HP: It's a snake, not a badger.

Chapter 102 Hitting Liu

"Sirius, could you please cover my class tomorrow? I'll be staying at the Screaming Shack tonight."

Lupin said somewhat helplessly, "Luckily Sirius came, otherwise I suspect that if Severus had taken two more days of werewolf appreciation classes, his secret would probably have been exposed."

"Do you need me to come with you? Just like before." Sirius put his arm around Lupin's shoulder, a little worried about his condition.

"No need. I've been through all these years. You protect Harry. He's getting too close to Malfoy. I'm afraid he'll get into danger."

"I will protect him even without you telling me, so please be careful."

"I will."

They walked toward the castle after they finished speaking. Lupin thought he had everything arranged, but he didn't expect that a curious little boy would follow him.

"Ron, let's go on an adventure tonight!!!" Harry excitedly pulled Ron along, while Draco quietly ate his meal nearby, not wanting to get involved in the conversation at all.

Last month, he lost 20 points for going on a night out with them, and they've only just added them back. If he gets caught and loses points again, Severus will tell Lucius. He doesn't want to get a spanking from his father, but Harry won't hide it from him anyway; he just needs to know where they're going.

"Where are we going?!"

"Let's go check out the Whomping Willow! Hagrid told me there's a knot on it that freezes when you touch it. Let's go see!!!" Harry was excited; he loved these kinds of fun things.

"...Harry, you mean we're going to get beaten up, right?" Hermione instantly came to the conclusion. Sometimes she really wanted to open Harry's head and see what was inside.

"No, touching it from a distance is fine too. We can throw things up there. Please, I want to go take a look!"

"No, don't even think about it, Ron."

"Draco, you watch Harry, I'll watch Ron." Hermione thought these two were crazy; why did they have to play the Whomping Willow when there's nothing else they could do?

"Please, Hermione, please."

"Can't!"

"You don't need to go over there, just stand far away and stay with us."

Don't even think about it.

After a whole day of pleading, Hermione finally agreed to their request; she simply couldn't stand their endless chatter.

The three of them donned invisibility cloaks and tiptoed out of the castle. The sun gradually set, turning the sky orange-red. This was their first adventure outside the castle this semester, and all three were a little excited.

"Listen to me, Harry will ride his broomstick to distract the Whomping Willow, while Ron and I will take care of long-range attacks." Hermione arranged the attack plan, even defining the attack range.

The two boys nodded obediently. Hermione was a little disappointed that Draco wasn't there; otherwise, someone would be watching Harry, and she would only need to look after Ron. Now she had to watch over two people, greatly increasing her workload.

"I'm going."

Harry rode his broomstick around the Whomping Willow, sometimes going up and sometimes down, using every means to dodge, occasionally unleashing a sandstorm to clear away branches he couldn't avoid.

Hermione and Ron, standing at a distance, were throwing stones at the scar, but the stones they threw were always deflected by the branches or hit other places.

As time passed and night deepened, the original orange-red color slowly turned black.

Harry was prepared to risk getting close to the Whomping Willow. If he could hit the scar, even if he was tied up like a dumpling, he could still get out. If he dawdled any longer, it would be time for the professors' night patrol, and if he got caught, it wouldn't be over with just a few words.

Making his decision, he pressed down on the broom, quickly pressing himself against the tree trunk. Numerous branches came rushing at him, trying to grab and bind him.

"Harry's on another adventure! Hermione, looks like we'd better get there, or he'll be spinning like a top!" Ron yelled. Sometimes he couldn't stand Harry's adventurous spirit, but as his best friend, he had to stick with him.

The two gradually approached each other, attacking with stones as they went, drawing away some of the firepower so that Harry wouldn't be unable to handle the situation alone.

Finally, he found an opportunity and suddenly swooped down. A cloud of sand and stones hit the knot, and the willow tree instantly fell silent, all its branches drooping gracefully to the ground.

"We did it! Come on, let's carve words on the tree trunk!" Harry jumped off his broom and waved to Ron and Hermione.

"They're here!" x2

The other two were also very excited; their teamwork in defeating the giant willow tree was something they wanted to remember.

Just as he was about to carve the words, Ron noticed a hole in the tree root. He looked inside out of curiosity and discovered a passage.

"Hey guys, we've added another item to our adventure today. Does anyone want to see where this secret passage leads?" Ron squatted on the ground, very excited.

"Let's go take a look, we're already here." Harry immediately agreed with Ron's suggestion; he wanted to go see as well.

With the odds against her three to two, Hermione had no choice but to agree to go with them. She suspected that if she didn't go, the two might cause a terrible disaster, and at least she could still offer some advice.

Before going in, Hermione gave Draco a paper crane and told him that if he didn't receive a second letter in half an hour, he should call for help. They went to the secret passage under the Whomping Willow.

The clever little witch made sure to have an escape route just in case. After doing all this, the three of them went inside without looking back.

I kept crawling and crawling through the secret passage, and when I finally emerged, I found myself in Hogsmeade. From the window, I could see the Three Broomsticks pub outside.

"Is this a secret passage for sneaking out to play? Who's so clever to open a path under the Man-Beating Willow?" Ron couldn't help but exclaim, marveling at the man's ingenious idea.

"Let's see if there's a way out. We haven't been to Hogsmeade yet!" Harry wanted to go out and play, and he could also bring Draco some food—killing two birds with one stone.

"What are you doing here?" Lupin looked at the three little ones at the window in surprise. He felt that something was wrong and wanted to send them back.

"Professor Lupin, what are you doing here? Did you sneak out to play too? You can't deduct points from us then." Hermione seized on the key point; she felt she had caught Lupin red-handed, so they would be even, and Lupin couldn't deduct points from them.

"Let's not talk about this now, you guys go back quickly, it'll be dangerous later, hurry up!!!" Lu Ping prepared to throw the people back into the secret passage with one in each hand, but he failed.

Attracted by the sights of Hogsmeade at night, the three little ones were incredibly slippery, and he couldn't catch a single one after ten minutes of trying.

the other side

Draco received Hermione's letter, and when he checked the time and realized that half an hour had passed without receiving a second letter, he knew something was wrong. He immediately ran to the cellar to find Severus and Emeric.

"Godfather, something's happened to Harry! They went into the secret passage under the Whomping Willow and haven't come back yet!" Draco pounded on the door, shouting loudly despite his fear.

"What? Damn it, I'm going to find them. You two stay put."

Severus casually threw on his coat and rushed outside.