The Unexpected Came First

Li Mu felt somewhat guilty. He guessed that he had woken the Fat Lady when he entered the Gryffindor common room earlier. In the middle of the night, unable to sleep and bored out of her mind, she must have gone out for a stroll.

"Come with us and keep an eye on us. That should put your mind at ease, right?" Li Mu said. As he spoke, he noticed that Hermione was a little cold, her petite, shapely body trembling. He took off his wizarding robe and draped it over her pink pajamas. He still had clothes underneath, so he did not feel cold.

"Oh my god... Li, if you've taken a fancy to such an arrogant little girl, then you really have terrible taste." Watching Li Mu's actions, Ron said sarcastically, "That Hinata from Ravenclaw is a hundred times better than her."

Hermione's face turned red.

"Sod off." Li Mu made as if to kick him, but the red-haired boy dodged aside. "It's called being a gentleman."

"Enough. If we don't leave now, it'll be too late." Fortunately, Harry Potter had not forgotten the purpose of their trip. He shushed the others.

Everyone fell silent, crouched low against the corridor wall, and headed forward.

The way was utterly quiet, broken only now and then by the fluttering and cries of owls overhead. Yet the quieter it was, the more nervous the four of them became. Even Li Mu, who considered himself experienced, could clearly hear the thudding of his own heartbeat.

"If Filch catches us, I'll say I was trying to stop the three of you..." Hermione muttered indignantly. Li Mu and the other two ignored her and kept going. They turned through corridor after corridor, successfully avoided two staircases that suddenly shifted direction, and finally reached the Trophy Room.

Li Mu and the others were far too familiar with this place—just last week, during their first week of school, Professor McGonagall had punished them by making them clean the trophy display room. Anyone who had spent a whole week somewhere, carefully polishing every trophy, medal, and statue, would become familiar with it.

Looking at the items displayed in the crystal glass cases, they could not help feeling emotional. Every kind of medal and trophy gleamed beneath the moonlight, and their own hard work was part of that shine.

Pansy Parkinson and the others had chosen an unfavorable location. Here, in this trophy display room, was the home ground of the three of them!... Though now, merely seeing all these medals and cups made them want to throw up, and they were deeply reluctant to come back here.

Hermione, on the other hand, looked around with curiosity. This really was a suitable place for a duel.

The Trophy Room was large, with a large door at each end. The room was always open to all teachers and students. Perhaps it was the only place in the entire school where students could truly come and go freely... The medals and trophies were protected by magic, so there was no need to worry about them being easily damaged, while also providing cover for dodging and maneuvering.

Hermione finally stopped talking. After looking around, she turned her attention to the medals, curiously admiring the names that represented honor. She was probably imagining when her own name would be engraved on one of them.

"If Pansy really has some kind of scheme, we'll all go at them together." Harry began his final battle mobilization and arrangements. "But if there are only two of them, we can't take advantage either. Ron and I will fight. Li Mu and Hermione, keep watch..."

Harry went on for quite a while. After quite a while, they realized that the Slytherins had yet to arrive. Harry even suspected that Pansy and the others had hidden in advance, waiting to catch them off guard—but if the Slytherins had come, whether it was Goyle or Crabbe, their huge bodies would have been impossible to hide.

"Could they know some kind of invisibility magic too?"

Harry asked Li Mu suspiciously. Li Mu merely shrugged and explained with a bitter smile, "How could there be so much invisibility magic? I don't know much about Western magic, but in the Celestial Empire's arts, invisibility is an extremely difficult technique. I've only grasped the basics... I can't use it now either. I didn't expect the Invisibility Talisman to have a time limit. I waited for a while in the Gryffindor common room earlier, and it already wore off."

In truth, Li Mu had already vaguely formed a guess. Compared with "history," although the people involved in this duel had changed, the plot might very well have remained the same—as an equally cunning Slytherin, Pansy Parkinson had likely done what Malfoy had done in "history," luring them here before notifying Filch or some other teacher to catch them... But now that they had arrived, they could only deal with whatever came.

"No wonder you didn't use an Invisibility Spell." Hermione cut in then. Having heard their conversation, she could not help muttering a comment, and she also kindly answered Li Mu's question. "The Disillusionment Charm can achieve an invisibility effect, but first-year students have a hard time mastering that spell. Other than that, you can also use the fur woven by a Demiguise to conceal your body."

"A Demiguise? If you could catch one, you might as well learn the Disillusionment Charm." Ron rolled his eyes. "I think the most likely possibility is that Pansy got scared, or Crabbe and Goyle got scared. They don't dare come..."

Before he could finish, Li Mu raised a finger to his lips, signaling for silence.

"Someone's coming." Li Mu kept his voice as low as possible.

Where was anyone? Harry, Ron, and Hermione were all stunned. They listened carefully, but the surroundings were silent and empty. Still, Li Mu gestured insistently for them to stay quiet, then took the lead in backing along the wall toward the other door of the display room.

Harry and the other two were confused. As they followed him back, they could no longer hold themselves back and were about to ask why.

Then they heard footsteps—very faint footsteps. A voice followed. "Sniff around everywhere, my dear. They may be hiding in some corner."

It was Filch! There was no mistaking that voice.

He was talking to Mrs. Norris! They were coming toward the Trophy Room!

Ron's red face turned deathly pale. Hermione nervously clutched the hem of Li Mu's robe, while Harry said nothing, though beads of sweat rolled down his forehead. Keeping close to the wall and crouching low, they retreated at top speed. They had only just slipped out through the Trophy Room door when they heard Filch's footsteps reach the opposite entrance.

Hermione suddenly stumbled.

Li Mu had draped his wizarding robe over Hermione, but it was clearly too long for her petite frame. When she crouched down, the robe trailed along the floor.

Flustered and blank-minded, she stepped on the hem herself. She fell forward and crashed into Li Mu. Li Mu's attention was fixed on Filch, and caught off guard by the impact, he instinctively wrapped both arms around Hermione to protect her. Then he lost his footing and fell forward as well.

They tumbled into a heap and knocked into a suit of armor. A loud clattering instantly rang out.

"Run!" Harry shouted.

"Help me up..." Hermione pleaded, her cheeks crimson—partly from guilt, but mostly from embarrassment.

(End of Chapter)