Chapter 78

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Under cover of night, I got out of bed. The thundering snores of my roommates hid the sounds of my movements as good as the silencing charms.

The rat was, as always, sleeping peacefully in the handy basket on the nightstand beside Ron's bed. It was a nice basket, with soft pads and everything. The rat lay there on his back, twitching his legs in his sleep. I remembered all the spells I knew, but I couldn't find anything reliable to put him to sleep for long periods of time. I'd have to wait for at least a trip to Hogsmeade, but the rat might escape.

Pointing my wand at the rat, I clearly imagined an intricate seal and letting the magic run through it, I said quietly:

"Flartris," the Sleep Illusion spell, or Labyrinth of Illusions.

Casts on the sleeper, immersing them in a cyclical illusion in which, based on past days and recent events, the sleeping mind generates different dreams. The spell's whole point is that it is extremely difficult to get out of it on your own. Even if you suddenly suspect you're dreaming and make an effort to wake up, you'll wake up in a dream. The spell is also tricky in that it forces your consciousness to create more and more real dreams over and over again. Memory sucks when you're asleep - you wake up and, consumed by the events of the new dream, forget that you're supposed to be awake.

The spell worked perfectly, and a translucent violet mist came off the wand, enveloped the rat, and disappeared. What to do next? I didn't know how to store the body. Then I'd have to hide it somewhere. Hmm... Hide... What do I know about animagi? The only real disadvantage is that it is impossible to turn into a human if space around does not provide the necessary volume and is limited by strong materials. Some book even described the experience of putting an animag-cat in a glass and iron box. The glass one broke during the reverse transformation, but the iron one didn't allow the transformation.

Why didn't I think of that before, huh?! I should have bought a cage... A cage?

I quickly grabbed the rat, put on my shoes, threw on my robe, put on my disillusionment charms with a few swings and phrases, and made my way out of the room and then out of the living room.

I walked quickly to the eighth floor to the portrait of a not-so-smart wizard who had decided to teach trolls ballet. These trolls, wearing ballet tutus, moved deftly, performed various pas, and beat the wizard with large bones, clubs, and other materials at hand. Rarely, but aptly.

How did this door open in the film? Going back and forth, wishing to hide something? Let's go. I really need to hide something...

After the third time, it worked, and on the opposite side of the portrait, a small arched door slowly appeared in the wall. I gently yanked on the handle, and the door opened.

It was pitch black inside, and I lit the Lumos on a wand. It was a huge room, with no end in sight. What next? No chests-boxes-books-diadem-I wasn't going to look for any of that, but a cage or a sturdy box was another matter.

Walking past giant mountains of assorted junk, from silver spoons to big oak tables, various pieces of cloth, old and rusty swords, busts, and monuments, I searched. I was looking for something.

I wandered for an hour, I wandered for two hours, I was covered in centuries-old dust. Then I came across some kind of book, obviously an ancestral book - even in a place like this, it had a faint sense of it. But it's not worth taking it - there must be protection, and the subject is kind of uninteresting, something on transfiguration. It could be a disguise, though. Too many "could be."

Closer to morning, if my sense of time was to be believed, I finally found the cage. Clearly magical, for an owl, with gilding. When I opened it, I put the rat there at once, and when I closed the latch, I felt a slight magical effect from the latch. Could it not be opened now? Oh, the hell with it!

After renewing the spell on myself, I went to Moaning Myrtle's bathroom. The nasty ghost wasn't here, and that was a good thing.

"Heshahassssa," I hissed at the snake depicted on the faucet in the sink. A quiet noise, a clang, and the passage to the secret room opened. I hadn't thought this through, and I'd have to try harder to get out... Ay, I'll figure it out later. I just threw the cage down. Unreasonable? Absolutely. Except it's almost impossible to wake someone under the spell of the Labyrinth of Illusions without knowing a counter-spell or a very, very powerful Finite.

"Hashehassssa."

The passageway closed, and I went to my room. Tomorrow...already today, I'll be drowsy. I'll have to stop by Madame Pomfrey's and get something refreshing. And borrow someone's broom, so I can fly over and put Peter in a safe place. And a basilisk corpse, too...

"Oaaah," I yawned, climbing the stairs in the main tower.

"... Somewhere around here? Yes?" I heard the distant echo of Filch's distorted voice in the hallway.

"... Meow."

I'm invisible, and I don't know anything!

I got to the common room, cleared myself with the spells, and went to sleep for the next couple of hours. Today was going to be a long day.