Chapter 48: Benlong is also well-educated
Hermione frowned. She always felt that the two people in front of her were trying to trick her, but she had no evidence.
"I'll give you a small piece of advice: don't harbor any inappropriate thoughts.
If there's really no other way, perhaps you can talk to Aaronopenly."
"We might as well give up then!" Harry shook his head. "You know, the probability of Aaron agreeing won't be more than one in ten thousand."
"And it would definitely alert him. Then it would be even harder for us to steal—ahem, to borrow," Ron said. "Anyway, don't worry about this. Harry and I will figure it out."
"Alright!" Hermione patted her revision materials. "But make sure you don't forget about your studies."
Harry and Ron looked at the stack of revision materials, nodded resignedly, and then watched Hermione leave.
After she left, Ron took out the small purple bottle. "Get the tools ready, rest for a day, and then find the right opportunity to act tomorrow."
...After classes the next day, the two followed Aaron from a distance, looking at the well-dressed, lively white cat beside him, a hint of helplessness flashing in their eyes.
They followed him from the classroom to the Quidditchpitch, then to the Great Hall, and finally to the Library.
However, after entering the Library, the two were at a loss, because Aaron took out a pass and, with Madam Pince's permission, openly entered the Restricted Section.
"Ugh! This is troublesome now," Ron said regretfully. "He probably won't be out for a few hours."
"Don't sigh. Opportunity favors the prepared.
We've followed him all the way here; a few more hours won't hurt."
"It can only be this way."
The two exchanged glances, then sat down at an empty table, took out Hermione's notes, and began their agonizing revision.
They initially thought they could at least read a little, but after flipping through for more than ten minutes, they both started to yawn.
"I seriously suspect Hermione cast a sleeping spell on this," Ron said with a wry smile. It wasn't that he didn't want to try, it was just that there were too many words in these notes, and just looking at them made him drowsy.
"Hold on," Harry mumbled groggily. "No matter what, we can't lose to Malfoy."
Ron:...Are you serious about saying that with your eyes closed?
About two hours later, Aaron walked out of the Restricted Section holding a book.
"Ron! Ron!" Harry quickly patted Ron's head, waking him up.
"What is it?" Ron opened his eyes groggily.
"He's out."
"What?" Ron instantly became alert. He and Harry quickly packed up the materials on the table and tiptoed after Aaron.
But as soon as they left the Library, they felt a bit awkward, because Aaron was standing at the door, smiling at them. "I wonder if you two could tell me why you've been following me all day?"
"Uh..." Ron paused slightly. "Who's following you? Do you have proof?"
"I don't have any, but I don't believe your schedules perfectly align with mine."
"It's just a coincidence." Harry's eyes darted around, but his tone was exceptionally firm. "We just happened to go to the Quidditch pitch, then went to eat, and finally read in the Library.
I'm sure many students do the same!"
"Really?" Aaron didn't believe a word of their nonsense. It was true that many students had such plans, but these two had been following him too closely; no one would believe it wasn't stalking.
However, he couldn't figure out their purpose for following him for a while.
"Of course!" Ron said righteously.
"Alright! I can pretend to believe you.
So, where do you two plan to go next?
If you have a destination, please let me know, and I promise to avoid you both so we don't make each other uncomfortable."
Harry:...Ron:...The two knew that if they didn't give a reason, they probably wouldn't get away with it.
Since they had already alerted him, they could only choose to deceive him.
"Aaron, there's actually something we need your help with," Harry said hesitantly.
"Oh?" Aaron raised an eyebrow. "Then just tell me directly. Whether I help or not is my business; there's no need to play at stalking, is there?
By the way, your stalking methods are very crude, exceptionally crude."
"Haha!" Harry gave a dry laugh, then pulled out the notes Hermione had given them. "It's like this: to prepare for the final exams, Hermione has arranged a hellish training for us.
She wants us to memorize all these knowledge points. These are the notes; you can take a look."
