It was already past nine o'clock when Sherlock and Filch walked past the entrance to the Gryffindor common room.
Filch looked at the pocket watch in his hand, then raised a paraffin lamp to illuminate the already dim castle corridor.
"No, they must be planning other tricks this year!"
After lingering near the Gryffindor common room for a long time, Filch didn't catch the person he wanted to catch and couldn't help muttering in a low voice.
It could be seen that in the contest between him and the Weasley twins, he was often at a disadvantage, always being led by the nose.
"Well, Professor Cavendish, since we haven't caught the person we wanted to catch here, we'll have to go to the Slytherin common room to take a look next. Those students aren't exactly angels either."
He muttered to himself, holding the paraffin lamp and leading the way for Sherlock.
Just as Filch walked to the corner of this corridor and staircase, a strange sound suddenly rang out.
The sound was strange, as if someone had triggered a preset device. It was small and faint, but Sherlock was immediately alert.
He subconsciously took several steps back.
But Filch was not so lucky.
The preset magic was triggered, and five small balls suddenly rolled out from somewhere along the walls on both sides of the corridor!
They rolled on the ground at an extremely fast speed, circling around Filch and shrinking smaller and smaller, as if deliberately teasing him!
The moment the small balls appeared in Filch's eyes, his face instantly turned horrified. At this time, he could already foresee his next fate.
"No!"
Along with a shrill cry, the five small balls finally gathered around Filch and exploded!
"Bang!"
The sound of the five small balls exploding was not loud, and the affected range was also very small, but an unbearable stench instantly filled the entire corridor!
A visually impactful tan mist completely enveloped Filch!
Sherlock, who had already taken several steps back, covered his nose with his sleeve and frowned, unable to help but take a few more steps back.
"Are you alright, Filch?"
Filch didn't respond to him, but his hysterical scolding had already revealed that his condition didn't seem good at all.
"Damn it! Damn it! Damn it! Those two bastards! I must catch them! I will whip them! I'll punish them with a year of detention in handcuffs! I'll have them expelled!"
The foul-smelling smoke, as if overflowing from a cesspool, gradually dissipated, revealing Filch's miserable appearance.
His body was covered with yellowish-brown dirt, his expression was exasperated, and he spread out his two hands full of sticky substances in the center of the corridor, looking a little helpless.
Such a nauseating stench made it hard not to wonder what the yellow sticky substance actually was.
Filch seemed about to explode with anger, but his rich experience in dealing with this kind of thing allowed him to retain some sanity.
"Professor Cavendish, tonight's patrol will probably have to end here. I have to go back and clean up these things on my body."
After he finished speaking, he didn't wait for Sherlock to answer and hurriedly fled from the scene with the paraffin lamp.
Sherlock looked at his disappearing back helplessly.
Well, he had underestimated the strength of the twins before.
Filch was not just at a disadvantage but was being bullied beyond recognition.
Today's plan to have this castle caretaker familiarize him with Hogwarts was, of course, ruined.
Now he only knew where the Gryffindor common room was and was still ignorant of the other parts of the castle.
Sherlock paced back and forth in front of the Gryffindor common room, waiting for the stench in the corridor to dissipate before going over, while hesitating whether to take a walk around the castle by himself, at least to familiarize himself with the layout.
But he was worried that he might run into Professor McGonagall or Dumbledore on the way, and he couldn't explain why he wasn't sleeping in the middle of the night and was wandering around the castle.
Just when Sherlock was struggling with a headache, the entrance to the Gryffindor common room suddenly opened silently, and a faint sound of conversation came from inside.
"He must have left already. So many dung bombs exploded together—it should make him soak in the pool for a night."
"I guessed that he would be here guarding us tonight. Does he really think we will deal with him like last year? It's ridiculous. The Weasleys never use the same prank on the same person!"
"Okay, it's enough to get here. It's time for us to open the Marauder's Map. The people in the common room can't see us anymore."
George and Fred carefully crawled out of the entrance. Sherlock was standing silently beneath the candlestick on the same side of the wall as the entrance. They didn't notice him.
"I solemnly swear that I am up to no good!"
George took out his wand and tapped the tattered parchment in his hand while chanting a spell.
Suddenly, a wonderful change appeared on the parchment, but from Sherlock's perspective, he couldn't see the changes.
"Roar! The Night Kings of Hogwarts are back! After two months, we have returned to the castle, so where should our first destination be next?"
"I think we should go to the statue of the One-Eyed Witch first. There aren't enough materials for making dung bombs. We hid some there last year."
"That's right. We used up our last stock tonight in order to deal with Filch. It's time to replenish—"
"Wait, Fred!"
George, who was observing the situation on the parchment, suddenly interrupted Fred.
He pointed to a certain place on the parchment and said in a trembling voice,
"Look at this."
Fred shifted his gaze to where George was pointing.
That was the corridor in front of the Gryffindor common room where they were now. Their names were displayed on it.
But next to them, there was also a somewhat unfamiliar name very close to them, and even some of the letters overlapped.
"Sherlock, Sherlock Cavendish..."
Fred swallowed and read the name on the Marauder's Map, while mechanically turning his neck with George, looking in the direction where Sherlock's name was marked on the map.
In the shadows beneath the candlestick, Sherlock, who had been silently watching them use the Marauder's Map, calmly met the eyes of the two unlucky boys and asked calmly,
"Are you looking for me?"