Hogwarts: Bourne Returns from Warhammer

Chapter 44 Two Conversations
Crunch.

He opened the door and quickly looked around before Quirrell tiptoed out of the office.

Noon had arrived and he was about to take action.

"Master, the biting cabbage in Professor Sprout's greenhouse is ripe. I'm going to steal some..."

Before he could finish reporting his plan to Voldemort, there was a sound of flapping wings coming from the corner of the corridor.

Quirrell looked curiously towards the direction of the sound, and saw that it was a gray-white owl flying into the school corridor with a small package.

"The management of Hogwarts is really bad. Even though there is a special owl shed, they still fly into the school to deliver letters and poop and urinate everywhere."

However, just when he was about to use the confusion spell that he had become more and more proficient in recently to drive away the owl and trick the recipient of the letter, the big bird suddenly stopped in the air and threw the package he was holding on his feet. Quirrell then turned around and flew away.

"Huh?" Quirrell just caught the package and squeezed it with his hands, and found that the contents inside felt quite familiar.

When he opened it, he saw, as expected, that inside the package was a small bag containing galleons.

But before Quirrell could figure out which kind person was rewarding him, a small red envelope attached to the bottom of the bag suddenly sprouted two wings and fluttered in front of him.

"Roar, roar, Roaring Letter!" He quickly raised his wand, but it was still a step too late, and Roaring Letter roared first.

"I've caught you!" shouted Xin, making Quirrell tremble in fright.

"What did you do? Didn't you just eat a piece of dried meat from a swamp digger? As for that, did you deduct points from my little Bern?

Do you know that children’s hearts are sensitive and fragile and cannot withstand too many blows?

Today's market price for swamp diggers is 8 xicos each. There are 10 gold galleons in the bag, which is enough to buy a new litter of teaching aids. You can keep the rest of the money for yourself.

Remember, I, your former Potions Professor Horace Slughorn, will have Dumbledore watching you in the future!

Don't deduct points from my little Bourne! "

After delivering the message, the roaring letter stretched out a long red tongue and spat it at Quirrell before spontaneously igniting in mid-air and burning into a ball of ashes.

As soon as the shock subsided, Quirrell quickly looked around the corridor, and after confirming that there was no one else, he began to curse: "Scared me! Damn old man! Who are you, you dare to order me!"

After cursing for a while, he angrily put away the gold coins - because Voldemort needed a lot of supplements after he was possessed, and he was really tight on money recently, so he couldn't care whether this bag of money was considered "snatched food" - and then, Continue towards a secret passage that Voldemort told him leads to Professor Sprout's greenhouse.

Throughout the whole process, Voldemort possessed him as if he was pretending to be dead and remained speechless. Unlike the relatively simple-minded Quirrell, Horace's roaring letter undoubtedly made him think more.

For example, how did Horace know what happened in class a few hours ago, was he in contact with Dumbledore, and why did Dumbledore communicate so closely with a Potions Master?
For another example, isn't his current half-dead look a bit too dangerous? After all, Horace might have known that he had made a Horcrux—the method of making a Horcrux was something that the former dean had inadvertently tricked him into asking.

"Idiot, you have to mess with someone. You have to mess with him!" There were many variables in the plan, which made Voldemort feel very angry.

Although Quirrell actually tested Bourne in the Defense Against the Dark Arts class under his guidance, he certainly would not blame himself.

Voldemort naturally placed the blame on Quirrell's head. "I have to speed up the progress," he thought to himself: "At least, I must use him to get the magic stone before I suck all the life out of this guy."

……

Eighth floor, principal's office.

"Dumbledore! What on earth are you thinking about?"

Snape slapped his hands on the principal's desk, supporting the desk, and asked the old man with white hair and beard in front of him.

The old man who was being questioned was eating his lunch with a spoon, a bowl of raspberry ice cream carefully made by the house elves.

He ate slowly, because while eating, he was flipping through a newspaper.

However, this newspaper is not the "Daily Prophet" that British wizards often read, but the "Howl of the Gargoyle" from France.

The front page headline of this newspaper was an exclusive interview with Nick Flamel by a French reporter. The newspaper published Nick Flamel's original words during the interview - "I have handed over the Philosopher's Stone to an extremely reliable and powerful person. Safeguarded by a powerful wizard."

Although the master alchemist did not name the wizard, the reporter who interviewed him made some well-founded predictions.

However, based on his understanding of the word "reliable", he first excluded British wizards...

"Be patient, Severus," Dumbledore said with a smile on his face, raised his eyelids slightly, and looked over his glasses at the Head of Slytherin who looked like he was about to pull out fireworks.

"Would you like to try the house elf's new dessert? It tastes great."

As he spoke, the old man pushed the ice cream bowl on the table forward.

Just for a moment, meaning "just for a moment".

However, the expression on Snape's face was still very serious, "No matter what you think, but you must give me a reason now. Why should you keep Quirrell in Hogwarts? You have obviously discovered him." The problem?"

