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Heavy, silver moonlight streamed brightly through the high arched windows, directly illuminating the hundreds of polished crystal display cases filled with golden trophies, creating a dramatic, high-contrast chiaroscuro effect throughout the dusty room. It looked exactly like a meticulously staged, highly tense standoff in a Muggle movie scene.
"Let's just logically go right now. Completely forget about the filthy cat," Avery's faint, highly cowardly voice came again in the freezing silence. Rabastan immediately turned and glared at him with absolute, fierce hatred.
Honestly, exactly why are you constantly, aggressively scaring your own pureblood people in a fight? Avery swallowed hard, absolutely daring not to actively speak his terrified mind out loud. In this highly dangerous, unpredictable situation, shouldn't we logically have immediately dropped the massive cage and ran for our lives the absolute second they ambushed us? Rabastan, you constantly, arrogantly boast that you'll officially join the Dark Lord's elite organization one day... but honestly, are you guys really, genuinely reliable in a real fight?
Avery's terrified gaze frantically swept around the quiet room, heavily noticing that Lestrange was currently entirely, intensely staring down the tiny first-year Muggle-born who was holding the lethal short sword. His dark eyes were completely full of wary, unadulterated caution.
...Brother, logically speaking, absolutely shouldn't you be heavily focusing your magical attacks on Evans? She's clearly the highly competent, tough one holding the wand! Leave the tiny younger years to us! Avery panicked internally.
This is a completely even three-on-three situation!
And then there's Mulciber—he's absolutely completely useless right now! He's actually, literally just staring blankly at the drugged cat in the cage?!
...Maybe my loyal friend really, genuinely is a braindead Mountain Troll, Avery despaired, his sweaty palms starting to physically slip on his wand. He gently, desperately nudged Mulciber hard with his elbow, aggressively signaling him to rapidly snap out of his stupor and actually pay attention to the highly armed girls on the other side of the room.
Meanwhile, Evie Frye, still holding the lethal short sword perfectly, terrifyingly steadily under the slanting moonlight, was currently standing in a highly practiced, flawless assassin's combat stance. Her massive blue eyes were completely, intensely focused exactly on Rabastan's throat without the absolute slightest flicker of fear. She occasionally seemed to deliberately, highly analytically glance exactly at the exposed side of his neck, acting exactly as if she were mathematically assessing the absolute best physical angle of attack. She looked completely ready to violently stab him at any given microsecond, physically exuding an intense, suffocating predatory pressure—
The fine hairs on Rabastan's back instantly, violently stood completely on end, and he honestly didn't dare to physically look away from her blade.
Standing invisibly in the shadows, Regulus keenly noticed that although little Evie was formally wearing standard, flowing wizard's robes, she was actually practically wearing heavy, low-heeled Muggle fencing shoes underneath. And under her thick grey leather glove, her tiny fingers physically fit the sword hilt absolutely perfectly, her little finger slightly, professionally hooked around the pommel for maximum leverage.
He smoothly adjusted his viewing angle slightly, allowing the silver moonlight to directly shine perfectly on the flat of her blade—a faint, highly distinct, incredibly complex Assassin's insignia was etched into the metal, flashing briefly in the dark.
The heavy short sword's blade honestly wasn't incredibly sharp, and currently possessed at least three massive, jagged nicks on the edge. The heavy blade was highly noticeably, slightly bent near the tip, and the physical center of gravity was clearly placed far from the leather hilt. Logically— Regulus analyzed like a gamer. Its physical flexibility was entirely unknown, but that specific balance structure should mathematically make it incredibly, brutally suitable for heavy chopping and violent slashing attacks, rather than thrusting.
Just vividly imagine getting violently, physically hit directly on the back of the neck with that heavy piece of steel! Regulus thought, smirking.
This absolute feeling of discovering a hidden class is far too pure.
At the exact same time, Mary Macdonald blinked highly nervously, her wand trembling slightly in her sweating hand. However, standing tightly with her Gryffindor best friend and the terrifying first-year junior beside her, she absolutely would not cowardly back down.
Lily Evans, on the other hand, showed an extraordinary, terrifying level of Gryffindor composure. Her green gaze completely shifted away from the boys and locked onto another heavy oak door situated at the very back of the trophy room. The primary door they had originally entered from was currently directly behind them. This specific room... she honestly wasn't entirely sure if it was tactically suitable for a rapid escape, or if it was just highly drafty from both ends. She frowned deeply—
Argus Filch could physically come limping in through either of those doors at absolutely any moment.
