Chapter 478: Audacious
Chapter 478: Audacious
Ever since Quirinus discovered the method to overcome Fluffy, the three-headed dog, with the help of a dragon egg and Hagrid's inadvertent clues, he had been in a foul mood. He felt like a fool, manipulated and played by someone else.
Despite having gathered information about most of the magical mechanisms guarding the Sorcerer's Stone, his spirits remained dampened. From what he had learned, while most of the obstacles could be navigated with relative ease once their secrets were uncovered, Dumbledore had also cast protective enchantments on the Stone itself, presenting the most significant challenge. Moreover, when attempting to steal the Stone, he would have to devise a way to lure Dumbledore away from Hogwarts, ensuring he had enough time to infiltrate the dungeons and make off with the Stone before the professor returned.
Simply sending a letter to Dumbledore from the Ministry of Magic wouldn't be enough. The time it would take for Dumbledore to travel to the Ministry and back wasn't nearly long enough for his purposes.
Furthermore, once Dumbledore realized that someone was trying to draw him away from the school, he would undoubtedly grow suspicious.
Thus, Quirinus needed to come up with a more suitable plan.
At the moment, however, he was fresh out of ideas.
As he sat there, lost in thought and listlessly eating his breakfast, another owl flew into his presence and dropped a letter onto the table before him.
Quirinus was stunned. He had no friends to speak of, nor did he receive mail, and this particular letter bore no return address. No matter how he looked at it, the letter seemed odd.
He didn't immediately open it and even contemplated burning it without reading its contents. After much hesitation, he finally opened it as he made his way back to the Dark Magic Defense office.
But inside the envelope was a blank piece of parchment.
Quirinus was taken aback, staring blankly at the empty parchment.
"Revelio!"
As if struck by a sudden realization, Quirinus drew out his wand and gently tapped the parchment. Words began to appear on its surface.
Hello, Mr. Quirinus,
I'm a merchant of information, willing to sell anything for the right price.
It would seem you have a keen interest in what lies within the forbidden corridor on the fourth floor of Hogwarts. If you are willing to spend some gold, I might be able to help you...
Quirinus read the message, his first instinct being to tear the parchment to shreds. However, his eyes caught the latter part of the message, which essentially offered to sell him solutions to the magical obstacles set up by the professors, including the means to overcome Fluffy.
At the end of the letter, after outlining the terms of their potential transaction, the sender even included instructions on how to subdue Fluffy as a way for Quirinus to verify the authenticity of the information.
The mysterious correspondent offered to sell him solutions to the next two magical challenges for the price of two hundred galleons.
Quirinus suddenly clutched his chest, his breathing becoming rapid as his vision darkened. He nearly fainted on the spot.
Who?!
Who is this person?! All the information he had painstakingly gathered... This person had just laid it all out...
Quirinus' chest heaved as he struggled to catch his breath, his eyes fixed on the blank space before him.
Calm down... Calm down and think straight.
After an indeterminate amount of time, Quirinus finally managed to regain his composure, his anger and shock giving way to a chilling realization—this person knew... they knew about him.
They couldn't be allowed to live.
As Quirinus contemplated how to eliminate this mysterious individual, the parchment in his hand suddenly burst into flames, the envelope quickly following suit.
Startled, he dropped the burning parchment, which fell to the ground.
By the time Quirinus fully processed what was happening, the envelope and parchment had turned to ash.
"Is this Snape's doing?"
His first thought was of Snape, but how could he possibly know about the means to overcome Fluffy?
Could it be Hagrid?
No, that oaf didn't even have a wand. How could he have caused the parchment to ignite? Besides, Quirinus didn't think Hagrid was capable of such a feat.
Could it be... Dumbledore? Does he know that I have my eyes on the Sorcerer's Stone and want to catch me red-handed? No, if it really was Dumbledore, would there be a need for all of this?
At this moment, Quirinus felt like his thoughts were in a jumble.
And then, it hit him.
Why bother considering these questions? All he needed to do was to catch the sender of the letter! Since the sender had asked him to bury Galleons under a specific marked tree in the Forbidden Forest, why not turn the tables and use this opportunity to catch that person instead?
Quirinus did find such a tree near the school. He buried a bag of stones there and kept a careful watch, intending to capture that pesky individual.
However, several days passed, and Quirinus did not spot the mastermind behind these events, as if nothing had ever happened.
Enraged at being led by the nose, Quirinus replaced the bag of stones with real Galleons. He also placed a fake Galleon in the bag, enchanting both the coin and the bag with a tracking spell.
However, to his astonishment, Quirinus discovered that the Galleons buried under the tree remained untouched, yet another letter appeared, elaborately describing how to get past the Devil's Snare and find the correct key among a bunch of keys.
As for lockpicking, sorry, Albert didn't write about it, and he doesn't know how to do it himself.
How could he insult Voldemort by using Muggle methods?
He still had some professional ethics.
This time, Quirinus promptly used a Freezing Charm to prevent the letter and parchment from burning to ashes.
However, upon inspection, he found that this letter had not been enchanted to self-ignite.
At that moment, he felt as if someone had punched him in the face, leaving him dizzy.
After the first letter had burned, the sender must have anticipated that he would take precautions, so they simply didn't bother with the enchantment this time.
He had been played.
Quirinus was so furious that he spat out a mouthful of blood.
"Don't let me find out who you are, or I will make sure to torture you to death!" Quirinus vowed in his heart.
He re-enchanted the letter and gave it to the owl under his control, intending to use it to find the sender.
To his surprise, the letter led him to a owl post office in Diagon Alley, and that was the end of the trail.
The identity of the prankster remained a mystery.
Albert had anticipated that Quirinus might try to trace him through the letter, so he naturally didn't send it himself. Instead, he had a house-elf that served him deliver it. After sending the letter, the house-elf remained in the magically protected mansion, ensuring that the owl could not find it.
And this house-elf was Albert's most significant gain from the Easter party.
As for the Galleons buried under the tree, Albert naturally didn't go to retrieve them. Instead, he placed a spy rat with a double-sided mirror attached to its eye to keep watch.
Through the double-sided mirror, Albert could clearly see Quirinus burying things twice.
Of course, he didn't plan to dig up the Galleons until Quirinus was completely out of the picture.
Whether he gained or lost money didn't matter; the mission was accomplished either way, and he had no losses to worry about.
Moreover, by doing this, he not only completed the new task but also triggered a new one: Audacious.
Not only would he gain 10,000 experience points and 1 skill point, but the task also seemed easy to complete. As for Quirinus' -30 favorability, Albert didn't care at all.
After all, Quirinus would soon be out of the picture, so whether his favorability was high or low didn't matter anymore.
"Harry Potter is such a nice guy!"
Looking at the task panel, Albert couldn't help but sigh softly.
(End of Chapter)
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