Chapter 3003 - Ch: 56-59

Chapter 56: The Competition at the Sword-Flying Stone Tower

Otherwise, if Dumbledore actually caught him red-handed, things would blow up.

In Hogwarts, apart from Quirrell, probably no one else would use the Unforgivable Curses. As long as he didn't run into Quirrell, he was probably still safe.

At lunch, Ron blurted out the news he had gathered: "Have you guys heard? Someone saw that big spider on the underground floor again recently."

Harry immediately chimed in: "Hagrid said that is a very dangerous magical creature named Acromantula! Do you guys think Snape brought it in to draw the Professors' attention away?"

Hodu's eyelids twitched uncontrollably at this, and he couldn't help rolling his eyes.

Harry's suspicion of Snape during this period was almost developing into a disease.

As for that Acromantula, it was naturally disguised by Hodu himself. He did this precisely to lure the tiger away from its mountain. Snape had been quite idle lately, arriving at the Great Hall punctually every day to eat, which kept Hodu from finding an opportunity to play tricks on him.

Time flew by, and Friday arrived.

Harry and the others dragged their exhausted bodies out of the classroom and hurried towards the Great Hall. Having had two consecutive Potion Class lessons in the morning, and with the Acromantula failing to show up, Snape—who had been working overtime lately—had a gloomy expression as if he might slam a cauldron onto a student's head at any moment.

He poured almost all his anger onto Harry.

Those who were close to Harry naturally couldn't escape either. By the time this class ended, Hodu's mind still seemed to echo with Snape's low voice.

After lunch, Harry, Ron, and Hermione came looking for him together.

"Hodu, we're planning to go find Hagrid this afternoon to ask about the Acromantula. Do you want to come along?"

"Not going." Hodu refused without even thinking, "Instead of wasting time on that, I might as well go swimming and play with sword-flying for a while."

Harry could only shrug helplessly.

It seemed Hodu had zero interest in uncovering Snape's conspiracy, so they had no choice but to go find Hagrid by themselves.

By the time Hodu arrived at United Academy via Apparition, it was pitch dark outside.

But the area around the Sword-Flying Stone Tower was extremely lively. Tonight was Friday night, coinciding with the academy's holiday. A place that usually had people around was packed to the point of being impenetrable at this moment.

As soon as Hodu showed up, he heard there was a competition tonight. The venue had been booked by the Five Great Families, but others were not barred from watching.

The five major prestigious families were competing against each other; who wouldn't love watching such a lively spectacle? Even before the match started, the outside of the stone tower was surrounded by crowds. Students who failed to grab a good spot simply hovered in the air on a peach wood sword, looking down from mid-air.

Several searchlights were placed around the stone tower. Those lights had obviously been modified by magic, illuminating the venue brightly and pushing back the darkness both inside and outside the tower.

Hodu wore a gray long gown, sitting sideways on the peach wood sword. He only let half of his butt touch the sword body, with his right foot stepping near the wooden hilt, looking down condescendingly at the center of the field just like everyone else around him.

The very center of the stone tower was cordoned off, forbidding anyone else to approach. Several chairs were placed in five directions, occupied by the leading figures of the five major prestigious families in the academy, usually direct descendants of the main branches.

Hodu saw Huo Yunqi there.

Although Huo Yunqi was also sitting on a large sofa, he was obviously squeezed to the edge. An older man sat among the members of the Huo Clan, with a position even further forward than his.

Hodu had no interest in inquiring about internal family matters. He turned his gaze back to look at the stone tower.

Tonight's stone tower was a bit different from usual; a square stone pillar had been added inside. The surface of the stone pillar was covered in holes, and from a distance, it didn't look like a single piece of stone, but rather like many square stone blocks piled up layer by layer.

Someone nearby was explaining: "That's a magical arrow tower. It will sense the challenger and then shoot stone arrows. If you can't dodge them, you'll be knocked straight out of the stone tower, which counts as elimination."

Hodu's eyes lit up.

This way of playing was much more thrilling than simply flying a sword through the stone tower. Sure enough, compared to these prestigious families, the ones who knew how to make a fuss the most in the academy were still them.

Before long, the competition officially began.

Each of the five major prestigious families sent two people, one entering from the lower entrance and the other from the upper exit. As the ancient bell rang, two figures fiercely charged into the passage, the speed of their peach wood swords being astonishingly fast.

Those who could represent their families at a time like this were obviously not ordinary students.

The stone pillar also began to rotate along with it. Only then did Hodu see clearly that those holes would turn forward along with the stone blocks, densely packing the stone apertures aimed at the figures in the passage, and then streams of stone arrows shot out.

The two people in the passage had to maintain their speed while constantly dodging the oncoming stone arrows. Both of their movements were very fast; arrows whizzed past their sides time and time again, yet they were never able to widen the gap between them.

Soon, they bumped into each other in the middle section of the stone tower.

The two reached for the wooden fans at their waists almost simultaneously. One of them chanted the spell first, while the other did not immediately counterattack, instead making a sharp turn to dodge in the narrow passage, narrowly avoiding the spell heading straight at them.

As soon as he dodged past, he twisted his body and counterattacked.

"Expulso!"

A blue flame burst out from the top of the fan, slamming fiercely into the opponent's body. That student had no time to dodge at all, and his whole person flew backward on the spot, even scattering a patch of blood in mid-air.

His body crashed toward the interior of the stone tower, but was then struck by a stone arrow shot from the arrow tower. That force bounced him right back, heavily slamming into the wall, and then he plummeted downward.

Hodu looked on in a bit of a daze.

This wasn't a competition at all; it could clearly be used for a duel already.

