"...There's a passageway leading straight from the Hufflepuff Common Room to the eighth floor."
In the now-normal-looking Great Hall, Hermione approached Harry, who was just about to start eating.
"...What do you mean?"
Harry, who was spreading fermented tofu on a slice of bread, looked a bit bewildered—he had suddenly discovered a new "jam" on the table today. Perhaps it was a new flavor? Although it smelled a bit strange, wasn't being a Gryffindor all about being brave and trying new things?
"Come with me."
Hermione appeared quite anxious. She glanced at the whispering crowd around them, then grabbed Harry's bread slice from him, threw it onto his plate, and pulled the boy by the arm out of the Great Hall.
"Wait, I haven't even taken a bite..."
Harry struggled to retrieve his bread but was a hand's length away from reaching it.
"...Where are they off to?" Watching the two disappear at the door, Fred Weasley sidled up to Harry's spot, picked up the boy's discarded bread slice, "Wasting food isn't a good habit—"
"Those two lovebirds... ahem, mind your own business. Hasn't Granger returned that thing to you?" George looked over at Ginny and quickly cut himself off, starting to load apple pie onto his plate.
"...What thing?" Ginny leaned in, curiously asking.
"It's adult business, kids shouldn't...," Fred took a bite of the bread, and after a moment of chewing, his expression became stiff.
"...What's up?" George asked in confusion, looking up.
"Nothing," Fred took a pause, then offered the bread in his hand to his twin brother as if nothing was wrong, "It's really good, you should try—"
"...No way."
As twins who had lived together for fourteen years, they knew each other's tricks inside out. Naturally, George detected Fred's anomaly. He shook his head in rejection and attempted to escape—but it was too late.
"You're eating it today, whether you want to or not—"
"Mmm—"
...
"Hermione, can't whatever this is wait until we finish eating..."
Harry looked resigned as Hermione continued to drag him to a corner of the entrance hall where they finally stopped.
"I watched it all night." Hermione interrupted Harry's complaints—her dark circles indicated she hadn't slept. The girl pulled a piece of parchment from her pocket, unfolding it with secrecy.
"Watched what? Your Magic History essay?" Harry was a bit baffled, not understanding why one would be so secretive about a blank parchment, "If you've finished, could I, uh, borrow it... I mean, for reference?"
"What essay... that's not what I'm talking about."
"You haven't written it either?"
"...Shut up."
Hermione lifted a hand to clamp shut Harry's mouth, then pressed her magic wand against the parchment, "I solemnly swear that I am up to no good."
"Uh, Ligands and such... oh..."
Harry broke free from Hermione's grasp, and with a look of shock, took the parchment. Suddenly, a map of Hogwarts Castle appeared abruptly on the once-empty parchment, with countless black dots wandering about.
"This is..."
"The Marauder's Map. Each of these black dots represents a little wizard, a professor, or a ghost," Hermione nodded, introducing it to Harry, "I only found Ginny the other day because of this—it was lent to me by Fred."
"So, last night you..." Harry seemed to understand something.
"Yes, I was watching the map, looking for William and that Diggory for a long time," Hermione continued, "After we separated from them, they returned directly to the Hufflepuff Common Room, then disappeared off the map."
"But, you can see the Hufflepuff Common Room here..." Harry pointed to the lower right corner of the map, indicating a structure resembling a basement.
"Right, I hadn't finished," Hermione nodded, "Then, after about half an hour, William appeared alone in the eighth-floor corridor of the castle, so I say, there must be a passageway directly leading to the eighth floor from the Hufflepuff Common Room."
"...What's that supposed to mean?"
"...It means they know of a secret passage or chamber not recorded on the Marauder's Map and stayed there for nearly half an hour."
"A secret chamber? You're suspecting... no, it's impossible, Mr. Richard can't be the heir, he's a Hufflepuff after all." Harry instinctively wanted to refute, not knowing why, even though he couldn't find any suspicious points, he didn't want to acknowledge William could be the heir.
"Yeah, if not him, then it must be you?"
"Wha—what? No, Hermione, you know full well..."
"But you are a Parseltongue speaker, and almost everyone is suspicious of you now—a Parseltongue speaker is a symbol of Slytherin, even if the Sorting Hat placed you in Gryffindor House." Hermione nearly uttered the words Black Wizard.
"But..."
Harry fell silent, yes, nobody knew, only he did—that during the Sorting Ceremony, the Sorting Hat did not give him "Gryffindor" as his first choice—"Have you made up your mind? You know Slytherin can help you achieve greatness; there's no doubt about that!" The Sorting Hat's sharp voice seemed to still echo in the boy's ears.
"Cluck, cluck—"
"No, it could also be Malfoy—"
"You have no evidence, Harry."
"No, maybe I can get some, as long as I keep an eye on this map—" Harry seemed to grasp new hope, looking eagerly at the Marauder's Map in his hands, "Malfoy will slip up eventually."
"Cluck-cluck—"
Soon, Harry found the dot representing Malfoy, who was still in the Slytherin Dormitory and appeared not to have woken up—no surprise, it was the weekend, and he had gotten up early today because he planned to go see...
"Hagrid, he's...—"
Harry pointed at the lower black dot outside the castle's gate on the map, and both of them raised their heads to look at the entrance to the Great Hall—when the thick wooden door was pushed open from the outside, a wave of noisy sounds rushed into everyone's ears—
"Cluck, cluck—"
"Cluck-cluck—"
"Cluck-cluck-cluck...—"
"Oh, Merlin's nappies, you can't go there, come back—" A giant covered in chicken feathers squeezed in through the wooden door from outside, holding a handful of cotton twine in his hand, and each end was tied to a lively rooster.
The chicken feathers, carrying a pungent odor, fluttered around the entrance hall, seemingly startled by something, the flock of roosters squawked loudly while flapping their wings incessantly.
"Hagrid—"
Harry raised his hand to catch a rooster flying towards his head.