"Ron, don't forget what we agreed on!"
After waiting for Ron's muffled reply from beneath the blankets, Harry, now dressed in casual clothes, snatched up the gold watch on his desk, strapped it on, and hurried out of the dormitory.
Saturday, 5:20 in the morning.
Normally at Hogwarts, you would be unlikely to see students wandering around at this hour, but today was a little different.
Harry had thought he would be late, but after dashing out of the dormitory, he saw quite a few sluggish figures in the common room and on the tower stairs. Their swaying gait made them look like a group of directionless ghosts.
"I really don't understand why Professor Breen made us get up so early—"
Seeing Neville and the others on the stairs, complaining as they yawned, immediately eased Harry's uneasy heart.
"Maybe we have a long way to travel—"
Seamus guessed listlessly, but Harry, silently following behind them, knew that was impossible.
This field study was a same-day trip. They would not be spending the night outside the school. Most likely, they would use a Portkey to reach Avalon Prison directly.
At the end of October, the sky at five in the morning was a pure, clear black, without the faintest hint of daylight waiting to break over the horizon.
The cold wind blowing into the castle through the archways not only quickly woke Harry from his endless yawning, but the heavy moisture hanging in the frigid air also told him that today might not bring good weather.
To accommodate the young wizards going on the field study, the kitchen elves had started work early as well, but that had done nothing to diminish their cooking.
Only a small portion of the candles floating above the Great Hall were lit, their dim yellow