"Quick!"
Nymphadora quickened her pace. She saw a figure coming towards them not far from the castle. The figure had a hooked nose and shoulder-length black hair. From a distance, it looked like a black bat.
He was the last person the Hogwarts expedition team wanted to see. If they were entangled with Professor Snape, it would mean that trouble would follow.
I'll stop Professor Snape. "Nymphadora looked as if she was ready to die. She pointed to the towering tree and said," That's the Whaling Willow. You have to throw stones at the scars on the branches. It will stop attacking. There's a secret passage under the tree that leads to the Hogsmeade. Let's move!
Quick! Quick! "
She ran towards Professor Snape.
Taking advantage of the time Nymphadora sacrificed herself to buy, they hurriedly took action.
But after picking up stones and throwing them for a long time, none of them hit the scars. Harry looked at his hand that was holding the stones and for the first time, doubted his athletic talent.
"Why don't we just get close to it and press on the scars?" George suggested. "Otherwise, we won't be able to —"
Ron opened his mouth wide. This tree was definitely a spirit. When it heard George say that he was going to get close, it directly stretched out a branch and sent George flying. Fred hurried over to help George up.
"Hiss — this tree is too violent!"
Anna pinched her chin and thought. The secret passage of the Whaling Willow led to the Screaming Shack. The main purpose of this shack was to prevent Moon Face Lupin from turning into a werewolf and hurting the students.
Werewolves did not attack animals, so the remaining three members of the Marauders — James, Sirius, and Peter Pettigrew — had all cultivated Animagus in order to accompany Lupin when he transformed.
Every time Lupin transformed, the Animagus would climb up the Whaling Willow and press on the scars.
This meant that the Whaling Willow, as its name implied, could only hit people.
"Harry, where's Mr. Mighty?"
Harry took out a fluffy yellow ball from his cloak. "Buzz —"
Anna put Mr. Wei Meng on the ground and pointed at the scab on the Whaling Willow. "Mr. Wei Meng, go and touch the scar on the trunk."
Mr. Mighty quickly displayed his usefulness. A furry ball nimbly climbed up the Whaling Willow. Even when Mr. Mighty pressed down on the scab, the Whaling Willow did not react at all.
"Did you succeed?" Anna tried to approach the Whacking Willow.
"Let me do it." Fred was the first to approach the willow tree. There was no movement and it was very safe. "Let's go!
He's not attacking people anymore! "
As they ran towards the entrance of the secret passage, they saw Nymphadora standing to the side dejectedly with an expression of 'who am I?' and 'where am I?' on her face. Professor Snape had already easily broken through Nymphadora's defensive line and was walking towards the Whomping Willow.
The few of them hurriedly entered the secret passage, but at this time, an unexpected person appeared.
"Uh — Professor Snape, um — I mean, I have a question to ask you." Percy suddenly appeared. Snape frowned and was forced to stop.
Percy was holding a small book and seemed to have made a great decision. "There's a problem with a magic potion that has been bothering me for a long time. I have to figure it out today …"
"Percy!" Ron screamed in a low voice. "Am I seeing things?
That's Percy! "
"He's actually helping us!" George was horrified.
"Unbelievable!" Fred was doubtful.
"Is this surprising?" Harry was puzzled. "Isn't he also your brother?"
Well, it hit the soul. Harry's question was very good.
Perhaps Percy, as the third son of the Weasley family, had never been acknowledged by his younger brothers.
Anna knew that the seven children of the Weasley family were very close, but there was a degree of 'very close' — Percy, who was serious, tidy, wore glasses, and was praised by Mrs. Weasley, was the one who didn't fit in among the seven children.
The twins liked to prank him, Ron and Jenny didn't like to listen to his nagging, and the two brothers, Bill and Charlie, had the same personality as the twins — everyone loved to joke around, but he was the only one who was different among the Weasley children.
In addition, as the third child born, he should have experienced the rich times of the Weasley family — a pureblood family — when he was young. As the number of younger brothers and sisters increased, the Weasley family's burden increased, and he experienced a life of poverty again.
He knew the importance of money, and having no say among his brothers and sisters made him especially thirsty for power and attention — perhaps this was the reason why he later followed the Ministry of Magic.
But what couldn't be forgotten was that in the end, family affection made him choose to return, to return to the Burrow, to return to his family —
Just like now, he resolutely stood in front of 'one of the people on the road to success,' Director Slytherin, to buy time for his brothers.
The three Weasley family members were silent.
"Well, maybe he's not that … Well, anyway, we have to hurry back, so that we have time to clear the goblins out of his room …" Fred was not very confident.
"What!" Ron was surprised. "The goblins we cleared yesterday were all in Percy's room!"
"Not all of them …" George smiled. "We saw that you weren't around this morning, so we put two in your room."
Ron and the twins ran into the secret passage, playing around. Anna and Harry looked at each other and quickly followed.
This secret passage was very long, a bit like a pipe, and much wider than the secret passage of the Duke of Honey. Fred said that it was dug by a 'taller goblin.'
After about ten minutes of trekking, they made a sharp turn, and a faint light appeared in front of them.
It was a dusty room, the windows were boarded up, and the wind whistled through the gaps between the boards. Yellowed paper was pasted on the walls, and the floor was full of dirty mud spots, messy footprints, and even bloodstains that had dried for a long time.
It looked like the scene of a criminal case.
Harry held on tightly to Mr. Mighty, who was eager to try. He could not simply eat the dust, it was inauspicious.
"Another 92 Diagon Alley!"
Fred looked around. It seemed that '92 Diagon Alley' had become synonymous with dirty, messy, and horrible houses.
"Dudu?
Dudu?
Dudu?
Could there be some house elves living here? I suggest that we don't go upstairs this time … "George looked at the broken wooden stairs in the corner with lingering fear.
"Agreed!" Ron pulled Harry to hide behind George.
"Has anyone fought with a bear here?"
Fred peeked at Anna and moved away the lame wooden chair that was blocking the way. The furniture here seemed to have been deliberately smashed.
Anna noticed Fred's gaze and explained with a smile, "It's my first time here, so I didn't have time." There was no bear, but there was a werewolf.
"Hey!
There's a door! "
Ron poked his head out from behind George and pointed to an inconspicuous corner, where there was indeed a wooden door.
"Can you open it?" Anna kicked the wooden door with her foot, but it did not move. "Hey!
I don't believe there's a door in this world that I, Anna, can't open! "
"Anna!
Calm down! "
Harry was frightened. He thought that Anna was going to use the 'Terrorist Lock-Picking Spell' again. He grabbed Anna's arm that was fumbling in the blue cloth bag. "Don't be impulsive!"
Anna took out a black hair clip with a strange expression. "What's there to be impulsive about? I'm calm —"
She looked excited. "Boys, let me show you a magical Muggle technique —"
"Lock picking."