The next morning, I noticed a look of fear in Neville's eyes, as if he had been having nightmares.
I stood up and approached him.
"If you want to talk to me, wait for me by the lake at noon."
Then I went to class, and of course, I earned some house points with Marie.
When the afternoon came, Mary let me go to the lake alone because she wanted to leave me a moment alone with my brother.
Neville was already there, ready to share his problems with me.
He told me that the night before, he had forgotten the password, so he was waiting outside the common room when Harry and Ron showed up. They gave him the password, but the trouble was that the Fat Lady had gone somewhere.
"I think that's one of the worst problems with your common room. We don't have that kind of issue."
He must have followed them because he was too afraid to be alone. When they arrived at the trophy room, they didn't find Malfoy; instead, they heard Filch's voice as he searched for them.
So Malfoy's challenge was a trap, and those idiots fell for it. While trying to escape, they ran into Peeves, who gave away their location, forcing them to enter the first door they saw. Unfortunately, that door led to the east wing of the third floor, which was forbidden.
I became very curious about what was there, and apparently, there was a three-headed dog present.
I was surprised because Cerberus creatures are quite rare, so finding one here was even more astonishing.
They didn't think twice and ran, but Neville, who was traumatized, noticed that the dog was sitting on a trapdoor.
There was something the dog was guarding, but I didn't want to think about it because it would only lead to trouble.
I told Neville not to dwell on the dog or what it was guarding, and instead, focus on remembering the password properly.
After that, I went to eat and explained everything Neville had told me to Marie. She wanted to investigate further.
"We're not doing that because it's a waste of time, and I don't even know what we'll gain from finding out what's there when no one is supposed to know."
"You're no fun."
She made it clear she wasn't happy with my decision, but I didn't want to get into trouble just to know the reward for risking our lives.
From the corner of my eye, I could see Hermione talking to Ron and Harry about their nonsense, which worried me because with that kind of behavior, I feared she wouldn't make any friends.
Time passed without any incidents. Hermione told me about her classes and how she could contribute some points to our house, but she was worried about not bringing enough.
"Don't worry, in a month or two, you'll have the same number of points as an average student."
That reassured her, and she then mentioned the upcoming Charms class, which would focus on the Levitation Charm.
"Even though it's quite underrated, this charm can be very useful sometimes."
I explained various situations where the charm could be particularly helpful.
The classes went by without any major incidents, and I started daydreaming about the delicious Halloween feast we would have that evening.
Hagrid's pumpkins were smaller than last year's, but they were still impressive.
We were heading to the Great Hall when we saw Hermione walking in the other direction.
"Evelyn, if I saw correctly, I think Hermione was crying."