But the audience's reaction around was completely different. No one felt surprised; instead, because this collision was exciting enough, they loudly cheered and applauded.

After the falling student hit the ground, he wasn't smashed to pieces. His body sank into the ground, as if the ground and walls there had all been enchanted with magic.

However, the spell he had just taken was no fake.

The other person didn't stop, continuing to steer the peach wood sword and charge forward. But Hodu quickly noticed that the stone tower's arrow-shooting frequency was increasing little by little.

That student dodged very wretchedly. After accelerating too fiercely once, he failed to dodge the arrow in time, and his body was struck by a stone arrow, flying straight out from the hollowed-out wall on the side of the passage and falling toward the ground.

Neither of them managed to reach the finish line, so this match could only be considered a draw.

Only then did Hodu hear someone else's explanation. The stone arrows shot by the magical arrow tower did not have the true power to harm people; upon hitting the target, they would burst out with a soft yet extremely huge thrust, which could bounce people away without injuring the students.

The ancient bell rang again, and the match ended.

After a while, someone rushed into the stone tower and carried out the student who had been hit by the spell inside. That person was covered in blood, and it looked like he was seriously injured.

The subsequent matches quickly followed.

Hodu gradually figured it out: the truly troublesome part of this competition wasn't the mid-way duel, but rather the closer one got to the finish line, the more exaggerated the arrow tower's power became. The stone arrows flew faster and faster, and their numbers became denser and denser.

If you wanted to win, you couldn't stop to dodge arrows. As long as you stopped, stone arrows from all directions would shoot over together, and the starting speed when re-initiating sword-flying simply couldn't keep up with the arrow tower's attacks.

After several groups of matches, surprisingly not a single person successfully reached the finish line.

The collateral branch member of the Huo Clan who had been buried alive by Hodu previously also took the stage at this time. The result was equally uninspiring; he was defeated in the midway duel and finally carried off to the Hospital Wing by two of Huo Yunqi's underlings.

The excitement in Hodu's eyes grew even thicker.

Just watching from the side was already thrilling enough; if he were to actually go in and run a lap himself, it would definitely be even more interesting.

He couldn't really be considered a complete novice either. These days, after finishing dinner at Hogwarts, he would often come over via Apparition to play. By that time, the academy side was usually already in the early hours of the morning, and the stone tower was empty, just right for no one to disturb him.

There were no lights at night, and he didn't care.

In order not to be discovered by the academy's security guards, Hodu always picked late nights to go over. Relying on his earth-controlling and stone-digging trait, he had a natural intuition for stone structures; even with his eyes closed, he could figure out the passages inside the stone tower and walk through them completely.

Hodu looked at those two Huo Yunqi underlings carrying the wounded away, then manipulated the peach wood sword to descend downwards.

Moments later, when he appeared again, his appearance had already changed into that of one of Huo Yunqi's underlings.

He squeezed through the outer crowd, smoothly entered the inner circle, and then came to Huo Yunqi's side.

Huo Yunqi just glanced at him casually, didn't notice any abnormalities, and continued to focus his attention back on the stone tower.

The older man beside him saw his own person fall from the stone tower and immediately let out a cold snort.

"All of them are trash."

Hearing how he addressed Huo Yunqi, Hodu had an idea in his mind.

This person should be Huo Yunqi's third older brother.

The man quickly turned his head, his face switching to a smile: "Fifth brother, you should go up yourself for the next match.

I heard that Eldest Brother has praised your sword-riding skills, saying that you obtained Father's true inheritance.

Whether you can save face for the Huo Clan now and show off your skills in front of the Five Great Familiesdepends on you."

The words sounded like a discussion, but in reality, they didn't give Huo Yunqi any chance to refuse.

"Alright, Third Brother." Huo Yunqi agreed expressionlessly.

Hodu stared at the stone tower, muttering inwardly.

The brotherly relationships in this wealthy family seemed even fiercer than the competition outside.

It was obvious he was pushing someone up there to lose face.

He had already observed earlier that, up to this point, none of the main-branch direct descendants had personally stepped down into the arena.

Winning would naturally save face, but losing would mean losing face for his own branch.

However, they were only half-brothers, so it wasn't strange that their relationship was bad.

Soon, Huo Yunqi stood at the edge of the arena.

His appearance instantly attracted everyone's gaze; no one expected this fourth-year student to personally participate in the competition.

Huo Yunqi stepped onto the peach wood sword with one foot, leaped upward, and then landed steadily on the sword body, slowly drifting toward the entrance.

Perhaps because he personally entered the match, another previously arranged contestant was replaced on the spot.

The substitute who took the field was someone else.

Before setting off, that person was pulled aside by a main-branch direct descendant and given a few instructions. When he entered the arena, his gaze toward Huo Yunqialready carried obvious malice.

Hodu secretly shook his head.

Children of wealthy families looked glorious, but in reality, there were rivals everywhere.

It was still more comfortable staying at Hogwarts.

Having stood for a long time, he felt a bit tired, so he simply lifted his hips and sat on the armrest of Huo Yunqi's sofa.

The third brother nearby immediately looked over, his brows furrowed as if he wanted to scold him.

Hodu turned his head a step earlier and flashed a big smile at him.

The man's expression sank, and he let out a cold snort through his nose. In the end, he didn't say anything and turned his head back to the stone tower.

After the match started, Huo Yunqi quickly demonstrated his strength.

His speed was extremely fast, and he was very smooth when operating the peach wood sword.

His opponent was equally fast; compared to the previous contestants, the skill level of these two was noticeably a cut above.

But from Hodu's perspective, Huo Yunqi was still just a tiny bit faster.

Don't underestimate this slight gap.

