Chapter 27: Taking the bait
In the hall, Meka Anders and Harry sat at a table and had a meal together.
There were grilled steaks, fish and chips, puff pastry tarts, Yorkshire puddings on the table... The plates were steaming and fragrant.
"Harry, are you really going tonight?" Hermione was worried when she knew that Harry had agreed to Malfoy's bet.
Harry nodded and said without hesitation: "Of course, since I have agreed, I will definitely go."
Ron's mouth was full of fish and chips, and he was hesitant when he spoke, but he was not very worried:
"Let me see, Harry, you can just stand up tomorrow. What kind of honesty can you talk about with a person like Malfoy?"
Harry shook his head, indicating that he still wanted to go, and stopped talking. He lowered his head and ate the mashed potatoes with milk on the plate.
"What about you?" Hermione looked at Meka, "Meka, are you going too?"
Meka slowly put the beef on the fork into his mouth, and replied after chewing: "Yes, why not?"
He had his own considerations. Since he was going to the abandoned classroom, he might have a chance to get the blood of the three-headed dog.
He smiled and said: "Malfoy originally challenged me to a fight, and Harry accepted it on my behalf. If I don't go, wouldn't it be too unkind."
"But." Hermione expressed her concerns, and she lowered her voice:
"Hogwarts school rules stipulate that after returning to the dormitory at night, you cannot come out again."
"If someone sees us, I'm afraid we will all be punished, and we may even be expelled."
Meka smiled and didn't answer. Silence at this time is the best answer.
He naturally knew that the school rules stipulated this, but he did things this way. Since he decided to do it, he would never look back.
Harry looked thoughtful. He was not afraid of punishment, but he was afraid of being expelled from school.
His parents died when he was young, and he lived with his aunt and uncle, who treated him differently. It was difficult to see the sun in the small room at the foot of the stairs, so he didn't want to go back.
But he finally decided: "I still have to go."
Ron was eating anxiously, and he had some rhinitis, so he blew his nose and said righteously:
"Then I'll go too."
"Okay." Hermione's face was no longer sad, and it was obvious that she had made a choice in her heart, and she felt relieved instead.
"Meka, come here." The Weasley twins came over, waved, and looked mysterious.
Ron looked at the two and said unhappily: "What are you doing here?"
George Weasley glanced at him: "It has nothing to do with you, just eat your fries, your nose is running."
Ron snorted and ignored it.
Meka took the napkin to wipe his greasy hands, got up from the table, and followed the two to the corner.
As soon as he saw the faces of the two, he knew that the matter was settled, and asked with a smile:
"What? It's the last day, and the things are finally brought?"
Brad Weasley chuckled: "That's right, we brothers are the most honest in doing business, and we say three days is three days."
George took out a piece of cloth wrapped in something from his arms, he opened the cloth, revealing the mysterious alchemical item underneath, and handed it to Meka.
Meka looked at the thing in his hand.
The appearance of this thing is no different from an ordinary syringe, but it is a little more delicate, like a handicraft. The needle on the syringe is golden, very eye-catching, flashing cold light under the light of the auditorium, it should be very sharp.
Seeing his doubts, George said proudly: "How is it? The things will definitely satisfy you."
Brad whispered a few words to Meka and told Meka how to use this syringe.
This thing is indeed an alchemical creation of the magic world, satisfying all of Meka's needs:
The needle on the syringe is definitely sharp enough, and there are intermittent light-colored lines on the body of the syringe. It can be driven by spells to automatically attack the target and draw blood.
The needle has also been processed separately, and a niche spell has been integrated into it. At the moment of pricking, it will paralyze part of the target's body, making it unaware.
"But don't use this thing to stab people." George reminded, "If something goes wrong, you may be expelled from Hogwarts."
"I know." Meka nodded.
He watched the two leave, returned to the dining table, and continued to fill his stomach.
...
Evening.
It was very dark, and if the window was not opened in the house, it was pitch dark.
It was silent all around, and even the flapping of birds outside the window could be heard clearly.
A few figures sneaked out of the dormitory and met in the public lounge outside the dormitory. Hermione also came from the girls' dormitory.
"Let's go now?" Ron pointed to the stairs leading outside.
Harry nodded and whispered, "Let's walk slowly and quietly, so that the professor on night watch won't hear us."
Harry walked in front, and several people followed behind. Maeka put his hands in his pockets, looking much more relaxed.
The corridor at night was frighteningly dark, like a deep pool with no bottom, and people's breathing was clearly audible in the ears.
