ALL NOVEL Chapter 68: Students Sneak into the Office at Night
As the Christmas holiday came to an end, the vacationing students gradually returned, bringing the castle back to its usual bustle.
Most of the students were making the most of the last moments of the holiday, frolicking on the snowball fight fields.
But this also led to the rapid spread of a sensational piece of news throughout the school—The infamous first-year, Harry Potter, along with Weasley twins, had stayed up late attempting to break into a professor's office!
They were caught by the protective spells of the office's occupant and were trapped all night long!
Naturally, they were caught early in the morning by Professor McGonagall, who sternly deducted fifty points from each, causing a significant drop in the hard-earned points of Gryffindor.
The office they nearly broke into belonged to the widely praised Professor Fawley!
Tver looked at his office door with a peculiar expression.
The protective spells placed there had been lifted by Professor McGonagall, otherwise, they would still be unable to leave.
"I found them here this morning, shivering after being frozen all night," Professor McGonagall said with a sense of resignation.
It was bad enough that two Gryffindor students had roamed the school at night, but breaking into a professor's office was unheard of.
Especially for a professor like Tver, who came from another school, this incident was a serious blow to Hogwarts' reputation!
"Did you ask Harry and Ron why they wanted to break into my office?" Tver asked, bewildered.
Lately, he had paid less attention to Harry because, according to the storyline, they were supposed to be investigating the matter of Nicolas Flamel.
But why did they decide to break into an office, and particularly his?
Professor McGonagall shook her head.
"They claimed they were curious about your magic and wanted to have a look, but even Filch could tell they weren't telling the truth," she said.
Tver nodded, relieved, and added, "I'm glad you came in the morning. The enchantments I set up here are intended for adult wizards. If it had been later, the spells would have become stronger, and I dread to think what could have happened."
Professor McGonagall's stern face twitched.
"Do we need such spells at Hogwarts? Are you suggesting our security measures are inadequate?"
Hogwarts is considered the safest place in the world!
"While it's normal to use protective spells to guard one's office, I must remind you not to use spells that are too powerful," Professor McGonagall said, pausing briefly, her lips pursed. "And concerning that ghost spell you used, although it's not dark magic, you must consider the students' physical condition and not use it on them frequently."
Tver pondered the ghost magic, which indeed drew a small part of the students' willpower, but it was replenished as the spell dissipated.
The only issue was that the students' magical reserves were too scant to support such advanced magic.
"Rest assured, even if the students wanted to use it continuously, I wouldn't have the time to cast it for them."
Reassured by his promise, Professor McGonagall finally nodded in approval.
"I'm not questioning you, and the badges you created for the students are quite inventive. The school has approved your funding request, and the funds should be available soon."
She had been concerned that Tver, as a new professor, might not gauge the intensity correctly, potentially leading to student injuries.
But now, it seemed Tver was much more capable than she had anticipated, even more so than some long-standing professors.
Hearing about the incoming funds, Tver smiled happily.
There would be many expenses in the future; he couldn't always be expected to pay out of pocket, could he?
"Thank you very much. I was worried about how I would proceed with future classes."
"This is what the school should provide, but as you know, the board controls the funds, so approvals usually take some time."
Professor McGonagall glanced at the increasingly crowded corridor, then decided to leave, "I won't disturb you any further."
Once she left, the smile on Tver's face vanished instantly.
These two weren't investigating Quirrell as they should have but started looking into him?
With a swift motion, he entered his office and reestablished a more stringent protective spell before sitting down and taking out the Magic Map.
"Everything is permitted."
The map promptly appeared before him.
Over just the Christmas holiday, the Weasley twins had unlocked several secret passages for him, though they hadn't used these to leave Hogwarts, merely exploring.
But that wasn't the focus today.
He pointed his wand at Harry's name, and a voice echoed along with a flash of golden light.
...
"Are you two mad?" Hermione's angry voice resonated in the corner.
Harry and Ron shrank their necks, exchanging timid glances.
Hermione's anger did not subside due to their timid behavior; it only intensified.
"Instead of properly investigating Nicolas Flamel, you break into Professor Fawley's office? I really don't understand what you two were thinking. If you had a chance, would you have broken into Snape's office as well?!"
"Snape is watching us..." Ron said timidly.
"You really want to do that?!"
Harry quickly explained, "That night I took Ron to see that mirror, but on the way back Snape noticed us, so we thought of hiding."
"That still doesn't justify running into a professor's office, does it?" Hermione frowned, "And what mirror? Couldn't you have gone during the day?"
"The Mirror of Erised!" Spotting a softening in Hermione's demeanor, Ron excitedly interjected, "It's a mirror that shows you your heart's deepest desires!"
"It shows your deepest desires, Dumbledore said," Harry corrected.
"Okay, desires, but anyway, you won't be seeing that mirror again because it's being moved, as Dumbledore said," Ron said with a hint of pride.
Hermione glared at them, clearly unamused.
"I don't care about the mirror. The problem is, you two have not only lost a whole hundred points, but you also have detention! Tell me, what made you decide to run into the professor's office?"
Harry and Ron hesitated and nudged each other before Harry decided to tell the truth.
"Didn't we say we wanted to check if the professor had anything incriminating? So, we thought we'd go in and look."
"And at that time, Snape was after us, we just panicked!" Ron emphasized as if that could lessen their mistake.
But Hermione quickly spotted a flaw in their logic, "If you could avoid detection at first, why didn't you use a safer method to get away?"
"..."
Neither would admit that their curiosity about what was inside the professor's office was what really drove them.
The conversation fell silent.
Seeing them avoid the topic, Hermione was at a loss.
She wondered, if she had been there, would she have also entered the professor's office?
"By the way, did you see anything in the office?" she asked, a bit sheepishly.
Catching the hint of interest in Hermione's question, Ron perked up excitedly.
"We almost got the door open, but the handle turned into a chain and tied us up, eventually hanging us up."
"It also helped us avoid Snape. You wouldn't believe it, but he walked right under us!"
Harry too smiled at the memory, having been quite startled at the time.
Hermione immediately lost interest.
"You should be more concerned about your detention!"
...
Tver couldn't help but laugh as he put away the map.
This trio actually thought Snape was threatening them, forcing them to try and steal the Philosopher's Stone.
But it raised an issue for him.
If the Mirror of Erised was the final guardian of the Philosopher's Stone, how would he manage to retrieve the stone himself?
Simple Occlumency wouldn't fool the mirror; after all, Quirrell, who was no slouch in Occlumency, couldn't get the stone either.
It looked like he'd need to let Harry and the others "help" Quirrell get the stone.
Now, it seemed he might need to give them a bit of assistance.