novelcrest Chapter 69 We will rock you
Chapter 69 We will rock you
As night deepened, Hogwarts Castle was shrouded in a thick darkness. The moon hung high in the sky, its silvery light filtering through the clouds and dappling the castle walls.
The surrounding trees, appearing and disappearing in the night, resembled a group of silent guardians, quietly encircling the castle.
The night breeze rustled through the treetops, and the leaves swayed gently in the darkness, making a soft whisper, like the night's secrets or an ancient castle telling tales of a thousand years ago.
Inside the castle, the lights in the common room looked especially warm and soft in the night. One by one, the students went to bed, and the number of people in the common room gradually decreased.
"We can go get the Invisibility Cloak now," Ron said.
At this moment, Lee Jordan, the last steadfast resident of the Gryffindor common room, finally stretched, yawned, and left.
Harry ran upstairs, rushed into their dark dormitory, retrieved the Invisibility Cloak, and then quickly ran back to the common room.
"What are you all busy with?" a voice suddenly came from the corner of the room.
Neville suddenly appeared from behind the armchair, clutching his pet toad Raef tightly in his hand; Raef had clearly just struggled for his freedom again.
"It's nothing, Neville, really nothing." Harry hurriedly hid the Invisibility Cloak behind his back, trying to cover up their secret.
Neville stared at them with a hint of suspicion on his face.
"Are you planning to sneak out again?" he asked directly.
"No, absolutely not," Hermione hurriedly protested. "We never even considered going out. Neville, why aren't you resting?"
Hermione doesn't seem to be good at lying.
Now, not only Neville, but even...
Well, Hogwarts might not be able to find a more clueless wizard than Neville for the time being.
Even Professor Binns, who doesn't wear reading glasses, could tell that the group was acting guilty.
“You can’t go out,” Neville said. “You’ll get caught again. And then Gryffindor will be in even worse shape.”
For some reason, Ron always felt that Neville's mind was sometimes sharp and sometimes erratic.
Just now, for example, he could tell that several people were lying; and now, he actually said that Gryffindor still has room to fall.
Perhaps only Merlin knows how Gryffindors, like him, can become even more unlucky.
"Ever since the three of us were caught going out at night, Gryffindor is beyond saving this semester," Ron thought pessimistically.
“You don’t understand,” Harry said firmly, “this is of utmost importance to us.”
However, Neville seemed determined to stop them at all costs.
"I won't let you do that." He said, quickly moving to the entrance of the portrait cave and blocking their path. "I—I challenge you!"
After taking his position, he recalled what he had learned in the dueling club and performed a standard dueling etiquette.
"Neville!" Ron roared, "Get out of that hole! Don't be an idiot—"
"Don't you dare call me an idiot!" Neville said. "I think you shouldn't break the school rules anymore! Besides, you were the ones who encouraged me to stand up to others!"
"That's right, but it's not about rebelling against us," Ron said angrily. "Neville, you have no idea what you're doing."
He took a step forward, and Neville tossed away the toad Raef in his hand; the little creature disappeared in a few hops.
"Come on, come and hit me!" Neville said, raising both fists. "I'm ready!"
If Sean, who was currently in his office getting ready, were to see this scene, it would only worsen Gryffindor's already meager house points—he would deduct five points from Gryffindor, no, ten.
He never taught wizards to fight with their fists instead of wands.
This is definitely not his student; it must be Snape secretly giving Neville extra lessons to frame his teaching skills.
That's right, that's it.
Harry turned to Hermione eagerly.
"Think of something quickly." His voice revealed deep anxiety.
Hermione stepped forward resolutely.
"Neville," she said apologetically, "I'm so sorry, but I have to do this."
She raised her wand.
"Petrify them all!" she shouted, pointing her wand at Neville.
Neville's arms instantly pressed tightly against his body, his legs came together, and he stood upright like a javelin. After swaying slightly, he fell to the ground with a thud, his entire body as hard and straight as a wooden board.
(PS: Sean: This is what a good student should be like.)
Hermione rushed over and gently turned him over. Neville's jaw was clenched, unable to speak, only his eyes could move, filled with fear and confusion as he stared straight at them.
"What did you do to him?" Harry asked in a low voice, his tone revealing concern.
"I used a full-body binding charm." Hermione's voice was full of guilt. "Neville, I'm so sorry."
"Neville, you'll understand later," Ron comforted him, then they stepped over Neville, who was lying on the ground, and put on their invisibility cloaks.
When the three people, wearing invisibility cloaks, arrived outside the fourth-floor corridor, they saw the scene they least wanted to see—the door, which should have been locked, was ajar.
With the creaking sound of the door opening, they saw... an extremely bizarre scene.
Perhaps they will never forget this scene in their lifetime.
A menacing three-headed dog, taking up almost half the room, was curled up in a corner, sleeping peacefully.
