Harry Potter: A Certain Ancient Rune Professor of Hogwarts (TL)

Chapter 364

Ron and Draco stared wide-eyed and fell into an eerie silence.

“I can’t believe you’re on a night out, Malfoy!” Ron said before Draco could accuse him.

“Aren’t you talking about yourself, Weasley?” Draco said absently.

There was a short silence and then Draco spoke up, a gleam creeping through his eyes, “Don’t pretend, Weasley. We’re both here for the same reason, no one says anything to anyone, to avoid getting into trouble, I guess?”

Ron touched the potion bottle in his arms and didn’t utter a word.

” Meow ~”

A cat appeared at some point, squatting on the windowsill, bathing in the moonlight as she stared at them with yellow eyes.

“Go away – go away, you stupid cat!” Ron instantly became anxious, and he chased the cat away in a hushed tone, waving his hand over and over at it.

However, Mrs. Norris glanced at him proudly, its soft, smooth gray fur glowed silver in the moonlight, and its eyes glanced past Ron and saw Draco Malfoy behind him.

A wand poked out, its tip glowing red.

Ron pushed Draco out of the way as he deflected his wand, as the spell hit the wall–

“What are you doing?” Ron said angrily.

“I just wanted to put it to sleep for a while, do you want it to bring Filch here?” Draco said calmly, “It’s YOU – STUPID WEASLEY – who let it get away.”

“You’re the one who’s stupid!” Ron cursed under his breath and looked back at the window, which seemed deserted. He looked down the corridor again and could barely distinguish a silvery grey shadow disappearing around the corner in the dark corridor.

Ron panicked, the half bottle of potion he carried in his arms wobbled vigorously, and sweat immediately broke out.

“What to do?” He groaned, as he felt deep regret, if only he had brought Harry’s invisibility cloak with him tonight, he would have been able to pretend like a ghost and scare Malfoy, or at least he should have brought the Marauder’s Map, both of these things were at the bottom of the box that belonged to Harry.

Now it is too late to think about that.

“What else can we do!” Draco glared at Ron and said coldly: “Of course, we should run away quickly, or are you going to wait till you get caught? Are you really a masochist, as rumour says? I warn you, if you get caught, don’t rat me out-”

“Go ahead!” Ron said.

“What?”

“You should leave,” Ron repeated in a low voice, waving his hand at Draco in boredom just like how he had been chasing away Mrs. Norris, his other hand clutching the vial tightly with a death grip, “Hurry up, what are you waiting for!”

Draco had taken a few steps away, but for a moment he stopped and looked at him with a very curious look, his gray eyes flickered, and a strange thought came to his mind.

“You want to stay,” he glanced at the door of classroom seven behind them, then looked back, as if weighing something in his mind, then he said slowly, “you want to stay and hide in classroom seven, where that old fool Filch can’t open the door.”

“You’re overthinking it, I’m leaving.” Ron said, but his feet didn’t move a bit.

Draco sneered, took a few steps over, leaned against the edge of the window where Mrs. Norris had just been standing, and said slowly, “So how about we simply wait until Filch comes over?”

Ron looked at him in exasperation.

“What are you looking at, Weasley? Do you want me to give you a hex?” Draco said.

“You wouldn’t dare, Malfoy.” Ron said, glancing nervously at the dark corridor, which remained silent, but he knew that Filch would appear in three minutes at most, or perhaps he had been woken up by now and making his way over, panting heavily as he carried a kerosene lamp with a grimace on his face.

How much time had passed, ten seconds, or thirty?

He had to make a decision –

“Damn you ferret!” He said angrily, turning and stomping towards the door of classroom seven, with Draco behind him, smiling smugly, speaking in a long, drawn-out voice with a condescending tone, “Come on, Weasley! You don’t think you’re in Potions class, do you?”

Ron shuddered with anger, wishing he could ignore everything and shot a hex in Malfoy’s face, but he held back, his wand tracing the air in an attempt to outline a rune. But he simply can not keep calm at this point and failed twice in a row.

After waiting for a while, Draco couldn’t sit still and came over to urge him on, “What are you playing at, waiting for Filch or the professor on night patrol to take us both away?”

“Leave me alone, you’re messing with my head!” Ron said with a frown, as he failed to outline once again, half of the rune flickered and disappeared.

Draco impatiently stood guard, occasionally glancing around and listening with one ear.

After almost two minutes, the sound of climbing stairs was heard in the distance, and someone spoke in a tone that trembled with excitement: ” Are we finally there, my sweet? They won’t be able to run away easily, I assure you-”

The expression on Draco’s face turned into panic, and he couldn’t help but take two steps back and hide in the shadow. The voice got closer, as he looked over the corridor, and then at Ron, who’s still concentrating on outlining the rune, pondering if he should slip away alone –

“Wes–”

“It’s done!” Ron shouted excitedly, scribing a shiny rune on the door, which opened noiselessly and a slit of light could be seen pouring out from inside. He turned his head and said angrily, “Malfoy, if you ever speak to me in a commanding tone again, I’ll-”

Draco kicked Ron in the ass, knocking him through the door before he hastily slammed the door shut behind him.

The bright light inside classroom seven briefly blinded him a bit, while he placed his ear against the cold door and strained to hear the movements outside. He did not know if it was due to the enchantment that he could not hear a sound from outside right now.

