Hogwarts: Harry Returns from Azeroth

Chapter 57:56. Dumbledore's bottom line and the excited three

"And Quirrell?"

"Oh, Harry," Dumbledore sighed, "At least I can assure you tonight. When the troll appeared, Professor Quirrell was in my sight the whole time. We can't kill a person without any evidence."

"Is this the bottom line you set for yourself?" Harry asked in return. "If nothing unexpected happens, Voldemort will possess Quirrell. He was the one who let these dark wizards and trolls in. He is a professor, and he has this opportunity."

"I think Quirrell is struggling, Harry," Dumbledore said calmly, "He was my student. I think he deserves to be saved."

The corridor fell silent for a moment, with only the sound of water dripping from the broken pipe.

"There won't be a next time, Headmaster Dumbledore." After a long while, Harry sighed and said, "If Voldemort... or Quirrell makes any dangerous moves again, even if you object and get angry, I will still insist on killing him. At least tonight, I think I deserve the reward you offer."

"Of course, Harry," Dumbledore nodded, "of course you deserve it, you have done more than you should bear, I must thank you."

"Perhaps you have someone to thank." Harry turned and looked at the empty corridor. "Peeves? Are you still there?"

No voice answered.

"He seems to have really left," Harry turned around and said, "But in the battle tonight, Peeves also helped. He attracted Voldemort's attention very well. I can't erase his contribution... But now that he is gone, I--"

"Ahaha!" Harry's words were interrupted by a sudden laugh, and Peeves popped his head out from the top of the corridor, shouting in disbelief: "The little brat is talking about Peeves!"

"Yes, it's you." Harry nodded to Peeves and continued to say to Dumbledore: "I think everyone who protects Hogwarts should be rewarded. What do you think? Principal Dumbledore?"

Dumbledore's expression...he seemed a little stumped for the first time.

"Peeves... Well, Peeves," Dumbledore sighed deeply, "As the headmaster of Hogwarts, I am very grateful for your help... Is there any reward you want?"

"Peeves wants to come to the dinner party!"

As Dumbledore looked as if he had expected it, Peeves somersaulted happily in mid-air and shouted.

"Okay, okay," Dumbledore rubbed his temple and said, "I allow you to attend a dinner party this Christmas - but you must not throw rotten food or dead mice in the restaurant, nor can you stuff cakes into other people's collars, and you must not overturn the table or push everything on the table down... In short, any behavior that will ruin the dinner party is not allowed, okay?"

"Of course!" Peeves agreed readily. He even somersaulted up to the ceiling, shouting, "Peeves is coming to the dinner~~Barrow!"

Seeing Peeves' eagerness to show off to someone, Harry's expression was a little subtle.

This was the first time he knew that Peeves could not attend the holiday dinner, but the prohibitions that Dumbledore added later... I always felt that he had suffered a loss.

"Please forgive my stinginess, Harry." Dumbledore said helplessly until Peeves left: "I must tell you that I did this for a reason."

"Well, I roughly guessed it." Harry felt a little guilty now, "I hope the students attending the Christmas dinner this year won't blame me... After all, he did make a contribution."

Those who have made contributions should be rewarded. Even a warlock will be rewarded for protecting Azeroth. It's just a skulking ghost, it's not a big problem.

"Then there is one last question - what should we do here?" Harry looked around. "There are traces of dark magic, and these burst pipes and broken walls... Considering Mr. Filch's workload and mentality, I originally wanted to control the scale of the battle."

The corridor and several nearby classrooms were all flooded. Looking over, one could see many fish, aquatic plants and mud washed in by the water, making the scene a mess.

"Voldemort is not an easy opponent to deal with," Dumbledore said cheerfully. "If you have no other questions, you can go back to the public room first. Harry, your friends must have been worried about you for a long time. As for this, leave it to me."

"Is it okay? Headmaster Dumbledore?" Harry asked.

"Of course," Dumbledore joked. "Really, Harry, this is a lot easier than moving a mountain into a box."

With a dry laugh, Harry - Harry pretended not to hear anything and walked away.

When Harry returned to the Gryffindor common room, there were not many people in the room. Ron and Neville were sitting by the fireplace waiting. When they saw Harry coming in, they breathed a sigh of relief and came over to greet him.

"Are you okay? Harry! Where's Hermione?"

"It's okay, Hermione will spend the night in the school infirmary," Harry said with a smile, "Don't worry, she is not injured, she just can't come back for safety reasons."

