Hogwarts: From Selling White Peppers to Becoming a God

Chapter 204 Murphy's Riddle

Side Quest: Establish Your Authority! Completed.

"Quest Reward: Armor Charm"

"Please prepare to claim your reward."

A moment later, Tom had many memories of the Armor Charm in his mind, as if he had learned the spell long ago.

No matter how many times, the feeling of acquiring spells or knowledge through quest rewards is incredible.

The Armor Charm is a life-saving skill for wizards and the best defensive spell in battle. If he had known this spell beforehand, he wouldn't have been hit by the Leg Locking Charm.

With it, he could defeat similar opponents without suffering any damage in the future.

However, compared to obtaining the armor charm, another unexpected gain caught his attention even more.

Snake-like voice.

He speaks with a snake-like accent.

According to Draco, this ability was possessed only by Salazar Slytherin and his descendants.

He is very likely one of the four founders of the school, a direct descendant of the great Slytherin!

This means that he is more deserving of the name Slytherin than anyone else!

Draco immediately declared that Tom was the true Slytherin, far more suitable to join the Slytherin Brotherhood than himself, and even, "You should be the head!"

Tom wasn't very interested in that so-called fraternity.

A bunch of arrogant rich kids. If the junior wizards in them are all at the level of Draco or Derian, then they're not as valuable as their own Hero group.

However, he still agreed to go back and visit the Brotherhood.

They may be stupid, but they're easy to control, aren't they?

Furthermore, Tom was in a good mood because Draco had given him information about his identity, so he spared them from punishment.

As a result of the conflict, only poor Derian was burned on the back of his hand. He didn't dare to complain and swore that he had accidentally burned himself. Only then was Tom let him go.

At that moment, Tom was sitting on a sofa in the center of the Slytherin common room. Crabbe and Goyle stood on either side of him behind him, Draco stood on his left, and Pansy stood on his right, pouring Tom a cup of tea.

Tom didn't touch the tea; his mind was still preoccupied with his own problems.

I speak Parsley, and I'm definitely a descendant of Slytherin.

But I grew up in an orphanage, and my parents were both Muggles. How did that happen?

"Draco, you said your family history is very old, right?"

"Yes, of course not as ancient and great as Slytherin, but the Malfoy family is still one of the few pure-blood families in the British wizarding world today..."

"Then you must know quite a few secrets of the magical world, right?" Tom interrupted Draco's boasting.

"Uh, I do know a little. What do you want to know?"

"You should know that I came from an orphanage, and I know nothing about my parents or family."

Tom has been in frequent contact with Harry and others lately, and he has discovered that most people in the wizarding world don't seem to care about your background at all. They basically judge people based on their personal preferences, and the veneration of bloodlines is almost exclusively concentrated in Slytherin House.

He has proven his noble lineage, and for those who dare to question him, he has found a better way to establish his authority—by beating them into submission.

Therefore, he had no intention of hiding his background.

"I'd like you to help me investigate the descendants of Slytherin. I want to know who my ancestors were."

"Oh, and have you ever heard of the name Tom Riddle?"

Draco shook his head. "No, it sounds like a Muggle name."

"Please also look up this name for me."

"who is he?"

"I don't know," Tom said, "but I feel like he has something to do with me."

"Okay, I understand. I'll check it out for you."

……

At the end of the third week, Professor McGonagall approached Murphy. "Professor Darkholm, are your puzzles ready?"

Murphy knew she was referring to the trapdoor behind the trapdoor. After thinking for a moment, she asked, "Are we still planning to keep the Philosopher's Stone at the school?"

Professor McGonagall nodded. "There is no safer place than here."

In other words, Dumbledore was determined to give Harry a test, and perhaps he was also planning to trick Voldemort.

However, although you are the director, you have more than one screenwriter, so the plot may not develop as you wish.

"I'm ready," Murphy said.

Please follow me.

At the end of the fourth-floor corridor, Louie had been led away at some point. McGonagall led Murphy down the trapdoor and used shock absorbers to slow them down halfway down.

They drifted slowly downwards for a long time before finally reaching the ground. In the original story, this should have been the Devil's Net prepared by Professor Sprout, but it was nowhere to be seen. Instead, they saw a dark and damp stone corridor that had existed for countless years, and they were at the end of the corridor.

"You can set up any traps or puzzles you want along this corridor until you reach the next room across the way," Professor McGonagall said.

Murphy didn't say anything like "Why not just block the road?"

It's just a stage set up for the principal; if we keep going, Professor McGonagall won't be able to cover it up and everyone will feel awkward.

"Should I avoid this?" Professor McGonagall asked.

"unnecessary."

As Murphy spoke, he waved his wand and used Transfiguration to create two rows of eight stone niches on either side of the corridor, above his head. Immediately afterwards, eight crows flew out from behind him and landed in the niches, standing in different positions.

Then Murphy took a step back and set up ten buttons from 0 to 9 on the wall.

他在按键上方的石板上，用魔杖刻下了一行字：「C(12，7)+2log(5)10+log(5)0.25=」。

This is high school math, but in all of Hogwarts, you could probably count the number of people who can get it right on one hand.

Brother Qi Luo, you should learn more math.

"Professor McGonagall, my puzzle is ready."

"So fast?" Professor McGonagall was puzzled. She looked at the crows, then glanced at the writing on the wall: C(12, 7), log? What does that mean?

"Professor Darkholm, what is the purpose of this trap?" Professor McGonagall asked again.

Murphy didn't explain, but took off his left glove and threw it into the corridor ahead.

A bolt of lightning suddenly flashed from one of the stone niches, piercing the glove before it even hit the ground, and the intense heat ignited it.

There are eight lightning crows, each capable of unleashing two to three lightning strikes. If you can't solve the math problem correctly and use the answer as the password to press the buttons in sequence to disarm the trap, the total of about twenty or thirty lightning strikes will be enough to give the challenger a hard time.

Professor McGonagall was startled.

"Isn't this a bit too dangerous?"

The lightning looked terrifying, possibly deadly, and the trap had no warning whatsoever. In the dark corridor, who would notice a few black crows? Who would have thought they could unleash lightning?

"Isn't the greater the danger to the enemy, the safer for us?"

In the original story, Voldemort was very secretive about his origins. After he started his life in the underworld, his subordinates would almost never call him Tom Riddle. Among the good guys, the only ones who knew his secret origins were probably Dumbledore and Slughorn, who had taught Tom in the past. Therefore, in the original story, very few people knew this name, especially in this day and age—as evidenced by the fact that his name is still on the Special Contribution Award.

(End of this chapter)