They found the first chamber where they had left it. The altar was empty now that Percy carried the trident, but the map remained lit above it.
Hermione followed the lines with her wand held at a distance.
"There is another route out."
Ron stepped beside her.
"Out as in upstairs?"
"As in a corridor I recognize."
"Excellent. Let us use that before it changes its mind."
Percy agreed. His arms hurt from carrying the trident, and the new connection made it difficult to ignore the pool behind them.
They took the indicated passage. It narrowed, turned twice, and ended at a stairway that looked far less old than the chamber.
At the top, Hermione found a plain latch.
She hesitated before touching it.
Percy understood. An ordinary door had become a surprisingly attractive prospect.
The latch lifted. They stepped into a corridor Percy recognized from the way to lessons.
Ron looked back at the opening.
"We should remember that."
Hermione wrote down the nearest portrait and the number of steps from the stair. Percy held the lamp while she did it.
Then they returned to Gryffindor Tower.
Harry was waiting in the common room. He stood when he saw the trident.
"What happened?"
Percy looked at the weapon, then at his friends' clothes. Dust covered Hermione's sleeve. Ron had a bruise beginning at one knee.
"A great deal."
Harry did not sit back down.
Percy gave him the short account. He did not try to make falling through the floor sound planned.
Hermione supplied the route, the map, and the figure's words. Ron added the parts where they had nearly been injured.
"Are you going back?" Harry asked.
"Not tonight," Percy said. "We are telling McGonagall."
That answer eased Harry's expression by a small amount.
He stayed while they collected the old parchment and the note. Percy would take the trident too, because concealing it now seemed particularly foolish.
The corridors were quiet when they left the tower again. Ron complained that returning to bed had never seemed so attractive.
Hermione told him they needed to finish this first.
For once, he did not argue.
McGonagall was working in her office. She looked up at the knock, then stood when Percy entered with the weapon.
"Set that down carefully."
He rested it beside a clear section of wall. He was glad to stop carrying it.
McGonagall examined all three of them before asking a question.
"Is anyone injured?"
Percy began to answer no, then looked at Ron's knee and remembered his own shoulder.
"We fell. Nothing serious, I think."
"You will let Madam Pomfrey decide that."
She gave them chairs.
Percy began with the note. He explained the figure, the page from the library, and their decision to enter the Restricted Section.
McGonagall's expression changed at that point.
He kept going before fear could persuade him to leave anything out.
Hermione described the book and the gate. Ron explained how the floor disappeared while they were trying to leave.
McGonagall took notes. She asked for exact words when they could remember them and marked the rest as their understanding.
Percy described the pool, the figure that called him guardian, and the Shadow that wanted to sever the connection.
At last, McGonagall looked toward the trident.
"What did you agree to?"
"To help protect the boundary."
"Did you understand how that would be done?"
"Not fully."
He disliked hearing himself say it. He was glad she had asked.
McGonagall put down her quill.
"You were placed under pressure. That does not make every claim you heard true."
"The connection changed," Percy said. "I can feel things I could not feel before."
"I am not dismissing what happened. I am distinguishing it from the explanation you were given."
Hermione nodded. Ron watched McGonagall with the relief of someone who had found another person willing to question the room.
She asked them to describe the map. Hermione gave her the sketch of the route they had used to leave.
McGonagall studied it for a long time.
"I know this corridor. I do not know the chamber beneath it."
Percy leaned forward.
"Could it be older than Hogwarts?"
"It could. We will not decide its age from how impressive it looked."
That was a fair criticism. Percy had used impressive as evidence several times tonight.
A gust struck the office window. Rain began against the glass, light at first and then heavier.
Percy felt water move beyond the castle. He tried not to follow the sensation while McGonagall was speaking.
She noticed his attention shift.
"What is it?"
"The rain."
"Is it asking you to do anything?"
"No."
"Then remain here."
He did.
McGonagall wrote a message for Dumbledore. She asked another member of staff to check the route without approaching the lower chamber.
Ron looked at the trident.
"Can somebody else look after that?"
"For now," she said.
Percy felt an impulse to keep it beside him. He examined the impulse before answering.
He had brought it to an adult because he did not understand it. Taking it back at once would make that decision less useful.
"Yes," he said.
McGonagall nodded and moved it clear of the door without touching its shaft.
Then she returned to the three of them.
"You have given us a serious report. You have also broken several rules."
Ron lowered his head.
"We noticed."
"We will discuss those choices when you have been examined and the immediate risk is understood."
Percy almost smiled. Almost.
McGonagall sent another message to the hospital wing. Outside, the rain continued, and the movement beneath the castle remained present in Percy's senses.
He told her that before they left.
She wrote it down.
For the first time since finding the note, Percy had shared the whole problem instead of carrying its next part alone.
To Be Continued... Next week!
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