With the help of the Felix Felicis Charm, even though Harry and the others didn't know the Disillusionment Charm or any other concealment spells yet, they managed to follow along smoothly without attracting the attention of the two professors.
Snape limped forward at a slow pace, and Quirrell's tracking was just as leisurely.
This undoubtedly made tracking them much easier for Harry and his friends.
As they saw Snape drawing closer to the forbidden corridor on the fourth floor, the group's expressions grew increasingly solemn.
Could it be...
At that moment, Snape turned a corner and stepped onto the staircase leading toward the forbidden area on the fourth floor!
Harry's eyes narrowed instantly, and he moved to rush forward, but Hermione pulled him back.
"Calm down, Harry! Professor Quirrell is still following him!" Hermione whispered urgently.
Harry took a long, deep breath and looked up again, just in time to see Quirrell turn the corner and head up the fourth-floor stairs as well.
"Could it be that Professor Quirrell is trying to stop..."
Before Harry could finish his sentence, he saw Snape grab Quirrell by the collar around the corner, shove him back, and pin him against the wall!
Startled, the group quickly ducked behind a massive suit of armor nearby.
They watched as Snape held Quirrell pinned, his face contorted in a snarl as he hissed something under his breath.
Quirrell was simply trembling in fear, looking as if he were begging for mercy...
Harry frowned; he couldn't hear a word!
He glanced at the shadows beside him, gritted his teeth, and slipped out from behind the armor to hide behind a large vase much closer to Snape...
He finally managed to catch their words... however, he only heard two sentences.
"...Don't follow me again! Don't think I haven't noticed your little tricks! And don't think I don't know who sent you!"
"I... I..."
Immediately after, Snape shoved Quirrell aside. He glanced toward the fourth floor before turning and heading off in a different direction.
Harry stared intently at Snape. When he had shoved Quirrell, his gauze-wrapped wound had been exposed!
The wound was still seeping blood, staining the bandages red, but Harry had seen its shape...
Sobbing, Quirrell picked himself up and slowly walked away in the opposite direction.
"Harry! What were you doing just now?!" Hermione hissed angrily. "If we were caught, we'd all be expelled!"
"Hermione..." Harry's eyes were unusually bright. "Even if I'm expelled, I have to do something for Professor Wick!"
Hermione looked at him quietly. "What did you hear?"
"I didn't just hear something, I saw something too!" Harry said excitedly. "Snape definitely wasn't injured by that troll!"
"What are you talking about?" Hermione asked with a frown.
"I'll explain the details once we're back. It's getting late, we have to hurry to our appointment!" Harry didn't elaborate, though his voice held a trace of excitement that wasn't usually there.
Harry and the others had a duel scheduled tonight with Malfoy's gang.
Earlier that day, Malfoy had been his usual foul-mouthed self. After insulting Lily's blood status, he had gone on to mock Sirius Black for being a degenerate who deserved to spend over a decade in Azkaban...
Harry's temper had flared instantly.
Amidst the argument, Malfoy had proposed a fair duel in the Trophy Room at midnight!
Harry had accepted without hesitation...
It was now 11:55 PM.
Harry and his friends successfully reached the Trophy Room, which housed the plaques and trophies of Hogwarts' past outstanding graduates.
Few people came here normally, making it the perfect place for a duel!
"Good! They're not here yet. Quickly, review those minor jinxes I taught you. My mother taught me these," Neville said enthusiastically.
Harry and Ron quickly pulled out their wands to practice the jinxes, while only Hermione looked at her wristwatch suspiciously...
"Something's wrong, Harry. Why aren't they here yet?" Hermione asked uneasily.
"The time isn't up yet... Don't worry, Malfoy values pure-blood honor highly. If he doesn't show up for a duel, the Malfoy family couldn't afford to lose that kind of face!" Ron said confidently.
However, his words failed to put Hermione at ease. She didn't think for a second that Malfoy cared that much about so-called honor.
At most, it was just lip service...
Meanwhile, Harry and Neville were discussing who should go first and which spells to use...
Hermione had no choice but to keep a vigilant ear out for any movement in the distance.
Suddenly—
"Meow."
An abrupt cat's cry interrupted the boys' discussion.
They turned to see a scrawny, skeletal cat standing in the doorway, staring at them.
The boys were momentarily stunned, but Hermione felt a chill run down her spine!
"Run! That's Filch's cat! Malfoy played you!"
"Haha! My sweet, you say you found some little mice sneaking out?" Filch's raspy, wheezing voice drifted in from outside...
