"Maybe today's my lucky day," he said. "Besides, we already promised Malfoy that if he tried to dive, he'd just get mocked by that kid."
Hermione rolled her eyes.
"He's been teasing you all day, why do you even care what he thinks? And I'm..."
"I'm not letting you mess around tonight."
She even considered telling the professor about their plan, worried it might upset Professor Wilson, who they were targeting with this prank.
Ron ignored Hermione's warnings.
"If you don't want to go, fine, but no one's forcing you. This is a chance to find legendary magical items. Aren't you curious about that flying ship? They say those kinds of boats are alive!"
After Ron's hesitant comment, Hermione looked slightly touched but quickly grew worried, her mind tangled with doubts.
Suddenly, Harry jumped in, as if a new idea struck him.
"Hey! Didn't you hear what Malfoy said? We're going to find the ship, and since it's alive, shouldn't we bring it a gift? That might make it happy."
Ron's eyes brightened at the suggestion.
"That makes sense! Harry, you're so clever!"
But then he frowned, puzzled.
"But what kind of gift would a ship like?"
Hermione, who had been quietly listening, spoke up.
"If this ship really has its own mind, it would probably like things useful for ships, like bunker oil, iron anchors, hemp ropes, planks, or maybe some decorations. But would it really think like a normal ship?"
Ron glanced at her, surprised by her interest in such legendary objects.
Still confused, he added, "But this is Hogwarts; how would anything related to ships be here?"
At that moment, Neville chimed in.
"What if we just bring candy? We don't know if a living ship might like sweets, and I have plenty of snacks ready."
Being the only child in the Longbottom family and friends with Alex, Neville often had imports, even more than Ron.
Harry shook his head, finding the idea odd.
"A ship liking sugar? That sounds too strange."
Then Ron remembered something.
"By the way, when I passed the left corridor on the fourth floor, I saw a beautiful tapestry with hemp ropes wrapped in gold threads. Maybe the ship would like that!"
Suddenly, Hermione's voice rose in alarm.
"Are you out of your mind? You can't just sneak out during curfew, and now you're talking about stealing Hogwarts property? If someone finds out, you could be expelled!"
Ron quickly defended himself.
"I'm not saying steal it. We could just borrow the rope and buy a new one later to replace it."
Ron muttered quickly, as if running through all the possibilities in his head.
"Besides, that ship might not even accept the so-called gift."
Hermione was speechless, amazed at how brave, or reckless, these boys were.
"The other four corridors on the right are off-limits," she reminded them seriously.
"Principal Dumbledore said at the start of the year that sneaking in there could cause big trouble."
Harry wasn't one to shy away from a challenge, so he quickly backed Ron's idea.
"We don't have to go down the right corridor. Ron's plan sounds good to me."
Hermione rolled her eyes in frustration and turned away angrily, deciding to ignore the three boys.
Meanwhile, Harry, Ron, and the others continued chatting excitedly, plotting their plan for the night.
Time flew by, and before they knew it, it was 10 p.m.
They planned to start half an hour early to make sure they wouldn't miss their chance.
As they sneaked out of the dormitory and through the common room door, they were surprised to see Hermione standing there.
"What? You changed your mind and decided to come with us?" Harry asked with a grin.
"I'm here to stop you from doing something stupid," Hermione said firmly.
"Malfoy's idea is ridiculous. You can't really believe his nonsense."
She thought about it for a moment longer but still worried they were being too reckless and might get the school in trouble.
Ron shrugged.
"We're already out, so no turning back now. Besides, don't you think sneaking around at night is kind of exciting? George and the others started doing it their second day here."
For Ron and Harry, the thrill of breaking the rules was worth any risk.
Harry nodded in agreement.
"If you don't want to come, go back to the common room. We've made up our minds."
Hermione shot them an angry glare and started to turn away.
But when she tried to go back inside, she realized the door was locked, and to her dismay, the Fat Lady's portrait swung open!
"Is... is there a mistake?"
Hermione covered her face in frustration before glancing at the three people who were slowly walking away in silence.
