"Seriously, I really should make myself a Walking Cane!"
Kane dragged Harry and Ron through the Forbidden Forest at top speed. Ink-black shadows slowly spread across the ground behind the three of them, blocking the Dark wizard's line of sight.
"Master, I don't know what kind of magic those young wizards used, but I can't see them anymore."
Quirrell had just unleashed a wave of flames, burning all the incoming killer bees to charcoal. But when he tried to track the three again, he could no longer see them. In fact, even the distant trees had disappeared behind a wall of darkness.
"Look at the magic, Quirinus. Once you learn to see its true nature, you'll realize that all those shadows obscuring your vision originate from that glowing little wizard."
Voldemort, clinging to the back of Professor Quirrell's head, slowly spoke.
"Glowing?"
Quirrell looked utterly baffled as he stared toward the rapidly receding darkness.
???
Voldemort: ...
"Forget it. He didn't see you. Continue with the plan. We don't need to concern ourselves with Dumbledore for now. As for that little wizard... Quirinus, I think you'll need to show some real skill in your next first-year Defence Against the Dark Arts class."
Kane, Harry, and Ron burst out of the Forbidden Forest in a frantic rush and headed straight for Hogwarts Castle.
"What do we do now?" Ron asked breathlessly when they reached one of the castle's side entrances.
"Tell Dumbledore, obviously. What do you think this is, some Japanese anime where primary school kids save the world?"
Kane pushed against the side door.
.....???
The door was firmly locked and showed absolutely no intention of cooperating.
"Ah. Looks like I won't be the only one sleeping outside tonight."
Hermione's gloomy voice drifted over from nearby.
Not long ago, after Kane had thoroughly irritated her in the Gryffindor common room, she had come outside to clear her head.
Then, when she tried to go back inside, some absolute bastard had apparently locked every door into the castle.
She checked her pocket watch and realized that, without noticing, she had stayed out past the time when the doors were locked.
She had originally assumed she would be spending the night outside all alone.
Who would have thought she would run into three familiar faces?
Looking at Kane, who had also been locked outside, Hermione felt a strange and somewhat unhealthy sense of comfort.
So what if your family background was so impressive even the Headmaster of Hogwarts treated you carefully?
When the school doors were locked and nobody knew you were outside, there were some situations where connections simply could not help.
In the end, didn't you still have to stand outside in the cold wind with commoners like us?
"Alohomora(Unlocking Charm)."
Kane tapped the lock with his wand.
Click.
...Nothing happened.
"I already tried that. It seems the exterior doors of Hogwarts can't be opened with magic," Hermione explained.
Bang!
"This door is practically falling apart. It's like the garden gate at Susan's house... Did it seriously never occur to you to kick it? Never mind, maybe you're trying to be a lady... Want to come inside?"
Kane felt he had phrased that very kindly. His refined command of language surely contained absolutely nothing that might embarrass Hermione.
"Thank you. I'm definitely buying myself a hammer!"
Hermione loudly thanked him, then continued muttering at a volume perfectly audible to everyone present.
"Are we heading back to Gryffindor Tower together?"
After breathing in the warm air inside Hogwarts again, Hermione turned to Kane and the others.
"No. We need to find Dumbledore and report something. Want to come?"
Kane swore that last part had been nothing more than politeness.
Who could have expected...
"Of course. Let's go together!"
Hermione agreed without hesitation.
As always, when a rich friend offered to share any kind of resource with you, including but not limited to introducing you to people you would normally never get the chance to meet, the correct answer was always yes.
After all, you couldn't sacrifice a warm and promising future just to protect something as cold and useless as pride.
"Uh, sure. Let's go."
Kane scratched his head.
Running into a Dark wizard in the Forbidden Forest, baiting out one attack, then escaping completely unharmed was hardly some great secret.
Bringing one more person along did not matter.
Before long, the four of them reached the stone guardians outside Dumbledore's office.
The two statues were remarkably perceptive. The moment they saw Kane, they moved aside without a word.
The four of them walked straight into the Headmaster's office without encountering a single obstacle.
The room was empty, and the lights were off.
"Where's Professor Dumbledore?" Harry frowned.
"He's an old man. Obviously, he's asleep."
