Harry's Nighttime Adventure

"Snape just tried to kill you!"

"What?!"

Ron exclaimed dramatically. Eli quickly covered his mouth. "Keep it down. Do you want everyone to know we're talking about a professor?"

Harry looked shocked. He had always known Snape was hostile toward him, but he had never imagined Snape wanted to kill him!

Hermione's expression was grave. She had never read about a school professor murdering a student in any book!

"Snape is no good at all. He's plotting something!"

"Why?"

Eli wanted to hear their reasoning, while silently sympathizing with his Head of House.

Although Snape certainly did not look like a good person, Eli remembered that he seemed to have nothing to do with this matter.

Harry began analyzing the situation seriously. "The last time we ran into the Troll, Snape had scratch marks on his leg!"

"Scratch marks?"

Hermione's eyes lit up, as though she had thought of something. "You mean Snape let the Troll in, then took advantage of the chaos to go up to the third floor, where the three-headed dog injured him?"

"That's right!"

Ron and Eli both looked utterly baffled.

Ron genuinely did not understand, while Eli was pretending.

Although he had no idea when they had gone to the third floor and seen that three-headed dog, logically speaking, none of this was something he should have known.

He was just playing dumb.

Wasn't that what they called learning by example? After seeing Dumbledore's masterful acting, Eli felt that one day he might be able to make a run for an Oscar himself.

"A three-headed dog? What are you talking about?"

Eli felt his acting was already superb. This definitely counted as immersive performance.

Hermione began explaining to Eli. "That night, we were heading back to the tower, but the moving staircase took us to the third floor. To avoid Filch, we ran into a room, and there was a three-headed dog inside!"

Hogwarts had one hundred and forty-two staircases that could move at random. One careless step could send you somewhere else entirely.

In fact, Harry and Ron had been late to their first Transfiguration class because they had gotten lost on the stairs.

"Then why were you out so late in the first place?"

At that, Ron's face immediately filled with anger.

"Don't get me started. That Malfoy challenged us to a duel, but when we got to the meeting place, we found that coward never showed up!"

Eli looked at Hermione in surprise. "So, Hermione, you went sneaking around at night with them too?"

Hermione blushed and hurriedly explained, "I only went to stop them from being tricked, but they wouldn't listen to me at all!"

Hermione had always followed the rules. Breaking school rules was something she would never even consider.

And the reason Ron disliked Hermione was that she often popped up to stop them from doing this or that.

But Eli knew that Hermione had been sorted into Gryffindor precisely because she had a heart that did not want to follow the rules.

Breaking school rules? Turned out it was pretty great, hehe...

Eli stopped teasing Hermione. "So now you suspect Snape is after whatever is on the third floor?"

"That's right!"

Harry was utterly certain. Snape, that thoroughly rotten man, could not possibly be up to any good!

Eli did not argue in Snape's defense. If he had not known the story, even he would have believed Snape was a bad person!

It wasn't that our side wasn't trying; it was that our teammate was hopeless.

"Hagrid!"

"Hello, children."

They happened to run into Hagrid, and Harry told him about his theory.

Although Hagrid was not a professor, he was still a school employee and often handled matters for Dumbledore. Harry hoped Hagrid would report it to Dumbledore.

"How could that be? You're actually suspecting Snape!"

After hearing Harry's deduction, Hagrid found it utterly absurd.

He had been at this school for many years. He believed Snape was not the kind of person who would do such a thing!

But Harry was already convinced. "When the Troll entered the castle, Snape took advantage of the chaos to go to the third floor, and the three-headed dog there injured him!"

Hagrid looked extremely surprised. "Fluffy? How do you know about Fluffy?"

Oh ho. Eli felt Hagrid was practically divine assistance. He had let the truth slip in one go.

"Fluffy? That monster has a name?"

Ron had clearly never expected that vicious monster to have such a harmless-sounding name.

Hermione immediately caught the key point. "Fluffy? Hagrid, do you have something to do with that three-headed dog?"

Hagrid realized he had misspoken and became a little flustered, but the moment Fluffy was mentioned, he perked right up.

"Fluffy? I bought him from an Irishman. Back then, he was only a cute little baby! Later, Dumbledore borrowed him to guard Nicolas Flamel's..."

Hermione: "!"

Harry: "!"

Ron: "?!"

Eli: "Oh ho."

Eli now seriously suspected that Hagrid had grown up drinking Veritaserum. No one even needed to pry information out of him—he just babbled everything out himself.

"Nicolas Flamel?"

Hagrid froze. He immediately realized he seemed to have said something else he should not have, and he looked embarrassed and irritated.

"No! Whatever it is, it's none of you little wizards' business!"

After hearing the name Nicolas Flamel, Harry and the other two searched everywhere for information about him, neglecting food and sleep.