"So what happened?" Ron asked impatiently, "Did you encounter the troll in the dungeon? And what about the invaders? We originally wanted to go down together, but Professor McGonagall drove us back."

"You were right not to come," Harry shook his head, "Voldemort is possessed by one of the invaders. The troll is a minor problem in comparison."

It was as if a bucket of ice water was suddenly poured over them. Ron and Neville froze and shivered violently.

"V-V-Your-Know-Who?!" Ron stuttered, "Is it true?"

"Of course it's true," Harry confirmed, "Voldemort's body is dead, and now he can only possess other people in the form of soul fragments."

"Oh! Harry, please, don't say that name." Ron shuddered again and couldn't help begging.

"So what happens to the possessed person?" Neville asked curiously.

"The man I saw tonight died miserably. There wasn't even a body left. He just turned into a pool of black liquid." Harry looked at his two friends seriously and said, "We'll talk more about this when Hermione comes back. I can only tell you that if I seriously ask you to return to the dormitory or do something immediately, I hope you will follow my arrangements and never take risks to do anything beyond your scope, okay?"

Ron and Neville looked at each other and swallowed.

"Okay, Harry."

It was already very late at night, and Harry and the other two didn't chat for too long before choosing to wash up and go to bed. However, for Ron and the other two, tonight was particularly difficult.

On the one hand, they really wanted to hear Harry talk more about what happened tonight, but on the other hand, they were terrified of Voldemort's existence, so much so that when Harry came out of the suitcase after morning exercise the next morning, he saw that Ron and Neville both had dark circles under their eyes.

Well, as soon as I walked out of the dormitory and into the common room, I saw Hermione sitting on a chair with dark circles under her eyes. She seemed to have been waiting for a long time. As soon as she saw Harry and the other two coming out, she stood up and walked over quickly.

Without even saying a word, Hermione stood on tiptoe and gave Harry a hug, not caring about the looks from other students in the common room. "Thank you again, Harry! You saved my life!" These words probably lingered in Hermione's mind for the entire night. She was almost incoherent and excited, "Oh my God! I can't imagine how sad my dad and mom would be if something happened to me last night! What should I do in the future! Thank you! Thank you so much!!"

Hermione's hug was very strong. She had probably been worried and worried all night, so she left the infirmary before daybreak and sat in the common room waiting for Harry and the others to wake up.

Patting Hermione's back gently to soothe her emotions, Harry could sense that the little girl was crying again, her tears wetting her chest - well, he could also see that the senior students in the common room had noticed the commotion here, and there were even a few bad guys whistling.

Leading the way are the two brothers Fred and George!
Word of what happened last night did not seem to spread through the castle.

"Okay, okay, wipe your tears first, and we'll talk outside." If they continued to stand here, more people would probably come out and see them. Considering the little girl's thin skin, Harry quickly said to Hermione.

The four people rushed out of the Gryffindor common room amid whistles, especially Hermione. After finally realizing what was going on, she rushed out the fastest with a red face and took the lead.

Without stopping along the way, the four people came to a secluded corner by the Black Lake and sat down.

To be honest, Ron and Neville were also quite anxious. They were eager to know the details of everything that happened last night and had been anxious all night.

"Is it my illusion?" Ron asked in confusion, "It seemed like a lot of students were looking at you on the road just now, Harry - I mean, although they did this before, it was also at the beginning of the school year, wasn't it?"

In the first few days of school, no matter where Harry went, he would be pointed at and stared at by other students, which really made him nervous.

"I don't know, but someone is indeed watching me... Never mind, I think there are some things you must know." Considering the safety of his friends, Harry thought that he could not let them live in the castle in ignorance any longer.

"Remember the forbidden corridor on the fourth floor that Headmaster Dumbledore mentioned at the beginning of the school term?" Harry said directly, "Quirrel is Voldemort's subordinate. He wants to enter that room to steal something. I hope you can keep this secret strictly and avoid Quirrell as much as possible in school."

Harry dropped a bombshell right at the start of his opening statement, which stunned the other three people.

To be honest, they would rather believe that Snape was Voldemort's subordinate than to believe that the timid and cowardly Professor Quirrell was Voldemort's subordinate.

"Well, why don't we go and tell Headmaster Dumbledore?" Neville stuttered.

"Principal Dumbledore knows," Harry explained, "In fact, the room on the fourth floor was a trap set for Quirrell. Principal Dumbledore wanted to confirm something about Voldemort, so he let Quirrell stay in the castle."

