Humphrey had now grown to a metre long, and Harry had to cast a Levitation Charm on him just to carry him on his shoulder without it affecting his stride.
Hermione stared, utterly aghast. "Harry, you actually brought it here? What if—"
"Don't worry, I know what I'm doing," Harry reassured her, and Humphrey gave a few hisses of agreement.
"Uh, did I just hear a snake hiss?" a muffled voice came from the fireplace.
Hearing someone speak, Harry swiftly pressed Humphrey's heads back down. Only then did they notice Neville sprawled face-down on the sofa by the fireplace. Harry carefully assessed Neville's position and concluded that he couldn't see what was behind them.
"There's no snake here."
"Neville! What are you doing sleeping here?" Harry and Hermione asked in unison.
"I wasn't trying to eavesdrop on you, honest! Malfoy said he wanted to practice magic and used a Leg-Locker Curse on me," Neville's muffled voice came from the sofa. "I couldn't get up to the dormitory, so I just had to lie here and wait for the spell to wear off." Hermione reached out and helped Neville roll over.
"Thanks, Hermione, you're a lifesaver," Neville gasped, taking a huge gulp of air. "Were you two just talking about a duel?" Neville asked curiously.
Harry glanced at the time and gave Hermione a 'you handle this' look.
"You misheard, Neville, not 'duel', we were talking about 'dual'. I know a dog called Dual," Hermione explained, quick on her feet.
"Oh. I must have misheard then. Hermione, can you undo the Leg-Locker Curse for me?"
"I can try." Hermione said, and flipped Neville back over.
"Thank you, I just knew Hermione was different from everyone else..."
Hermione gave Harry a significant look, and he quietly slipped out of the common room.
Arriving at the Trophy Room, Harry found Malfoy already waiting inside. Humphrey suddenly lifted his heads and sniffed, a little confused. He clearly smelled a second person, but couldn't see anyone.
"Master, I smell another person, but I can't find him."
"Me too."
"The scents are too muddled here, you two. You'd be lucky to find anyone." Humphrey hissed, warning Harry.
Harry took the hint and remained on guard. He glanced around, but saw no sign of a third person. Are they hiding, preparing to ambush me? Harry drew his wand and slowly walked in. He was confident he could handle Malfoy and his oafish friends.
Malfoy looked up at the sound of Harry's footsteps, and there was a strange glint in his eyes. Considering that professors and prefects would be on patrol, Harry decided to finish this quickly. So, Harry feigned politeness and asked, "Should we bow?"
Malfoy didn't move, showing no intention of bowing. Harry looked at his face and felt something was off; Malfoy's expression was like that of a restless beast.
"Serpensortia!"
Malfoy suddenly raised his wand, and a black snake slithered out. Usually, after practicing Dark magic, he'd wait alone for the agitation to subside. But today, he wasn't confident of victory, so he decided to duel Harry while still in that agitated state. And just as he'd hoped, he effortlessly cast Serpensortia.
Severus Snape felt that something was amiss with Draco. Draco Malfoy was too young; practicing Dark magic would inevitably throw him into an agitated state, which was why Snape had never actively trained him in it before. At eleven o'clock that night, Snape watched Draco leave and quietly followed him. Affected by the Dark magic, Malfoy didn't notice Snape trailing him.
Snape was still wondering why Draco was heading to the Trophy Room when he suddenly heard footsteps approaching. Snape quickly cast a Disillusionment Charm on himself and stood silently in the corridor. He watched Potter walk in, and then Draco used Serpensortia.
Two fools, Snape cursed inwardly. Out of some impulse, Snape didn't intervene immediately, but he did draw his wand.
Harry didn't rush to deal with the black snake. He stood his ground cautiously, waiting for the third person to make their move.
"Give up, Potter!" Malfoy snarled.
The black snake was getting closer, but the third person still hadn't appeared. Harry decided not to wait any longer.
"Diffindo (silent)!"
A red light shot from Harry's wand, hitting the black snake precisely. But it exploded into black smoke and quickly reformed, then lunged at Harry with even greater speed. Harry agilely dodged the black snake's strike, deciding to pour more magic into his next spell.
"Diffindo!"
This time, the red light was even more dazzling. With a "bang," the black snake vanished into black smoke.
"That's impossible! Your magic can't be that powerful!" Malfoy's triumphant grin froze, staring at Harry in disbelief.
"Serpensortia! Serpensortia! Serpensortia!"
Before Harry could say anything, Malfoy frantically waved his wand, conjuring more black snakes, his face flushed crimson. "Hahahaha, this is what you get for crossing me! Die, Potter!" Malfoy shrieked with laughter.
Harry frowned, seeing three more black snakes appear on the floor. Harry wasn't a newbie to the wizarding world anymore; he knew perfectly well that Malfoy's magical power couldn't summon so many black snakes. Something was wrong with this spell.
"Master, let me handle this! I can bite these rubbish things to death in one go!"
"Me too."
"You two idiots, Master won't let you bite him to death." Humphrey hissed, his three heads poking out from Harry's collar, staring coldly at Malfoy.
Harry didn't want to expose his Parseltongue to Malfoy, so he simply and efficiently dispelled the black snakes.
Suddenly, two streaks of red light flew towards him.
Snape had confidence in his Potions, so he had intended to watch Harry get attacked by the black snake, then step in to save him. But he hadn't expected Harry to so easily defeat the black snake. Seeing Draco summon three more black snakes, Snape muttered under his breath, "Idiot!" As a master of the Dark Arts, Snape immediately recognised that Draco was being consumed by Dark magic, and the spell was draining his life force.
When Harry effortlessly dispelled the black snakes again, Snape began to doubt if this was even Potter. He silently moved into the room, directly firing two Stunning Spells, intending to knock them both unconscious.
Harry had been wary of a third person all along, but he hadn't expected them to be hiding by the door. Malfoy had already collapsed. Thankfully, Humphrey took the Stunning Spell for Harry.
"Master, I'm so sleepy..."
"Big brother, I will avenge you."
"Useless! Give me control of this body!" Humphrey's left snake head closed its eyes.
"Attacking both me and Malfoy... you're not his accomplice, then?" Harry said, rapidly turning to try and find his attacker, but saw nothing.