That night, Neil was subjected to numerous notices and interrogations, and some of them, including the unreadable Miss Marietta Ekmo, tried to inquire directly from him in a more modest way about the way to get out of the back door and through the statue guards, but they were all perfunctory; More students felt a boost to their self-esteem and a spirit of challenge, and it is conceivable that from tomorrow onwards there will be a large number of people lining up in front of the statue to try to challenge the Ravenclaw legacy with their words.

It would be a sad surprise if there was a traffic jam at the entrance to the common room.

Neil wasn't going to tell anyone that this was a little experiment he had to try to see if he had what it took to fool the guards at the door—a rehearsal that's necessary when you're sure you'll be able to sneak out after lights-out time countless times in the future, or even sneak into dorms in other houses for all sorts of ulterior purposes.

It turned out better than expected, and he got the hang of it with just one attempt. The spell cast on the statue was indeed very powerful, but it seemed that even the great Ravenclaw could not completely break free from his own inherent frame of mind, and by exploiting loopholes, even his own disgraceful proficiency in the mind magic could successfully paralyze the opponent.

And now, it's almost the turn to officially play.

After listening to the sound of breathing around him and making sure that everyone had fallen asleep, Neil sat up straight like a zombie after lying motionless for two hours in a pretending to be asleep. Sleep is no longer a rigid need for him, although from the perspective of health, there is nothing wrong with sleeping a little more, but considering the preciousness of time, it should not be too luxurious.

Not to mention, he has a date to go tonight.

Neil turned sideways and quietly jumped out of bed, the overly soft bed was not good for the bones, but it also had the advantage of not creaking like a plank bed with the slightest movement. Although his sleeping classmates may not wake up at the slightest movement, it is unpleasant to disrupt the silence.

Remembering the meeting, he put on his robe again, dusted off the wrinkles, buttoned it down to the last, and pulled out the mahogany sword from his sleeve and placed it on his waist - the sword was a gentleman's vessel, and could traditionally be worn as a ceremonial object (let alone a wooden sword), except for stealing.

When everything was ready, he pulled out a piece of yellow-edged paper from his pocket and drew a few lines on it with his fingertips.

"The drum beats the third watch, and the rooster and dog thief are ...... at the right time"

Wisps of green smoke rose from the bloody words on the yellow paper, and in the blink of an eye, the entire paper was burned to ashes. However, the scattered black ash did not fall to the ground, but continued to surround Neil like a swarm of flies, and a faint ray of moonlight shone on him through the window screen, and the figure seemed to become transparent.

Anthony Goldstein smelled burnt in his sleep, and he propped himself up in a daze, searching around with his sleepy eyes to find the source of the smell. However, the bedroom was silent in the darkness of the night, and there was no one in him, he shrugged his shoulders and fell back into bed, and in a short time the snoring sounded.

……

The hunchbacked janitor, Argus Filch, limped down the hallway with a lantern in his hand, like a trolls foraging for food. Aging had taken his strength out of the way he had been, but as he rested against the floor-to-ceiling window, the gasps from his mouth were more from excitement than fatigue.

Filch is a social outcast, a Squib, a defective person born into a wizarding family but incapable of using magic. The wizarding aristocracy did not want lowly Muggles to tarnish their bloodline, but they did not like to see such Muggle subterranean things born in their noble bloodlines.

Argus Filch had grown up a somewhat sick man, and his inferiority complex had been fermented for many years, and it was only when he mistreated younger, more talented, and more promising students than him in the name of punishment that he could find a temporary peace.

He hung chains and handcuffs in his office and dreamed of one day the school would return to the good old days when it allowed itself to hang students up and whip them. If the wizarding world had signed something like the Convention on the Rights of the Child, or if the Ministry of Magic had been distracted from focusing on the personal rights of underage wizards in the Muggle world under the Secrecy Act, they would have rotted in the dungeons of Azkaban a long time ago. But for some reason, Dumbledore kept the old staff member and tacitly allowed him to keep some relatively humane means of punishing the students.

