Draco paused for a moment, then asked, "Really?"
"Yeah, minors aren't allowed to do business, they'd be locked up in Azkaban." Herman rolled his eyes, expressing his disdain for Harry's fabricated stories meant to fool children. "Aren't you afraid she'll come back to bite you?"
But Draco clearly didn't realize what was happening.
She tilted her head and pondered for a couple of seconds, probably wondering if the Ministry of Magic had such a rule. But she didn't press further, just pursed her lips and muttered, "Let's wait until graduation. Hogsmeade won't let us go, and we can't even sell Potions?"
Herman stuffed the book into his bag, zipped it up, and nodded to Harry and Draco: "Let's go, we got the stuff, don't linger here."
The three of them walked back the way they came.
As Herman passed the purple-covered book still lying on the ground, Herman circled around it. The pages of the book were still fluttering slightly, like a fish that wasn't quite dead yet occasionally flicking its tail on a chopping board.
Draco also circled around, and even kicked the bookshelf next to her, probably to vent her anger.
The gate to the Restricted Section closed behind her, and Harry used her wand to reset the latches. With a soft click, the iron gate was restored to its original state.
The three walked through rows of bookshelves to the library entrance. Harry opened the door a crack, peeked into the corridor to make sure no one was there, and then squeezed out to the side.
The candlelight in the corridor was dimmer than when we arrived; it was already late at night, and only a few wall lamps were lit, casting a dim, yellowish glow.
The three walked back down the corridor, their pace much faster than when they came.
Just as they turned the corner of the corridor behind the library, Harry suddenly stopped and pinned Herman and Draco against the wall.
Before Herman could ask, he saw a hunched figure carrying an oil lamp slowly walking forward a dozen meters down the corridor.
The man walked slowly, stopping every two steps to look to both sides. The light from the oil lamp illuminated a gaunt face, and a skinny cat followed at his feet. It was Filch.
The three of them huddled together in the shadows of the corner, barely breathing.
Draco's face was pressed against Herman's arm, she held her breath and dared not make a sound, her eyes wide open as she watched Filch walk step by step down the corridor.
Filch walked slowly and dawdlingly, stopping every now and then to shine his oil lamp into the corner of the wall, probably checking if any students were hiding there.
The cat also stopped and sniffed around in the corner.
After waiting for several minutes, Filch finally turned into another corridor. The light from the oil lamp was slowly blocked by the wall, and the footsteps gradually faded away.
Harry pulled out the map, glanced at it, and only after confirming that Filch was far away did she wave her hand.
The three squeezed out from the corner, jogged through the corridor, down the stairs, turned into the underground corridor, and finally pushed open the stone door of the Slytherin Common Room, collapsing onto the sofa.
Draco slumped on the sofa, panting. Her golden ponytail was half-undone. She reached up and brushed her hair away from her face, unable to suppress a laugh, "I almost got caught by Filch."
Herman leaned back in the armchair beside him, the book in his bag digging into his back. He shifted the bag, pulled the book out, and placed it on his lap. The dark brown leather cover gleamed in the embers of the fireplace. He had finally gotten it.
The three of them slumped on the sofa for a while. Draco stood up first, tied her half-undone ponytail back up, yawned, and squeezed out a tear from the corner of her eye.
"I'm so sleepy, I need to go back to sleep. I have Dark Magic Defence Class tomorrow, and I can't keep sleeping during class; that would be letting Professor Snape down."
After she finished speaking, she waved to the two of them and dragged her feet toward the dormitory corridor, the hem of her cloak trailing on the carpet. After a few steps, she suddenly remembered something, turned back to look at Harry, and said...
"That curse, is it alright? I hope I don't wake up one day with all my hair gone."
Harry, seeing the slightly frightened look on Draco, said with satisfaction, "It's okay, as long as you recite this a hundred times before bed, not even once less."
As she spoke, Harry tore a page from her black notebook and handed it to Draco.
Draco took the paper from Harry, looked at the convoluted writing, and asked doubtfully, "Will it really work?"
"Trust me! But you can't skip a single time," Harry said confidently.
Draco listened to Harry's words and walked back dejectedly.
Herman asked curiously, "What did you give her? Was it really a spell?"
Harry laughed and said, "It's a Muggle tongue twister, like counting sheep, meant to put kids to sleep."
"It's good to put the child to sleep and Draco so she can go to bed early," Herman said, then suddenly realized something was wrong and pressed, "Then why did you insist that Draco read it a hundred times?"
Harry laughed and said, "I'm afraid she'll fall asleep."
"Uh..." Herman really didn't know what to say about Harry's perverse sense of humor.
Harry then blew out the oil lamp she had used for lighting, put away the black leather notebook, stood up, glanced at Herman, and looked at the dark brown book on his lap.
"No normal wizard wouldn't look at notes of such dubious origin." Harry's tone was no different from usual, but Herman felt there was something strange about it coming from her.
A normal wizard wouldn't look at this, but you not only looked at it, you also used me for experiments.
However, since it was Harry's kind intention, Herman thanked her and said, "Don't worry, I know what I'm doing."
Harry nodded, turned and went into the hallway. She walked to her room, took out her key, turned it, and the door opened and closed again. The hallway became quiet.
Herman took the book off his lap, got up, and walked to his room.
He went inside, closed the door, sat on the edge of the bed, and opened the book.
The pages glowed with a soft, warm yellow under the light, and the densely packed characters spread out on the paper, some with thick ink, others so light they were almost illegible.
He had already read Marlene's annotations. A few pages later, there were some anatomical studies of Fantastic Beasts. Clearly, Harry hadn't seen these, otherwise she would have seriously questioned the purpose of the formula.
Each paragraph was written very densely, requiring great concentration to read. Herman read about half a page before feeling his eyelids begin to droop.
He closed the book and rubbed his temples.
I didn't sleep well the day before yesterday, and today I was up all day again, attending classes during the day and going out for a walk at night. Right now, every joint in my body is screaming with exhaustion.
Having learned from her previous experience with insomnia, Herman dared not stay up late to study again. Health is the foundation of everything. From now on, she would study hard during the day and rest well at night, at most fooling around with Derako and Hari, but she would definitely not study anymore.
He put the book in his backpack, zipped it up, leaned against the bedside table, stood up, went to the bathroom to wash his face and brush his teeth, changed into his pajamas, and crawled into bed.