The Final Obstruction

Li Mu stood still at the bottom of the stairs, forcing Harry and Ron to stop as well.

"What is it?" Ron asked, his voice trembling slightly. He quickly noticed that the warmth from the fireplace had not yet completely faded. Could Li Mu have been caught by a teacher on the way here? Could that teacher have followed him to the Gryffindor Common Room, specifically to catch all of them together?

In the dim, murky light, they only saw the corner of Li Mu's mouth twitch, as though he had forced a bitter smile. Then he raised a hand and pointed toward a spot in the Common Room.

A lamp flickered on with a pop. Sure enough, a petite, slender little girl was sitting in an armchair. She had thick, bushy brown hair and bright brown eyes. It was Hermione Granger!

Unlike her usual self, Hermione was now wearing a pink nightgown. A girl like that, dressed in pink pajamas, would have been utterly adorable if she had worn a lazy, catlike smile.

Unfortunately, there was no smile. Hermione Granger's face was stern, even gloomy. That was why Li Mu had waited for Harry and Ron to arrive. He had spotted her the moment he entered the Common Room, and perhaps she had noticed him later as well. But they could both guess the other's feelings and position, so neither of them said a word.

Seeing Hermione blocking the three of them, Harry and Ron both felt a sense of helplessness rise from the soles of their feet. And they could guess with their toes what exactly she intended to do.

"You! Go back to bed!" Ron snapped.

"I nearly told your brother," Hermione shot back without the slightest politeness. "Prefect Percy. He would stop all this. Now, if you take even one step out of the Portrait Passage, you'll regret it!"

"Fancy there being someone so nosy," Harry muttered. He was growing impatient with Hermione too. "Come on," he said to Ron and Li Mu.

Ron gave a snort, lifted his chin, walked around Hermione, pushed open the Fat Lady's portrait, and climbed out through the hole. Harry followed behind him and stepped through as well.

"Hermione..." Li Mu hesitated before speaking. It seemed his earlier advice had done little good. At least, Hermione's attitude toward Harry and Ron was still as haughty as ever. Maybe it could not be changed so quickly.

But since Hermione had appeared here, since she had come to stop them, it meant that she still cared about her friends.

He looked at her. Hermione Granger looked like a little lioness now, glaring at him with reddened eyes.

"Li, I never thought... I never thought you'd join them in this nonsense!" Hermione raised her voice. "Don't you care about your friends at all?"

Li Mu shrugged and blinked helplessly. "It's because I care that I decided to go with them."

Just in case something went wrong and those two unlucky fools got beaten black and blue and had to be carried back...

Hermione's eyes widened even further. "If I were you, I'd stop them from going! Even if I had to tie them to their beds!"

Listen to her tone, look at her eyes—it was as if, if Li Mu just nodded, she would pull out her wand and hit Harry and Ron with a Sleeping Charm each... But Li Mu could not do that.

"Shh... Keep it down. You're going to wake the whole castle..." Li Mu sounded helpless. Hermione was radiating such a powerful presence that he actually felt pressured. Even when he had faced strange, rare beasts deep in the mountains and forests, he had never felt like this.

He patted Hermione on the shoulder and forced a smile. "You should go back to sleep. We'll be fine. I'm here, aren't I?"

With that, he hurried out through the portrait hole as though fleeing. Harry and Ron were still waiting outside.

The little lioness Hermione finally lost her temper. Following behind Li Mu, she growled in a low voice, "How can you guarantee that nothing will happen? Don't you care about the House at all, only yourselves? Do you want Slytherin to laugh at us again? Harry, Ron! Do you want to lose all the points I worked so hard to get from Professor McGonagall?"

She fired off one question after another behind Li Mu and followed him out of the portrait hole. Naturally, it was nowhere near as warm outside as it was in the Common Room. The moment she stepped out, Hermione shivered all over as the cold hit her, but a brave little lioness would not yield. She knew Li Mu was sensible, and she saw hope in him.

She still tried to persuade the three boys. "I guarantee you'll be caught by Filch and Mrs. Norris!"

By now, even Li Mu felt that women could be terrifyingly naggy when they got going, and he could only shake his head inwardly. When Harry and Ron saw Hermione actually climb out of the portrait hole after them, their expressions could only be described as shocked.

"Go away." Ron frowned impatiently.

"Don't be like that. She's only worried about us..." Li Mu tried to persuade him. Ron's tone had been far too cold. He did not want Hermione to burst into tears again.

But it clearly did not help. The red-haired boy merely turned his head away awkwardly and trudged down the corridor in silence.

"I really ought to beg her to stop meddling," he said loudly.

Hermione took a deep breath, and her eyes did indeed grow redder. "Fine. When you're on the train home tomorrow, don't forget what I said!"

After throwing down that threat, Hermione gave up. She turned around, preparing to return to the dormitory.

Then she froze.

To enter or leave the Gryffindor Common Room, one had to go through the Portrait Passage. In particular, to enter the Common Room from outside, one had to give the Fat Lady's portrait the password—most of those passwords were made up by the Fat Lady herself whenever she got bored, and they had to be changed from time to time. It was her way of showing off her authority.

Some people, like Neville, often could not get in because they forgot the password.

Hermione was clever, of course, so she would not forget the password. The problem was... the Fat Lady was gone! She was not in the painting now. Who knew which portrait she had wandered off to visit?

Hmm, Percy said the Fat Lady liked drinking and chatting with Violet, but which painting was Violet in again?... The Knight of the Round Table in that painting by the third-floor corner was quite handsome... But perhaps the count in the painting on the top floor suited the Fat Lady's tastes better. He had the unique charm of an older man...

Ahem, this was not the time to think about that. Cold wind poured into the collar of her nightgown, and a chill quietly swept through her body. Hermione cried out, "Oh no, I've been locked outside! What do I do now?"

"Who cares?" Ron said, sounding rather pleased with her misfortune. "That's your problem."

Li Mu sighed. "Come with us, then."