The three of them followed Myrtle and walked quickly in the direction of the girls' lavatory. The good news is that the library and the lavatory are on the same floor, and they didn't have to take a long way around. As they approached the lavatory, Ron abruptly asked, "Myrtle, how did you meet Malfoy? I've heard that you have a habit of peeking into the Prefect's washroom-"
Myrtle whimpered and covered her face as she passed through the wall.
Harry and Hermione glared at Ron, who shrugged, " I am genuinely curious."
"Just shut up." Hermione said as they came to the door of the lavatory where Myrtle normally haunted, Harry listened with his ears sideways for a few seconds and whispered, "Can't hear a thing ... must be warded with a spell."
Harry and Ron turned their heads to Hermione, who quickly pulled out her beaded pouch and rummaged around for a moment, before pulling out three Extendable Ears from it.
Harry inserted one end of the flesh-coloured Extendable Ears into his ear and threw the other end towards the dirty door, which automatically went through the crack.
"Great, I hope there's no Anti-Disturbance kind of spell placed there, I'll try ... Yes, there isn't one."
They quieted down to listen carefully.
A throaty squeezed voice reached their ears, "What's there to think about? Or should I ask our Lord to give your father a direct order? Draco, we're on the same team, we just need a little help from you ..."
Hermione looked up in horror, "It's that woman, Umbridge! What's she trying to do?"
Draco Malfoy's slightly hoarse voice sounded out, "I, I won't ... make a Vow... I can't, the Vow, it'll, it'll kill me."
"As long as you don't try to break it, there'll be no problem. Malfoy, do you want to betray the Lord?"
"I, no ...not" Draco's voice trailed off, "Your chance for success is too low for me to gamble my life. I need to think about it for a while, I'll get back to you tomorrow or the day after, I'll ask my father-"
"Lucius is one of us, you surely don't think you can stay out of it."
"... I didn't expect that."
"There's no time for you to waste, dear Draco. If you don't say yes for good, I'll report it right away, so think for yourself what will happen to your father then." Umbridge said in a sweet voice, sounding like an innocent little girl, but the golden trio couldn't help but shudder at the thought of her big cakey face and the threat she was making at the moment.
" W-What shall we do?" Hermione quirked her head to look at them.
"What does she mean by the Vow - the one that will kill people?" Harry calmly asked.
"My guess is it's probably the 'Unbreakable Vow', once you enter it, it can't be altered and there's only one consequence for breaking it - death." Hermione said quietly, "But that requires a third person to witness it."
Sure enough, another unfamiliar voice spoke up. It sounded like a young man, " Just sign it Draco, let me tell you a secret, Dumbledore - that Mudblood protector won't live long, our lord is simply staying on the lookout ... He attaches great importance to this mission and asked us to complete it at any cost. Surely you don't want to be the reason for the failure, right?"
A silence followed inside.
"What shall we do?" Hermione asked once more.
"They have to be stopped, somehow." Harry said, rising to his feet and pointing his wand against the door.
"Wait." Hermione said, "We don't know what their plan is yet, it's best to let them believe it was an accident." She thought for a moment, "I have an idea."
"Hermione -"
But Hermione was already rushing forward. She put on a panicked look and hovered back and forth at the door, "Huh? Why is the door locked?" She muttered to herself and seemed to be building up her emotions. With that, she drew her wand, "Alohomora." The spell that blocked sound at the door was broken, and the lavatory door popped wide open with a crack.
"We all risked our lives to get here, why are you-" the man's impatient voice abruptly halted.
"Hello - is anyone there? I'm in a hurry to use the toilet - who placed the spell at the door? Was it to stop Myrtle?" Hermione asked slowly.
The few short seconds were stretched too long, and it seemed like there will be no end to it. Harry and Ron's palms were sweating as they stared intently at Hermione, fearing that a wand of glowing green light would be thrust out from inside. It was impractical to wait for the opposite party to make a decision, so Harry shouted wisely, "Hermione, make it quick, we'll be waiting outside!"
"Yeah, I still want to trade chocolate frog cards with Dean." Ron shouted after him.
Hermione's hesitant voice said, "Oh, hold on, there's a problem ... it looks like there is someone inside ..."
"Do you need help?" Harry shouted at the top of his lungs.
Finally, the door opened. Draco Malfoy appeared with a pale face, "Oh it's just you, Hermione Granger."
"Malfoy?!" Hermione's surprised voice exclaimed, "What are you doing in the girls' lavatory? I'm going to tell the Professor-"
"Mind your own business! This place is abandoned," Malfoy shouted in a low voice, "What are you doing here? Where are the two heels, Potter and Weasley?"
"Going to the toilet, of course!" Hermione said in a condescending voice, "They're outside, unlike you-"
"Out of my way."
The conversations kept going on as Hermione's unrelenting voice said, "Just wait, I'll make sure to tell the Professor, so he can deduce your points and detain you! And I'll tell Filch too! As well as asking every girl to keep their eyes on you, you nasty, vile ..."
Harry listened and secretly complimented Hermione in his mind, this way the people inside would be more or less apprehensive and would find it hard to approach Malfoy openly any further.
The pale yellow hair and pointed chin of Draco's silhouette gradually became clear in the darkness, his face sweaty and pale, as if he seemed to have caught a serious illness. An enraged Hermione trailed behind him.
"Draco Malfoy?" Harry blurted out in a feigned tone of surprise.
Malfoy gave them a stern glare and turned his head away without a word.
Hermione paused in exasperation until Malfoy's figure disappeared, and then she asked in a calm whisper, "How was it?" "Awesome." Ron gave her a thumbs up, "And the people inside?" Hermione shook her head slightly, indicating that she hadn't seen them.
"Probably hiding." Harry mouthed, the wand in his hand kept pointed at the darkened door of the abandoned girls' lavatory.
Hermione hadn't fully entered just now, it would have been terrible if she had fallen under the Imperius Curse, she wasn't sure she could break free from the curse.
Harry nudged his wand over Ron and himself, and under the effect of the Disillusionment Charm, the two immediately blended into the darkness. Hermione also followed suit, and they slowly backed away, hiding in the darkness. After waiting quietly for ten minutes, they all somewhat became impatient, and then a faint movement came from within.
A silvery glow glowed in the darkness, it looked like a cat, but it seemed rather faint, and the Patronus circled around for a moment, before dissipating into specks of silver.
Then a short, fat woman materialized in shape and looked around before hurrying away.
But none of the golden trio uttered a word; they knew there must be another one inside. After another moment, a young male wizard exited from inside and left with great strides.
Only when his back disappeared did the trio breathe a sigh of relief.
"That man's name is Avery, we've seen him before at the Ministry of Magic." Hermione whispered.
They walked back in silence, looking preoccupied. What had happened today was more than they had expected, "They're obviously up to something, better tell the Professor." Hermione said, to which Harry and Ron nodded. Suddenly, the door to the broom room on the ground floor opened silently and three pairs of hands poked out of the darkness to drag the trio inside.
They reacted almost instantly - Harry casted a humanoid shield charm and the barrier that clung to his body swelled into a ball in the blink of an eye, pushing the disorganized hands out of the way, and two dark thorns flew out of Hermione's beaded pouch and headed towards the darkness in a tangle; Ron stepped back and muttered a spell, as white flames quickly gathered at the tip of his wand.
"It's us, Harry!" A very familiar voice said.
Harry's heart pounded as he looked at the figure in the darkness as he blurted out incredulously, "Angelina?"
"Come on in." 'Angelina' said impatiently.
The door to the broom room closed behind them.
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