Who's Causing Trouble?

Boom! The sound of the bookshelf tipping over was enough to wake everyone in the castle.

At that moment, Fred and his two companions, who were playing a cat-and-mouse game with Filch on the Third Floor of the castle, were also startled by the loud noise. They all stopped and listened intently to the sounds around them.

Filch, who was still chasing the group, also stopped and looked in astonishment in the direction from which the sound came.

"The sound seems to be coming from the direction of the fifth floor," Filch muttered to himself, and he immediately turned and headed towards the library.

"What was that noise just now?" George was the first to ask, unable to contain his curiosity.

"I don't know, it might have been Albert who made it. Let's go back to the Common Room first." Fred said decisively, "Let's get back before the noise attracts the other professors."

"Hurry!" George shouted, and the three of them began to run at full speed down the corridor. They had to get back to the Common Room before the professors appeared. Albert had told them that the Hogwarts professors had the ability to see through the Disillusionment Charm on them.

Running through corridor after corridor, the three made their way to the Seventh Floor via a secret passage beside them. Halfway there, Lee Jordan asked again, "Should we go to the rendezvous point? What about Albert?"

"That guy definitely got away before us."

"Go straight to the Common Room."

In fact, their approach was quite correct. Shortly after the sound rang out, several professors in the castle were awakened by the noise and came to check the situation.

In the corridor, the portraits on the walls seemed to be running back and forth, trying to figure out what was going on.

By the time Filch checked the fifth floor, Albert had already fled the scene of the crime, and he was even faster than them.

Before leaving, Albert made sure to close the library entrance.

It was precisely for this reason that Filch was unable to find the crime scene for a while. He only had a general idea of where the sound came from, but when he went to check, he found nothing.

The culprit behind all this is rushing toward the Gryffindor Common Room.

Albert tried his best not to make a sound, but the people in the portrait had already been awakened by the sound. After hearing the slight footsteps, they all turned their faces curiously and looked at the empty corridor.

After going upstairs, Albert walked halfway down the corridor, then lifted a tapestry on the wall and went up a narrower staircase, a shortcut that led to the Seventh Floor.

As for Fred and his group, they have Marauder's Map with them, so they shouldn't get caught. Albert isn't worried about their safety at all.

When he arrived near the entrance to the Common Room, he did not dispel the magic on his body, and waited there for Fred and the others.

A few minutes later, the group rushed over and looked at Albert, who was still waiting for them outside, with a puzzled expression. They asked, "Why don't you go into the Common Room?"

"The Fat Lady won't open the door for us when we're invisible," Albert warned. "Come with me to the Room of Requirement to rest. Just in case, we should avoid being seen."

Fred and his two companions looked puzzled, but they still followed Albert to the Room of Requirement. Under these circumstances, they were willing to trust Albert's judgment, after all, Albert was much smarter than them, and he must have a reason for doing so.

Meanwhile, Filch was inspecting the library, as the sound he had just heard did indeed resemble bookshelves collapsing. However, when Filch entered the library, he found no signs of collapsed bookshelves.

Yes, no, not even in the Restricted Section, there was no sign of any bookshelves collapsing, as if the sound had never happened.

At that moment, Filch knew he had been tricked. Yes, tricked. Just like the helmet stuck to the floor on the fourth floor, the damned Dungbombs thrown in the hallway, and even the sounds here—everything was someone playing a trick on him.

Yes, those were the bastards he was just chasing. Filch vaguely guessed who they were.

Although there was no evidence, Filch had a feeling that the Gryffindor Twins were the ones who did it.

"Filch? What happened?"

Snape, wearing a grey shirt-style long nightgown, walked into the library with a gloomy expression.

"I just heard a noise and came to check. I think it was probably made on purpose by some students." Filch turned to Snape and said in a low voice, "I was just chasing them. There are several students wandering around the castle in the middle of the night, Professor."

"Students, very good, we'll catch them." Snape looked around the library and then stepped into the Restricted Section to take a look, but found no signs of collapsed bookshelves.

"What happened?" Professor McGonagall strode in, wearing a checkered morning gown and a hairnet. Her serious gaze swept across the library; she clearly also thought the sound just now resembled a bookshelf collapsing.

"There were people in the library just now, in the Restricted Section," Filch said immediately. "I was also looking for a few students wandering around the school in the middle of the night. They should be a group, and they are very likely... Gryffindor students."

"Do you have any evidence?" Professor McGonagall asked, frowning.

"What's going on here?" Smith appeared at the door wearing a bronze-colored nightgown. "Are we getting ready for a pajama party?"

"Someone's making a huge noise here, Professor. We suspect it's a student. Several students have been wandering around the school tonight," Filch said in a low voice, as he rarely spoke loudly in front of professors.

"Filch, you just said it was most likely done by Gryffindor student?" Professor McGonagall pressed. "Is there any evidence?"

"You can ask the gatekeeper at the Gryffindor entrance," Snape suddenly said. He was quite happy to see Hogwarts students suffer misfortune and have points deducted.

"Yes, that's a good idea," Filch nodded.

Professor McGonagall frowned slightly, but ultimately did not object.

Several professors headed towards the Seventh Floor and found the Fat Lady, the gatekeeper of Gryffindor, at the entrance to Gryffindor.

"Madam, did someone just enter the Common Room?" Professor McGonagall asked.

"No," the Fat Lady said.

"Have any students left?" Snape asked.

"Yes," the Fat Lady said.

"Who are they?" Filch asked impatiently.

"I don't know, they've become invisible," the Fat Lady said.

"Just by looking at who's not in the dorms, we can tell who's been wandering around the castle," Snape suggested with ill intent.

"Doing this will wake up the students who are sleeping," Professor McGonagall clearly disagreed with the idea.

"Only older students are likely to use the Disillusionment Charm," Professor Smith suddenly reminded him. "I think since they didn't go into the Common Room, they must still be somewhere in the castle. We'll find those naughty students."

Smith clearly didn't approve of waking up the other students; however, in reality, a large number of students had already been awakened by the noise.

"I will find them," Filch said through gritted teeth.

However, Filch and several other professors searched the castle several times, even looking through the secret passages, but found nothing.

Okay, fine!

Actually, there were two scapegoats.

A Ravenclaw girl and a Hufflepuff boy became scapegoats. The couple was actually on a date in a secret passage when Filch suddenly barged in and caught them red-handed.

Each of them lost Fifty points.

But after questioning, it was clear that they were not the group Filch had recruited.

As for the Gryffindor students that Filch was looking for? The professors searched almost the entire castle, but still couldn't find any trace of the Gryffindor students.

There was nothing they could do; they were all unaware that there was a hidden room on the eighth floor of the castle, called the Room of Requirement.