Magical Studies at Hogwarts...

Over the next few weeks, Harry finally focused his energy on how to get that memory from Professor Slughorn, but it was clear that Slughorn was no ordinary wizard, and Harry's efforts made no progress.

"You have to help me, Hermione. My mind is a mess, and I can't think of any solutions."

"I even want to use truth serum!"

Inside the Great Hall, Harry rubbed his hair in frustration, his voice full of dejection.

"I can't help it, Harry." Hermione took a sip of pumpkin juice, turned a page of her book without even looking up.

"But……"

"Harry, you have to trust Dumbledore. The fact that he entrusted this task to you means he believes you are fully capable of doing it," Hermione said. "It must be something only you can do, not Veritaserum or the Soul-Stealing Curse."

"I... okay, I'll think about it some more..."

Harry was speechless for a moment. He vaguely felt that there was something wrong with Hermione's words, but he couldn't figure out what was hidden in them. Besides, Hermione would never harm him in any way.

He firmly believed this.

After lunch, Hermione and Harry returned to the common room together. As soon as they entered, they saw Ron and Lavender filling a chair. The two were chatting and laughing, and Ron even fed Lavender a candy, causing the latter to shudder violently a few times, followed by an unsettling burst of laughter from both of them.

"That chair is so pitiful..." Harry sighed inwardly, but didn't say it aloud. Before, although the two of them were always together, they at least considered other people's feelings to some extent. But everything changed after Ron's birthday.

Fortunately, after so much time has passed, both Harry and Hermione have gotten used to it.

They greeted Ron and the other man, then sat down next to them.

"So relaxed, have you finished your paper?" Harry asked. "Snape gave me a deadline of tomorrow, ten feet! It's about dealing with the Dementors."

"Hmm... almost there, almost there..." Ron mumbled. Harry could tell from his expression that this guy was definitely going to copy Hermione's homework.

Coincidentally, he was the same way.

The two of them turned to look at Hermione, who was sitting quietly to the side. Hermione didn't even need to look up to know what these two were up to.

"I'm sorry to disappoint you both, but I don't need to do this assignment," she said.

"What!" Harry and Ron were shocked.

"Why!"

"Because Snape knew I could handle Dementors, he gave me a separate assignment," Hermione said. "I handed it in to him yesterday."

"We're doomed!"

Ron let out a wail, quickly kissed Lavender on the cheek, and scrambled up from his chair in a flurry.

"Honey, I need to finish that damn paper!"

"Alright, Ron, good luck!" Before Lavender could finish speaking, Ron had already dragged Harry back to the dormitory.

Back in his dormitory, Ron dashed to his desk, unrolled a new roll of parchment, picked up a quill, and began to write. Harry, seeing this, was momentarily stunned, opened his mouth, but didn't say anything. He hesitated for a moment, then finally chose to do the same as Ron and finish that damned paper.

He was still much faster. Although he had lost Hermione as his best helper, he had already completed two-thirds of the work. With careful wording, he finished in no time.

Harry breathed a sigh of relief, glanced at Ron who was writing furiously beside him, and then looked around the main dormitory room, where only the two of them were.

He casually picked up the Half-Blood Prince's notebook and flipped through it, thinking that it might provide him with some inspiration on how to obtain Slughorn's memories.

"Crack!"

Suddenly, a piercing sound rang out, followed by a scream from Ron. He was startled and spilled a large blob of ink on the parchment.

"Dobby?"

Harry looked at the house-elf in front of him, who was wearing a hat made of a teapot cover, and asked.

"Harry Potter! Dobby reports to you!" Dobby bowed slightly and said in a high-pitched voice.

"What?" Ron frantically tried to salvage his homework, but only made things worse, so he gave up and turned around to ask.

"He's tracking Malfoy for me," Harry replied casually, then looked at Dobby and asked, "You've found out?"

"Of course! Because of this, Dobby hasn't slept for over a week!" Dobby said proudly.

"So what did you find out? Did he go anywhere he shouldn't have?" Harry asked anxiously.

"Master Harry Potter, Dobby has been following Master Malfoy and has found that he hasn't broken any rules," Dobby shrieked. "He behaves very well, eating in the Great Hall, sleeping in his dormitory, attending classes in all sorts of classrooms..."

"But he was still very careful, afraid of being discovered, so he always took different people with him to the eighth floor to keep watch..."

"The Room of Requirement!" Harry immediately thought, since Malfoy knew about the Room of Requirement.

"I get it! That's where he sneaked off to!" Harry slammed his copy of "Advanced Potions Making" shut. "That's why I couldn't see him on the Marauder's Map!"

"Dobby, did you see what Malfoy was doing when you went in?"

"No, Harry Potter, that's impossible." Dobby shook his head.

"Nothing is impossible!" Harry was about to say something when Ron interjected, "Harry, Dobby is right. Remember what Hermione said when she took us to the Room of Requirement last time?"

"The Room of Requirement will appear according to the user's needs, and we don't know how Malfoy will make it."

Hearing this, Harry was silent for a moment before speaking, "There will be a way... You did a great job, Dobby! But I still need you to continue monitoring Malfoy. Thank you for your hard work."

"Thank you, Harry Potter, sir!" Dobby replied happily, and then with a crackling sound, he Apparated away.

"We've got something to do, Ron!" Harry exclaimed excitedly to Ron as soon as Dobby left. "Now we know where Malfoy went, we can go there and wait for him!"

"Yes, yes, but I still have a paper to write." Ron was a little listless, staring blankly at his assignment that had been ruined by ink.

"Um...maybe we can ask Hermione for help. She should be able to save your homework," Harry suggested.

"Yes, she can, but I still want to finish this one..."

"I can lend you mine for 'reference'..."

"Deal!" Ron said, holding the parchment in one hand and pulling Harry outside with the other.

"What are we waiting for?"