Wade was very fond of the Weasley twins. They were the kind of people who tried to bring joy to others even in the most desperate situations. He had originally just wanted to stop them from getting themselves killed, but looking at their bright expressions, he couldn't help but wonder—
Why am I hiding the truth for Voldemort?
Voldemort was going to great lengths to conceal his true identity because he feared Dumbledore. What good would it do Wade to hide him?
On the contrary, if Wade was the only one privy to a secret, his situation would be very dangerous once the other party found out. But if the secret spread, then Voldemort would be the one in trouble.
Thinking this way, the conflicted feelings he had about keeping the secret immediately cleared.
However, Wade didn't want to completely spread the news and leave Voldemort with no escape. After all, Dumbledore couldn't truly kill him right now, and Voldemort was only hiding his identity at the school to get the Philosopher's Stone. If he realized his efforts were futile and, in his anger, went on a killing spree, the students at the school would be no match for him. Who knew how many people would die before Dumbledore arrived?
He deliberated before saying, "Actually..."
The Weasley twins' eyes lit up.
"...we should find a quiet place to talk."
For Wade, the safest places, besides his own dorm, were only the Umbrella Room.
He remembered there was also a hidden Room of Requirement at this school, but when Wade watched the movie, he was only focused on the plot and special effects and didn't pay attention to the exact location of the Room of Requirement. As a result, he had been searching intermittently for three months now but still hadn't found it.
To avoid a situation like in the movie—where the protagonist discusses a crucial secret, only for eavesdropping ears to leak it to the villain, causing a series of tragedies—they went to the Umbrella Room.
The holidays were approaching, and everyone's enthusiasm for studying had waned. At this moment, there were only two people in the Umbrella Room: Hermione was almost completely hidden by a tall stack of books, looking utterly overwhelmed by her reading; and Ryan had brought a pile of wood and was making new targets.
"Wow, is this your secret base?" Fred was the first to poke his head in and look around.
Soon, another red-haired head appeared next to him, looked around, and greeted, "Hello there, Miss Know-It-All."
"Oh, I'm not doing well," Hermione said miserably. "Does anyone know who Nicolas Flamel is? He's not in Great Wizards of the Twentieth Century, nor in the Directory of Contemporary Famous Wizards. I can't find his name in Major Discoveries in Modern Magic or Research on the Development of Modern Witchcraft either. I've nearly flipped through a hundred books! Is he not written about in books at all?"
The few people inside and outside the room froze simultaneously, then said in unison, "What are you talking about, Hermione! That's Nicolas Flamel, of course he's in books!"
Hermione slowly raised her head, blinked, and a rare, piteous look of bewilderment appeared on her face.
"You... all know Nicolas Flamel?"
"Of course!" Ryan stood a target upright and said, "Last year he celebrated his 665th birthday! It was even in the Daily Prophet! My dad says he might be the longest-living person in the world."
"665 years old?" Hermione repeated, disbelievingly.
Fred said, "Nicolas Flamel is the greatest Alchemist; the only Philosopher's Stone in the world was made by him."
"Philosopher's Stone?" Hermione felt like she must have seen that term in a book somewhere.
George said, "The Philosopher's Stone can turn any metal into pure gold and also create the Elixir of Life. My biggest dream as a child was to own a Philosopher's Stone."
"Turning things to gold? Immortality?" Hermione still repeated.
Wade, turning to close the door, couldn't help but quip, "Hermione, have you turned into a broken record?"
Though Fred and the others didn't know what a broken record was, the meaning was easy to understand, and they all burst into laughter.
Hermione looked at Wade eagerly: "So, Wade... you wouldn't happen to know Nicolas Flamel too, would you?"
Wade explained simply, "I've been learning Alchemy recently, and his writings were the first I read."
"Alchemy?" Ryan was surprised. "That's a sixth-year course!"
"Yes, but I can start building a foundation now." Wade asked, "Theo isn't with you today?"
"He went to help Professor Sprout organize the greenhouse. I remembered the targets we broke last time couldn't be repaired, so I decided to make some new ones." Ryan explained, patting his clothes, rolling down his sleeves, walking over, and picking up a cup of water to drink.
Wade casually gave him a Scourgify, getting rid of the tiny wood shavings.
Fred straddled a chair and poked Hermione: "Hello! Are you okay? Are you still alive? Do you know what number this is?"
Hermione, sprawled across the table, reached out and swatted away Fred's hand waving in front of her face. She sat up, annoyed, and said, "I should have just asked directly—I've been looking for over a month!"
Wade flipped through the books on her desk; they were all about modern magic history. Of course, she wouldn't find Nicolas Flamel there—he was born in 14th-century France and would be written about in much older books.
"Hermione, why are you looking into Nicolas Flamel?" Ryan asked concernedly. When Wade wasn't around, Hermione was always generous in answering everyone's questions, and they had long since considered her a true friend.
"I, I just..." Hermione originally wanted to say it was nothing, because explaining the reason would expose their rule-breaking midnight foray into the forbidden area. But when she looked up and saw everyone around her looking at her with concern, their gazes sincere and their expressions genuine.
This made her feel immense shame for her secretive behavior.
"It's like this—" Hermione hesitated, then finally recounted their adventure, and how after the Quidditch match, she, Harry, and Ron visited Hagrid, the gamekeeper, who inadvertently let slip that the Three-headed Dog was guarding something related to Dumbledore and Nicolas Flamel.
"It seems that big dog must be guarding Flamel's Philosopher's Stone," Hermione concluded. "I bet Flamel asked Dumbledore to keep it safe for him! He knew someone was after the Philosopher's Stone, and he's friends with Dumbledore, so that's why the Philosopher's Stone is at Hogwarts."
Hermione glanced at Wade, not mentioning Wade's previous guess—although she was now increasingly convinced Wade was right, and the whole thing might just be a test Dumbledore set for Harry. However, letting other students know that the headmaster showed special treatment to one student wouldn't be good for Harry.
As for what it was like to be in the eye of the storm, one only needed to look at how Harry, as a new student, was hounded by his classmates to understand. Hermione knew her friend had been deeply distressed by this.
"Who's after the Philosopher's Stone then?" Ryan asked.
Hermione said, "Harry and Ron are convinced it's Snape, because his leg seems to have been bitten by the Three-headed Dog. But I think—"
Before she could finish, George suddenly said, "—Quirrell?"
Hermione paused for two seconds before saying, "What does that have to do with Professor Quirrell? Although I also think he's not very competent—"
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