Hogwarts: Harry Returns from Azeroth

Chapter 61: Voldemort's Thoughts and Quirrell's Change
So people could only hear Ron mumbling a long string of words, but they couldn't hear clearly what he said specifically. It was probably something like "Charlie Cannons are invincible", "Charlie Cannons have a long history", "Charlie Cannons have won 21 championships" and so on.

But to be honest, the more Ron talked about the glorious days of the Charlie Cannons, the louder the fans of other teams around him laughed. On the contrary, Ron himself became less and less confident. In the end, Ron looked depressed and uneasy, with a layer of gray on his face, and the words he said were simply incomprehensible.

There is no way. Competitive sports are like this. Winning is winning and losing is losing. People only remember who the champion is but never remember who the runner-up is, unless a person is obviously very capable but can only get the runner-up every time due to various reasons.

The idea that friendship comes first and competition comes second is all fake. When players are on the field, they only want to win. No one wants to lose. The only thing that can prove a team's strength is the results. If there are no results, no matter how much the fans try to make up for it, it will be useless.

Not to mention the Charlie Artillery Corps, which had lost all its morale.

There was a heated discussion around for a while, with people suggesting that Harry go somewhere, and Harry was happily watching this lively scene.

If Harry initially joined the Quidditch team because of Professor McGonagall's assignment, then now he has discovered the fun of this sport. He likes the feeling of speeding through the air and fighting against others, which can make him move his whole body and not let him get bored due to the peaceful life of wizards.

People are like this. When Harry was in Azeroth, he always wondered why there were constant crises threatening the place where he lived, why the war would never stop, and why the peace between the Horde and the Alliance was always so fragile - but when he really returned to a peaceful environment, he felt that life was a bit too dull and not exciting enough.

Harry actually started to think about the Quidditch Club. After all, compared to students in school, adults who make a living from this sport should be more professional and stronger.

The speed is faster, the confrontation is more intense, and it is more professional.

If what the people around him said was correct, this kind of thing was not without precedent... Well, by the way, he could also expand his influence in the magic world and lay the foundation for the establishment of the Earth Ring in the future.

Reputation in the wizarding world can really be converted into power and status. For example, some retired Quidditch stars can work in the Ministry of Magic, and particularly famous ones can even run for Minister of Magic.

Harry felt that he might need this kind of reputation and influence in the future, and there was nothing to be ashamed of.

After all, heroes should stand at the front to lead and protect ordinary people. Harry had already realized this when he was in Azeroth.

"Harry? You don't really want to join the Quidditch Club, do you?" Hermione finally squeezed to the front of the crowd and asked seriously.

"I do have some ideas. I think Quidditch is quite interesting to play," Harry said after thinking for a while.

His answer made the people around him even more enthusiastic, and they began to desperately promote their favorite team.

"Harry! We added 340 points to Gryffindor today!" Holding a glass of butterbeer each, Fred and George squeezed into the crowd, holding Harry on each side and laughing, "We are 270 points ahead of Slytherin! Cheers! Let's drink first!"

The reason why Quidditch games are so popular in Hogwarts is that the points the team gets on the field can be directly added to the house cup, which is closely related to the scores of each house.

In the end, Gryffindor won today's game with a lead of 340 points over Slytherin of 70 points. In other words, this game added 340 points to Gryffindor, so the children can finally have confidence when deducting points.

"That's right! Harry!" George also said excitedly: "You will never imagine what Fred and I saw when we came back with the butterbeer—Professor McGonagall was chatting with Snape, hahahaha!"

"Yes, they were talking about the Quidditch match," Fred laughed and continued, "Oh my God! You should have seen the old bat's face with your own eyes. He looked really angry. I swear, Flint will definitely be in trouble for the next period of time!!"

In fact, professors will compare their own colleges, whether it is the college cup or the Quidditch Cup. Young wizards who have just left the Muggle world and entered the wizarding world often find it difficult to understand the wizards' enthusiasm for Quidditch.

Well, just like when Gryffindor failed to win the house cup and the Quidditch cup in a row, Professor McGonagall always avoided Snape when talking about these topics.

The information brought by the twins further ignited the lively atmosphere in the common room. For all Gryffindor students, the only thing that could make them happier than their house winning the Quidditch game was Snape's frustration.

The thought of their headmaster being able to show off in front of Snape made these children so excited just by imagining such a scene.

And Harry... he took a sip of butterbeer, feeling a little helpless—he had indeed advised Snape, but Snape really didn't change at all.

