Chapter 78: Night Adventure

At midnight, everyone in the dormitory was already in bed, fast asleep.

Fred quietly pulled back the covers and got out of bed. He walked to George's bed and gently pushed it twice, gesturing for him to wake up.

George sluggishly got up, put on his robe again, grabbed his wand, and tiptoed out of the room. Fred quietly closed the door behind them.

The two of them climbed up the spiral staircase and entered the Gryffindor common room.

There was no one in the common room anymore, and the fire in the fireplace had burned out. Instead of immediately leaving the room, they found a pair of armchairs and sat down.

Fred took out the old parchment from his robe pocket and lightly tapped it with his wand. "I solemnly swear that I am up to no good."

"Me too," mumbled George next to him, immediately bringing his lit wand closer to illuminate the Marauder's Map.

Once the map was formed on the parchment, Fred spread it out on the table, and the two of them began searching for Filch's name. The annoying caretaker was currently resting in a bedroom near the caretaker's office on the ground floor, while his cat, Mrs. Norris, was patrolling on the fifth floor.

Peeves, the mischievous poltergeist, was in the second-floor History of Magic classroom, and Professor Dumbledore was pacing back and forth in his office on the top floor.

"What about Percy?" George asked in a low voice.

Fred pointed to Percy's dormitory with his hand and said, "Sleeping."

"Okay, let the night adventure begin!" Fred and George high-fived each other, folded up the Marauder's Map, and prepared to set off.

However, just as they crawled through the portrait hole, they were caught by the Fat Lady's gaze. "Where do you think you're going at this time?"

"On a night adventure, ma'am," Fred grinned.

Even the Fat Lady was taken aback, never expecting someone to boldly declare their intention to go on a night adventure.

"Quick, let's go!" George, who was behind them, pushed Fred forward, and the two of them swiftly disappeared around the corner of the corridor.

Standing in the dark and silent corridor, the Weasley twins' excitement began to rise. With the Marauder's Map in their hands, the entire Hogwarts castle would be completely open to them.

As for Filch, he could never catch them.

"Albert will definitely regret not joining us for the night adventure," Fred said gleefully to George after confirming Filch's location once again.

"I think Albert might have to wait until he learns the Disillusionment Charm before he agrees to come with us on a night adventure," George replied, his tone filled with barely concealed excitement. "But this is our first time using the Marauder's Map, and it's not bad to use it alone."

In truth, the twins weren't too keen on sharing the secret of the Marauder's Map with too many people.

"Once we figure out all the secret passages in the castle, we'll definitely give them a good scare," Fred said with satisfaction.

During the day, there were some passages they couldn't openly explore, but with no one in the castle at night, they didn't need to worry as much. It was a perfect opportunity.

Fred took the lead with the Marauder's Map in hand. The corridor ahead was pitch black and eerie. Every turn made their hearts pound.

It was an exhilarating feeling!

"Stop!" Fred quickly extinguished his wand and made a hushing gesture to George behind him.

"What's wrong?"

"It's Nearly Headless Nick. We almost bumped into him."

After waiting for about thirty seconds, Fred, with George covering him, relit his wand and checked Nearly Headless Nick's location.

"He's gone far away!" Fred exclaimed.

The two of them tiptoed down the stairs and stopped in front of a statue of a knight on the seventh floor.

On the Marauder's Map, there was an ink dot labeled "Fred," and Fred tapped the helmet visor of the stone knight with his wand. A spell appeared next to it: "Open up."

The twins looked at each other. Open up?

"I'll give it a try, 'Open up'," George said, extinguishing the light and tapping the helmet visor of the stone knight's armor with his wand.

Suddenly, the knight statue bent down, and its opened visor began to enlarge continuously, like a person bending over and opening their mouth wide enough for a slightly slim person to enter.

Fred glanced at the Marauder's Map to make sure no one was around, then quickly walked inside. George followed closely behind.

The narrow passageway was covered in dust and spiderwebs.

"I bet no one has walked this path in a long time," Fred said as he used his wand to brush away the spiderwebs, slowly making their way forward. As they descended, they reached a door at the exit—a stone door. But as Fred and George passed through, they found themselves blocked by a wooden door.

"Where are we?" George asked.

"The fourth floor. I remember this place. Some doors open to reveal another door behind them that can't be opened," Fred replied.

"I dare say this is a one-way passage," George said, pushing against the stone door.

Some of the doors in Hogwarts were not real doors at all; they were solid walls that appeared to be doors. Now it seemed that these were also doors, secret doors to the hidden passageways. However, they could only be passed through from the other side, and not directly from this side.

George carefully left the wooden door ajar, but as soon as he lifted his wand, a portrait wearing a nightcap and with a sleepy expression complained.

"Watch it, kids. We're trying to sleep here."

"Oh, sorry!" George immediately lowered his wand and said to Fred, "Let's get out of here."

"This way. I know there's another secret passage here!" Fred led the way briskly, and they stopped by a vase at the corner of the third floor.

George approached the vase and tapped it twice with his wand, saying, "Turn left, then right."

The vase made a slight friction sound, and a black dot suddenly appeared on the landscape painting hanging on the adjacent wall. The dot gradually enlarged, revealing a door. George stepped forward, grabbed the door handle, and gently pushed. The original picture frame opened, revealing the hidden entrance behind it.

It was only after the two of them entered that they realized it was a secret passage leading outside the castle. The exit was on the mountain path leading to the dock. The entrance was covered in weeds and, more importantly, no one could possibly see that there was a secret passage here.

After the twins walked out, the entrance on the mountainside gradually returned to its original state.

"Who would have known that there was another entrance here?" Fred tapped the rocky wall with his hand, completely unable to imagine that there was a door here.

"How do we get in? Don't tell me we'll be exposed to the wind all night," George said, shivering in the night breeze.

"Let me see." Fred glanced at the Marauder's Map and indeed found instructions on how to open the entrance.

"Tap the protruding stone three times?" he muttered to himself, searching for the described stone on the map. "Swiftly reveal."

The stone wall suddenly changed, revealing a hidden stone wall in front of them, which slowly opened.

The two of them quickly squeezed inside. The night wind was a bit chilly, and George almost caught a cold. On their way back, he sneezed several times.

"Are you okay?" Fred asked.

"I think I caught a bit of a chill," George rubbed his nose.

"Let's call it a night here. We have classes tomorrow," Fred yawned, covering his mouth.

George agreed.

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(End of this chapter)