Homecoming from Hogwarts

"It has nothing to do with us?"

Harry and the other two looked at each other and saw surprise in each other's eyes.

Completely inconsistent with their tall stature, Crabbe and Goyle both have timid personalities.

Since Malfoy no longer had the support of these two guys, Crabbe and Goyle have been behaving very honestly. In recent years, apart from bullying the freshmen of Slytherin, no one has heard of them getting into any trouble.

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Looking at Crabbe's fat face, Ron couldn't help but sneer. He took a step forward and raised a finger to point at Crabbe's chest.

"I think you've forgotten that I'm a prefect and here you are, wandering around the castle at lights-out time -"

Harry saw Crabbe's swollen face darken visibly.

"So, you'd better give me an explanation, otherwise I'll tell Snape and have him put you in detention!"

Ron continued threateningly.

"Don't bother yourself, Mr. Weasley—"

A sinister voice suddenly came from the dark corridor on the third floor, startling the four people at the corner of the stairs.

They looked quickly toward the corridor and saw Snape, with a sallow face, floating out of the shadows like a ghost.

He folded his arms and looked at Harry and the other two with a scrutinizing gaze.

Harry and Neville looked calm, but they secretly cursed in their hearts. Ron, knowing that he had offended Snape, bit his lip, not knowing where to put his hands.

In silence, Professor Snape raised a sarcastic smile.
"So, Potter, Longbottom, have you earned your right to wander around the castle at midnight?"

It would be irrational to offend Snape now, they have more important things to do!
Harry could only tell himself this desperately in his heart to suppress the urge to retort.

"Harry and Neville are helping me"

Ron said stubbornly.

"lie!"

Snape scolded coldly, but he caught a glimpse of a fleeting smile on Crabbe's lips from the corner of his eye.

"What are you doing here, Crabbe?"

Snape slowly turned his head, the diffuse light from his dark pupils covering Crabbe, who didn't seem worried at all.

"I am not feeling well, Professor Snape—"

Crabbe sniffed sharply, and the sound did sound muffled.
"I have a cold and want to go to the hospital wing to ask Madam Pomfrey for some refreshment."

Crabbe said calmly.

Harry felt a little strange in his heart, as if something was wrong.

The four students who were looking at Snape's gloomy face all noticed the hesitation that flashed across Snape's black hole-like eyes.

"Go ahead, Crabbe—"

After a while, Snape seemed to have lost interest in Crabbe and waved his hand disinterestedly.

"As for you—"

Snape's light, cold voice drew the three Gryffindor boys' gazes away from Crabbe's departing back.
"Potter and Longbottom, ten points each, plus one week of detention -"

Snape seemed to be much more comfortable issuing fines to Gryffindor students.

"Weasley, you are deducted twenty points for shielding two people who violated school rules and for being disrespectful to the professor. I will tell Minerva about what happened tonight, now."

Snape paused for unknown reason.

"Go back to where you belong."

When Snape slipped back into the darkness like a ghost, and Ron was sure he was far away, he immediately jumped up and shouted angrily,
"I didn't say anything, did I. Oh, no respect to the professor, he already doesn't teach me Potions, who cares!"

"Don't waste time, Ron, we have to get to Filch now!"

As members of the entire Gryffindor house, Harry and Neville, who had been targeted the most by Snape in the past, had long been accustomed to Snape's double standards.

What the two are more concerned about now is whether Professor Braine's lost wand is hidden in Filch's office!

The ceiling of the Great Hall faithfully reflects the night scene outside the castle.

The moon was rosy, and even the spacious auditorium was shrouded in a faint scarlet glow.

Harry and the other two were not aware of the eerie atmosphere in the Great Hall.

The three of them ran all the way to the corridor on the right side of the hallway, turned a corner, and stopped at the door of the office, panting.

"We really have to..." Ron became a little unsure when the time came. He glanced at the office where no light could come through the crack in the door and hesitated towards Harry.

"Don't you realize, Ron--"

Harry's face was as gloomy as Snape's when he discovered the group's night outing.
"Filch isn't patrolling the castle, and his Mrs. Norris isn't catching little wizards everywhere!"

"Step aside--"

Neville was very decisive. He took out his handsome sword from somewhere, which was envied by all the young wizards in Hogwarts.

The sword edge was raised, outlining a bright crescent moon in the dim air!

pat!

The old wooden door opened with a creaking sound, and the gap in the door gradually widened.

"Is he dead?"

In the suffocating feeling, Ron's voice was trembling just like his body.

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The light from the torch shone through the gap in the open wooden door and cast onto the gray, cold, hard floor of the office, forming a fan-shaped spot of light.

Harry felt that every breath of air he breathed was so biting that it seemed to freeze his internal organs into ice!
Filch fell to the ground, his face purple, his eyes closed, and Mrs. Norris lay beside him.

There was no way to tell whether Filch was alive or not by the rise and fall of his chest.

Because there was a heavy cabinet on Filch's chest. Harry had seen this cabinet before. It was filled with all kinds of contraband that he had confiscated from young wizards. There was a label on the cabinet that said "Dangerous items, do not touch"!

Neville raised the sword to his chest, leaned sideways, squinted his eyes, and carefully put his head into the house. After a few seconds, he breathed a sigh of relief.

"Just take a look—"

Neville pushed the door wider and walked in first, staring at a wall in the office.

Harry followed Filch into his cramped little office and looked in the direction Neville was looking.

The cabinet was overturned by someone, and on the wall where the cabinet was attached, there was a narrow niche with rough edges. Originally, it should have contained something, but now, the hidden objects in the niche have been taken away.

"Oh, thank God, he's alive!"

Ron, standing at the door, observed Filch carefully. When he found that the dust on the ground near Filch's nostrils was disturbed by his breath, he breathed a sigh of relief and then exclaimed in surprise.

Ron's discovery also made Neville and Harry's tense nerves relax a little.

Filch was indeed a person that all the young wizards hated, and Harry and Neville would never say against their will that they liked Filch.

But no matter what, Filch is a member of Hogwarts, and they hope he can live in good health.

"Wingardium Leviosa--"

Ron drew his wand and cast a spell, and the heavy cabinet slowly floated up, while Neville and Harry dragged Filch to the side, one on each side, and let him lean against a chair.

"Stunning spell—"

Harry, who had taken physical education classes, was already very familiar with these basic dueling spells. He fiddled with Filch's eyelids and made an accurate judgment based on the reaction of his pupils.

"That's not all—"

Neville's face was as gloomy as water. He looked at Filch's slightly abnormal chest.

"He has at least two broken ribs, I guess from being crushed by the big cabinet. It's pitiful, he's already that old."

"Then us"

Ron was pale, breathing rapidly, and looked lost and helpless.

"What do we do now?"

Neville hesitated, but didn't say anything and looked at Harry.

"Action separately--"

Harry's green eyes sparkled. He took a deep breath and spoke quickly.
"Ron, take Filch to the hospital ward. Neville, go inform Professor McGonagall and tell her about Filch... and ask her to inform Professor Dumbledore."

"how about you?"

"I'm going to find Hermione—"

Harry said,
"We need her help at a time like this!"

(End of this chapter)