Ron scratched his head, about to speak, but Harry quickly covered his mouth.
"Ahaha, good evening, Dylan... Go to sleep soon, haha..."
Ron's mouth was covered, preventing him from speaking, but he nodded hurriedly like a chick pecking at rice.
"Let's go, let's go." Harry tugged Ron along.
The two of them turned around hastily, stumbling over their own feet, holding their breath, and trying not to make too much noise.
They moved cautiously, lifting their feet gently and placing them down carefully.
To anyone watching, they would have looked like two thieves with guilty consciences, their arms stretched slightly forward, grabbing at the air to maintain balance.
Only when they reached the door did they finally bolt, running as fast as they could. Before leaving, they carefully closed the door, and through the small crack, Ron mouthed to Dylan:
"Go to bed."
Dylan watched the whole ordeal unfold and was utterly speechless.
"Are these two... seriously ill?"
He wasn't feeling very sleepy anymore—he had been completely awakened by these two foolish kids.
"Didn't I say I wouldn't get involved in this? Why wake me up in the middle of the night?"
To be honest, Dylan was a little annoyed.
And of course, this had absolutely nothing to do with how grumpy he felt when waking up.
He sighed helplessly, staring at the small creature beside him.
Peeking out from under his quilt was a little coal-black ball, its eerie eyes glowing in the dark just like Dylan's.
Dylan reached out and pinched its tiny head between two fingers.
"They're my friends too. Follow them, and help if necessary."
"Moo!"
The little coal ball let out a soft cry, knowing there were still other students sleeping in the dormitory.
"Go ahead. Haven't you made quite a few friends here already?"
Although Dylan had instructed the coal ball to stay in the dormitory tonight, he was certain the little guy had sneaked out for some fun.
Because...
Tonight, Professor McGonagall had given him a private lesson.
She had casually mentioned that there was a little black shadow sneaking around the school.
The shadow had even ventured into the Forbidden Forest, where it fought a group of wild magical creatures.
The key issue was that, upon returning to Hogwarts, this little shadow had nearly gone unnoticed by most students. But eventually, it slipped into a restricted area.
While passing by, Professor McGonagall had caught sight of it.
Since Hagrid had mentioned to both her and Dumbledore that Dylan was raising a shadow creature, she suspected the little rascal belonged to him.
So, she had ordered a house-elf to return it to the dormitory.
Otherwise, if the small black shadow continued running around, Filch might have caught it.
When Professor McGonagall told Dylan about this, he immediately realized that she was hinting at him.
What else could he do?
He had to vaguely explain how he had raised Wuying.
Fortunately, Professor McGonagall didn't press for details. She simply reminded him not to waste too much time on his pet but to take good care of it.
Dylan, of course, nodded obediently.
But in truth, he didn't intend to scold Coal Ball over the matter.
Since the little guy had followed him, it had spent almost all its time hidden in Dylan's pet space.
Now that it finally had a chance to roam around, there was nothing wrong with a little fun, was there?
It wasn't as if the creature had bitten off a student's head or anything—just some sneaky wandering.
Dylan saw no issue with that.
"Moo..."
Coal Ball, initially puffing out its tiny chest in pride, suddenly blinked guiltily and shrank its neck at Dylan's words.
"Go quickly, and be careful."
Dylan tapped its head lightly with his index finger.
"Whoosh!"
Coal Ball dashed off in an instant.
As it reached the door, its shape became strangely blurred before it slipped straight through the wooden panel.
Dylan lay back down on his bed.
Thankfully, he had good sleeping habits.
Before long, he drifted off again.
This time, no one disturbed him, and he slept soundly until dawn.
Because Harry and Ron had woken him in the middle of the night, Dylan had an interrupted sleep.
As a result, he didn't wake up as early as usual.
When he finally checked the time, it was around 6:30 in the morning.
He turned his head and saw that Harry and Ron had returned. They were still sleeping soundly.
Meanwhile, the little coal ball was lazily curled up between Dylan's legs.
Shaking his head, Dylan instructed Meiqiu to stay in the dormitory.
He got up, packed his things, checked on his owl, reviewed his Potions notes, had breakfast, and then headed off to class.
Coal Ball's fur, sleek like black satin, shimmered as it stretched its tiny body before rolling itself into Dylan's quilt.
Breakfast in the Great Hall
As Dylan stepped into the Great Hall, many students had already gathered for breakfast.
A few teachers were also seated at the staff table.
"Hey! Dylan, over here!"
At the Gryffindor table, Harry and Ron were waving him over enthusiastically.
Dylan strolled over at a relaxed pace, taking a seat next to Harry.
Ron looked especially excited.
He glanced around cautiously before leaning in close and whispering,
"My god, you don't know how exciting last night was!"
Dylan blinked. "Wow, how exciting?"
Ron, oblivious to Dylan's flat tone, grinned smugly.
"It's such a shame you didn't come!"
"And that Malfoy—what a jerk! We clearly agreed to a duel, but he snitched to Filch instead!"
"See, Dylan? You were wrong—he didn't tell Snape after all!"
Dylan opened his mouth and responded with exaggerated enthusiasm:
"Wow! That's really abominable of him."
"Right?!" Ron huffed, crossing his arms.
Beside them, Hermione let out an exasperated sigh, rubbing her temples.
"Ron, you idiot! Whether he told Snape or Filch, he still ratted you out, didn't he? Dylan was right to warn you!"
Ron blinked in confusion before reluctantly mumbling,
"Well… yeah, I guess..."
But he quickly shrugged it off and continued excitedly,
"Anyway! Filch chased us all over, and Mrs. Norris wouldn't stop following us either!"
"Luckily, they got distracted by something else. Maybe another student? Either way, we ran into Peeves, and that stupid ghost chased us straight into the fourth-floor restricted area!"
"Guess what we saw there? A three-headed dog!"
"My god, it was massive! It looked like it could swallow me in one bite!"
Dylan calmly picked up a forkful of salad and chewed slowly.
With the most neutral tone, he responded,
"Oh, that sounds terrifying."
Ron beamed, feeling validated, until he suddenly realized something.
He turned to Dylan and glared.
"Hey!"
(End of Chapter)
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