In the dim school corridor, a series of hurried footsteps echoed.
"Phew—such a big castle, how are we supposed to find him?"
Running behind Hermione, Ron already felt a bit out of breath.
But there was no choice. When Harry had left, he hadn't said where he was going at all—that "going for a walk" information was completely useless.
And when they'd activated the mark in the badge earlier, trying to contact Professor Kahn, they'd gotten no response either.
He didn't know if the professor was sleeping like the dead or simply hadn't sensed them activating the mark.
Now he could only pray that Hermione really could think of a way to find Harry.
However, looking at her, she didn't seem very certain either.
"I'm not sure, but I think we might need to head this way?" Hermione's tone was somewhat uncertain, but her guess wasn't completely without basis.
At this moment, she was holding a very delicate-looking astrolabe. This astrolabe was slightly different from ordinary ones—instead of measurement marks for the sun's altitude, it had pointer after pointer constantly rotating.
Among these pointers, two were clearly different from the others.
One pointed at Hermione herself, with a small, exquisite book drawn on it. The other pointed straight ahead of them, with a small golden cup depicted on it.
"You think?"
Hearing Hermione's uncertain tone, Ron's heart sank.
Should he just pray that Harry really was just out for a walk?
But what if he really had run off to get involved in something dangerous on his own?
After all, the school hadn't been safe recently.
Shaking his head, Ron stopped thinking and closely followed Hermione's footsteps.
Honestly, running at this speed in the castle, they were only getting away with it because Filch didn't have a cat to help him now.
Otherwise, Mrs Norris would definitely be able to hear such commotion.
Winding through several corridors and up staircases, the two soon arrived at Ravenclaw Tower.
This was a circular tower, with a spiral staircase extending up the tower's side, seemingly endless. On both sides of the tower were empty classrooms for Ravenclaw students to use for self-study during free time.
Hands on his knees, Ron panted heavily, whilst Hermione in front of him obviously wasn't much better off, her chest heaving violently—clearly also at her limit.
"I—think we shouldn't have run so fast," Ron said between gasps. "About how much farther?"
"I'm not sure." Hermione looked at the astrolabe in her hand. Although the pointer still pointed forward, there was no distance indicator or anything.
"Maybe we need to walk a bit more?"
But just as the two rested briefly and prepared to continue forward, a familiar voice suddenly sounded behind them.
"Rest a while. No need to go further."
The instant she heard this voice, Hermione's eyes suddenly widened. She slowly breathed a sigh of relief, turned around, hurt showing in her eyes.
The silver-white mark that had been flickering on the back of her hand also slowly extinguished at this moment.
"Why did you only come now?"
She'd activated the mark as soon as she'd learnt Harry had run off alone in the middle of the night. After all, the school hadn't been safe recently—Professor Kahn should know that.
After all, he'd personally made those basilisk-detecting mirrors—how could he not know about the school's danger?
But after more than half an hour, after they'd run for so long, Professor Kahn only now appeared, leaving her feeling hurt.
Seeing the hurt on Hermione's face, Evans shook his head somewhat guiltily, then cursed Dumbledore in his mind.
He'd sensed Hermione and Ron's distress signal immediately, but Dumbledore had insisted on holding him back, telling him not to interfere unless they really were about to find Harry, then step in to stop them.
Although he could understand that Dumbledore was trying to give these two of Harry's most trusted companions some training opportunities, he still felt something wasn't quite right.
The Hogwarts headmaster personally allowing two students to violate school rules and not letting professors intervene?
He was the one who took school rules least seriously, wasn't he?
After comforting Hermione with a few words and throwing all the blame onto Dumbledore, Evans looked at the astrolabe with many pointers in Hermione's hand.
Previously he'd heard Dumbledore say that Hufflepuff's cup was very likely one of Voldemort's Horcruxes.
Looking now, that "Umbridge" person's Horcrux was probably this golden cup.
Shaking his head, Evans reached into his pocket and pulled out a small crystal ball.
This was something Dumbledore had given him before leaving with the box—it could show what was happening in any nearby classroom in the castle.
With this, he could monitor the room Harry was in at any time, avoiding any possible accidents.
After all, later he needed to help Harry block those two people so he could focus on dealing with the basilisk and Horcrux.
Hearing the voice in his ears, Harry's gaze gradually became serious.
Although what the basilisk said confused him somewhat, the basilisk's very existence was the biggest problem.
This meant that the so-called Chamber in the school was created by this group.
Looking at the woman before her, determination flashed in Penelope's eyes as she spoke softly, "That letter—you sent it?"
"You know clues about Fione Syverson?"
"Fione Syverson? I know her." Umbridge's expression looked very strange. "She was Norway's most heinous criminal over a decade ago. Even now, she's locked in the lowest level of the Sea of Spirits, with over a dozen guards specifically watching her every day."
"What?"
Hearing this answer, Penelope was clearly stunned, nearly losing her grip on her wand.
Her mother was a Norwegian criminal? And the so-called most heinous criminal?
Hearing this description, she really couldn't connect that gentle image with this identity.
Watching the girl before him obviously losing focus from his words, Umbridge slowly smiled as he pulled out a wand from somewhere.
This state was most suitable for petrification.
With this thought, hearing the increasingly obvious hissing in his ear, he spoke softly, "Impedimenta."
But just as white light flashed from his wand tip, a younger voice rang out from a corner of the room.
"Expelliarmus!"
Red and white light collided in mid-air. Umbridge's expression became somewhat surprised as he looked to the side.
He saw a hand extend from the air nearby, holding a holly wand.