The night was cool, and even inside Hogwarts Castle, a chill settled in, a clear sign that autumn had arrived.
The portraits on the corridor walls were either dozing, whispering to their neighbors, or seemingly out visiting, leaving only the backgrounds visible.
On the eighth floor, in the Gryffindor common room, the students had all gone back to their dorms to sleep. Only the embers in the fireplace flickered with a faint red glow, casting the room in a dim light.
Just as Harry and Ron were tiptoeing past an armchair, they suddenly heard someone speaking.
"I can't believe you'd do this, Harry."
A lamp flickered to life, revealing Hermione Granger. She was wearing a pink bathrobe and frowning at them.
She didn't look pleased.
"You!" Ron said furiously, "Go back to bed!"
"I was about to tell your brother," Hermione retorted, "Percy – he's a prefect, he'd stop this."
Harry couldn't believe anyone could be so meddlesome.
"Come on," he said to Ron. He pushed open the Fat Lady's portrait and climbed through the hole.
Hermione wouldn't give up so easily. She followed Ron into the hole, her voice lowered as she squawked at them like an angry goose.
"Don't you care about Gryffindor, only yourselves? I don't want Slytherin to win the House Cup again, and I don't want you to lose all the points I earned from Professor McGonagall with the Transfiguration Spell!"
"Go away," Ron said impatiently.
"Fine, but don't forget what I said when you go home on the train tomorrow, you're so—" Hermione said, turning back to the Fat Lady's portrait, intending to go back in, only to find the picture was empty.
The Fat Lady had probably gone out for a midnight stroll.
"Oh—, what am I going to do now?" she wailed, her voice filled with frustration.
"That's your problem," Ron said. "We have to go; we're going to be late."
But before they could reach the end of the corridor, Hermione hurried over to them.
"I'm going with you!" She looked utterly displeased.
"You're not allowed to come," Ron immediately refused.
"Do you think I want to go! If I don't, am I supposed to stand here and wait for Filch to catch me? If he finds out—"
"…Then let's go together."
Just as Hermione was still rambling on, a voice suddenly emerged from the shadows in the corner of the corridor, startling everyone present.
"Maka! And Neville?" The three of them squinted, finally making out who was there.
Maka, however, ignored the other three and immediately covered Neville's mouth, who had been startled into a shout.
"Why are you so jumpy? I've been right beside you the whole time!" Maka said in a low voice.
"I... I thought it was Filch's voice," Neville said weakly after Maka released his hand.
"What are you doing here?" Ron asked curiously, looking at them.
"Neville forgot the password to the common room," Maka shrugged, "As for me, I planned to come out and relax, stretch my legs."
"You know, I've been studying the coursework constantly, and I should probably take a break. It's not good to not exercise, you'll get rusty."
"Maka! Are you going to break the rules too?" Hermione's eyes widened in shock at Maka's words.
Maka smiled at her, a teasing glint in his eyes. "Hermione, aren't you going too?"
"That's because—"
"Alright, alright, don't worry about it. It's a done deal that Harry and Ron are going, and as your friend, I naturally have to share your hardships." Maka patted Hermione on the shoulder. She looked quite delicate and adorable in her pajamas.
"Oh, you should keep warm. It's autumn, and it gets chilly at night." He took off his house robes and gently draped them over Hermione.
"Uh, thanks." Hermione looked at the robes and swallowed the complaints that were already on the tip of her tongue.
Still a child, not even blushing. Maka thought, amused, as he watched Hermione turn around again to lecture Ron and the others.
Ron glanced at his watch, glared at Hermione angrily, then turned his head and put on a happy expression. "It's even better if you can come along, Maka. You always help Fred and George avoid Mum's eyes, maybe you can help us avoid Filch… Oh, and his damn cat!"
Maka shrugged when he heard that. "It's not hard to fool Filch, but Mrs. Norris is another story. Animals always have a keen sense, especially felines."
Speaking of which, he suddenly pulled a small glass bottle from his pocket, a smile playing on his lips.
"Of course, there's always a way."
"I knew it! You always have some kind of trick up your sleeve!" Ron glanced at Hermione proudly, as if showing off a resourceful friend.
