Chapter 29: “The Punishment”

On Friday, after returning to the common room after dinner, Sean tidied up his things and prepared to leave the Ravenclaw common room. In the morning, he received a note from Professor Flitwick that his punishment would begin on Friday night.

When he was about to go out, Hermione also came out of the hallway.

“Sean, are you going out?” Hermione asked. She saw Sean wearing the clothes he was going out.

Tomorrow is a day off, and Hermione has put on comfortable casual clothes. Her upper body is a slim-fitting creamy white cashmere sweater, and her lower body is a beautiful plaid skirt. Her straight and slender legs are wrapped in thick black stockings.

“You look great.” Sean complimented her with a smile, trying to change the subject.

“Oh, thank you.” Hermione blushed slightly but responded immediately, “Don’t change the subject, Sean!”

Sean sighed secretly. Praising her was his usual routine to divert the topic he didn’t want to discuss. But now that the two of them had become more familiar, Hermione could immediately sense his intentions.

“No, Hermione. This is my sincere compliment. Anyways, Professor Flitwick called me, so I’ll go first.” Sean tried to fool her.

Hermione stopped in front of him and said suspiciously, “I saw you sneaking into the common room in the middle of the night a few days ago, and I thought it was a bit strange at the time. Besides, Professor Flitwick’s office is in the castle. Don’t you need to wear anything?” She pointed to a corner of his armpit.

“Well, I’ll be honest. I’m going to the Forbidden Forest.” Sean shrugged.

Hermione’s eyes widened all of a sudden. She looked around and said in a low voice, “Are you crazy? Not getting caught by Mr. Filch itself is already hard, and you still wanted to go to the Forbidden Forest?! It’s dangerous! You can’t go, or I’ll tell Professor Flitwick!”

Sean smiled embarrassingly, “Actually, I’m accompanied by someone…”

“Huh?”

After a while, Hermione raised her voice in dissatisfaction, “You actually went out and got caught?!”

Sean tapped his forehead with a headache, and he knew that if Hermione learned the news, she would definitely be angry.

“I was just curious, and I ran out of my luck, I guess.”

Hermione glared at him angrily and then became worried again, “You can’t go to the Forbidden Forest even if you are given a punishment. I read it in books, it’s a very dangerous place, and it’s the night! No, I’m going to find Professor Flitwick and persuade him to change his mind.”

“It’s alright,” Sean grabbed Hermione, “the teachers won’t put me in danger deliberately. I’ve heard that Hagrid is the person who accompanied me and is very familiar with the environment.”

“But…” Hermione’s eyebrows were still furrowed.

“Don’t worry,” Sean clapped her hand, then withdrew his arm with a gentle smile on his face, “I know you worried about me, but I’ll be fine with Hagrid. It’s just a little bit of punishment that I’ll have to go through.”

Hermione’s face turned red. She unnaturally withdrew the hand Sean had just patted and whispered, “Well, please be careful later.”

“I understood, Your Highness.” Sean smiled and touched his chest with one hand, bowing in greeting.

After leaving the common room, Sean breathed a sigh of relief. His methods for girls were still somewhat useful. Otherwise, it would have been a long delay just to be stopped by Hermione asking questions.

However, Sean didn’t care about the punishment this time, and Voldemort didn’t need the blood of unicorns to continue his life. Hagrid could completely deal with other magical animals in the Forbidden Forest.

What’s more, he still has a magical beast’s egg that hasn’t hatched. It may be the best time to make a good relationship with Hagrid. When he came to the exit of the castle, Filch, with a lantern, was already waiting there. Unexpectedly, there were two people beside him.

It was Harry and Draco.

When Sean walked over, he saw the two staring at each other.

“Hey, Harry.” Sean greeted with a smile.

Harry gave Draco one last look, then turned his head to say hello.

“Hey, Draco. We meet again.” Sean kept smiling.

“Wallup.” Draco glanced at Harry disdainfully and greeted him slowly.

“Boys, this is not the time to say hello,” Filch interrupted their greetings, then glanced at the three of them maliciously, “Come here and follow me.”

Walking on the gravel road outside the castle, Filch continued to ramble, “What a pity, I thought I could use those chains. However, the Forbidden Forest is also a good choice.”

“Ha—” He laughed nervously, “I heard that there are werewolves in there.”

“Werewolves?” Draco’s face paled a bit, and his lips trembled slightly, “This is not right. You can’t let us go to the Forbidden Forest.”

Harry’s expression also became a little scared.

“Come here, you guys!” Just as Filch was about to continue to sneer, a huge voice greeted them not far away.

It was Hagrid, with his giant crossbow and a quiver hanging from his shoulders, and behind him was that dog who looked fierce named Fang.

“It’s almost time,” he said. “I’ve been waiting for half an hour. How are you, Harry?”

“You shouldn’t be so polite to them, Hagrid,” Filch said coldly. “After all, they’re here to be punished.”

“That’s why you’re late, aren’t you?” Hagrid said, frowning at Filch. “Teaching them all the time, eh? This isn’t your place to teach people. Your job is done. From now on, I am in charge.”

“I’ll be back in the morning to pick up their wreckage,” Filch said, turning toward the castle.

Hagrid waved a big hand, snorted gruffly, and looked at Sean with a smile on his face, “Oh, Sean. I haven’t seen you in a while. How are you?”

Sean smiled and shook hands with Hagrid, “I’m fine, to be honest. I’m looking forward to tonight’s trip.”

“Oh,” Hagrid’s eyes lit up, “do you like magical beasts very much?”

“Of course, Hagrid,” Sean nodded earnestly, “I’ve been looking forward to meeting you.”

Hagrid’s smile became more and more enthusiastic. The first impression Sean gave him was good, but now he also likes magical beasts, which made him even happier.

“You can see a lot of good things tonight,” he winked at Sean, “Let’s go!”