It was a bright and sunny day.
It was almost evening, and the young wizards of Hogwarts had finally overcome the last of their end-of-term exams after enduring many hardships.
In the Hogwarts courtyard, the Golden Trio of Gryffindor, who had just finished their exams, were walking toward the castle. They wanted to go and see Norbert, the Norwegian Ridgeback that had hatched a while back.
It was strange that when Draco had complained, he had never mentioned anything about the dragon to Professor McGonagall.
"Before I started school, I heard that the Hogwarts final exams were terrifying, but I think they were quite interesting," Hermione said with a relaxed expression, and it was clear that the exams of the past few days hadn't put any pressure on her.
"That's only what you think!" Unlike Hermione's ease, Ron looked a little dejected. He knew that he hadn't done very well on his exams, and he would be overjoyed if he just managed to pass all his subjects except for Transfiguration.
So, as he was contemplating how to deal with his mother's fury during the summer holidays, he looked at Harry next to him and asked, "Harry, what about you? How did you do?"
"I'm… okay…" Harry answered vaguely, pressing on his forehead.
Ron saw his friend frowning in pain again and couldn't help but ask with concern, "Does your scar still hurt?"
"I feel like it's burning. It's been like this ever since I got back from the Forbidden Forest," Harry replied. "It's never been like this before, and I've been wondering if I should go see Madam Pomfrey, but I'm worried about those Hufflepuffs from the hospital wing messing things up."
"That's true. Fred and George were put through a lot by them last Halloween," Ron said, shivering at the thought of the little badgers in the hospital wing's treatment volunteer team. "But you said it started after you got back from the Forbidden Forest. Could it have something to do with that person?"
Because they were in a public place with other young wizards around, Ron didn't dare to say Voldemort's name out loud.
But Harry shook his head. "I'm not sure. I remember that when I met him in the Forbidden Forest, the scar on my forehead hurt a lot too."
"Then I don't think you should go to the hospital wing. You should go see Professor McGonagall or Professor Dumbledore," Ron suggested. "Since this is related to him, Madam Pomfrey's medical skills probably won't be of much use."
"What do you think, Hermione?" Ron wanted Hermione to weigh in as well, but when he turned his head, he suddenly realized that Hermione, who had been walking with them just a few seconds ago, was gone.
Harry and Ron quickly looked around and found Hermione a short distance behind them, looking up at something. They exchanged glances and walked over quickly.
"Hermione, what are you looking at?" Harry asked.
"I'm looking at the Astronomy Tower. Victor usually practices his magic there," Hermione said, placing her hand on her forehead to block the sun. "I don't know what Victor has been doing lately. I can't find him anywhere. The Ravenclaws said that he just disappears after class."
"What's so strange about that? Isn't he always disappearing and reappearing?" Ron shrugged, unconcerned. "The other day in the corridor, I saw three Victors suddenly walk out of different classrooms. I thought I was seeing ghosts!"
"There are so many ghosts at Hogwarts, you've seen more than enough of them!" Hermione rolled her eyes at Ron, then began to explain. "That's actually one of Victor's spells. I think it's called Thought Projection. This spell can create several copies, and they all share memories, so Victor often uses this spell to attend classes for older students."
"Wow~ If that's the case, he might not even need to be at Hogwarts for seven years to graduate," Ron exclaimed dumbfounded. "Where on earth did Dreyar learn all these weird spells?"
"Who knows!" Harry shrugged. "To be honest, Dreyar's magic is very difficult to learn. He taught me the flying spell a while back, but I can barely do it without a wand."
As they were talking, a few figures flew past overhead, not on brooms.
"The Ravenclaws are amazing. I heard that even the worst of them can make themselves float now," Harry said, watching the little eagles practicing their flying magic overhead with an envious look on his face.
"Well, we can't help that. Dreyar is a Ravenclaw, and they can ask him for help anytime they want," Ron said, also looking envious. In fact, Harry had taught him how to practice the flying spell a long time ago, but Ron was too lazy to practice the non-verbal floating charm seriously.
"Alright, if you haven't had enough of watching, you can keep watching, but I'm going to Hagrid's!"
"The sun is about to set, and I don't want to be put in detention again when we're so close to the holidays!" With that, Hermione ran off toward Hagrid's hut. She had no interest in the topic the two boys were discussing, mainly because her flying lesson grades were the worst.
Harry and Ron also realized that it was getting late and quickly followed her. When they arrived at the hut on the edge of the Forbidden Forest, they saw Hagrid sitting on the steps of his hut, playing the flute in the setting sun. He looked up and saw the trio running toward him, and a happy smile appeared on his face.
"Hagrid!" Harry, Ron, and Hermione greeted him in unison.
