Chapter 441: Taking Action
Chapter 441: Taking Action
"What's wrong with Ron?" Harry asked hurriedly as he rushed into the Great Hall, seeing Ron looking dejected beside Hermione. He wondered what had happened to make Ron look so glum.
"He just got eliminated from the Wizarding Chess tournament," Hermione explained, holding back a laugh as she briefly recounted how Ron had been easily defeated in the preliminary rounds.
Ron's skills in Wizarding Chess were indeed terrible, and he had been thoroughly trounced, causing him to fall into a sullen silence.
"Shut up, Hermione," Ron snapped, glaring at her. Being defeated so easily had dealt a blow to his confidence.
"You've barely played a handful of games, Ron," Hermione teased. "What made you think you could win against students who play regularly?"
"Chess and Wizard's Chess are both games that require strategic thinking..." Ron tried to defend himself, but Harry cut him off.
"Listen, I have something important to tell you both." Harry led them out of the noisy Great Hall to an empty corridor, then shared what he had accidentally overheard in the classroom.
Hearing that Snape was pressuring Quirrell to reveal how to get past the protections around the Philosopher's Stone concerned both Hermione and Ron, and they exchanged anxious glances.
"Are you sure?" Hermione asked in a low voice.
"Has Professor Quirrell given in?"
"Not yet, it seems, but I don't know how long he can hold out," Harry replied worriedly. "Maybe we should do something to stop this from happening."
"But... there's nothing we can do," Hermione frowned, deep in thought. "Perhaps we should talk to Hagrid about this."
"Hagrid doesn't believe us," Ron reminded them glumly.
The three friends fell silent, knowing that Hagrid did not believe their suspicions about Snape trying to steal whatever Dumbledore had hidden. He thought they were prejudiced against Snape and had brushed off their concerns.
Even if Harry, Hermione, and Ron wanted to beat Snape to the Philosopher's Stone, they had no way of getting past Hagrid's three-headed dog. Trying to force their way through would only result in them getting their legs bitten off.
"Let's write a letter to the headmaster," Hermione suggested. "Even if Professor Dumbledore doesn't believe us, he should at least be alerted to the possibility."
She knew that it was almost impossible for the three of them to stop Snape from stealing the stone, and it was really a matter for the headmaster to handle.
"Who will write the letter?" Harry agreed, unsure if Dumbledore would believe their claims but knowing that doing something was better than nothing.
"I think the headmaster won't believe you." A cold voice suddenly sounded behind them, and the trio jumped, turning to see Snape's ugly, sullen face.
Their hearts skipped a beat in that moment.
"Potter, your thoughts never cease to amaze me," Snape said, his mouth twisting in a sneer. "Perhaps you should consider that slandering a professor is enough for me to take a hundred points from each of you."
"Professor, I think you've misunderstood," Harry replied dryly. "We never intended to slander any professor, nor would we do such a thing."
"See that you don't," Snape said, staring at Harry for a long moment before turning to leave. "Don't give me an opportunity."
"Harry, what do we do now?" Ron asked, angry and anxious about Snape's threat.
Harry did want to write to Dumbledore, but now he hesitated. If Gryffindor lost a large number of points, they would have no chance of beating Slytherin. He also knew that many students were hoping for a Gryffindor victory, and he didn't want to ruin that.
The three friends were at a loss for what to do next.
Finally, Harry decided to write to Dumbledore anyway, but the letter made no mention of Snape. Instead, it warned that someone at the school had their eye on the Philosopher's Stone and was trying to find out how to get past its protections.
Harry shared everything he knew, or at least their suspicions, with Dumbledore. Even if it was just a guess, he believed that mentioning that pile of objects would make the headmaster more vigilant.
Hermione wrote the letter, as her handwriting was the neatest of the three.
On their way to the Owlery, they ran into Professor Quirrell, who looked ill, his face devoid of color.
Harry, Ron, and Hermione offered encouraging smiles, unaware that their smiles confused Quirrell.
Quirrell was indeed in a dire situation. He was dying, his body failing after his last attempt to create the Philosopher's Stone had ended in disaster.
Voldemort had been furious at Quirrell's failure and had punished him severely. Now, Voldemort was slowly growing stronger by feeding off Quirrell's life force, but it meant that Quirrell himself didn't have long to live.
He was dying.
Unless he could get his hands on the Philosopher's Stone soon and use it to extend his life, he was doomed.
Despite the dire situation, Quirrell had not given up hope. Thanks to Albert, he had an idea of how to deal with Hagrid's dog, or rather, how to deal with Hagrid himself.
During a discussion about wizards facing a dragon alone, Albert had casually mentioned Hagrid's desire to raise a dragon.
Quirrell planned to send Hagrid a dragon egg and get him drunk, then with some clever questioning, he would surely find out how to deal with the three-headed dog.
Of course, he would need to be careful not to reveal his identity to Hagrid.
Yes, this would be easy.
"But what is this, compared to the mental exertion of answering that obnoxious brat's questions every day?" Quirrell thought bitterly to himself.
He had just finished writing a letter to a smuggler, offering a generous sum of money for a dragon egg.
With the Philosopher's Stone, he wouldn't lack for Galleons, and if he died, the money would be useless anyway. So, Quirrell was willing to spend lavishly, and the deal was already set. All he had to do now was wait patiently for a month at most, and the smuggler would bring him a dragon egg from abroad.
(End of Chapter)
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