According to their speed, the two would definitely meet in the middle of the stone tower, and the person who entered the middle section earlier could occupy that special passage in advance.

That section of the passage was a bit longer than other places, obviously left specifically for contestants to fight. Whichever person entered first would gain an advantage during the duel.

Of course, one could also deliberately slow down, hide in a favorable position, and wait for the opponent to come over.

Although doing this wasn't considered a violation, it was somewhat underhanded.

The longer the time spent in the passage, the stronger the magical arrow towers would become.

Right now, even those sprinting at full speed might not be able to pass the final section, let alone stopping halfway to wait for someone.

Moreover, there were so many spectators surrounding the outer area.

Once it was seen that someone was deliberately stalling, although they might gain a slight advantage, their family would lose face first.

Yet Huo Yunqi's opponent actually stopped.

He hid behind a stone pillar to avoid the rain of arrows, while gripping the wooden fan at his waist, clearly preparing to wait here for Huo Yunqi to approach.

"Boo!"

The audience outside immediately let out a chorus of boos.

That main-branch direct descendant coldly glanced at the outer area, but the boos did not stop because of that.

Hodu narrowed his eyes.

If Huo Yunqi also stopped, the stone arrows behind would completely trap him in the passage.

But if he forcefully charged through, it was very likely he would suffer in the fight, and losing would look even uglier.

In the blink of an eye, Huo Yunqi had already closed in on the opponent's location.

He was also holding a wooden fan in his hand, but his speed did not slow down at all, as if he had made up his mind to charge straight through.

As soon as he barged into that section of the passage, the spell his opponent had long prepared was shot out immediately.

Outside the arena instantly quieted down, with everyone staring at this collision.

Just as the spell was about to hit Huo Yunqi, a glowing, invisible wall suddenly materialized in front of him.

That spell crashed into the wall and was actually forcefully bounced back.

The rebounded spell hit the opponent squarely.

That person let out a miserable scream, and his whole body was blasted flying backward, crashing directly through the outer perimeter of the stone tower and flying outside.

"Ooh!"

The surrounding audience gasped in unison, and even Hodu couldn't help but widen his eyes.

He hadn't noticed before when Huo Yunqi had cast a Shield Charm on himself.

It was precisely relying on this layer of protection that Huo Yunqi didn't slow down, nor was he in a rush to cast spells, instead charging all the way forward against the attacks.

Who could have imagined that a fourth-year Wizard had already mastered an advanced spell like the Shield Charm?

A dissatisfied cold snort immediately came from beside Hodu.

Evidently, someone did not like seeing this result.

Yet even the Shield Charm couldn't let Huo Yunqi finish running the final section.

In the end, he was still hit by the stone arrows, and his body flew out of the passage.

Despite failing the match, he was still the person closest to the exit so far.

Plenty of cheers and applause rang out outside the arena.

In contrast, the faces of the people from Huo Yunqi's opponent's family couldn't possibly be any blacker.

They had originally thought that even if they lost the match, as long as they could injure Huo Yunqi, it wouldn't be considered a waste of effort.

Who knew that in the end, not only did they lose face, but they also let Huo Yunqi achieve the best score of the entire event? Such a result really didn't make anyone happy.

Huo Yunqi returned near his seat full of smiles. Seeing Hodu sitting on the armrest of the sofa, he was clearly stunned for a moment, but didn't voice any questions.

After this match ended, the next one was about to begin very soon.

The sword-riding stone tower competition had no fixed order and no fixed opponents.

Whoever wanted to enter the arena would send someone, especially when both sides already had conflict; if one side sent someone, the other side would mostly follow suit and send someone too.

Hodu had waited for so long and finally took the initiative to stand up.

"I'll do it!"

He had long wanted to try for himself whether he could run all the way to the finish line.

Huo Yunqi looked somewhat surprised at Hodu, who was disguised as his lackey.

He remembered that the other party wasn't good at this kind of sport, but he didn't stop him either, just casually saying: "Then go ahead."

Hodu walked to the edge of the arena full of anticipation, pulled a small sword from inside his gray long gown, and casually tossed it forward.

The peach wood sword grew larger against the wind, hovering above the ground.

He gave a gentle leap and landed steadily on top of it.

No one around applauded for him, but Hodu himself felt that this set of movements was quite handsome.

Third Brother looked at that peach wood sword, his brows furrowing again, and his tone turned sarcastic: "You certainly are generous with spending money on your little lackey."

An ordinary peach wood sword was already not cheap for an average family, roughly equivalent to an ordinary person buying an ordinary car.

But Hodu's peach wood sword also had a reduction curse carved onto it, and the materials were top-grade. Its speed was much faster than ordinary peach wood swords; placed over on the ordinary person's side, it was completely a luxury car.

A wealthy family like the Huo Clan certainly wasn't short on money, but after all, they were only students now, and the pocket money in their hands didn't reach the level of casually buying luxury cars to give away to others.

In the eyes of others, this kind of behavior already belonged to having too much money with nowhere to spend it.

Equipping a lackey with a luxury-version peach wood sword was enough to make people laugh just hearing about it.

Huo Yunqi's expression also changed slightly.

He really couldn't figure out where on earth this lackey of his got the money from.

Previously, when he bought things for that "dear uncle," his heart ached so much that it almost cost half of his pocket money.

As soon as Hodu walked out, the family that had previously lost to Huo Yunqi noticed him.

They clearly regarded Hodu as Huo Yunqi's trusted confidant, and naturally wouldn't want to let go of this opportunity for revenge, immediately dispatching one person to step out

Chapter 57 Troll Breaks into Hogwarts

"Watch out!" Huo Yunqi recognized the person sent by the other side, his expression sank slightly, and he quickly reminded in a low voice, "This guy means trouble."

