As the low, deep bells rang from the castle and the herb class was over, Harry and the others, under Sprout's disgruntled gaze, ran through the damp grounds, down the grassy slopes, and toward Hagrid's hut on the edge of the Forbidden Forest.

The next class was a lesson on protecting magical creatures with the Slytherin students, usually with Gryffindor and Slytherin, and Harry had to fight two verbal fights with Malfoy, but to be honest, it was the weirdest lesson he'd ever had at Hogwarts in years.

Hagrid brought a few boxes of gray, slimy, shelled lobster-like fried snails, creatures that even Harry found disgusting and terrifying, and didn't even provoke Malfoy to say anything sarcastic.

He kept his head down and absent-minded for the entire lesson, as if he had lost interest in Harry, Hagrid, and the magical creatures he hated the most.

"Something isn't right - do you see? Malfoy like that! ”

Reluctantly, Ron grabbed a handful of frog livers and threw them into the box where the whelks were kept, whispering to Harry and Hermione.

Harry nodded approvingly, he had been secretly observing Malfoy since before class, this guy just glanced at himself and was silent, he should have come forward on weekdays, mocked them, and took the initiative to find trouble, Malfoy's behavior was abnormal.

"So, Ning An...... Is it really possible to be ...... Hogwarts? ”

Ron shuddered to himself, he still couldn't believe Harry and Hermione's reasoning, knowing that this was Hogwarts, how could Ning An sneak in quietly?

"Maybe it's not Ning An, it's just that Malfoy is planning some other conspiracy or something......?"

Ron tried to suggest another possibility, Hermione and Harry also became uncertain all of a sudden, their intelligence was too little, and they could only make the most limited judgment, indeed, calm down carefully and think about it, it was not easy to infiltrate Hogwarts, whether Malfoy stole the map was really to help Ning'an, it was not sure.

"I think we should tell Dumbledore."

Hermione looked at Harry and Ron seriously, and the words she said almost didn't make Ron? Weasley's jaw dropped.

"You-say-what-?"

Tossing the wet frog liver in his hand onto the plate, Ron's eyes widened as he looked at Hermione

"You're going to report to Mr. Headmaster because of this speculation? Do you really think Dumbledore will see us because of this? ”

Harry frowned, he thought Hermione was making a bit of a fuss, and he really didn't want to tell Dumbledore about an unrealistic guess of his own, as if he were a nervous kid who liked to make a fuss.

And his recent frequent headaches and dreams of Voldemort had exhausted Harry, and he preferred to talk to Sirius rather than bother Dumbledore.

But Hermione stood by her point

"If the person who forced Malfoy to do this was really Ning An—"

Hermione glanced at Malfoy in the distance, who was standing behind the two henchmen, Crabbe and Goyle, absentmindedly stirring the ant eggs, which seemed unbelievable enough, and in Hagrid's Conservation Magical Creatures class, it was not Malfoy's style at all not to say a few sarcasm.

"If it's Ning'an who forced Malfoy to do this, I think it's important to report it to Dumbledore - he's dangerous, you know."

Hermione's words caused Ron and Harry to fall into a brief silence, and indeed, if as they deduced, Malfoy stole the map in order to prevent Harry from stumbling upon Ning An, who had infiltrated the school, then that would be a big deal.

"Even if it's a 1 in 10,000 chance, we should let Dumbledore know about it, or at least make him understand that someone is trying to infiltrate Hogwarts, and that someone is secretly plotting a plot-"

Hermione's final persuasion impressed Harry and Ron, who had not expected the loss of the map to be such a serious problem, and indeed if anyone wanted to enter Hogwarts with the intention of entering Hogwarts, and happened to know that Harry had such a map of the living spots, then the map might be the biggest threat to infiltration.

"Okay, let's go talk to Dumbledore."

Harry gritted his teeth and made up his mind, he also felt that this matter should be noticed, and it was difficult for him to feel at ease when combined with the frequent dreams he had had been in with Voldemort lately.

So as soon as the lesson on protecting magical creatures was over, they went straight to the castle, and without even bothering to eat lunch, they went up the marble staircase, through layers of changing wooden ladders, to the eighth floor at the top of the castle.

