Anthony told Pansy her detention was over early. Pansy sniffed and walked slowly down from the Astronomy Tower with him. She wore a thick cloak and kept her head lowered, showing no emotion.
When giving her the cloak, Anthony mentioned it was the same one Tracey Davis wore a few days ago. They both spent a lot of time windswept atop the Astronomy Tower, Tracey even longer.
Pansy seemed to want to retort, the words "she deserves it" almost escaping her lips, but she bit them back.
"Think carefully, Miss Parkinson. Don't worry, you still have plenty of time. Your life has just begun, and there's still much time to choose your path for the future," Anthony advised. It was already curfew. He escorted her to the Slytherin common room entrance before leisurely walking back. Moonlight streamed into the hallway from between the door pillars, casting mercury-like shadows on the floor. Not even the portraits on the wall made a sound.
Filch had forgotten to close the back window, and the January wind blew in, scattering a few dead leaves across the floor he had just cleaned.
Two furtive figures suddenly crossed Anthony's vision. The two students huddled in the shadows of the hallway corner, heads together, gesturing at something. He quietly approached and overheard their hushed planning.
"Let's go this way first," one said. "Filch is around. Even if he sees us, he can't catch us—wait, is that Professor McGonagall?"
The other replied, "It doesn't matter, she won't come. If we can get past this, we can follow the old path past Hagrid's dog, Fang."
"Yes. It's still the old plan. Parkinson is finally back in the common room and shouldn't affect us anymore."
The other agreed, "Yes, clever and patient, we are truly brilliant." They high-fived. "Ready?" Anthony stepped behind the Weasley twins with amusement. "Good evening, geniuses."
The two redheaded Gryffindors jumped from the corner. "Bloody hell, how did—" One of them hurriedly shoved a piece of parchment into his pocket.
Anthony glanced at the pocket warningly but didn't pry further. "What are you two doing in the hallway?"
"He's sleepwalking," Fred pointed at George without hesitation.
Anthony raised an eyebrow. "And you, Mr. Weasley? Are you sleepwalking as well?"
"I came along to keep an eye on him," George said earnestly. "He was worried I might try to swim in the Black Lake or something."
"I just said to stop obsessing over swimming, you've been acting weird lately, George," Fred complained.
George apologized, "Professor, I'm sorry. I shouldn't be so fixated on swimming. Thank you for looking out for me, Fred."
Anthony nodded. "Well, since you're both awake now, let's get back to your dormitory, gentlemen."
The Weasley twins braced themselves for a lecture or detention, but it never came. They hesitated, unsure how to react.
"Off you go, before I decide to actually punish you for this nocturnal adventure," Anthony said, a hint of amusement in his voice.
"Right away, Professor!" The twins took off running, then, "Ouch!"
They collided with something on the stairs (the nothingness said "Ouch") and nearly tumbled down. The twins grabbed the wall and stared ahead, speechless for a moment.
Anthony hurried over – under the moonlight, there were now three red-headed Weasleys sitting on the cold stone steps, along with half of the Boy Who Lived. Ron Weasley glared at his brothers. "Why did you start running all of a sudden!"
Harry Potter, with only half his body visible, pulled himself out of thin air, clutching an Invisibility Cloak tightly. He clumsily tried to hide the cloak behind his back, looking at Anthony innocently as if he were holding nothing more than a handkerchief.
Anthony glanced at the Invisibility Cloak. It was obviously a precious artifact, quite different from the ones sold in Diagon Alley – someone once tried to use one of those to steal wine from the Hog's Head cellar and was caught by Tom, the bartender, while he was cleaning glasses at the bar.
At that time, Tom proudly showed the thief's Invisibility Cloak to the patrons of the Leaky Cauldron, saying disdainfully, "You haven't even mastered the Disillusionment Charm, and you dare to try and steal alcohol? And with such an inferior product, ha!" He reminisced, "I've been running this bar for years, and only James Potter and Sirius Black successfully swiped two glasses of brandy. When they walked out of the cellar with those glasses, I was truly shocked! Those two rascals!"
Anthony had a hunch he knew how James Potter had managed to sneak into the Leaky Cauldron's cellar.
"You..." Anthony sighed. "Take your pick between a five-point deduction or detention tomorrow night." He added, "That includes you, Fred and George Weasley."
"We didn't mean to, we were sleepwalking," one of the twins protested feebly. Anthony nodded. "Consider yourselves lucky. I'm feeling generous tonight."
…
On the way to escorting the four Gryffindors back to Gryffindor Tower, he asked Harry and Ron curiously, "What were you two up to tonight?"
Harry replied, "Uh... exploring? We haven't seen Hogwarts at this time of night." He relaxed noticeably, seeing that Anthony had no intention of confiscating the Invisibility Cloak.
"Sightseeing," Anthony said. "Alright, I can understand that."
Meanwhile, Fred or George was lecturing their younger brother, "You saw the professor, but you didn't wait for him to leave before going back to the dorm?"
The other chimed in, "What a relief for our dear mother that you're so eager to go to bed, little Ronnie."
Ron retorted angrily, "Shut up, you two! If you hadn't started sprinting like a herd of Blast-Ended Skrewts!"
They reached the portrait guarding Gryffindor Tower. The Fat Lady, woken by their arrival, glared at them. "Password?"
Anthony interrupted, "Alright, detention or point deduction?"
"Detention, detention," both Harry and Ron said quickly. They wearily stated the password and scrambled through the portrait hole.
"What about you, Weasleys?" Anthony turned to his students.
The twins exchanged a look and then asked, "Professor, what if we find another sleepwalker? Can we trade?"
Anthony asked in surprise, "Another one? Where?" Tonight's castle was proving to be more eventful than he had imagined.
"Just outside the castle gates," the Weasley twins grinned. "Well... her name is Tracey Davis."
Anthony sighed deeply, very deeply.