October 27th, 1991, Hogwarts, The Grand Staircase, 9:20 PM.
Standing outside the dimly lit hall of Hogwarts, three particular small silhouettes illuminated by the flickering light from the everlasting candles could be seen to be bickering quietly about something.
"You really going to do this, Ron, really?" Hermione whispered aggressively, crossing her arms and looking fiercely at the red-haired boy in his orange pyjamas.
"If I don't, I'm going to be the biggest laughing stock for the rest of the year, you've seen how many eyes were looking at me at the time!" Ron retorted.
"Then what if he won't show up? Huh, have you ever thought about that?" The bushy-haired girl in her peach-coloured pyjamas was questioning mockingly.
"That..." Ron halted his eyes and darted to Harry, who, wearing a black hoodie outside his blue Pyjamas, still carried his favourite leather satchel.
Nudging his glasses, Harry answered truthfully. "T-theodore was o-obviously lying; I-I can tell, he just b-baited you into accepting that."
"And who knows what else he might be up to." Hermoined stressed.
The third-floor corridor was a passage on the third floor of Hogwarts Castle, which could be accessed from the Charms corridor and the Grand Staircase.
"On top of that... And finally, I must tell you that this year, the third-floor corridor on the right-hand side is out of bounds for everyone who does not wish to die a very painful death." she quoted the headmaster perfectly.
"Yes, yes, yes, I already heard more than enough than you do...
"Some said the floor was off limit due to it's hiding some kind of horrendous artefact, and some of the seniors even recalling that they have seen silhouettes of a four-legged monster patrolling at night whose size was absolutely huge." Ron added
Hearing such a story, Harry's eyes couldn't help but sparkle with curiosity, though a hint of fear was visible.
"And you still decided to go? Just letting you know, you going today was falling right into Theodore's hand, The next morning, he'd still boasting about your cowardly behaviour of not showing up while you had nothing to prove him wrong and... should you be caught for breaking the rule, our house will be demolished." Hermoine's signature bossy tone came into place.
Harry on the side couldn't help but nod while Ron's showed a disgruntled look.
"Yeah, yeah...But that's why I have Harry here." The red-haired boy's mouth curled up into a smirk while Hermione sent a doubtful look towards Harry.
"Hehe..." The jet black-haired boy smiled sheepishly, indicating what Ron's said was true. "I-I think I can h-help gather proof!" A determined look shone in those emerald orbs as Harry patted his satchel.
...
"Haiz, alright then. Let's get going..." With a sign, Hermione walked forward, under the bewilderment of the other two, as they really didn't think a person as strict 'by the book' as her would engage in such activities.
Just when the trio was about to take a step further, Harry felt a familiar gaze sweep by coming from behind Ron. The boy was delighted and puzzled at the same time, as he recognised who it was.
"Good evening, fellows! May I join this little adventure?" Ron got goosebumps as he felt a hand on his shoulder.
"Hi, Ronald." Draco whispered in his ear.
"YEET!" Ron jumped back with a pale complexion.
"Aw, where's the brave lion? Anyway, you should keep that voice down; it's curfew." Draco held his chuckle.
"Hmph!" Ron snorted. "And just what such a noble, model student of the Slytherin is doing here, snooping around in such hours."
"Oh Ronald, you flatter me, but of course, how could I miss such fun?" Draco implied. "Alright, enough joking with you. I'm here to make sure that whatever Theodore sets up will be invalid,.You should be extra careful, Ronald."
"I already got it from Hermione." Ron rolled his eyes, but deep down, the red-haired boy began holding Theodore at a higher level of awareness.
"Beside, as I've said before, nobility is in your character; that goes for you too, Ron." Draco stated it nonchalantly.
"You...That..." Ron's eyes widened at such words, never had he thought a Malfoy would say something like this to a Weasley, even with such sincerity!
Seeing Ron in a daze, Harry's eyes dart between him and Draco curiously before snapping Ron back to reality.
"Ehem, right, right... Let's get this over with." Ron cleared his throat as he went ahead, still somewhat wondering about what Draco just said.
"Oh and..." Taking a few steps, Ron abruptly turned back, putting up a solemn face. "If either of you get us caught, I'll never rest until I've learnt that Curse of the Bogies Quirrell told us about and used it on you."
With that said, Ron's proudly continued on his way
While both Hermione and Draco just rolled their eyes off at Ron's attempted menace, Harry chuckled lightly on the side.
...
Passing through Hogwarts at night was much different from when it was daylight; the entire castle revealed its old-age epicness; the stone wall, corridors, statues, paintings, carvings... everything just became much more solemn; bathing in the haze of the silver moon hung high among the scattered cloud.
Adding a surreal sense of tranquilly and blurriness to the castle. Looking at the silver moon outside the window, Harry smiled tenderly as he breathed in this calm, quiet atmosphere.
Everything was so quiet. Only the sound of the quartet's light footsteps could be heard if you were close enough. Occasionally, there would be the howling of chilling Autumn's winds passing by, rendering the ambiance much more eerie.'
"Ugh, it's getting chilly; where's that damn Trophy Room?." Ron complained
"Relax, Ronald; we're almost there." Draco said with a grin as he enjoyed seeing the fierce red-haired boy now getting shivers from the wind or something else from his imagination.
... After passing another corner on the third floor, the quartet finally reached their destination.
"Trophy Room. No smudging." Hermione whispered. "This is it, guys."
