"How did it go? How many points did those Slytherin guys beat Hufflepuff by?" Wood asked excitedly, looking at Harry and Ron as they walked into the common room.
He didn't go to watch the match because, in his opinion, it was meaningless; he just needed a result. He was now in his seventh year and about to graduate. Whether in Muggle society or wizarding society, these times were often busy. For example, he was currently filling out stacks and stacks of forms, keeping him occupied.
"Slytherin won," Harry said numbly, without a trace of energy on his face.
"Oh, those guys are still pretty capable." Wood was slightly stunned and didn't think much of it, but then Ron's words completely froze the smile on his face.
"Slytherin won by three hundred and fifty points against Hufflepuff." Ron's voice was very soft; he was reluctant to tell Wood this news.
"Ron, you're starting to play pranks like your two older brothers," Wood said with a forced laugh. He thought Ron had also learned to be mischievous, playing jokes that weren't funny.
"It's true," Harry said, looking at the floor, not daring to look up at Wood.
"How is that possible!" Wood suddenly roared in anger. He even immediately grabbed Ron's collar, his red, bloodshot eyes staring at him, "Did they use some despicable means, fouling using their physical advantage? I knew it; besides that girl who got in through connections, the other guys are all tall and strong. Hufflepuff students are so kind; they must have been bullied..."
"They played fair in this match," Harry said, seeing Ron's collar being grabbed, and quickly went to help him.
"Then how could there be such a big difference in points? You wouldn't tell me that the Hufflepuff students were bribed to throw the game!" Wood's emotions were still agitated, shaking his hands non-stop, which also stirred up Ron's anger.
"They have seven Firebolts!" Ron shouted, then forcefully pried Wood's hand open and sat down hard on a scarlet armchair.
"Firebolts? Seven of them?" Wood's eyes, which were about to burst into flames, seemed to have been thrown into a world of ice and snow, instantly cooling down. His muscles, which had been tense, suddenly relaxed, and he slumped down on the smooth carpet.
"Firebolts? Seven of them?" Wood kept repeating these words softly, as if possessed, staring blankly ahead, tears slowly flowing from his eyes, but he didn't notice.
Harry could only shake his head helplessly at the sight.
He didn't know how to comfort Wood now, because Harry felt that he himself needed to be comforted.
He was even thinking that if he had caught the Golden Snitch later in the previous match, allowing his teammates to score more goals and widen the gap, then Slytherin might not have had such an easy time racking up points today.
But this was just empty self-consolation. He could see that the Slytherin students still seemed to have energy to spare today and could widen the gap if they wanted to.
"By the way, where did Hermione go today? Didn't she agree to come with us? Why didn't we see her just now?" Ron, after all, was not a participant and quickly came out of his emotions, turning to ask Harry.
Harry could only respond to Ron with a shake of his head. They had breakfast together in the Great Hall today and agreed to go to the Quidditch pitch together, but when they arrived, they found that Hermione was already missing.
Hermione certainly wanted to go to the match with her friends, but an accident happened on the way.
"Crookshanks!" The agile fat cat suddenly broke free from her arms, deftly flipping its body and landing safely on the ground. Then, it used its teeth to tear at Hermione's robes, trying to drag her in the opposite direction.
"Meow, meow." Crookshanks kept making plaintive cries, trying to get Hermione's attention.
"Crookshanks, I've already promised Harry and them that I'd go to the Quidditch match. Can't whatever it is wait until after the match?" Hermione squatted down, patiently saying to the ginger cat.
The eyes of the person and the cat met quietly.
Rather than a pet, Crookshanks was more like her friend, so she almost never ordered Crookshanks around but instead communicated patiently. She knew that Crookshanks should be able to understand her words.
But Crookshanks still stubbornly tugged at her trouser leg, wanting to drag her away.
Hermione didn't know what to do now. Her original plan for today was to take advantage of the Quidditch match to use Veritaserum to get Peter Pettigrew to talk. This was a very rare opportunity because Peter Pettigrew rarely appeared at the school and was always busy promoting things outside. But Harry had told her a few days ago that Peter Pettigrew would also be at this match.
So Hermione had specially brought her crystal bottle filled with Veritaserum today.
But now Crookshanks was acting like this, which made her very puzzled. Crookshanks never acted up for no reason. Hermione had been with him for a long time and knew him well.
"Okay," Hermione sighed helplessly. "Stop tugging at my robes. Just lead the way if you want to take me somewhere." She said, touching Crookshanks' furry head, then stood up.
Hermione decided to trust her pet.
But Crookshanks didn't take her anywhere else but led her back to the Gryffindor common room.
"Crookshanks, what do you want?" Hermione was also confused; she didn't know Crookshanks' intentions now.
The cat continued to lead the way, walking across the carpeted floor, and with a leap, it stood on the spiral staircase leading to the girls' dormitory. It looked back at Hermione, its eyes seeming to urgently say, "Hurry and follow me."
"Okay," Hermione glanced at Crookshanks somewhat unhappily, hoping it wouldn't let her down. Now Hermione was already wondering how she should apologize to Harry and Ron later.
She was already late, and it looked like she might just miss the appointment altogether.
Once back in the dormitory, Crookshanks' movements became even quicker. It crossed the crimson flannel curtains and used its thick paws to nimbly rummage through Hermione's closet, even messing up the clothes that Hermione had neatly arranged.
"Crookshanks! What are you looking for?" Hermione felt that she might have been wrong. Crookshanks was perhaps just venting his emotions. She knew that some pets might throw tantrums for no reason to get their owner's attention.