On the exact other side of the room, standing completely hidden in the freezing shadows directly behind the secondary door Lily was currently staring at.
Severus Snape's pale palms were also currently sweating profusely.
He had completely inadvertently overheard massive, highly detailed parts of Avery's disgusting plan in the Slytherin common room earlier, logically knowing they were actively planning some "highly tasteless" pranks regarding the caretaker's cat tonight (Regulus's exact clinical evaluation). Severus was deeply, profoundly worried about being directly implicated in the crime simply because of his highly recognizable Potions, so he had actually even left the Dueling Club activity entirely midway through just to keep an eye on them. He had been quietly hiding in a completely concealed, drafty spot nearby since early on.
He had faintly heard Rabastan and Lily violently arguing through the heavy wood earlier and was currently extremely, physically anxious.
Filch could logically come limping around the corner at absolutely any given moment—why didn't they immediately leave the room? What on earth are they currently waiting for? And why did the violent shouting suddenly stop entirely?
Sheer worry made him completely confused; it genuinely felt like a million stinging ants were actively crawling inside his chest, but he absolutely didn't know exactly what to do. Should he deliberately make some loud noise to scare them off? But exactly what was the tactical situation inside... Maybe they had absolutely already safely left through the other main door? Should he physically push the door open to check? If he actively went inside now, would it violently escalate the pureblood conflict and make the highly tense situation massively more complicated...
If the brilliant Regulus were currently standing here with me, it would be absolutely great. He always knows what to do, Severus thought desperately. He bit his pale lip hard—exactly why hadn't he already learned the highly useful Disillusionment Charm from the Black brothers? Otherwise, he absolutely wouldn't be forced to be so completely, helplessly passive right now... He absolutely shouldn't have ever helped these pureblood idiots brew their highly illegal Potions.
He tightly gripped his hawthorn wand, aggressively hunched his thin back, and firmly decided that if the physical situation sounded like it was going wrong, he would violently rush into the room to protect Lily regardless of the political consequences.
But exactly what should he logically do right now? He absolutely didn't want to just sit and wait for disaster.
Severus suddenly had a massive flash of brilliant inspiration. He quickly pulled out a folded piece of Regulus's glowing 'Developing Paper' and his quill from deep under his black robe, and aggressively wrote highly quickly on the surface.
Shortly before this exact moment...
High up in the Gryffindor common room, the roaring fireplace was brilliantly lit, the incredibly warm orange firelight beautifully flickering and crackling softly across the red tapestries. A massive group of young Lions were lazily doing their homework while happily chatting loudly about the brutal Dueling Club activity.
Suddenly, the 'Developing Paper' tucked securely in the pockets of three specific boys simultaneously grew intensely warm:
[Guys. Plan B. ASAP. Trophy Room. - R.A.B.]
Sirius immediately squeezed a small, highly hard wooden box hidden deep under his robe. James simultaneously touched the smooth, silky fabric of the Invisibility Cloak stuffed in his pocket.
[Lestrange, Avery, Mulciber vs. Lily, Mary, Ivy. Cat Church currently in massive danger.]
Exactly how on earth did absolutely all these specific, completely unrelated people violently get together in one room? Tactical thoughts raced frantically through Sirius's brilliant mind.
Lily is in danger?! James immediately became incredibly, physically anxious, violently clutching the glowing developing paper.
Church is in massive danger—Filch's snitching cat? Remus frowned deeply, his massive intellect actively trying to rapidly find the logical connection.
[There's a highly secret shortcut leading from the Gryffindor common room directly to the fourth floor corridor. Ask me if you don't already know it.]
How could the legendary Marauder Trio possibly not already deeply know the secret shortcuts?
The three boys who currently, arrogantly called themselves the "Marauders" simultaneously looked directly up from the glowing developing paper, exchanged one highly intense, entirely synchronized glance, neatly, completely silently put down their homework, and smoothly left the warm room. Their absolute speed and highly tactical coordination were completely unmatched anywhere at Hogwarts.
"It's absolutely almost midnight, exactly where on earth are you three going?" The heavily tipsy Fat Lady mumbled highly incoherently, lazily swinging open to let them pass.
