Midnight Meeting with Dumbledore

"I've never heard of such a thing, Mr. Collins."

Professor McGonagall glanced at Andy and said, "I'm glad your Transfiguration has improved, but we'd better hurry. Your class is about to begin."

Um...

"Fine!" Andy shrugged helplessly.

In fact, Andy hadn't found any relevant records in the Restricted Section either. He had only asked because he wanted to hear Professor McGonagall's opinion.

After all, she was an expert in Transfiguration.

That answer did not surprise Andy.

From this, it seemed that Transfiguration truly fell short of alchemy in certain respects.

When they arrived at Professor McGonagall's office, she sorted through the lesson plans she needed for class and got straight to the point. "Mr. Collins, you should have heard about what happened yesterday."

"I'm very sorry."

Andy asked, "Is there anything you need me to do?"

"Yes..."

After hesitating for a moment, Professor McGonagall frowned. "I contacted Dumbledore. Something came up on his end, and he won't be back until tomorrow."

"He asked me to have you meet someone in his place."

With that, Professor McGonagall found a note and handed it to Andy. "This has the time and place of the meeting... I had intended to go myself, but Dumbledore specifically instructed me to send you. I think... he must have his reasons."

Andy took the note, unfolded it, and gave it a quick look.

The meeting was scheduled for ten o'clock tonight.

The location was the Second Floor of Hog's Head Pub in Hogsmeade Village.

Who was he meeting?

Andy frowned slightly... Could it be Snape? "I understand!"

Andy nodded. "I'll be there on time."

After a pause, Andy asked, "Professor McGonagall, Hogwarts is protected by a Magical Barrier. How am I supposed to get out? I know the locations of several Secret Passages, but they've all been