Having learned about Nicolas Flamel and the Philosopher’s Stone from Will, Harry and his friends fell into a state of anxiety, convinced that Snape was going to steal the Philosopher’s Stone and present it to Voldemort, and they were trying to think of countermeasures.
“If you ask me, we should go and protect the Philosopher’s Stone.” Ron thought for a moment and added, “Or we should get our hands on the Philosopher’s Stone, that way it will be easier to protect it.”
Harry nodded with deep feeling: “Ron is right, we should get our hands on the Philosopher’s Stone.”
“Are you guys crazy?” Hermione’s face was full of disbelief.
“Harry defeated You-Know-Who, remember? Perhaps letting Harry hold that stone is the safest thing.” Ron’s eyes flickered a bit.
“That’s not what I mean,” Hermione glared at Ron, “How are you going to get past the trapdoor guarded by that big dog? It could swallow both of you in one bite each, and what’s more, it’s staring at the others considering whether to have a second helping!”
“Harry, it’s too dangerous, you’re going to your deaths, you can’t possibly go down beneath the trapdoor.” Neville also began to dissuade them, though it sounded a bit harsh.
“Don’t talk nonsense, Neville, we’ll figure something out.” Ron muttered, “Anyway, we must get the Philosopher’s Stone before Snape does.”
“We could go ask Hagrid how to subdue that big dog.” Harry had just put forward the idea when Ron vetoed it.
“Harry, Hagrid doesn’t just look ordinary angry, and I don’t think he’ll tell us how to deal with that big dog, he’s even unwilling to believe that Snape would hurt you.”
“I mean we can wait until he cools down before asking him, Hagrid reveals a lot of news when he’s happy, remember just now?” Harry’s words made several of them realize that Hagrid was not good at keeping secrets.
“Perhaps we can give Hagrid a Christmas gift to make him happy.”
“But what does Hagrid like?” Neville wasn’t very familiar with Hagrid yet.
“He likes everything related to Magical Creatures best.” Harry said decisively, “We can send him some gifts related to Magical Creatures.”
“I’ll write a letter to Charlie and have him mail me a bag of Dragon scales.” Ron thought of his second brother, who was researching Dragons in Romania, and wanted his second brother to get him some scraps.
“Ron, Dragon scales are very precious magic materials, not only can they be used for alchemy, but they can also be made into Potion or used as special materials; and I saw in books that staff cannot casually take any output products of Dragons, are you sure your brother will really mail you a bag?” Hermione reminded him, which made Ron pause; he really didn’t know these things, he only knew that Charlie was researching Dragons.
“I can pay, I still have quite a few Galleons in my vault.” Harry volunteered, the thing he cared about most right now was stopping Voldemort.
“And, I think we should tell Professor Dumbledore.” Hermione put forward her own idea.
Neville stood beside Hermione: “I, I also think we should tell Professor Dumbledore, we can’t compare ourselves.”
“Hermione, what are you talking about?” Ron stared at Hermione somewhat perplexedly, “Wouldn’t that be equivalent to confessing to Professor Dumbledore that we entered the corridor on the right side of the fourth floor?”
Hermione looked at Ron and Harry, saying seriously: “Don’t be silly, what if we can’t stop Snape, he is an adult Wizard, and a Professor at Hogwarts, you don’t think you can deal with Snape, do you?”
“We should tell Professor Dumbledore, don’t forget, he is the only person You-Know-Who fears, if we want to stop You-Know-Who’s conspiracy, we should tell Professor Dumbledore.”
Hermione stared at the three boys seriously.
…
Harry stood in front of the Headmaster’s Office, feeling his throat a bit dry.
Would Professor Dumbledore deduct points from Gryffindor because he broke into that corridor?
Would he believe his words?
Would he believe that Snape wanted to steal the Philosopher’s Stone?
He suddenly felt that having his friends send him here was simply a mistake, and he didn’t know what the password to the office was; what if Professor Dumbledore wasn’t in the office today or wouldn’t come back, would he have to wait a day?
Fortunately, a few minutes later, his doubts were dispelled.
Professor Dumbledore pushed the door open and came out, his eyes behind his moon-shaped glasses revealing a look of surprise: “Harry, what are you doing here?”
Harry swallowed his saliva: “Professor, I want to talk to you about the Philosopher’s Stone.”
Dumbledore raised his eyebrows and let Harry into the office.
An hour later, Harry came out of the office.
Facing his friends, Harry told them a piece of news: “Professor Dumbledore said that Snape is absolutely trustworthy, and it is impossible for him to steal the Philosopher’s Stone.”
This left several of them baffled, and Ron even began to doubt Dumbledore: “Is the Professor getting too old…”
Their investigation had hit a dead end.
…
[You have used spells multiple times, you are more proficient in a certain spell, Charms experience + 1]
[You have acquired new curse-study knowledge, Curses experience + 1]
[You have acquired new Dark Arts knowledge, Dark Arts experience + 1]
[You have acquired new spell knowledge, Charms experience + 1]
The past month had been quite peaceful for him, and by before Christmas, he finally leveled up two more levels, raising Curses to Level 2, Herbology to Level 3, and most importantly, he farmed quite a bit of Ancient Runes experience, having ground Ancient Runes to [Ancient Runes LV2 (100/200)].
It wouldn’t be long before Ancient Runes could also acquire an additional ability.
[Potions LV3 (99/300)]
((LV2 Additional Ability, Eye of Discernment: You can more easily distinguish state changes of Potions; LV3 Additional Ability, Potion Proliferation: The yield of Potions you brew increases by 5%))
[Curses LV2 (79/200)]
((LV2 Additional Ability, Curse Factor: Your resistance to curses increases by 10%))
…
Amidst peace and harmony, Christmas was approaching, and the young wizards were already becoming restless because the holiday was near.
One morning, Will was eating breakfast when his owl flew into the dining hall, dropped a letter for him, and hit his fried egg right on target.
Will somewhat opened the letter stained with a bit of grease — this was his first time receiving a letter at Hogwarts.
The very first line made him raise his eyebrows in surprise.
Dear son:
I already know that you have gone to study at Hogwarts…