'This is really bad luck. Looks like I have no choice but to follow them. If I stay here, I might get caught even faster.'
Shaking her head in confusion, she took off running to catch up with the group.
Seeing this, Harry, Ron, and Neville assumed Hermione had finally changed her mind.
To them, whether it was three or four people didn't make much difference.
So, the four of them continued along the planned path, heading up to the fourth floor.
Just as Harry and Ron prepared to walk along the tapestry-lined corridor, faint footsteps echoed from a distance, accompanied by a dim light.
"Oops! Filch must be on patrol," Ron whispered urgently.
Panic set in immediately, and they didn't even stop to look at the tapestry; instead, they hurriedly ran in the opposite direction.
Eventually, the four reached the end of the right-side corridor on the fourth floor.
There was only one door beside them, and beyond that was a dead end.
If Filch caught up, they'd be trapped right there.
Growing desperate, Harry tried the door handle but found it completely locked, which only increased their anxiety.
"Move aside! Alohomora!"
Hermione stepped forward quickly, wand out, and cast an unlocking spell on the door.
The spell worked, and the group rushed inside before anyone could react.
After a tense moment, the footsteps outside faded away, and everyone finally exhaled, releasing the tight knot of fear in their chests.
Looking around the room, they realized it was a huge circular chamber, completely different from what the door's exterior suggested.
It had been magically expanded with the "Untraceable Stretching Charm," much like the training room they had seen before.
The room was dark and damp, with rough stone walls, except for the far side opposite the door, where a stone knight stood, gripping swords in both hands.
"Merlin's beard, what is this place? Why does it feel so creepy?" Ron whispered nervously, swallowing hard.
"I don't know," Hermione said, shaking her head in confusion.
Then a thought struck her.
"Could this be the restricted area Professor Dumbledore warned us about? I think we'd better leave quickly, before anything bad happens."
The others nodded in agreement; after all, the place felt strange and unsettling.
Suddenly, before any of them could move, a loud buzzing noise filled the room.
Everyone's attention snapped to the stone knight standing in the distance, its eyes suddenly lit up with an eerie blue glow, fixed on them with a chilling, cold stare.
A deep, mechanical voice announced, "Intruder detected. Activating the first defense: The Well of the Abyss."
The buzzing grew louder, followed by another voice: "Dungeon incomplete. Trespasser marked as intruder.
Deploying first layer of guards."
The group heard several more cold, emotionless voices echoing from the stone knight.
Just as the last sentence ended, the knight's eyes shifted from blue to a fiery scarlet.
Then, without warning, the rocky ceiling above them cracked, splitting open to reveal a huge, gaping fissure.
With a loud crack from the ceiling above, everyone looked up just in time to see a massive black shadow falling swiftly.
As their eyes adjusted, they realized it was a huge creature with drool dripping from its mouth, the three-headed giant dog!
When the dog landed, it shook its heads as if waking from a deep sleep, but then its six glaring eyes locked onto the four standing at the door.
Letting out a terrifying roar, the dog charged at Harry and his friends, clearly intent on tearing them apart in an instant.
"What?!"
The four stared in shock at the sudden attack.
Once they fully registered the dog's ferocity, they all shouted in unison, "Run!"
Without hesitation, they pushed open the door and bolted out as fast as they could.
Thankfully, they hadn't gone too far inside; otherwise, the consequences might have been much worse.
Once safely outside, they slammed the door shut with all their might and exchanged looks full of lingering fear.
"What kind of monster was that?" Ron's voice trembled as he caught his breath, still shaken by how close they'd come to danger.
"I have no idea," Neville admitted, leaning against the door, sweat dripping down his forehead.
"Why would they keep such a terrifying beast locked up in the school?"
Hermione shot a sharp glance at them all.
"This is your fault. If you hadn't been chasing after some legendary artifact, we wouldn't have gotten caught up in this."
"We didn't want this either! Who expected Filch to show up out of nowhere, and then you had to open that door!" Ron defended himself, equally embarrassed.
"Now what? Are we going back?"
Hermione sighed deeply, clearly unsettled by the encounter.
"Did you see how scary that monster was?"