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They pulled on their bathrobes, picked up their wands, and crept across |
the tower room, down the spiral staircase, and into the Gryffindor |
common room. A few embers were still glowing in the fireplace, turning |
all the armchairs into hunched black shadows. They had almost reached |
the portrait hole when a voice spoke from the chair nearest them, "I |
can't believe you're going to do this, Harry." |
A lamp flickered on. It was Hermione Granger, wearing a pink bathrobe |
and a frown. |
"You!" said Ron furiously. "Go back to bed!" |
"I almost told your brother," Hermione snapped, "Percy -- he's a |
prefect, he'd put a stop to this." |
Harry couldn't believe anyone could be so interfering. |
"Come on," he said to Ron. He pushed open the portrait of the Fat Lady |
and climbed through the hole. |
Hermione wasn't going to give up that easily. She followed Ron through |
the portrait hole, hissing at them like an angry goose. |
"Don't you care about Gryffindor, do you only care about yourselves, I |
don't want Slytherin to win the house cup, and you'll lose all the |
points I got from Professor McGonagall for knowing about Switching |
Spells." |
"Go away." "All right, but I warned you, you just remember what I said |
when you're on the train home tomorrow, you're so --" |
But what they were, they didn't find out. Hermione had turned to the |
portrait of the Fat Lady to get back inside and found herself facing an |
empty painting. The Fat Lady had gone on a nighttime visit and Hermione |
was locked out of Gryffindor tower. |
"Now what am I going to do?" she asked shrilly. |
"That's your problem," said Ron. "We've got to go, we 3 re going to be |
late." |
They hadn't even reached the end of the corridor when Hermione caught up |
with them. |
"I'm coming with you," she said. |
"You are not." |
"D'you think I'm going to stand out here and wait for Filch to catch me? |
If he finds all three of us I'll tell him the truth, that I was trying |
to stop you, and you can back me up." |
"You've got some nerve --" said Ron loudly. |
"Shut up, both of you!" said Harry sharply. I heard something." |
It was a sort of snuffling. |
"Mrs. Norris?" breathed Ron, squinting through the dark. |
It wasn't Mrs. Norris. It was Neville. He was curled up on the floor, |
fast asleep, but jerked suddenly awake as they crept nearer. |
"Thank goodness you found me! I've been out here for hours, I couldn't |
remember the new password to get in to bed." |
"Keep your voice down, Neville. The password's 'Pig snout' but it won't |
help you now, the Fat Lady's gone off somewhere." |
"How's your arm?" said Harry. |
"Fine," said Neville, showing them. "Madam Pomfrey mended it in about a |
minute." |
"Good - well, look, Neville, we've got to be somewhere, we'll see you |
later --" |
"Don't leave me!" said Neville, scrambling to his feet, "I don't want to |
stay here alone, the Bloody Baron's been past twice already." |
Ron looked at his watch and then glared furiously at Hermione and |
Neville. |
"If either of you get us caught, I'll never rest until I've learned that |
Curse of the Bogies Quirrell told us about, and used it on you. |
Hermione opened her mouth, perhaps to tell Ron exactly how to use the |
Curse of the Bogies, but Harry hissed at her to be quiet and beckoned |
them all forward. |
They flitted along corridors striped with bars of moonlight from the |
high windows. At every turn Harry expected to run into Filch or Mrs. |
Norris, but they were lucky. They sped up a staircase to the third floor |
and tiptoed toward the trophy room. |
Malfoy and Crabbe weren't there yet. The crystal trophy cases glimmered |
where the moonlight caught them. Cups, shields, plates, and statues |
winked silver and gold in the darkness. They edged along the walls, |
keeping their eyes on the doors at either end of the room. Harry took |
out his wand in case Malfoy leapt in and started at once. The minutes |
crept by. |
"He's late, maybe he's chickened out," Ron whispered. |
Then a noise in the next room made them jump. Harry had only just raised |
his wand when they heard someone speak -and it wasn't Malfoy. |
"Sniff around, my sweet, they might be lurking in a corner." |
It was Filch speaking to Mrs. Norris. Horror-struck, Harry waved madly |
at the other three to follow him as quickly as possible; they scurried |
silently toward the door, away from Filch's voice. Neville's robes had |
barely whipped round the corner when they heard Filch enter the trophy |
room. |
"They're in here somewhere," they heard him mutter, "probably hiding." |
"This way!" Harry mouthed to the others and, petrified, they began to |
creep down a long gallery full of suits of armor. They could hear Filch |
getting nearer. Neville suddenly let out a frightened squeak and broke |
into a run -he tripped, grabbed Ron around the waist, and the pair of |
them toppled right into a suit of armor. |
The clanging and crashing were enough to wake the whole castle. |
"RUN!" Harry yelled, and the four of them sprinted down the gallery, not |
looking back to see whether Filch was following -- they swung around the |
doorpost and galloped down one corridor then another, Harry in the lead, |
without any idea where they were or where they were going -- they ripped |
through a tapestry and found themselves in a hidden passageway, hurtled |
along it and came out near their Charms classroom, which they knew was |
miles from the trophy room. |
"I think we've lost him," Harry panted, leaning against the cold wall |
and wiping his forehead. Neville was bent double, wheezing and |
spluttering. |
I -- told -you," Hermione gasped, clutching at the stitch in her chest, |
"I -- told -- you." |
"We've got to get back to Gryffindor tower," said Ron, "quickly as |
possible." |
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