Chapter 75: Solving the Puzzle

"What... what is this thing?" Ron and Harry were completely bewildered, unable to grasp the meaning of the note.

"This is a logical reasoning question," chimed Cho Chang from behind them. "It's something many Muggles learn."

"Muggles learn this?" Ron couldn't accept it. "This is way too difficult."

This statement earned Ron disdainful glances from both Alaric and Hermione.

"It's not difficult at all," Alaric said. "It's just an elementary school-level question."

"I never learned this in primary school!" Harry complained. 

He attended a community primary school when he was adopted by the Dursleys. Both Cho Chang and Hermione nodded in agreement.

"Let me handle this!" Hermione volunteered enthusiastically and began examining the paper again. She paced in front of the row of bottles, muttering to herself and pointing at various bottles.

Finally, she clapped her hands with joy.

"I got it," she said. "The smallest bottle can help us pass through the black flames and obtain the Philosopher's Stone."

It was an inconspicuous little bottle.

"Only enough for one person to drink," Harry said. "Not even a sip."

They looked at each other, feeling somewhat deceived.

Alaric sighed and stepped forward. "So, these challenges are really unreliable. How can there be so many loopholes? Let me try a brute force approach."

He drew his wand and cast a counter-curse at the menacing black flames in front of him.

However, instead of disappearing, the flames intensified, scaring the young wizards into retreating.

"Oops, sorry, different counter-curses are needed for different curses. Let me try again."

The second counter-curse didn't make the flames vanish, but they did decrease in size.

Having figured out the trick, after the third incantation, the black flames in front of him disappeared completely.

"Professor Snape's specially crafted flames," Alaric shook his head disdainfully. "That's all."

Next, they finally reached the last room.

Inside was a figure—not Snape, and not even Voldemort.

Unexpectedly for Harry but expected for Alaric, it was Quirrell.

"You!" Harry and Ron gasped in astonishment.

Quirrell was also surprised. He scanned the five young wizards in front of him—slightly more than he expected—then focused his attention on Alaric.

"It's you again, you little mudblood!" He seemed quite surprised. "How did you end up here?"

"Why can't I be here?" Alaric sneered, pointing his wand at Quirrell.

"Surrender, Professor Quirrell. You have the right to remain silent, but anything you say can and will be used against you in a court of law."

"Haha.." upon hearing Alaric's words, Cho Chang and Hermione burst into laughter behind him—they had seen Muggle movies and TV shows and understood what was going on.

However, Quirrell, Harry, and Ron had no idea what he was talking about, staring at Alaric strangely.

"Are you trying to mock me?" Quirrell was a bit embarrassed, but someone else was even angrier.

"Why?" Harry questioned loudly. "Why is it you? I thought it was Snape—"

"Snape?" Quirrell laughed at that. It wasn't his usual sharp and piercing tone but a chilling, cold laugh.

"Yeah, Snape doesn't look like a good guy, right? Flying around like a giant bat, he's quite helpful to us. With him around, who would suspect poor, st-st-stuttering Professor Quirrell?"

Quirrell mocked Harry, giving him a sense of accomplishment.

Harry couldn't believe it; Snape, whom he had always suspected, had apparently been protecting him.

In his perception, Quirrell, who had always seemed persecuted by Snape, was the mastermind.

Quirrell's appearance made Alaric find it amusing; as a villain, his scope was too narrow.

"So, deceiving a child makes you proud?" Alaric looked at him with a gaze of caring for the mentally challenged, sarcastically saying.

"Even if you deceive everyone, what's the point? Without the Philosopher's Stone, you'll still die willingly, won't you?"

"Enough!" Quirrell, interrupted in his pretentious act, was trembling with anger.

He roared at Alaric, "You love meddling in others' affairs too much! You won't live to regret standing in front of me again!"

"The one who should regret is you! You are the loser here." Alaric retorted confidently. 

He turned to the others and said, "I'll handle him. You guys hurry and find the Philosopher's Stone and leave this place."

Ron was already scared, nodding quickly as he pulled Harry away.

Hermione wanted to help, but Cho Chang pulled her aside. She felt they would only be a hindrance.

Alaric waved his wand, and walls immediately rose around them, separating him from the young wizards.

"Now, it's just the two of us," Alaric smiled menacingly at his opponent. The smile made Quirrell shiver.

"Let's resume our unfinished duel. Here, you have nowhere to escape."

"It will be you who dies here!" Quirrell retorted, but his face was visibly unpleasant.

The space here was too narrow; the two could only engage in a direct confrontation with no room for maneuvering.

In such a situation, Alaric, due to his weaker magic, was at a significant disadvantage.

However, he had no choice but to face it head-on.

...

Leaving aside the magical duel on one side, on the other side, the young wizards searched the entire room but found nothing.

"There's no Philosopher's Stone anywhere," Ron complained. "Could he be mistaken? Could the Philosopher's Stone be on Professor Quirrell?"

"Absolutely impossible!" Hermione denied firmly. "When we came in, Professor Quirrell was obviously also looking for the Philosopher's Stone, or else he would have found an opportunity to leave."

"That sounds good, but where is the Philosopher's Stone?" Ron argued back.

Although they hadn't become friends, and they hadn't even been sorted into the same house, Hermione and Ron still easily got into an argument.

Incompatibility was innate; who knows how they became a couple in the original story.

But at this moment, Harry didn't have the energy to listen to them argue. His attention was focused on the mirror in front of him.

It was the Mirror of Erised. He had seen this thing in the Restricted Section of the library during the Christmas break.

He remembered that the mirror could show one's deepest desires. At that time, he had seen his deceased parents and relatives through the mirror.

Harry looked at the mirror.

In the mirror, Harry reached into his pocket, took out a bright red stone, blinked, and put the stone back into his pocket.

At that moment, Harry felt something heavy actually fall into his pocket.

Incredible—just like that, he had obtained the Philosopher's Stone.

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