Hermione opened her mouth, but after a look at Maka, she remained silent.
They walked along the corridor lightly, moonlight streaming in from the tall windows and casting stripes across the floor, which looked like a unique magic carpet.
Every time they turned a corner, Harry thought they were going to bump into Filch or Mrs. Norris. But fortunately, whether it was their good luck or because Maka had some method, they were fine. When they hurried down the stairs and arrived on the third floor, tiptoeing into the trophy room, everything went smoothly.
Malfoy and Crabbe were nowhere to be seen.
The crystal display cabinets for the awards gleamed in the moonlight streaming in from outside the windows. In the darkness, the trophies, shields, medals, and statues shone with silver and gold, while the silk ribbons seemed to float in the air, undisturbed by wind.
Maka curiously examined the winning plaques underneath, each detailing the reasons for their awards. He was pondering whether he should try to win an award himself, which would undoubtedly provide some convenience for his studies and research.
The other four weren't as relaxed as him. They moved forward, sticking close to the wall, their eyes fixed on the doors at both ends of the room. Harry took out his wand, prepared for Malfoy to suddenly burst in and challenge him to a duel.
Time passed, and not a single person showed up.
"He's late. Maybe he's too scared to come," Ron whispered. But then a voice from the next room startled them all.
Harry had just raised his wand when he heard someone speaking—it wasn't Malfoy.
"Sniff around, dear. They might be hiding in some corner somewhere," Filch said to Mrs. Norris.
Harry was terrified. He frantically waved his wand at the others, urging them to follow him quickly. Unexpectedly, Maka, with a mischievous grin, walked closer to where Filch was, the two of them separated by only a single door.
In the shocked gazes of the others, Maka once again took out his small bottle. After taking a deep breath, he carefully unscrewed the stopper, making not a single sound.
"Oh, dear! Where are you going—" Outside the door, Filch exclaimed in surprise, then hurried after Mrs. Norris, who had inexplicably taken off running.
"Awesome! What potion is that?" Ron came over, full of admiration, and immediately sneezed, "Oh—what's that smell?"
Maka quickly put the oak stopper back in, then took two steps back and breathed a sigh of relief.
"It's not a potion, just a slightly modified volatile liquid. It has a very strong smell, and it's quite effective against animals with a keen sense of smell."
"Is it Gurg's Rattlesnake secretions?" Hermione, also sniffing the lingering scent in the air, couldn't help but cover her nose.
"Not just that, I also had to adjust the decomposition and neutralization formula, otherwise, the smell wouldn't dissipate for days." Maka said with a smile, "Its smell is too strong and it leaves evidence."
"So, you planned to break the school rules a long time ago!" Hermione finally couldn't help but complain in a low voice, "You can't do this, Hufflepuff already has too few points."
"I don't care about the House Cup. Honor doesn't mean everything," Maka said with a grin. "Besides, there's always a house that has to come in last, and I think it suits Hufflepuff's low-key philosophy."
"You can't think like that!" Hermione seemed very displeased with Maka's thoughts.
Suddenly, Maka waved his hand to stop Hermione from speaking.
"Someone's coming. It's Filch, he's back," Maka said softly, tilting his head to listen carefully.
"Oh, why don't you try that bottle again?" Ron said instinctively.
"I think we should run first!" Maka shook his head and took the lead, running down the dark corridor.
They rounded pillars and ran through corridor after corridor. Maka felt his sense of direction getting worse in the dim environment – he couldn't figure out where he was.
"Oh, we ran into the Charms Class classroom," Hermione said, panting, looking at the classroom door not far away.
"I think we lost him," Harry said, panting. He leaned against the cold wall, wiping the sweat from his forehead. Neville was bent over, gasping for breath.
"I think you two need to exercise more," Maka said, his breathing only slightly heavier after the run. A boy who lived alone at the bottom of society wouldn't be taken down by a little running.
"I—told—you," Hermione gasped, clutching the front of her robes, speaking in broken phrases, "I—told you."
"We have to get back to the Gryffindor Tower," Ron said, "and the sooner, the better."
....
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