After giving Luna a small punishment for trying to gossip, Tver found himself hesitating again.
It was too early to go to the Great Hall for dinner, too late to go to the kitchens for afternoon tea, and going back to his office would only mean sitting there doing nothing. It was all rather pointless.
While Tver was still weighing his options, and Luna was tilting her head this way and that as she observed something, three furtive figures suddenly appeared.
"Professor Fawley?!" Harry said in delight.
Yet Tver somehow sensed a faint hint of resentment.
He did not show it, though. Instead, he looked at the trio in amusement as they crept over like thieves.
"What have you three done? Why do you look as though you've made everyone angry?"
Hermione stiffened, but quickly regained her composure and waved at Luna as if she had not heard the professor's question at all.
"Hello, Luna."
Seizing the chance to ease the awkwardness, Harry and Ron quickly greeted Luna with equal enthusiasm.
"Good... afternoon, Luna!"
"Nice to see you, Luna."
Not to mention Tver, even Luna herself could not help looking strangely at the trio's unusual behavior.
Just as Luna was about to ask, Tver patted her shoulder and said lightly, "Since I've run into the most mischievous students at Hogwarts, would you mind accompanying me for a walk around the castle? Consider it a farewell tour before you graduate."
"Of course!" Harry agreed at once.
He definitely did not want to tell the professor that because Hermione had only told half the story, the entire seventh year of Gryffindor was now full of resentment toward the three of them.
If they had not slipped away quickly, they would probably have been drowned by the fury in the common room by now.
As if to show his enthusiasm, Harry rushed to the front like a tour guide and led everyone around the eighth floor.
"This is... er, the portrait of the Fat Lady, the entrance to Gryffindor Tower." Harry turned his head and saw the very place they had just fled from in a hurry.
Behind him, Ron and Hermione immediately stared nervously at the Fat Lady on the wall, afraid a crowd of students might suddenly burst out from inside.
"Hello, Professor Fawley." The Fat Lady smiled and waved at Tver.
"Come to think of it, even among the portraits everywhere in the castle, we rarely see you walking around. This should be only the second time we've met in five years, shouldn't it?"
Tver smiled faintly.
He really had not wandered around the castle very often, and the few times he had done so, he had maintained a Disillusionment Charm. Naturally, the portraits could not see him.
"That was my oversight. The last time was because of Sirius, wasn't it?"
"Don't remind me." The Fat Lady looked disgusted as she recalled that frightening memory. "Sirius was truly violent back then. If he hadn't come all the way here last year to apologize to me, I wouldn't have believed that was..."
Whether because he did not want to hear his godfather's embarrassing history, or simply because he did not want to linger there, Harry hurriedly pulled Tver forward before the Fat Lady could finish. They walked on until they reached a solid wall.
"This is the Room of Requirement. D.A. meetings have always been held here..." Ron said excitedly.
But once he thought that D.A. activities would probably end after they graduated, his mood sank.
Hermione realized the same thing. With reluctance, she gently touched the wall that held so many of their happy memories.
"I didn't feel it much before, but touching this wall, I finally understand how hard it is to leave the castle."
Harry looked at the wall, and countless fragments of life in the castle surfaced in his mind.
For him, Hogwarts was the place that truly carried the best memories of the past seven years. In a few months, they would have to leave this wonderful place behind.
"Don't lose yourselves in the beauty of the past," Tver suddenly said.
"When you look toward the future, you'll realize that this beauty has always been supporting us deep inside. It has never left."
Even so, the melancholy atmosphere still lingered in the trio's hearts. Only Luna, who was in sixth year, tilted her head and smiled with interest.
"The entrance to Ravenclaw Tower is just ahead. For me, that should count as a beautiful place, shouldn't it?"
Although deep down she did not care too much about her classmates' pranks, Luna still felt some unhappiness over them.
"Of course it does. You made quite a few friends there, didn't you?"
"What about you, Professor? Don't you think I'm strange?" Luna asked curiously.
Even Headmaster Dumbledore was sometimes surprised by her words. If there was anyone in the castle who truly did not find her strange, or rather, who had always treated her as an equal, it was Professor Fawley.
Tver patted her head with a smile.
"To this world, every one of us is unique. Staying true to yourself is not strange. On the contrary, those who blindly follow the crowd and reject anyone different are the truly strange ones."
The first to react to those words were actually Harry and the others.
When they had first met Luna, they had genuinely thought she was a mad girl.
But the next stop immediately dispelled the trio's guilt.
"I never want to come here again." Harry pointed resentfully at the entrance to the Divination Tower.
"Professor Trelawney once stood here and said things like the Dark Lord was going to rise. She didn't even think about the fact that with Professor..."