Aaron took the notebook, half-believing, half-doubting, and quickly flipped through it. "Nothing wrong with it! It's very detailed, almost flawless.
Honestly, it's really your luck to have a friend like Hermione.
So, what do you want from me?"
"Uh... we wanted to ask you to tell Hermione not to push us too hard," Harry said, nudging Ron's arm.
Ron immediately reacted. "We both tried just now, but after only ten minutes, we almost fell asleep."
"You followed me all day for this?" Aaron looked at the two, utterly speechless. He really wondered if these two guys had their brains squeezed by a door.
Harry was delighted that they had successfully bluffed their way through. "You know Hermione's temper. If we made this request, she'd probably be unhappy.
And she's doing this for our own good, so it's even harder for us to make this request.
But you're different. You and she have the best relationship at Hogwarts; she'll definitely listen to you."
"You two are really just asking for it," Aaron shook his head. "Sorry, I can't help with this.
This kind of thing shouldn't be brought up by me, or it will make things more awkward.
With Hermione's intelligence, she could easily guess that you two specifically asked me to intercede for you.
If you really find it agonizing, you should just talk to her yourselves! Sometimes, being honest works better."
With that, Aaron turned and left.
"Phew!" × 2.
The two sighed in unison, but their hearts were also filled with a bit of frustration.
"Alas! This is difficult now," Harry said with a wry smile. "Although we got away with it, we can't follow him anymore, or he'll definitely notice something."
"Yes!
We can't exactly go to the Slytherin common room to corner him, can we?
And we don't even know the Slytherin password!"
"We'll just have to think of another way."
...Washroom.
Under the Invisibility Cloak, Harry and Ron were anxiously squatting at the door.
Waiting for the rabbit—this was the clumsiest but safest method they had come up with after thinking all night. The only problem was that the waiting time was a bit long.
From the end of class until now, at least dozens of people had gone to the toilet, but their target had not appeared.
"Harry, why don't we go back?
If I stay here any longer, I'm going to feel like a pervert."
"Let's wait a little longer!
We've waited this long; Aaron is bound to come."
"But we've waited for three hours."
"The longer we wait, the greater the chance of him coming."
"Or it could be smaller," Ron pouted, but in the end, he still waited with Harry.
Perhaps their patience played a role. A few minutes later, Aaron arrived.
Seeing the white cat following him, both were incredibly excited, wishing they could immediately go and catch it.
Before long, Aaron closed the door, leaving Abey on the sink, guarding outside like a sentinel.
"Are the items ready?"
"Ready." Ron immediately took out a lunchbox containing two chicken drumsticks.
"Good, success or failure depends on this one attempt."
The two walked over cautiously, then opened the box and gently placed it on the ground.
Under the Invisibility Cloak, they fanned their robes repeatedly, trying to waft the scent of the chicken drumsticks inside as much as possible.
Abey, who was squatting on the sink looking in the mirror, smelled the scent, and its ears immediately perked up, pushing its hat up by two centimeters.
It looked around, and under their expectant gazes, walked to the door, where it discovered the neatly placed lunchbox.
Abey's eyes instantly widened a few points, becoming particularly lively, because it saw its favorite food.
"Eat, eat quickly, eat!" the two thought excitedly. They had been preparing for this moment for several days.
But Abey's subsequent behavior left them surprised, bewildered, and speechless.
Abey approached the lunchbox, sniffed it carefully, then turned its head to look around, focusing particularly on the spot where the Invisibility Cloak was.
After confirming no one was there, a hint of doubt appeared in its lively eyes.
A few seconds later, the white cat, suppressing its urge to eat, wiped the drool from the corners of its mouth, extended its two paws to cover the lunchbox, and then walked into the washroom, looking back three times with each step.
Food dropped on the ground cannot be eaten, and suspected food belonging to others certainly cannot be eaten. This is what its master taught it; this dragon is also well-mannered.