Harry's Nighttime Adventure

"Snape just tried to kill you!"

"What?!"

Ron said 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 known Snape was hostile toward him, but he had never imagined Snape wanted him dead!

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

"Snape is definitely not a good person. He's plotting something!"

"Why?"

Eli wanted to hear their reasoning, and perhaps spare a little sympathy for his Head of House.

Though 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. "When we ran into the troll last time, Snape had scratches on his leg!"

"Scratches?"

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

"That's right!"

Ron and Eli both looked completely baffled.

Ron genuinely did not understand, while Eli was pretending.

Though he had no idea when they had gone to the third floor and seen that three-headed dog, logically speaking, these were not things he should know.

He was simply playing dumb.

Wasn't that how people were influenced by what they saw every day? Having witnessed Dumbledore's masterful acting, Eli felt that one day, he might be able to make a run for an Oscar too.

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

Eli felt that his acting had reached perfection. This absolutely counted as immersive performance.

Hermione began explaining it 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 take you somewhere entirely different.

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

"Then why were you out so late?"

The moment Ron heard that, his face filled with anger.

"Don't mention it. That Malfoy challenged us to a duel, but when we got to the agreed location, we discovered 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 said, "I only went to keep them from being tricked, but they wouldn't listen to me at all!"

Hermione had always been exceptionally rule-abiding. Breaking school rules was something she would never even think of doing.

And one reason Ron disliked Hermione was that she often jumped out to stop them from doing this or that.

But Eli knew that Hermione had been sorted into Gryffindor because she too had a heart unwilling to follow rules.

Breaking school rules? Once you tried it, there was no going back. Hehe...

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

"That's right!"

Harry answered firmly. Snape, that rotten bastard, definitely was not a good person!

Eli did not argue on Snape's behalf. If he had not known the plot, even he would have believed Snape was a bad person!

It wasn't that their side had not tried hard enough; their teammate was simply too hopeless.

"Hagrid!"

"Hello, children."

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

Though Hagrid was not a professor, he was still a school employee and often handled tasks for Dumbledore. Harry hoped Hagrid could 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, and he believed Snape was not the sort 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 that three-headed dog injured him!"

Hagrid looked utterly astonished. "Fluffy? How do you know about Fluffy?"

Oh ho. Eli felt that Hagrid was practically a divine assist. He had let the secret slip in one sentence.

"Fluffy? That monster has a name?"

Ron clearly had not expected that ferocious beast to have such an innocent-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 let something slip and grew flustered, but the moment Fluffy was mentioned, he perked right up.

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

Hermione: "!"

Harry: "!"

Ron: "?!"

Eli: "Oh ho."

Eli now seriously suspected that Hagrid had been raised on Veritaserum. No one even needed to pry for information—he just spilled everything on his own.

"Nicolas Flamel?"

Hagrid froze, instantly realizing he seemed to have said something wrong again. He looked both embarrassed and angry.

"No, whatever it is, it's not something you little wizards should be worrying about!"

Ever since hearing the name Nicolas Flamel, Harry and the others had searched everywhere for information about him, neglecting both food and sleep.

Eli was utterly speechless. Didn't I show you that card when I was in the hospital last time? It was right there!

It was one thing for Harry and Ron not to remember, but how could Hermione have forgotten too?

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

Christmas soon arrived, and the school arranged the Christmas holiday.

Many young wizards chose to go home and spend it with their families. Only a small number chose to remain at school, Harry among them.

Harry had completely come to regard Hogwarts as his home.

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

Still, Eli was somewhat puzzled. Wasn't Christmas 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 now. He was staring at the letter from home and breaking out in a cold sweat.

Just a few days earlier, he had written to tell his parents that he would not be going home for Christmas.

Fortunately, Mr. and Mrs. Hall could not write Howlers.

Otherwise, Eli could guarantee that he would have spent Christmas listening to one.

Looking at the extremely sternly worded letter, Eli broke out in a cold sweat.

When he went home next time, he was afraid he would be in for a brutal beating.

Fortunately, Mr. and Mrs. Hall ultimately approved Eli's application to stay at school.

Early in the morning, the castle was completely redecorated.

Christmas cheer filled every corner, and Professor Flitwick was decorating a huge 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 met with fierce opposition from a certain greasy-haired professor.

He never hesitated to praise students, especially an outstanding student like Eli.

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

Eli pulled out his wand and gave it a light wave. The little 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 Hover Charm! Ten points to Slytherin!"

By then, the jar representing Slytherin's points was already the fullest.

Many of the points inside had been earned by Eli.

At this rate, winning the House Cup would be easy.

They were far ahead of the competition!

Eli owed this skill to Snape as well.

He had been studying with Snape for some time now, and his control over magic had improved greatly.

His Potions skill was absolutely no worse than that of a seventh-year student!

Harry and Ron were playing Wizard Chess. It was similar to chess, except the pieces moved on their own, and captured pieces were destroyed.

Eli played several rounds as well, but like Harry, Ron utterly crushed him.

Losing was one thing, but Eli had terrible sportsmanship.

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

If Harry had not held him back, Ron would have been done for.

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

"You'd better find information on 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 see his brother Charlie Weasley.

"We've looked a hundred times already!"

"But you still 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 the rule-abiding Hermione he knew?!

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 handed Eli a sweater with a large [Y] stitched onto it.

He and Harry each had one too. Eli loved Mrs. Weasley's handiwork and had worn the sweater every day lately.

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

Sure enough, an extremely terrifying scene appeared in the Restricted Section.

A hand carrying an oil lamp entered.

The cloak fell away, revealing the boy left behind for the holidays—Harry, who had come to search for Nicolas Flamel.

"Nicolas Flamel!"

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

The moment he opened it, a face suddenly 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 Filch caught him, Harry would be finished!

He hurriedly pulled the Invisibility Cloak over himself, but knocked over the oil lamp.

There was no time to worry about that!

His figure vanished again.

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

"Come out! I saw you..."

The tremor in his voice clearly said, "I'm scared too."

Harry immediately slipped out.

"Snape, I..."

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

Turning around, he saw Snape pinning Quirrell against the wall.

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

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

"I think you do understand!"

Suddenly, Snape looked in Harry's direction.

Harry immediately held his breath.

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