Chapter 24: Traveling With The Headmaster
The night was deep and dark, with the moonlight bright and clear.
Hogwarts prohibits students from leaving the common room after lights out, prohibits them from wandering in corridors, classrooms, or other areas, and violators of school rules will face severe punishment. Caretaker Filch patrols the castle floors every night.
Except for a very few red-haired students who treat night wandering as a fun adventure challenging the caretaker’s authority, most of the time, the castle quickly quiets down after lights out.
The serene ancient castle provides endless inspiration for creation.
Melvin sat behind the desk in the office, eyes closed and head tilted back, silently searching the distant memories deep in his soul for information about escaping the Chamber of Secrets.
Ensure the lights in the enclosed space are dim without completely losing visibility, able to see nearby clues clearly, vaguely see shadowy corners, and the dim vision continuously creates tension;
The enclosed space should eliminate stray noises, best to let them hear each other’s heartbeats and breathing, continuously creating oppression, making it easier to notice discordant sounds, like extra breathing and heartbeats, like another Harry’s voice;
Best to make them act separately, separation from the group will continuously create panic, and suspicion toward returning partners, considering creating terrifying associations of companions being replaced…
Melvin clicked the ballpoint pen cap, suddenly frowned, looked up toward the doorway, and a series of hurried footsteps came from the corridor outside, from faint to clear, then gradually running away.
“Hm?”
Melvin closed the notebook, stood up, and pushed open the wooden door of the office.
He clearly heard the footsteps running toward the staircase, but saw no figure in that direction; instead, in the opposite direction, he saw two familiar faces, and Melvin exclaimed in surprise:
“Headmaster Dumbledore, Mr. Filch?”
In the open space by the window in the corridor passage, Dumbledore wore deep blue velvet pajamas with silver thread-embroidered stars and moons on the satin surface, half-moon glasses on, a mild smile, without any legendary wizard’s dignity, more like an old man who couldn’t sleep at night and went out for a stroll.
Caretaker Argus Filch stood opposite, holding a dimly lit oil lamp, hunched over, skinny as a rail yet with a double chin, loose flesh twitching slightly, brows tightly furrowed, pale face somewhat sinister in the evening, light-colored eyes bulging out, a bit scary.
“Headmaster Dumbledore, I’m very certain students are violating school rules by night wandering the castle. Peeves said so too, first-year kids wandering around in the middle of the night. I must catch them!” Filch’s voice was fierce, expression somewhat ferocious.
Dumbledore’s tone was very slow, not hurried at all: “Please calm down, Mr. Filch. This might be Peeves’s prank. Don’t fall into his trap.”
“Even if it’s a trap, we should chase after and check.” Filch was a bit anxious, impatient to wait for Dumbledore to speak. “Headmaster, they’re about to run far!”
“If you insist…” Dumbledore stepped aside.
Filch immediately chased toward the staircase entrance, followed by the cat named Mrs. Norris, who nodded slightly to Melvin as she passed, counting as a greeting.
Melvin blinked, finding it amusing.
After waiting for Mr. Caretaker’s figure to disappear into the distance, he slowly approached the headmaster: “Good evening, Headmaster.”
“Good evening.”
“The night wanderer just now was Potter, right?”
“Hm…” Dumbledore pondered briefly, seemingly seriously considering the possibility. “Possible, or it could be Peeves pranking the caretaker. They never get along.”
“They’ve already entered that corridor on the fourth floor, right?”
“You mean the night wanderers…” Dumbledore continued to feign thought. “If chased into a panic, they might indeed blunder into there.”
“They’ve already entered that room and seen Fluffy, right?”
“…”
Dumbledore adjusted the glasses on his nose, realizing he couldn’t let Melvin keep questioning: “Perhaps it’s all just Peeves pranking the caretaker. I’m not clear on the specifics. I’m just a sleepless old man who got up for a stroll because I couldn’t sleep, to look at tonight’s moon.”
“Heh!”
Melvin chuckled lightly: “I worked in a theater for half a year and saw many professional actors. Headmaster, your acting is a bit clumsy.”
“Is that so? Professor Keltburn said the same…”
Dumbledore’s smile grew milder, unknowingly shifting the topic: “He was once the drama club’s advisor at school, dragged me into arranging a program, Peeves the poet’s classic 《Fountain of Good Luck》…”
“Really nostalgic. Back then I was a Transfiguration professor, originally planning to compete for the unlucky knight role, but defeated in acting by fourth-year students, could only handle the stage effects part.”
Melvin raised an eyebrow: “So we’re still in the same line of work?”
“That’s right.”
Dumbledore grinned widely, unconcerned with decorum: “Melvin, allow me to call you that. Professor Marchbanks once said you resemble me when young, but I say you’re far more outstanding than I was then. Your arrival has added a different vitality to the castle.”
“Not that I’m more handsome than you in appearance.”
“Then I was the handsomer one back then.”
“I doubt that.”
“Your classes not only impart knowledge but also teach them life’s reasons.”
Dumbledore stroked his beard, eyes squinting in laughter: “Passing the courtyard during the day, I heard your lesson to the two Mr. Weasleys, very insightful, especially the insights on the scale of jokes—something neither I nor other professors had considered…”
His bright blue eyes gleamed with recollection: “The Weasley twins have caused much trouble, some pranks going too far. Gryffindor familiars can tolerate, but students from other houses in the same year find them annoying, even leading to conflicts.
“Molly, that is Mrs. Weasley, their mother, sent several Howlers for it. Her letters to me also had complaints.”
Melvin knew he was changing the subject but, given their shared past in the trade, wouldn’t press the acting issue: “Their intent is to bring laughter to dull lives. Even without me, they’d gradually master the scale themselves and discover the essence of pranks.”
“Not as smoothly as now, perhaps after graduating into adulthood, or after some lessons and hardships.”
Dumbledore changed tack: “Speaking of daytime, you asked them about prank props to set up defenses for the Philosopher’s Stone, right?”
“Yes.”
“I happen to know a place piled with many old props. Perhaps you can find what you want there.”
