Damon's Disappearance

Two consecutive Potions classes ended, and Damon welcomed his first weekend at Hogwarts.

He made up his mind to spend all his time in the Room of Requirement, pushing himself through high-intensity, uninterrupted spell practice to improve.

Although many times, spells seemed entirely reliant on willpower, Damon still believed that diligent practice brought strength—not to mention he had exceptional talent; almost every day after training, he could feel noticeable progress.

To avoid breaking his rhythm by coming and going, he went to the House-elf kitchen, grabbed some dry bread, jam, and milk, and specifically told Neville: Saturday night he had things to do and wouldn't return to the dormitory, so Harry and Ron shouldn't make a fuss or worry.

Choosing to tell Neville was also deliberate; Neville had a gentle temperament and could best fulfill his request.

Damon didn't like forcing others.

Currently, Hermione was carrying out her grand plan to devour every book in the library; she wouldn't have time to act as Harry and Ron's strategist until after Christmas.

For now, Hermione had no spare energy to focus on anything else.

In this regard, she was actually quite similar to Damon, though Damon's goal was to quickly become strong enough to protect himself from Voldemort and Dumbledore, then gradually surpass them.

As for Ron and Harry—those two were utterly undisciplined, spending all day wandering around the castle, chatting with other young wizards, or playing Wizard's Chess in the Common Room, fully indulging their childish natures.

If he told them now, "Oh, I found a great place to practice spells; want to join me for hours of training?"—

Maybe those two would go along with it out of respect for Damon, but he didn't want that, nor did he deem it worthwhile.

Though he sympathized with Harry's situation, that didn't mean he would push Harry along, let alone Ron.

Only when the two genuinely wanted to change and work hard from the bottom of their hearts would Damon share this secret with them.

Thus, Ron and Harry suddenly realized that after entering a brief holiday, Damon had simply vanished.

From after lunch on Friday until before dinner on Sunday, they never saw Damon again.

Not inside the castle, nor outside, nor by the Black Lake, nor in the library.

They even went out of their way to search—Harry was invited by Hagrid to his hut and wanted to bring Damon along, but couldn't find him.

Inside Hagrid's hut, he noticed a small piece of paper tucked under the tea cozy—a clipping from the Daily Prophet about a break-in at Gringotts. Harry instinctively felt something was off, but when he raised the question, Hagrid brushed it off with a laugh.

That night, the two grew worried when Damon hadn't returned past curfew. Neville, who had been tipped off by Damon beforehand, explained the situation, making Ron exclaim:

"What exactly is Damon going to do that he'd break the rules and go on a Night Patrol?"

Harry was equally surprised, but at the same time, a faint sense of longing stirred within him.

The four young wizards stayed up late, tossing out many guesses about where Damon had gone, but couldn't figure it out.

The next day, the young wizards, who had slept until the sun was high, finally got up and found Damon still hadn't returned.

Harry took the chance to mention it to Hermione while she was in the Common Room, and her expression showed clear surprise.

"He went on a Night Patrol? And stayed out all night?"

Her face was full of astonishment—after all, in her impression, Damon wasn't the reckless type.

Even though she was still angry at Harry and Ron, she couldn't help asking:

"Where is he now?"

"I don't know. Actually, he hasn't come back all day, and we can't find him now—but Neville said Damon told him beforehand and told us not to worry."

Hermione's brow relaxed slightly at this. She picked up her books, stood, and said to Harry:

"Damon is a steady person. Since he said that, he must be doing something very important.

Maybe he went to Professor McGonagall's office to study Transfiguration. Don't Professor Flitwick and Professor McGonagall think highly of him? Perhaps they have other arrangements for Damon. You and I don't need to worry."

"As for you," Hermione paused.

"Me?" Harry was puzzled.

"Yes, you, Harry. I haven't seen you write a single assignment all week. It's already Saturday—are you going to keep wasting your time on irrelevant, boring things?

I'm warning you now, Professor McGonagall's Transfiguration essay won't be easy to finish."

Harry tensed up and stammered:

"I—I'll start it today."

"Is that so? But I'm not forcing you."

Hermione lifted her chin, hugged her books, and headed straight to the library.

Ron, who hadn't spoken the whole time, finally said after Hermione left:

"The way she talked almost made me think it was Mum scolding a naughty kid."

"Don't say that, Ron. I think Hermione's right—we should do our homework too."

"Even though it's only Saturday—still, finishing early isn't a bad thing."

The two exchanged a smile, their attitudes relaxed.

But it wasn't until six hours later, at dinner, that they realized how naive their thinking had been.

In six whole hours, they had only completed three Herbology essays—they hadn't learned much in class to begin with, and on top of that, their attitude while writing was far too slack.

Thinking of the five remaining essays of no less than six inches each, plus Professor McGonagall's outrageous two-foot Transfiguration assignment, their expressions turned grim.

"Are we going to have to stay up all night doing homework tonight?"

Hearing Ron's exclamation, Harry pursed his lips, the weight of the possibility Ron had described settling heavily on his mind.

Ron saw the look on his face and clearly understood what he was thinking, stammering:

"Merlin, not finishing the homework in the first week—if my mum finds out... no, it's not over yet!" Ron turned to Harry. "We can borrow someone else's! Neville, Seamus—they must have finished it, right?"

"You mean—copying someone else's?"

"Relax, mate, it's just borrowing—think of it as the last time. We were too careless this time, misjudged how hard the homework would be. Once we get through this tight spot, we'll do it ourselves from now on, won't we?"

"Yes—yes, you're right!"

Harry nodded firmly, and the two quickly found Neville and Seamus, only for their expressions to grow even more complicated.

"You haven't finished either?!"