Harry Potter, the savior of Night City

"Start tonight?" Ron and Hermione were both surprised that it would be so soon.

"Quirk is back. Dumbledore sent us," Harry said nonchalantly. After all, Dumbledore was the one to blame, and it was indeed Dumbledore who had ordered them to do it.

"How could Professor Dumbledore entrust us with something so important and dangerous..." Hermione noticed the key point.

"According to him, he probably wants to train the students," Harry said, completely unconcerned about revealing Dumbledore's entire plan. Of course, Harry didn't mention that Dumbledore was secretly protecting them, otherwise it wouldn't have served its purpose of training.

"Okay, I'll go." Ron slumped onto the table, his whole body drained of color.

Hermione nodded, indicating that she would also go.

------

That night, after curfew, Harry waited in front of the library early in the morning. He waited and waited but Hermione and Ron did not come. Just when he thought they had been caught by the teachers on night patrol, they rushed over.

"Sorry Harry, we were a bit loud when we came over and woke Neville up. We were just trying to stall him, but he wouldn't let us through, so..."

"So we used a spell to knock him out," Ron quickly interjected, picking up where Hermione left off.

"Alright, as long as we get out safely," Harry said, then raised his Invisibility Cloak, gesturing for Hermione and Ron to come in. "Come on in, it's safer under the Invisibility Cloak."

The three were wrapped in invisibility cloaks, but it was still a bit of a stretch to cover all three of them; their shoes were almost showing.

"Ron, you stepped on my foot!" Hermione whispered.

"Sorry, sorry, it was so crowded I didn't notice."

"Hey, don't push me too hard!" Harry nudged Ron to the side.

The three of them stumbled and staggered toward the fourth floor, but things never go too smoothly. Sure enough, at the top of the stairs leading to the fourth floor, Pipi Ghost was pulling on the carpet on the stairs, trying to make the people going upstairs fall.

"Hey, who's there?" The ghost had an innate sensitivity to the living, and he clearly spotted Harry and his companions, but he couldn't see them. "Whoever you are, I know you're there." His small black eyes narrowed as he stared at where Harry and his companions were. "Unseen things are running around here. I think I should report this to Filch."

"What do we do? We're going to be discovered." Ron was getting anxious and couldn't think of a solution. Harry had already communicated with the Mantis Knife. The Mantis Knife, which had been baptized by magic and possessed a machine spirit, could damage the soul. Hermione, meanwhile, was deep in thought.

Just as Harry was about to make a move, Hermione grabbed his arm.

"I have a way, and it's safer," Hermione said, pointing to the lamp hanging on the wall. "Watch this."

After Hermione finished speaking, ignoring the strange looks from Harry and Ron, a faint blue light emanated from her body, and the image of the double serpent staff appeared in her eyes. She stretched out her hand, palm facing Peeves.

"ᛋᛟᚢᛚ ᛁᛗᛈᚱᛁᛊᛟᚾᛖᛞ (Soul Imprisonment)"

An unknown rune came from Hermione's mouth, and a blue light appeared from Hermione's palm, connecting to Peeves. Like a chain, it passed through Peeves' "heart." Peeves' eyes widened suddenly, and the entire ghost froze in mid-air, unable to move or speak.

Hermione controlled the "chains" to move towards the lamp hanging on the wall. As soon as Peeves touched the lamp, Hermione immediately said, "ᛋᛟᚢᛚ ᛒᛖᛋᛏᛟᚹᚨᛚ (Soul-Giving)."

As soon as he finished speaking, a flash of blue light appeared on Pipi Ghost's body, and then it began to melt and slowly merge into the oil lamp.

"Hurry up! Pee-pee's soul hasn't been subdued. It's been forcibly merged. With the magic power I've injected, it should be able to break free in ten minutes at most."

Hermione ignored the two boys' bewildered looks and quickly pulled them up to the fourth floor while wearing the invisibility cloak.

They went straight to the fourth floor. After catching their breath, the three of them were about to look for the trapdoor when they finally had time to ask Hermione.

"Hermione, what was that just now?" Ron asked Hermione in shock, referring to her actions.

"Remember when we were looking for the Philosopher's Stone?" Hermione replied as she followed Harry to find the door. "In the Forbidden Books, I found a book called Soul Alchemy. What I just used was the first chapter of Soul Alchemy, which is about imbuing objects with souls. It allows you to capture souls and give them to objects, giving them the characteristics of a soul. It's more useful and obedient than ordinary magical items."

"Then why..."

"Why can only such a short time be given? Because Peeves was only captured, not its rebellious nature was eliminated. I remember it was written in the book that the most important thing is to eliminate the rebellious nature of the soul, and the best way is to erase the soul's memories. But I haven't learned that part yet."

"So, your previous attitude of ignoring everyone was also caused by this book?" Harry asked, following up.

"Yes, this book has the ability to trap people's souls in its domain. It won't let people out until they learn the first ability to imprison their souls. I was afraid of missing the lessons and also afraid of being discovered, so I copied the contents of the book into my notebook. Who knew that even the copied words had this ability? I didn't notice, and my soul was pulled into its domain."

"I see..." Harry nodded, his gaze fixed on the end of the corridor. "Found it, it's that one."

The three immediately jogged toward the door Harry had indicated, and sure enough, the door was already ajar. Harry put away his Invisibility Cloak, nodded to Ron and Hermione, and pushed open the wooden door. The three-headed dog was lying on the ground sleeping, and a harp was playing music at its feet.

"Well, for now, it seems safe." Harry walked in front, followed by Ron, and Hermione brought up the rear.

Harry walked up to the three-headed dog. The big dog seemed to sense someone coming in. It raised its nose and sniffed at Harry. Suddenly, its head froze. It seemed to recognize the scent of the person who had almost killed one of its heads. Then, its three heads trembled and huddled together, burying themselves deep under its paws and pretending to be dead.

"They're fairly obedient, much better than those centaurs."

Harry nodded, crouched down, and flung open the trapdoor. It was pitch black underneath, so dark you couldn't see your hand in front of your face. Even with the Night Vision of the Tricky Masters, you couldn't see anything. Ron and Hermione came over too. They didn't know that Cerberus was too scared to wake up because of Harry. Hermione was still a little frightened. They peered down, but they couldn't see anything either.

"Why is it so dark down there? Does Quirrell not need light to see?" Ron complained.

Hermione took out her wand and pointed it down, casting an illumination spell, but the bottom was still dark and she couldn't see clearly. However, she could see something wriggling.

"What's that? A snake?"

"Whatever it is, I now know we can't just jump down; it's probably a trap." Harry pulled a grenade, freshly made at the miniature workshop, pulled the pin, and tossed it down amidst Hermione's shocked and Ron's puzzled gazes. He then immediately closed the trapdoor.

"boom!"

With a loud bang, Harry opened the trapdoor again. This time, he could see several sparks flashing before it went completely still.

"A hand... a grenade?" Hermione stared at Harry in shock. "How do you have something like that?"

"What kind of magical item is that? That's so cool!"

Harry shrugged. "I have more than just these amazing gadgets on me," he said, then stuck his legs into the hole. "Alright, stop asking. I'll go down first, and you can come down when it's safe."

After saying that, Harry ignored Hermione, who was about to speak, and jumped down. He felt himself falling, and after about a second, with a "thud," Harry landed on the ground. After confirming that there was no danger, he looked up and shouted, "Come down, it's safe."

Ron jumped second, and Harry caught him just in time. Then Hermione caught her as she fell and then gently placed her on the ground.

"Oh, freefall feels awful." Hermione rubbed her forehead, feeling a little dizzy.