Anthony told Pansy her detention ended early today. Pansy sniffled and walked slowly down the Astronomy Tower with him. She wore a thick cloak, head down, emotions unreadable.
When giving her the cloak, Anthony told her it was identical to Tracey's from days ago. Both stood on the Astronomy Tower blown by wind for ages. Tracey was there even longer.
Pansy seemed to want to argue. "She deserved it" almost burst out, but she bit her lower lip and didn't actually say it.
"Think carefully, Miss Parkinson. No rush. You have plenty of time. Your life just started. Plenty of time to choose your future path," Anthony said.
Already curfew. He escorted her to the dungeon entrance, then walked back leisurely.
Starlight slipped through the doorway columns into the Great Hall and cast mercury-like shadows on the floor. Even portraits on the walls made no sound. Filch forgot to close the back window today. January wind blew through the main door. A few dead leaves appeared on his spotlessly cleaned floor.
Two furtive figures suddenly flashed in Anthony's peripheral vision. The two students huddled head-to-head in shadows at the hall corner, gesturing at something. He walked over silently and heard them planning in low voices.
"Go this way first," one said. "Filch is here. Even if he sees us, he can't catch us—wait, Professor McGonagall?"
The other said, "Doesn't matter. She won't come over. Once we get past this, we can take the old route past Hagrid's dog."
"Right. Same old plan. That Parkinson finally went back to the dungeons. Shouldn't drag us down."
His companion agreed. "Exactly. Smart and patient. We're geniuses." They high-fived. "Action?"
Anthony stood behind the Weasley twins somewhat amused. "Good evening, geniuses."
The two red-headed Gryffindors instantly jumped from the corner. "Damn, why didn't—" One hastily stuffed a paper into his pocket.
Anthony glanced warningly at that pocket but didn't pursue it. "What are you doing in the hall?"
"He's sleepwalking," Fred said without hesitation, pointing at George.
Anthony asked, "And you, Mr. Weasley? You sleepwalking too?"
"He's keeping me company," George said sincerely. "Worried I'd jump into the Black Lake or something."
"I told you not to be so obsessed with swimming. You've been really weird lately, George," Fred complained.
George said apologetically, "Professor, sorry. I really shouldn't want to swim so much. Thanks for keeping me company, Fred."
Anthony nodded. "All right. Since you're awake now, back to your dormitory, gentlemen."
The Weasley twins were fearlessly waiting for Anthony to announce punishment for their wandering and didn't react immediately.
"Quick, while I can still pretend I didn't notice you wandering," Anthony said.
"Yes, Professor!" The twins immediately sprinted off. Then, "Ow!"
They crashed into something on the stairs—that nothingness also shouted "Ow!"—and nearly fell down. The twins braced against the wall, stared ahead, and didn't speak for a moment.
Anthony hurried over. Under moonlight, three red-headed Weasleys now sat on the cold stone stairs, plus half the wizarding world's savior. Ron Weasley glared at his brothers. "Why'd you suddenly start running!"
Half-bodied Harry Potter frantically pulled himself from the void, hand clutching an Invisibility Cloak tightly. He clumsily tried hiding the cloak behind himself and looked at Anthony with forced composure, as if he held merely a handkerchief.
Anthony glanced at the Invisibility Cloak. It was visibly precious, obviously different from Diagon Alley's cloaks—someone once wore a cloak bought from that magical artifacts shop trying to steal wine from the Leaky Cauldron's cellar. Before reaching the cellar door, Tom at the front counter polishing glasses caught him red-handed.
Tom had proudly displayed the thief's cloak to residents and regulars, saying disdainfully that only James Potter and Black had successfully stolen two brandies, startling him when they walked out of the cellar holding glasses.
Anthony thought he might know how James Potter infiltrated the Leaky Cauldron's cellar.
"You..." Anthony sighed. "Five points or detention tomorrow night. Choose." He added, "Including you, Fred and George Weasley."
"We didn't mean to. Just sleepwalking," one twin tried.
Anthony nodded. "Consider yourselves unlucky. I'm not very reasonable today."
Escorting these four Gryffindors back to Gryffindor Tower, he asked Harry and Ron curiously, "What were you doing tonight?"
Harry said, "Uh... wandering around? We haven't seen Hogwarts at this hour." After discovering Anthony had no intention of confiscating the cloak, he relaxed considerably.
"Sightseeing," Anthony said. "All right, I understand."
Meanwhile, Fred or George was lecturing their brother. "You saw the professor. Couldn't wait a bit for him to leave before returning to the dormitory?"
The other said, "So eager to sleep. Our dear mum would be so pleased, little Ronnie."
Ron said angrily, "Shut up, you two! If you hadn't suddenly sprinted like Gorgons!"
They'd reached the Gryffindor dormitory portrait. The lady in the painting, woken by them, glared irritably and said, "Password?"
Anthony interrupted. "All right. Detention or points?"
"Detention, detention," both Harry and Ron said. They tiredly gave the password and crawled through the hole the Fat Lady opened.
"What about you, Weasleys?" Anthony turned to his students.
The twins looked at each other and suddenly asked, "Professor, what if we found another wanderer? Can it cancel out?"
Anthony asked somewhat surprised, "Another? Where?" Tonight's castle was livelier than he'd imagined.
"Just outside the castle gates," the Weasley brothers said with grins. "Um... named Tracey Davis."
Anthony sighed deeply, deeply.
~~~~❃❃~~~~~~~~❃❃~~~~
Read up to (50+ ) advanced chapters on Patre\on
Visit us here: patreon.com/GoldenLong
Happy reading, everyone!