In addition to this, he also has cats, which may be the only vestiges of humanity left in him. At the end of his daily patrols, he roasted small dried fish for the cats in his office, using a small stove that used to heat the soldering iron so that he could poke it at the students.

The conscientious janitor had been on his night patrol since the first day of school, and he had a hunch that he would catch a bad boy or two tonight.

Unfortunately, the hallway at the beginning of the new semester was empty, and his pet Lady Loris did not smell any suspicious smell. The silence was so desperate that Filch began to wonder if the feeling of depression that had nowhere to vent had begun to eat away at his brain, as he could clearly see a dark shadow flash in front of Ravenclaw's dormitory, but after chasing it all the way to find no trace.

"What the hell." Filch muttered quietly. But at this time, his gray cat, which was just as vicious as his master, meowed and rubbed his trouser leg, and his resentful eyes seemed to say, I am starting to miss the stove in the office, why are we still staying in this gloomy and cold place?

"Alright, alright, Lady Loris." Filch sighed, bent down and rubbed it lightly behind the cat's ears, "Looks like there won't be anything to be gained tonight...... Are you hungry? How about we go back? ”

Later that day, when he returned to the office he called "The Nest," he had forgotten the strange things he had seen because of his dazzle.

……

The real body of the black shadow is naturally Neil who sneaked out.

The invisibility charm scribbled on the spot was so worrisome that it couldn't even eliminate itself visually, but with darkness as a cover, it was easy to slip away from the old dazed janitor and his moody pet. And after shaking Filch, there was only a smooth road left in front of him.

After three and two steps over the carpets and stairs that would cause trouble for pedestrians, and past a group of headless ghosts playing polo with their heads, Neil soon found that he had arrived at the door of the target location, and the effect of the invisibility charm was exhausted at this time, and the black paper ash around him suddenly lost its power and dissipated into green smoke.

He looked up and looked back and forth with a harsh artist's eye at the massive stone beasts in front of him, and the closed door sandwiched between the two statues—behind which was the highest center of power at Hogwarts.

It is commonly known as the principal's office.

As a guest, Neil didn't want to break through like he did in the common room, and out of kindness, Mr. Headmaster had already given the door a password when he sent a letter inviting him for an interview.

"Dilute hydrochloric acid." He whispered.

“……”

The stone beast statue did not move.

The smile on Neil's face faded.

"Concentrated hydrochloric acid?"

“……”

"Obviously not...... So, sulfuric acid? ”

“……”

"Well, it looks like things are getting a little tricky...... Nitric acid? ”

“……”

"I'm sorry, I must have been a little confused, I just remember that the password was a 'sour, bubbling liquid', could you inform Mr. Headmaster for me? We agreed to meet in the office tonight. ”

“……”

"Hey, don't do that, we all know I've been invited here, and we know I'm going to remember that damn password sooner or later, so why bother? Let me go over so we're all a lot easier, isn't it? ”

“……”

"You see, the only reason I'm standing here talking nonsense with you is out of respect for Mr. Headmaster. I don't want to force my way through it with the rude means of kicking open someone's door, but not wanting to do it and not wanting to do it are completely different things, and I sincerely hope that things don't get to that point, you know? ”

“……”

"No, don't pretend to be deaf and dumb, do you think I can't see through the banter you hide behind those two stone eyeballs?"

“……”

"Still don't speak, huh? Whatever you want, you know whatever, you're the one who's insulted the Headmaster's reputation and Hogwarts' character with your short-sightedness. ”

“……”

"Listen, I know we just had a few words that weren't very pleasant, but there's no need to bring that negativity into your work. I just need you to report to the principal, is that too much to ask? ”

……

Late at night, Albus Dumbledore was still sitting at his desk, flipping through trivial papers that weren't worth the all-night.

The guest he was waiting for was 10 minutes late – not too much, but he was concerned that the man had over-interpreted the rules of etiquette for dinner at a friend's house out of assumptions, and felt that he should come back a quarter of an hour late for any appointment in England.

At that moment, the door opened, and Neil Wan, who looked angry, appeared at the door.

"I'm sorry I'm late, Mr. Headmaster—oh, lemonade! Lemonade! Why didn't I remember it? ”