Chapter 280: Of Course It's Your Negligence, Albus!

Harry was taken aside by Professor McGonagall as the atmosphere in the pub became extremely oppressive.

"Let him finish everything," Barty Crouch commanded, breaking the tension. Quirrell was nearly gone, and they needed to get everything out of him quickly.

"Continue with what happened next," Rasmus ordered Quirrell.

"Lucas and Harry disappeared, and we lost the Philosopher's Stone. My master was furious, but we had no other options. We had to go to Nicolas Flamel... Fortunately, we knew his address. We apparated there and my master broke the magical protections around his house and barged in."

"Nicolas Flamel was very old, he was almost, cough cough cough..." Quirrell suddenly coughed violently, his breath growing weaker, "he didn't expect us to barge in. We easily controlled him, then used his wife to threaten him to hand over the Elixir of Life. He didn't seem to care much for it and handed it over."

"My, cough cough, my master thought he was deceiving us and threatened him to confirm if the Elixir was real. In the end, he killed his wife, but Nicolas Flamel seemed shocked into silence. My master knew he had the real Elixir. He killed the old woman because he was angry but didn't kill Nicolas Flamel, thinking he might still be useful."

Several people looked at Dumbledore, knowing that the Flamels were his friends.

But Dumbledore remained expressionless.

"We left Nicolas Flamel's house and returned to the graveyard, preparing the potion again..." Quirrell said, his face contorted in pain, "I sacrificed my hand, then Murphy, Murphy appeared..."

"His spell hit me, and then I saw him add many things to the resurrection potion... Then my master, my master turned into a monster... Murphy killed him, my master's resurrection plan was thwarted again..."

"Then Murphy knocked me out... When I woke up, I was here..."

Everyone nodded; Quirrell's testimony matched Murphy's story, indicating Voldemort had been thwarted twice tonight, once by Tom and once by Murphy.

"Quirrell, I want to hear more about the diary," Dumbledore began, but Quirrell suddenly widened his eyes, a trickle of blood running from his nose, "Master, don't leave me, master..."

He wailed, his head tilted back, then suddenly lost consciousness.

Quirrell was dead.

The Aurors took Quirrell's body away for a final inspection.

Rasmus then questioned Snape, Ron, Hermione, and Zhang, understanding the reasons and process of their venture behind the trapdoor.

Besides the recklessness of the young wizards, there were no discrepancies.

Hermione and the others also learned that Snape had been protecting Harry and had been trying to protect the Philosopher's Stone from being stolen by Quirrell.

Finally, Rasmus turned to Murphy, "Professor Murphy, Lucas handed you the Philosopher's Stone, right? Where is it now?"

"No, I did not receive the Philosopher's Stone."

"What?" Rasmus was confused.

"Unfortunately, the Philosopher's Stone Lucas gave me was fake. I found out when I visited my teacher," Murphy said, taking out a bag of crushed stones, "This is it. It crumbled with a hammer blow; just red crystal."

"You mean Voldemort still took the real Philosopher's Stone?" Rasmus asked, shocked, "Then why did he go to Nicolas Flamel for the Elixir of Life?"

"So Voldemort didn't know the Stone was fake," Murphy said, "And I believe Tom and Harry wouldn't lie to me."

"Therefore, I think, thanks to the Headmaster's foresight, the Philosopher's Stone was never in those traps to begin with. Now, it should still be with the Headmaster, right?"

"Is that true?" Harry was shocked, and all the professors were too, turning to Dumbledore, "There was no Philosopher's Stone in those traps? Was it just a diversion? Dumbledore?"

"Sometimes we must prepare for the worst," Dumbledore said.

"So, the Stone is currently with you?" Winston Robinson, the Commander of the Watchers, asked.

Dumbledore glanced at him, "Yes."

"Then, I'm afraid you should return the Stone to Mr. Murphy."

"Return it?" Dumbledore noticed the subtlety in his words.

"Yes," Winston said, "Earlier, we received a notification from Nicolas Flamel, inviting us to verify his newly drafted will. He bequeathed all his alchemy books, notes, tools, and products — including the Philosopher's Stone and the Elixir of Life — to his student, Murphy Darkholme."

"Therefore, the Philosopher's Stone now belongs to Mr. Murphy Darkholme."

Dumbledore appeared to understand but then questioned, "I never heard Nicolas mention you as his student."

"Perhaps because I was too immature, he never acknowledged me as his disciple," Murphy said, "Frankly, I didn't expect him to leave these things to me."

Dumbledore scrutinized him, then turned away, "So what about Nicolas..."

"Unfortunately, Nicolas Flamel consumed an overdose of the Draught of Living Death half an hour ago, following his wife in death."

Dumbledore's gaze dimmed for a moment, "Is that so?"

He wasn't particularly surprised, as the possibility had been mentioned in previous letters. The Flamels were ready.

"So, can we conclude," Rasmus said, "that this student's death was due to his brave fight against Voldemort? It's a commendable act but also a terrible tragedy. Can we agree that, aside from Voldemort, no one else should be held responsible for this student's death?"

However, as soon as Rasmus finished, a witch exclaimed, "Are you joking?!"

"A student dies during school, and no one is responsible?!"

"Ms. Cariman, what do you mean?"

Ms. Cariman, a white-haired witch and the Chairwoman of the Hogwarts Board of Governors, glared at Rasmus, "Isn't this a failure of the school?"

"Or do you plan to gloss over it because this student is an orphan with no one to avenge him?"

The room fell silent.

This was indeed the school's failure.

After all, Hogwarts is a boarding school where parents entrust their children's safety to the school. The school has a duty to protect them.

Dumbledore had to speak, "It is my negligence that such an incident happened at school."

"Of course, it's your negligence, Albus!" Cariman didn't hold back.

"We also have some questions for you. Let's start the hearing now."

___________________

(Support with power stones, comments or reviews)

If you guys enjoy this story, In support me on Patreon and get access to +200 advance Chapters

Read Ahead

Patreon.com/INNIT