The two returned to the castle the way they came. As soon as they got back to the third floor, George and Fred prepared to take a shortcut back to the Gryffindor common room.
Before emerging from the secret passage, the two had already determined their next route and repeatedly confirmed that their number one "enemy" of the night tour was still resting in his room.
"Ah, ah..."
Seeing that George was about to sneeze, Fred quickly reached out and covered George's mouth to prevent him from making too much noise.
"It's nothing, my nose is just a little itchy." George rubbed his nose, then covered his mouth to stifle a yawn. He started to miss his soft bed.
"They've probably caught a cold!" Fred looked at his twin brother with pity. "Let's go back!"
The two went up the stairs to the fifth floor, intending to take a secret passage directly to the eighth floor.
"Meow."
A strange cat meow.
Fred froze in place, raised his wand and thrust it forward. A dark figure emerged from around the corner. The two looked closely and saw that it was Mrs. Lorris from Filch.
The cat turned and ran away after seeing the two people.
Fred and George exchanged glances and then suddenly burst into laughter. They both knew what the cat had been up to, and Filch would soon be searching the entire castle for them.
However, Fred and George didn't care, because they had already returned to the lounge by then.
The thought of Filch, who had a cold, getting up in the middle of the night and causing trouble made Fred and George very happy.
"I'm leaving, I want to go back to sleep early." George yawned frequently.
The two went through a secret passage on the fifth floor to the eighth floor, passed through the dark and silent Gryffindor corridor, and came to the portrait of the Fat Lady.
However, the painting in front of them was now empty, causing their initially cheerful mood to plummet.
The plump lady went out to visit neighbors late at night.
At that moment, Fred and George realized they were locked out of the Gryffindor common room.
"What should we do?" Fred's face was not good. They didn't know when the fat lady would return, and Filch had already gotten up and was on his way to the fifth floor with his cat.
The guy took a shortcut through a secret passage, moving faster than the two had anticipated.
"Albert really has a jinx," George said helplessly. "I definitely don't want to spend the night here; I'll definitely catch a cold. Maybe we should find somewhere to rest first."
Find a place to rest
Rather than risking a collision with Filch by continuing the nighttime stroll, finding a place to stay and waiting for the fat lady to return is undoubtedly more appropriate.
Where would be a suitable place to stay?
The answer is a secret passage.
There are several secret passages on the eighth floor, but Fred wasn't sure which ones Filch knew. Using the Marauder's Map, both of them saw that Filch had already reached the fifth floor through the secret passages and started searching for the students who were out at night.
"Let Filch look for it!" George said, pursing his lips.
"Let's be careful, lest we capsize," Fred warned.
He didn't want to be caught by Filch at all; if he were caught, the consequences would definitely not be good.
Not only do they have to deal with Filch's annoying face, but also Professor McGonagall and Percy. Moreover, after losing a lot of points, the Gryffindor students won't give them a friendly look.
Now, all we can do is hope that Filch will give up the search soon, and that the fat lady will return soon.
On the fifth floor, in the portrait corridor, Filch was patrolling with an oil lamp. He was in a terrible mood; he had caught a cold today, and his head was still spinning. He couldn't even get a good night's rest.
No, no, still no.
Filch, carrying an oil lamp, swept through the abandoned classroom, straining his ears to discern the surrounding sounds. His beloved pet, Mrs. Lorris, was also helping in the search, but they still hadn't caught the student who had been out at night, nor had they heard any other noises.
"They got away?" Filch murmured. "No, that's impossible!"
It hadn't taken him more than a few minutes from when Mrs. Lorris issued the alarm to when he arrived; those pesky little devils couldn't have run that fast.
"They can't have gone far, I'll catch them!" Filch believed that no one knew all the secret passages of Hogwarts Castle better than him, and no one could escape from his grasp.
However, Filch was unaware that his actions were being observed by the twins. They stared at the dot on the Marauder's Map that represented Filch, watching it move through the secret passages across the castle's levels, and watching Lady Lorris and Filch separate to search for their whereabouts.
"Filch is indeed very familiar with the castle's secret passages; it would be difficult for ordinary students who go out at night to avoid being caught by him," George remarked.
"This is not the time for sentimentality. We can't stay here any longer. Filch might know about this secret passage. We have to find a place where Filch doesn't know us." Fred immediately realized that they were in a bad situation.
"Why don't we go see if the fat lady has returned?" George suggested. If they could get into the lounge, they wouldn't need to worry about Filch.
"Let's go take a look," Fred agreed.
They left the secret passage again and came to the portrait of the Fat Lady at the end of the Gryffindor corridor, but to their disappointment, the Fat Lady still had not returned.
"We have to go. If Filch searches the eighth floor, we definitely won't be able to hide. We should go to the passage with the knight's armor on the seventh floor. I don't think Filch knows about that passage. As long as we hide there, Filch definitely won't be able to find us."
However, Mrs. Lorris patrols the seventh floor, and you might get caught if you're not careful.
The two planned to use the secret passage depicting the griffin on the eighth floor to reach other floors, but they discovered that Filch was actually walking along this passage towards the eighth floor.
"Run!" Fred whispered, quickening his pace. By the time the two reached the seventh floor, Filch had already emerged from the griffin sculpture, and the sound of running could be heard immediately.
"Found you! Don't even think about getting away!" Filch muttered, carrying an oil lamp and strode toward the seventh floor. Lady Lorris immediately ran over to meet him and led the way, taking him to find the fellows who had been wandering the castle that night.
"No, Filch is coming this way!" Fred didn't try to open the knight's armor statue because Filch was moving very fast.
If the secret passage isn't closed in time, it's very likely that Filch will discover it.
This is definitely not a scene the twins want to see, and besides, they have the Marauder's Map and can easily run around Filch in the castle.
Arrested
You can see the opponent's movements clearly through the live map, and you can still get caught.
It does not exist.
Just then, George suddenly sneezed, the sound echoing down the corridor and immediately catching Filch's attention.
"Hurry up, Filch is coming this way." Fred looked at George speechlessly and urged him on.
"What do we do now?" George quickly caught up.
"What else can we do?" Fred shrugged helplessly. "He chases, we run."
A game of cat and mouse has officially begun.