On the other hand, Ron carefully placed the potion in his arms on the floor and lunged towards Draco.

“Damn Malfoy! How dare you kick me, I’ve put up with you for a long time!”

Draco looked back contemptuously and took a punch right in the face, “You’re insane!?” He shouted, raising his wand, but Ron aimed for it and brought him to the ground with a punch that made Draco’s eyes glaze over. Ron took the opportunity to swing two more punches at his hateful face, and Draco screamed in pain and kicked Ron away.

” It’s Malfoy’s comeback!” He said viciously.

Ron shook his head and charged again, and the two wrestled. The wands in their hands fell out.

Soon Ron had the upper hand based on his size, both arms locked around Draco’s neck, their faces equally red, except Draco was holding his breath. Ron bellowed: “Malfoy, I tell you, I have a temper too!”

Draco rolled his eyes and struggled desperately, “I didn’t mean to … But Filch was there …”

“Filch?” Ron froze for a moment, the strength in his hands unconsciously weakened, and Draco took the opportunity to break free from his restraints and breathe heavily.

A few minutes later-

The two separated far apart, warily pointing their wands at each other, their faces both bruised and battered. Ron laughed loudly as he saw that both of Malfoy’s eyes were bruised, his carefully combed hair looked dishevelled, and his magnificent robes were torn with several long rips and holes.

Although he also looked terrible, he is now in an extraordinarily soothing mood.

“According to the rules in the club, you can’t fight when we’re working together.”

“You wait for me, Weasley!”

Draco glared at Ron with hatred, and walked up the black steps, with several deep breaths, he reached out and touched the black hovering door, and the next second, his figure disappeared.

Ron burst out laughing, and in a delightful voice he said, “This robe goes really well with you, Malfoy.”

…

Inside the black hovering door.

Ron spat out a mouthful of green slimy liquid, brushed aside the spider legs which hooked over his shoulder, and muttered under his breath, “The seventeenth batch … I’d like to see how many more … times … why there are spiders with twelve legs … I bet Professor Hap failed his Care of Magical Creatures class …”

Two more spider waves, but Ron has been able to accurately judge the placement, so he stepped on a raised boulder and chose the optimal route to leave early before the spiders can climb up.

“I wonder if there’s a chicken leg for breakfast? I don’t want to drink any gruel …”

He thought out of tune and finally crossed this rocky beach. On a platform, a golden circle of light glowed.

Ron looked at the golden glow on the platform with fascination, and there seemed to be something inside. He couldn’t help but reach out his hand, and the moment he touched the card, his whole body became frozen and blank –

His vision infinitely elevated, as if he had become a ghost, he first saw the black hovering door, then Malfoy, and finally saw the whole spacious seventh classroom. But this is not the end, he saw the castle corridors, and then he went through layers of walls, rising, and soon, the entire Hogwarts castle in his eyes became a matchbox.

And he was already in the black night sky, and kept ascending, surrounded by the bitterly cold wind and clouds.

Hogwarts has become as big as a fingernail, even the black lake is very small, as if he could drink it all in one gulp, a stretch of black mountains came into view and filled his vision.

He saw the ever-smaller village of Hogsmeade, sporadically lit by a few points of light, perhaps using Professor Hap’s magic lamp? Ron thought, but they immediately disappeared, he continued to ascend, the world below turned into large patches of colours, he struggled to distinguish, the dark green ones were forests, the dark brown were hills, and the blue … were oceans!

He actually saw the ocean, Ron gasped, feeling like he is dreaming, but this dream is so vivid that you can’t forget it. He also saw the brightly lit settlement and speculated in his mind whether it is the city of the Muggles, from what Harry said, in a big city like London, even at night, there are many lights on …

“Is this England?”

Ron frowned and saw a very small piece of land, or rather – island, across a wide land, what seems to be a huge expanse of land. He felt some kind of thought tug him, but he had no idea what it was. Then he just continued to ascend –

After a long time, he could only see the ocean and the land.

Then he passed through a thick layer of clouds, fearing he would freeze to death. Suddenly, there was a bright flash of golden sunlight shining on the clean white cluster of clouds, reflecting a golden haze. Is this the sunrise?

Ron looked at the world beneath his feet for the first time, examining … a standard sphere dominated by blue, a small half of it hidden in the shadows, which should be dark, and the other half very bright, so that he could see the land, the ocean, and the light clouds, it is a day there. He reached out and tried to grab something, but he just kept moving away.

That blue sphere turned into dots and more globes appeared, “Moon, Mars, Venus, Jupiter … O Merlin’s beard!” Ron opened his mouth wide, he saw the complete solar system, like a model of the Star chart sold in Diagon Alley, he felt that he would never forget their position in his life.

After that, he saw the stars. He had never understood the names of the constellations before, thinking that names like “Canis Major” were nonsense, but he really saw a big dog in the deep sky of the universe, made up of countless stars, and he even saw the brightest one in Canis Major – Sirius.

And then after that, the sight was beyond his comprehension, he saw a bright vortex, a dense web of points of light … then he fell, much faster than he had come, everything he had seen before was going back, vortexes, nebulae, constellations, blue planet, lands and oceans, the sight kept drawing closer and closer until he fell headlong plunged into the ancient castle of Hogwarts.

“Ah–”

Ron screamed out, panting, holding a golden card in his hand.

———–

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