As Kane spoke, he simply pushed open the concealed door in the Headmaster's office and walked into Dumbledore's bedroom.
Harry, Ron, and Hermione stayed exactly where they were.
Dragging Dumbledore out of bed while he was sleeping was simply too absurd for them to participate in.
Kane, however, did not care about any of that.
The situation was urgent, so naturally extraordinary measures were called for.
Unfortunately, Dumbledore had apparently taken extraordinary measures of his own. No matter how hard Kane shook him, the old man refused to wake up.
In the end, Kane could only helplessly write down everything that had happened in the Forbidden Forest on a sheet of parchment and place it on top of Dumbledore's slippers.
"He'll know everything tomorrow morning. We can go now."
Kane emerged from the bedroom.
"Um... Kane, are you and Professor Dumbledore really that close?" Hermione asked cautiously.
"We're all right. We were only roommates for a few days."
Kane shrugged and left the Headmaster's office with the other three.
On his way out, he casually took several pieces of uneaten chocolate from Dumbledore's desk and handed them around.
Running into a Dark wizard in the Forbidden Forest had probably scared Harry and Ron badly enough. A little chocolate should help calm their nerves.
"So we're going back to the tower now, right? Or do you three have some other activity planned?"
After finishing her chocolate, Hermione looked toward Kane and the others.
Originally, she had intended to remind them that they should return to their dormitory as quickly as possible. Otherwise, Gryffindor might lose points, Professor McGonagall's reputation would be tarnished, the incident might end up on their permanent records, they could lose the chance to become Ministry of Magic civil servants, and their entire lives would be ruined.
Then she remembered that she herself had nearly been forced to spend the entire night wandering around after curfew.
She decided against saying something so hypocritical.
"Hmm..."
All three boys pursed their lips and fell silent.
Seeing their reaction, Hermione naturally remembered the farce that had taken place in the Great Hall during dinner.
"You're not actually planning to go duel Malfoy and the others, are you?"
"It's three against four right now. We're still one person short," Harry said, suddenly becoming an idea machine as he attempted to drag Hermione into the mess.
It was not that he doubted Kane's fighting ability.
It was simply that if the whole thing blew up in their faces, having one more person around meant one more person to share the punishment.
For some reason, Harry had a bad feeling.
No, he was probably imagining things.
Anyway, once they won the wizard's duel, he could go back and...
Strange.
Why had that ominous feeling suddenly gotten even stronger?
"Uh, no thanks. You can handle the wizard's duel yourselves. I believe you can beat Malfoy and Annesley. I'm going back to Gryffindor Tower."
Hermione politely declined Harry's invitation.
Breaking school rules once because circumstances forced you into it was one thing.
Doing it voluntarily?
Hermione looked at the three boys in front of her.
One was magical society's privileged elite.
One was the savior of the magical world.
One came from an old pure-blood family.
And who exactly was she to go breaking school rules alongside people like them?
Wasn't that practically volunteering to take the blame when something went wrong?
And so, the group split up on the fifth floor.
Hermione headed toward Gryffindor Tower, while Kane, Harry, and Ron continued toward the agreed meeting place, the Trophy Room.
"I seriously think the three of us are way too relaxed about all this," Ron suddenly said.
"Hm?"
Kane and Harry both looked at him.
"Think about it. We literally just ran into a Dark wizard in the Forbidden Forest. We barely escaped, and now we're immediately rushing off to fight Malfoy. No matter how you look at it, this isn't something normal people would do," Ron explained.
"What else are we supposed to do? See a Dark wizard once, then spend every day hiding under the blankets because we're too scared to go outside?" Kane raised an eyebrow.
"Seriously, I'm actually getting sleepy now."
Harry yawned.
If it were not for his pride and the perfectly legitimate opportunity to beat up Malfoy, he would have loved nothing more than to launch himself into bed as quickly as humanly possible.
"Come on. Let's hurry up. We still need to sleep after the duel."
Harry quickened his pace.
Before long, the three arrived at the Trophy Room where they had agreed to meet.
Unfortunately, the person waiting inside was not Malfoy, Annesley, or either of their companions.
Instead, Filch sat alone on a chair, patiently waiting for someone to walk into his trap.
Filch stretched his shriveled mouth into a grin, revealing a crooked set of large yellow teeth.
"I've got you now!"