bacchusnovels Chapter 319 Harry's Unresolved Feelings
Chapter 319 Harry's Unresolved Feelings
Chapter 319 Harry's Unresolved Feelings
"When did you go to the Gryffindor common room?"
Sean, who had just come out of the principal's office, found Filch in the corridor, or rather, Sirius Black, who had drunk Polyjuice Potion and disguised himself as "Filch," and pulled him into the faculty lounge next door, asking him with a serious expression.
"Didn't we prepare hundreds of bottles of compound decoction for you? Are you expecting to drink them all?"
Faced with Sean's questioning, "Filch" also appeared very confused.
"No, after I arranged for Harry to go to Hogsmeade this afternoon, I stayed in my office and didn't go out until I just went to the Halloween dinner."
Sean's eyes were fixed on "Filch" in front of him. Hearing the other's answer, he frowned. Things seemed to be more complicated than he had imagined.
"After you arranged for Harry to go to Hogsmeade this afternoon, you stayed in your office?" Sean repeated, his tone incredulous. "Then who went into the Gryffindor common room? The Fat Lady just described that Sirius Black attacked her, and you were in your office?"
“That’s right,” Filch affirmed again, “Why would I go to the Gryffindor common room for no reason? Even if I did, given Filch’s appearance, I wouldn’t need to threaten the fat woman to open the door—”
Upon hearing this, Sean nodded inwardly.
This is also why he was puzzled but not overly suspicious of Sirius—given Sirius's current status, he didn't need to use "threats" to enter the common room.
"So you're telling me," Sean took a step closer, lowering his voice, his eyes growing colder, "that someone impersonated you in the castle and got into the Gryffindor common room?"
Filch narrowed his eyes and instantly understood the seriousness of the problem.
He shook his head, a wry, uneasy smile playing on his lips: "I'm afraid that's true—not long ago, I heard someone say they saw me not far from Hogsmeade, and I thought it was you—"
"I also thought it was you."
The two remained silent for a moment. An awkward and tense atmosphere filled the air.
Sean quickly sorted out his thoughts. If Sirius hadn't made a move, then there might be another threat lurking in the castle. Moreover, this threat was able to successfully infiltrate Hogwarts, even impersonating Sirius or someone else, which meant it had clearly planned very meticulously.
"We must tell Dumbledore immediately," Filch broke the silence.
"Tell Dumbledore?" Sean frowned slightly. "Are you crazy? Looking like this, who would believe you? If you're going to do something stupid, don't drag me down with you. I have a phobia of stupidity."
Immediately afterward, Sean made a quick decision: "We need to find that person first and figure out who is impersonating you."
Filch nodded in agreement. "That's right, but we have to be careful. The castle is definitely heavily guarded now, and I can't show my face easily."
Sean glanced at him from a distance, amazed that Sirius Black had such a high level of awareness.
He breathed a sigh of relief, feeling as if he had finally succeeded in raising his son.
The two continued discussing the details, and then Sean left the faculty lounge looking preoccupied.
The echoes of the Halloween dinner still lingered in the corridor.
But he knew that few people at Hogwarts could truly get through the night peacefully now.
This included the fact that Hermione's "after-school tutoring" that he had been looking forward to tonight had also fallen through.
Two flowers bloom, one branch each.
Meanwhile, after realizing that Sirius Black might have infiltrated Hogwarts, Dumbledore took immediate action. He quickly ordered all Gryffindor students to return to the Great Hall.
Ten minutes later, Hufflepuff, Ravenclaw, and Slytherin students entered the Great Hall, their faces filled with confusion and unease.
"The teachers and I need to thoroughly search the castle." Dumbledore stood in the center of the Great Hall, his gaze sweeping around.
Professor McGonagall and Professor Flitwick closed the Great Hall doors in unison, making the atmosphere even more tense. "For your safety, I'm afraid you'll have to spend the night here. I expect the prefects to guard the Great Hall entrance, and the student council president to oversee the situation. Report to me immediately if anything happens."
Dumbledore looked at Percy, who had straightened up and had a smug look on his face.
Clearly, as the student council president, he felt that his responsibilities were particularly important at this moment.
Dumbledore then added, "Send a ghost to deliver the message."
After saying that, he seemed to be turning to leave, but stopped, as if remembering something. "Oh, right, you need..."
He waved his wand gently, and long tables instantly rose into the air, automatically flying to the edge of the hall and lining up neatly against the wall. Then, he waved his wand again, and hundreds of soft, purple sleeping bags appeared on the floor, covering the entire hall.
