Action Begins

"Me?..." Li Mu frowned, unable to make up his mind.

He had only just let go of his inner conflict and shifted himself from the position of a "spectator" to that of a "participant" and "changer." He had already prepared himself for the "butterfly effect" to leave the entire plot unrecognizable, yet he had not expected the slightly altered "main storyline" to come looking for him anyway.

The dueling opponent had become Pansy. Would this so-called duel still be a conspiracy? Should he take part or not?... And what sort of role should he play in this event?

After all, this "Midnight Duel" incident had changed. No one could say what might happen along the way. If he did not go, he really would not be able to stop worrying about his companions. As the old saying went, "Good friends would take a knife in the ribs for each other." At a critical moment, he still had to stab his friends a couple of times.

A brilliant smile appeared on Harry's face, while Ron seemed to let out a huge sigh of relief.

"Then, shall we meet in the Trophy Room tonight?"

"No." Li Mu rejected Harry's suggestion. If Harry and the others had to run from Gryffindor Tower to the Trophy Room, Filch might catch them halfway there. "I'll come to the Gryffindor Common Room. I know an Invisibility Spell."

"That's great! You can come in. This week's password is 'vodka.'" Ron told him.

After dinner, night arrived in the blink of an eye. The sky gradually darkened, and Hogwarts slowly fell silent from its towers to its underground chambers. The warm, comfortable Hufflepuff Common Room was nearly silent as a grave. Yet Li Mu's ears were filled with noise. He felt as though time were ticking away right beside him. He lay on his bed with his eyes closed, trying to rest, but the more he rested, the more unsettled he became.

He had a feeling that something might happen tonight. Whether it would be good or bad, he could not say.

The other two people in the dormitory were already snoring, sleeping like two fat pigs.

It was around eleven thirty at night... It should be about time, right?... Estimating the time to himself, Li Mu quietly got out of bed, straightened his robes, and checked his wand.

With everything ready, he began to act. He crept out of the dormitory and quietly passed through the Hufflepuff boys' sleeping quarters. Through the earthen walls, he listened to the faint snores coming from one bedroom after another, and only then did a wave of drowsiness slowly wash over him. He suddenly felt a little sad... In the middle of the night, why was he giving up perfectly good sleep to go duel?

But since he had already agreed to it, no matter how hard or tiring it was, he had to see it through.

Climbing out through Hufflepuff's barrel entrance, Li Mu took a yellow talisman paper painted with cinnabar from his robe pocket and stuck it to his forehead. Then he formed hand seals and muttered, "Heaven be clear, earth be spirit. Supreme One, protect me and conceal my form. By the command of the Three Mountains and Nine Lords, hide!"

Even within the Daoist mystical arts system, invisibility was considered a mid-to-high-level secret technique. To cast it, one had to combine an invisibility talisman, hand seals, and an incantation. Even Li Mu, who had taken eight years of foundational classes, was not entirely confident in using this technique—after all, compared to the decades or even centuries of cultivation in Eastern mystical traditions, eight years was truly nothing more than laying the groundwork.

But Li Mu had no psychological burden. Even if he were caught, at worst he would lose points and be put in detention. There was no real danger. As for the collective sense of honor expected of a member of Badger House—sorry, when faced with personal pursuits and House honor, he decisively chose the former. After all, the number of points and the ownership of the House Cup had no effect on his salary, performance evaluation, or living conditions. Besides, even if Badger House did not lose points, it would still end up the same way every year...

Sometimes, it was better to be practical.

With that thought, Li Mu climbed from the first underground level all the way to the eighth floor in one go. Along the way, he encountered no staircases that suddenly changed direction, woke none of the figures in the paintings, and did not even run into a single ghost.

After turning the next corner, he arrived outside the Gryffindor Common Room. Hanging in the round corridor leading to the Common Room was that famous, enormous painting: the portrait of the Fat Lady. At the moment, the Fat Lady's broad body was curled up in the middle of the frame, her eyes half-closed as she snored softly.

"Vodka," Li Mu said, giving the password. He lowered his voice, but the syllables still reached the Fat Lady's ears clearly.

The sleeping Fat Lady shuddered and mumbled almost dreamily, "Mm, vodka, very good, very good..."

As if by reflex, she rotated the round door behind her open. Only then did she open her eyes, only to find that there was no one at the entrance at all... "Was I dreaming?..." she muttered, looking around in confusion. Everywhere was empty and silent.

Li Mu had already quietly slipped through the gap in the door and entered the Gryffindor Common Room.

It was a circular room, filled with crimson and gilt colors that were easily distinguishable even in the dim light. The moment he stepped inside, warmth rushed over him. Li Mu stood by the entrance for a while before realizing that the warmth was not merely a sensation brought on by the room's warm color scheme. It was real.

The warmth came from the wall directly opposite the round doorway. A fireplace had been carved into it, and the embers still retained some heat. It looked as if the fire had only recently gone out.

The Hogwarts students were still growing, and school rules required them to go to bed at ten thirty. By this hour, they had all returned to their dormitories. Even the seventh-year students settled down for the night at nine thirty—although no one actually came to check on them.

Who would stay in the Common Room until after eleven?

Li Mu sighed.

*********

At the same time, in the Gryffindor boys' dormitory, Ron stared wide-eyed at the bedroom ceiling for a long while without moving. Every now and then, he turned his head to look at the curtains of the neighboring bed, Harry Potter's bed. He, Harry Potter, Neville Longbottom, Dean Thomas, and Seamus Finnigan shared the same dormitory, and they had gone to bed early.

Now, the other four beds were silent, with barely even a snore to be heard. But Ron knew Harry was unable to sleep too. Though Harry had tried not to make any noise, from the time he had lain down after nine until now, he had turned over at least thirty times. Ron had seen every one of them.

Finally, Harry called softly, "Hey, Ron, it's already eleven thirty."

Ron sat bolt upright. "Let's go." Then he looked a little worried. "I wonder whether Li Mu has arrived yet."

Moonlight streamed through the gap in the curtains. Harry had also sat up, and under the moonlight, his thin figure became a silhouette in Ron's eyes.

"Let's go. He'll come," Harry said.

They crept out of bed, opened the door, left the room, and walked down the spiral staircase. Then, very quickly, they saw a blurry black figure standing at the bottom of the stairs. Both of them were startled at first, but when they looked more closely, they realized that the dark figure was so familiar. Despite the darkness around them, they recognized the person.

"Li Mu?" Ron called out in a hushed, delighted voice. "You're already here?"

"Of course. Thanks for the password." The shadow was indeed Li Mu. He nodded, then reminded them, "Have you got your wands ready?"

"Of course." Ron and Harry both pulled their wands from their robes and gave them a wave.

Ron then muttered, "Though I can't see what use mine could possibly be..."

His voice was quiet, but the vast Common Room was utterly still, making his mutter clearly audible.

"Enough. There's no point saying more at a time like this. Let's go." Harry shook his head helplessly. Then he and Ron lifted their feet and continued downstairs.

But Li Mu remained standing at the bottom of the stairs without moving, showing no intention of budging at all.

(End of Chapter)

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