Hogwarts 1991

Chapter 139 Times Have Changed!Dumbledore!
The shrill shouts echoed in the underground room...

——The MacGuffin turned into a snake, what happened?

Harry stared blankly at the snake, and recalled scenes in his mind: In the Forbidden Forest, the snake reminded himself to be careful of two dangerous monsters posing danger to him... In Quirrell's office, the snake had been reduced to a wild beast, and swallowed a dead mouse alive in front of himself and Ron... Then he suddenly remembered...

He anxiously said to Dumbledore next to him, "Sir! The Sorcerer's Stone! It's Quirrell...he is Voldemort's minion..."

"Don't get excited, my dear boy, what you said is probably out of date," Dumbledore often glanced aside, and said to Harry in a very strange tone, "I'm afraid... our Professor Quirrell..."

Harry felt that Dumbledore's voice was a little surprised, and the expression on his face was also very indescribable
He followed the direction of Dumbledore's gaze.

(⊙o⊙)! !
--what is that?
A headless golden statue is vividly placed on the other side of the Mirror of Erised. It is holding a wand, pointing in the direction of itself and MacGuffin, looking at the style of the robe... the arrangement of the folds...

— Quirrell?
"This this……"

Harry couldn't speak, and he began to recall carefully the events of his passing out.

"By the way...it seems...after I kicked and punched Quirrell/Voldemort...McGuffin yelled to be careful...I fell into a coma..."

"What the hell happened?" Harry couldn't help asking Dumbledore.

"Son, you have to know that I just arrived here, and it depends on the situation... Actually, the two of you can handle it too, and you did a much better job." Dumbledore pointed to the golden statue that Quirrell turned into.

——It is golden and bright under the illumination of magic lights.

Harry swallowed heavily, "It's not my fault...it's a MacGuffin!...McGuffin?..."

"Professor, that snake? Is it a MacGuffin?..." he said anxiously.

"There is no doubt...it is indeed, although I don't know what happened, but...the McGuffin has indeed turned into a snake in front of us..." Dumbledore took two steps, approaching the long snake that 'McGuffin' transformed into.

The long snake, which was lazily lying on the ground, coiled and crawled, immediately erected its body and oval head. It spit out a message, and made two bright yellow vertical pupils stare at this smiling silver-bearded old man.

And it opened its mouth wide to expose its two sharp fangs as a threat.It seems that there is no intelligence at all, just a snake, a beast...

Harry was very uncomfortable watching this scene, "Professor, will you be able to turn the McGuffin back?"

"Of course, I still have many things I want to ask him..."

Dumbledore walked to the golden statue that Quirrell had turned into, and tapped it with his finger—it sounded solid.

"Like...how did this work?"

"And..." He cast a spell on the snake that McGuffin turned into. The black snake shook its body a few times, tangled up into a column, and then lowered its head and gradually fell asleep.

Only then did Dumbledore bend down to pick up a translucent bright red stone shard on the ground there.

Harry knew at a glance that it was a fragment of the Sorcerer's Stone. Compared with the original large piece, it had undoubtedly shrunk a lot, and it was cracked into many irregular small pieces, some of which were even fine debris.

"Professor... Philosopher's Stone... this?"

Harry didn't expect to see a smile on Dumbledore's face, "My child... I'm afraid the Philosopher's Stone has been destroyed..."

"Destroyed?" Harry asked puzzled, "but your friend—Nick Flamel—"

"Oh, you know Nicole? Seems like you've figured it out?"

"You don't have to worry. When he handed over the Sorcerer's Stone to me, Nicole told me that he no longer plans to use the Sorcerer's Stone. Maybe this is the best way..."

"But..." Harry didn't understand how it was the best way to destroy such a rare and precious thing.

Dumbledore told Harry that for Nicole Flamel who had lived for so long, life was just a journey, and now it was finally time to rest, such a poetic view, and expressed his understanding of the Sorcerer's Stone.

"The Philosopher's Stone provides wealth and longevity, two things that humans want most - the problem is, people choose what is least beneficial to them."

