Lin Yuan's Help

The incident where Ron was bitten became the last straw.

Norbert's growth rate was astonishing. In just one week, it had grown to three times its original size and its temper had become increasingly volatile. Hagrid's hut was already like a small cage for it. The sparks it breathed out had burned Hagrid's favorite armchair, its tail had smashed all the teacups, and worst of all, its roars, in the silent night, could be heard almost throughout the entire Forbidden Forest.

Malfoy had also, more than once, sarcastically inquired around them, saying he heard strange noises from the edge of the Forbidden Forest.

They had to send Norbert away immediately!

Ron's brother, Charlie, who was studying dragons in Romania, became their only hope.

After several secret communications via owl, they finally settled on a perfect plan: Charlie's friends would fly to the top of Hogwarts' tallest building—the Astronomy Tower—at midnight this Saturday to pick up Norbert.

The plan sounded simple, but its execution was fraught with difficulties.

The biggest problem was: how could they fit an increasingly large dragon into a crate and, after curfew, sneak it from Hagrid's hut at the edge of the Forbidden Forest all the way to the tower at the very top of the castle?

This would involve passing through countless corridors and climbing countless stairs.

And they could run into Filch and his cat, Mrs. Norris, at any moment, not to mention the elusive Peeves!

"This is simply an impossible mission!" Ron despaired, slumping over the map in the common room. "We'll get caught! And then we'll be expelled! I'd rather be bitten by Norbert again!"

"We have to try!" Hermione bit her lip, drawing routes on the map with her quill. "We could use the Invisibility Cloak... but the crate is too big, we can't cover it!"

"We could cast a Levitation Charm on the crate..." Harry suggested.

"That target would be too big! A crate floating in mid-air is more conspicuous than the three of us!" Hermione vetoed.

The three of them looked dejected, trapped in a dead end.

Just then, Lin Yuan walked past their table, holding a roll of parchment.

He seemed to be heading to the library to do some research, his steps not slowing at all.

As he brushed past them, he casually uttered two sentences in a tone as flat as if he were commenting on the weather to himself.

"Hmm, the northerly wind at the Astronomy Tower will peak around midnight tonight, very suitable for long-distance flight."

Harry, Ron, and Hermione suddenly looked up, their eyes fixed like three meerkats who had heard a command.

Lin Yuan, however, acted as if he hadn't noticed their reaction and continued walking, muttering a second, completely unrelated sentence.

"Also, I heard that a fat mouse in the castle dungeons might get lost tonight due to gluttony. Filch's cat has always had a keen sense of smell, and it will probably spend the entire night hunting this rare 'feast'."

After saying this, his figure had already disappeared down the corridor leading outside.

In the common room, the three looked at each other, their expressions instantly shifting from despair to elation.

"Did you hear that!" Ron whispered excitedly, "Is he telling the truth?"

"Whether it's true or not, this is our only chance!" Hermione's eyes rekindled with hope. "The wind direction being suitable for flight means Charlie's friends can arrive tonight! Filch's cat being lured away means our biggest patrolling threat is removed! This is Merlin blessing us!"

Harry nodded heavily, filled with a sense of relief as if he had narrowly escaped a disaster. He felt the luck was almost unbelievable.

They, of course, had no idea that none of this was luck at all.

After leaving the common room, Lin Yuan went to a secluded corner.

He extended a finger, and a barely visible wisp of Spiritual Sense, as thin as a thread, like an invisible butterfly, lightly drifted towards the Gryffindor boys' dormitory.

This wisp of Spiritual Sense accurately found the pet rat, Scabbers, who was sleeping soundly under Ron's pillow.

Gently and softly, the Spiritual Sense implanted an irresistible thought into Scabbers' subconscious—"The dungeons... cheese... so much delicious cheese..."

The next second, the sleeping Scabbers twitched its nose twice, its eyes snapped open, and then, like a sleepwalker, it quietly slipped out of the dormitory and scurried all the way towards the dungeons.

Immediately after, Lin Yuan separated another, fainter wisp of Spiritual Sense, like a gentle breeze, and it floated to the tip of Mrs. Norris's nose as she patrolled the castle.

This wisp of Spiritual Sense amplified the unique scent of Scabbers, a mixture of dust and sweat, tenfold, making it smell like a piece of top-quality aged cheese.

"Meeeow--!"

Mrs. Norris's bulbous eyes instantly widened, and all her fur bristled.

It let out a yowl filled with predatory desire and, following the scent, dashed towards the dungeons like a gray lightning bolt.

And Filch followed behind, grumbling, "Mrs. Norris! Come back! What annoying student have you found now?"

Watching this chase scene of one man, one cat, and one rat unfold perfectly under the "direction" of his Spiritual Sense, Lin Yuan's face remained as calm as ever.

To him, guiding two creatures without intelligence and a poor soul whose intelligence had been sealed for twelve years to complete a small "positioning" was easier than flicking his fingernail.

The reason he did this was not out of "friendship" for Harry and the others.

He simply felt that if the little dragon remained in the castle, its increasingly strong fire-attributed Spiritual Energy would sooner or later attract some truly dangerous entities, disrupting his rhythm of observing the entire "Soul Artifact incident."

Sending the dragon away would allow the main storyline to return to its original track.

As for Harry and the others... let them continue to believe that they were destined, heroes favored by the goddess of fortune.

After all, when watching a play, doesn't the protagonist need a bit of "protagonist halo" to make it more interesting?

The night Norbert the dragon was sent away felt like an adrenaline-fueled dream.

When Harry and Hermione returned to the Gryffindor common room, breathless, from the top of the Astronomy Tower, the dizziness mixed with the joy of success and the relief of having narrowly escaped was almost enough to make them want to open a bottle of Butterbeer to celebrate on the spot.

However, the goddess of destiny seemed to be a prankster.

She gave you a ticket to heaven, but as you stepped through the door, she casually yanked the carpet out from under your feet.

They forgot the Invisibility Cloak.

That precious Invisibility Cloak, which allowed them to do as they pleased, was left all alone on the cold Astronomy Tower.

And so, when two Gryffindors, openly "streaking" through the castle corridors at midnight, ran headlong into Filch, holding his oil lamp with a sinister grin, and his bright-eyed cat, Mrs. Norris, all joy instantly turned into icy panic.

Even more unfortunately, Draco Malfoy, who had been lurking in the shadows, hoping to catch them in the act and claim credit, was also "arrested" by Filch for violating curfew.

The next morning, the atmosphere in Professor McGonagall's office was colder than the icy waters of the North Sea.

Sunlight streamed in from outside, but it couldn't warm the heavy air in the room at all.

Harry and Hermione hung their heads, feeling like dandelion fluff soaked in ice water, cold and wilted.

Malfoy stood to the side, his face a complex mixture of unwillingness, grievance, and a hint of schadenfreude. After all, although he had been caught too, Potter and Granger looked even worse off.