Professor McGonagall walked beside the two, watching the intimate interaction between the person and the cat, a rare, slight curve appearing at the corners of her stern mouth.
She said nothing, only stopping at the fork leading to the Hospital Wing and nodding to Hermione.
"Go on, Miss Granger. Ensure Miss Lia gets the best rest possible."
Professor McGonagall turned her gaze toward another corridor leading to the Headmasters Office, her voice returning to its usual sternness. "As for me, I must go. There are things Albus needs to know immediately so he can be prepared."
Hermione understood that the subsequent fallout of the "staged incident" they had orchestrated was only just beginning to ferment.
A few days later, under Hermione's careful arrangement, the secret meetings of the D.A. officially moved from the noisy Hogs Head Inn to a more secluded and legendary location—the Room of Requirement.
"Wow..."
When Harry led the last group of members through the wall disguised as a tapestry, everyone was stunned by the sight before them.
It was no longer the massive cat playground from before, but a spacious, brightly lit professional training ground.
Soft, thick mats covered the floor, and over a dozen training dummies that could automatically dodge were lined up neatly against the walls.
There was even a whole row of tall bookshelves filled with advanced Defense Against the Dark Arts texts that Hermione had personally selected, duplicated, and annotated with key points.
"Hermione, you're a genius!" Ron gaped, looking at everything in shock.
"The Room of Requirement provides everything according to the user's needs."
Hermione was standing by the wall at the entrance, meticulously carving something with the tip of her wand. She explained without looking back, "I just focused very, very hard on 'an absolutely safe, fully equipped secret training base that can block all prying eyes'."
As she made the final stroke, the brick patterns on the wall rippled slightly, as if merging into invisible water, before returning to their original state with no trace of magic left behind.
"This is an ancient rune combination found in the books from Black Manor—a composite 'Sight-unseen Charm' and 'Intent-blocking Charm'."
Hermione brushed the dust off her hands and looked at her masterpiece with satisfaction.
"Now, even if someone happens to walk past here, in their eyes, this will only be an unremarkable wall or a broom closet for storing junk.
Unless they have the exact same purpose as us—'needing a secret training base to resist Umbridge'—they will never be able to enter."
The upgraded security measures allowed everyone to breathe a sigh of relief.
The training officially began.
Today's theme was the ultimate manifestation of a Wizard's willpower and emotional strength—the Patronus Charm.
"Remember, you must tap into your happiest, most powerful positive emotions!" Harry stood in the center of the field, instructing loudly. "Don't hesitate; let that happiness fill your entire soul!"
For a moment, silver light flickered throughout the training ground.
Hermione's lifelike Lia the Cat Patronus paced gracefully through the air, occasionally chasing its own tail of light playfully.
Ron's Jack Russell Terrier Patronus ran excitedly around the field, while Ginny's horse Patronus reared and neighed, full of vitality.
However, in a corner of the field, Neville Longbottom was still unable to succeed.
He gripped his wand tightly, sweat beads covering his forehead, and his face filled with painful struggle. The hollow, vacant stares of his parents in St Mungo's Hospital were like an inescapable nightmare, tightly entwining his soul.
"Ex... Expecto Patronum..."
He shouted with all his might, but the tip of his wand could only produce a few weak wisps of silver smoke that threatened to vanish at any moment.
"No... I can't... I can't remember..." Neville knelt on the ground in pain, his wand slipping from his trembling hand as he clutched his head in despair.
The surrounding noise seemed isolated from him.
Lia was lazily sweeping the floor with her tail when Neville's thick, unshakeable aura of pain pricked her senses.
She stopped her movements and turned her sky-blue eyes toward the boy curled up in the corner.
The Eye of Truth passive triggered.
She saw it.
She saw Neville's trembling soul, tightly bound by countless black, twisted thorns.
Each thorn reflected the tragic state of his parents being tortured by the Crucio curse and his own silhouette returning in disappointment time and again from St Mungo's Hospital.
At that moment, Lia seemed to smell her own scent on him.
Lia suddenly felt confused.
She seemed to have been hit by a curse like this once before. When was it?
She couldn't remember clearly.
It was as if a page had been torn from her memory, leaving only an instinctive fear of that pain deep within her soul.
Lia could no longer remember.
Hermione had said that Neville was "our friend," and friends should help each other.
This was the first time she had felt such strong empathy for someone other than Hermione.
It wasn't superior sympathy or cheap pity.
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