Harry Potter and the Candy Factory

Night fell, the moon hung high, and moonlight shone through the gaps in the Slytherin dormitory curtains onto the aged wooden floor, and onto the beds of the young wizards... as white as frost.

Harry was sound asleep. After a full day of fulfilling learning and life, he had barely paused for a moment. After lying down on the bed, he had fallen asleep before long.

The even rhythm of his breathing was the only sound in the silent, dim room. There was nothing else.

However, at that moment, a figure suddenly sat up in bed.

He opened his eyes and looked around. After gradually adjusting to the dim surroundings, he slowly got up. Then he quietly walked to Harry's bedside and stopped there.

After a moment, he moved. He carefully raised his arm and patted the sleeping Harry, while gently calling out,

"Harry... are you asleep? Harry, wake up! Are you asleep?"

"Huh?"

Disturbed, Harry unconsciously made a muffled, questioning sound.

Then he laboriously turned over, rubbed his sleepy eyes, and looked in the direction of the sound.

"Draco?"

Seeing that iconic blond hair, though disheveled and without hair gel like during the day, he easily recognized the person.

Harry propped himself up on his elbows, looking at the mysterious Draco beside him, and asked with some of the bewilderment of just waking up,

"What's wrong? It's so late..."

However, compared to Harry's current drowsiness, Draco was in a completely different state.

Even though it was late at night, Draco's face was still radiant, and his eyes were even gleaming.

"Come on, Harry, get up! We're going to the Restricted Section of the library!"

"Restricted... Section!"

At these words, Harry was immediately startled. The original bewilderment disappeared considerably, and his mind instantly cleared up.

His eyes widened slightly, and he instinctively picked up the glasses beside his pillow and put them back on. Then he looked at Draco and asked in a disbelieving whisper,

"What are you going there for?!"

Draco listened to Harry's question but did not answer immediately. Instead, he got up, returned to his bed, and brought over his uncle Charlie's large notebook.

Then he skillfully opened it and showed the contents to Harry.

"Look... at this spot."

Seemingly afraid that Harry couldn't see, he quickly pointed to a small blank line in the dense notes.

Harry squinted. With the help of the moonlight, he could barely see some of the contents, but not clearly. He could only determine from some traces that this was probably an incomplete spell... but he had no idea what the spell meant or what it could do.

"What is this spell?"

Harry's curiosity was piqued. He couldn't help but sit up, reach out and stroke the ink-soaked paper on the notebook, the marks left by the pen tip, and turned to Draco to ask,

"I don't know..."

Draco shrugged, not lying to Harry, and honestly replied,

"Today, when I was doing my Potions homework, I flipped through my uncle's notebook as usual. As a result, I suddenly discovered this—in between the notes on Polyjuice Potion and Shrinking Solution, my uncle wrote an incomplete spell..."

While answering Harry's question, the light in Draco's eyes grew brighter, and his tone couldn't help but reveal a rare excitement...

At least, after Harry had known him, he had rarely seen his friend so excited (except when Snape praised him for being more outstanding in Potions than Mr. Black of the same year).

"I bet this is definitely a powerful spell, maybe even... like in the storybooks, some kind of ancient, long-lost spell."

Draco continued to "entice" Harry with a seductive tone.

After all, they were both boys of this age, often with unrealistic dreams and a surge of enthusiasm to embark on adventures for these unrealistic dreams at any time.

As Draco whispered, Harry had to admit that he was tempted.

"Some kind of ancient, lost spell?"

He took another deep look at the notebook left by Mr. Black, then turned his head and asked Draco,

"So you're going to the Restricted Section to complete this spell?"

"That's right!"

Seemingly very happy that Harry understood his meaning so quickly, Draco quickly nodded, his voice slightly raised.

"I'm going to find the rest of this spell, and when I go back on vacation, I'll show it to my uncle. He'll be very happy!"

Listening to Draco's words, Harry couldn't help but feel a little envious. But then he remembered what the professors had said before, and the enthusiasm that had quietly surged in his heart was suppressed by reason.

"But isn't the Restricted Section supposed to be very dangerous? The professor said..."

Before he could finish speaking, Draco waved his hand, interrupted him, and said,

"What's there to be afraid of? My mother told me! She said that my uncle ran to the Restricted Section for the first time in violation of the rules and got caught when he was in the first year! Since I've decided to follow in my uncle's footsteps, then this is indispensable!"

"Are you referring to getting caught?" Harry looked at Draco, who was high-spirited and seemed to have flames shooting out of his eyes, and subconsciously shrank his neck and asked weakly.

"No, I mean going to the Restricted Section!"

That unwavering look, as if he was determined to do this no matter how difficult it was. His determination made Harry sigh.

As a friend, Harry certainly couldn't watch Draco run out alone...

After all, if they encountered Filch, it would be fine. At most, they would be caught back and educated, and then suffer some punishment. But if they really encountered any danger, then it would be too late to regret it.

Therefore, he reluctantly nodded, quickly rummaged for his clothes, put them on, got out of bed, and walked with Draco towards the exit of the common room.

"Wait-"

Just as they reached the door, Draco suddenly seemed to think of something and stopped.

Then, under Harry's strange gaze, he hurried back to his bed, picked up his wand, and carefully put it in his pocket.

"Take the wand with you, just in case!"

...... ...... ...... ...... ...... ...... ...... ...... ...... ...... ...... ......

In the dark corridors of Hogwarts late at night, two Slytherin students who were only in their first year took the first step on their path of "violating rules and regulations." Holding a small lantern that they didn't know where they found, and with the help of the faint light, Draco began to lead Harry to the Restricted Section of the library based on his memory.

