Chp 7: Midnight Duel

After the conversation with Daphne, Brian accompanied her back to the Slytherin common room.

"Please don't tell anyone what I said today," Brian told her. "This is a secret between us."

"Don't worry, Brian. I won't tell anybody else," Daphne replied before going back to her room.

Brian watched as she disappeared up the stairs. After sorting his robes, he made sure that no one was around before walking out of the common room. He was going to participate in the midnight duel between Harry and Draco tonight.

It was too hard to get points and he did not want to miss any opportunity to get more. The points are very important to him, as it can boost his magic power. A wizard's magic power is limited to his talent. It will stop growing once he becomes an adult.

Powerful wizard like that of Dumbledore is rare. Not everyone is as lucky as him to have a Phoenix familiar and a powerful artefact like the Elder Wand. As for Voldemort, Brian did not want to turn himself into a nose-less looking monster by undergoing dangerous magical transformation.

It wasn't difficult to know when and where the duel would take place as Malfoy had been boasting about it in the common room since afternoon. So, that night, Brian was slowly heading towards the Trophy Room on the fourth floor.

He had to be careful not to draw Filch, the caretaker of Hogwarts, or Mrs. Norris, his cat, although it appeared that they were not here at this time.

Brain, however, noticed the Bloody Baron in the corridor, gazing at the Ravenclaw towers from the window.

"Good evening, Bloody Baron." Brian gave a slight bow when the Slytherin house ghost turned to him.

Bloody Baron acknowledged him with a nod and continued to look out the window. Seeing that the ghost didn't want to talk with him, he continued to walk along the corridor.

"Filch is up ahead."

Brian froze in his tracks when he heard a deep, gruff voice coming from behind. He turned to the ghost and said, "Thank you for telling me, sir."

"I want to go to the Trophy Room. Can you show me another way to get there?" he asked.

Bloody Baron turned his head away from the window, gave him a moment of blank stare, and then drifted off in the other direction.

Just when Brian thought that the ghost was going to ignore him again, Bloody Baron's voice could be heard faintly in the distance. "Come with me."

Brian hurried after the ghost. They went through several narrow corridors and entered a secret passage. Looking at Bloody Baron's ghostly form, he had the impression that he was much more approachable than the stories had led him to believe.

Not long after, they arrived at the Trophy Room. Brian thanked the Slytherin house ghost and went inside after making sure that Filch wasn't there.

Bloody Baron also followed, floating behind Brian with blank eyes. He was curious what a first-year doing in this room past curfew.

There are all kinds of medals, statues, and trophies kept behind glass cabinets. Since there was still some time, Brian looked at the trophies on display. Suddenly, a trophy caught his attention. The name T. M. Riddle was written on it.

"This is the Special Award trophy for services to the school that was awarded to a student fifty years ago." Brian recognized the writing on the trophy, "Do you know this student, sir?"

"Yes, he was a Slytherin and an excellent student. He received the award for capturing a student who had opened the Chamber of Secrets," Bloody Baron replied.

"I see." Brian nodded. It seemed even the Slytherin house ghost did not know that Voldemort was Tom Riddle. He kept his secret well.

Then, they continued to view the rest of the old trophies. Sometimes, Bloody Baron would tell him the stories behind these trophies.

All of sudden, the door to the Trophy Room was opened. Brian looked over and saw four little wizards from Gryffindors standing in the doorway, seemingly petrified at the sight of him and Bloody Barrow in the room. They were Harry, Ron, Hermione and Neville.

Even with the light from the moon, the room remained dim. Half of Brian's body was hidden in the darkness. His pale complexion gave the impression of a vampire in a dark castle. The gloomy and terrifying Bloody Baron didn't help either.

"Come inside and close the door. You wouldn't want Filch to find us here, do you?" Brian said.

Hearing that, they quickly got into the room and shut the door behind them. Harry and Ron gave Brian a wary and distrustful look. They looked around the room, thinking that Draco must have been hiding somewhere, ready to sneak attack them.

Neville didn't say anything and bowed his head. The only one who greeted him was Hermione. "Hi Brian!"

Brian nodded at her and said, "I heard about this from Draco. So, I thought I'd come over to take a look, but it looks like he lied to you guys."

But before they could say anything else, Filch's faint voice came from outside, startling the four Gryffindors.

"I think Draco must have told Filch that you guys would be here," Brian said. "Follow me!"

Only Hermione followed him. The other Gryffindors didn't know whether to follow Brian or not. But since Filch's voice was getting closer, they had no choice but to follow after him.

As they were running away, Neville tripped over a suit of armour, sending it crashing to the floor. Filch was immediately alerted by the loud noise and hurried over.

"Come on, Neville!" Brian helped Neville up and quickly led them to the forbidden corridor on the fourth floor.

As they turned around a corner, they saw Peeves flying in the hallway, screaming loudly. "Nasty first years are out after curfew!"

"Peeves! Don't shout, please!" Ron went to grab Peeves to shut him up but failed.

Peeves continued to scream. Except for Brian, the others were panicking right now. They could hear Filch getting closer to them.

Brian was looking around, wondering if the Bloody Baron was following them.

"Bloody Baron? Are you there? Can you give us some help?" Brian asked loudly.

"Bloody Baron?" Peeves trembled hearing that name. He quickly looked around before sighing in relief. It seemed this first year was only trying to scare him.

"You nasty brat. You dare to lie to the great Peeves? I'll prank—"

Bloody Baron suddenly appeared behind him, and he lifted Peeves by the scruff of the neck, shutting him up. He gave a nod to Brian and disappeared through the castle's stone walls with Peeves begging for mercy.

"No! I was wrong! Poor Peeves…"

"Great!" Ron said excitedly.

"Hurry up. Filch will be here soon," Brian whispered and quickly led them to a door.

"The door is locked!" Harry tried to open the door but found that it wouldn't budge.

"Let me try." Brian pulled out his wand and tapped the lock, murmuring, "Alohomora."

The door immediately swung open and they hurriedly stepped inside. As soon as they locked the door, Filch's voice could be heard from outside.

While the others were sighing in relief, Brian was looking at a Three-headed dog, also known as a Cerberus. Its fierce gaze was now fixed on them. It growled angrily at them, showing off a row of sharp teeth and dripping saliva.

What happened next was just like in the books. The four Gryffindors let out a frightened scream and fled out the room. Brian was the last to leave as he quickly cast a colloportus at the door, locking it and keeping the big dog inside.

After that, they went somewhere else to hide and rest. Everybody went back to their common rooms after Filch was no longer patrolling in the corridors.