Three thick flying carpets streaked across the night sky, as if pulled along by invisible hands, steadily heading toward Hogwarts Castle. Realizing this felt a lot more comfortable than a Flying Broom, the three of them finally stopped holding their breath in fear.
"Th-this… this is actually kind of fun. Senior Prince's Magic is amazing." Neville whispered, his fingers clutching tightly at the edge of the carpet, but the fear from the beginning was already gone from his voice.
Hermione shifted her position to make herself more comfortable in the cocooned state. Her brows stayed knitted together. "Ian is going to face a Giant Dragon all by himself… that's way too dangerous."
"We all know how powerful a Dragon is. Nobody knows what's waiting for him." Hermione was already worrying that they might hear news of Ian's death as soon as tomorrow.
How to put it.
The girl who had just stepped into the Wizarding World still had no idea what kind of level her Guide in this world was actually at. She didn't have any clear sense of just how strong a second-year senior could be at his peak.
That feeling of limited imagination.
But when it came to imagination…
Ron had his own particular gift.
"Too dangerous?" Ron perked up the moment he heard Hermione's words. His voice carried a hint of excitement as he started to pour out his own opinion.
"Hmph, I don't see it that way."
His tone had a bit of disgruntled edge to it.
"What do you mean?"
Hermione frowned. The wind howling past messed her bushy hair into a complete disaster, strands slapping against her cheeks. Under the night sky, the severe look on her face was actually pretty scary.
"Gulp~"
Ron shrank his neck a little in fear.
"Maybe he's not going there to 'face' the Giant Dragon at all."
But his muttering still didn't stop.
"Spell it out."
Hermione turned her head and looked at him in confusion, a trace of irritation in her eyes.
Ron lowered his voice, sounding all mysterious. "Think about it. If he really was just going to deal with the Dragon, why would he send us away instead of letting us witness how awesome he is?"
"Everyone says he loves showing off, right?"
Ron dropped his voice even further.
"What if… I'm just saying it's possible… what if he and that suspicious Harry Potter are in it together? He sent us away because he's afraid we'll discover the secret in the Forbidden Forest!"
"He's definitely going to move the Dragon they're keeping there right now!" The more he talked, the more worked up he sounded, his eyes wide as saucers, as if he'd already seen through some earth-shattering conspiracy.
If his hands and feet weren't bound.
He'd probably be waving his arms around in excitement too. This was some real imagination at work. Ron's voice was impassioned, his brain in overdrive; the more he said, the more his own theory felt horrifyingly plausible to him.
Hermione rolled her eyes.
"Ron, could you use that imagination on your homework?"
Clearly, she often lent him her homework to copy.
Neville didn't really buy Ron's theory either. He shook his head lightly and said, "Ron, I think you're overthinking this. Senior Prince really isn't that kind of evil person."
"Sure, he breaks school rules, gets into fights, bullies Slytherin students, but he's a good person, a good senior. I believe he has his own reasons for going to face the Dragon."
Seems Neville actually knew quite a bit about Ian.
His tone was earnest, and what he said was based on facts. But Ron just wouldn't listen. Wrapped up in the blanket, he twisted around with effort and glared at Neville.
"You're being way too naive, Neville. Who can guarantee that the Ian we met is the real Ian Prince? If Harry Potter can be swapped out, then a second-year student can definitely be swapped too! For all we know, Ian Prince has already been replaced, and the one we see now is that scheming Harry Potter's accomplice!"
"Damn! Looks like more than one Dark Wizard has their sights set on Hogwarts!" As he spoke, Ron looked both shocked and uncertain. At least to him, his logic all held together nicely.
It's just that…
Neville could only shake his head helplessly.
And Hermione didn't believe even a single punctuation mark in Ron's theory.
Listening to Ron's ridiculous rant at the side, wrapped up in the blanket, Hermione couldn't help but roll her eyes. "Ron, if that were true, we'd already be dead right now. Ian could have killed us in the Forbidden Forest, and after he did it, nobody would ever find out the truth, right?"
"That's the Forbidden Forest. If we went in there and died, it would be on us. The Ministry of Magic would just think we were asking for it and got eaten by some dangerous creature in the Forest."
Hermione's reasoning was the one that actually had logic.
After listening to her, Neville also felt Ron's theory didn't quite hold water. He nodded and said, "Makes sense, Ron. Making wild guesses without any proof is going to have consequences."
Hearing that.
Ron froze for a moment.
He seemed to be pondering what Neville and Hermione had said. After a long pause, he finally sighed and admitted, "Fine, Hermione, you're right. Maybe I did get a bit too carried away."
How to put it.
That was basically him sugarcoating it for himself.
This clearly wasn't just about being impulsive. It was that he had this conspiracy theory stuck in his head all the time—maybe not specifically about Ian, but about Ron subconsciously wanting to be a hero.
Just like that.
The three of them fell silent.
The Flying Carpet finally descended in front of the main doors of Hogwarts Castle. Hermione and Neville's carpets slowly unfurled, letting them gently land on the ground, while Ron's carpet suddenly gave a violent shake.
"Oww!"
Ron crashed heavily onto the ground, landing on his backside. The pain made him bare his teeth. Rubbing his tailbone, he glared up indignantly. "Why are you two fine?! My butt's about to split into four pieces!"
He really had been slammed pretty hard.
"That's the consequence I was talking about…" Neville said awkwardly, scratching his head. His words made Ron slap his forehead in speechless frustration.
"Bloody hell!"
Ron wanted to swear.
But he didn't dare.
"See? That's exactly it." Hermione dusted off her robes and rolled her eyes at Ron. "You just can't keep that mouth of yours shut. We never said anything bad about Ian."
She was very clearly pointing out why she and Neville got to land gently while Ron had to suffer.
Neville cast Ron a cautious glance. Seeing Ron looking so unconvinced, he hesitated, then finally decided to remind him in a small voice.
"There's always been a rumor in the House… that sometimes… Senior Prince can be pretty petty. Obviously, you just ran into Senior Prince when he was being petty."
Neville definitely knew a lot about Ian, not just because of Ian's help at school, but also because someone had warned him about what to watch out for when studying at Hogwarts as soon as he got in.
Most people might not believe the Hogwarts Survival Guide the twins were selling, but Neville did. He even forked over a hefty sum of Gold Coins to buy the Hogwarts Survival Guide Collector's Edition from them.
And that edition had a full thirty extra pages, all about teaching the buyer how to avoid attracting the attention of the school's Great Demon King. After reading it, Neville truly felt his Gold Coins were well spent.
And now, seeing Ron's situation…
He felt that expense was more than worth it.
"…"
After Neville's reminder, Ron fell into a long silence. His twin brothers had actually warned him about this too, but he'd never really taken anything those two said to heart.
Looking at it now.
Ron really was starting to feel he should have trusted his own family—thinking that, he couldn't help recalling what his brothers had told him before, when they'd been "scaring" him with stories about Ian.
In an instant.
Ron's face went pale.
Panic started to rise in his chest.
As soon as he thought Ian might hold a grudge against him, he couldn't help picturing what happened to those Pure-blood Clan Slytherins. There was nothing in his own family that he could give Ian in exchange for forgiveness.
"My bloody stupid mouth!"
Ron began to regret it.
In his head he was already imagining scenes of Ian using all sorts of Evil Curses to toy with him.
And just then—
"You three! What do you think you're doing here?!"
An angry voice suddenly rang out. The three of them turned their heads at the same time, only to see a dark-robed Hogwarts professor standing not far away. His grim face and sharp gaze sent a chill down their spines.
With that kind of presence…
The professor who appeared could only be Ian's dear uncle.
Snape.