Chapter XXVII: Professor McGonagall
Hogwarts was still brightly lit at night, and Ning An was very familiar with every changing staircase, and he had to sneak out almost every day some time ago.
But for Malfoy, such experiences were obviously not much, and Ning An could see that he was excited and a little scared, and at this time he was cautiously advancing towards the tower of Gryffindor.
Ning An was far behind, and as he passed Professor McGonagall's lounge, he crept to the door, and there was a faint light through the crack in the door, and it seemed that Professor McGonagall had not yet fallen asleep.
Ning An took out his wand and pointed at the round silver doorknob on the white wooden door, and heard a "bang", and the doorknob flew out of the house like a cannonball, and then only heard the sound of "bang", and I didn't know what it hit.
"Who is it——! Oh, my God! Is that you—Peeves? How dare you——! Ning An heard Professor McGonagall's roar in the room from a distance, and he had never seen Professor McGonagall thundering.
"Malfoy is going to be out of luck." Ning An thought to himself, and also rushed towards the tower. He hadn't gone far before he saw Malfoy, still cautiously climbing the stairs.
In the stairwell full of oil paintings, each oil painting is the eyes of the professors, and Ning An believes that the enraged Professor McGonagall will ask the people who live in the oil paintings if there are any unruly people. Then she would find a bold Slytherin, wandering the stairwell in the middle of the night.
Ning An rushed to the front of Malfoy, waiting for the show to play out.
In fact, he didn't have to wait long before he heard Professor McGonagall's eager footsteps. Malfoy was also shocked, and he looked like he was trying to find a place to hide. But at this time, in the corridor under the tower of the highest floor, there was no room for dodging in the empty hallway.
Ning An could see the desperation in Malfoy's eyes, but perhaps he thought it would be Filch, not that it would be Professor McGonagall, who was full of anger.
Soon, an enraged Professor McGonagall appeared in the hallway, not even changing her clothes, but wearing a plaid dressing gown with a hairnet on her head. She cried out in anger when she saw Malfoy, who was looking at her with his mouth wide open and in a panic
"Oh my God! - How dare you! ”
Professor McGonagall came up to Malfoy in the blink of an eye, reached out and grabbed Malfoy's ear, stared at him and yelled angrily:
"Confinement! - Slytherin deducts 20 points! ”
She was visibly angry, her chest rising and falling erratically, but Malfoy seemed to be trying to defend herself
"-No, Professor-it's Harry Potter, they're going to bring a dragon-"
"Lies!" Professor McGonagall grabbed Malfoy's ear and walked back, "I'm going to hand you over to Professor Snape - see what he does with you!" ”
Ning An was very happy to watch, and when he saw Malfoy being taken by McGrah, he smiled and walked to the top tower, where he remembered Hermione saying that they were going to send Noble away.
When he reached the top of the building, he saw four dark figures, riding on four broomsticks with thick ropes tied to them, and a huge wooden chest. I think it should be Noble inside.
Harry and Hermione stood on the edge of the tower, the four broomsticks had taken off and disappeared into the night sky, and the two of them looked in the direction they had disappeared for a long time.
Ning An came softly behind them and whispered, "Harry, Hermione." ”
"Who!" Harry was startled, he turned abruptly, saw that there was nothing in front of him, and asked Hermione in disbelief:
"Hermione? - Did you hear anyone calling us? ”
Hermione was also frightened, but she quickly calmed down, and asked tentatively and softly at the empty air in front of her, "Ning'an?" - Is that you? ”
Then the two of them saw that Ning An appeared out of thin air with a smile on his face. Harry stammered in surprise:
"Heavenly ...... Oh my God—Ning'an! You also have an invisibility cloak? How did you come here? ”
"It's a little spell, Harry." Ning An smiled lightly and explained, "Malfoy was going to catch you down there, but I think he's being taught a lesson by Professor McGonagall right now. ”
"Haha, did you really bring Professor McGonagall here?" Hermione smiled happily
"Oh, wait, what are you two talking about, why can't I understand?" Harry shook his head suspiciously, "Ning'an, why are you here?"
"Huh? Didn't Hermione tell you? Ning An asked in surprise, he saw that Hermione was about to explain, so he simply continued:
"I heard that Malfoy knew your secret and wanted to wreak havoc, so Hermione asked me to help sabotage Malfoy's plans."
Hermione nodded, looking at Harry with some apprehension, she didn't know if Harry would have any objection to telling Ning An about Noble.
But fortunately, Harry just nodded, and said excitedly:
"Thanks to your help, Ning An!" Then he said with some regret, "It's a pity that I didn't see Malfoy being reprimanded by Professor McGonagall." ”
"Alright, I guess we'll have to get out of here, or Professor McGonagall will be the ones to reprimand us later."
Hermione and Harry nodded, and the three of them entered the stairs of the tower, preparing to descend into the corridor on the lower level, Ning An asked strangely as she walked, "What about Ron?" Why didn't you see him? ”
"Oh, he's been bitten on the hand by Noble, and he's being treated by Mrs. Poundred in the infirmary." Hermione replied casually.