Hodu, however, was not flustered at all.

He pressed his heels backward, and the tip of the peach wood sword immediately lifted. Then, with a sudden rush, he and the sword shot forward fiercely.

During the flight, he flicked the sword head upward again, his body flattening almost against the ground horizontally, yet he firmly adhered to the peach wood sword with no sign of falling off.

The next moment, his figure shot straight into the high sky, arriving at the entrance above the stone tower in the blink of an eye.

That ancient bell hung right beside it, swaying slightly with his arrival.

Looking at the winding downward passage ahead, an irrepressible excitement welled up in Hodu's heart.

This was his first time truly participating in such a competition, and it felt completely different from hiding in the deep night to practice alone before.

It felt as if a surge of strength was held back in his chest, just waiting to rush out completely at this moment.

The instant the ancient bell sounded, Hodu's figure suddenly darted out.

He rode his sword down the passage in a nosedive, his route veering left and right at times, with an astonishingly fast speed that was by no means slower than those upper-class students who had practiced for many years.

Even, he was a few points faster than Huo Yunqi.

This match was the same for everyone.

The map was randomly generated on the spot, and no one knew where the next passage exit would appear.

To maintain high speed inside, one must first have a pair of eyes keen enough.

Just after passing through the previous checkpoint, one had to clearly see the exit before entering the next one.

As long as there was a moment of hesitation, the speed would drop accordingly.

Seeing clearly was not enough; the body had to keep up as well.

In some places, one had to turn sideways; in others, one could only bend down to pass; and there were even narrow checkpoints where one had to crawl.

Even if the eyes saw it, if the body failed to adjust in time, it would still be slowed down, and more seriously, directly crash into the stone wall.

To Hodu, however, these restrictions were nothing.

The ability of Rock and Sand Control could sense the entire stone tower, and the routes and checkpoints in the passage had long been reflected in his mind like a three-dimensional model.

He did not have to wait until his eyes saw it to know what was ahead.

When passing through the first checkpoint, the subsequent routes had already fully unfolded in his heart.

That sense of familiarity was not like a temporarily memorized map, but rather like the body already knowing how to walk by nature, almost similar to having seen the exam paper answers in advance.

The only thing that would limit him was his physical reaction time.

However, because he had long known the shape of the next checkpoint, his body could start adjusting in advance.

While others had just passed an obstacle and were still observing the next route, he had already prepared to pass the next checkpoint.

With that brief period of observation and judgment eliminated, the speed naturally pulled apart.

In just five or six seconds, the distance between Hodu and his opponent clearly widened.

Before the audience had time to see what had happened, he had already rushed deeper inside.

"So fast?"

Huo Yunqi's eyes widened slightly.

He didn't know before that his little brother actually hid such a skill.

The outer crowd was equally stunned as they watched.

Hodu hardly decelerated when flying on his sword, as if obstacles did not exist ahead at all.

The stone arrows shot from the stone tower fell behind him, brushed aside by him casually, completely unable to touch the corner of his clothes.

If the entire passage was divided into sections, his opponent had just passed the second section, while Hoduhad already stepped into the third section and rushed toward the fourth section.

The gap became more and more exaggerated, and the discussions around gradually stopped.

Everyone stared at that figure speeding through the stone tower, even their breathing unconsciously growing lighter.

Moreover, the distance between the two continued to widen.

Generally speaking, the levels of the contestants would not differ too much.

When reaching the middle section of the passage, even if one had some advantage ahead, they would often be caught up in the middle area, and then directly fight for positions.

Yet when Hodu passed through the middle section, his opponent was still far away from there, and the two sides were completely not on the same speed level.

"How is that possible!"

This time, even those unfamiliar with the match rules could see how absurd the gap was.

Exclamations rang out one after another, and the outer audience successively showed incredulous expressions.

"This is too fast!"

Quite a few people had their mouths open, forgetting to close them for a long time.

Hodu's opponent, however, had no mind to pay attention to those voices.

While attentively controlling the peach wood sword, he kept in mind the task assigned to him by the main branch disciples.

Since he had already done an unseemly thing once before, he would do it again.

Anyway, he had already lost face, so there was no need to put on any airs of rules here.

He prepared to stop before the middle area, ambush in advance, seize the initiative, and directly beat the kid opposite into serious injury.

Almost there.

Passing through a few more checkpoints, he would be able to reach the entrance of the middle area.

Just at this moment, a figure suddenly rushed out from the checkpoint ahead.

The opponent was startled and stunned, and by the time he reacted, a fist had already filled his vision.

The fist slammed solidly against his face, his whole face instantly beaten out of shape, and half of his cheek even collapsed.

That power exploded on his face, and his entire person flew backward directly, flying back toward the direction he came from.

Things happened too fast, and the outside audience didn't even see how Hodu threw his punch, only seeing another contestant suddenly flying backward.

Hodu didn't even pause, continuing to drive the peach wood sword and rushing downward, as casually as shooing away an obstructive fly by the roadside.

No one paid attention to that flying contestant anymore.

All gazes followed Hodu tightly.

Because the speed of the stone arrows shot by the stone tower was already much faster than before.

Yet those stone arrows still couldn't catch up to him, being deflected aside by him one by one, flying past right behind his back.

Could it be...

The crowd seemed to hold their breath at the same time, not daring to blink their eyes, for fear of missing the next scene.

When Hodu rushed out from the exit below the stone tower, the ancient bell sounded again.

The long-suppressed cheers instantly exploded, and all directions were filled with excited shouts.

