Harry and Ron Caught Out at Night

Hermione gave Andy a strange look. Why were you so practiced at this sort of thing? What exactly had you been through all these years?

Andy read the letter.

Malfoy had already contacted Old Malfoy by letter, and Old Malfoy had agreed to the plan without any surprise.

Over the past few days, Malfoy had been trying to contact the older Slytherin students. They were also interested in the matter, and everything had gone very smoothly at first.

However, it soon slipped beyond Malfoy's control.

Within Slytherin House, Malfoy was not the only one whose father was a School Board Member. Now that they knew about it, naturally they had no reason to listen to a first-year brat like Malfoy.

That was why Malfoy had written to Andy for help. He wanted to take back control of the matter.

"Now that's the Slytherin way!"

Andy chuckled and shook his head. The letter in his hand turned to ash and scattered into the air.

Andy turned to look toward the Slytherin table and happened to meet Malfoy's gaze.

Malfoy seemed much more cautious now. He merely gave a slight nod before turning his attention elsewhere.

"What did he say?" Hermione asked, sounding a little indignant.

She had already written a letter of complaint to Dumbledore, and to Andy's surprise, Dumbledore had quickly sent Hermione a reply.

He frankly stated that a new Defense Against the Dark Arts Class professor would be appointed next year, but this year's choice had already been decided. Before Quirrell made a mistake, it would be difficult for him to dismiss Quirrell without reason.

In Andy's view, Dumbledore's reply was not perfunctory.

(Andy did not know about the curse.)

But Andy could hardly wait another year.

Andy only had seven years to study, and every year was extremely important to him.

If he wasted a year, who knew how much knowledge he would miss out on?

"It's nothing serious, just an internal power struggle in Slytherin!"

Andy roughly explained the contents of the letter to Hermione, then said, "How about we go read in the library? I need to write Malfoy a reply."

"Let's go!" Hermione gathered up a stack of books and headed for the library first.

Hogwarts Library was practically a treasure trove. Andy had found many books on Magical Theory there and learned all kinds of little spells.

Many minor spells were not especially useful, and some might never be used even once in a lifetime.

But Andy still mastered those obscure spells.

They might have been useless to others, but for Andy, they could speed up the growth of the red liquid inside the system orb.

When practicing magic at home, Andy needed half a month to accumulate one Potential Point. But after coming to Hogwarts—based on his practice these past few days, Andy found that he only needed ten days to accumulate one Potential Point.

His progress had increased dramatically.

This was especially true in Transfiguration. Ever since attending Professor McGonagall's classes, Andy could feel his improvement even without checking the system.

Professor McGonagall explained Transfiguration in great detail. Much of what she taught was not in the textbooks, and that knowledge had been enormously helpful to Andy.

That was precisely why Andy so urgently hoped the school would replace Professor Quirrell as soon as possible.

After finding a quiet corner in the library, Andy picked up a quill and wrote Malfoy a reply.

The problem Malfoy had encountered was nothing at all in Andy's eyes. He only needed to subtly point out that the matter involved Dumbledore, and those Little Wizards would probably not dare get involved.

Not everyone had Old Malfoy's nerve to openly go head-to-head with Dumbledore.

After finishing the reply, Andy put the letter into the pocket of his Wizard Robe, planning to send it to Malfoy using the school owls after lunch.

"Did you hear?" Once Andy had finished writing, Hermione suddenly asked in a low voice.

Andy: "?"

What did I hear now?

Hermione said, "Last night, Potter and Weasley from Gryffindor were caught sneaking around after curfew. I heard they even broke into the Fourth Floor Corridor..."

At that point, Hermione suddenly shot Andy a glare. "The place where you said you wanted to meet with an accident and die a painful death."

"Could your memory be any less good?"

Andy replied irritably, then asked curiously, "How did they get caught?"

That scene really had happened in the movie. Harry and Ron had even seen the Three-Headed Dog in that corridor.

That was also the main reason Andy did not dare go there.

Arguing with Dumbledore was one thing, but if Andy actually had to take action, he would not dare.

After all, Andy did not want to meet with an accident, much less die a painful death.

"I heard Mr. Filch caught them."

Hermione shook her head, then said pointedly, "Professor McGonagall was furious. She deducted a full sixty points from Gryffindor. So I hope you'll give up that idea."

"Of course!"

Andy spread his hands. "I don't want to die a painful death either... Shh! Stop talking. Madam Pince has noticed us."

Hermione hurriedly lowered her head and began reading.

As he read, Andy tried to remember what mishap had led to those two unlucky fools, Ron and Harry, getting caught.

Uh...

Andy suddenly remembered that, in the movie, Hermione had used the Unlocking Charm to open the room at the end of the Fourth Floor Corridor.

As for Harry and Ron—they did not know the Unlocking Charm.

They really were brave! Andy could only say that they truly deserved to be Gryffindors. They barely knew any magic, yet they dared to sneak out at night.

Then again, without Hermione, Harry and Ron probably would not even have made it past Devil's Snare, right? But that was fine. If Andy's plan succeeded, perhaps Harry and Ron could avoid being strangled to death by Devil's Snare.

Uh... without Hermione, Harry and Ron might not even have known about the Philosopher's Stone.

Then none of it would have begun! Heh heh.

Andy suddenly wanted to see Dumbledore's expression when he learned about this.

The legendary Chosen One could not even use the Unlocking Charm! It really was "Hermione and her two useless men"!

Andy glanced sideways at Hermione, and Hermione turned to look back at him.

"What are you looking at?" Hermione asked, embarrassed and annoyed. If you're reading, then read properly. Why are you looking at me for no reason? "I just think... uh... what book are you reading?"

Andy took the book Hermione was reading and discovered that it was a book about flying.

"Give it back!" Hermione snatched the book back in embarrassment and anger.

Andy laughed loudly, remembering Hermione's clumsy appearance in yesterday afternoon's Flying Class—she had only dared fly two meters into the air.

"Don't laugh!" Hermione's face turned red.

"If you want to practice your flying skills, I can help you!"

Seeing Hermione baring her teeth and claws, practically ready to pounce on him, Andy quickly tried to make amends. "I know an older student. He's a member of the Hufflepuff Quidditch Team, so I can borrow a Flying Broom from him."