Filch, carrying an oil lamp, rushed to the portrait of the Fat Lady and suddenly laughed. The gatekeeper at the entrance to the Gryffindor common room was gone.
Being unable to enter Gryffindor's common room means that students going out at night will have to continue lingering outside.
No one can escape from your own grasp.
Nobody will do!
"Achoo!" George sneezed again.
Fred stopped in his tracks and looked at George with a speechless expression.
"Where to?" George rubbed his nose and leaned closer to ask.
Fred moved his wand onto the Marauder's Map, observing Snape and Filch's positions. He quickened his pace involuntarily, intending to circle the eighth floor, shaking off Filch's search while avoiding Snape and Filch's cat.
However, Filch did not chase after the sound. Instead, he turned back and blocked a corner of a corridor, waiting for Snape to appear so that he could prevent them from leaving through a nearby secret passage.
"When did that guy become smart?!" Fred quickly stopped and turned back. When he saw that Filch was actually planning to block the corridor, his heart sank.
Snape is almost on the eighth floor. Once he gets there, they'll be trapped here.
"Professor, they should still be on the eighth floor. I just heard a noise." Filch's tone was filled with undisguised excitement as he said, "You go this way, and I'll go around to the other side. They can't escape."
"We're doomed, we're trapped!" Fred exclaimed in despair. There was no longer enough room for them to escape Filch's search.
However, when Fred and George hurriedly passed by the tapestry where the giant stick beats Barnabas for the third time, they accidentally discovered a door on the wall opposite the tapestry.
"How did it appear?" George asked, staring at the door on the wall in surprise.
They had no idea there was such a door, and it wasn't marked on the Marauder's Map.
Fred gritted his teeth and said, "Never mind, let's get inside!"
The two opened the door and went inside, only to find a dusty broom cabinet with several old brooms inside.
By the time Filch and Snape surrounded them from both sides, the entrance to the Room of Requirement had already disappeared.
The two of them came up empty-handed.
"Where is he?" Filch looked surprised for a moment. He had just heard some noises coming from this side, but why hadn't he seen anyone?
Hiding?
Or...did they escape?
"No, they couldn't have gone far. I just heard someone sneeze." Filch's facial muscles contorted with anger.
He had thought he could stop those Gryffindor students who had been playing him for fools and teach them a lesson, but they still managed to slip through his fingers.
This huge sense of disparity made Filch feel incredibly frustrated.
Inside the broom cabinet, Fred and George both covered each other's mouths, afraid of making even the slightest sound and attracting the attention of the two outside.
There was no other way; Filch and Snape were standing outside the broom cabinet where they were hiding, and if they opened the door, something terrible would happen.
As if someone were watching over the lucky pair, Snape and Filch eventually left to search for the twins elsewhere on the eighth floor.
Of course, the result was still nothing.
"If anyone is wandering around at night again, report to me immediately," Snape told Filch before leaving.
Hearing the footsteps gradually fade away, Fred and George both breathed a sigh of relief, but neither of them had any intention of going out immediately.
I don't know how long I stayed in the broom cabinet, but after seeing from the Marauder's Map that Snape and Filch had given up searching for them, I cautiously pushed open the door and came out, afraid of making any loud noise that might attract Filch's attention.
"That was close! We almost got caught by Filch. But what's with this broom cabinet?" George raised his wand, ready to examine the broom cabinet where the two had just hidden, only to find that the door on the wall was gone.
"What's going on?" Fred was equally confused. He tapped the wall twice and looked at the Marauder's Map beside him.
There are no instructions on it.
"Hogwarts Castle still holds many secrets. Even Moonface, Wormtail, Bigfoot, and Prongs don't know all of them!" George exclaimed, then looked at his twin brother and asked, "By the way, how did that door appear just now?"
"I don't know!" Fred gave up after his research failed. "Never mind, let's go back first. Hopefully, Madam Fat has returned by now."
Fred and George both breathed a sigh of relief upon returning to the portrait of the fat lady.
The plump woman, dressed in her pajamas, looked the two of them over and asked, "Where have you been?"
"Take a walk," George immediately gave the command. "That was a beautiful song."
The portrait was opened, and they immediately climbed into the common room, slumped into the armchairs, looked at each other, and couldn't help but laugh.
"Tonight was really thrilling." George's excitement hadn't completely subsided.
"I bet Filch must be furious," Fred chuckled. Frankly, he really disliked that caretaker.
It was almost five o'clock when they returned to the dormitory. Although they felt very tired, neither of them could fall asleep until they were vaguely woken up in the morning.
"Ah..." Fred yawned widely, too lazy to even open his eyes.
"When did you get back?" Albert put on his running gear and casually opened the window to let the cool morning breeze into the room.
"Around... five in the morning." Fred covered his mouth to stifle another yawn and asked sleepily, "What time is it now?"
"7:30 in the morning."
Looking at the sleepy twins, Albert shook his head. "I told you, don't go out at night. You have two herbalism classes in the greenhouse in the morning. Don't be late."
"Let me tell you…" George picked up his pillow and threw it at Fred, who then collapsed onto the bed, looking exhausted.
"You said the Fat Lady wasn't home at night, and you almost got caught by Filch. You only escaped by hiding in a broom cabinet on the eighth floor," Lee Jordan listened to George's story, finding it incredible. He was very curious about how Fred and George had managed to escape from Snape and Filch's pursuit.
Or, George is lying.
"Later, when you were looking, the broom cabinet was gone?" Albert immediately knew what George was talking about when he heard him mention the location of the cabinet.
A house that grants every request.
The two guys managed to escape by hiding in the House of Requirement.
After Fred and George left the broom cabinet, they discovered that it had disappeared without warning.
That day, Fred and George skipped their morning herbalism class and slept until the afternoon when they naturally woke up.