stay quiet, their faces only inches apart, just as Professor McGonagall appeared again, a faintly puzzled expression on her face. Behind her, Filch seemed to be guiding her along, insisting that he had heard students and urging her to wait there.
"Filch, you know I don't have time for this. Mr. Malfoy is only trying to get out of his detention. I was already here and I didn't see anyone come up," she said firmly. Even so, her gaze swept across the area, and for a brief moment it seemed as though she caught sight of something like a robe shifting. It vanished as soon as she took another step.
"Professor McGonagall, you have to believe me. After all these years chasing those troublemakers, I've developed a sixth sense for when students are up to no good around here," Filch said, wearing a disturbingly pleased smile at the thought of catching students out of bed, especially right in front of Professor McGonagall.
As if the idea thrilled him even more, imagining the looks of misery on their faces when they were punished. Perhaps that was exactly why he worked there.
"Then let's continue," the professor said, unwilling to waste any more time, since she still had the rest of the castle to patrol. She climbed a few steps, scanning her surroundings with that same analytical gaze, as if trying to see straight through everything.
She moved so slowly it felt deliberate, as though she were giving any hidden spell time to fail.
Hermione and Harry stood far more still than they ever had beneath the invisibility cloak. The cloak could hide far more without effort, especially compared to this hastily cast spell, done without a wand and using only Harry's magical tome. Maintaining the mist illusion was slipping from his grasp little by little.
Both of them watched Professor McGonagall ascend the stairs at a measured pace, her eyes constantly flicking back toward their position. Sweat began to bead on Harry's forehead, while Hermione was completely frozen in fear.
Then the professor took another step and finally disappeared from view. Even so, neither of them relaxed, knowing she was still nearby. Hermione did not dare to breathe. Harry, for his part, thought fast.
Then he signaled Hermione to move with him. They stayed close, still holding onto each other as they slowly backed away, trying to put distance between themselves and the spot before the spell broke. At the very least, he needed enough time to pull out his tome or his wand and fully reinforce the invisibility, then return to the common room.
Unfortunately, that did not happen.
At that very moment, as they turned to carefully descend the stairs while still invisible, they suddenly saw someone who absolutely should not have been there. Or rather, two people who should not have been there. One of them was panting heavily, barely catching his breath after running, while the other looked at them with a mischievous, amused grin.
"HAHAHA!" Percy burst out laughing when he saw them hugging, not giving Harry and Hermione even a second to warn him that McGonagall was close, all while shamelessly pointing at them.
Harry, thrown completely off balance by seeing his idiot brother there, let the invisibility illusion slip. Immediately, footsteps echoed behind them as he released Hermione.
Percy looked up sharply and froze. His laughter died instantly, turning into a silent groan. Neville, who had been bent over trying to recover his breath while staring at the floor, also lifted his head. First, he saw Harry and Hermione with confusion, unable to understand when they had gotten there. Then he went even paler when he noticed Professor McGonagall standing right behind them, her arms crossed, staring sternly at all four of them. Filch stood behind her, almost rubbing his hands together in delight.
"You four! What are you doing out of bed at this hour?" McGonagall shouted furiously. For a brief moment, however, she could not hide a flicker of surprise as she looked at Hermione and Harry. Her gaze lingered on Harry, since she had arrived just in time to see the invisibility spell fade away. And it had clearly been cast by him. Yet Harry held no wand in his hand, and it was an extraordinarily difficult spell for a first-year student.
Even so, her anger remained intact.
"Follow me. Now," she ordered, already turning to head back down the stairs. Filch moved at once, visibly delighted to escort them.
Harry shot his brother an irritated look, since this was entirely his fault for getting them caught. Hermione glared at Percy as well, her face pale with fear at having been discovered, dreading what would happen next. Percy felt a bit guilty, though, if he was being honest, he had found it rather amusing to see Harry and Hermione holding each other like that. Neville had no choice but to follow them again. He was utterly exhausted by now and did not want to run or walk another step through the castle.