Watching Charlie and his friends riding on brooms, carrying the box where Norberta was, rising into the night sky, and gradually turning into a few small black dots, Harry and Ron suddenly felt relieved: the burden on their hearts finally disappeared.
Keeping a dragon in secret was against the laws of the magical world. If they had been caught, Hagrid would undoubtedly face imprisonment. Although they hadn't been discovered so far, it had always been a ticking time bomb that could explode at any moment.
Now that this time bomb had been defused, they could finally breathe easy.
The three of them walked down the spiral staircase from the Astronomy Tower, with Harry and Ron in high spirits. They were so relaxed that they even forgot to take the Invisibility Cloak. Daphne, with her sharp eyes, noticed it and took it along.
She was curious to see when they would realize they had left the cloak behind.
"So how did Hagrid get that dragon egg?" Harry asked.
"No idea, we'll have to ask him when we get back—"
"What are you two doing here at this hour?!" A voice full of anger rang out from below, making the three of them freeze.
Professor McGonagall appeared, her face flushed and breathing heavily as if she had been running for a long distance. Behind her were Professors Flitwick and Sprout, both in their nightclothes. Professor Flitwick held his wand tightly, and Professor Sprout had her wand in one hand and a pot with a bizarre plant in the other.
As the duty professor for the night, Professor McGonagall happened to see Charlie and his friends' dark silhouettes landing in the castle courtyard.
Mysterious individuals landing at Hogwarts at night?
This was no small matter. She immediately connected this incident with the Halloween troll incident, suspecting that these were dark wizards trying to infiltrate Hogwarts to get the Sorcerer's Stone.
Concluding this, Professor McGonagall hurried towards the Astronomy Tower where the unknown individuals had landed, summoning her Patronus to wake up Professors Flitwick and Sprout.
She believed that with the three of them working together, they could capture these intruders.
Instead of finding dark wizards, they encountered Harry and Ron wandering the castle late at night.
"Minerva…" Professor Flitwick tugged on McGonagall's sleeve, reminding her of the more pressing matter. The crucial task was to find out where those intruders had gone—they might have hidden upon hearing Harry and Ron's voices.
With her wand in hand, Professor McGonagall cautiously headed upstairs.
Harry and Ron stood by, not daring to utter a word, let alone ask why McGonagall was acting so unusually.
Daphne, upon hearing McGonagall's voice, had quickly covered herself with the Invisibility Cloak. Luckily for her, McGonagall had only seen Harry and Ron at first and did not notice her.
Professor Sprout guarded Harry and Ron, while Professor Flitwick stood still, secretly keeping an eye on them. He was wary that the two could be imposters, ready to stun them at the slightest sign of suspicious behavior.
Professor McGonagall ascended the Astronomy Tower, meticulously searching for any signs of intruders. However, she found no trace of them.
She narrowed her eyes.
Disillusionment Charm? Or perhaps some other trick? No matter!
"Aparecium! Revelio!" She raised her wand high above her head, casting a revealing spell and an unmasking charm in all directions.
In the next moment, traces left by previous individuals began to appear in reverse order on the tower's floor tiles: first, three sets of footprints leading downstairs, then the shadows of four people riding broomsticks…
Standing silently aside, Daphne, who had thought she had escaped detection, felt the blood in her veins turn cold as she saw the three sets of footprints.
Instinctively, she used a flight spell, wrapped herself in Harry's Invisibility Cloak, and flew toward the tower's exterior. But it was too late. If she had fled the moment McGonagall arrived, she might have escaped, but now she was trapped.
Sensing the abnormal number of people, Professor McGonagall swiftly waved her wand, instantly sealing all the windows of the Astronomy Tower. A gust of wind then swept through the tower.
Before Daphne could react, the wind blew off the Invisibility Cloak, exposing her to the three professors and two classmates who all turned their gaze toward her.
Daphne: "…"
She forced an awkward smile. "Professor McGonagall, please allow me to explain."
Explain? Not a chance!
Professor McGonagall, almost losing her temper, conjured a rope with her wand, pulling Daphne from mid-air and making her stand with Harry and Ron.
The three of them huddled in a corner of the tower like frightened chicks, trembling as they awaited Professor McGonagall's judgment.
After using magic to complete her investigation, Professor McGonagall ruled out the possibility of intruders at Hogwarts. There had indeed been outsiders, but they had quickly left with a large box.
Suppressing her anger, Professor McGonagall addressed the most pressing issue before turning her gaze to the trio.
Following this, Professors Flitwick and Sprout had the feeling they were witnessing the opening of a Howler. McGonagall's furious roar echoed throughout the Astronomy Tower.
After about three minutes, Professor McGonagall regained her composure.
"I can hardly believe this. It is one o'clock in the morning, and instead of being in your dormitories asleep, we have two Gryffindors and a Slytherin up in the Astronomy Tower. Explain yourselves." Professor McGonagall's question was followed by her own puzzled thought: since when did Gryffindor students start acting together with a Slytherin?
Harry and Ron were stunned, and even the usually sharp and clever Daphne had no idea how to respond.
Seeing the three of them silent as mutes, Professor McGonagall felt her anger rising again.
"If you can't answer that question, then tell me who you met. And don't tell me it was a coincidence."
"It was my brother, Charlie, and his friends," Ron said in a very low voice.
Professor McGonagall narrowed her eyes.
Charlie Weasley, a name she was very familiar with. She knew that after graduating, he had gone to Romania to study dragons. Putting together a few key pieces of information, a shocking truth emerged.
Harry Potter, Ron Weasley, and Daphne Greengrass were very likely hatching a dragon inside the castle!
There was no other way to explain why the three of them would be meeting Charlie Weasley at the Astronomy Tower in the middle of the night and having him take away a large box.
It was certainly not because Ron had made some pies for his brother, right?
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