Lin Yuan's Help

The incident with Ron being bitten became the last straw.

Norbert was growing at an astonishing rate. In just one week, he had grown to three times his original size, and his temper had grown increasingly volatile. Hagrid's Hut had become like a tiny cage to him. The sparks he breathed had burned Hagrid's favorite armchair, and his tail had smashed every teacup. Worst of all, his roars could almost be heard throughout the entire Forbidden Forest on a quiet night.

Malfoy had also made more than one snide attempt to fish for information when he was around them, claiming that he'd heard strange noises near the edge of the Forbidden Forest.

They had to get Norbert out of there immediately!

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

After several secret exchanges by owl, they finally settled on a perfect plan: a few of Charlie's friends would fly to the highest building at Hogwarts—the top of the Astronomy Tower—at midnight that Saturday to collect Norbert.

The plan sounded simple, but carrying it out would be incredibly difficult.

The biggest problem was this: how could they fit a steadily growing dragon into a crate and transport him from Hagrid's Hut on the edge of the Forbidden Forest all the way to the highest tower in the castle, without anyone noticing, after curfew?

They would have to cross countless corridors and climb countless flights of stairs.

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

"This is impossible!" Ron cried, sprawled over the map in the common room. "We'll get caught! Then we'll be expelled! I'd rather get bitten by Norbert again!"

"We have to try!" Hermione bit her lip and traced a route on the map with her quill. "We could use the Invisibility Cloak... but the crate is too big. It won't cover it!"

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

"That would make it too noticeable! A crate floating in midair would stand out more than the three of us!" Hermione shot down the idea.

The three of them sat glumly, trapped in a dead end.

Just then, Lin Yuan walked past their table with a roll of parchment in his hand.

He seemed to be on his way to the library to look something up, and didn't slow down at all.

As he passed them, he casually remarked in a flat voice, as if talking to himself about the weather, "The northerly winds at the Astronomy Tower will peak around midnight tonight. It'll be perfect for a long flight."

Harry, Ron, and Hermione jerked their heads up, staring like three groundhogs who'd just heard a signal.

Lin Yuan acted as if he hadn't noticed their reaction and kept walking, murmuring a second, completely unrelated remark.

"And I heard that a fat rat in the castle's dungeons might get lost tonight because he's greedy. Filch's cat has an excellent sense of smell. She'll probably spend the whole night chasing after this rare 'feast.'"

By the time he finished speaking, he had disappeared into the corridor leading outside.

The three of them looked at one another in the common room, their expressions transforming from despair to delight in an instant.

"Did you hear that?" Ron asked excitedly in a hushed voice. "Do you think it's true?"

"Whether it's true or not, this is our only chance!" A flame of hope rekindled in Hermione's eyes. "The wind being right for flying means Charlie's friends can come tonight! And if Filch's cat is distracted, our biggest patrol threat is taken care of! Merlin is watching over us!"

Harry nodded firmly as well, filled with the relief of someone who'd narrowly escaped disaster. He thought their luck was almost too incredible to believe.

Of course, they had no idea that none of this was luck.

After leaving the common room, Lin Yuan went to an empty corner.

He extended a finger. A faint wisp of Spiritual Sense, fine as a thread, drifted like an invisible butterfly toward the boys' dormitory in Gryffindor Tower.

The wisp precisely located Scabbers, the pet rat snoring beneath Ron's pillow.

Gently and tenderly, the Spiritual Sense planted an irresistible thought in Scabbers's subconscious: "The dungeon... cheese... lots and lots of delicious cheese..."

The next moment, the sleeping Scabbers twitched his nose twice and suddenly opened his eyes. Then, like a sleepwalker, he quietly slipped out of the dormitory and scurried toward the dungeon.

Lin Yuan then sent out another, even fainter wisp of Spiritual Sense, like a breeze, which drifted to the tip of Mrs. Norris's nose as she patrolled the castle.

The wisp magnified the distinctive scent of dust and sweat on Scabbers tenfold, making it smell like a piece of fine, aged cheese.

"Meow!"

Mrs. Norris's lamp-like eyes widened, and her fur bristled.

With a scream full of hunting fervor, she followed the scent and raced toward the dungeon like a gray bolt of lightning.

Filch came cursing after her. "Mrs. Norris! Come back! What annoying student have you found this time?"

As Lin Yuan watched the chase between the man, the cat, and the rat play out perfectly under the direction of his Spiritual Sense, his expression remained utterly calm.

To him, guiding two unintelligent creatures and a poor wretch whose intelligence had been sealed for twelve years through a little "repositioning" was easier than flicking a fingernail.

He hadn't done it out of "friendship" for Harry and the others.

He simply thought that if the little dragon stayed in the castle, its increasingly powerful fire-aspected spiritual energy would eventually attract some truly dangerous beings and disrupt the pace of his observations of the entire "Soul Artifact incident."

Getting the dragon out of there would let the main story return to its original course.

As for Harry and the others... they could keep believing that they were heroes born to greatness and blessed by the goddess of fortune.

After all, watching a show was more fun when the main characters had a bit of "plot armor," wasn't it?

The night they sent little Norbert away felt like a dream full of adrenaline.

When Harry and Hermione returned to the Gryffindor Common Room from the top of the Astronomy Tower, breathless, the dizzy mix of success and relief was so overwhelming that they nearly wanted to open a bottle of Butterbeer and celebrate on the spot.

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

She gave you a ticket to heaven, then pulled the rug from under your feet as you walked through the door.

They had forgotten the Invisibility Cloak.

That precious Invisibility Cloak, which let them do whatever they wanted, had been left all alone atop the cold Astronomy Tower.

So when two Gryffindors, openly "streaking" through the castle corridors at midnight, ran into Filch, who was holding a lantern and grinning viciously, along with Mrs. Norris, whose eyes gleamed, all their joy instantly turned to icy panic.

To make matters worse, Draco Malfoy, who had been lurking in the shadows hoping to catch them in the act and earn some praise, had also broken curfew. Filch "arrested" him along with them.

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

Sunlight streamed in through the window, but it did nothing to warm the heavy air in the room.

Harry and Hermione hung their heads, feeling like Puffskeins dunked in ice water, cold and droopy.

Malfoy stood to one side, his face caught between resentment, hurt, and a hint of smug delight. After all, he'd been caught too, but Potter and Granger looked worse off.