Chapter 94: Luring the Tiger Out of the Mountain
Draco's bravery didn't last long, though. Once he realized detention was looming, he started to worry.
But as the days passed, exams drew closer. Everyone was studying frantically. Draco, still waiting to serve his detention, soon found himself too busy to worry.
Then the day arrived.
At breakfast, Draco received a note. His face went pale as he read it.
"What's wrong?"
"Detention starts at eleven tonight." Draco handed the note to Ethan. "Curfew is at eleven, right? Since when does detention start after curfew?"
"It's generally nothing serious. Just cleaning or something." Ethan handed it back after reading.
"Really?"
"Yeah. Some friends who get detention a lot told me."
The Weasley twins were those friends. They were the only ones who got into that much trouble.
What Ethan had said was true in general, but he wasn't sure if they would send students into the Forbidden Forest this time. "If there are no other professors, just Hagrid, wouldn't it be dangerous to go into the Forbidden Forest?"
Draco relaxed a little after hearing this.
That night, Ethan slipped out of the dormitory unseen and went to the Room of Requirement to practice spells as usual.
Draco arrived in the Entrance Hall around ten-fifty, waiting with Filch for the three Gryffindors.
Usually at this time, Ethan would already be getting ready to head back to the dormitory. Today, he had extended his practice session a bit and walked out of the Room of Requirement at eleven-oh-five.
Unexpectedly, he ran into the Gryffindors as they were leaving their common room.
"Why are you so late? Weren't we supposed to meet at eleven?" Ethan asked softly from beside them, invisible.
"Who?!" Neville shivered, nearly passing out from fright.
"It's me, Ethan." He became visible again before the three of them.
"You scared me to death." Neville patted his chest, panting heavily. Then he paused. "You're out after hours?!"
"Yeah, what's wrong?" Ethan smiled.
"Night wandering... it's wrong to wander at night." Neville blushed, barely managing to get the words out.
"It's okay. As long as we don't get caught, there's no problem."
"You go first. I'll head back once you've left the entrance hall."
Standing on the third-floor stairs, Ethan became invisible again, watching the three leave.
Once the sounds in the entrance hall had faded, he returned to the dormitory, relieved.
He didn't go straight to bed. Instead, he took out the Marauder's Map, scanning for Dumbledore's name.
He was certain that sending several first-years into the Forbidden Forest for detention could only have been authorized by Dumbledore. Otherwise, given McGonagall's character, she would never have allowed it.
Sure enough, not in the Headmaster's office. Ethan started with the office where Dumbledore usually stayed, then searched the rest of the castle but couldn't find Dumbledore's name anywhere.
The Marauder's Map was extensive, covering the castle and most of the Hogwarts grounds, but the Forbidden Forest was clearly excluded.
Only the very edge of the forest appeared on the map.
He watched Filch's name, followed by four others, move toward Hagrid's hut.
Ethan put away the map and fell asleep.
Early the next morning, he pulled back the curtains and saw Draco's bed empty, as if he hadn't returned at all.
Did something happen? he wondered, startled.
He got out of bed quickly and found Draco hugging his knees, shivering and staring blankly at the bottle with a flame that Ethan had placed in the corner.
He didn't know when Draco had come back, but judging by his condition, he'd been terrified the night before.
"What's wrong with you? Did something happen last night?" Ethan gently patted Draco's back, startling him.
"We didn't clean up last night. We went to the Forbidden Forest!"
"I saw someone in the Forbidden Forest killing a unicorn. He... he was drinking its blood. It was terrifying, so terrifying!"
"I want to go home, Ethan. I want to go home!"
Ethan regretted asking. As soon as he did, Draco's tears spilled down his cheeks.
"It's okay. You made it back safely, didn't you? You're safe here in the castle." Ethan cursed his big mouth; now he had to comfort Draco.
After a while, there was rustling from Goyle and Crabbe's beds. Draco didn't want to humiliate himself in front of his two lackeys, so he wiped his eyes and composed himself.
Seeing him return to normal, at least superficially, Ethan said, "Wash up and get ready for class."
In the following days, Draco lost his usual arrogant demeanor, often sitting alone in a daze in the dormitory when there were no classes.
However, Draco's worries and fears were soon overwhelmed by the mountain of homework the professors assigned.
Faced with the heavy workload, he had no time to dwell on that terrible scene, only to be occasionally jolted awake by nightmares of that figure.
With everyone buried under heavy coursework, June arrived before they knew it, bringing exam week with it.
Most exams were divided into two parts: written and practical.
The written test for the entire grade was held in a large classroom. For this, the professors issued specially charmed anti-cheating quills.
The written test was unexpectedly simple. Many topics Ethan had expected to see didn't appear on the paper.