Even the corners of the academy could clearly hear this boiling commotion.

Hodu watched the crowd waving and shouting at him, and was also infected by this atmosphere.

He opened his arms, driving the peach wood sword to rise into mid-air, as if embracing his own victory.

His eyes were frighteningly bright, and the corners of his mouth were split wide open, the whole person so excited that as if every cell was heating up.

This feeling was truly too comfortable, making him somewhat floaty for a moment.

He flew around the stone tower a few circles, continuously waving to those excited fans on the periphery, and finally left directly amidst the cheers of the crowd.

After he left, everyone finally remembered the participating contestant who had been beaten flying away.

When the person was carried out, his appearance was already quite miserable.

Half of his face collapsed, blood covered his face, and he was still in a coma, looking not much better than a student struck by an offensive curse.

Actually, Hodu had also considered using a magic duel.

During this period, he had preliminarily mastered an offensive magic, Petrificus Totalus.

Unfortunately, he still couldn't do non-verbal and wandless casting.

If he chanted the spell on the spot, and that spell happened to be a foreign language, others hearing it would easily raise suspicions about his identity.

Therefore, in the end, he still chose fists.

The situation of that punch was like two high-speed cars colliding head-on.

Fortunately, there were too many obstacles in the passage, which restricted the speed of the peach wood swords of both sides.

Otherwise, according to the true flying speed of the peach wood sword, a head-on collision could cause even a Wizard to lose their life on the spot.

Of course, the peach wood sword itself also carried a protective magic.

This magic was to prevent Wizards from flying too fast and dying directly after hitting something.

Without this layer of protection, that student's fate would only be even more serious.

Although on the surface it looked like Hodu hit him with a fist, under that speed, the opponent was actually no different from actively slamming his face into the fist.

When the two collided, Hodu was completely unharmed, which was naturally the credit of the Tough Skin trait.

And it was precisely relying on this trait that he dared to act in this manner.

After enjoying himself to the full, Hodu did not continue to stay at the match venue, and directly returned to Hogwarts.

At this time, it was still afternoon over there.

Hodu, who had free time and didn't want to study, simply cast Apparition again, ran to an island with just-right sunshine, turned himself into a Muggle tourist, and lay on the beach to sunbathe.

There were also quite a few scantily clad foreign women running back and forth on the beach, and the scene before him was quite lively.

He stayed until dinner time before returning to Hogwartsagain.

After coming out of the Gryffindor Common Room, Hoduwalked along the stairs toward the Great Hall on the first floor.

Walking and walking, he suddenly stopped and looked around in confusion.

Wasn't Hogwarts a bit too quiet today?

AI Model: gemini-3.5-flash

He soon confirmed that this was not his imagination. Not a single student was to be seen nearby, and even the usual noisy chatter that filled the air had vanished.

It was Friday afternoon. Even if the students were starting their holidays, it shouldn't be this quiet around dinnertime.

Hodu frowned. Something was clearly wrong, but he couldn't think of a reason for now. He could only continue walking down, planning to check the Great Hall; perhaps the school was holding some kind of celebration.

When he reached the second floor, his footsteps stopped once more.

In the corridor a few meters away stood a massive figure.

The creature was about as tall as Hagrid, with an equally burly frame and skin that looked like it was covered in tough grey hide. Its arms were long and thick, its feet exaggeratedly large with prominent joints, and its head was bald and pointed.

It clutched a massive wooden club in its hand.

Hodu tilted his head and recognized the ugly brute at a glance.

A Troll!

This kind of creature appeared far too frequently in wizarding storybooks; it was hard to mistake it for anything else.

As for why it was here, Hodu already had an answer in his heart. This matter was clearly tied to Quirrell, though according to his memory, the Troll shouldn't have appeared at this time.

"Grrr, grrr!"

The Troll spotted him too. It let out a low roar, swung its thick club with one hand, and smashed it fiercely toward Hodu.

Hodu merely raised an eyebrow, remaining where he stood.

Just as the Troll raised its club and before it could actually strike, the ground beneath its feet suddenly began to sink. Its massive body swayed, and then it sank uncontrollably.

The corridor floor seemed unable to bear its weight and suddenly caved in. Half of the Troll's body sank into the pit, forcing it to toss its club aside and press its hands against the ground, trying to hoist itself up.

Its lower body dangled in midair, already showing near the ceiling of the first floor below. Its two feet flailed wildly in the air, but they couldn't find any leverage.

The Troll clearly didn't understand how to use its hands to push itself up, and could only let out anxious, low growls.

After struggling for a while, it finally thought of a way, pressing its hands firmly against the corridor floor, trying to pull its entire body out of the pit.

But it was wedged in too perfectly. Despite exerting all its strength for a long time, its body remained completely motionless, leaving it to roar in even greater anxiety.

All of this, of course, was Hodu's doing.

He used his Rock and Sand Control ability to collapse the corridor floor, and then controlled the surrounding stone and soil to trap the Troll inside. As long as it didn't possess the strength to destroy the entire corridor, it wouldn't be climbing out of the pit anytime soon.

Looking at the trapped Troll, Hodu licked his lips, drew his wand from his Wizard robes, and gave it a gentle flick forward.

"Petrificus Totalus!"

The spell hit the Troll squarely.

However, the Troll continued to struggle energetically, showing no sign of being petrified at all.

Hodu shook his head.

It seemed most magical creatures possessed magicresistance. Petrificus Totalus was completely useless against a Troll. To truly deal with such a creature, he would still need to use a more powerful offensive spell.

"Mr. Hodu."

Just then, Professor McGonagall rushed into the corridor. Seeing Hodu actually standing in front of the Troll, she immediately called out to him with a stern face.

