Hogwarts: From Little Wizard to White Lord

"Don't play dumb, you know what I want to ask, the Philosopher's Stone..."

Hearing this familiar word from Snape's mouth, Harry almost lost control of his broom for a moment. He quickly used his brain to calm down and concentrate on eavesdropping:

"...have you figured out how to subdue Hagrid's monster? Don't try to fool me, Quirrell, none of your little tricks will work on me..."

Harry tightened his grip on the handle.

This conversation is so clear. Poor Professor Quirrell, he is being forced by the evil Snape!

He was so frightened that he stammered and could not utter a word.

Just by listening to his rapid breathing, you can feel his fear!

But Harry knew that he alone could not stand up for Professor Quirrell.

Thinking back to the near-death experience in the corridor on the fourth floor a few months ago, Harry was both angry at Snape's cruelty and a little afraid.

So he tried hard to hide himself and make sure he wasn't discovered.

Only after Snape had finished threatening Quirrell and quickly left in his cloak did Harry quietly fly his broom, gliding quietly through the soft canopy of the jungle and flying back to the Quidditch field.

Before leaving, he once again glanced at Professor Quirrell, who was shivering under the big oak tree.

Eyes full of respect!

What a respectable man he is! He didn't even give in to Snape's threats!

Harry decided to tell his friends this information as soon as possible and discuss how to deal with it.

On the other side, seeing Harry riding away on his broom from afar, Vaughn withdrew his gaze and looked at Quirrell under the big oak tree.

His magical eyes could see that Quirrell's life force was faint and fleeting, like a candle in the wind, as if it would be extinguished at the next flicker.

"He won't live long," Vaughan declared.

"Ugh……"

Dumbledore sighed, "Yes, that's why I decided to move up the plan. It seems Tom has recently woken up again. Without unicorn blood, he can only suck the life force of Quirinus..."

"Speaking of which, why didn't you let Harry know that Quirrell was the man in the black robe?"

"To borrow a phrase you said, prejudice is poison in the human heart. Harry is prejudiced against Severus, and this is what I want to teach him - don't be blinded by prejudice!"

"That makes sense... But honestly, Albus, I think you'd better teach the professor first. His prejudice against Harry is even more outrageous."

"..."

The good atmosphere was immediately ruined by Vaughn's words.

Dumbledore was speechless.

When Harry hurried back to Gryffindor, the entire Lion House was celebrating.

Ever since Charlie graduated, the Gryffindor Quidditch team has been getting worse and worse. They have lost more than they have won, and every victory has been hard-earned.

Harry saw the twins running around in the crowd. To celebrate their victory, they decided to sell Canary Cookies at half price.

Harry suspected they were clearing out stock, though; their product had been slow to sell since the twins' use of Canary Biscuits to bring down a number of small groups late last year.

The two are said to be trying to develop something new.

After politely declining the twins' sales pitch and perfunctorily answering the enthusiastic little lions' greetings, Harry found Hermione and Ron.

The latter had a lion's head and was competing with Seamus and Neville to see who could roar louder.

Seeing Harry, he let out a huge roar of joy, blowing Harry's hair sideways.

"What is this?"

Harry stared at Ron's lion head and wiped the saliva from his face.

Ron shook his head and changed back. "Zonko's Lion's Throat Candy, isn't it cool? Wood went all the way to Hogsmeade to buy it."

"Come on, Harry, accept everyone's cheers. What a happy day! We finally won. Did you see the expressions of those Slytherin guys at the end of the game? They were as black as the bottom of a pot. We will soon catch up with their House Cup points!"

"Wait, let's go out."

Harry had to interrupt Ron as he led his two friends out of the common room and into a secluded room.

Hermione asked doubtfully, "Harry, what's wrong? I was just about to ask where you were. We only realized you weren't there when we returned to Gryffindor."

Harry took a few deep breaths to calm his excited heartbeat and stayed on the Quidditch field. As a result, he unexpectedly discovered that Snape and Quirrell were meeting in the Forbidden Forest and forced Quirrell to tell the story.

He concluded, "It's clear that Snape is the man in black robes from Halloween. He wants the Philosopher's Stone and is threatening Professor Quirrell to help him deal with Fluffy."

"Are you sure?" Hermione's expression was conflicted. Although she thought about it and felt that among all the professors, only Snape looked the most like a villain, it didn't make sense. "Snape... He taught Vaughan a lot of things, how could he be the man in the black robe?"

Ron looked as if he had discovered the truth: "Maybe this is how Snape disguised himself. You see, because of your misleading intelligence, we have been deliberately avoiding his suspicion for the past few months. As a result, the facts have proved that we have wasted several months because of this, Hermione!"

"..." Hermione puffed up her cheeks. "What have you investigated, Ronald? Spending the whole day in the common room playing wizard chess is investigating?"

Seeing that the two friends were about to quarrel again, Harry hurriedly tried to stop them:

"Anyway, we have to report this to Hagrid and Dumbledore. We can't let Snape's conspiracy succeed."

But Ron was worried about his suggestion: "Have you forgotten, Harry? We mentioned Snape's suspicion to Hagrid before, but Hagrid believed Snape because Dumbledore also trusted Snape!"

"...Yes!"

