The Christmas break flew by quickly, at least that's how the little wizards living in Hogwarts Castle felt.
No attacks occurred, everyone was safe and sound, except for the incredibly punctual rooster crowing at five or six in the morning and the chicken droppings scattered around the castle; otherwise, the castle seemed unchanged.
"What exactly is Dumbledore up to..."
Harry mumbled as he emerged from behind the Fat Lady's portrait, he reached out to pluck a feather stuck in his hair and then covered his nose.
Indeed, even the common room was no exception, sometimes roosters would run into the students' dormitories, Harry had already been startled several times by roosters crowing at his bedside, and now he didn't even dare to sleep with his feet out of the blanket because those feathered creatures might mistake his toes for worms.
Tsk, just thinking about it made his little toe ache slightly.
"I don't know, but Dumbledore must have his reasons for doing this."
Hermione, following closely behind, stood up, patting the chicken feathers off her robe. She didn't know what happened last night, but this morning the Gryffindor Common Room was almost buried in feathers, and they struggled quite a bit to escape.
"Now, do you believe what I'm saying?" Hermione looked up at Harry.
The boy naturally knew what she was referring to—in this holiday, they had been monitoring the Marauder's Map without much respite, and under this intense surveillance, Harry's suspect—Draco Malfoy—apart from irregular schedules, had nothing suspicious about him.
Instead, William, whom Harry had continuously supported, seemed suspicious, disappearing from the map every night during this time...
Keep in mind that the dorms are also within the surveillance range of the Marauder's Map.
This led Hermione to almost confirm that the entrance to the Chamber of Secrets was very likely in the Hufflepuff dormitory, and William was possibly the heir of Slytherin.
"The entrance to the Slytherin Chamber of Secrets in the Hufflepuff dormitory?"
Harry still expressed disbelief, he didn't agree with Hermione's conjecture, yet he couldn't refute her viewpoint—although he didn't know why he trusted William so much, somehow he just couldn't bring himself to believe that William was a bad person.
Moreover, if William indeed wasn't suspicious, then the person with the most suspicion could only be...
Himself.
"..."
"...Then what should we do, tell the professor?" Harry picked up his bag that had just fallen to the floor and muttered, "Let them catch William?"
"Maybe we should go straight to Dumbledore." Hermione nodded, seemingly very much agreeing with Harry's viewpoint.
"…" Harry opened his mouth but stayed silent for a moment, finally coming up with a reason, "What evidence do you have to report him?"
"The map…"
"Turn the Marauder's Map over to the professor? Are you sure Fred and George wouldn't go berserk on you?"
"...I guess not?" Hermione was a bit stunned because the Weasley Twins hadn't asked for it back, so she'd been holding onto the Marauder's Map all this time, but if this thing ended up in the professor's hands...
"If they use it to catch students sneaking around at night, Fred and George would definitely go crazy."
Harry continued speaking, they had tested it, the invisibility cloak couldn't hide someone from the Marauder's Map, and he couldn't even imagine what would happen if it fell into Snape's hands...
"...Okay, then what do we do?"
Hermione seemed to want to argue further but was interrupted by a rooster crowing at her feet, she seemed to deflate like a balloon, asking with some helplessness.
"...Do you know the location and the password for the Hufflepuff Common Room?"
"What are you suggesting?"
"We need definitive proof, and William's dormitory would certainly have clues—" Harry nodded, laying out his plan, "We have the invisibility cloak and Marauder's Map, there's no way we'd get caught."
"In that case, we might not even need the password." Hermione's eyes brightened, "The invisibility cloak would suffice, we could follow a student in…" Hermione's eyes kept getting brighter as she pondered the plan's feasibility, "The Marauder's Map ensures we won't get caught, so perhaps we could try it tonight!"
The girl struck her palm with a fist and settled the plan within a few words.
"…"
Harry was taken aback, was the viability of this plan really so high?
No way, I just said it offhand!
Looking at Hermione who had finally found a breakthrough and seemed extremely excited, Harry didn't know what to say. They followed the winding staircase all the way to the foyer, where a towering figure dragged a Christmas tree towards the door.
"Oh, Harry, and Hermione, hello there—"
Hagrid looked up, first noticing the two on the stairs, he waved a greeting.
"Oh, Hagrid, hello..."
The two subconsciously replied with a greeting, but in the next moment, their eyes focused on another figure just obscured by the giant—"Okay, every half-month, or if it grows clearly larger, come to me to replenish some magic energy, make sure to keep an eye on it, don't let anyone find out—" William handed the iron canister back to Hagrid.
"Oh, alright, I remember,"
Hagrid took the can with a free hand, nodding happily—he was always like this recently, because his fifty-year-old companion was back by his side.
"...You two, morning, huh?"
Having finished giving his instructions, William looked up, also spotting the two on the stairs, he frowned slightly in confusion—why were they so nervous?
He could clearly see a green emotional aura on top of their heads, making it somewhat unsettling.
"I... uh, morning, morning?" It was Harry who broke the silence, forcing calmness to greet them before turning quickly to Hagrid, "Hagrid, what's in that jar you're holding?"
"Oh, you mean this? Come and see..." Hagrid said excitedly, moving closer.
"Ahem."
"Uh, nothing, nothing, I should get going, have to plant this tree back into the Forbidden Forest, ah, I'm so busy today..." Hagrid quickly retreated, grabbing the chicken-feather-covered Christmas tree again, pushing open the door and rapidly disappearing.
Harry didn't even have time to say a word of goodbye.
"So, are you going to eat?" William pointed to the nearby hall, snapping the two daydreamers out of their trance.
"Oh, yes..." Harry tugged Hermione and quickly followed along.
William didn't say much more to these two seemingly suspicious little guys, Harry and Hermione hurried over to the Gryffindor Long Table, just as a noisy commotion interrupted the dining in the hall—the "postal service" had arrived today.
"Harry, is that your owl?"
Upon hearing Hermione's inquiry, Harry, having just sat down at the table, looked up and indeed spotted Hedwig in a sea of gray-brown owls, the snowy owl given to him by Hagrid.
"Yes, but who would be sending me..."
The boy hadn't finished speaking before he stopped abruptly.
Because he watched, wide-eyed, as that white shadow flapped its wings towards the Hufflepuff Long Table.
Harry: "?"
Wait, what the heck?