"...It's so late, and there are still people wandering around at night?"
William pulled his watch out from the Niffler's belly and glanced at the dial — thirteen minutes until one o'clock. He muttered in puzzlement, completely forgetting that he hadn't spent a single night in his dormitory this first week of school.
"Meow!"
Mrs. Loris had obviously noticed the figure too, her dark gray fur standing on end, and the next moment, her ear-piercing cat cry resounded throughout the floor.
"What's going on? What's going on?"
An impatient inquiry echoed from the other end of the corridor, it was Argus Filch's voice, the caretaker of Hogwarts — William had previously tried to get on good terms with him, although the possibility of getting caught wandering at night wasn't high, it was still greater than zero —
but unfortunately, apart from Mrs. Loris acting as his guide, there hadn't been much success.
Being caught roaming at night would still be a hassle... William sighed and bent down to give the cat's head a rub.
Then he pulled out his magic wand, tapped it lightly on the top of his head, and the next moment, William's figure vanished into the air like a chameleon. Mrs. Loris looked curiously at William disappearing before her eyes, even forgetting to chase after the shadow that flashed past the stairs.
"Ha, you're here! Where did he go? Tell me—was it Peeves, or those two red-headed little rascals?" As soon as William "disappeared," a figure came puffing from the other side of the corridor. Filch stared fiercely at Mrs. Loris squatting there, her fur still standing tall, "Huff, huff... Did you see them?"
"...Meow."
Mrs. Loris seemed to hesitate for a moment. She turned her gaze away from the empty space next to the armor and walked in the opposite direction from where the figure disappeared, even checking back to glance at Filch... and the surrounding air.
"Well then, looks like you know where those rascals went..." Filch obviously misunderstood Mrs. Loris's intentions, the man licked his cracked lips, showing a strange smile on his face, "Lead the way quickly, I can't wait to expel a few more students—"
The consequences for night roaming weren't as bad as Filch said, but such monologues seemed to excite him.
"..."
Having cast the Disillusionment Charm, William hesitated for a moment. In the end, he chose not to follow Mrs. Loris's lead—instead, he hurried towards the staircase where the shadow had just vanished.
The reason? Go back to the dormitory by one in the morning?
What, did they think the little prince of Hogwarts night roaming had no pride?
Moreover, the shadow that had just disappeared seemed somewhat familiar—it reminded him of a thing he'd almost forgotten...
...
"Phew—"
Who was that with the cat just now? Was it... that rather scary-looking caretaker?
Ginny Weasley stopped at the corner, panting heavily, she craned her neck to peek into the hallway behind her. Luckily, she didn't see the frightening figure, not even any footsteps. The entire corridor was quiet enough for the girl to hear her own heartbeat...
"Dun dun dun, dun dun dun dun, hum hum~"
"Bang—"
"Hiss—"
The sudden humming startled the girl, she instinctively turned around and kicked. The next moment, the iron black armor scattered across the ground, and the girl painfully clutched her right leg.
Tiny tears glistened at the corners of the girl's eyes; she endured the pain and pulled out a black-covered notebook from her robe, then randomly flipped to a page, fishing out a feather quill still stained with ink from her pocket—
she began quickly scribbling away in the notebook.
When she stopped writing, the ink on the quill had just about run out, she stared at the marks on the white paper, seeming to wait for something—but things didn't seem to be unfolding as expected, and that sentence remained on the paper undisturbed even after the ink dried.
"?"
What's going on?
The unexpected development left Ginny blinking in confusion, she wanted to write something more, but the next moment, a sudden clamor arose from the other end of the corridor—
"...Peeves! I'll never let you off the hook—"
Filch's ragged shout made all the portraits on the corridor instinctively look his way.
A short figure with black hair and a red high hat came flying quickly from the other end of the corridor, clutching piles of dungbombs found from who knows where, continuously throwing them backward without a glance, forcing Filch to dodge clumsily.
Seeing the man and ghost rushing towards her, Ginny's face instantly turned pale, she instinctively wanted to find a place to hide, but the only armor that could have sheltered her had been kicked apart just a moment ago—
In her frantic attempt to challenge human limits and piece together the armor in ten seconds, she suddenly felt a tap on her forehead.
The next moment, she was amazed to find her body starting to become transparent, rendering her almost instantly the same color as the brick wall behind her.
"This is..."
"Shh, don't make a sound—"
A faint male voice sounded, Ginny immediately covered her mouth, Peeves laughed loudly as he quickly flew past mid-air, Filch roared as he sprinted past the girl without even casting a glance in her direction.
...
"...Didn't he go to the other side?"
It wasn't until those two figures completely disappeared that William lifted the Disillusionment Charm on both of them, then casually handed the helmet to the armor piecing itself together.
"Thanks."
The armor politely replied, placing its head back on its neck.
"...It's you?"
Ginny stared in surprise at the boy in front of her; she instinctively looked down, noticing her body had reappeared.
"Evening… um, should we talk somewhere else?"
As soon as he spoke, the smell of dungbombs invaded William's nostrils—he waved his magic wand, casting Bubble-Head Charms on both of them, then suggested to Ginny.
"...It must be Fred and George, they've bought tons of dungbombs recently." Ginny peered through the dual "fish tanks" at William's face, the slightly humorous sight helping her relax a bit from her previous tension, "Alright…" she nodded.
"Uh, somewhere with lights still on at this hour—" William looked around, then led the way to the left, "I remember the Great Hall is..."
"The Great Hall is this way." Ginny pointed in another direction.
"...I knew that, just testing you."