Harry had a headache. Why weren't these adults alert at all?

The trio discussed for a while and found that they had reached a dead end.

There's nothing they can do except warn the adults, who probably won't believe them.

After hesitating for a moment, Ron hesitantly suggested, "How about... we look for Vaughn?"

Hermione agreed. She was also surprised by Ron's reaction: "Ronald, you actually offered to ask your brother for help?"

Ron blushed.

Not paying attention to his embarrassment, Harry also thought he could find Vaughn, but the problem was...

He sighed. "Vaughn isn't at Hogwarts. He's still busy with the werewolf issue. Besides, a month has passed since I asked him to help investigate Snape, and he hasn't given me any news. I think he, like Hagrid and Dumbledore, feels that Snape is trustworthy!"

Hermione frowned: "Maybe Snape is really trustworthy... Honestly, Harry, I always feel that what happened to you today is strange. Don't you think it's strange?"

"Huh? What's strange?" Harry wondered.

"Everything is weird!" Hermione said. "First of all, after the game, Ron, Percy, Fred, and George, none of us noticed you were still in the dressing room. This would never happen under normal circumstances."

"Secondly, there are many ways to get to the Forbidden Forest. Why did Snape choose the route to the Quidditch pitch? Moreover, you were able to follow Snape on a flying broom. He is an adult wizard and a professor, Harry. He should have a hundred ways to find you."

"Finally, when you recounted Snape's threats to Quirrell, I always felt... like he was saying them deliberately for you?"

The little witch's analysis left Harry dumbfounded.

Only Ron said nonchalantly: "Maybe Harry is just lucky!"

"Luck can't explain everything, Ronald. Do you also rely on luck for your exams?"

"...Merlin, why do you always end up bringing everything up with studying?"

Corner of the room.

The seemingly empty place was filled with the power of the invisibility spell, and here stood Vaughan and Dumbledore.

Vaughn glanced at Hermione, who was arguing with Ron, and then looked at Dumbledore with a smile: "See, your plan is full of loopholes. It can only fool those two fools, Harry and Ron."

"Miss Granger is such a clever witch..."

Dumbledore wiped the sweat from his forehead exaggeratedly, but immediately laughed again: "...Fortunately, she and Harry are good friends. What's even more interesting is that she and our respected new Potions Master seem to be ready to establish a romantic relationship. Ah, what a touching youth -"

Vaughan: "..."

Tsk, I'm so disgusted!

Too lazy to pay attention to Old Dumbledore, who was wiping his tears again, Vaughn looked at the trio who were still arguing and discussing countermeasures, shrugged and said, "Now it seems that I am not suitable to appear in front of Harry."

"...Yes!" Dumbledore also had a headache. "I'm sorry, I have somewhat overlooked your role in this whole thing. You are their age and have powerful magical powers. They will inevitably rely on you... This is not in line with our original intention."

"And what about Harry's Occlumency?"

Dumbledore rubbed his brow and said, "Let me think about it."

Vaughn smiled: "Actually, I have a solution..."

Seeing his smile, Dumbledore knew that he was up to no good, but he was still curious: "What is the solution?"

"Harry's current progress in Occlumency is actually quite fast. The reason it hasn't been fully completed is because he doesn't have a strong enough sense of urgency. Even if I use some tricks, I can't make him truly feel the danger."

Vaughn's smile grew even brighter. "It just so happens that Harry has discovered the true identity of the villain Snape. Why not let the professor teach him the last step? I'm sure Harry will be filled with fear!"

“…You are truly a genius…”

The trio ultimately couldn't come to any conclusion.

Harry and Ron were certain that Snape was the man in black. Although Hermione felt there were many doubts, there was no strong evidence to prove that Professor Snape was a good person.

This also made Harry and Ron feel that Snape's disguise was very powerful, and he even fooled Hermione!

Therefore, they did not dare to tell the adults casually for fear of alerting the enemy.

"We can observe for the time being. I hope Professor Quirrell can withstand Snape's pressure while we investigate secretly and collect evidence!"

In the end, this is the only way.

Fortunately, the trio met Professor Quirrell in the Defense Against the Dark Arts class the next day. Although he looked pale and frail, as if he might die at any moment, he did not seem to have any signs of mental breakdown.

This made Harry and Ron respect him.

Ron said in awe, "What a strong person! I can't imagine how someone could attend class and assign us homework despite being threatened by Snape!"

Harry stared blankly at the eight-foot-long paper format and began to doubt his life.

Even Hermione, although she thought that the view that Snape = the man in black robes was not very reasonable, never doubted Professor Quirrell. She just felt that the professor was pitiful.

"Whatever Snape wants to do, he shouldn't force Professor Quirrell. He looks so miserable."

The compassionate girl stopped the twins from playing a prank on Professor Quirrell that night - they tried to stuff a toad into Quirrell's turban.

Harry and Ron also changed their attitude towards Quirrell.

They even persuaded the Gryffindor students to stop laughing at Quirrell's stuttering and to stop acting up in class, so as to give the respectable professor less trouble.

Unfortunately, not many people listened. Everyone thought that Harry's strange magical side effects had occurred again, and this time he turned into a saint.

That night, Malfoy, who heard the rumor, ran to the Gryffindor table and made faces at Harry: