The moment Harry uttered the words that he might have discovered a hidden passage that Filch was unaware of, Bryan felt a surge of dread and realization. He and everyone else in the school, including the 'wise' Headmaster, had overlooked a crucial flaw in their security measures against Black's invasion.
On the night they had returned to Hogwarts for the new term, Bryan had instructed Filch to seal off all the secret passages that led to the outside of the castle. Filch had assured him that the four known passages that connected the castle to the outside world had been thoroughly blocked by him and the other professors, and that there was no chance of anyone getting in through them.
But such an answer would create a false impression, making one think that there were only four passages that could be used to enter or exit the castle. In reality, after a thousand years of Hogwarts' existence, who could tell how many clever and adventurous people had constructed how many hidden tunnels and corridors in the castle?
Perhaps Black and his friends had dug some secret routes when they were students at Hogwarts. Oh, but that was unlikely, because Remus would have known about them. He was the only one of Black's close friends from school who was still alive, unless Black had been plotting this scheme since then. Otherwise, he would not have kept it a secret from Remus.
"Professor–" Harry and Ron were shooting furious glares at Hermione, but Hermione did not think she had done anything wrong. She met their eyes with a defiant expression, and said to the motionless and pensive Watson professor.
"Do you also think that Black managed to sneak into Hogwarts through those passages?"
"That's impossible, Hermione!" Ron snapped, giving up on the idea of keeping that precious passage to themselves. "When Black broke into Hogwarts, Hogsmeade was swarming with Dementors. He couldn't have possibly slipped into the Honeyduke's basement, could he?!"
Bryan, who was lost in his thoughts, briefly snapped out of them and glanced at Ron. These youngsters always had a bad habit of taking things for granted,
Black might not have used the same passage that Harry had taken, but Bryan was fairly certain that he must have known some secret passage that no one else was aware of. That was how, on the night of the Halloween feast, he was able to infiltrate Hogwarts without being detected, and quickly escaped after finding that he could not get into the Gryffindor common room.
Thinking of this, Bryan felt a mix of annoyance and amusement that so many people were anxious about Black's whereabouts, but these three kids had somehow stumbled upon the vital clues.
"Besides this passage, Harry" Bryan felt like he could hear the pleasant sound of 50,000 Galleons clinking in his ears. He stared at Harry with a serious and righteous look and said.
"You also know the information of those passages. I hope you can tell me the truth, Harry, after all. This is about whether I can capture Black and bring him to justice as soon as possible!"
"As far as I know–" Harry had no intention of lying. He only wanted to prevent Watson from finding out about that amazing map. Not only because Harry wanted to keep it for himself, but also because if Watson found out about it, he would trace the origin of the map, and then Fred and George would be in trouble.
"Seven in total–" Harry said honestly, and this also made Hermione, who was tense, breathe a sigh of relief. She was wondering in her mind, if Harry lied again, whether she should expose him again.
"But only one can be used, because four of them have been sealed off by Filch, and the other two, one has collapsed, and the last one's entrance is at the Whomping Willow. No one can get past that tree alive."
"That's what you think, Harry." Bryan said, and after pondering for a while, he asked again. "Is this all the passages you know, right? You didn't try to conceal any passages, trying to leave yourself a way out?"
Harry could answer this question with a clear conscience.
The Trio knew that Watson's 'eyes' were everywhere in the Hogwarts castle, so they kept silent and avoided eye contact on the way back from the office at the third floor to the Gryffindor tower. They did not want to give away any hint of their secret knowledge or their disagreement.
They only spoke when they stepped into the common room, which was empty and quiet at this late hour.
"I can't believe it, Hermione!"
Ron was seething with resentment. He exploded immediately, glaring at Hermione, who had anticipated his anger, but still looked defiant. He said angrily,
"You betrayed us!"
"Oh, don't shout, Ron!" Hermione's brown pupils flashed with a strong light. Compared to the matter of Scabbers, she was quite confident about tonight's 'report'. She felt that she had done the right thing by telling Professor the truth.
They still sat by the fireplace and warmed themselves by the fire. Ron took out a bottle of butterbeer from the gap between the back of an old cupboard and the wall in the common room. This was their private stash from the last time they had visited Hogsmeade.
"Don't you see, Ron," Hermione took out her Arithmancy homework from her bag and wrote it as fast as if she didn't need to think.
"Professor Watson and I have the same opinion and we all know that he probably won't be able to go to bed tonight. He will definitely check the remaining passages overnight to see if there are any traces of a criminal passing through recently."
In this cold weather, the cold drink couldn't go down. So Ron used his best floating charm to control the three glass cups filled with beer and roast them on the golden fire for a while.