"If you keep doing that, I might have to lock you in the dormitory, Crookshanks," Hermione said, walking up to Crookshanks, who was currently rummaging around.
Then Hermione saw Crookshanks jump into her arms, a shimmering silver piece of fabric in his mouth.
"The Invisibility Cloak?" Hermione looked at Crookshanks in surprise, having borrowed Harry's Invisibility Cloak for some time now.
"Are you reminding me to return it to him now? Well, you're right, I've borrowed it for quite a while. It's just that Harry hasn't urged me. Okay, I'll take it with me and return it to him after the game."
Crookshanks stared at Hermione with his intelligent, large eyes, then shook his head and tried his best to drape the Invisibility Cloak over Hermione with his paws.
"You want me to wear it?" Hermione asked.
Crookshanks nodded quickly, then jumped down from Hermione's arms and started running on the ground, forcing Hermione to quicken her pace to keep up.
They retraced their steps out of the Gryffindor common room, Crookshanks stopping and starting, sniffing and smelling almost every spot along the way.
"Crookshanks!" Hermione said anxiously, lowering her voice. "The dungeons under those stairs are the Slytherin dormitories. Don't go there."
But Crookshanks seemed not to hear, still leaping about in the spiral staircase. Hermione could even feel his excitement from his bounding form, as if he were about to meet a long-lost friend.
Hermione couldn't understand why Crookshanks was behaving this way, as she had hardly interacted with any students from that house this semester.
Having come this far, Hermione could only bite the bullet and continue down. Fortunately, they were lucky enough that two people hurried out of the Slytherin common room when they reached the password-protected entrance, not paying any attention to Crookshanks at all.
Not to mention Hermione, who was wearing the Invisibility Cloak, giving them a chance to slip into the common room.
"This is the second time I've been here, right?" Looking at the fireplace in the corner that had been extinguished for a long time, the black marble walls, and some strange creatures outside the window, Hermione felt a mix of emotions. These things stirred up some memories from last year, but when she tried to recall further, she found her mind was blank, her memory cut off.
Now, directly in front of Hermione and Crookshanks were two stone doors, behind which should be the Slytherin students' dormitories.
Crookshanks lingered by both stone doors for a while, then chose the left one and went straight in. Hermione could only follow. Crookshanks must have brought her here for a reason. Her heart was in turmoil, unsure of what she would discover.
But Hermione knew that Crookshanks would never harm her.
Crookshanks continued to scout ahead, then suddenly stopped in front of a door, trying to push it open, but it was locked tight.
"Alohomora," Hermione whispered, taking out her wand and pointing it at the lock. The door swung open, and she pushed it open, Crookshanks following closely behind.
Unlike the scarlet tones commonly used in the Gryffindor dormitory, the Slytherin dormitory was much gloomier, with green silk curtains and silver thread embroidery and lanterns, not as conspicuous as Gryffindor's.
Crookshanks' amber eyes suddenly narrowed, cautiously and meticulously searching around the foot of each student's bed.
"What are you looking for, Crookshanks?" Hermione asked subconsciously, lowering her voice, even though there wasn't a single person here, as they had all gone to watch the Slytherin vs. Hufflepuff game.
"Lumos!" Hermione turned around, locked the room first, then took off the Invisibility Cloak and followed Crookshanks to search.
"Meow, meow," Crookshanks meowed, and Hermione could hear the joy in his voice.
"Did you find it, Crookshanks?" Hermione followed Crookshanks' voice, bent down, and saw a scene that made her angry.
"Who could be so cruel!" With the light from the spell, Hermione only saw a skinny black dog lying in a dark cage, possibly asleep, or possibly dead, because his breath was so weak.
Crookshanks' eyes were full of sorrow, devoid of his previous joy. He felt terrible seeing his friend in this state.
"Crookshanks, let's drag this cage out," Hermione said urgently. She wanted to rescue this innocent black dog, while also denouncing the nameless person who abused and imprisoned animals.
Then, they worked together to get the iron cage out. The iron cage made a harsh noise as it rubbed against the ground. Hermione gasped, this task was a bit strenuous for her, the iron cage was very heavy.
The magic on the cage was a bit tricky. In addition to the physical lock, there were also some magical restrictions, but these couldn't stump her. After thinking for a moment, Hermione unlocked the restrictions above.
After removing the lock, Hermione wiped the sweat from her forehead and tentatively said to the black dog inside the cage: "You're free, are you okay? Crookshanks brought me to save you."
The black dog still didn't respond.
"Hold on, I'll go find someone who can help you." Hermione's eyes welled up with tears. She wondered who could be so cruel as to satisfy their own twisted pleasure. She knew that some people liked to torture for fun, and the more pain the tortured person or animal showed, the more pleasure the abuser derived from it.
"I must tell Headmaster Dumbledore that someone in Slytherin has committed such a crime," Hermione thought.
She could accept the slaughter of animals, but not the sadistic killing.
The black dog lying in the cage suddenly trembled, then opened its eyes, its gaze frighteningly bright. Seeing that the cage locking him up had been opened, the black dog suddenly rolled over and stood up, then crashed out, even deforming the door of the iron cage with such violent force.
"Don't be afraid, you're safe now, the person who tortured you will be punished," Hermione tried to comfort the black dog in front of her, and even tried to reach out and stroke its head, until this moment Hermione still thought that the dog's manic behavior was due to fear.
But she quickly stopped thinking that way.
The emaciated black dog in front of her suddenly took a few steps back, its body began to twist and grow, the black fur gradually faded, the limbs began to stretch, the legs stood up, and finally standing in front of Hermione was a tall and thin man.
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