The Admiral of Hogwarts

"Ginger and Fish Cake are just too clever. Sometimes I even suspect they aren't cats at all, but some kind of magical creature that just looks like cats," Hermione murmured, watching Fish Cake silently dash past her. Just now, Ginger had detected Peeves the Poltergeist ahead of time, allowing them to avoid him by taking another route.

Actually, Hermione had noticed that Ginger was different from other cats in the first month of having him. The cat basically didn't need anyone to worry about him, eating at fixed times and locations, and using the litter box at fixed times and locations. He even seemed to understand human emotions, appearing by her side and acting cute whenever she needed him.

Later, Hermione even found that she could give her cats some commands, tasking them with simple missions, just like well-trained hunting dogs. At first, she found it a bit strange, but after learning from several pure-blood wizard classmates that there were many creatures in the magical world that looked like cats and could produce offspring with cats that were similar to ordinary cats, she stopped worrying about her pets.

She even learned to have Ginger help her in daily life. For example, when she occasionally went out for nighttime strolls to read, she would bring Ginger along to keep watch, or when using the bathroom to take a shower, she would have the cat watch out for any activity outside. And naturally, Hermione wouldn't forget to bring her cat along on this night's outing.

"You're right," Hugo said after hearing his sister's remark. "They are very clever little darlings. With their help, even if we don't have an Invisibility Cloak like Harry, we can still move freely around the castle after curfew and be sure not to get caught."

And so, the three of them smoothly arrived at the intersection of the corridor they had agreed upon earlier, and then carefully examined the pillar to the left of the corridor entrance. After the examination, they found that the pillar was bare, with no patterns at all, which meant that Harry hadn't arrived yet.

To avoid being discovered, they followed their prior agreement and used a pen to draw a symbol on the pillar at the corridor entrance, then hid in an empty classroom not far away, observing the corridor entrance through the crack in the door.

"I think I hear some music," Hermione said suddenly after the two of them had hidden. And after she pointed it out, Hugo also faintly heard the sound of a harp in the quiet corridor. Clearly, Voldemort had arrived earlier than them tonight, and had already entered that door and used music to lull the three-headed dog to sleep.

"Indeed, it's music. I think it's possible that—" Hugo began to say at this moment, but he was immediately stopped by Veneto. "Shh—Quiet, I think I hear footsteps approaching here."

Ship girls have much stronger senses than humans, so Hugo and the others immediately stared intently in the direction Veneto indicated. Sure enough, only a few tens of seconds later, they heard footsteps coming from the empty corridor, followed by Harry's voice, which, although suppressed very low, was still clearly audible after being amplified by the empty corridor late at night.

"—Snape has successfully passed Fluffy. I won't blame you if you want to back out now." At this moment, the footsteps stopped in front of the pillar at the corridor entrance, and then the Invisibility Cloak was removed from Harry's body. "Not just you, Ron. Hermione and the others as well. This isn't your responsibility—"

"Is it only you who are allowed to be a hero here?" Veneto said at this moment, poking half of her body out of the empty classroom and waving. "The fact that we came here at this time means that we have already made our choice, so don't say such silly things."

"Thank you, thank you so much. I'm very happy to see you all here." After Harry and Ron entered the empty classroom, Harry scanned each of their faces and smiled. During their previous exchanges, Harry had fully understood Hugo and the others' strength, so seeing them again at this time naturally made him relax a lot.

The group exchanged glances and were about to cross that door when Hermione stopped everyone, and then simply stated Hugo's previous concerns and their plan to have her and Hugo keep watch outside.

"Indeed, you Ravenclaw students think things through much more thoroughly than we do." After listening to Hermione's words, Harry nodded in agreement. "Trying to break through the defenses set up by all the professors in the school certainly won't be easy, so it's very possible that a Sn—a thief is following us. But won't the two of you be in too much danger facing Snape?"

"At least we can guarantee to raise the alarm in time," Hugo said with a smile. "There are so many professors and students in the castle, so as long as we raise the alarm, the thief will definitely run away."

After a brief exchange, everyone immediately split into two groups. Harry, Ron, and Veneto, wearing the Invisibility Cloak, entered the room, while Hugo and Hermione continued to stay in that room to watch their backs, and prepared to notify the professors at any time if the situation was not right.

After saying goodbye to each other, Veneto pushed open the door with Harry and the others. With the creaking sound of the door opening, they immediately heard a low growl in their ears. Although the big dog couldn't see them, all three of its noses were frantically twitching and sniffing in their direction.

"It seems someone has been here before us," Veneto said, because she saw a harp at the feet of the three-headed dog, but the harp that was just playing had now stopped, leaving the room in silence. So after she finished speaking, she immediately took out a harmonica from her bosom and began to play.

As the first note was played, the big dog's eyes began to droop. After only playing a short piece of music, the big dog slowly stopped growling, then its knees went weak and it fell to the ground, asleep.

Seeing this, Veneto continued to play the harmonica while walking forward with Harry and the others. When they came to the feet of the three-headed dog, they could even feel the big dog's warm, stinky breath.

"This seems to be a very deep shaft," Ron said after opening the trapdoor upwards. "It looks like it's several stories high, and there are no ladders around. How are we supposed to get down now?"

"Let me try first," Harry said at this moment, and then slowly slid down along the edge of the hole, finally holding onto the edge of the hole with only his ten fingers. He looked up at Ron and said, "If something happens to me, don't follow me down. Go straight to the owlery and send Hedwig to Dumbledore with a letter, okay?"

"Wait, this is really—" Before Ron could say anything, Harry let go, and a few seconds later, the sound of soft objects colliding came from below, followed by Harry's voice from below. "It's okay! It's a soft landing, you can jump!"

Hearing Harry say this, Ron jumped down second, and then Veneto stuffed the harmonica into her bosom and jumped down last. As she jumped down, the big dog woke up again and put its mouth to the entrance of the cellar, barking wildly, but unfortunately, everyone had already successfully passed this first hurdle.