Looking at the suspicious entrance hidden beneath the stone pillar, Sean felt a headache coming on.
He had found the entrance.
The problem was figuring out how to get inside.
"Do I need a password? A specific gesture?" Sean wondered.
It was noon, and students were streaming in and out of the corridor after class.
Many of them gave Sean strange looks.
At the moment, he was standing alone on the lawn, running his hands over a stone pillar.
From a distance, he looked a little… suspicious.
Whether it was embarrassment from the stares or a sudden flash of inspiration, Sean abruptly turned and strode toward the Great Hall.
The moment he stepped through the doors, his eyes went straight to the Gryffindor table.
Harry noticed Sean looking in his direction and immediately lowered his head.
"Sean's looking at me again," Harry muttered to Ron.
"You think he's going to tell the professors?"
"Probably not…" Ron said, glancing back uneasily.
At the Slytherin table, Cassius waved him over.
"Our Discipline Inspector has arrived!" Cassius said with a grin as Sean sat down.
"Cut it out."
Sean nudged him with an elbow.
"I heard you stood outside the second-year Charms classroom for over ten minutes. Don't tell me you were keeping tabs on Harry Potter?"
"You're adding your own drama again," Sean said. "Yes, I stood there, but not because I was targeting Gryffindor. I'm perfectly fair."
Christine covered her mouth and laughed softly.
"If you keep talking nonsense, Sean might spend the entire afternoon watching you. You won't even be able to nap."
"You'd better behave," Sean said with mock severity.
Cassius zipped his lips dramatically.
"I'm eating. I know nothing."
Sean finished his lunch quickly, but instead of leaving, he remained seated, occasionally glancing toward the Gryffindor table.
The moment Harry stood up, Sean rose as well.
"Heading back to the common room?" Christine asked.
"I've got something to take care of. You two go ahead."
Sean followed Harry, Ron, and Hermione out of the Great Hall.
In the corridor, he called out.
"Harry, wait."
The three of them turned.
Harry looked slightly uneasy.
"What is it?"
"I need to ask you for a favor."
"Oh."
Harry visibly relaxed.
"What do you need?"
Sean glanced at Hermione and Ron.
"Hermione, Ron… could you give us a minute?"
They immediately understood and exchanged a look with Harry before heading back toward Gryffindor Tower.
Sean and Harry walked into the courtyard.
Sean spoke directly.
"Harry, I'd like to borrow your Invisibility Cloak tonight."
This was the second time Sean had borrowed it.
The first was last Christmas, when Euclides had challenged Albus Dumbledore, and Sean had used the cloak to sneak out and watch.
Harry was kind-hearted and rarely refused anyone.
Still, his curiosity got the better of him.
"Sure. I can get it from my dorm right now."
He paused.
"But can you tell me what you and the professors were looking for last night?"
Sean considered for a moment.
"Something connected to Lord Voldemort."
Harry's eyes lit up instantly.
There was no subject more fascinating to him.
"You mean something belonging to Voldemort is inside Hogwarts?"
"Yes," Sean said. "It's very dangerous, but Dumbledore already has it under control."
That was technically true.
The diadem was still hidden in Merlin's Chamber, which meant Sean had it under control.
And if Sean had it under control, then by extension so did Dumbledore.
At least, that was Sean's logic.
Harry nodded, but he was still misunderstanding.
He thought the floating crystal sphere was the object Sean was referring to.
"I'll be right back," Harry said.
Sean sat on a stone bench in the courtyard and waited.
Seven or eight minutes later, Harry returned carrying a neatly wrapped bundle.
Sean took it.
The package was almost weightless.
"Thanks," Sean said. "I'll return it tomorrow morning."
"What are you using it for?" Harry asked casually.
"Personal business."
Harry recognized that as a polite signal not to pry further.
A true gentleman knew when to stop asking questions.
With his equipment secured, Sean spent the rest of the day waiting for nightfall.
Before handling his own business, however, he still had to go through the motions with Professors McGonagall and Snape.
After curfew, the three of them visited the Room of Requirement once again.
As expected, they found nothing.
Once he returned to his dormitory, Sean immediately put on the Invisibility Cloak and dashed to the southern corridor on the first floor.
He still hadn't figured out the proper way to enter the hidden passage.
So he chose a simpler method.
Brute force.
"Silencio."
Sean cast a Silencing Charm on the pillar.
Within a two-meter radius, no sound would carry beyond the area.
Standing before the pillar, Sean aimed his wand at the lower section.
"Reducto!"
A burst of white light struck the stone.
Inside the silenced area, the noise was deafening—like a neighbor attacking a wall with a power drill at dawn.
But outside the charm's range, everything remained perfectly quiet.
The spell blasted a small crater into the pillar.
Sean's eyes lit up.
"It works."
He fired ten more blasting curses in quick succession.
In less than a minute, a hole half a meter wide appeared.
The lower half of the pillar was hollow.
By wandlight, Sean could see a narrow staircase descending into darkness.
But instead of charging inside, he stepped to one side and pulled the Invisibility Cloak over himself.
"That much noise would definitely attract attention."
If someone was below, they would come investigate.
And if they came up, Sean would be waiting.
Hidden beneath the cloak, wand in hand, he stood motionless.
As long as he didn't run into someone on Dumbledore's level, he should remain undetected.
Time passed.
Three minutes later, Sean heard hollow footsteps echoing from the stairs.
But they didn't sound human.
He tightened his grip on his wand.
The sound grew closer.
Then something popped out of the opening.
Sean froze for an instant.
Then he threw back the cloak and fired.
"Rose Thorn."
A white beam shot from his wand and struck the intruder.
This was a high-level restraining spell Sean had secretly learned from Hoff the previous year.
It was far superior to simple body-binding charms.
The target was a golden-furred squirrel.
A crimson rose blossomed from its body, and thorn-covered vines rapidly wrapped around it.
Sean recognized it immediately.
Adam.
The mysterious squirrel that could also transform into a human.
Sean still had no idea which form was his true body.
Adam had clearly not expected an ambush waiting outside his own front door.
Bound tightly, the squirrel glared up at Sean and shouted in the voice of a seven- or eight-year-old boy.
"Little brat, let me go!"
Sean looked down at the tiny creature.
"Take a good look. Which one of us is the little brat?"
Adam snorted.
"Hmph. I was here before your school even existed. If anyone's a little brat, it's you."
Sean's eyes widened.
Another ancient monster.
But at the moment, he cared about only one thing.
"Did you steal my Wizard's Heart?"
Adam puffed up indignantly.
"Steal? It was always in this castle to begin with!"
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