As he spoke, he took out his wand from his robe and drew an arc in mid-air. All the fragments of the Philosopher's Stone on the ground began to accumulate, forming a round ball,

Then Dumbledore took out a small and exquisite one, only half the size of a palm, from his pocket, which looked like a kind of snuff bottle. Inside was a blurry landscape painting, misty mountain peaks and gurgling rivers, even Harry seemed to be able to see some drizzle drifting in the picture with the wind.

Harry had seen something like it on Muggle TV before... it was very similar to one of those ancient Chinese artifacts, but it was undoubtedly a magical item.

Dumbledore lifted it up and shook it slightly. A white cloud of mist and smoke floated out of it, covering the sphere formed by fragments of the Philosopher's Stone in mid-air. With the sound of strong airflow, the sphere shrank rapidly, and then seemed to be sucked into the snuff bottle.

"Although these fragments of the magic stone have lost their original effectiveness, they remain here...if others find them, they can be used as materials to cast some dangerous magic..."

Dumbledore turned to explain, only to find that Harry was staring at the snuff bottle in his hand and couldn't take his eyes off it.

"Ha... Harry, it seems that you like this thing too... It was given to me by an old friend of mine from China on my birthday... It's one of my favorite collections..." Dumbledore handed Harry a look at the magic snuff bottle, "The magical alchemy items made by those Eastern wizards... especially Chinese wizards are always so exquisite that they are almost like works of art... I always see those ancient families who have obtained magical items from the East.

"In fact, these magic items are very different from those alchemy items in our British magic world. They are not only interesting to use, but also very practical... and are often not restricted by the laws issued by the Ministry of Magic..." Dumbledore blinked at Harry, and handed this snuff bottle, which is almost a work of art, to Harry. "For example, I... I often use this to hold some small things..."

Only then did Harry take a closer look at the snuff bottle in his hand - it was translucent light green, round and cold to the touch.Through the outer layer, it can be seen that the inside is filled with white smoke, and there is a picture engraved inside. This exquisite landscape painting is moving. In addition to the mountains and rivers and the drizzle, there is also a small boat on the river. There is a small figure with sharp eyebrows, eyes and beard, very lifelike, and...Harry put it carefully in front of him and observed... That figure actually seems to be...

"—Professor Dumbledore?!""

"Ah," Dumbledore was very happy, "I'm glad you figured it out! Harry...you're one of the few people who noticed that this figure was me...many adult wizards didn't see it either...that's why I like this thing so much...Okay, let's get back to business!"

After Dumbledore took the snuff bottle back, he continued to talk to Harry, "When I arrived in London and saw the Ministry of Magic's report letter, I immediately realized that something was wrong, and immediately went back to the Hogwarts hall... I met Ron and Hermione there, and came here in a hurry after learning about the situation... I was worried that it was too late... But it seems that you have done a good job... Pretty good... But what happened here..."

"Harry, can you tell me... what you know?"

Dumbledore pointed to the entire room of secrets.

The ground here is full of potholes, and there is a burning smell in the air... the golden statue not far away, and the black scorched hoof prints not far away, that mark looks like some kind of burning horse has galloped.

"Sit down, Harry," he said, and tapped the ground with his wand.

With the sound of rumbling, the stone floor began to gradually arch and deform... Two stone chairs appeared beside the two of them.

Harry sat down, feeling unspeakably tense.He tried desperately to recall what had just happened, organizing his language to tell Dumbledore everything he knew.

Finally he took a deep breath and told Dumbledore what had happened.

When I entered this secret room, I saw McGuffin standing in the passage as if waiting for me... Then there was Professor Quirrell who was studying the Mirror of Erised, and then things took a turn for the worse. First, McGuffin watched him being subdued by Quirrell... There was a face of Voldemort behind Quirrell's head... After I got the Philosopher's Stone in the Mirror of Erised, McGuffin helped me escape...

Speaking of this, Harry asked Dumbledore a little strangely.

"Professor, how did I get the Philosopher's Stone out of the magic mirror?"

