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"Hey Ron, are Dean and Seamus asleep?"
Around eleven-thirty at night, Harry suddenly sat up in bed and whispered to Ron, who was sleeping in the bed beside him.
Not everyone could be like Dudley, having a room all to himself. Harry shared a dormitory with three others in Gryffindor.
During flying class that day, hadn't Harry gotten into another argument with Malfoy and chased after him on a broom?
The two had spent quite some time chasing each other through the air without either gaining the upper hand, until everything ended inconclusively because of Madam Hooch.
When class ended, Malfoy angrily challenged Harry to a "settling of accounts." The time was set for midnight, and the place was the Trophy Room.
Since the meeting was scheduled for the middle of the night, the two went to bed early right after dinner.
By coincidence, this meant they returned at a different time from Hermione.
Harry had no idea what was going on with Hermione in Gryffindor. She hadn't told Dudley anything, so Harry knew even less.
As for what he himself might have noticed...
You couldn't expect someone like Harry, completely clueless, to notice that kind of detail.
Besides, his mind had been occupied lately with Malfoy.
Ahem.
To be more precise, with how he wanted to give Malfoy a good kick.
The two quietly got dressed and slipped out of the dormitory in the dark, trying to find their way through the common room using the moonlight coming through the windows.
However, being careless, Ron bumped into a table near the fireplace, making a noise.
"Who's there?"
A voice suddenly rang out in the silent room, startling both Harry and Ron so much that they almost grabbed onto each other.
After finally calming down, they realized it was Hermione.
"Hermione? What are you doing here?"
Harry asked, confused.
Because of what had happened earlier that night, Hermione didn't want to return to the dormitory. Cormac's words had served as a warning. She didn't know who had messed with her belongings that morning, but she was certain someone had. Her original plan had been to lie on the common room sofa and read for a while. Maybe because she had been too tired from their time in the Forbidden Forest during the day, she ended up dozing off there.
"Where are you going?"
After fully waking up, Hermione didn't answer Harry's question. Instead, she asked one of her own.
She could say she had been reading late and fallen asleep.
But what were Harry and Ron doing awake at that hour?
With the moonlight coming through the window, she looked them up and down and realized they weren't wearing pajamas.
"You're going out at night?"
Hermione immediately saw through their intentions and said in shock:
"I can't believe you're actually thinking about going out at this hour."
"Shhh, keep your voice down."
Ron said quickly, afraid Hermione would wake the others.
Hermione ignored Ron and fixed her gaze on Harry.
"Don't you know this could make Gryffindor lose points? Do you really want to hand the House Cup to Slytherin?"
"I can't let you do this."
She stepped in front of them, arms spread to block the exit. Even while being excluded, she still tried to protect her House's interests, even if no one cared.
"You're breaking the rules!"
If it were anyone else, Harry probably wouldn't have cared.
The problem was that it was Hermione.
He had a pretty good relationship with her. After all, Hedwig had been a gift from Hermione and Dudley.
He also knew that Dudley and Hermione were very close.
So close that he felt just a little uncomfortable.
'He's obviously my cousin.'
Of course, it was only a tiny bit of discomfort.
But... cancel the meeting?
Maybe that wasn't impossible.
After all, he could beat up Malfoy any other time.
So he hesitated.
But at that moment, Ron's attitude was surprisingly firm. Without backing down, he shot back immediately:
"And what about you? Didn't you break the rules too? Don't think I don't know. This afternoon I saw you skipping class with my own eyes."
The moment those words left his mouth, Hermione fell silent.
All the arguments she had prepared stuck in her throat.
She had indeed skipped class that afternoon.
Even though she could argue that, if she were caught, she could earn the points back, being too hypocritical wouldn't help.
She couldn't just say, I can do it, but you can't.
That wouldn't convince anyone.
Dudley had once told her that if she wanted others to trust her, she had to lead by example.
"No comeback, right? Then move and go back to sleep."
Seeing they still hadn't moved, Ron thought he had won the argument and grabbed Harry, ready to leave.
"Wait..."
Hermione's voice came again.
"I'm going with you."
"What?" Harry thought he had misheard.
What was going on?
Hermione, who normally feared losing even a single point for breaking rules, had skipped class with Dudley that afternoon and now wanted to sneak out with them?
However, since Harry's grades were average and he hadn't gone to Oxford Dragon like Dudley, he had no idea this wasn't the first time Hermione had skipped class with him.
"I said I'm going with you."
Hermione sighed and pulled out her wand.
"Dudley was right. If no one finds out, then it doesn't count as breaking the rules."
Seeing the two still standing there, she urged:
"Let's go. The later it gets, the higher the chance we'll be caught."
Ron and Harry exchanged a look.
"Just so we're clear. You can come with us, but I'm not going to take care of you out there. If we get caught, don't rat us out."
Hermione snapped back:
"I know more spells than you do. Worry about yourselves."
The Trophy Room was located on the third floor of Hogwarts Castle, some distance from Gryffindor, though overall much closer than Slytherin, which was in the dungeons.
When sneaking out at night, the biggest concern was the caretaker Filch, a hunched old man with a gloomy expression, especially strict with students.
If he caught them, losing points was inevitable.
Of course, there was also Peeves, who could appear at any moment.
A poltergeist who loved causing trouble and was especially annoying.
And Hermione truly proved she hadn't been exaggerating. The number of spells she knew was on a completely different level compared to Harry and Ron.
If it hadn't been for a simple spell Hermione cast along the way to avoid being detected by Filch's cat, Mrs. Norris, Harry and Ron might have been caught not long after leaving.
After narrowly escaping the cat, the three moved quietly down the corridor. Moonlight streamed through the tall windows, spreading across the floor like silver tiles.
When they reached the third floor, they carefully pushed open the door to the Trophy Room.
Inside, everything was silent.
There was no one there.
"Looks like we got here too early."
Ron was the first to step in, and as he walked, he said:
"When Malfoy shows up, I'm going to laugh right in his face."
The three found places to wait and stayed there quietly, waiting for Malfoy and his friends.
Time passed slowly.
Everything around them remained completely silent.
Malfoy didn't show up.
Not even a rat passed by.
After a while, impatience finally appeared on Ron's face. He ran a hand through his hair and muttered in frustration, like someone realizing too late:
"Damn it, I knew this would happen. Malfoy and the others aren't coming. Slytherins are all cowards. I should've known."
"Harry, we've been tricked."
Just as he finished saying that, the door to the Trophy Room opened again.
"Who said I'm a coward?"
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