"Please, Harry, don't say that name." Ron shuddered and couldn't help complaining, "So last night Quirrell taught - I mean, those trolls and invaders were actually let in by Quirrell?"

Harry nodded.

Unlike Headmaster Dumbledore's style of doing things, Harry has always believed that nothing should be hidden even from children, especially when it comes to dangerous things.

Young children often have extraordinary curiosity and courage, which is why they need to be informed in detail of the seriousness and danger of things. For example, in Azeroth, even a child of a few years old knows which places are dangerous, what to do and what not to do, and knows how to control their curiosity (and then issue tasks to adventurers).

But then again, if someone still wants to die after the dangers have been made clear, there is nothing we can do.

Harry explained Quirrell's danger very clearly. Apart from keeping the fact that Quirrell still had a fragment of Voldemort on him, Harry told Ron and the other two everything from the previous events to what happened last night. He also asked Ron and Neville to guarantee what he had asked of Hermione last night.

"So, when we arrived at Hogwarts by boat and put on the Sorting Hat, it was actually a magical ceremony?" Hermione said in disbelief, "Such magic actually exists."

"Well, I think that makes sense," Ron said slowly. "You have to know that the magic mastered by senior students is not comparable to that of us junior students. Remember what Fred and George said? A year before we entered school, senior students were casting spells in the corridor."

"Yes, if there is no protection, something might happen." Neville agreed, "Especially when the effects of multiple spells are superimposed on each other. There are many such patients in St. Mungo's Hospital every year."

"So Hermione, you don't actually need to be so... uh, thankful to me," Harry thought for a moment and said, "Because as long as the effects of the magic ritual persist, you will not be fatally harmed."

"But Headmaster Dumbledore also said that the magic ritual will manifest itself even if it seems to be a coincidence - you are that coincidence! Harry!" Hermione insisted, "Or the magic ritual believes that if you don't show up, I will die! You still saved my life!"

After what happened last night, Hermione seemed to have become more convinced of magic.

"You can also turn into a giant wolf! Harry! Is that also a Transfiguration?! Just like Professor McGonagall demonstrated to us in the first Transfiguration class, are you also an Animagus?!" Hermione's eyes were shining, almost shining.

"Hey, buddy, you didn't say that just now." Ron immediately ignored his worry about Quirrell and turned his head and shouted.

Become a wolf!
Listen! How handsome! It’s a giant wolf!!
When Harry talked about the battle between himself and Voldemort just now, he just briefly mentioned it and only said that he and Voldemort had a battle.

And now he was forced to endure a sense of shame as Hermione narrated to Ron and Neville the entire battle that took place in the underground corridor last night - to be honest, Harry had never expected that his battle with Voldemort would be so... uh, exciting in Hermione's eyes.

Yes, wonderful.

A wonderful feeling that you can savor afterward.

The water from the Black Lake that appeared inexplicably even burst the pipes of Hogwarts. The giant formed by the water flow, the flame that devoured everything, the giant wolf that was bigger than two adults...all of this perfectly satisfied Hermione's curiosity about magic.

"That's not Animagus," Harry explained to his curious friends, "It's a spell cast by the shaman. It can transform me into a ghost wolf. Well, it's a kind of soul spell, not a transfiguration."

"That's so cool, brother," Ron exclaimed sincerely, "Do you think I can become a shaman? I also want to become a wolf - I think we can go for a walk in the Forbidden Forest together, what do you think?"

"Then you have to study hard, Ron." Harry tried to hold back his laughter. He knew how much Ron hated studying. "The things that a shaman has to master are no less than the content of the courses at Hogwarts."

As expected, Harry heard Ron's wailing. He really hated studying.

"And the spell you used to defeat the troll!" Neville gestured with his hands, his face full of longing, "It's the spell Hermione said you used to tear down the bathroom wall, and there's also fire! Lightning!!"

"Yeah!" Ron sighed after realizing it belatedly, "It seems that you did hold back against the centaurs that day - I mean, at least you didn't use this spell to blow off the centaurs' heads, just like you did with the trolls' heads."

"There is no deep hatred between the centaurs and me," Harry shook his head and said, "It's just that we have some minor conflicts because of different views on divination. The battle will naturally not be so intense."

"To be honest, I'm happy to teach my divination magic to the centaurs, so that they can clearly show the future to the people being divined, and won't let those people leave with resentment," Harry said seriously.

"That's probably difficult," Ron said humorously. "After all, according to Hagrid, it's not that the centaurs can't explain what they've divined to others, they just don't want to do that."

(End of this chapter)