"Professor McGonagall, this Troll collapsed the Castle's corridor floor," Hodu said, shrugging as he pointed at the large pit and the Troll.

"Even so, you must not stand so close to it! Who knows when it might climb out?" Professor McGonagall scolded sternly. "That is a Troll. If you were hit by its club, you would be turned directly into a meat paste!"

"I understand, Professor." Hodu didn't talk back, obediently nodding to admit his mistake.

"Go to the Great Hall first; the other students are all there. Leave this to me." Professor McGonagall's gaze remained locked on the Troll, her wand held firmly in her hand. Seeing that the creature hadn't broken free yet, her expression relaxed slightly.

Hodu naturally had no objections and turned to head for the Great Hall.

The Great Hall was already crowded with young Wizards, filled with the sound of buzzing chatter. He quickly located Harry, Ron, and Hermione in the crowd.

"Hodu, thank goodness you're alright!" Hermione let out a visible sigh of relief upon seeing him.

From Harry and the others, Hodu finally learned what had happened.

Someone had spotted the Troll on the upper floors of the Castle and, in a panic, fled all the way down, shouting as they ran. Those who heard the news also fled to hide, and eventually, everyone gathered in the Great Hall.

With Dumbledore here, the students in the Great Hallnaturally had nothing to worry about. On the contrary, the Troll still wandering the Castle was the real source of danger.

Professor McGonagall and Snape quickly left the Great Hall. They couldn't be sure if all the students in the Castlehad made it here; in case anyone else ran into the Troll, they had to deal with the danger as quickly as possible.

Just then, Professor Quirrell also rushed into the Great Hall. He looked quite frightened, and after approaching Dumbledore, he whispered something in a low voice.

Not long after, Dumbledore cast a Sonorus charm, letting his voice echo throughout the entire Great Hall.

"Students who have not yet dined may continue to eat. The Troll has been brought under control by the Professors, so there is no need to worry. However, before the matter is completely resolved, please do not leave the Great Hall for the time being."

Hodu glanced at Quirrell.

It seemed Lord Voldemort could no longer restrain himself and had begun to make his move. However, according to the original events, this shouldn't have happened so early. Could it be that his own presence had changed something?

The only current variable was Hodu himself.

Perhaps some of his previous actions had made Lord Voldemort feel there was an opportunity to exploit; or perhaps Snape's frequent overtime patrols lately had put some pressure on Lord Voldemort.

He couldn't guess the exact reason.

But since Lord Voldemort had already started making minor moves, perhaps he should also get his hands on the Philosopher's Stone as soon as possible, lest dragging it out too long lead to further complications.

To the students, the Troll incident was merely a minor interlude. After all, not many people had actually seen the Troll.

After leaving the Great Hall and dispersing, they discovered a huge pit had appeared in the second-floor corridor. The students immediately crowded around, chattering and discussing it animatedly.

"Are Trolls really that strong?" Ron asked, looking at the pit with a hint of terror on his face.

Hermione nodded seriously. "They are naturally incredibly strong; what's written in the books is likely correct."

As for where the Troll's body had gone, Hodu didn't know. He secretly guessed that perhaps Hagrid had dragged the Troll away; after all, that wasn't entirely impossible.

In the end, this incident merely left the students with a new topic of conversation.

After returning to their dormitory, Harry and Ron were still enthusiastically discussing the Troll, even arguing over whether a Troll or a Giant was stronger.

If Hermione had been there, she would surely have scolded them again for slacking off. After all, Giants and Trolls were not even on the same level; in front of a real Giant, a Troll was at most an overgrown toddler.

Late at night, three sets of snoring echoed in the dormitory—one loud and two quiet. The three boys were clearly fast asleep.

The person on one of the beds suddenly sat up.

The figure got out of bed quietly, put on his shoes, pushed open the dormitory door, and slipped out.

Hodu made his way to the bathroom. After entering, he first checked around to ensure no one else was inside, then walked into a cubicle and latched the door.

In the next second, his body began to shoot up, growing to the height of an adult in the blink of an eye. His facial features changed accordingly, his expression turning as cold as a cold-blooded killer, his entire body wrapped in a black robe.

After a brief thought, Hodu wiped his hand across his face, and a mask immediately covered his features. With the hood pulled over his head, the only thing visible from the outside was a pair of faintly glowing eyes.

He activated his Spirit Treasure Perception and quickly located the Philosopher's Stone.

Immediately after, his figure flashed, and he vanished from the spot in an instant.

When Hodu reappeared, he first swept his gaze around.

There was no firelight here; the surroundings were completely shrouded in darkness.

"Lumos!"

With a thought, a speck of light shot from his fingertip, floating into midair before suddenly brightening, illuminating the entire space like an incandescent bulb.

This was a completely empty Chamber of Secrets, with no visible entrance around, and nothing else inside except a wide mirror standing quietly.

Chapter 58: The True Purpose of the Philosopher's Stone

mirror of erised!

The frame was entirely golden, so tall that it almost reached the ceiling, and the very bottom was steadily supported by two golden claws.

Hodu's gaze fell upon the surface of the mirror.

The originally gray mirror quickly changed, and the scene inside gradually emerged like stirred water.

He watched for a moment, his eyes moving slightly, but there was not much surprise deep in his heart.

What the mirror reflected was not anything else, but his past.

Hodu raised his hand, his palm pressing against the cold mirror surface.

As his palm pressed down, the images in the mirror immediately dispersed like smoke, vanishing completely in the blink of an eye.

The mirror was solid, and of course it was impossible to reach a hand inside.

