Hermione left without getting either an affirmative or a negative answer from Su Er.
But she had also abandoned the idea of going to Professor McGonagall.
"Wait and see. Harry and Ron aren't stupid enough to deliver themselves as dinner. There might be some clue Hagrid left for them there. If neither of them is back by midnight, it won't be too late to find a professor then."
After Hermione left, Su Er took out a small bundle hidden in a corner of the room, secured his wand close to his body, and hung the all-important phoenix feather against his chest. Once everything was in order, he left the Room of Requirement.
It was time for revenge...
Time turned back to the day Dumbledore had given Harry a hint in Hagrid's Hut.
That evening, when Su Er returned to the Room of Requirement carrying a double load of exhaustion, Big Sister Fawkes was perched on his makeshift bed, preening his feathers. He lifted his phoenix eyes slightly.
In a chair not far away, Dumbledore was leafing through a book without a cover with considerable interest.
"P-Professor?" Su Er stared blankly around, confirming that he was indeed in the Room of Requirement.
Then how had Dumbledore and Fawkes gotten in? Wasn't it supposed to be impossible to enter without the spoken password?
Wasn't this place supposed to be top secret...?
He thought he was hallucinating.
"I'll be leaving for a while," Dumbledore said softly. "Before I do, there's something I'd like your help with, Bones."
"Ah... huh?" Su Er still hadn't caught up. He nodded blankly. "Go ahead."
And so, after receiving Hermione's firsthand information, Su Er used his sharp claws to scramble up a tree near Hagrid's Hut in a few quick movements and crouched there to wait for