"I see." Ning An thought in his heart as he walked out of the spiral stone staircase and came to the corridor, but the next moment he was stunned.
Harry and Hermione, who had followed him into the hallway, were stunned. A tall, thin figure, dressed in tattered robes, stood in front of them with eyes like light bulbs. It's Filch!
He carried a dim chandelier in his hand, and at this time there was a happy and disgusting smile on his face, and he sneered at the three of them:
"Look, look, students hanging out in the middle of the night! I'm going to arrest you all! - Think what Professor McGonagall will do with you! ”
Ever since he was knocked unconscious by the Coma Charm in the library last time, Filch had at first thought that there was something unclean in the forbidden section. But the more he later felt that it was most likely the mischievous students who had done it, and Fred and George became his main suspects. Since then, he has hated the students who have run away even more.
Ning An shouted that it was not good, seeing that Norber was sent away, and Malfoy was also taken away by McGonagall, he actually let his guard down and forgot to recast the illusion charm on himself, and Harry also forgot his invisibility cloak and left him on the tower.
When Filch brought them to McGonagall's office, Harry and Hermione's faces turned white, and Ning An couldn't help but sigh that the news came too quickly. One second, he was hiding in the shadows and laughing at Malfoy, who was caught by McGonagall, and the next moment, he was standing in front of Professor McGonagall with burning eyes.
Standing at McGonagall's desk was another student, who was none other than Harry's friend from Gryffindor, Neville? Longbottom.
"Harry! I heard Malfoy say he's coming to get you, and he says you have a dragon - so I want to give you a heads up......," Neville blurted out as soon as he saw Harry.
Even though Harry and Hermione kept shaking their heads at Neville, he said it anyway.
"Unbelievable——! What's wrong with all of you! Professor McGonagall's voice was more than an octave higher than usual, "All of them are out hanging out in the middle of the night!" Mr. Ning'an! Miss Granger! I thought you were smart people! And you, Potter! Think of the accolades you've won for Gryffindor! ”
"You made up such a lie to trick Malfoy out of bed and unlucky him, didn't you? I didn't expect poor Longbottom to believe it too, do you think it's funny!? ”
Hermione and Harry lowered their heads in shame, sneaking around the campus in the middle of the night, and climbing to the tower where they should normally be forbidden to go, if it was known that they had just sent away a dragon, then the two of them could definitely pack up and go home.
And it also hurt Neville who wanted to help him, and Harry peeked into Neville's aggrieved eyes and felt extremely sorry.
Professor McGonagall took a deep breath with all her might, calming her mood so that she could suppress her anger
"You will pay for what you have done." She reprimanded harshly
"Confinement! Harry, Hermione, Neville, each of you cost Gryffindor fifty points - and you, Ning'an, you let Slytherin lose fifty points too! I'd like to see what Professor Snape would say to his protégé! ”
"Fifty points!?" Harry and Hermione screamed
"Please—", Neville opened his mouth as wide as he almost burst into tears. If they really deduct 50 points each, then they are simply Gryffindor sinners, and Gryffindor, who had taken the lead in the House Cup because of his outstanding performance in Quidditch, will also be surpassed by other houses.
"You can't—" Harry looked at McGonagall pleadingly.
"Enough! Take responsibility for your mistakes and say no more, now! Go back to your bedroom and go to bed! I don't want to hear from you again in the middle of the night! ”
Leaving Professor McGonagall's office, looking at Harry and Hermione, Neville looked like a mourner, and Ning An tried to comfort her. He didn't care how many points Slytherin was deducted, House Cup? What is that? Can you eat it? It might affect Snape's attitude towards him and gave him a lot of headaches.
Under Filch's escort, several people returned to their own common rooms, no matter how Ning An enlightened, Harry and the others were still very sad, and there was nothing else he could do.
When Ning An returned to the dormitory, Crabbe and Goyle were still snoring and asleep, and Archibald, who was on the other side, was also asleep. Malfoy seemed to be lying in bed at this time, and seemed to be asleep as well.
Ning An fell on the bed and covered his head to reflect on his carelessness, and he suddenly remembered that in the original book, Harry seemed to have been caught by Filch for forgetting to take the Cloak of Invisibility, and was later punished to go to the Forbidden Forest. It's just that he doesn't remember many of the plots of Harry Potter in great detail, and only a small part of his favorite plots will remember in great detail.
"Forbidden Forest?" Ning An muttered under the covers, he felt a little that he was afraid that this time he was also crooked, if there was no accident, he remembered that when Harry went to the Forbidden Forest, he would meet Quirrell drinking the blood of a unicorn to renew Voldemort's life.
"Weakened Voldemort?" He couldn't help but think about it in his heart.
The most magic-savvy people in this world are undoubtedly Dumbledore and Voldemort, and it just so happens that magic has a great allure for Ning An, and he finds himself more and more eager to learn new magic.
Because he didn't plan to meddle in the affairs of the Philosopher's Stone, and Voldemort would be temporarily lurking due to the failure to capture the Philosopher's Stone, maybe this would be an opportunity to make contact with Voldemort?
But how, exactly? And what to do? Ning An just lay on the bed and thought, and unconsciously fell asleep.