Turning down the hallway to the right would bring you back to their common room in the Gryffindor Tower, but this time the three of them headed to the left, and their respective footsteps could be heard in the wide, quiet hallway.

"It's a little scary to be quiet here—" Ron shuddered, as if he was afraid that Ning An would suddenly burst out behind him, and hurriedly took two steps to keep up with Harry and Hermione, who were already walking in front.

The three of them quickly made their way through the empty hallway on the eighth floor to a tall stone wall where two ugly stone beasts were crouching, and Harry remembered how he had been in his second year.

"Uh- what are we going to do? Do you want to knock on the wall? ”

Ron nervously lowered his voice and whispered to the two friends beside him

"I remember giving the command, and the stone beast would open the door—"

Harry took a step forward and swallowed, unsure if the headmaster's office secret language would not change for the past four years.

With the mentality of giving it a try, he shouted to the door, "Lemon orange juice—"

The hallway was silent, the tall wooden door in front of him didn't move, Harry was a little embarrassed, and he shouted again

"Lemon cake? Bubble gum? Chocolate frog? ”

After shouting a few times, the two stone beasts still did not move, and the three people stood outside the door, suddenly looking extremely embarrassed.

"Almost, Harry, maybe you should say 'cockroach pile'-"

The three of them turned back at the same time, and a white-haired old wizard wearing a moon-white robe with gold threads decorated with stars and moon motifs was standing in the corridor with a smile, and as he shouted 'Cockroach Heap', the two stone beasts suddenly came to life and jumped to the side, the stone wall behind it split in half.

A spiral staircase peeks out from behind the stone wall and is slowly moving upwards like an escalator.

"Professor......

Harry was interrupted by Dumbledore as he walked up to the three and spoke calmly

"Follow me."

Harry, Ron, and Hermione also stood up the spiral staircase, and the stone wall behind them closed with a bang, and the four of them spun higher and higher together, and when Harry felt dizzy, he finally saw a familiar oak door in front of him, and above the door was a brass knocker with the head of a sphin.

Dumbledore gently pushed the door open.

"Come in—"

The three mermaids rushed in, and it was the small, large, beautiful round room, filled with all sorts of funny little noises, and on the slender legs of the tables lay all sorts of strange silverware, which swirled and spewed out a small, small puff of smoke.

On the walls are portraits of the old headmasters, both men and women, who are either not here, or leaning against the frame, snoring softly.

"Hello, Fawkes."

Harry stood on a high gilded perch behind the door, Phoenix Fawkes chirped happily to Harry, he still remembered the boy, Harry couldn't help but reach out and gently touch the amazing red and gold feathers, until Hermione deliberately "cough cough" behind him, coughing twice, let him come back to his senses.

"Professor, we're here to tell you—"

Dumbledore sat down behind his desk, leaned back in his high-backed chair, and looked at Harry with piercing light blue eyes.

Harry saw that Dumbledore had the intention of listening, and continued, "My map of the living point was stolen - it was a prank map, but knowing all the people who entered Hogwarts, we suspect that Ning An instructed Malfoy to do so - while on the train, Malfoy deliberately caused trouble and broke up my luggage......"

Harry's explanation sounded jumbled and Hermione shook his head, but Dumbledore never interrupted, as he wanted to be as brief as possible, and had to say more to justify his reasoning

“…… So we thought we should tell you about it—"

When Harry finished his last sentence, Dumbledore had a serious look on his face, and he looked at the three of them solemnly, silent.

Harry was terrified, he didn't know if Dumbledore would believe his words, he felt that he had explained too badly, and he should have asked Hermione to explain it to Mr. Headmaster.

"Do you have any proof that it was Mr. Malfoy - took your map, Harry?"

Dumbledore's words choked Harry, his face flushed, he didn't want to stay here for a moment, he felt that he must be being taken for the kind of sinister person who maliciously slandered others, and turned his head to see the Sorting Hat on the chair, and remembered what it had said to himself

"-You'd be a perfect fit in Slytherin-"

He was like a deflated ball, not expecting to be believed, only wanting it to be over, so Harry groaned feebly and spat out a few words

"No, I...... There is no evidence, the professor ......"