As Harry spoke, he seemed to realize something. He opened his mouth in surprise and looked at the professor, who was smiling at him.
After a long while, he finally closed his mouth and swallowed.
He seemed to understand that prophecy a little now.
Ron pushed him curiously.
"What is it?"
"N-nothing." Harry quickly composed himself and pulled Hermione, who had also suddenly understood, toward the staircase.
They had finished the eighth floor. On the seventh floor, there was only the boys' bathroom and Slughorn's office.
Harry's feelings toward Slughorn were rather complicated. Of course, that was also because the Half-Blood Prince's textbook had only covered sixth-year material, and his Potions knowledge was nowhere near enough to support his reputation as a Potions genius.
But unexpectedly, as the group hurried past the seventh floor, they ran into Draco.
Draco had originally intended to ask Slughorn about some Potions questions, but the moment he saw Tver, he immediately threw that thought aside and cheerfully tagged along.
"I've always wanted to take a proper tour of the castle. After all, I'm not like certain students who enjoy breaking school rules and wandering around the castle at night every few days."
Although their relationship had eased quite a lot, that did not stop their usual back-and-forth.
The sixth floor was even simpler. There was only one bathroom reserved for the school's prefects, Head Boys and Girls, and Quidditch captains.
Harry had once snuck in there during fourth year just to listen to the song inside the Golden Egg.
Of course, he would never say that, especially not in front of the growing crowd of students.
Yes, Tver's presence alone was enough to attract the students' attention, and with the idea of a graduation farewell tour added in, a large group of students soon gathered around them.
"In that case, let's all take a walk through the castle together."
Guiding one person was guiding, and guiding a group was still guiding. Tver did not refuse the students who joined them, but led the large procession onward.
Of course, once their memories were stirred, most of the students no longer needed Tver to do anything. They began happily chatting with their friends about all kinds of interesting things that had happened in the castle.
"As for the fifth floor, I remember the Mirror of Erised was once placed in this abandoned classroom."
Looking at the classroom, Ron fell into his memories.
As the first thing that had ever truly encouraged him, the Mirror of Erised held extraordinary meaning for him.
"But you've already truly obtained what you wanted, not just the illusion shown in the mirror, haven't you?"
Tver's comfort pulled Ron out of his memories. He grinned and nodded firmly.
When they reached the fourth floor and saw the Trophy Room, Harry immediately looked at Draco with mockery in his eyes.
"Oh, isn't this the place a certain coward didn't dare come near?"
"All right." Seeing the two of them start bickering, Tver quickly pressed down on their heads. "If you keep going, I'll throw both of you into the corridor across the way."
That corridor had once been the entrance to where the Philosopher's Stone was kept. Aside from Fluffy, the Three-Headed Dog guarding the trapdoor, there had been many traps inside as well.
Of course, it had now been restored to its original state. Apart from a few curious students, no one was particularly interested in it anymore.
Only Tver looked at it with some feeling.
In a sense, although the Philosopher's Stone had not been as useful to him as it had been to Marvolio, scheming for it had been the first step in all of his plans.
Looking back now, the ones who had been inexperienced back then were not only the students, but also himself.
This feeling became even stronger when they reached the third floor and returned to the front of his office.
At that moment, Draco suddenly popped out and pointed at the bathroom at the end of the corridor, asking with a cheeky grin, "Professor, I've never been inside the Chamber of Secrets. Could you take me in for a look?"
Tver glanced at him.
"The Basilisk has never bitten you either. Would you like to try that too?"
Draco whimpered, shrank his neck, and no longer dared to speak up. Instead, he glared angrily at Harry, who was laughing at him.
Still, after that interruption, Tver managed to collect his emotions and led everyone downstairs.
The seemingly ordinary second floor held a different meaning for Hermione.
"This was the bathroom where I ran into the Troll. If the professor hadn't helped, I probably would have died in there..."
She glanced at Harry and Ron, who had suddenly puffed out their chests, and smiled.
"Of course, you two deserve credit for reporting it to the professor."
Professor McGonagall had just come out of her office when she saw the huge procession, like a parade, and froze on the spot.
"What... are all of you doing?"
Tver did not need to explain. The students began talking over one another, telling her about their nostalgia for the castle.
After hearing them out, Professor McGonagall felt both moved and amused. With her hands on her hips, she did not quite know what to say for a moment.
"In any case, it's dinnertime. Hurry to the Great Hall and eat!"
"Dinner can be eaten anytime, but a chance this rare... huh, where's Professor Fawley?"
A student had just tried to rebel when he suddenly realized halfway through that the professor leading them had disappeared.
"Of course he went to the Great Hall," Draco said, completely unsurprised.
"..."