"Woof—"
The large black dog led by Hagrid swallowed the ball of fur on the seat in one bite.
"Meow!"
Crookshanks seemed startled by the black dog's sudden approach and clawed at it. The black dog shook its head and broke free from Hagrid's leash, disappearing quickly into the distance—
This happened so quickly that nobody seemed to find it unusual, but Kabuda sitting on William's shoulder frowned deeply.
"Squeak squeak."
It whispered a couple of words in William's ear.
William did not reply, but squinted his eyes at the large black dog disappearing around the corner.
"... Take this to Harry."
Then, William fished out a hourglass-shaped Sneakoscope from Kabuda's pocket and handed it to Hermione walking alongside him.
"What's this?"
"A specially made Sneakoscope."
Hermione nodded without asking further questions and stuffed it into the canvas bag at her side, which was William's Christmas gift to her... No, the actual gift was the Rune Card inside the bag that could expand its space to several cubic meters; Hermione had sewn the bag herself.
The Rune Card even had Magic Runes inscribed with Trace Curse and Accio, so anything stored inside could be traced. It worked just like the Storage Rings in fantasy novels, allowing the user to retrieve items at will.
So the girl stored all her textbooks and books inside, finally freeing herself from running around with a heavy backpack.
...
The Gryffindor party lasted all night and continued deep into the night.
Fred and George vanished for half the evening and didn't show up until the end. Harry noticed this and grabbed Angelina Johnson's arm to inquire about their whereabouts.
"No idea!"
Angelina shouted, "They were being all mysterious, saying they were going to find something even more fun for us!"
"!"
Harry hesitated, then it dawned on him—had those two gone through the passage behind Honeydukes to buy things at Hogsmeade? He clearly remembered being caught by Senior William the last time he went that way...
And then he forgot to mention it to them.
Never mind them—
Harry contemplated briefly and then chose to push aside thoughts of those two possibly being "trained" by William, accepting the small hourglass Hermione handed him—"What's this?" Harry asked, curious.
"William asked me to give this to you; it's a Sneakoscope to predict danger, specially made for that person—"
Finishing her sentence, Hermione walked away. Harry wanted her to stay and eat something, but she declined with a wave, slowly approaching Ron, and offered a sincere apology.
The common room fell silent for a moment, everyone staring in astonishment at this scene.
Everyone remembered the "battle" that happened in the common room and had witnessed the unpleasantness between Hermione and Ron back then. Yet now, Hermione—the one everyone thought was the most stubborn—was apologizing.
Thus, it was Ron who became bewildered; he accepted Hermione's apology with some hesitation and even apologized himself for casting spells at Crookshanks.
After all, aside from a small scratch, he wasn't hurt, and pulling out his magic wand was just an impulsive act at the time...
But Hermione shook her head and continued apologizing...
Harry and Neville hurried to pull the two up, fearing that if they didn't interrupt, they'd end up bowing to each other...
Shaking off the strange feeling in his mind, Harry looked curiously at Hermione, who seemed relieved with her cheeks slightly flushed, revealing her happiness at resolving these conflicts. The girl shook her fluffy head, "Senior said the fault of not managing a pet always lies with the owner, and I really didn't handle Crookshanks well at the time..."
It turns out the girl had been troubled about the rationality of cats catching mice, overlooking the importance of Scabbers to Ron...
Everything seemed to end happily, and only at one in the morning did Professor McGonagall appear in her light-green plaid robe and hairnet, insisting everyone go to bed, finally dispersing the Gryffindor party.
Everyone went upstairs to their dormitories, still discussing the competition along the way.
Finally, utterly exhausted, Harry climbed into bed, lowering the four-poster bed's curtains to block the moonlight from the window, lying flat and immediately drifting into slumber due to the dizziness...
...
...
"Ah—! No—!"
In the darkness, Harry suddenly woke up as if someone had slapped him in the face.
Disoriented, he fumbled around the curtains surrounding him—then suddenly he heard a noise, Seamus Finnigan's voice coming from the other side of the room.
"What's going on?"
That's what Harry wanted to ask, and then he thought he heard the dormitory door bang shut, while simultaneously the boy finally found the curtain's opening and pulled it aside just as Dean Thomas reached out to light the lamp, the bright light feeling nearly blinding.
"What happened?"
Neville peeked his head out of his curtains, squinting like Harry to adjust to the sudden brightness.
Then, Harry saw Ron sitting at the side of his bed, one side of the curtain torn down, his face showing extreme fear.