"—That really is terrible news. Thanks for reminding me again."
Ron looked deeply resentful. "I didn't agree with you telling Hermione in the first place. She's as serious as a Hogwarts professor. Where did you get the confidence that she'd help us break school rules?"
Harry did not think much of it. "Hermione helped us last term."
"Yeah, because Vaughn told her to. This time, Vaughn didn't ask her to play along. It's been so long, and he hasn't even shown his face once."
At the mention of that, Ron was filled with anger.
For the past few days, he, Harry, Seamus, and Dean had worried themselves sick over Vaughn and the club, while that detestable bloke had simply vanished.
To find him, he and Harry had not even had time for breakfast these past two mornings, putting on the Invisibility Cloak and trying to follow Professor Kettleburn.
Unfortunately, a professor who had spent his entire life in the castle was still too shrewd, and they returned empty-handed every time.
Ron had been keeping careful account of all the suffering he had endured lately. One day, he would settle the score with that awful Vaughn!
Just as he was grinding his teeth in fury, Harry suddenly stopped and shoved the books tucked under his arm into Ron's arms. "Ron, take these back to the dormitory for me. I have something to do!"
Ron caught them clumsily. "What urgent business could you possibly have? Can't it wait until—?"
In the blink of an eye, Harry had already disappeared.
Leaving Ron alone in the corridor, utterly bewildered.
Elsewhere, Harry hurried away with his eyes fixed ahead, all the way to the fourth floor—to the corridor on the right where last term's forbidden area had been.
He had only taken a few steps