He unfortunately seems to not be anywhere in sight. Mrs. Norris bristles and hisses, then bounds off.

"We need to run away! If she gets Filch we're doomed!"

Running away would be breaking the rules... but they've already broken the rules through no fault of their own. And Argus Filch is terrifying.

He thinks he can navigate the school well enough, although he's never done it at night...

"This way," he says, picking himself up off the floor.

He gets up and follows.

He hurries, but quietly. Stairs, corridor, more stairs - Mrs. Norris went that way so they should go here -

Except they hear Filch's voice a bit ahead of them: "What is it, my sweet? Students out of bed? Show me them!"

Back the other way, then - maybe the Fat Lady will be back -

But the stairs have shifted. Now they lead down instead of up.

Well, better lost than captured. Muninn will find them. Onward.

They'll certainly manage to get away from Filch's voice! Except it becomes increasingly obvious how lost they are and by the third unfamiliar corridor Neville starts sniffling. "We're lost... what are we gonna do...?"

"We'll be fine," says Victor. "Muninn will find us and lead us back to the tower. We just have to keep out of Mr. Filch's way until then."

"But how will Muninn even find us? We could be anywhere!"

"He's my raven; he always knows how to find me."

"I guess that makes sense..."

He shuffles along.

This corridor is completely unfamiliar. Victor looks around for anything recognizable.

Nothing whatsoever.

And there's Mrs. Norris at one end of it. She hisses and starts running after them.

- back the other way then.

They go around a corner and run some more but then they can hear Filch's voice coming from the other end of the corridor—" Are they here, my sweet?"

Cat behind, Filch ahead... and a door locked with a padlock on a wall between.

This is probably a bad idea but it would also be a bad idea to get caught -

"Alohomora," he whispers, tapping the padlock with his wand.

They slip through the door and close it and Neville leans with his back against it, breathing heavily.

They can hear the sound of footsteps outside. "Where are they, sweet? They were here? I don't see them. We should look, students shouldn't be out of bed..." And the footsteps recede.

Wherever they are, it is somewhere they should not be, and therefore they should get out of it again as soon as possible. Victor listens intently to the receding footsteps.

"Victor," Neville says, his voice trembling, looking up at—

—they aren't in a room. They're in a corridor. The forbidden corridor on the third floor. And they're looking straight into the eyes of a monstrous dog, a dog that fills the whole space between ceiling and floor. It has three heads. Three pairs of rolling, mad eyes; three noses, twitching and quivering in their direction; three drooling mouths, saliva hanging in slippery ropes from yellowish fangs. And under it—a trapdoor.

It's standing quite still, all six eyes staring at them, and it seems to be quickly getting over its surprise; there's no mistaking what those thunderous growls mean.

- right, being caught out of bed at night is still better than being eaten by an enormous three-headed dog. He opens the door again and pulls Neville out into the hall, then closes the padlock.

And if this is the forbidden corridor then that is the way back to Gryffindor Tower -

It might be but Neville is way too terrified to comment and where is Muninn he'll just follow Victor wherever—

They're back on familiar ground after a couple of turns. He listens carefully for trouble and hurries.

There is no more trouble on their way. Neville whimpers quietly whenever they see a particularly lifelike statue or a painting snores too loudly.