Hogwarts: The Witch Education Handbook

Chapter 57 The Watcher in the Corridor

In fact.

When Sean passed by the giant hourglass that recorded the scores of the College Cup the next day, he was still surprised to see that the Gryffindor hourglass was empty.

It turns out that even without the fire dragon scene from the original work...

The three little ones could also deduct 150 points through their own efforts—ever since they learned about the connection between Nicolas Flamel and the Philosopher's Stone, they naturally deduced that the Cerberus named Fulwei was guarding the Philosopher's Stone.

They always felt that Snape might burst through the trapdoor at any moment and steal the jewels while Cerberus was resting.

After all, even a three-headed dog needs to sleep.

An event Harry experienced in the past few days further confirmed their suspicions.

It was an afternoon when Harry came out of the library alone and heard someone sobbing in the classroom in front of him.

He took a few steps closer and recognized Quirrell's voice.

"No—no—I can't do it anymore, please—"

It sounded like someone was threatening him. Harry took a few more steps closer.

"Okay—okay—" He heard Quirrell sobbing.

Then, Quirrell hurriedly left the classroom, adjusting his scarf as he did so.

He was pale, as if he were about to cry, and strode out of Harry's sight.

Harry felt that Quirrell hadn't even noticed him.

He waited until Quirrell's footsteps faded away before looking into the classroom. It was empty, but the other door was ajar.

Harry glanced at it and saw Snape's iconic bat-like back.

Harry didn't dare linger. He first tiptoed out of the classroom, and then headed straight for the Gryffindor common room without looking back.

Meanwhile, Hermione was playing Wizards vs. Wizards with Ron. She had already lost four or five rounds in a row, and her face was flushed red.

"One more round!" Hermione stubbornly challenged Ron's "Professor Snape" again as she watched her "Professor Sean" be defeated once more. "I've had bad hands these past few rounds. I'll definitely beat you next time."

Ron smiled smugly, raised an eyebrow, and looked at Hermione's flushed face and wide eyes. He couldn't help but want to tease her, but before he could say anything, he heard Harry's rather flustered voice.

"Stop, stop playing!" Harry said, panting heavily and looking quite anxious.

Hermione and Ron both looked up at Harry, their faces showing surprise.

Harry was slightly more composed, or rather, shy, of the three; it was rare to see him so flustered.

"Harry, what's wrong?" Hermione immediately put down the cards in her hand, took the opportunity to shuffle them and put them back into the deck, and asked with concern.

The hand I'm dealt is getting worse with each hand.

Harry looked around to make sure no one else was there before whispering what he had just heard.

"So, Snape is finally going to make his move!"

"Don't forget about Lou Williams," Hermione said.

“Maybe Snape already knows how to get past Fluffy, so there’s no need to ask Hagrid,” Ron said. “The library has countless books; I bet there’s a book here that tells you how to get past a three-headed dog. So what do we do, Harry?”

A glint of adventure flashed in Ron's eyes again, but Hermione spoke up before Harry could, "Go find Dumbledore."

"But we have no proof!" Harry said. "Quirok is terrified and certainly won't come forward to testify for us. And don't forget, we shouldn't know about the Philosopher's Stone and Fluffy; explaining that would be too much trouble."

Hermione seemed to be convinced by him, but Ron was not.

"We can't just sit idly by. Even if Snape wanted to steal the Philosopher's Stone, he would have to do it when it's late at night and everyone in the castle is asleep. So we can just take some time every night to go and keep an eye out for him. If we find anything unusual, we'll report it to Dumbledore immediately."

To convince the other two, Ron added, "Don't forget, we have invisibility cloaks, we won't get caught."

Harry and Hermione exchanged glances, realizing that Ron's words made some sense.

The invisibility cloak would prevent them from being caught out at night, and if they could detect suspicious behavior from Snape or anyone else, they would have evidence to go to Dumbledore.

This was the first time the two of them had felt that Ron's suggestion was so reliable.

"Alright," Harry finally said, "we can give it a try. But we must be careful not to let anyone find us."

“That’s right,” Hermione added, “and we can’t let our studies suffer. If our grades suddenly drop, the professors will definitely get suspicious.”

"Don't worry," Ron said, "we'll only go at night, so it won't interfere with our daytime classes."

The three agreed on a plan and decided to take action that very evening.

So that night, the three of them donned invisibility cloaks, crept stealthily through the corridor, and waited outside the trapdoor where the magic stone was stored.

However, after several nights of surveillance and observation, they found nothing unusual.

As time went by, the three of them began to feel exhausted.

As the end of the semester approached, they had to cope with heavy coursework and study tasks during the day and stay up late to investigate at night, which severely depleted their physical strength and energy.

Harry's eyes began to darken, Ron's face showed undisguised fatigue, and Hermione, though still highly alert and focused, was also visibly exhausted.

"Shouldn't we stop?" One night, Ron finally couldn't help but ask, putting down his pizza. "We've been pulling all-nighters in a row. If this continues, our bodies won't be able to take it."

Harry sighed and looked at Ron and Hermione, saying, "I know you're all tired, but if we give up now, all our previous efforts will be wasted. Let's hang in there a little longer; maybe we'll find some clues by tomorrow night."

Hermione nodded, a rare occurrence, indicating her agreement with Harry's point of view: "We've already given so much, we can't give up so easily. Besides, I have a feeling we're getting closer and closer to the truth."

Hearing Hermione's words, Ron perked up again: "Alright, let's hang in there a little longer. But it's a deal, if we still haven't found anything by tonight, we'll have to stop and rest."

Unbeknownst to the three of them, a little boy with platinum hair was eavesdropping on their conversation not far away.

As night fell again, Harry, Ron, and Hermione, as usual, donned their invisibility cloaks and tiptoed out of the Gryffindor common room.

The corridor was unusually quiet tonight, with only their footsteps echoing in the empty space...