The twins seemed to want to get Harry drunk and kept finding reasons to get him drinking. Fred even brought up Ron's previous boasting about his great adventure in Newt's suitcase as an excuse to accuse Harry of not being a good friend for not inviting them to play in Newt's suitcase together.

To be honest, this little amount of wine was not enough to make Harry drunk, it would just make him vomit.

But since this was a celebratory party, Harry accepted everyone who came.

Butterbeer is indeed a drink with a very low alcohol content, but no matter how low the alcohol content is, it will still be intoxicating when the amount reaches a certain level.

By the time it was completely dark and approaching curfew, there were not many people left standing in the Gryffindor common room. Those who were drunk were sent back to their dormitories one after another, and the messy common room finally became quiet.

I don't know what the atmosphere is like in the Slytherin common room right now, but at least everyone in the Gryffindor common room is pretty happy. I think Ravenclaw and Hufflepuff are not bad either.

Even though several days had passed since the first Quidditch match, Harry still enjoyed the treatment of being surrounded by people wherever he went - after all, there were Quidditch matches at Hogwarts every year, but it was rare for a game to beat the opponent until only one person was left.

In Wood's words, this game could even go down in the school's Quidditch history.

However, compared with the impact brought by Harry, what surprised the students in the school more was Professor Quirrell - since November, this professor finally seemed a bit like a human being.

Sorry, I think I finally look a bit like a qualified Defense Against the Dark Arts professor.

Quirrell put down his book "Dark Power: A Guide to Self-Defense". Every class was no longer just reading the contents of the textbook, but introduced content outside the textbook - and even added a practical part.

Especially the last practical part, which even made the students forget all the resentment they had towards Professor Quirrell some time ago.

When the senior students who had attended Quirrell's first class after the replacement finished class, this shocking news spread quickly throughout the castle.

Within two days, everyone knew that Professor Quirrell had finally walked out of the shadow brought by the Romanian vampire. Well, although his body was still full of strong garlic smell, it was really much better than before.

Even the courses for a first-year student like Harry became interesting. Taking the troll that broke into the castle on Halloween not long ago as an example, Quirrell targeted the troll and talked about the weaknesses and stupidity of this creature. He also took the first-year wizards as an example and told them how to deal with it if they really encountered a troll in the real world.

Trolls are such stupid animals that any noise will attract their attention, even if it's just throwing a stone.

Their weak point is their little head. Compared with other parts of the body, the head of the troll is the most vulnerable part. "Next, I will teach you a new spell - the eye disease spell," Quirrell said with a smile.

Completely different from his previous stuttering and weak appearance in class, Quirrell, who has walked out of the shadow of vampires, is not only humorous and witty in class, but his voice also has a unique charm - only in class.

Once the get out of class was over, the students were surprised to find that Professor Quirrell had become his previous self again, timid and cowardly. This aroused the sympathy of many students, who believed that Professor Quirrell was enduring the pain and discomfort to teach them.

But in Harry's opinion, Quirrell's face was pale at the moment, and his weakness could be seen at a glance. Quirrell took another step towards death.

"I must admit that this spell is difficult for most of you. You may not be able to truly master it until your second or third year," Quirrell said softly, his eyes fixed on Harry who was sitting behind the professor. "But we all know that there are always some people who are different. They can surpass their grade and master spells that their peers cannot master."

It could no longer be called a hint; it was an explicit statement, and as Quirrell spoke, the students in the classroom turned their heads and cast their gazes towards Harry.

Unlike these expectant students, Ron and the other two were almost dying of nervousness under Quirrell's gaze.

After all, unlike other ignorant students, they knew Quirrell's true identity, which was Voldemort's subordinate.

"What should I do? Harry!" Hermione shouted softly with her head down. She even subconsciously grabbed Harry's arm with her hand. Harry could clearly feel that the little girl was so nervous that her hands were sweaty.

Not only Hermione, but also Neville was in the same situation. In their opinion, every move of Quirrell was extremely suspicious and dangerous, especially now that he had pointed it out to Harry - there must be some conspiracy! Harry was in danger!!

"Harry?" Quirrell said softly, "We all know that you defeated the troll that broke into the castle on Halloween. Would you mind coming to the front and demonstrating for us? I can temporarily act as your opponent."

Perhaps in order to give the students an answer to satisfy their curiosity and make them settle down, the events of that Halloween night were eventually spread. However, there was no mention of the fact that there were four invaders in addition to the two trolls. The students only knew that it was Harry who defeated the two trolls and saved his friends from them.

