At this, Ron, vice president of the Charon Detective Agency, immediately dropped his playful grin and swept his gaze over the younger members.
"What happened, President?" Ron deliberately addressed him by his formal title.
Harry looked grave, as though something of life-or-death importance had happened.
"A massive new task..."
He glanced around as he spoke, apparently intending to keep them in suspense and see their reactions, but Ginny burst out laughing.
"Ahem."
That nearly made Harry lose his composure too.
"Here's the situation. Today, through the Academic Affairs Office, Filch issued us an official commission-to survey all the unknown dungeons in Hogwarts."
"Filch?"
Ginny, who had been preparing to take the minutes, stopped writing. She wondered whether she had misheard.
Ron also asked in astonishment, "The Filch who wishes he could hang every student from the basement ceiling?"
Harry twisted his mouth.
"It sounds as ridiculous as Snape suddenly announcing he's going to hand out sweets in Potions Class, but the Academic Affairs Office really did approach me..."
Neville said doubtfully, "Although I don't personally have much against Professor Snape anymore, if he offered us sweets, how would we know they were actually sweets and not poison? I mean... could these unknown dungeons... could they be some plot of Filch's?"
At Neville's words, everyone turned to look at him. He called that not having much against him? Poison! For all Snape's harsh threats about forcing students to drink their failed potions as poison, he had never actually poisoned anyone in all these years.
Neville looked around and asked in puzzlement, "Is there a problem? I'm only wondering... after all, Filch asking students... really doesn't sound trustworthy. It's like Slytherin telling Gryffindor they should unite..."
Everyone shook their heads.
Harry shrugged. "It wasn't Filch's idea. It has the professor's style written