Bring a fairy tale to Hogwarts!

"Over there, over there."

"See that one? The one in the black cloak?"

"That's right, the one who looks a lot like the old bat. He's Gringotts's consultant, the new professor of divination; they say even the goblins have to follow his advice!"

"Hey, do you think if I go for the interview, could he give me a special favor?"

The next morning, as Victor walked toward the auditorium, the corridors were filled with whispers. Groups of students peered at his retreating figure. Although few dared to speak loudly in his presence, Victor could clearly hear their murmurs.

It all stemmed from the morning's headline in the Daily Prophet.

Professor Flitwick was right; his appointment as Gringotts' sole wizarding advisor was indeed widely reported. But unlike the bizarre "fairy-man" prediction in The Quibbler, the Daily Prophet called him "the best candidate to bridge the gap between fairies and wizards and mend centuries-old feuds."

This made Victor feel a little better.

Putting everything else aside, this is the best his reputation has ever been.

When news spread that he had a good relationship with the dragons, the opinions within the kingdom were quite different—the papal spokespersons and bards practically pointed their fingers at him, accusing him of trying to unify the forces of darkness, forcibly increasing the difficulty of the dragon-slaying mission, and intending to destroy all the kingdoms.

However, when he knocked on each door to chat, people's opinions of him were revived.

Well, I've gone off on a tangent.

By the time Victor arrived at Hogwarts Great Hall early in the morning, he had already received congratulations from many students and professors. The news spread throughout the campus almost immediately after the newspapers were published, and he became quite popular again, especially among the upperclassmen.

Those who had met him before, those who hadn't, and even those who had never taken a divination class all wanted to become familiar with him in order to pass Gringotts' interview and get a high-paying job.

It took Victor some effort to slip away from the crowd.

His expression was completely different from that of the excited students; he seemed lost in thought, as if he had figured something out the night before.

Before long, he approached Professor Dumbledore, who was about to leave the Great Hall.

This was the corridor connecting the teachers' seats, so it wasn't crowded. In the candlelight of the corridor, Dumbledore's tall, thin figure stood out prominently.

Professor Dumbledore was dressed in a purple wizard's robe today, which made him appear more solemn and serious, but the various little stars woven with gold thread still showed that he was not the kind of old-fashioned person.

"Headmaster Dumbledore."

Victor strode over there.

Dumbledore turned around, and after recognizing Victor, said with a smile:

Good morning.

"I've heard about your situation, Victor. It seems our previous choice was correct. Hogwarts has a new divination professor who emphasizes practical application, so the students' employment rate should be much better this year."

"I actually have a lot more things I want to talk to you about. But you probably need to talk to me about something too, right?"

After greeting Dumbledore, Victor said, "Yes, it's related to the trespassing incident at Gringotts on July 31st."

Dumbledore raised his eyebrows.

"I'm all ears."

Victor then briefly recounted the contents of the letter, but made no mention of his deal with Gringotts, only emphasizing his concerns about the school's safety.

Dumbledore listened with a frown, only raising an eyebrow when he heard the words "Sorcerer's Stone," looking somewhat surprised.

"Oh, I had no idea those fairies knew exactly what was in the vault." He shook his head.

"...But you don't need to worry about this, Professor Victor. The students and the stone are safe, and that unlawful wizard can't harm them."

Dumbledore's tone was relaxed, as if he didn't care much about the matter, but it still gave people a sense of reassurance.

But Victor simply continued:

"But I'm pretty sure there are some people who are more suspicious than everyone else—like our Defense Against the Dark Arts professor."

...Quirk.

Quirrell was always sneaky, and it was effortless for Victor to figure out that he was the most suspicious of all the professors—he really only needed to "look".

When the letter mentioned that the suspect in the Gringotts robbery had appeared near Hogwarts, he didn't even need to do a divination to know that it was most likely Quirrell.

Gringotts was willing to pay the price; if Quirrell's identity were confirmed directly, he could win the deal with Gringotts at no cost...

Since Quirrell rejected his deal anyway, what harm would it do to use him a little more?

"I think the school needs to investigate him, at least to find out what's behind his headscarf," Victor said casually. "I suspect it's not onions inside."

But to everyone's surprise, Dumbledore shook his head firmly, without even letting Victor say a word.

"This isn't really a matter of suspicion, Professor Victor."

"I don't want you to investigate Professor Quirrell at all; you should keep your suspicions to yourself. In fact, Professor Snape brought it up with me, and my response was the same."

"...The school should not investigate a professor without any evidence. As a wizard with a position in Wizengamo, I hope you can respect that."

Dumbledore sighed, seemingly troubled by something, but unwilling to elaborate, merely glossing over Quirrell's situation and the issues related to Defense Against the Dark Arts.

But the smile on his face had clearly faded considerably, and his aged blue eyes held a more serious expression as he stared straight at the ground in thought for a while.

When he came to his senses, he suddenly slapped his forehead and said with a somewhat abrupt laugh:

"Ah, I almost forgot."

"Actually, there's something that's not exactly a secret, but I haven't had a chance to ask you yet—"

"Professor Victor, do you know any special magic that can stop a wizard from breaking in, while rendering the intruder incapacitated but not mortally dangerous?"

"Ideally, it should be the kind of place where students wouldn't get hurt even if they accidentally wandered in."

"In fact, the Philosopher's Stone is kept at the end of the corridor on the fourth floor, and most of the professors have already set up protective magic for it during the summer vacation. I think you might be willing to help."

...Protective magic?

Victor raised his eyebrows, pondered for a moment, and finally connected "no conviction without evidence" with Dumbledore's plan, and suddenly realized.

So it was a sting operation to entrap law enforcement!

It's not necessarily a bad thing. Since it's a method that allows you to get something for free, waiting a while is worthwhile. Using this method, even the task of arresting people can be done by Dumbledore.