The Bard of Hogwarts

Chapter 31 Midnight Duel

That night.

As midnight approached, Ino heard a rustling sound coming from the dormitory, followed a moment later by the sound of the door opening.

However, less than 20 minutes later, the dormitory door was opened again.

Hearing the noise, he could only manage a wry smile.

Malfoy is truly incorrigible, or rather, unwavering in his loyalty... In any case, this trip, unsurprisingly, is to inform Filch to prepare for catching the adulterer in the act.

"Let flowers be flowers, let trees be trees..." Ino sighed softly as she lay in bed.

Other people's stories are irrelevant to him; he is merely a storyteller.

……

The prize display room is located on the fourth floor.

Under the moonlight, the crystal glass cases displaying the prizes gleamed, and even the trophies, shields, medals, and statues reflected a faint silver metallic sheen.

There was silence all around.

Inside the room, three young wizards were moving slowly, close to the wall.

Harry held his wand, his eyes fixed on the corridor ahead.

That feeling... was as if an enemy could appear at any moment in the dark corridor.

Time passed second by second.

"It's past midnight, why aren't Malfoy and the others here yet?" Harry asked nervously.

"Who knows, maybe he was scared, or maybe he overslept. But it's probably better that Malfoy didn't come; after all, we brought along a troublesome burden, and I don't know why she even bothered to join in!"

Ron was getting impatient, his usual high spirits from the morning in the Great Hall gone, and now he was directly targeting Hermione.

"I never intended to join in the fun. How many points have you lost since the start of the semester? Don't you know?"

Hermione didn't let Ron off the hook and retorted sharply, but seemingly still not satisfied, she continued:

"It's all a hoax, and you still don't see it? A duel at midnight? Ha, only you would believe that, and you even encouraged Harry to do so."

Harry listened to the argument behind him and felt a sense of being tricked, especially since it was well past midnight, which made him feel even more that Malfoy had played him.

"Let's go back! Malfoy probably won't come." Harry turned around and said to the two behind him.

"Let's go, I'll make sure Hogwarts knows all about Malfoy's cowardly and cowardly behavior tomorrow..." Ron said indignantly.

at the same time.

At the end of the quiet corridor, a sudden noise startled the three of them, who immediately held their breath.

After a long while, a series of intermittent soliloquies echoed in the darkness.

"Where are these little brats hiding... Don't let me catch you... Hide in a corner..."

The highly distinctive hoarse voice instantly identified the three as the owner of the voice: Filch, the Hogwarts Castle caretaker.

"Let's slip away quietly before he notices..." Harry said as he quietly backed away.

However, before he could finish speaking, there was a loud bang behind him.

It was obvious that someone had knocked over the trophy. He didn't bother to look in the darkness to see who was so careless, because the loud noise had already alerted Filch in the distance.

"Ha! Found you, you disgusting little brats!"

"Run! Don't look back!" Hermione grabbed the two terrified people and ran frantically behind them.

Although they've been spotted, Filch hasn't seen their faces, so the only option now is to charge forward headfirst and then deny everything.

Hermione's idea was great, and Harry and Ron also agreed with the plan. The three of them then ran away with their heads in their hands.

……

Half an hour later.

Harry returned to his dormitory, still shaken. He really wanted to go home, back to his cramped little house in the attic.

He simply couldn't understand what was wrong with Hogwarts that kept a car-sized beast so openly in an abandoned room in the corridor.

While Harry was still reeling from the shock, on the other side of the castle...

Fourth floor corridor.

The door to the Cerberus's room, which was closed, suddenly closed automatically.

Then a dazzling magical halo flashed across the door.

The wooden door, which Hermione had just easily opened with a lock-picking spell, now gave off a sense of unbreakable solidity.

……

Slytherin dormitory.

After a good night's sleep, Ino opened her eyes in the morning and saw Malfoy sitting in a chair with a dejected expression.

It's no surprise that Malfoy must have gone out early in the morning to check the house hourglass, and after finding that the Gryffindor points hadn't changed significantly, he probably knew his plan had failed.

It's normal to feel frustrated.

However, they are still just kids around ten years old; their bad moods come and go quickly.

After washing up in the morning, Malfoy quickly forgot his earlier unhappiness and started talking about today's lessons.

"Ino, do you think the professor will teach us any powerful magic in Defense Against the Dark Arts class later? All he does is conjure needles or fiddle with that damn feather. I'm so fed up with them."

Ino was taken aback when she first heard about Defense Against the Dark Arts.

After regaining his composure, he stated the facts truthfully:

"I advise you not to get your hopes up for Defense Against the Dark Arts class. They're not going to teach you any other magic in your first year. At most, they'll teach you a smokescreen spell to send out a distress signal."

In his eyes, the true way to learn magic should be like this: step by step, gradually.

If something destroys the world right from the start, that's not magic, that's mythology.

……

Ino casually extinguished Malfoy's hopes, then picked up the Defense Against the Dark Arts textbook and left the dormitory.

To be honest, if he could, he really wouldn't want to face Quirrell or Voldemort at this stage.

Despite the protection of the brain shut-in technique, it's hard to say how effective this "protection" would actually be for a once-powerful dark tyrant.

As Dumbledore once said, never underestimate the experience of a centenarian. If you think about it carefully, Voldemort's true age would be over sixty in the Muggle world.

Especially now that all seven Horcruxes are intact, Ino is even less willing to gamble on the other party's wisdom and rationality.

On the other hand, although I resisted it in my heart, there were some things I had to face, and I couldn't avoid them.

In this situation, the only option is to go with the flow, since any form of escapism is, in effect, attracting the other party.

"If only I knew the Forgetfulness Spell..." Ino thought to himself.

If that's the case, then he can selectively block his memories and temporarily forget everything about Quirrell.

Sometimes, the more you know, the bigger the flaws become.

……

The sixth floor of the castle, the Defense Against the Dark Arts classroom.

There was still a quarter of an hour before class started, but the classroom was already full of little wizards.

After all, I've been enrolled for so long, and today I finally got to attend classes as I'd always wanted.

Just listen to the name: Defense Against Dark Magic. Just those few words together give off a sense of inexplicable sophistication.

Therefore, both Slytherin and Gryffindor students are now quietly staying in the classroom, each with an expectant expression on their face.

Even Harry and Ron, who had just been tricked by Malfoy, were now just glaring at each other.

But unlike in the past, they didn't start arguing as soon as they met.

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(End of this chapter)