"This only shows one thing, that even a powerful wizard like Professor Watson sometimes has a cloudy brain."
When arguing about the right and wrong of something, Hermione always showed this arrogant attitude, which Ron had almost had enough of. He hated how she always acted like she knew better than everyone else.
"I'd like to see how Black sneaked in from the remaining three passages. It couldn't be Honeyduke, could it? Otherwise we would have attended Fred and George's funeral by now. And the collapsed one, Forgive me for being blunt, Hermione, but I think that if Fred and George couldn't get through the collapsed passage, then Black probably wouldn't be better than them in this respect!"
Hermione's feather pen, which was almost leaving a shadow in her hand, stopped for a moment. She bit her lip and said, "There's one more."
"If-!"
Ron rolled his eyes, looking helpless. He knew what she was going to say, and he thought it was ridiculous.
"If you and I had flown to Hogwarts with Harry in the car on the first day of the second year, then you would know that no one could ever get past that Whomping Willow without leaving some body parts behind."
He remembered how the tree had smashed their car and nearly killed them. He shuddered at the thought of anyone trying to get past it on foot.
"At least Professor Watson thinks–" Hermione wanted to say something, but Harry, who was a bit hit tonight, suddenly interrupted.
"The premise is that you have to have a wand to do it."
The butterbeer was bubbling with hot bubbles. Ron moved the hot glass cup to the table, made an inviting gesture to Harry, and then raised his chin unhappily at Hermione.
"Harry is right, the premise is that Black has to get himself a wand. You don't think Neville's lost wand was due to Black, do you? Don't forget, when Black broke into the castle last time, Neville's wand hadn't been lost yet."
He thought that Hermione was being paranoid and illogical. He couldn't believe that she would suspect poor Neville of anything.
Hermione had nothing to say, but still frowned, trying to think of how to refute Ron. She was not convinced by their arguments. She thought that there must be some way that Black could have used the passages, or else why would Watson be so concerned about them.
Harry was very tired, this tiredness was not from the body, but from the self-doubt in his mind.
Every night for a week since he learned the truth about Black's persecution of his parents, he had been determined to kill Black with the most cruel means he knew if he ever met him. He had dreamed of avenging his parents and making Black pay for his crimes. But tonight Watson told him that killing someone was not that simple.
Things seemed to go back to the beginning. Harry found that he was really better off not knowing the truth about his parents' death, so he wouldn't have to be tormented by his conscience. Now, it seemed that besides hoping that Professor Watson or those evil Dementors would find Black first, he couldn't do anything. He felt powerless and frustrated.
But Harry knew he had to interrupt Ron and Hermione's quarrel, because of Scabbers, they had always had opinions on each other. Even now, they hadn't completely let go of their grudges. If they let the topic continue, then the tacit understanding that they had finally built up would be broken again.
"I think I have to apologize to Fred and George.
Harry let out a deep sigh, looking crestfallen. "And remind them that the Hunchback Witch's passage is no longer safe."
He felt bad for ruining Fred and George's fun, but he also knew that it was too risky to keep using the passage now that Professor Watson knew about it.
It was already past ten o'clock at night. The young wizards should have been tucked in their beds, but they had to sneak around and avoid being spotted by Percy, who was on patrol. They prepared to end this not-so-good night.
"I can go with you, Harry," Ron offered, patting Harry's shoulder. "We can explain to Fred and George, they should understand that we didn't mean to expose their secret. And maybe they can help us find out more about the other passages, since they seem to know a lot about the castle."
"Come on, let's go now." Ron said, grabbing his cloak and scarf. He was eager to get out of the common room, where Hermione was still giving him a cold look.
"Are you coming, Hermione?" Harry asked, feeling a bit guilty. He knew that Hermione had reported the passage for their own safety.
"No, I have to finish this homework." Hermione said curtly, without looking up from her parchment. She was still frowning and writing furiously.
"Suit yourself." Ron muttered, as he and Harry headed for the portrait hole. He gave Hermione one last glare, hoping that she would feel sorry for what she had done.
Creak- The noise at the door suddenly interrupted Ron's thoughts, and also made Harry and Hermione look surprised. They had not expected anyone to come in at this hour. They quickly turned their heads to see who it was.
"Professor Lupin–" Harry was confused and couldn't understand why the gentle Lupin professor had such a serious expression. He had always liked Lupin, who was kind and helpful to him. He wondered what was wrong.
"Professor Watson just went to my office and told me some things, and asked me to be alert tonight,"
Lupin looked at Harry, solemnly saying. "Professor Watson told me that he accidentally learned from you a few secret passages leading to the outside of the castle. Harry, how did you know the location of these passages so clearly?"
*******************************
For More Chapters; patreon.com/FicFrenzy