Unlike the warm atmosphere in the dormitory, the darkness in the corridors of the castle at night, which could not be seen through from front to back, inevitably made people feel a little timid.

To distract himself, Draco started telling Harry stories as they walked.

"Actually, my mother told me that it wasn't just Uncle who got caught, but also some unlucky bloke who went to the restricted section with him…"

He said casually, his eyes scanning the surrounding paintings.

The figures in the paintings had all closed their eyes and fallen asleep, except for a few empty ones, which seemed to indicate that they were also restless sorts who had taken advantage of the night to go elsewhere and play.

"Who was the unlucky bloke?"

Harry asked curiously, looking up at the back of Draco's head not far ahead.

"How would I know… probably his friend? But my mother said Uncle didn't really like making friends when he was little, so maybe he just happened to run into him."

"Really? I thought someone like Mr. Black would have a lot of people eager to be his friend."

Harry's tone was slightly surprised.

"There are a lot… after all, Uncle has always been so outstanding. It's just that among so many people, very few are qualified to be his friends. After all, only someone outstanding enough can attract someone equally outstanding, you know what I mean?"

Draco glanced at Harry, who was following closely behind him.

"Um… I think I understand," Harry said hesitantly, nodding slightly to show he understood.

… … …

Just as the two of them were chatting animatedly, suddenly, a sudden "cough" from the darkness not far ahead shattered the atmosphere.

Harry and Draco's hearts, which had been slightly at ease, immediately jumped again. Their voices stopped abruptly, and they exchanged glances.

"Is that Filch?"

Harry lowered his voice to a mosquito-like buzz, tugging at the corner of Draco's robe, asking anxiously.

"Don't be so nervous… it might be Nearly Headless Nick."

Draco bent down a little, looking in the direction of the sound, his lips moving slightly as he answered Harry's question.

Unfortunately, he hadn't finished speaking for long when the increasingly approaching footsteps shattered his guess.

"Okay, it is Filch indeed," Draco sighed, turning the knob of the lantern in his hand, gradually extinguishing the light surrounding them.

"Let's find a place to hide first."

After all, this was Harry's first time sneaking out at night, and his skills were far from as proficient as they would later become. He swallowed and offered his suggestion after a moment of hesitation.

"No, no need, I have a way."

Draco shook his head and reached into his pocket for his wand.

"What are you doing!?"

Seeing Draco's posture, Harry was startled, thinking he was going to attack Filch, and quickly grabbed his wrist holding the wand.

"Just a little spell…"

The footsteps began to become clearer and clearer. Seeing that Filch was about to arrive, Draco didn't bother to explain anything to Harry. After shaking off Charlie's arm, he hurriedly aimed the tip of his wand at the other party.

"Disillusionment Charm!"

With a "poof," the tip of the wand, flashing with a silvery-white light, struck Harry.

It felt as if a stream of cold liquid flowed down from the spot where the wand had just struck, covering his whole body. Harry couldn't help but shiver.

And it was precisely that flash of white light that had made Filch notice something.

"Who's there!!!!"

Filch's hoarse shout came from not far away. It was clear that his footsteps had quickened a bit, bustling about.

"Draco!!" In a moment of great anxiety, Harry hurriedly reminded him.

"Don't worry."

Compared to his partner's panic, Draco seemed extremely calm at this moment.

It was clear that he had made full preparations for tonight's night tour. Naturally, he had also made ample preparations for Filch, the most troublesome part of the plan.

The wand changed direction, aiming at Draco himself, still the exact same spell as before. Another flash of white light, and the Disillusionment Charm was cast on him.

Only then did Harry realize in surprise that Draco's figure was gradually disappearing, without a trace.

"Stand against the wall, don't be afraid of anything, Filch won't find us."

The voice in mid-air fell, reaching Harry's ears.

At the same time, Filch, carrying a kerosene lamp, rushed over aggressively.

Harry was so frightened that he quickly covered his mouth and leaned against the wall with Draco.

The stone castle wall was icy cold, causing Harry and Draco to gasp, but facing the approaching Filch, they didn't dare to make any extra movements.

"Hmph! You think you can run away like that?"

Under Harry's horrified gaze, Filch stopped right in front of him.

Even the kerosene lamp with its orange light was no more than ten centimeters away from Harry's nose. Harry was so scared that he held his breath and secretly prayed.

Fortunately, Filch didn't think too much about it, assuming that the little wizard had run elsewhere.

After looking around and confirming that there were no suspicious traces, he lowered his head and gave an order to the gray-haired, skinny cat beside him.

"Mrs. Norris! You go left, I'll go right, let's encircle that ignorant little wizard together!"

As if she could understand human speech, Mrs. Norris meowed and her nimble body moved instantly, turning into a bolt of lightning and disappearing into the darkness.

Seeing Mrs. Norris rush out, Filch didn't hesitate, smiling and saying, "Good kitty."

Then he also started running, panting, to intercept them from the right according to the plan.

Harry turned his head and looked in the direction Filch had left, and only when the light from the kerosene lamp in his hand gradually disappeared into the darkness did he finally breathe a sigh of relief. He wiped the non-existent sweat from his head.

"What spell was that?"

He looked around, seemingly trying to find Draco's whereabouts. He knew that Draco should be beside him at this moment.

"Disillusionment Charm. Something my uncle wrote down in his notebook. I practiced it for a long time before I learned it."

Two more flashes of light came from Draco's wand, and the two figures reappeared.

"Alright, let Filch fight with the air first… let's go!"

Retwisting the knob of the lantern to turn on the light, Draco smiled and waved at Harry, continuing on their way, striding forward.