He closed his eyes, activated Treasure Sensing, and instantly captured the Philosopher's Stone hidden inside the mirror.

Location confirmed.

Hodu made a gentle gripping motion with his five fingers.

The next instant, he opened his eyes, and a red gem had already appeared in his hand.

The gem was crystal clear, slightly larger than an egg, and judging solely by its appearance, taking it out to sell would probably fetch quite a large sum of money.

Just at this moment, the mirror surface suddenly flashed.

A speck of firelight was reflected from the mirror.

Hodu turned around quickly, and saw an old man standing behind him at some unknown time.

The old man had a very long white beard, wore pajamas, and had a giant bird with red feathers perched on his shoulder.

Dumbledore!

He hadn't even had time to carefully look at this legendary most powerful white Wizard in Europe, when Dumbledore's lips moved slightly.

A spell shot over without the slightest warning.

So unprincipled!

Hodu muttered inwardly, and the spell had already hit his body.

However, the anticipated effect did not appear; his body didn't even sway a bit.

A trace of astonishment instantly flashed across Dumbledore's aged eyes.

Before he could continue casting spells, the fellow in front of him, who was hidden from head to toe in black robes and refused to even show his face, suddenly shrunk his body.

Then, the entire person vanished into thin air.

Apparition!

Dumbledore's expression changed slightly, but unfortunately, whatever he did now was already too late.

The large Chamber of Secrets quieted down again, leaving only him, the mirror of erised, and the Phoenix on his shoulder.

Dumbledore stared at the empty space ahead, his pupils slightly contracting, still somewhat unable to believe everything happening before his eyes.

The trap he had specifically set up for Lord Voldemortunexpectedly failed to play the slightest role.

The other party did not trigger any early warnings, just like that breaking into the Chamber of Secrets and taking away the Philosopher's Stone.

If he hadn't pre-arranged detection magic here, and upon sensing someone entering, used the Phoenix to arrive in time, he feared he wouldn't even have known when the Philosopher's Stone was taken away.

What made it even harder for him to accept was the mirror of erised.

This was the most critical link in his setup, yet it similarly failed to stop the other party.

From the time that person entered the Chamber of Secretsto getting the Philosopher's Stone, how much time had passed?

It was simply as if they had known about the arrangements here all along, easily cracking his methods.

Dumbledore's expression gradually sank.

The other party even used Apparition within Hogwarts, directly breaking through the school's protective magic.

What was even weirder was that the magic he cast landed on the other party, yet it had completely no effect.

Everything exceeded his expectations.

At this moment, Dumbledore couldn't even help suspecting whether he had grown old.

A meticulously prepared layout being dismantled by someone so effortlessly was truly hard to accept.

As for whether the person who took the Philosopher's Stone had any connection with Lord Voldemort, he was temporarily unable to determine.

But no matter what, he could only first consider it according to the worst-case scenario.

If the Philosopher's Stone really fell into Lord Voldemort's hands, then he would have personally given the item to the other party, and personally committed a fatal mistake.

He could even imagine how Lord Voldemort would mock him in the shadows.

The other party would restore their body using the Philosopher's Stone stolen from his hands, and then make a comeback.

Things suddenly became troublesome.

And all of this stemmed merely from a single mistake of his.

On the other side, Hodu had already returned to Beijing.

The sunlight outside the window filtered into the living room, falling upon the red gem in his hand, illuminating the crystal-clear gem even brighter.

"This is the Philosopher's Stone?"

Hodu took it and looked at it for a few moments, feeling somewhat curious in his heart.

However, he didn't continue researching it, casually placing the Philosopher's Stone into the cabinet in the living room, and then pushing the cabinet to the side.

His figure disappeared once more.

A moment later, Hodu returned to the washroom of the Gryffindor Common Room at Hogwarts.

He dismissed Self-Transformation, pushed the door open to walk out of the stall, and then returned to the dormitory.

The surrounding snoring was no different from before.

Only then did Hodu completely set his mind at ease, lying back down on the bed with satisfaction, and soon falling asleep peacefully.

He was not sure whether Dumbledore had any means of searching for the Philosopher's Stone.

There were too many bizarre magics in the Magical World, and no one could guarantee that the other party wouldn't trace it along some clues.

If there really were such means, it wouldn't matter where the Philosopher's Stone was hidden.

Therefore, at least he couldn't keep the item on his body, lest he be caught red-handed on the spot.

Soon, Hodu fell fast asleep, completely casting the matter to the back of his mind.

Dumbledore, however, did not have such a good mood.

That night, he sat behind the desk in the Principal's office, staying up all night.

The next morning was a new day.

Today happened to be Saturday, and when Hodu woke up, the sun was already high in the sky.

He stretched lazily, and then leisurely went out with Harryand the others to eat lunch.

At this time, inside the Principal's office.

"The Philosopher's Stone was taken away?"

Snape looked at Dumbledore, his face rarely revealing obvious shock.

"Yes, Severus."

Dumbledore's expression carried a hint of apology.

Snape's voice immediately rang out in the office: "I said it long ago, your idea is rotten to the core!"

He of course knew what the Philosopher's Stone being taken away meant.

If Lord Voldemort obtained the Philosopher's Stone, the other party might soon shake off their weak state, regain their strength, and make a powerful return.

"Calm down, Severus, things haven't reached that step yet."

After a night of thinking, Dumbledore had regained his calm, and his voice didn't show much panic.

"Then tell me, how on earth was the item taken away?" Snape's expression was frighteningly gloomy, "How did he get through obstacle after obstacle, and take away the Philosopher's Stone right under your nose? You're not going to tell me you were sleeping at the time, right?"

