Harry had seen the strange crystal sphere as well.
He immediately assumed it was the object Sean and the professors had been searching for.
"Ron."
Harry shot Ron a meaningful glance.
Ron nodded at once.
Without exchanging another word, the two reached the same conclusion.
They followed the floating crystal sphere from the eastern side of the first floor all the way to the southern corridor.
But when they rounded the corner, the sphere suddenly vanished.
"Ron, did you see where it went?" Harry whispered.
Ron poked his head out from beneath the Invisibility Cloak and looked around furtively.
"It disappeared?"
With no trace of the mysterious sphere, the two boys reluctantly ended their adventure.
Only then did Ron remember his two brothers, who were supposedly serving detention.
As luck would have it, it was now exactly midnight.
Fred and George's detention had just ended, and Hagrid was escorting them back to Gryffindor Tower.
The three emerged through the castle doors and headed toward the main building.
Hagrid, with his sharp eyes, suddenly noticed two floating heads in the southern corridor.
He squinted.
"Harry? Ron?"
Recognizing the boys beneath the Invisibility Cloak, Hagrid lowered his voice.
"Harry."
Harry and Ron turned toward him.
Seeing Fred and George, they quickly threw off the cloak and ran over.
"Fred! George! Are you all right?" Ron asked anxiously.
"I'm fine," Fred said. "George is still a bit woozy. Probably needs to sleep for twenty-four hours."
"I'm just hungry," George complained. "McGonagall's dinner didn't have anything I liked."
"How did you end up coming from outside?" Ron asked.
"McGonagall had something to do tonight," Fred explained. "So she handed us over to Hagrid."
Harry and Ron exchanged glances.
They knew exactly what McGonagall had been doing.
Satisfied that his brothers were unharmed, Ron relaxed.
Harry, however, looked up at Hagrid.
"Hagrid, did you happen to see a floating crystal sphere on your way here?"
Hagrid shook his head.
"Nope."
Although Hagrid had not joined the search for the diadem, he was one of Dumbledore's most trusted allies and knew nearly as much as the other professors.
As far as he knew, the only suspected Horcruxes were the diary and the diadem.
He had heard nothing about any crystal sphere.
"All right, off to bed, the lot of you," Hagrid said. "And Harry, stop wanderin' around with that Invisibility Cloak."
Fred's eyes lit up.
"Harry, where'd you get that marvelous thing? Lend it to me for a few days."
"It wasn't bought," Harry said softly. "It belonged to my father."
A shadow of longing crossed his face.
"You want another detention, do you?" Hagrid scolded Fred.
Sean, meanwhile, spent half an hour racing through the castle.
Eventually, he found Peeves.
But Peeves was not the thief.
The poltergeist had a perfect alibi.
For the past two hours, he had been in the kitchens causing chaos and stealing food.
The house-elves confirmed it.
"Hey, Sean!" Peeves said excitedly. "Another midnight adventure?"
They had once teamed up to spy on Quirrell, and Peeves clearly hoped for another escapade.
"You keep having fun."
Sean turned and walked away.
"If it wasn't Peeves," he thought grimly, "then who was it?"
His mind ran through every professor at Hogwarts.
The only remaining suspect was Gilderoy Lockhart.
Sean wasn't targeting him unfairly.
By Hogwarts tradition, whenever something strange happened, the newest professor was always a likely culprit.
Even if Lockhart seemed like an incompetent peacock.
But it was already well past midnight.
Even if Sean suspected Lockhart, he couldn't just break into a professor's quarters at this hour.
If Lockhart woke up, things would become very difficult to explain.
Professor versus student.
A student sneaking into a professor's room after midnight would look terrible no matter what.
Sean had no choice but to wait until morning, when Lockhart would be teaching.
Then he could search the man's office and bedroom.
Sean did not sleep at all that night.
He wasn't the only one.
Two other boys also lay awake, too excited to rest.
The next morning, Monday, Dumbledore officially announced Sean's appointment as Hogwarts' new Discipline Inspector.
The announcement infuriated Filch.
Maintaining student discipline was Filch's job.
He patrolled at night and hunted truants during the day.
Sean's new role clearly overlapped with his duties.
At the Slytherin table, students whispered excitedly.
Since Sean was one of their own, surely he would turn a blind eye to Slytherin misbehavior.
"That rascal got promoted and didn't even tell us," Cassius said smugly, as though he had been appointed himself.
"Don't get too comfortable," Christina warned. "Sean might decide to target you first."
Cassius paled.
"No way. We're practically brothers."
After first period began, Sean made a token appearance outside a few classrooms.
He checked briefly on Draco, confirmed that Draco was behaving normally, and considered his official duties fulfilled.
Lockhart had no class during first period.
Once second period started, Sean slipped into the professor's private quarters.
The moment he entered, he activated his Magic vision.
He searched every nook and cranny where the Wizard's Heart might be hidden.
After examining each area, he carefully used Reparo to restore everything to its original state.
He spent half an hour combing through the bedroom.
Finally, he tried a Summoning Charm.
Nothing happened.
The Wizard's Heart was not there.
However, Sean discovered something that caught his attention in Lockhart's bedside table.
"Candy?"
He held up several milk toffees and examined them closely.
Some were specialty sweets sold only at Honeydukes.
The last professor Sean knew who had kept a suspicious stash of candy had ended up dead.
"So he was the one searching for Adam that first night?"
Sean recalled hearing the mysterious voice in the corridor on the night school began.
The sweets fit the profile.
After finding nothing in the bedroom, Sean moved on to Lockhart's office.
It was located right next to the Defence Against the Dark Arts classroom.
Sean was essentially breaking into the office while Lockhart was teaching only a few feet away.
But apart from stacks of Lockhart's books, there was nothing of interest.
Sean forced himself to breathe deeply.
He needed to stay calm.
Two suspects had been ruled out.
That meant he had to consider outsiders.
"Could Herpo have sent someone to retrieve the Wizard's Heart?"
If anyone could break Salazar's ancient enchantments and remove the artifact from Hogwarts, it would be Herpo.
"But after thousands of years, how would he know the Wizard's Heart was hidden at Hogwarts?"
"And how would he know that I had it?"
Lost in thought, Sean wandered onto the lawn outside the castle.
His gaze drifted toward the grounds beyond.
Then he made up his mind.
He needed to talk to Hagrid.
Hagrid was in the paddock, feeding Buckbeak.
"Hey, Hagrid! Buckbeak!"
Hagrid waved the chunk of meat in his hand.
Buckbeak seized the opportunity and snatched it from him.
"Sean!" Hagrid called. "Aren't you supposed to be inspectin' discipline? What're you doing here?"
"All the students are hard at work in class," Sean said casually.
Then his expression turned serious.
"Hagrid… have there been any outsiders visiting the school recently?"
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