The practical subjects were simple, too.
The dancing spell in Charms, basic locomotion charms, turning a mouse into a snuffbox in Transfiguration, and brewing Forgetfulness Potion in Potions were all straightforward. He earned high scores on each.
Even the Herbology practical exam only required properly harvesting Dittany, which was unexpectedly simple.
After exams ended, they had to wait at school for a week while the professors finished grading.
This was their most relaxing week since enrollment. With no exam pressure and no classes, everyone did as they pleased, completely free.
"Headmaster, you're leaving just like that?" In the Headmaster's office, Ethan ate a potato pie made by the house-elves.
Before exam week, Dumbledore had detected Voldemort's probes many times; the Dark Lord often opened the entrance to the third-floor corridor to observe the lower levels.
But each time, he had merely been testing Dumbledore's reactions. Now that exams were over, the Philosopher's Stone might be transferred elsewhere before summer vacation began. This was Voldemort's last hope.
"Of course I have to go. If I don't, what will Tom do?" Dumbledore smiled.
Ethan had come to collect a document Cyril had left for him.
Since Cyril had taken his exams a few days earlier, he didn't want to disturb Ethan's focus, so he left the document with Dumbledore to pass along.
Ethan took another bite of the pie.
"Then can you look after him?" Ethan couldn't tell if the old man really wanted him to look after Harry or was just teasing him.
"No," Ethan flatly refused.
The old man seemed somewhat regretful. "All right, then take your time eating. I'll be going now."
"Mmm, go ahead," Ethan mumbled, still chewing.
To make sure Voldemort saw him leave, Dumbledore walked out of the Headmaster's office, slowly descended the castle stairs, greeting students he met along the way, and headed toward the school gate.
"Really, always getting a kid to watch over a dangerous person. Old geezer," Ethan muttered under his breath, wiping the oil from his hands and leaving with his things.
Having met with Dumbledore many times, Ethan had heard the old man repeatedly offer to help investigate Quirrell's activities. The Headmaster assured him that, as Voldemort's disciple, Quirrell posed no immediate threat to his life.
But Ethan refused. He wasn't stupid. Voldemort hadn't done anything to him yet, so he wasn't about to be so foolish as to openly oppose him.
However, now that he'd had enough, curiosity got the better of him. "How exactly did Harry kill Voldemort? Is the magic of love really that powerful?"
He planned to use the Marauder's Map to track both parties later. If the timing was right, he hoped to witness the confrontation firsthand.
Ethan had just left the Headmaster's office. Meanwhile, Harry and the other two had left Hagrid's hut feeling like they'd figured everything out, and they wanted to go to the Headmaster's office to find Dumbledore.
But none of them had ever been to the Headmaster's office. They didn't know the way.
"Ethan knows," Hermione said. "We can go find him."
Harry flatly refused. "No. If Ethan knows, that means Snape might know too."
Although they'd gone through the Norbert incident together, Harry and Ron still didn't fully trust Ethan when it came to this.
Hermione was at a loss. She opened her mouth but said nothing.
The three stood in the entrance hall, scrutinizing the familiar space as if they'd never seen it before, searching for some overlooked clue that might lead them to the Headmaster's office.
Just when they were at their wit's end, Professor McGonagall walked through the entrance hall.
The three quickly seized the opportunity and asked Professor McGonagall, "We have important matters to discuss with Headmaster Dumbledore. Can you tell us how to get to his office?"
"Dumbledore went to the Ministry of Magic and will be back tomorrow," Professor McGonagall said.
"Oh my God," Harry wailed. "Professor, this is extremely important. It's... it's about the Philosopher's Stone!"
"How do you know about this?"
"Professor, someone wants to steal the Philosopher's Stone! We just, well, I think I need to talk to Professor Dumbledore about this," Harry said, hesitating.
"The professor will be back tomorrow. Besides, you don't need to worry about the Philosopher's Stone. It's under the strictest protection and is perfectly safe."
"But, Professor..."
Professor McGonagall said impatiently, "This isn't something you should worry about."
With that, she walked away, leaving the three reluctant Gryffindors behind.
"She doesn't believe us!" Ron said resentfully.
"Ron, she's a professor. It's understandable that she doesn't believe us. After all, we're just first-year students," Hermione said, hitting the nail on the head.
"All right, all right, we need to find another way. No, we'll do it ourselves! You heard that too. Tonight he'll act!" Harry said, excitement creeping into his voice.
After returning to the dormitory, Ethan unfolded the Marauder's Map, scanning the jumbled names for Quirrell.
Found it. Still in the office? Worried Dumbledore hasn't left?
Seeing the three names converge again, Ethan put away the map, knowing both sides would probably make their move tonight, as planned.
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