There was another rather special rat in the school—Scabbers. He had once belonged to Charlie and Percy before being passed down to Ron this year.
Hogwarts' security system would alert the crystal ball in the headmaster's office whenever an unauthorized person or magical creature entered the castle. However, the Weasley children were all students, and Scabbers, as a pet, was permitted inside.
After sneaking into the school, Voldemort carefully avoided areas crowded with students and moved with clear intent toward Gryffindor Tower.
The first night back after the holidays was always lively. Students gathered at the tables, sharing stories of their vacations. Cassius was no exception, though Sean had little interest in his family chatter.
"Sean, did you know? My older brother and second sister are finally moving out. I'll have my own room now!" Cassius said excitedly. It might have been trivial to others, but to him, it meant everything.
A few seats away, Draco overheard and sneered inwardly. "How does a poor family with so many children even get sorted into Slytherin?"
But he didn't dare show it. Cassius was Sean's friend—and Draco was genuinely afraid of Sean.
"That's pretty nice. Maybe I should upgrade my own living conditions too," Sean said, thinking about his makeshift storage-room bedroom.
"Sean, I heard some strange guy came to the school during the holidays and challenged Professor Dumbledore. Did you see him?" Chris, sitting across from him, asked.
The students who had stayed over the holidays all knew about it. Since the professors hadn't imposed a gag order, rumors spread quickly among those who had just returned.
"Yeah, who would be so arrogant as to challenge the headmaster?" Cassius added.
Sean thought to himself that the man did have the right to be arrogant. He was very likely a direct descendant of the Golden Adventurer's Guild.
After drawing the Holy Sword, the memory Selwyn had left behind vanished. Before it disappeared, Sean had asked for the names of the other seventeen members of the Golden Adventurer's Guild.
There was no concrete evidence that Ogadis was one of their descendants, but judging by his magical skill, immense power, and ability to cast spells without a wand, he was closer to the ancient wizards than even the elves.
"He didn't seem that special," Sean said aloud. "I didn't see the duel either, but I'd guess Professor Dumbledore won. If the other guy had won, he'd definitely be bragging about defeating Hogwarts' headmaster in the newspapers."
Cassius immediately nodded. "That makes sense! If someone beat the greatest wizard of the century, there's no way it would stay quiet. He must've lost and been too embarrassed to say anything."
"Exactly," Sean said, quite pleased with Cassius's reasoning.
Not just Cassius—most students thought the same. In their eyes, Dumbledore was like a guardian deity.
Meanwhile, the "Trio" wasn't idle either. Harry and Ron told Hermione everything that had happened during the holidays.
Hermione listened carefully, deep in thought. "What exactly did I miss? A mysterious wizard challenging Dumbledore, an anonymous Invisibility Cloak, and that suspicious third-floor room…"
"You missed quite a lot," Ron muttered.
Hermione shot him a glare, and he quickly shut up.
"Let's ignore the mysterious challenger for now," she said. "Did Sean really say that Quirrell was the one trying to steal the Philosopher's Stone?"
Harry nodded firmly. "That's what he said. All the defenses—including the three-headed dog—were meant to stop Quirrell."
Hermione frowned. "That doesn't make sense. If they already knew Quirrell was planning to steal the Stone, why not expose him directly?"
"I thought the same," Harry admitted. "But Sean said it wasn't that simple."
Hermione glanced toward the Slytherin table at Sean. As someone highly trusted by the headmaster, he likely knew more than he was saying.
Meanwhile, Harry stared at Draco and muttered, "Anyway, I'm going to keep an eye on him."
Draco suddenly felt someone staring at the back of his head and turned to look. Harry quickly turned away, pretending to chat with Ron.
"He's looking this way," Harry whispered.
"Act natural. Smile," Ron said, grinning widely.
Seeing them laughing, Draco doubted his instincts. Beside him, Crabbe spoke with his mouth full of cake, "Draco, what are you looking at?"
"Nothing," Draco replied, shaking his head.
After dinner, students gradually returned to their common rooms. On his way back to the Slytherin dungeon, Sean overheard a student passing by.
"I just saw Sean's cat."
"That's not a cat—it's a kneazle," his companion corrected.
"Close enough."
Sean's heart skipped a beat. "Damn… I probably forgot to close my dorm door."
He immediately stopped them. "Excuse me, where did you see my kneazle?"
"Uh… near the dungeon entrance, before dinner."
"Sean, you should go check," Chris urged.
Students' pets often wandered around the castle. Neville's toad frequently got lost, so no one found it unusual.
Ron's Scabbers also often slipped out of the Gryffindor dorms. Sean had once thought that if Scabbers ran into Jerry, it would be his bad luck—assuming someone was around.
Wormtail wouldn't reveal his true form in front of others. As a rat, he might get bitten to death by Jerry—but if they met in private, Jerry would be the one in danger.
Despite his cowardice before Voldemort, Wormtail was ruthless when it came to killing.
Sean rushed back to his dorm and found the door slightly ajar. Either he had forgotten to close it, or Jerry had opened it himself and slipped out while others passed through the common room.
"Cassius, Chris—help me find Jerry," Sean said.
"Wait," Chris interrupted. "We should make missing posters and split up to put them up."
Ten minutes later, the three of them were posting notices all over the castle. Cedric, returning from Professor Sprout's office, saw Sean putting something up in the corridor and approached.
"Missing cat notice? You lost your pet?"
"Clearly," Sean replied.
Cedric had seen Jerry once. He took a few notices from Sean. "Your cat looks pretty fierce, so it should be safe. But Hogwarts is huge—it's probably lost by now."
"I'll help you look." With that, Cedric headed off in another direction.
Hermione, returning from the library, spotted one of the notices. She went back to the dorm and brought Harry and Ron out.
"Sean's kneazle is missing. Should we help him look?"
Ron muttered, "My Scabbers is missing too. Never saw you offer to help me."
Hermione glared at him. Harry quickly stepped in to smooth things over. "Maybe say less."
"Let's go look—maybe we'll find both," Harry suggested.
They got moving immediately. Just after leaving the Gryffindor common room, they ran into Fred and George, who were enthusiastically putting up notices.
"You two are looking for the cat too?" Ron asked.
"What kind of question is that? Sean's our good friend—it's only right we help," Fred said.
"Helping others is meaningful, you know," George added.
In truth, they were just bored and looking for something fun to do.
After circling the castle, the trio ran into Sean on the first floor of the academic building. Sean remembered something and asked Ron,
"Ron, do you still have your rat?"
Ron blinked in confusion. Sean had lost his kneazle—why bring up his rat?
"Uh… Scabbers is missing too. We're helping you find your cat—and looking for him as well. Hopefully they don't run into each other."
"Hopefully," Sean said, concern flickering in his eyes.
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