"He does have a problem," Dumbledore admitted with a nod.

Speaking of this issue, he also sat up straight. "Did you know something?"

Snape continued to ask, as if he was breaking the crucible to ask the truth, "Is he a subordinate of... the mysterious man? Also, was he the intruder in the invasion of Gringotts not long ago?"

"On the latter point, I'm actually not sure yet. After all, the intruder's methods were indeed very clever. Even if he didn't achieve his goal and grab the magic stone, he still didn't leave any evidence.

Moreover, even if there is any slight evidence that survives, the goblins in Gringotts are currently busy improving their anti-thief waterfalls and have no intention of communicating with us.

So, even though it's been weeks since that incident, we still have very limited information. "

When the word "goblin" was mentioned, Dumbledore, an old man who was known to have a good temper, also rarely had a bad tone in his voice.

"As for your previous question... I can only admit that Chilo did make some bad friends in Albania.

The group confusion spell he used on the students, and some of the spell skills displayed in it, do have the shadow of the person you and I both know.

Decades ago, when he was a student, he also used this trick on his classmates. "

Snape looked completely ruined.

"Trick? The Mass Confusion Curse is just a trick in your eyes?" His tone towards Dumbledore became even more rude, "You don't know clearly that even the top students in the senior class were affected by this kind of magic?" After being affected by the curse, they will also show signs of mental decline within a short period of time.

Are you crazy?

If he were allowed to do the same to those younger wizards, who knows whether this spell would cause permanent harm to those young wizards? "

Faced with the accusation, Dumbledore did not evade but gave his own reasons.

"According to my past experience, this kind of group confusion spell will not have that strong effect.

Because your former potion professor and dean, my former colleague Horace, after becoming aware of that man's problem, also specifically conducted experiments on the confusion spell he cast on the young wizards in order to reduce his sense of presence. , he came to the conclusion that taking some refreshing potions could basically completely eliminate the negative effects of the group confusion spell. "

Seeing that Snape was still showing signs of further seizures, Dumbledore added: "Have you ever thought about the reason why Quirrell cast this confusion spell, and why that person taught Quirrell this technique?"

Is there any need to think about the answer to this question?
The reason is naturally to let Quirrell reduce his presence as much as possible so that he can steal the magic stone.

Um? Something seems wrong.

Snape immediately realized another problem, based on his understanding of Voldemort - although at the beginning, the Dark Lord's behavior was full of wisdom, in fact, his proud nature could still be seen in some small things; Later, as the Death Eaters grew stronger, the Dark Lord's pride also amplified, turning into arrogance and extreme madness and hysteria.

steal? nonexistent.

How could a man as proud as Voldemort steal? Whatever he sets his sights on, he robs directly.

unless……

He is not making a comeback now, but just lingering. The magic stone that caught his eye was actually his last life-saving straw!

Dumbledore nodded to Snape, seeing that the headmaster had figured it out.

"This might be an opportunity."

Dumbledore said firmly:
"While he was at his weakest, we might have been able to solve this problem once and for all. The sacrifices of the Potters eleven years ago, and those of so many others, should not be wasted.

Although opportunities always come with risks, I promise you that I will do my best to protect all young wizards and Hogwarts. If anyone is going to be harmed because of this, it starts with me.

In addition, do you still remember the employment contract the professor signed with Hogwarts?
The reason why I let Quirrell continue to be the professor of Defense Against the Dark Arts is precisely because of this - when as a professor he no longer fulfills his responsibility to care for his students, he will become Hogwarts and this millennium. Enemies of the magic castle. "

"But what if? Dumbledore, you are not just the principal of Hogwarts. You also have many other positions. When the obligations of these positions need to be fulfilled, when you have to leave Hogwarts..."

Dumbledore interrupted Snape and said with a smile: "Hogwarts and you, the professors who love and care for their students. Severus, you will definitely choose to help those little wizards, right?"

Snape snorted, stood up straight, and turned towards the door of the principal's office.

"I will keep an eye on Quirrell. If necessary, I will take all the appropriate measures that I think are appropriate. Also, I will hand over some material lists needed to prepare a large number of refreshing potions to you in a moment. Remember to sign and approve the funds."

Seeing this scene that was very similar to the one before when another Potions Master left the office, Dumbledore couldn't help but smile and shook his head.

At this moment, a ball of sparks suddenly burst out from the sycamore perch next to the desk, and Phoenix Fox instantly appeared in the office.

Since other birds are not allowed to enter this office, it just went out and picked up a courier from an owl for Dumbledore.

"I didn't expect Horace to move so fast. I'm afraid he hasn't had much rest in the past two days."

After receiving the paper package from Fox, Dumbledore opened it and recognized the silver liquid contained in a thumb-thick glass reagent bottle inside.

"The potion he gave to little Bourne has probably already been sent over. I don't know if the smart boy will guess something."

(End of this chapter)