(Honestly, the Fat Lady's crippling alcoholism is at least partly to completely blame for so many highly illegal shenanigans happening violently after the Gryffindor curfew.)
Back in the Trophy Room.
Tense time passed agonizingly, second by second.
Boss, logically speaking, the vast longer you actively wait to attack, the vastly weaker your physical momentum gets— Avery shook his head wildly inwardly, secretly, violently vowing: If he ever legally survived doing this kind of highly stupid thing with Rabastan again, he would absolutely, definitely physically strangle Mulciber in his sleep.
"Meow!"
Church, still locked tightly in the metal cage, actually seemed to have suddenly, violently sobered up entirely from the highly potent effect of that single drop of modified Amortentia. It started to forcefully, aggressively hit the metal bars of the cage with its body, letting out a highly piercing, terrifying shriek.
Go, Rabastan! Attack!— Avery almost cried out aloud in pure terror; he just desperately wanted to run first.
However, it tragically seemed it was entirely, officially already too late.
A raspy, terrifying voice echoing from the stone corridor in the next room instantly, violently stopped absolutely everyone's heart.
"Sniff around absolutely everywhere, my sweet dear. They might currently be illegally hiding in a dark corner."
The classic, highly terrifying, psychopathic self-talk between Argus Filch and his cat Mrs. Norris—
Avery was absolutely, utterly terrified out of his mind. If he were actually, legally caught violently abusing a cat by the sadistic Filch, he wouldn't actually be highly surprised if Filch physically brought back ancient, bloody flogging directly to Hogwarts, and he would absolutely be even vastly worse off than Church.
"They are absolutely somewhere around here, probably hiding." Filch's wheezing mumbling came echoing through the wood.
"Meow!" Church clearly heard the highly familiar, raspy voice and violently slammed into the metal cage again. This time, Rabastan also completely, visibly panicked. He looked down wildly at the cage.
"Alohomora!" Lily was incredibly quick-witted and flawlessly seized the highly distracted opportunity, sending a brilliant spell straight at the rusty lock on the metal cage.
Click! The cage door violently swung open! Church highly agilely leaped entirely out of the metal trap and ran desperately directly towards Evie.
"Run!" Avery finally, completely reached his absolute mental limit. He almost screamed it, violently turning around entirely first and running at absolute, blinding full speed toward the door, with the massive Mulciber crashing right behind him.
Rabastan finally made a highly "decisive" combat move. As he cowardly fled towards the door, he didn't entirely forget to violently turn back and aggressively cast a hex:
"Impedimenta!"
The hasty spell went completely, slightly off target. Evie highly gracefully, flawlessly sidestepped the glowing light like an elegant dancer. These highly capable young girls handled it absolutely perfectly— Regulus thought from the shadows. He didn't even need to physically move his wand to protect them.
"Diffindo!" Evie also violently cast a spell with her free wand hand, accurately, highly aggressively cutting off a massive, sweeping piece of Rabastan's expensive black robe as he ran.
"Leg-Locker Curse!" Lily's flawless spell almost violently hit Rabastan directly in the back of the knees.
"Stun... Stupefy!" Mary's terrified spell also successfully cast a bright red light but completely, wildly missed the target—she highly nervously glanced back at the main door, her heart pounding. Filch's wheezing voice was clearly coming directly from there.
Should they logically follow these cowardly Slytherins and aggressively run out through the secondary door?
Directly outside the secondary door, Severus nervously followed the highly chaotic situation without actively leaving his post—he was completely terrified of Filch, but vastly, profoundly more worried about Lily's safety. His three highly panicked Slytherin classmates violently burst through the door and completely didn't see him hiding in the dark, nor did they see the absolute, freezing anger welling up entirely in his dark eyes.
Severus's wand was completely, lethally pointed directly at Rabastan's retreating back, and he said in a highly cold, low voice—
"Diffindo!"
Another massive piece of expensive black robe fluttered down onto the stone floor. This time, the completely panicked Rabastan absolutely didn't even turn his scarred head back. He violently disappeared entirely around the next dark corner.
But... exactly where on earth was Lily? Did they logically run through the other main door directly into Filch?
And wait... Filch... exactly why did the caretaker's raspy voice suddenly, entirely stop?
Severus absolutely could wait no longer. He violently pushed the heavy oak door open and rushed into the trophy room—