boom!
The sound of the bookshelf collapsing was enough to wake up everyone in the castle.
At this moment, Fred and the other two who were playing cat and mouse with Filch on the third floor of the castle were also startled by the loud noise. They stopped and pricked up their ears to listen to the noises around them.
Filch, who was still chasing a few people, also stopped and looked in the direction of the sound in astonishment.
"The sound seems to come from the fifth floor." Filch said to himself, and he immediately turned and rushed towards the library.
"What was that noise just now?" George was the first to be unable to suppress his curiosity.
"I'm not sure. It might have been Albert who did it. Let's go back to the lounge first." Fred made a prompt decision and said, "Go back quickly before the noise attracts other professors."
"Hurry!" George shouted, and the three of them began to run along the corridor at full speed. They had to return to the common room before the professors showed up. Because Albert had told them that the professors at Hogwarts had the ability to see through the Disillusionment Curse on them.
Running through corridor after corridor, the three of them went to the seventh floor through the secret passage beside the corridor. Halfway through, Lee Jordan asked again: "Are we going to the meeting point? What about Albert?"
"That guy must have gotten away before us."
"Go straight back to the common room."
In fact, their approach was quite correct. Shortly after the sound was heard, several professors in the castle were awakened by the sound and came over to check the situation.
In the corridors and aisles, the portraits were running back and forth, trying to figure out what was going on.
By the time Filch checked the fifth floor, Albert had already fled the crime scene, and he was even faster than them.
Before leaving, Albert did not forget to close the entrance to the library.
It was also for this reason that Filch was unable to find the crime scene for a while. He only roughly knew where the sound came from, but when he went to check, he found nothing.
The culprit who caused all this was hurrying towards the Gryffindor common room.
Albert tried his best not to make any sound, but the people in the portraits had been awakened by the sound just now. After hearing the light footsteps, they turned around curiously and looked at the empty corridor.
After going upstairs, Albert walked halfway along the corridor, then lifted a tapestry on the wall and walked up a narrower staircase, which was a shortcut that led to the eighth floor.
As for Fred and the others, they have the Marauder's Map with them so they shouldn't be caught. Albert is not worried about their safety at all.
When he arrived near the entrance of the common room, he did not remove the magic on his body, and waited here for Fred and the others.
A few minutes later, several people hurried over and looked at Albert who was still waiting for them outside in confusion, and asked in confusion: "Why don't you go into the lounge?"
"When we are invisible, the Fat Lady won't open the door for us." Albert reminded, "Come with me, let's go to the Room of Requirement to rest first. Just in case, we should not be seen."
Fred and the other two looked confused, but they still followed Albert to the Room of Requirement. In this situation, they were willing to trust Albert's judgment. After all, Albert's brain was much better than theirs, and he must have a reason for doing this.
On the other side, Filch was inspecting the library, because the noise just now did sound like the sound of bookshelves collapsing in the library. However, when Filch entered the library, he did not find any signs of the bookshelves collapsing.
Yes, no, even in the restricted books area, there was still no sign of any bookshelf collapsing, as if the sound had never occurred.
At this moment, Filch knew that he had been fooled. Yes, he had been fooled, just like the helmet that was stuck to the floor on the fourth floor and the damn dung ball thrown in the corridor, including the noise here, all of which were people playing tricks on him.
Yes, it was those bastards he was chasing just now. Filch vaguely guessed who they were.
As for the Gryffindor twins, although there was no evidence, Filch had a hunch that it was them who did it.
"Filch? What happened?"
Snape walked into the library wearing a gray shirt-style long nightgown and with a gloomy face.
"I just heard a noise and came to check the situation. I think it was probably caused by some students on purpose." Filch turned and looked at Snape, and whispered, "I was just chasing them. There are several students wandering around the castle in the middle of the night, professor."
"Student, very good, we will catch them." Snape looked around the library and stepped into the restricted area to take a look, but found no signs of collapsed bookshelves.
"What's going on?" Professor McGonagall walked in quickly. She was wearing a plaid dressing gown and a hairnet. She looked around the library seriously. She obviously thought that the sound just now was a bit like the sound of a bookshelf collapsing.
"There were people in the restricted section of the library just now," Filch said immediately. "I was just looking for a few students who were wandering around the school in the middle of the night. They should be in the same group, and they are most likely... Gryffindor students."
"Do you have any evidence?" Professor McGonagall asked with a frown.
"What's going on here?" Smith appeared outside the door in a bronze pajamas. "Are you planning a pajama party?"
"Someone is making a loud noise here, Professor. We suspect it was made by students. There were several students wandering around the school tonight." Filch said in a low voice. He rarely spoke loudly in front of professors.
"Filch, you just said that it was probably done by a Gryffindor student?" Professor McGonagall asked. "Do you have any evidence?"
"You can ask the gatekeeper at the Gryffindor entrance." Snape suddenly said. He was very happy to see the students of Hogwarts get unlucky and have points deducted.
"Well, that's a good idea." Filch nodded.
Professor McGonagall frowned slightly, but ultimately did not object.
Several professors went to the eighth floor and found Gryffindor's gatekeeper, the Fat Lady, at the entrance of Gryffindor.
"Ma'am, did anyone just enter the common room?" asked Professor McGonagall.
"No," said the Fat Lady.
"Are there any students leaving?" asked Snape.
"Yes." said the Fat Lady.
"Who are they?" Filch asked eagerly.
"I don't know, they are invisible." said the Fat Lady.
"Just look at who's not in the dormitory to know who's been wandering around the castle," Snape suggested maliciously.
"Doing this will wake up the sleeping students." Professor McGonagall obviously did not agree with this method.
"Only senior students can use the Disillusionment Charm." Professor Smith suddenly reminded, "I think since they didn't enter the common room, they should still be somewhere in the castle. We will find those naughty students."
Smith obviously did not agree with waking up other students. However, in fact, a large number of students had already been awakened by the noise just now.
"I'll find them," Filch gritted his teeth.
However, Filch and several other professors searched the castle several times, even the secret passages, but found nothing.
Well, okay!
In fact, there were two scapegoats.
A Ravenclaw girl and a Hufflepuff boy became scapegoats. The couple was actually dating in a secret passage, but were caught by Filch who suddenly broke in.
Each of them was deducted 50 points.
But after questioning, it was obvious that they were not the people Filch was looking for.
As for the group of Gryffindor students that Filch is looking for
The professors turned almost the entire castle upside down, but still found no trace of the Gryffindor students.
There was no way, because they didn't know that there was a hidden room on the eighth floor of the castle. It was called the Room of Requirement.