"Sorry, Professor." Patting Hermione's hand to signal her to relax, Harry said, "If I remember correctly, the Eye Disease Curse is a curse that damages the target's eyesight. It is a type of evil curse. I think this spell is a bit too advanced for first-year wizards, and it is very dangerous."

"...What a pity." After staring at Harry for a few seconds, Quirrell shook his head and said.

For the rest of the class, he didn't mention asking Harry to demonstrate anything, not even the Eye Blight Spell, and just talked about other things.

When the bell rang, Hermione and the other two rushed out of the Defense Against the Dark Arts classroom at almost the fastest speed. Harry followed his friends, and when he turned around before leaving the classroom, he saw Quirrell staring at him.

No, that wasn't Quirrell.

He stared at Harry and the others as they disappeared, and only lowered his head when Quirrell was the only one left in the classroom.

"Owner……"

There was none of the ease and comfort he had just shown in class, and there was an unconcealable weakness in Quirrell's voice.

"Be quiet, my servant." Voldemort's voice suddenly rang out on the back of Quirrell's head, sounding even weaker than Quirrell's. "Follow my orders...find an opportunity...don't be discovered by others...go to the eighth floor...there is a secret room there..."

Voldemort's voice was getting fainter and Quirrell had to hold his breath to hear him.

There were some things that Voldemort would never tell Quirrell, that he was now the weakest he had been since the day he failed and died eleven years ago, even weaker than when he had been lingering in the forests of Albania, living only on rats.

Voldemort was horrified to find that the boy from the Potter family had actually mastered mature soul magic. The giant translucent wolf's claws tore apart not only the body it possessed at the time, but also his already incomplete soul.

The pain, weakness and powerlessness deeply stimulated Voldemort, making him furious and hateful. When the giant wolf's claws fell, Voldemort clearly felt the call of the hazy illusion for the second time. He was so close to death for the second time.

But the Horcrux still firmly grasped his soul, allowing Voldemort to survive after experiencing pain.

This experience of hovering between life and death seemed to run through Voldemort's brain. He suddenly realized his own weakness, how weak he was, and how unstable his condition was - the wounds caused by the giant wolf still remained on his body, and the pain was always with him.

Driven by this pain, Voldemort believed that he needed to recover part of the soul he had cut out, or at least fill the wound and make the pain disappear.

Otherwise, he would continue to become weaker and weaker, and would never be able to truly be resurrected.

Coincidentally, one of the separated souls is hidden in Hogwarts, so close.

How Quirrell was going to carry out Voldemort's orders was not something Harry was considering. He followed his friends down several floors and stopped in the courtyard.

"How long will Headmaster Dumbledore keep Quirrell?" Hermione grabbed her hair in annoyance. "Is it really okay to let a Death Eater teach students? Putting it in a Muggle school is like the headmaster specially hiring a serial killer to teach students. It's too dangerous!!"

Hermione was obviously much more relaxed during this period. Perhaps the experience on Halloween gave her some inspiration or made her figure out something. In short, she no longer preached to others, and even in class she would not be anxious or annoyed because Harry completed what the professor taught first.

Ron said that Hermione was like a completely different person.

Well, Harry actually felt the same way, and he had to admit that Hermione was indeed more lovely now than before, and it was more comfortable to get along with her.

"Don't be anxious, Hermione." Ron didn't look panicked at all. He said slowly, "Believe in Headmaster Dumbledore, and believe in Harry. In short, just believe in him."

"Even if Headmaster Dumbledore has his plan, Harry will protect us. But in this situation - wait?" Hermione suddenly turned her head and looked at Ron suspiciously, "Why aren't you afraid at all? You don't even dare to hear the name of Voldemort. Quirrell is Voldemort's subordinate, a real Death Eater!"

"I told you not to mention that name!" Ron said angrily, "Seriously, you should all go and give Snape some detention!"

"If I had to listen to Snape's sarcasm and deductions in every class during my seven years at Hogwarts, and even spend every detention under his hands, then I think You-Know-Who is just like that, nothing." Ron simply had endless complaints to pour out, "Snape is even more terrifying than You-Know-Who!!!"

To be honest, Harry had to keep his face straight to keep from laughing when Ron was talking.

But Hermione and Neville didn't have as good self-control as him. Although they tried hard to keep their lips taut, anyone with a discerning eye could tell that they were smiling.

(End of this chapter)