Ron's eyes went wide with surprise. "You're going out at night? Filch will catch you and have you polishing windows till your hands fall off!"
Harry drew his wand and gave it a light flick. "I can use the Disillusionment Charm to avoid Filch. And don't forget I can lend magic. I doubt he'll be able to resist the temptation to cast spells."
Ron's eyes lit up; he forgot all about arguing with Dean. "I'm coming with you."
He really wanted to see what would happen next.
Harry refused without hesitation; this wasn't a fun little outing. "No. You don't know the Disillusionment Charm, and I can't hide both of us at once."
Ron sagged in disappointment. "All right then…"
The other three roommates were disappointed too. Judging by their faces, if Harry had agreed to take Ron, they'd have followed along without a second thought.
Well… maybe not Neville.
He might be a little lion too, but there was something in his eyes.
Late at night, the Gryffindor common room lay in silence. Moonlight filtered through the stained glass windows, scattering mottled patterns across the floor.
Harry drew his wand and cast the Disillusionment Charm on himself, followed by a Whispering Charm, then headed for the portrait hole.
When he reached the entrance, he stopped.
The Fat Lady's portrait was right ahead. If he climbed out through the front door, she'd definitely notice. He had other ways.
He tapped his wand lightly in midair. There was a faint sound like shattering glass, and Harry stepped through the fractured doorway into the Mirror Dimension.
Inside the Mirror Dimension, nothing could affect reality. And once you advanced far enough, you could even manipulate everything within it to some extent.
Harry couldn't bend the Mirror Dimension to his will the way the Sorcerer Supreme could, but simple tricks like phasing through walls or shifting structures around were easy enough.
And because everything was anchored to reality, stepping back out of the Mirror Dimension would drop him into the corresponding spot in the real castle.
Harry entered the mirrored version of the corridor, then slipped back into reality.
The corridor's wall lamps cast a dim yellow glow, doing their best to push back the darkness, but only managing to make it thicker and more obscure.
Skirting around a cluster of stone statues at the corner, Harry moved quietly downward, and soon picked up the faint sound of a cat's meow.
That was Mrs. Norris.
Near the corridor that led to the first-floor kitchens, Harry found her under an oil lamp—with Filch standing right beside her.
"Who's there?"
To Harry's surprise, even though he was invisible and silent, Filch somehow sensed him and turned in his direction.
Seeing Filch's wary expression, Harry rubbed his chin and thought, Strong sixth sense. Has being pranked by students for years given him something like spider-sense?
From a magical perspective, it wasn't impossible. Squibs couldn't wield magic like regular witches and wizards, but they still had magic in their bodies.
A moment later, he dispelled the Silencing Charm and walked toward Filch.
Tap. Tap. Tap. Tap.
In the still corridors of Hogwarts, footsteps rang out one after another, like the drumbeat of the night, each one tapping against the silence and shattering the castle's peace.
Filch's ears pricked up like an old hunting dog's. His half-closed eyes flew open, a glint of excitement and anticipation flashing in them—the look he only got when he smelled a rule-breaking student.
Punishing wand-waving brats was one of the few pleasures left in his life.
Filch strode toward the source of the sound, but when he reached it, there was no one there.
He craned his neck and swung his head back and forth like a rattling toy drum, scanning the dark corridor with a hawk's gaze.
No matter how he searched, he couldn't find where the footsteps were coming from.
Filch's experience kicked in immediately; he thought at once of the Disillusionment Charm and the Invisibility Cloak—two classic ways to vanish. He barked out, "Don't think you can get away. I'll catch you for sure!"
He had years of tricks for dealing with invisible students. Mrs. Norris was his secret weapon against unseen targets.
Her ears were sharp enough to catch even the faintest sound, and that pink little nose of hers could sniff out the trail of an invisible student with terrifying accuracy.
But things were different this time. Even though the footsteps were all around them, Mrs. Norris couldn't find their source. Instead, as the sound drew closer, she began to tremble.
"Mrs. Norris, Mrs. Norris!" Filch scooped her up in a panic. She was the only warmth in his miserable life.
To him, even losing his cushy Hogwarts caretaker job would be better than losing her.
When Mrs. Norris still didn't calm down, Filch's courage faltered. "All right, you win. Just go. I won't interfere any further."
But the footsteps didn't retreat. They came closer.
And then the surroundings began to change.
The space around them was like a great mirror that suddenly began to crack without warning.
In an instant, fine fractures spread like spiderwebs in every direction, wrapping tightly around him.
Crack!
A sharp, glassy shatter rang out. Transparent fragments of space came raining down like snowflakes.
When everything finally settled, the corridor seemed normal again at first glance. But if you looked deeper, there was a subtle, indescribable shift—something mysterious stirred beneath the surface.
Sure enough, the walls on either side of the corridor began to warp as though pressed in by some colossal force, narrowing outward, while the far ends of the corridor curved inward toward each other. In the end, they formed a circular chamber about a hundred meters across.
Filch's usual severity and sternness were gone. He was utterly terrified.
Power like this… surely only Dumbledore could wield it?
But Dumbledore would never play a trick like this on him. So who was this witch or wizard, able to work such a miracle—and why were they targeting him?
Filch hugged Mrs. Norris even tighter. The two of them clung to each other as if that could offer the smallest scrap of safety.
Tap. Tap. Tap. Tap!
The footsteps finally stopped echoing from all directions and instead approached from directly ahead, coming closer and closer until they halted ten meters from Filch.
His face folded into a fawning smile, the corners of his mouth stretching almost to his ears. He looked like a chrysanthemum blooming past its limit, full of sycophantic nerves. His voice went soft and trembling as he pleaded,
"Please, don't hurt me or Mrs. Norris. I'm just a simple caretaker—I'm no threat to you at all. If there's anything you need done, just say the word and I'll do it!"
His quavering, almost groveling appeal seemed to have some effect. The air in front of him stirred as if an invisible hand were gently swirling it; ripples spread outward from what had looked like empty space.
Then the mysterious wizard slowly released the Disillusionment Charm, and a figure gradually came into view.
When Filch finally made out the newcomer's face, his eyes bulged, his jaw dropping so wide it looked like he could fit an egg in his mouth.
He instinctively stumbled back a step, his face filled with disbelief. After a long moment, a hoarse cry scraped its way out of his dry throat:
"It's you… Harry Potter!"
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