The Trophy Room was a room that moved between the third and sixth floors of Hogwarts Castle. Hogwarts used this room to store all the old awards, trophies, statues, cups, plates, shields, and medals that were kept in crystal display cases.
The crystal trophy cases glimmered where the moonlight caught them. Cups, shields, plates, and statues winked silver and gold in the darkness.
The quartet couldn't really hide their curiosity as they took closer looks at the displays.
This room also contained a list of Head Boys and Head Girls. Prominently displayed were Hogwarts Awards for Services to the School.
According to Draco, the room was always left unlocked, even past the students' curfew.
'Wait, is this Dad!? and...' Harry's eyes lit up when he spotted a peculiar picture depicting a Ravenclaw boy and a Hufflepuff girl, both holding a pot of some magical plant that looked rather ominous.
Still, the girl had the brightest smile ever, and the shape of her face was matched with stunning beauty, her bearing and elegance were clear and pure, just like sunflowers.
While the boy, wearing a scarf, showed a rather flat look, yet his eyes couldn't hide his true emotion, occasionally steeling a tender glance at the girl. The couple seemed to have won a small Herbology contest in 1974.
This was just like that picture at Ethan's study.
'So this was Dad and Aelia...'
It was then that Harry noticed a faint gaze becoming clearer and fiercer, coming from the opposite corridor.
Draco was also on alert, as he had been expecting Theodore's trap. As soon as he caught the faint footsteps getting louder, he immediately rushed to the other three. "Someone's coming; we have to hide."
"What-" Before Ron's even finished exclaiming, Draco had already dragged him into an inconspicuous corner, and Harry and Hermione also quickly found a hiding spot.
*Thud Thud Thud* steady footstep echoing through the hallway, followed by the light coming from a carbon lamp.
It's Hogwarts old, grumpy, renown caretaker of Hogwarts, Argus Filch, and his ever companion, Miss Norris, the black cat.
Their reputation had far exceeded theirs, as even the new first-years had already gotten to experience Filch's sadistic enjoyment when punishing students.
...Minutes passed, yet the grumpy man was still lingering around the trophy longer than he needed.
"Bloody hell, how long Filch longed to loiter around this place." Ron's gnashed under his breath as the quartet had basically played hide and seek with the man with great risks
And of course, Theodore never showed up.
"This must be Theodore's doing." Draco stated
"No doubted."
"Anyhow, we can't keep this up." Draco turned to Hermione and Harry. "First, let's make the proof that Ron had came as the challenged, whilst Theodore didn't.'
Both of them nodded. Even though this could reveal their location to Filch, it would be fine as they could scurry away fast.
Draco was on the watch, and while Hermione pulled out her wand to carve some magical symbols on the wall, Harry motioned for Ron to take the pose as he pulled out the magical camera which Ethan bought for their Europe vacation.
As soon as Filch went on busy searching at another corner of the Trophy Room, Draco signal them to take the shot. Harry immediately captured Ron standing beside the symbol of victory, bathed in the moonlight.
"Got it." Harry exclaim.
"Great, now let's get out of here." Hermione quickly dispelled the symbol.
The quartet rushed out of the Trophy Room with nimble steps, leaving behind the shouts of Filch.
"Let's go this way." Ron was the fastest to spot a semi-closed door.
As soon as the quartet passed through the door and close it, they all felt a chill down their spine. Behind the door was a room enveloped in cold dirtiness and pale moonlight with spider webs and creepy statuary, a stark contrast to the Trophy Room earlier.
"Don't you feel like we shouldn't be here, It's really spooky." Ron's rubbed his arms.
"We're not supposed to be here from the beginning, remember." Hermione said it sarcastically.
"Well, at least we didn't get caught by Filch." Draco reassured.
"W-we should f-find a way now, i-it's very late." Harry reminded.
It was at that moment that Harry felt a gaze drilled into his back, with obvious hostility, and it was coming from something large, very large.
"Gulp, Harry... Stay calm and move closer to us; Don't look back." Ron said with a shaky voice that Hermione's eyes were constricted in fear and she tried not to break her breathing. Draco also had a bad complexion.
Harry had to use cognition to lessen the fear as he and the other slowly moved back to the door.
Slowly turning around, Harry was terrified to see what it was. It was a three-headed dog, staring at the four of them with its bloodshot eyes.
As soon as it snorted, Ron's shouted at the top of his lungs. "RUN!"
Not even caring about screaming in fear, the quartet made a run for the door as the beast became aggressive and charged towards them.
However, the beast was a step slower as the four managed to close the door, rendering the creature slammed its head into it.
Soon, the four managed to get back to the picture leading to Gryffindor's common room.
"What the hell was that thing and how come they just keep a thing like that in the castle!? Ron was horrified.
"No idea. Well, at least we got out in one piece, not meeting Filch on the way as well. Anyway, I'll head back now; see you tomorrow." Draco hastily bid farewell as the other three nodded.
"It seems like they put them their to guard something, don't you see what it was standing on?" catching a breath, Hermione stated.
Harry nodded in confirmation. 'Even in such moments, Hermione could still capture such detail, truly impressive.' Harry had only witnessed Ethan capable of doing something similar to that.
"Guarding something?" Ron raised his eyebrows.
"Right, if you two don't mind. I'm going to bed before either of you come up with another clever idea to get us killed—or worse, expelled." Her bossiness surfaced again.
Rendering the two boys standing there, looking at each other, their eyes widened.
"She really needs to sort out her priorities." Ron shook his head slightly
"W-well, That Hermione." Harry shrugged