Chapter 81: Peeves and the Interrogation Room!

The Gryffindor common room is located on the eighth floor of Hogwarts Castle, connected to Gryffindor Tower. To reach the Gryffindor common room from the Great Hall on the first floor, one has to climb numerous stairs, pass through several curtains and secret doors. What's even more absurd is that the stairs inside Hogwarts are quite peculiar, moving or disappearing at will. If it weren't for Percy, the prefect, and the upper - year students leading the way, the first - years would surely get lost.

Along the way, the Gryffindor first - years curiously eyed the portraits all over the castle. They made eye contact with the thinking and movable figures in the paintings and nodded to each other.

Halfway through the journey, a special creature suddenly emerged and launched a surprise attack on the Gryffindor group, playing a prank. It was Peeves, the castle's parasitic spirit that was like a ghost but not really one, capable of solidifying its form and touching real objects!

Peeves was wearing a strange suit with colorful stripes and a top hat on his head. He was floating in the air, holding a bunch of 'ammunition' in his arms. As soon as they saw Peeves, some of the upper - year Gryffindor students' faces turned pale. Apparently, they had been pranked by Peeves many times in their previous school life.

As the prefect, Percy had to bring up the Bloody Baron to intimidate Peeves. The Bloody Baron was the only ghost that Peeves was afraid of. However, Peeves wasn't fooled at all. While laughing mockingly, he crazily threw the 'ammunition' in his arms at the group. A flurry of water balloons and broken wooden sticks rained down on them like a sudden hailstorm.

The Gryffindor students dodged one by one, but they couldn't avoid them all. Just when they were about to become soaking - wet and bruised, Dudley stepped in. Dudley pointed his Smelting stick and cast the Levitation Charm. All the water balloons and broken wooden sticks were frozen in the air and then slowly floated to the ground.

"Peeves, stop messing around!"

After Dudley defused Peeves' attack, he gently chided the spirit. Only then did Peeves stop his attempt to throw more stuff. Its strange beady eyes locked onto Dudley in the group. After confirming that this person was a wizard who had just been given special privileges by Hogwarts Castle, it extremely reluctantly stopped playing pranks:

"Oh~ How annoying! You guys are lucky!"

Peeves flew away. Percy looked at Dudley gratefully and continued leading the group forward.

After some time, they finally reached their destination. It was a corridor with a portrait of the Fat Lady hanging at the end. This was the entrance to the Gryffindor common room. Percy gave the password to the Fat Lady in the portrait. The portrait moved aside, revealing a circular passage. The Gryffindor students filed in one by one.

Dudley and Harry were at the back of the group. After the others had entered the common room, Dudley looked around the other parts of the eighth floor and had an idea in mind.

About seven or eight minutes later, Dudley and Harry arrived at the Gryffindor boys' dormitory and found the dorm room that had been assigned to them not long ago. Part of their luggage that they had left on the Hogwarts Express, as well as the large birdcage with Hedwig in it, had already been delivered here by the house - elves in advance.

The space here was quite spacious, with five large wooden beds featuring columns, canopies, and red curtains, each bed capable of accommodating one person, so in total they could accommodate five people.

Apart from Dudley and Harry, the remaining three roommates were Ron Weasley, the red - haired rascal; Neville Longbottom, the future swordmaster; and Seamus Finnigan, the blasting genius.

After a day on the train and expending so much energy and emotion in the Great Hall, Ron, Neville, and Seamus quickly climbed onto their wooden beds, drew the curtains, and fell into a deep sleep.

Dudley and Harry, who had also climbed into bed and pretended to be asleep, opened their eyes one after another in perfect unison.

They summoned their energy, quietly got out of bed, put on their robes, and slipped out of the dormitory without waking anyone.

As soon as they stepped out of the dormitory door, Dudley immediately cast the Invisibility Charm on himself and Harry. Their figures quickly blurred and in an instant became nearly indistinguishable from the surrounding environment, as if they had vanished.

The Invisibility Charm was the key incantation for wizards to conceal their figures and make regular invisibility cloaks.

This incantation didn't make people completely invisible. Instead, it was like endowing people with the characteristics of a chameleon, allowing them to blend in with the surrounding environment to achieve the purpose of invisibility.

It was truly a must - have spell for night patrols.

After concealing their figures, Dudley led Harry out of the Gryffindor common room to find a mysterious place also located on the eighth floor of the castle.

As they walked along the castle corridor with a clear destination in mind, Dudley suddenly felt an invisible thought guiding him on which way to go.

"The general consciousness of Hogwarts is really considerate!"

A hint of joy welled up in Dudley's heart. This would surely increase his efficiency.

In no time, Dudley and Harry stood in the middle of a quiet and empty corridor on the eighth floor of the castle.

There were two walls on either side. One wall had a tapestry on it, depicting a giant holding a large bone club and hitting an adult man.

In fact, what appears to be a giant hitting a man in the tapestry is actually a foolish man named Barnabas the Barmy teaching the giant to dance ballet.

Dudley didn't pay much attention to the tapestry. He told Harry to stand aside and paced back and forth along the wall opposite the tapestry, thinking in his mind:

"I need an Interrogation Room that isolates the inside from the outside, where prisoners cannot escape, and is equipped with a sturdy execution rack, chains, and shackles."

After pacing back and forth three times, a stone door suddenly appeared on the previously empty wall.

The Room of Requirement had responded to Dudley's request.

Dudley immediately led Harry, whose eyes were full of wonder, through the door. Inside was a dark - themed Interrogation Room.

In the center of the room, a tall blood - stained cross stood conspicuously, and there were many old and rusty black iron chains and shackles placed beside it.

Looking at the cruel equipment in the room, Harry swallowed hard and felt a bit panicked. However, he immediately cast the Calm Mind Spell on himself, forcing himself to stay calm.

"Cousin! I'm ready!" Harry said calmly.

Dudley looked at Harry. A flash of reluctance passed through his eyes, but it was quickly replaced by determination.

Rather than letting hatred fester in his heart, it was better to let it out.

Dudley walked to the cross and extended his finger, drawing a large circle in the air.

A sneaky adult wizard with a furtive look and a missing index finger immediately fell out of the circle.

It was none other than Peter Pettigrew, the rare rat Dudley and Harry bought from Ron for twenty Galleons.

This guy woke up in Dudley's Personal Space cage in the evening. Finally realizing something was amiss, he lifted his Animagus transformation and reverted to his human form.

However, the remaining rat poison in Peter Pettigrew's body still left him limp and immobile.