Brian's prediction was correct; he saw Malfoy in the corridor early the next morning.
Malfoy no longer had his arrogant, overbearing demeanor; he had two large dark circles under his eyes and a pale complexion.
Not far from Malfoy stood a similar-looking middle-aged man with a zombie-like greenish-blue face and long, snow-white hair, who was quietly conversing with Snape.
"That's Malfoy's father, an old scoundrel," Ron said with an unreadable expression, "There's a rumor that he used to be a Death Eater."
Brian didn't care whether young Malfoy was a Death Eater or old Malfoy was a Death Eater, because Gryffindor's next class was Defense Against the Dark Arts.
If there was one class Brian least wanted to attend at Hogwarts, it was Quirrell's Defense Against the Dark Arts. In comparison, even Snape's Potions class seemed exceptionally pleasant.
In Quirrell's class, Brian not only had to fully disguise himself to avoid Quirrell seeing through him, but also had to worry if his Occlumency was effective.
Besides, Quirrell never taught anything useful. This was understandable; was he going to teach Harry how to deal with him?
Sure enough, in today's class, the familiar large purple turban began to recount his story of dealing with werewolves on some unnamed mountain. Although Professor Quirrell stammered, he loved to talk, and even Hermione felt extremely tired after one class, complaining several times that she didn't know what notes to take in Professor Quirrell's class.
The young witch was probably worried about what to do for the end-of-term exams.
But she didn't need to worry, as by the end of term, the mummy would have been dealt with by Harry. Feeling Brian's gaze, Harry turned around and scratched his head, at a loss.
Having finally endured the class, Brian quickly blended into the crowd, about to leave, when he heard Quirrell call out, "B-B-Mr. Brian, w-would you... c-could you... stay for a moment?"
Brian's brain almost crashed upon hearing this. He looked at the large turban on Quirrell's head, swallowed, and meekly walked to within three feet of Quirrell, trying to calm himself down, and asked with his head down, "Professor, what is it?"
Quirrell put down the textbook he was organizing, looked up, and smiled, saying, "Brian, c-come... c-closer."
Brian, helpless, reluctantly took two steps forward.
Quirrell's smile brightened even more, "B-B-Brian, I... I have... a project... that needs your... h-help. I... I need you... to go to the Li-Library... to find... a book for me."
Brian said with some difficulty, "Professor, if you need a book, just tell Mrs. Pince, the librarian, and she'll find it for you."
Quirrell suddenly gripped Brian's hand with great force: "Mrs. P-P-Pince didn't... didn't find... this book. She... she said... finding... this book... would take a lot... a lot of time, and I... I need... your help, Brian. I'll... I'll give you... ten extra points for the final exam."
Brian was helpless. He pretended to struggle to free his hand from Quirrell's tight grip, as if bowing, and said indifferently, "Alright, Professor, which book is it?"
"Hogwarts: A History."
Strangely, Quirrell did not stammer when he stated the book's title. Brian, however, didn't notice; he just wanted to leave quickly. After getting the answer, he bowed and swiftly left the classroom.
But Brian didn't notice that Quirrell was staring expressionlessly in the direction he had left.
"How did you do it?" George and Fred approached Brian curiously during dinner, asking, "Snape was furious in the Slytherin dormitory last night. If it hadn't been for old Malfoy's appearance, the three of them would have been expelled today."
Brian frowned and quietly argued, "It wasn't me, I..."
George pointed to Ron, who was currently gesticulating animatedly in the middle of a large group of people. Fred said gleefully, "What do you mean it wasn't you? Ron told us everything."
Brian closed his eyes, his fists clenching and unclenching, unclenching and clenching again. He suppressed the urge to beat Ron senseless, and after a long moment, he opened his eyes and said faintly, "I just sprinkled some fluorescent paint where Malfoy left. It was too dark there, and he was walking too fast, so he wouldn't have noticed. That's all."
Brian didn't think Ron would be so foolish as to widely publicize the incident of the four of them encountering Fluffy, as it was a school rule strictly forbidden by Dumbledore. So, he didn't continue to elaborate.
George and Fred found a seat and stopped talking, just quietly watching Brian.
Brian glanced at Ron, and his face showed hesitation and bewilderment. A moment later, his expression became solemn, appearing very serious, but then his face softened slightly, and he whispered, "That's it, that's all. I'm telling the truth."
George thought for a moment and said, "I didn't say there was anything else."
Brian closed his eyes. The discussion from Ron's side grew louder and louder: Tree Ridgeback? Norwegian Ridgeback?
What the hell? Brian felt a bit confused. What were these things? Listening closer, it turned out Ron was showing off to Harry and the others about the scales and specimens his brother Charlie had sent him.
Fred looked at him and said, "So it really was you? How did you come up with that idea?"
"You tricked me..." Brian stared at the twins, stunned for a moment, then gritted his teeth and said, "I was almost worried that Professor McGonagall and Snape would find out I was responsible for Malfoy being caught last night. I was practically numb..."
"We just found your internal monologue quite rich and interesting."
...
Brian and the Weasley brothers agreed to keep Brian's secret about setting up Malfoy, on the condition that they wouldn't be forgotten if he had any fun ideas in the future.
The twins left content, and Brian sat in his seat, questioning his life. When did he become as foolish as Harry and Ron, so easily tricked?
"Brian, we really should have listened to you yesterday." Harry had stopped discussing and walked over to Brian with Ron, saying somewhat awkwardly, as Brian had already mentioned the possibility of being ambushed by Malfoy yesterday, but they had suspected Brian wanted to join Malfoy.
"Forget it, it's nothing." Brian shook his head, indicating he didn't mind, feeling a bit guilty since he had just been complaining about the two of them internally.
"Harry and I discussed it for half the night yesterday; we suspect that Fluffy might be connected to Hagrid," Ron said. "You don't know, last time we went..."
The two briefly told Brian what had happened that afternoon at Hagrid's hut and presented their conjectures. Before Brian could even speak, a serious voice came from nearby: "You two aren't still planning to go to the forbidden corridor on the fourth floor, are you? Wasn't last night's experience enough to make you reflect properly?"
Hermione glared, huffing, "We almost got expelled, if it weren't for Brian..."
"Alright, Hermione, I just did a small thing," Brian interrupted Hermione, if she continued, the three of them would have another big argument, hadn't she seen Harry and Ron's faces turn red? "I believe Ron and Harry won't go there again, right?"
Harry and Ron nodded. Hermione gave them a sidelong glance and then ignored them, wanting to discuss the technique of Alohomora with Brian, as her success rate with that spell wasn't very high.