Black shadows flew by from time to time outside the corridor, which were birds living in the castle.
Maeka suddenly stopped: "Someone."
Hermione was startled and glared at him, but soon she held her breath nervously.
At the end of the corridor, there was a dim light, and someone must have come around the corner.
"It's Argus Filch, the school's janitor."
Ron also grabbed Maeka's clothes and whispered, "I heard he has a bad temper. If he's caught, he'll tell the whole school about it."
Harry got a little nervous when he heard this. He looked around, trying to find a place to hide.
Meka first found a place to hide, which was a fountain outside the corridor. There was a tall stone sculpture of a human in the middle of the fountain.
There was enough space behind the stone sculpture for several people to hide, and the sound of the fountain could cover other sounds.
"Follow me."
He took a few people to hide behind the stone sculpture.
Soon, someone walked by with an oil lamp, and the light of the oil lamp flickered dimly, illuminating his face.
This was a pale man with a hunched back and a pair of bulging eyes, as if he had lost his appearance due to hunger.
He was wearing an old robe with the hem hanging down to his feet, and a skinny cat followed him closely.
"It's late at night, but you still can't slack off."
Argus Filch confided to the cat at his feet: "None of the students here are easy to deal with. They are born bad embryos. I have to spend more time to discipline them."
"But it's worth it, don't you think, Mrs. Norris?"
Mrs. Norris is the cat at his feet.
The cat was indifferent. It swept its tail and looked around with its unusually bright eyes. It once looked at the stone sculpture in the fountain.
Harry took a deep breath. He was a little worried that the cat had smelled their scent.
Meka felt Ron tighten his clothes. He turned his head and saw Ron and Hermione holding their breath.
"Meow~" Mrs. Norris made a lazy call and walked along the corridor without stopping.
Filch hurriedly followed, shaking the oil lamp in his hand, and the footsteps faded away.
"Okay." Meka saw the figure going away and could no longer see it. After he walked out of the stone sculpture, he called the people behind him:
"Keep going."
"I say." Ron exhaled and said unhappily, "This Filch is not a good thing. What do you mean they are all bad embryos? Bah, he is the bad thing."
Harry nodded in agreement.
…
“Finally we’re here.”
Hermione rested against the wall. There was no shelter for a short distance, so she could only jog along.
Meka walked up the stone steps and entered the interior of the towering tower.
The place was empty and quiet, and there was no one in sight.
He looked up and saw the long ladders stretching upwards. At a glance, he could not see the end.
The group took a short break and climbed to the sixth floor.
Directly connected to the stairs was a door with a rusty door handle, and the entire sixth floor was hidden behind the door.
“Do you want to go in?” Meka looked at the people behind him.
Harry and the others looked at each other. No one knew if there was anyone behind the door. They were all worried that they would run into the school professors as soon as they opened the door.
“No one is talking?” Meka asked again, “Then I’ll open it?”
The others agreed.
The door was not locked, and Meka pushed open the heavy door.
Inside the door was a dark corridor with no light. Looking inside, it was like staring into a deep well.
"No one?"
Ron poked his head out and saw no one.
He breathed a sigh of relief and sighed, "Harry, I think Malfoy stood us up."
Harry pursed his lips and looked downstairs, but still no one came.
"It seems so." He replied.
"Since Malfoy is not here, let's go back." Hermione wanted to go back, fearing that something unexpected would happen if she stayed any longer.
Ron nodded in agreement, "I want to go back too. If Malfoy has bad intentions and spreads this matter, or if Filch comes back..."
"Meow~~"
A cat's cry came from inside the door.
Several people took a breath.
"Filch's cat." Ron whispered.
Meka quietly closed the door, and he heard footsteps:
"Hurry up, there are footsteps, maybe inside the door, or maybe upstairs."
A group of people hurried down the stairs.
Suddenly, there was a sound of gears meshing, and several people were startled, and then they saw that the stairs suddenly deviated from the original trajectory and redistributed at a dazzling speed.
"Oh no."
Hermione saw that the stairs that could have led directly to the first floor actually led to the fifth floor after some changes, and the way back to the first floor disappeared.
Someone upstairs seemed to have heard the sound, and the footsteps hurried up.
"Don't worry about it, go first."
Harry suggested and immediately led down the stairs.
...
"Took the bait."
A figure came out from nowhere and smiled in the dark.
When several people walked into the corridor on the fifth floor, he followed them in quietly.
...
...
