Hogwarts: What wicked thoughts could a little wizard possibly have?

Chapter 30 Nighttime Travelogue

Vaughn hugged Fruit Tea comfortingly, fed it a small dried fish, and shrugged, saying, "That's how you do it. Take out some snacks and feed it."

"Don't lie to me."

Ron muttered, "Last time Harry fed it roast meat, it ignored him completely and chased us down three corridors. That wretched cat!"

Vaughn rolled his eyes at him: "My foolish brother, animals are very perceptive. They can tell who is sincere and who is not. Since your intentions are impure, of course it won't listen to you."

He scratched Mrs. Lorris's chin, and she purred contentedly, then rolled over, exposing her belly.

Its little paws waved, and it played with Vaughn's teasing fingers for a while.

"Alright, go back now, don't tell Filch." Vaughn stroked its fur again, frowning. "Hmm, I need to brew you some tonics, you're too thin."

Mrs. Lorris licked her fingers, glanced at Ron and Hermione again with her eerie eyes, wagged her tail, and went back to the trophy display room door.

Vaughn looked over there and asked, "Are you with Harry?"

"Yes, we're worried that Malfoy might bully him."

"Don't worry, I told Draco that if he causes Slytherin to lose points again, I'll turn him into a mouse and give him to Fruit Tea as a toy!"

Hermione laughed happily, "That's how you scare him."

Ron, however, clutched his pocket, his face turning pale. He didn't believe Vaughn was just trying to scare Malfoy.

"Alright, I'm taking Peeves for another walk now." Vaughn stood up and said to the two of them, "You can have Fruit Tea. After Harry finishes wiping the trophy, have Fruit Tea take it to me and you'll find me. I'll take you to some fun places; I've discovered quite a few secrets lately."

After saying that, Vaughn led Peeves away.

Hermione watched his retreating figure, her eyes shining even brighter:

"Ronald, you should really learn from your brother. He's good at studying and kind-hearted. Even Mrs. Lorris likes him."

Ron puffed out his cheeks, not wanting to talk to the "stupid girl"!

After waiting for more than an hour, Harry finally came out. He was so tired that he was delirious. When he saw Ron, he wiped his face with a rag.

Ron quickly stopped him, and Harry only came to his senses after he told Vaughn that he was going to take them on a nighttime walk.

As the group followed Fruit Tea on their way to find Vaughn, Harry was still complaining:

"...You have no idea how many trophies there were. You couldn't use spells; you had to polish them all by hand. By the time I was halfway through polishing them, my mind had completely gone blank."

Hermione chimed in, "Even if I asked you to use a spell, you wouldn't know how!"

Harry pretended not to hear and excitedly told his friends, "I saw my dad's Quidditch trophy, with his name on it, James Potter. Malfoy is so envious. Although he always brags about how great his family is, I know his dad doesn't have a trophy."

Ron was incredibly envious; his father didn't have one either... Although Charlie had received one before, it meant something different.

Guoguocha led the three of them to the second floor.

This floor is familiar to everyone; it houses the Defense Against the Dark Arts class, Transfiguration class, History of Magic class, Muggle Studies class, and the school infirmary.

There is also an abandoned girls' restroom here.

They followed Guoguocha and found Vaughn in the girls' restroom.

He was speaking to a female ghost, the weeping Myrtle:

"...Oh—Vaughn Weasley, sweetheart, you're so thoughtful. Nobody ever cares about me. They always yell 'That pesky Moaning Myrtle is here!' whenever they see me, waaaaah—"

She cried a few times, then suddenly screamed and threw a tantrum:

"So nobody gets to use this restroom! This is mine, I'll die here, and I'll always be here!"

Water sprayed from several faucets.

Vaughn watched all this with interest, noticing Harry, Ron, and Hermione arrive. He greeted them, "Don't be angry, Myrtle. Look, I've brought some friends with me."

Myrtle glanced at the three of them, showing little interest: "Sweetheart, I don't want to talk to ugly people. A beauty like me is only worthy of you."

The Ugly Trio: "..."

"Alright," Vaughn said regretfully, "I'll take them away first, and we can talk again later when we have time."

Myrtle hid her body in the toilet, leaving only her head sticking out, and said shyly and sweetly, "Mmm—okay, I'll always wait for you, darling."

Ron, holding his breath, stepped out of the bathroom and began to gasp for air: "Merlin, I feel like throwing up."

He looked at Vaughn incredulously: "How can you put up with her?"

Vaughn remained calm: "Don't you find this interesting? As far as I know, she's the youngest ghost in the entire academy, and she only died decades ago. How did she become like this? Also, she can affect the water pipes, which other ghosts can't do."

Ron and Harry didn't find it interesting at all.

Only Hermione suddenly felt that Moaning Myrtle seemed to be full of secrets, shimmering with the brilliance of knowledge.

Throughout the rest of the journey, Hermione kept asking Vaughn for his opinion on the problems with Moaning Myrtle.

After climbing six floors, Harry, exhausted and panting, had to interrupt them: "Vaughn, where are we going?"

"Eighth floor, almost there."

When they reached the eighth floor, Vaughn led them along the corridor to a tapestry depicting a giant beating up Barnabas.

"Step back a bit and stand under the tapestry."

"Vaughn instructed."

The three looked at each other and did as he said. They saw Vaughn walk to the wall opposite the tapestry and walk back and forth three times.

Then, a magical scene unfolded—

A smooth door suddenly appeared from within the wall.

Vaughn pushed open the door and waved to the three of them.

The three of them followed him blankly into the door and found a huge space inside.

Countless miscellaneous items were piled up, resembling the towering spires of a castle.

"Harry, Ron, Hermione, welcome to the Room of Requirement!"

Even after entering the magical world and coming into contact with magic, Harry still felt that the house that suddenly appeared from the wall was challenging his imagination.

The room was enormous, bigger than the Quidditch pitch. If Harry hadn't seen it with his own eyes, he would never have believed that he was still at Hogwarts.

The pile of junk contained all sorts of things: broken tables and chairs, tables that looked intact but were placed on the ground, and various items whose exact nature was unclear. Some were spinning around on the tables, while others were flying around in the air.

He stared, mesmerized, as he listened to Vaughn explain the room:

"The Room of Requirement can build a house that meets your needs based on your ideas. The method is to think about your needs and walk back and forth along the wall we came in with three times. For example, I was just thinking about hiding something, so the house looks like this now."