Harry and the others felt their blood run cold.
Ron was even more bewildered. That Malfoy fellow... had actually thrown his so-called pure-blood honor to the ground!
The shameless bastard!
"Go! Before he can see who we are!" Hermione whispered, pushing the dazed boys forward while whipping out her wand and pointing it behind her.
A burst of white mist instantly filled the Trophy Room!
With the Felix Felicis Charm's blessing, this spell—which Hermione hadn't been very proficient with before—worked perfectly.
"Hold it! Don't you dare try those little tricks!" Filch's hurried footsteps sounded as he burst into the Trophy Room.
But the white mist obscured his vision, making it impossible to see which students were in front of him!
This left Filch fuming with rage!
Meanwhile, Harry and the others were running for their lives...
It hadn't been long since the Weasley twins were caught; Gryffindor didn't have many points left.
If they were caught again...
Professor McGonagall would surely have their heads!
Tears were nearly welling up in Hermione's eyes from the stress.
If Professor McGonagall found out that a student like her was breaking school rules, she would be so disappointed!
Filch was fast. Since Hermione was a girl, she wasn't the fastest runner, and because she stayed behind to cover those useless boys, she was trailing at the very back.
Filch was soon right on her heels.
She could even hear his ragged breathing!
"Ha! Let's see where you'll run now!" Filch rejoiced. As long as he caught one brat, the others wouldn't be able to escape!
He reached out, grabbing for Hermione's robes...
Just as his fingers were about to touch the fabric—
"Thud!"
For some unknown reason, a nearby oil painting suddenly fell, crashing right onto Filch's head...
"Ouch!"
The painting was quite large, pinning Filch and his cat underneath it.
Hermione was shocked by the sound, but she was careful not to turn around.
If she looked back and Filch saw her face, she really wouldn't be able to escape.
Soon, Filch scrambled out from under the painting and resumed his pursuit.
However, that brief delay allowed even Hermione to put a considerable distance between them...
"We haven't lost him yet! We can't go straight back to the common room!" Hermione said quickly.
Hearing this, Harry gritted his teeth and changed their route, heading for a nearby staircase.
However, as they ran up the stairs, the staircase decided to change direction at that exact moment!
With Filch not far behind, Harry and the others had no choice but to keep running forward blindly...
"Damn that Malfoy!" Ron cursed through gritted teeth.
By now, they realized that tonight was a trap set by Malfoy.
For some reason, the stairs and secret doors kept shifting unexpectedly while they were trying to flee.
With Filch hot on their heels, they were in such a panic that they simply kept running...
Until...
"How did we end up on the fourth floor!" Harry saw the door and realized in a daze that this was where they had just seen Snape threatening Quirrell.
"No time!" Hermione looked behind them. "We have to go inside!"
"The door is locked!" Ron said, his face crumpled in despair.
"Out of the way!" Hermione shoved Ron aside and raised her wand. "Alohomora!"
"Click!"
The lock snapped open. They scrambled inside and quickly shut the door...
They leaned against the door, listening intently to the noise outside, completely failing to notice a massive figure slowly rising behind them.
Fluffy stared at the young wizards, saliva dripping from its jaws.
It happened to be feeling a bit hungry... and though it didn't know why today's "meal" looked different from before, meat was meat, even if it was a bit lean.
However, just as it was about to pounce, it found its legs stuck, as if held by something, unable to move an inch!
Confused, Fluffy looked down. When its three heads looked up again, it found the little snacks had discovered it and were staring back in shock.
"Flu... Fluffy!" Harry blurted out.
They had seen this three-headed dog at Hagrid's house, and Hagrid had even let it slip that Fluffy was here to guard something on the fourth floor...
Seeing Harry actually looking like he wanted to get friendly with Fluffy, Hermione felt a surge of anger.
"Run! Don't you see it's drooling?!"
Sure enough, following Hermione's warning, Harry noticed that Fluffy's expression was off...
This big guy didn't have any of the gentleness it showed around Hagrid; it was looking at them like they were food!
Hermione yanked the door open, and they all dashed out together...
At this point, even being caught by Filch was better than being eaten as a snack by Fluffy!
By now, Filch was nowhere to be found. Once they closed the door, they used every ounce of strength they had to sprint toward the Gryffindor common room...
Victor Wick logged out of the Hogwarts server and rubbed his temples tiredly.
"Just as I thought... without that girl Hermione, this little group would definitely fall apart!"
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