"Sleep well." Dumbledore's tone softened, then he turned and left, his figure disappearing at the entrance of the Great Hall as the door slowly closed.
As soon as he left, a murmur of discussion erupted in the auditorium. The students were clearly shocked by this sudden event.
The young wizards of Gryffindor, in particular, couldn't wait to tell their classmates from other houses what had just happened.
The discussion became increasingly heated when it came to Sirius Black.
"Everyone, get into your sleeping bags!" Percy's voice rang out, carrying his characteristic bureaucratic tone. "Hurry up, and no more talking! Lights out in ten minutes!"
"Come here," Ron whispered to the other three. They grabbed four sleeping bags and dragged them to a corner of the hall, intending to spend the night there.
"Do you think Black is still in the castle?" Hermione asked, lying down in her sleeping bag, her face grave and her voice tinged with worry.
"Dumbledore seems to think so," Ron said, a hint of unease in his eyes.
"Why did he choose tonight?" Hermione said, crawling into her sleeping bag fully clothed, propping her head up on her elbow, and continuing in a low voice.
"Mingming—"
Sophia listened to the conversation but didn't offer her own opinion; instead, she appeared thoughtful.
"I don't think he has any sense of time anymore," Ron said. "He probably doesn't know it's Halloween Eve, otherwise he probably would have rushed here."
Hermione couldn't help but shudder upon hearing this, the terrifying face of Sirius Black on that wanted poster flashing through her mind.
The surrounding students were whispering among themselves, "How did he get in?"
This is the question in everyone's mind.
"Maybe he knows how to Apparate," said a Ravenclaw student not far from them, "He just appeared out of thin air."
"He might be using some kind of disguise," a Hufflepuff fifth-grader guessed.
"Maybe he flew in," Dean Thomas interjected.
Hearing these comments, Hermione finally couldn't hold back anymore. She rolled her eyes and said in a low voice, with a hint of anger, "Come on, am I the only one who has read 'Hogwarts: A History of the School'?"
Ron chuckled dismissively. "Probably, what's wrong?"
Hermione immediately began to explain, "Hogwarts is not only protected by walls, but also by various powerful magical defenses. It's impossible to enter the castle by Apparition. Besides, I'd like to see what kind of disguise could fool the Dementors. They guard every entrance to the school. If he flew in, the Dementors would have noticed long ago. Moreover, Filch knows all the secret passages and has already sent people to guard those places."
Harry's expression shifted slightly upon hearing Hermione say that "Filch knows all the secret passages."
Ron was the first to retort, "If Filch knew all the secret passages, he wouldn't have sent Harry to clean the walls in the corridors."
"Perhaps he doesn't know there's a secret passage there," Harry swallowed and whispered.
Hermione ignored Harry's addition and turned to Ron, her tone becoming more serious: "You mean to say that Sirius could have gotten in through these secret passages?"
Ron nodded emphatically. "That's right! If Black managed to bypass the Dementors' defenses, he must have used some secret passage that nobody knows about. I've heard Fred and George mention that there are some hidden passages in Hogwarts that nobody knows about, not even Filch might know them all." He paused, then added in a low voice, "He might not know them all. After all, Hogwarts is so big and so old, isn't it normal for there to be some unknown secret passages?"
Hermione frowned, clearly considering Ron's words.
Although she was reluctant to readily believe Ron's "speculation," in this tense situation, anything seemed possible.
At this point, Sophia interjected, "Actually, I think Ron has a point. Hogwarts has many secrets that we don't know, and perhaps Black did find an unmonitored passage. Moreover, if he really is Sirius Black, he would be very familiar with the layout of the castle; he studied here for seven years."
Hermione's brow furrowed; after hearing Ron and Sophia's words, her feelings became even more complicated. She subconsciously bit her lip, her mind racing. The secret passage, Sirius Black, something Filch didn't know—1
These clues gradually wove together into a complex web in her mind.
Suddenly, as if she had made up her mind, Hermione abruptly raised her head and said firmly, "We should tell Dumbledore about this. Black could have gotten in through these secret passages; we can't delay any longer."
However, just as Hermione was about to get up, Ron immediately reached out to stop her, his voice filled with urgency and unease: "No, Hermione, don't be so impulsive."
"Why not?" Hermione frowned at Ron. "This is about school safety; we must tell Dumbledore immediately!"
"Listen to me," Ron said in a low voice, his tone becoming more earnest. "If you tell Dumbledore now, Harry's sneaking out of the castle to go to Hogsmeade will be exposed, and Harry will never be able to go to Hogsmeade again. Don't forget, Harry can't legally go to Hogsmeade!"