Eli was utterly speechless. Hadn't he shown them that card when he was in the hospital last time? It was right on there!

Fine, Harry and Ron might not remember, but how could Hermione not remember either?

Hermione, why had that clever little brain of yours suddenly stopped working?

Christmas arrived quickly, and the school arranged a Christmas holiday.

Many young wizards chose to return home and celebrate with their families, while only a small number chose to stay at school, including Harry.

Harry now completely regarded Hogwarts as his home.

He never wanted to go back to Privet Drive and put up with the Dursley family again!

Still, Eli was a little puzzled. Wasn't Christmas supposed to be a Christian holiday?

Why did the wizarding world believe in Jesus too?

Merlin: "Should I leave, then?"

But Eli had no time to worry about that right now. He was staring at the letter from home with cold sweat streaming down his face.

A few days ago, he had written to tell his parents that he would not be going home for Christmas.

Fortunately, the Hall couple could not write Howlers.

Otherwise, Eli was certain he would have spent Christmas listening to one.

As he read the extremely stern letter, Eli broke out in a cold sweat.

When he went home, he was probably going to get a serious beating.

Fortunately, the Hall couple had ultimately agreed to Eli's application to remain at school.

Early that morning, the castle had been completely redecorated.

Christmas cheer filled every corner, and Professor Flitwick was decorating an enormous Christmas tree.

"Professor, do you need any help?"

"Oh, Eli, having your help would be wonderful!"

As Ravenclaw's Head of House, Professor Flitwick had more than once expressed his desire to recruit Eli into his house.

Naturally, this had been fiercely rejected by a certain greasy-haired professor.

He never hesitated to praise students, especially exceptionally gifted ones like Eli.

Eli: "Let me put my hands on my hips. I'm just that amazing."

Eli drew his Wand and gave it a gentle flick. The ornaments around him floated up one after another and hung themselves on the tree.

Professor Flitwick was so delighted that he nearly snapped his Wand in half.

"Merlin's underpants! Excellent Levitation Charm! Ten points to Slytherin!"

At this point, among the jars representing the scores, Slytherin's jar was already the fullest.

Many of those points had been earned by Eli.

At this rate, winning the House Cup would be a piece of cake.

Far ahead of the competition!

Eli owed this skill to Snape as well.

After studying with Snape for some time, his control over magic had improved greatly.

His Potions level was definitely no lower than that of a seventh-year student!

Harry and Ron were playing Wizard's Chess. It was similar to chess, except the pieces moved on their own, and when one captured another, it destroyed the target piece.

Eli played a few rounds too, but like Harry, he was utterly crushed by Ron.

Losing was one thing, but Eli had terrible sportsmanship.

After losing several games in a row, he began cursing and grumbling, even pulling out his Wand.

If Harry had not held him back, Ron would have been dead meat.

After that, Ron refused to play with Eli no matter what.

"You'd better find information about Nicolas Flamel during the holiday!"

Hermione was preparing to go home. Ron had originally planned to as well, but his family had gone to Romania to visit his brother Charlie Weasley.

"We've searched a hundred times already!"

"But you haven't gone to the Restricted Section."

Eli stared blankly at Hermione's retreating back. Who are you? Where did you hide Hermione? Where was my rule-abiding Hermione?!

Early the next morning, Harry and Ron came to show off the Invisibility Cloak Harry had received.

It had originally belonged to his father, and in the end, it had still made its way to Harry.

Ron gave Eli a sweater with a large [Y] embroidered on it.

He and Harry each had one too. Eli loved Molly Weasley's handiwork so much that he wore the sweater every day.

And Harry could not wait to try out his Invisibility Cloak.

So, an extremely terrifying sight appeared in the Restricted Section.

A hand carrying an oil lamp entered.

The cloak fell away, revealing that this lonely child staying behind for the holidays was Harry, who had come to search for Nicolas Flamel.

"Nicolas Flamel!"

He saw Nicolas Flamel's name in a book and took it down.

The moment he opened it, a face appeared in the book and let out a terrifying roar.

Harry's hair practically stood on end from fright.

"Who's there?!"

Filch's voice!

If he caught Harry, Harry would be finished!

Harry hurriedly pulled the Invisibility Cloak over himself, but knocked over and shattered the oil lamp.

There was no time to worry about that!

His figure disappeared again.

Filch approached with an oil lamp, trembling as he walked.

"Come out now! I can see you..."

His trembling voice practically said, "I'm scared too."

Harry immediately slipped away.

"Snape, I..."

Harry was startled. That was Professor Quirrell's voice.

When he turned, he saw Snape pinning Quirrell against the wall.

"You don't want to work against me, do you, Quirrell?"

"No, I don't understand..."

"I think you understand!"

Suddenly, Snape looked toward Harry.

Harry immediately held his breath.

Snape seemed to have noticed something. He reached out and slowly grabbed toward Harry.