Next to the three-headed dog was a strange machine playing music—yes, rock music.
This absurd scene made all three of them wonder if they were dreaming.
"What is this?" Ron, who came from a wizarding family, had never seen this strange machine before.
“An old-fashioned record player, I have one at home,” Hermione replied. A couple of seconds later, she added, “The song on the record player is Queen’s ‘We Will Rock You,’ a very famous song, it’s…”
While Hermione was still trying to find time to give Ron a music lesson, Harry took off his Invisibility Cloak and tiptoed toward the trapdoor.
"Come quick!" Harry whispered.
As they approached the three enormous heads, they could feel the dog's warm, pungent odor.
"I think we can open the trapdoor," Ron said, glancing behind the big dog. "Hermione, would you like to go down first?"
"No, I won't!" Hermione refused almost without hesitation.
"Alright." Ron gritted his teeth and carefully stepped over the big dog's legs. He bent down and pulled the ring on the trapdoor, which opened instantly.
"What can you see?" Hermione asked anxiously.
"We couldn't see anything—it was pitch black—and there was no ladder to get down, so we had to jump."
Before Ron could finish speaking, Harry squeezed in, slid down the opening, and finally managed to hold onto the edge of the opening with only his ten fingers.
Before he plummeted to his final moments, he seemed to remember something, looked up at Ron, and said, "If anything happens to me, don't come down. Go straight to the Owl's Hut and send Hedwig to Dumbledore, okay?"
"See you later, I hope so..."
Harry loosened his grip, the cold, damp air whistling past his ears. His body plummeted, plummeted, and plummeted again, and then—
With a thud, accompanied by a dull and peculiar impact, Harry landed on a soft object. He sat up and groped around, his eyes still adjusting to the dim light.
He felt as if he were sitting on some kind of plant.
"I'm fine!" he shouted towards the cave entrance, which was now only the size of a postage stamp. "This is a soft landing; you can come down now!"
Ron then leaped down, landing on all fours, and landed steadily next to Harry.
"What is this?" he blurted out.
"I'm not sure, maybe some kind of plant. It was probably laid here intentionally to cushion the impact of a fall," Harry guessed. "Hermione, come down quickly!"
A few seconds later, Hermione jumped down and landed on the other side of Harry.
"We should be quite far from school now."
"To be honest, this bunch of plants really saved our lives," Ron said with emotion.
"What do you mean, 'help'?!" Hermione suddenly cried out. "Look at yourselves!"
Hermione suddenly leaped up and struggled to get closer to the damp wall.
The reason she reacted this way was that as soon as she landed, the plant vines, like snakes, quickly wrapped around her ankles.
Meanwhile, without Harry and Ron realizing it, their legs were tightly bound by long vines.
Hermione struggled to break free of the vines before they could bind her securely.
She watched in horror as the two boys struggled desperately against the vines, but the harder they tried to break free, the faster the vines tightened around them.
"Stop moving!" Hermione quickly stopped them. "I recognize this—it's the Devil's Web!"
"Oh, great! We finally know what this thing is called. This is so helpful!" Ron turned his head away in exasperation to avoid the vines wrapping around his neck.
"Quiet down, I'm trying to figure out how to fix it!" Hermione said sternly.
"Hurry up, I can't breathe!" Harry gasped, desperately tearing away a vine that was about to wrap around his chest.
"Devil's Web, Devil's Web... What was Professor Sprout saying again? It likes dark, damp environments—"
"Then set it on fire!" Harry was almost suffocating.
"Yes—that's a solution—but there's no firewood here!" Hermione clenched her fists, looking extremely anxious.
"Are you insane?" Ron roared. "Are you even a wizard anymore?"
"Oh, right!" Hermione exclaimed, quickly drawing her wand and chanting a spell as she waved it.
A blue flame shot from the tip of the wand, swaying like a bellflower.
In just a few seconds, the two boys felt the vines begin to recede under the pressure of the light and warmth, loosening their grip on them. The vines twisted and twitched, automatically untying the tendrils wrapped around them.
Harry and Ron are finally free.
"It's good that you studied hard in Herbology class, Hermione," Harry said, stepping back against the wall and wiping the sweat from his face.
“Exactly,” Ron chimed in, “and thankfully Harry didn’t panic like you did at the crucial moment—‘But there’s no firewood here!’ You’re quite the joker!”
"This way," Harry said, pointing to a stone corridor. It was their only path...
...
While the three young wizards were exploring the castle, Sean sat calmly in his office.
He first glanced at the clock on the wall, then checked his wand, and after confirming everything was in order, he turned and left the office.
"Will we rock you?" Sean murmured softly, glancing at the old-fashioned record player playing in the corner. "I didn't expect Professor Quirrell to have such good taste..."