"Good afternoon, kids!" Hagrid said with a smile. "Did you come to visit?"
"We came to see Norbert!" Harry shouted excitedly.
"Oh~ that's a shame!" Hagrid said with a look of regret. "You can't see him now."
"But... why?" Ron's anticipation instantly plummeted.
"He's already bigger than Fang, and he's a bit uncontrollable," Hagrid explained. "Victor warned me that dragons are very territorial magical creatures. He told me not to let anyone else get close to Norbert until I've tamed him, or he could burn a person to a crisp in a matter of seconds with one breath of his fire."
"But I think Victor is a bit too cautious. Actually, the best trick to dealing with a ferocious magical creature like a dragon is to make it calm down. For example, with Fluffy, all it takes is a little music, and he'll fall asleep. I shared this with the man who lost the dragon egg to me at Christmas, and he seemed very happy about it!" Hagrid said with a look of pride.
"Christmas, dragon egg…" Harry suddenly felt that something was off after hearing Hagrid's words. He immediately asked, "Hagrid, was the person who lost the dragon egg to you very interested in Fluffy?"
"Of course. After all, even magical creature traffickers rarely get to see a three-headed dog," Hagrid replied proudly.
"Oh my God…" Harry suddenly seemed to have figured something out. He immediately looked at Ron and Hermione and shouted anxiously, "Quick, we have to go back!"
With that, he ran back toward the Hogwarts castle without looking back. Ron and Hermione looked at each other in confusion, then quickly followed him. Hagrid was left standing there, still not knowing what had happened.
"Harry, what's wrong?" Ron asked, catching up to Harry.
"I should have thought of it before. Hagrid wanted a dragon, and at that very moment, a stranger appeared with a dragon egg. You have to wonder who would just walk around with a dragon egg," Harry said with a look of regret.
"Are you saying that the stranger deliberately gave Hagrid the dragon egg?!" Ron also instantly understood, but he immediately thought of another question. "But if that's the case, since Snape already knows the three-headed dog's weakness, why hasn't he made a move yet?"
Naturally, Ron assumed that this stranger was either Snape himself or someone sent by him to get information.
"Dumbledore! It's Professor Dumbledore!" Hermione, who was following behind, also heard Harry's words. "As long as he's at Hogwarts, Snape wouldn't dare to steal the Philosopher's Stone."
And so, the Gryffindor trio, with their supposedly correct guess, ran like mad to the Transfiguration classroom, where they found Professor McGonagall.
"Professor McGonagall!" Harry, who was in the lead, said out of breath. "We want to see Professor Dumbledore! We want to see him now!"
Professor McGonagall looked up at the trio in confusion, then put down the quill she was using to grade papers and said, "Professor Dumbledore isn't at school right now. He received an urgent letter from the Ministry of Magic yesterday and had to go east to take care of some things."
"He left?! But this is very important!" Harry said with an anxious look. "It's about the Philosopher's Stone!"
Professor McGonagall's face immediately changed when she heard the words "Philosopher's Stone." She looked at the trio in shock and asked, "How do you know about that?"
"Someone is trying to steal the Philosopher's Stone, and it's… ahh!" Just as Harry was about to say Snape's name, Hermione immediately pinched his side, causing him to wince in pain. Harry turned his head to look at her in confusion, but Hermione just shook her head, gesturing for him to stay quiet.
Professor McGonagall looked at the trio, who were acting all suspicious, and sighed, then said sternly, "Listen to me, all three of you. No matter how you found out about the Philosopher's Stone, I assure you that it is very safe right now. What you should do is keep this to yourselves and not mention it to anyone. Now, go back to your common room!"
With that, she immediately shooed the three of them out of the Transfiguration classroom. The trio walked down the corridor with long faces.
"Hermione, why didn't you let me finish just now?" Harry asked strangely.
"Are you an idiot? Have you forgotten what Hagrid said before?" Hermione explained with a look of exasperation. "Snape is also one of the professors protecting the Philosopher's Stone! Do you think Professor McGonagall would believe the three of us, or would she believe Snape?!"
"Then what do we do now?" Ron felt his brain wasn't working fast enough. "You heard what she said. Professor Dumbledore isn't at school right now. Tonight might be the best time for Snape to make his move."
"Then we should take the Philosopher's Stone out first and hide it somewhere else," Harry suggested.
"No!" Hermione immediately rejected the idea. "If we run into Snape, how can the three of us possibly deal with him?!" She had not forgotten what Victor had told her on the Astronomy Tower.
"Then what do you suggest we do?" Ron asked.
"I'll go ask Victor for help!" Hermione said after thinking for a moment.
"But you just said you couldn't find him lately."
"..."
At this very moment, the sun was halfway below the horizon to the west of Hogwarts, and the night was getting closer.
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