Fifty points each

Thud! Thud!

After they set down the wooden crate and cloth bag, Harry took off the Invisibility Cloak and sat on the floor to rest.

Suddenly, as though he had remembered something, he sprang up in excitement. "Hey, listen! Voldemort needs the Philosopher's Stone, and Snape wants to steal it. Could they be working together?"

"Oh, I remember now! Snape used to be a Death Eater—a follower of Voldemort. Good heavens, Harry, if your guess is right, that's terrifying!" Hermione said in shock.

"We have to tell Headmaster Dumbledore about this dreadful news right away!"

"Yes, exactly. But will Headmaster believe us?"

Of course he wouldn't. Albus Dumbledore had never doubted Snape's loyalty to the side of justice.

As their discussion grew increasingly far-fetched, Luo Bin couldn't help speaking up. "Without any evidence, no one will believe you. Besides, the Unicorn incident exposed the fact that Voldemort is hiding at school. The professors are bound to come up with countermeasures. The dark forces won't make a move anytime soon."

"Don't you think the professors might decide you're lying and slandering him?"

His words silenced them both. Harry paced anxiously for a while before turning to Luo Bin. "Luo Bin, do you still think Snape is a good person?"

Luo Bin nodded without hesitation. "Yes. I still think Professor Quirrell is more suspicious!"

"When we followed Snape into the Forbidden Forest last time, wasn't their conversation enough for you to tell who was good and who was bad?"

"I did figure it out. Quirrell is the bad one. All right, Harry, I see how it is. I can't convince you, and you can't convince me. Sit down and calm yourself for now. Charlie's friends should be here soon!"

Indeed, neither could persuade the other. Harry walked over to the window and let the fierce wind tousle his hair and Wizarding Robe. As it blew over him, his emotions gradually settled.

He thought Luo Bin was right about one thing: the professors would never believe that Snape and Voldemort were plotting together to steal the Philosopher's Stone!

Suddenly, four Broomsticks carrying four young people appeared outside the tower window!

"Aha, I win! The first person to welcome us is the famous Harry Potter!"

All four burst into laughter. Clearly, like Ron Weasley's brother, they were lively and had a good sense of humor.

After exchanging greetings, the four secured the wooden crate with chains. Each took hold of one corner of the chains, and their figures slowly vanished into the night sky!

"Norbert's gone. Luo Bin, do you think we'll ever see him again?"

"Of course. I'll be going to Romania with Hagrid during the holidays!"

"Hmph, I shouldn't have asked you that. Harry, let's go!"

Hermione pouted and turned to head down the stairs, with Harry close behind. Luo Bin looked at the Invisibility Cloak lying in the corner and shook his head helplessly.

In the original story, Harry and Hermione forgot to take the Invisibility Cloak and ran into Filch just after coming down the spiral staircase. Fortunately, McGonagall and Filch didn't believe for a second that they had been running around the castle carrying a Fire Dragon. They thought Harry had concocted an outrageous lie about a dragon to lure Draco out at midnight and get him caught breaking the rules.

Afterward, Harry, Hermione, Draco, and Neville each lost fifty points and received detention. That detention involved Hagrid leading them on a patrol of the Forbidden Forest, during which they encountered Voldemort brutally killing a Unicorn.

Bringing his thoughts back to the present, Luo Bin picked up the Invisibility Cloak and hurried downstairs. Before the other two could turn into the corridor, he draped it over them.

"Who's there?"

It was Filch's standard opening line. He craned his neck and stared fixedly at the Spiral Staircase.

He climbed upward one step at a time. Harry's and Hermione's palms were slick with sweat. Damn it, how could we have been stupid enough to forget the Invisibility Cloak?

Filch climbed up to the Astronomy Tower but found nothing except the howling cold wind. He gave a cold snort, hunched over, then went thudding back down the stairs!

The most dangerous place was the safest. After a brief discussion beneath the Invisibility Cloak, the three decided to follow Filch, neither too close nor too far behind. When they reached the middle floors, they heard Neville sobbing and Professor McGonagall scolding him.

"Professor McGonagall, there aren't any young Wizards up in the Astronomy Tower!" Filch said.

"All right, it doesn't take much thought to work out what happened here. Vincent Crabbe, you made up a lie about a Fire Dragon to trick Neville out of bed, causing him to wander around the Castle and get into serious trouble. You think that's funny, do you?" Professor McGonagall demanded angrily.

"No, I wasn't lying! I saw that dragon with my own eyes. It was black, its wingspan was over a meter, and it could breathe sparks..."

Compared with Crabbe, who was trying to "argue his way out," Neville looked miserable and pitiful. He knew Harry was going to do something important that night.

That evening, he had overheard Crabbe and Goyle discussing their plans to report Harry. After agonizing over it for a long time, he had finally decided to risk coming out to warn him.

But his luck had been truly awful. After climbing only a few floors, he had run into Crabbe, who then chased him. As he ran, he tripped and fell. When he looked up, he found himself staring into Filch's cloudy yet piercing eyes.

"Enough! I am very angry. Even now, Vincent Crabbe, you're still lying. Clearly, a severe punishment is necessary! Fifty points each from Gryffindor and Slytherin. And both of you will spend seven days cleaning Broomsticks!"

In the original story, besides losing fifty points each, they had also been given detention—a patrol of the Forbidden Forest. Perhaps the punishment had changed because Voldemort's presence in the Forbidden Forest and his intention to kill Unicorns had been exposed early. Or perhaps Hagrid had been so busy looking after Norbert that he had neglected his regular work for days, prompting Madam Hooch to complain about the dusty Broomsticks.

Whatever the reason, this punishment was still within acceptable limits. Neville, however, didn't agree. He burst into tears, and even McGonagall's and Filch's glares did nothing to quiet his wailing!

"Neville Longbottom, if you keep crying, I shall take another ten points from Gryffindor for making noise in the middle of the night and disturbing the other students' sleep!"

At that, Neville's loud cries immediately dwindled into quiet sobs. As for Crabbe, apart from his flushed cheeks, sweaty forehead, painfully clenched fists, and trembling fat legs, he showed no other reaction to the punishment.

Sure enough, whether someone seemed brave or timid depended entirely on the people beside them.

"All right. Return to your dormitories immediately, this instant!"

Only after the four had left did Luo Bin and the others dare to discuss it in whispers!

"Poor Neville. Just now, I felt this urge to take off the Invisibility Cloak, hold his hand, and tell him not to cry!" Harry sighed.

"Harry, if you'd rushed out, Gryffindor would have lost another hundred points. I bet we'd have become the most hated people in school!"

"Hermione, you're right. But why was Crabbe the one who came to report us instead of Draco?"

"Oh, I have something on him, so I threatened him not to reveal Norbert's existence. But Crabbe spotted him on his own!"

"Something on him? What is it? Tell me! Next time Draco bullies someone, I'll use it to threaten him too!"

Just imagining Draco looking scared and humiliated was enough to make Hermione laugh.

"I promised not to tell anyone. Hermione, you wouldn't want me to break my word, would you?"

"All right!" Hermione replied dejectedly.

If you're enjoying this book, remember to add it to your bookshelf so you can find it again next time!