Hermione was stunned, clearly not expecting Ron to come from this angle.
She glanced at Harry, and a conflict immediately arose in her mind.
Harry kept his head down, but when Ron mentioned him, he slightly raised his eyes, looking somewhat troubled.
He didn't want Sirius to come to the castle, nor did he want to lose the chance to go to Hogsmeade because of this.
“Ron, I know you’re worried about Harry,” Hermione said softly, her tone noticeably gentler, “but this is a serious matter. Black is at Hogwarts, and if he really did use those passages—we can’t take that risk.”
Ron shook his head, still insisting on his point of view: "But, Hermione, we don't have any evidence yet."
What if Black didn't even use these passages? Look, the castle is full of Dementors, and Dumbledore himself set up the defenses. Black might not actually succeed.
Sophia then gently chimed in, "Hermione, perhaps we can observe a little longer, find more clues, and then take action. Reporting immediately might alert them."
Hermione's feelings became increasingly conflicted. She bit her lip, her gaze shifting back and forth between Harry, Ron, and Sophia.
She understood Ron and Sophia's concerns, but her reason told her that no potential danger could be easily ignored, especially regarding Blake's safety.
"But—" Hermione wanted to retort, but the words stopped in her throat.
“Let’s wait a little longer, Hermione,” Ron said in a low voice, his expression serious. “At least until we have more evidence. It’s not too late to report it once we’ve confirmed that Black did use certain passages. That way, Harry won’t be implicated, and we’ll be more confident in our case.”
Hermione remained silent for a moment, pondering Ron's words.
She knew this was a serious matter, but Ron's suggestion also made some sense.
Finally, she sighed softly and said in a low voice, "Okay—we'll observe for a while longer."
Harry and Ron both breathed a sigh of relief when they heard Hermione agree.
The auditorium had gradually quieted down, and after the candles were extinguished, the ceiling still twinkled with starlight, like the night sky.
After a while, as a silence began to fall over them, Harry suddenly spoke up, throwing out a completely new hypothesis: "Do you think it's possible that Filch deliberately made me clean the walls there so I could discover that secret passage to Hogsmeade?"
His voice was hesitant, but it sounded extremely serious.
For some reason, this strange thought had just flashed through his mind and wouldn't go away, making it hard for him to let it go.
He recalled the secret passage leading to Hogsmeade and felt that the process from discovery to entry seemed too smooth.
However, Ron laughed dismissively the next second, "Don't be silly, Harry."
Ron raised an eyebrow, a half-sarcastic, half-disdainful smile playing on his lips. "That's Filch. You think he'd let you slip out on purpose? He'd love for you to make a mistake so he could deduct even more points from our Gryffindor. He'd be furious if he saw you circumvent the rules."
Hermione nodded, clearly agreeing that Harry's idea was somewhat absurd: "Yes, Filch wouldn't be that kind. He hates students who break the rules—especially those who trespass into restricted areas and run around. He takes the rules more seriously than anyone else."
“But something just feels off,” Harry said softly, a hint of unease in his eyes. He looked down at his hands. “Filch knows a lot of secret passages. Maybe he hasn’t told everyone, or maybe he doesn’t want to reveal everything he knows. Think about it, if he knew Black had broken in, why didn’t he block those passages beforehand? Why did he leave them open?”
Hermione clearly had complete faith in Filch's character. She shook her head, still insisting on her point of view: "I think you're overthinking it. Filch loves punishing people, especially someone like you. He wouldn't care about any secret passage, let alone helping you find a way to sneak into Hogsmeade."
Ron remained unconvinced, rubbing his nose. "Harry, you're too tense. No matter how much Filch knows about the castle's secret passages, he can't possibly have any grand schemes. He doesn't even know magic; don't overestimate his intelligence."
Harry looked up and saw that Ron and Hermione both thought he was overthinking things, but the doubts in his heart wouldn't go away.
Just then, Percy's voice rang out again, "Lights out now!"
He raised his voice and commanded, "I'm telling you all to get into your sleeping bags and stop talking!"
At Percy's command, the candles in the Great Hall went out instantly. The entire room was plunged into darkness, with only the faint glow of the drifting silver ghosts gliding slowly above the hall, whispering among themselves with the prefects.
The ceiling was enchanted, displaying the same night sky as the outside world, dotted with countless stars that seemed to sway in the breeze.
Harry lay in his sleeping bag, gazing at the twinkling stars on the ceiling, the whispers of his classmates still echoing around him, making him feel as if he were in an open field, with a gentle breeze caressing him.
However, despite the tranquility of the starry sky, Harry's heart could not find peace.