Hermione's Warning

Luan had originally planned to return to the dormitory and polish a few more branches so he could try splitting wands several times in a row in the morning.

He had discovered that as long as he kept repeating an action without interruption, he could find that subtle feeling.

And right now, he needed to practice mastering that subtle sensation of splitting.

But when he heard Ron shouting, Luan stopped out of curiosity and joined the others in looking at the Gray Mouse lying motionless on the bed.

"Is it asleep?" Neville asked uncertainly, looking at the rat in Ron's arms.

"Probably. Scabbers always sleeps this peacefully when he's really tired."

Ron's voice carried a faint sob as his hand kept feeling around the rat's nose.

The seven or eight whiskers that had remained there were all gone.

When Luan saw the cleanly cut ends of the whiskers, he immediately ruled out Bouncing as the culprit.

He knew perfectly well that Bouncing's little paws could not achieve something like that.

What Luan did not know was that a pair of small eyes was peeking out from the treehouse at that very moment, watching Scabbers, the Gray Mouse in the distance.

Harry had just returned from the washroom. After class, Wood had called him away for Quidditch practice, and he had not even eaten dinner properly.

After figuring out why Ron was upset, Harry began comforting his good friend.

"Don't be sad, Ron. How about we find a box or something and keep Scabbers in it? That way, he'll be protected too."

Harry's suggestion received everyone's support. They did not find a box, though, and used a basket for dirty clothes instead.

Before going to bed that night, Luan had finished polishing three rough wand blanks. By then, most people had already returned to the dormitory to sleep.

Luan chose not to read any more either, since tomorrow's classes did not require any preparation.

There would be a garlic-smelling Defense Against the Dark Arts class in the morning, a very easy Herbology class in the afternoon, and then Astronomy class at eleven at night.

Of those three classes, the one Luan disliked most was Defense Against the Dark Arts. After an entire lesson, he felt as though he had been contaminated.

The next morning, three more bright flames appeared in the fireplace, just as expected.

Luan could only helplessly start polishing new sticks again.

Fortunately, none of the daytime classes assigned homework, giving Luan more time to do his own things.

But that evening, while Luan was working intently by the fireplace, Hermione finally could not help walking over.

"I think you should pay attention to Bouncing."

Luan was sanding a wand. Hearing Hermione say that out of nowhere, he looked up at her in confusion.

"I took the wrong staircase when I came back from the library today."

Luan was even more confused by Hermione's abrupt remark.

He had been fairly busy lately, so he had not gone to the library with Hermione to read.

But taking the wrong staircase was something every Little Lion experienced. What was there to talk about?

"What are you trying to say?" Luan asked, voicing his confusion.

"I... I mean, I took the wrong staircase, and then I saw Bouncing riding on Mrs. Norris."

"Oh, Filch's cat. They're friends. There's nothing strange about that."

Luan lowered his head and continued polishing his work.

Seeing that Luan still did not understand, Hermione grew more anxious.

"But they were chasing Ron's rat!"

"Hm?"

Case solved!

Luan finally knew why Bouncing had been so well-behaved these past two days.

It had been secretly doing something big behind his back.

"Thank you for telling me."

After thanking Hermione, Luan hurried back to the dormitory.

Everyone in the dormitory was gathered around the old basket where Scabbers lived.

"What are those claw marks on it?" Seamus curiously looked at the three bright-red bloody streaks on Scabbers' body.

"Could it have been an owl?" Neville's unexpected question made everyone suddenly feel as if they had found the culprit.

There were many owls at Hogwarts, and they all ate mice. This made Ron extremely uneasy.

"Um... Ron, should we take the rat to the School Infirmary first? It doesn't look like it's in very good shape."

Luan only needed one glance at the wounds on the Gray Mouse to know that they were cat scratches.

At York Farm, whenever spring arrived, he would always see stray cats fighting over mating. The claw marks on them were exactly like the ones on Scabbers.

After Luan's reminder, Ron sorrowfully carried the Gray Mouse out of the dormitory. Luan, meanwhile, carried Bouncing to the Common Room.

He found a secluded spot and placed Bouncing on his lap.

"Bouncing, what you did was wrong."

"Squeak?" (What happened?)

"Someone saw you, together with Mrs. Norris."

"Squeak squeak!" (Impossible, we hid very well!)

The moment Bouncing said that and realized it had exposed itself, it hurriedly covered its long mouth with its little paws.

"Promise me you won't go after that Gray Mouse again, okay?"

Luan looked very serious, and Bouncing stared at him with its blinking little black eyes.

"Squeak~"

"It doesn't matter whether that rat is bad or not. You only need to know that if it gets hurt, Ron will be unhappy. He's the red-haired boy, the one who brought you lamb chops before."

Bouncing stared fixedly at Luan, as though it were considering the meaning of such a long speech.

After quite a while, it finally nodded somewhat unwillingly.

"All right, don't be upset. Next time we visit Hagrid, we'll ask him for more dried bugs, okay?"

"Squeak~"

After getting Bouncing's response, Luan felt somewhat relieved. He really was afraid that Bouncing would go looking for trouble with that rat again.

Although Luan had disliked that rat from the first time he saw it, it was still Ron's pet. He had no right to interfere.

After seeing Luan return Bouncing to the dormitory, Hermione quietly came over again.

"I'm very sorry. I don't know whether what I did was right."

Hermione was referring to how she had just tattled about Bouncing.

Luan did not mind it, and he even had to thank her.

But Hermione's attitude made him curious.

In his eyes, Hermione had always been a very forceful person. After spending a month together, he had never seen her apologize to anyone.

"It's fine. Bouncing has already agreed not to trouble that rat again."

Hearing Luan say that, Hermione visibly breathed a sigh of relief.

"It's actually very smart, isn't it? I mean Bouncing. Look, it found a natural enemy of mice to deal with the mouse. That isn't a skill ordinary animals can master."

"That's right. I didn't expect it either."

It was only that evening that Luan figured out why Bouncing had smelled so strongly of fish some time ago.

It had probably caught fish for Mrs. Norris to eat, used that to befriend the castle caretaker's beloved pet, and only then gone after the Gray Mouse.

Looking at it that way, Bouncing was even smarter than Hermione imagined.

After chatting for a while, Hermione left on her own. Although she did not understand why Luan was so obsessed with Wand Making, she did not want to interfere too much.

When Luan was getting ready to climb into bed that night, Ron returned carrying Scabbers.

The Gray Mouse had a large bandage stuck to its body, like it was holding up a white flag of surrender.

"Squeak~" (())

"Bouncing, keep your voice down~"

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