"Ah, this is my trick. It involves the tacit understanding between you and me. It's amazing...Only those who want to find the Philosopher's Stone—know it, but don't use it—can get it. Others can only see in the magic mirror that they use the Philosopher's Stone to make money, or drink the elixir of life to prolong life... Sometimes I really admire myself.

Dumbledore smiled at Harry.

Under the encouraging eyes of Dumbledore, Harry continued to recall what happened next—McGuffin suddenly started to help him again, casting a spell to stop Quirrell, (and one of the spells hit him, but he did nothing), McGuffin told him to go to the exit corridor, after Harry threw the Philosopher's Stone to McGuffin... Quirrell's attention was completely shifted to McGuffin again...

When Harry talked about McGuffin holding the Philosopher's Stone and trying to throw it into the 'Firefire' to threaten Quirrell/Voldemort to tell him how to break the [Blood Curse].

"Fiendfire? Blood Curse?...Did Albert say that?" Dumbledore interrupted Harry's narration.

"Yes, sir……"

Dumbledore thoughtfully turned his head to stare at the sleeping 'McGuffin' with its quivering snake tail, with a very ugly expression on his face.

He then asked Harry to describe in detail about the [Blood Curse], including the solution that Quirrell told McGuffin later.

——Three kinds of materials, the horn and blood of the unicorn, the tears and shell of the phoenix,... the original blood and the poison of the snake spirit... and the method and spell to solve the curse.

After knowing the solution, Dumbledore was stunned, looking as if he had fallen into some kind of memory.

"Sir, what is [Blood Curse]... It seems that McGuffin is very nervous and worried about it..."

After a short wait, Harry asked Dumbledore.

"Potter, I don't think I can tell you this question, after all, it's about Albert's privacy... Please go on, wait until I change the McGuffin back to the original, maybe he will tell you himself..."

A thought immediately flashed through Harry's mind, whether it was also related to the fact that McGuffin became like this.But he didn't ask, because he didn't think Dumbledore would answer his question.

Harry continued: He began to describe how McGuffin started fighting with Quirrell... While Quirrell was not paying attention, he suddenly rushed towards Quirrell uncontrollably, helping McGuffin get rid of Voldemort's possession...

"In the end, McGuffin cast a spell on me. Professor, you don't know... This spell allowed me to easily avoid the spell, and beat Quirrell hard at an unimaginable speed."

Speaking of the cool part, Harry even stood up, with a very excited expression, and gestured back and forth twice.

He didn't expect how turbulent Dumbledore's heart can be said to be, which is indescribable.

——After living for so long, I can really see everything!
On the one hand, Dumbledore was a little angry that McGuffin made Harry "thunder", on the other hand, it was incredible that such a "joke" could beat Quirrell, a dark wizard, even possessed by Voldemort...

—Have times changed? ... Or is he already too old, far left behind by now! ?

Eleven years have passed... Has Voldemort become such a thing! ?
Dumbledore felt a little melancholy for a moment, feeling that heroes are useless.

Harry finally said that after he was knocked out by Quirrell, he didn't know what happened next.

"Sir?" Harry asked, "After you said, what happened after that, Voldemort—I mean You-Know-Who and Quirrell were both McGuffins..."

"Call him Voldemort, Harry. Always use the most correct name for a thing. Fear of a name intensifies fear of the thing..."

"Yes, sir, Voldemort will try to make a comeback? ... He will find a way to come back again ... I mean he wasn't turned into gold by the McGuffin like Quirrell was, was he?"

"Yes, Harry, I'm afraid you are right. Such a ghost with only shadows can't be destroyed by ordinary spells, not to mention that you can't turn a shadow and steam into gold..."

"As for what happened in detail...we still need to learn from Albert..."

　Egg!When will I be able to make up the debt!
　　Gan!One thousand characters were added one day, and the next day, there will always be uncontrollable procrastination and automatically lose one thousand characters.

　　Try again tomorrow, I hope this month can complete the agreement and make up the owed changes.

　　
　
(End of this chapter)