Ron scratched his head and had just opened his mouth when Harry suddenly clapped a hand over it.
"Ah-haha, good evening, Dylan… you, uh, go back to sleep, hahahaha…"
Muffled by Harry's hand, Ron could not speak, but he bobbed his head up and down like a pecking chicken.
"Go, go, let's go." Harry tugged Ron along.
The two of them turned around in a panic, stumbling over their own hands and feet, holding their breath for fear of making too much noise.
They lifted their feet very slowly and set them down just as carefully,
looking exactly like a pair of guilty thieves.
Their hands stretched a little forward, fingers curled in the air as if to keep their balance.
Only when they finally edged their way to the door did they bolt, but even then they made sure to pull the door gently closed behind them.
Ron even mouthed through the crack, "Go back to sleep."
"Do these two have some kind of serious problem?"
Dylan watched the entire process and was a bit speechless.
He was no longer particularly sleepy; whatever drowsiness he had left had been thoroughly chased off by these two clowns.
"Didn't I already say I wasn't getting involved? And they still had to wake me up in the middle of the night?"
To be honest, Dylan was not very happy.
Of course, that had absolutely nothing to do with any kind of morning temper.
He thought for a moment, then sighed softly.
"Sigh…"
He looked down at Coalball, who had stuck its head out from under the covers. Its eyes were glowing faintly in the dark, just like his.
Dylan reached out two fingers and pinched its little head.
"They're my friends too. Go follow them, and if you need to, give them a hand."
"Mrrow."
Coalball gave a low call.
It knew there were others in the dorm still sleeping.
"Go on. Haven't you made a lot of friends here already?"
He might have told Coalball to stay put in the dorm,
but that did not mean the little creature had not snuck out to romp.
Because—
earlier that evening, while McGonagall was giving him extra tutoring,
she had casually mentioned
that there had been a little Shadow Wyrm sneaking around the school.
It had even gone all the way to the Forbidden Forest and gotten chummy with a group of wild magical creatures.
The problem was that when this Shadow Wyrm came back to Hogwarts,
it had slipped into a restricted area without many students noticing.
In the end, she had only spotted it because she happened to be passing by.
Since Hagrid had already told her and Dumbledore that Dylan wanted to keep a Shadow Wyrm,
her first thought was that this one might be his, so she had the house-elves take it back to his dorm.
Otherwise, if it kept roaming around, Filch might very well have caught it.
The moment Dylan heard that, he knew she was hinting at him.
What else could he say?
He had to give her a vague explanation about keeping a Shadow Wyrm.
Thankfully, Professor McGonagall did not press for more details afterward. She only told him not to spend too much effort on his pet, but to make sure it was well taken care of.
Dylan, of course, agreed at once.
And he had no intention of blaming Coalball for any of it.
Ever since he had taken it in, Coalball had spent almost all its time in his pet space.
Now that it could finally be out in the open for once, what was wrong with letting it run a little wild?
It was not as if it had gone around biting off students' heads. A bit of walking and wandering was no big deal in Dylan's eyes.
"Mrrow…"
Coalball had been holding its head high a moment ago,
but hearing Dylan's tone, it blinked guiltily and drew its neck in.
"Go on, and watch yourself,"
he said, tapping its head with his index finger.
Whoosh.
Coalball's body shot forward.
Just as it neared the door, its form blurred strangely, and then it slipped straight through the wood.
Dylan lay back down.
Luckily, he really did sleep well.
It was not long before he drifted off again.
This time no one disturbed him, and he slept straight through until morning.
Because Harry and Ron had woken him in the middle of the night,
he did not wake as early as usual.
A glance at the clock told him it was about six-thirty.
Turning his head, he saw Harry and Ron had returned and were snoring away.
Coalball was lazily curled between his legs.
He shook his head, told Coalball to stay put in the dorm,
then got up to wash and dress, planning to check on his owl, review some Potions notes, then grab breakfast before class.
Coalball's fur shone like black silk. Feeling him move, it flicked an ear, flipped over,
and burrowed back under the covers.
Stepping out into the morning light,
Dylan went through his usual routine.
Then he headed to the Great Hall.
By then, most of the students were already there for breakfast,
and several teachers were seated at the staff table.
"Hey! Dylan, over here!"
The moment he stepped into the Hall, Dylan saw Harry and Ron at the Gryffindor table waving frantically at him.
He walked over at an easy pace and sat down beside Harry.
Ron's face was full of excitement.
He glanced left and right,
then lowered his head and his voice as he whispered to Dylan, "Merlin, you have no idea how exciting last night was!"
Dylan blinked. "Wow. How exciting?"
Ron did not hear the flatness in his tone and grinned crookedly.
"It's a real shame you didn't come!"
"And that Malfoy is a real piece of work. We agreed on a duel, and he went behind our backs and told Filch!"
"That's not like what you said, Dylan. He didn't go to Professor Snape."
Looking at Ron's smug expression, Dylan opened his mouth. "Wow, that is rotten of him."
"Right?" Ron's lip curled at the thought of Malfoy.
Hermione rubbed her forehead beside them.
Had he really not noticed Dylan's tone?
"You're dense. No matter who he told, he still told a teacher. Dylan's warning wasn't wrong at all!"
Now it was Ron's turn to blink.
But he did not dwell on it and continued, "Anyway, Filch kept chasing us, and Mrs. Norris was on us like a bloodhound too!"
"Thankfully something else caught their attention, I don't know if it was another student or what. But then we ran into Peeves, and that lunatic chased us all the way to the fourth-floor forbidden corridor!"
"And guess what? We actually saw a three-headed dog there! Merlin, that dog was massive—I felt like it could swallow me in one bite!"
Dylan speared a piece of salad, chewing slowly and giving him all the "emotional support" he wanted.
"Oh! That's terrifying."
At that, Ron finally processed what was going on.
He turned to Dylan and narrowed his eyes.
"Hey!"
(End of Chapter)
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