Hogwarts: From Selling White Peppers to Becoming a God

Chapter 282 This is certainly your dereliction of duty! Albus!

Harry was led aside by Professor McGonagall, and the atmosphere in the tavern became quite oppressive.

"Let him finish what he has to say," Barty Crouch said, breaking the tension. Quirrell was about to pass out; they had to get him to tell them everything he knew quickly.

"Continue with what happened next," Rahim ordered Quirrell.

"Lucas and Harry disappeared, and we lost the Philosopher's Stone. The master was furious, but we had no other choice but to go to Nicolas Flamel... Fortunately, we knew his address, so we Apparated there, and then the master dispelled the magic outside his house and broke in."

“Niccolò Flamel is very old, he’s almost… cough cough cough…” Quirrell suddenly coughed violently, his breath weakening again. “He, he didn’t expect us to break in. We subdued him effortlessly, and then threatened him with his wife to hand over the elixir of immortality. He didn’t seem to value the elixir of immortality very much, and handed it over.”

"Master, cough cough, the master thought he was cheating, so he threatened him to confirm whether the elixir of immortality was real, and in the end he even killed his wife, but Nicolas Flamel seemed to be terrified and he didn't speak. The master actually knew that he had obtained the real elixir of immortality. He killed that old man because he was very angry, but he still didn't kill Nicolas Flamel. He was worried that if other things happened, Nicolas Flamel would still be useful."

Several people looked at Dumbledore; they all knew that Nicolas Flamel and his wife were Dumbledore's friends.

But Dumbledore remained expressionless.

"We left Nicolas Flamel's house, returned to the cemetery, and prepared the potion once more..." Quirrell said, his brow furrowing in pain. "I offered my hand, and then Murphy, Murphy appeared..."

"His spell struck me, and then I watched him add a lot of things to the resurrection potion... and then Master, Master turned into a monster... Murphy killed him, and Master's resurrection plan was, thwarted once again..."

"Then Murphy knocked me unconscious again... When I woke up, I was here..."

Everyone nodded. Quirrell's testimony matched Murphy's account. It seemed that Voldemort had been stopped twice tonight, once by Tom and once by Murphy.

"Quirk, I want to hear you tell me more about that diary..." Dumbledore began, but Quirrell's eyes widened suddenly, and a trickle of blood flowed from his nostril. "Master, don't leave me, Master..."

He wailed, tilted his head back, and suddenly lost his breath.

Quirrell is dead.

The Aurors took Quirrell's body away for a final examination.

Rahim then questioned Snape, Ron, Hermione, Cho Chang, and others, learning their reasons for and the process of going behind the trapdoor.

Apart from a few young wizards being far too audacious, there was nothing suspicious.

Hermione and the others also learned that Snape had protected Harry and had been trying to protect the Philosopher's Stone from Quirrell's theft.

Finally, Rahim looked at Murphy. "Professor Murphy, Lucas handed over the Philosopher's Stone, right? Where is it now?"

"No, I didn't get the Philosopher's Stone."

"What?" Rahim was a little confused.

"Unfortunately, the Philosopher's Stone that Lucas gave me was fake. When I went to find my teacher, he told me that."

As Murphy spoke, he took out a pile of broken stones from a plastic bag. "This is it. It breaks with one hammer blow. It's just red crystal."

"You mean, Voldemort still took the real Philosopher's Stone?" Rahim asked in shock. "Then why did he still go to Nicolas Flamel to steal the elixir of immortality?"

"So, Voldemort didn't know the Philosopher's Stone was fake," Murphy said. "And I don't think Tom and Harry would lie to me."

"Therefore, I think, thanks to the headmaster's foresight, the Philosopher's Stone shouldn't have been placed in those traps in the first place, and it should still be in the headmaster's hands now, right?"

"Is that so?" Harry was shocked, and all the professors were shocked too. They looked at Dumbledore. "There was no Philosopher's Stone in that trap. Was it just a decoy trap, Dumbledore?"

"Sometimes we need to prepare for the worst," Dumbledore said.

"So, the Philosopher's Stone is now in your possession?" asked Commander Winston Robinson of the Watchers.

Dumbledore glanced at him. "Yes."

"Then I'm afraid you should return the Philosopher's Stone to Mr. Murphy."

"Give it back?" Dumbledore keenly noticed the subtle choice of words in the other person's speech.

“Yes,” Winston said. “Earlier, we received a message from Mr. Nicolas Flamel, who invited us to verify his newly drawn-up will. He bequeathed all his books, notes, tools, and alchemical artifacts—including the Philosopher's Stone and the Elixir of Immortality—to his student, Mr. Murphy Darkholm.”

"Therefore, the Philosopher's Stone now belongs to Mr. Murphy Darkholm."

Dumbledore looked slightly enlightened, but then asked doubtfully, "I've never heard Lemaître mention that you were his student."

"Maybe it's because I'm still too immature. My teacher never acknowledged me as his student before," Murphy said. "To be honest, I never expected my teacher to leave these things to me."

Dumbledore scrutinized him for a while, then looked away. "Then Nicol..."

"It is with great regret that Mr. Nicolas Flamel took an overdose of the Elixir of Life and Death half an hour ago and passed away, following his wife."

Dumbledore's gaze dimmed for a moment. "Is that so?"

He wasn't particularly surprised, as they had mentioned this possibility in their previous letters, and the Lemaîtres had long been prepared.

"So, can we now conclude," Rahim said, "that this student's death was a heroic act, but also a terrible tragedy, because he bravely confronted Voldemort. Can we conclude that no one else besides Voldemort should be held responsible for this student's death?"

However, no sooner had Rahim finished speaking than a witch cried out, "Are you kidding me?!"

"A student dies while at school, and no one is held responsible?!"

"Ms. Kaliman, what do you mean?"

Kaliman, a white-haired witch and head of the Hogwarts Board of Governors, glared at Rahim. "Isn't this a dereliction of duty on the part of the school?"

"Or are you saying that because this student is an orphan and no one can speak up for him, you're just going to let this go?"

For a moment, no one dared to utter a sound.

This is certainly a dereliction of duty on the part of the school.

After all, Hogwarts is a boarding school. Parents send their children here to study, and students live at the school all year round except for holidays. The school certainly has an obligation to protect the safety of its students.

Dumbledore had to speak up, "It is my fault that such a thing happened at the school."

"This is certainly your dereliction of duty, Albus!" Kaliman said bluntly.

"We also happen to have some questions for you, so let's begin the hearing now."

(End of this chapter)