"Mr. Headmaster, we have every reason to believe that all this is what Malfoy calls ......"

Hermione stepped forward, looked directly at Dumbledore, insisted on her opinion, and said strongly.

But Dumbledore waved his hand, signaling her not to rush to explain first.

"I'm not saying I don't believe what you're saying, Miss Granger, but in fact the reasoning is very helpful—"

Dumbledore smiled and narrowed his eyes, but soon his expression returned to solemnity, and he said in a deep voice:

"But in any case, in the absence of evidence, I don't want you to assume that a man has done anything, even if he is a Slytherin."

The blood on Harry's flushed face gradually faded, anyway, since Dumbledore didn't think of him as a sinister person who spread rumors and seriously hurt others, as for their inferences were incorrect, Harry already felt that it didn't matter, he regretted that he had run to the headmaster's office so boldly, even if he had more evidence of Malfoy, and then came to Dumbledore.

Hermione seemed to want to say something, but Dumbledore had already gotten up from his chair, and he walked up to the three of them and patted them on the shoulders one by one,

"I understand your feelings, it's good-"

Dumbledore's words seemed serious, and Harry realized that there was a trace of imperceptible tiredness hidden between the old man's eyebrows, he seemed to be a little dusty, and he must have been busy with the pre-Triwizard Tournament, which made him rush to work.

Harry regretted it even more when he thought of wasting Mr. Headmaster's time with such an immature guess.

But Dumbledore gently stroked his head and said appreciatively to the three of them:

"The news you bring is important, really, ladies and gentlemen."

His smiling eyes sparkled like two stars.

"Now let's go back to the classroom, I think you should have another class in the afternoon, right?"

"Ah, Charms lesson—" Ron snorted, he almost forgot.

"So, Professor Flitwick must not want anyone to be late, so did you eat?"

"Not yet, Professor—"

"Then this is for you - go now, concentrate on the class, I am sure you will learn useful knowledge in the class."

Dumbledore gave them three, one of them stuffing a small yolk biscuit in his hand, and got up and sent them out of the headmaster's room.

——————————————————————————————

"Do you think what Dumbledore said is true? Does he think it's important for us to tell him? ”

Harry stood in the corridor on the eighth floor, feeling a little empty, looking down at the small cookie in his hand, Ron had already eaten it in one bite, and he was still satisfied.

"Perhaps, Dumbledore wouldn't lie to us, would he?" Ron licked his lips as if he was still savoring the taste of the cookies.

"Don't overthink it, Harry."

Hermione seemed to understand what Harry was thinking, and she comforted:

"Anyway, this is enough to keep Dumbledore on the alert, and to take precautions, after all, your scars are starting to hurt again...... What does this most likely mean......"

"I just don't think I can help—"

Harry looked a little dejected and walked towards the corner of the stairs going down

"We are obviously the same age as Ning An, but now the gap between us and him is so big that we can't see it."

Hermione and Ron were silent, they could understand Harry's feelings, but the three of them had their own inner complexities.

——————————————————————————————

In the Headmaster's office, Dumbledore sat in his chair, staring solemnly at his desk.

"You may need some advice, Arbus?"

In the picture frame on the wall, a portrait that was still snoring just now looked at Dumbledore with concern, was it the previous Headmaster of Hogwarts, Armando? Dippert.

"Is that the boy from last year?" He asked.

"Every year, Dippert—"

The answer was a sleepy old wizard in another frame, Phineas? Nigelus, who was also the former Headmaster of Hogwarts, was just born in Slytherin and had always disliked Dumbledore, and he felt that this guy who was close to Muggles was unreasonable.

Dumbledore didn't speak, he sat in a chair that symbolized wisdom, thinking calmly, the smoke from the silver vessels around him gradually thickened, hiding him under the fog, and neither Armando nor Phineas spoke.

Once again, calm has been restored to this spacious, beautiful circular cottage.