Late at night, noisy Hogwarts Castle finally fell silent after the young wizards returned to their beds.
The pearly-white ghosts drifted out of the walls with untroubled expressions, then slipped into other walls.
Somewhere in the castle came a clattering noise, along with the sound of water splashing against a wall and old Filch's hoarse, slightly despairing shouts.
"Peeves! What are you up to now!"
The cool autumn breeze swirled and danced through an open window, teasing the torches fixed to the thousand-year-old stonework. The orange flames swayed gently, as though responding to its flirtation, crackling softly and burning a little more fiercely.
They cast a ring of light on the floor.
A pair of feet appeared in the dim yellow ring. A figure in wizard robes glided through it, his footsteps almost inaudible, and hid behind a large pillar in the Entrance Hall to look toward the oak doors nearby.
No one...
Su Er let out a soft breath. Perhaps because the school year had only just begun, no professors seemed to have been on watch here these past few nights.
There was no time to lose. Su Er immediately headed for the oak doors. After a creak of wood rubbing against brass fittings, his figure disappeared.
Outside the castle, Su Er hurried along the path in the moonlight. He glanced at Hagrid's Hut, still lit up in the distance, then turned in another direction. He intended to enter the Forbidden Forest through another entrance.
Hermione had probably spent too long mulling things over on her own and felt a strong urge to talk. After dinner, she had dragged Su Er to the Room of Requirement on the Seventh Floor.
In theory, with a boy and a girl alone in a room late at night, a little something ought