Usually he could maintain his composure, but this time he clearly had no way to keep up that appearance.

Dumbledore met his gaze, his tone still level: "How it was done is no longer important at present. It cannot yet be confirmed that the Philosopher's Stone was taken by Lord Voldemort; perhaps it was someone else."

"Heh."

Snape sneered: "That is to say, you don't even know who took it?"

This news clearly did not make him feel at ease, but instead made him realize that Dumbledore knew almost nothing about the person who stole the Philosopher's Stone.

"Therefore, we now need to first confirm whether the Philosopher's Stone has truly fallen into Lord Voldemort's hands; this point is crucial," Dumbledore said, "I want you to find that person hidden in Hogwarts. As long as you find him, many things will naturally become clear."

His tone was excessively calm, sounding as if he already had a complete arrangement.

The previous commotion was enough to prove that someone indeed intended to enter the Chamber of Secretsto steal the Philosopher's Stone.

And since that person was able to sneak in quietly, they were very likely still within Hogwarts.

Dumbledore had originally set up this trap for that person, only he hadn't expected that in the end even the Philosopher's Stone would be lost together.

"And you?"

The irritability in Snape's eyes quickly subsided, but the dissatisfaction in his tone still did not disappear.

"I need to leave for a trip to see Nicolas Flamel," Dumbledore replied, "After all, the Philosopher's Stonewas created by him, and perhaps he has a way to get it back. As long as we move fast enough, we might still be able to stop the other party before things get worse."

Dumbledore always believed that Lord Voldemort had not truly died, but so many years had passed, and he had never been able to find the other party's trace.

Having no choice, he used the Philosopher's Stone to set up this scheme, waiting for Lord Voldemort to step into the trap on his own initiative.

Originally, waiting by the stump for a hare would have been enough, but who knew that now the bait would be directly swallowed, leaving him with no choice but to personally trace Lord Voldemort's tracks along this commotion.

Otherwise, once Lord Voldemort hid again and reappeared a few years later, the other party's forces would probably be even larger than ten years ago.

When Snape left the Principal's office, his face was as dark as if pressed by a layer of dark clouds.

Along the way, everyone who saw him gave him a wide berth, and no one was willing to pass by him at this time, lest they be implicated by the in-a-bad-mood Snape.

Meanwhile, Hodu, Harry, and the others had just finished lunch and were walking from the Great Hall toward the dormitory when they saw Snape coming face to face.

Just looking at that face, one would know that the Professor's mood right now definitely could not be considered good.

Harry subconsciously wanted to pull the two people to change paths, but Snape's voice had already been transmitted over.

"Potter, don't you even know how to greet a Professorwhen you see one? Is that how your father taught you? Oh, I almost forgot, you don't have a father."

Snape was still in that familiar venomous-tongued appearance, opening his mouth to specifically pick on Harry's deceased father to stab at him.

But this time, Harry did not talk back.

He wasn't a fool; he could naturally tell that Snape was currently holding in anger, intentionally saying harsh words to provoke him, so as to find an excuse to vent his fury.

He had heard such words many times; although his heart was still burning with anger, it wasn't completely unbearable.

Harry ignored him. A flash of disgust crossed Snape's eyes before he spoke coldly, "Behave yourself lately. I'll keep my eyes on you. Before Dumbledore returns, I will definitely find a reason to expel you and drive you out of Hogwarts."

After saying that, he didn't linger any longer and turned around to leave directly.

Once Snape had walked far away, Harry visibly breathed a sigh of relief, then said defiantly, "He definitely knows I found out he wants to steal the thing guarded by the Cerberus, so he's deliberately retaliating against me and wants to drive me out of the school. As long as I leave, no one will know about his scheme anymore!"

Hodu looked in the direction where Snape left, but had some other thoughts in mind.

The focus of Snape's remark just now didn't seem to be driving Harry out of Hogwarts, but rather that Dumbledorewas not at the school.

Could he be deliberately telling them this news?

"Since you feel this way, why don't you go tell Professor McGonagall, or tell Dumbledore directly?" Hodu chimed in casually, though his mind wasn't entirely focused on this matter.

"Because Dumbledore trusts him!" Harry looked around, confirmed that no one nearby was eavesdropping, and then lowered his voice to say, "Yesterday Ron, Hermione, and I went to Hagrid's hut and accidentally heard some things from Hagrid."

Hodu turned his face to look at him.

Harry hurriedly continued, "The Cerberus in the fourth-floor corridor is named Fluffy. It's a pet raised by Hagrid, and was later borrowed by Professor Dumbledorespecifically to guard something. I also heard the name Nicolas Flamel from Hagrid's mouth, and that name is related to the thing being protected."

"But no matter how we asked, Hagrid refused to say, and even told us absolutely not to tell anyone else about this matter."

The more Harry talked, the angrier he got, "I even told Hagrid about Snape wanting to steal things, but he didn't believe it at all. He said Dumbledore trusts Snapeimmensely, and Snape couldn't possibly do such a thing."

He gave a heavy huff, "They must have all been tricked by Snape!"

In Harry's view, since even Hagrid didn't believe their words, Dumbledore probably wouldn't believe it either. Therefore, what they needed to do now was to find evidence and get dirt on Snape.

While talking, several people had already walked near the Gryffindor Common Room.

Harry also invited Hodu to investigate the name Nicolas Flamel together, but Hodu politely declined.

The Philosopher's Stone was in his hands now, what else was there to investigate about the name Nicolas Flamel?

Rather than spending time on this, he might as well go back and study the Philosopher's Stone.

On the other side, Snape came to the Great Hall and happened to intercept Malfoy who was about to leave.

"Go notify Professor McGonagall," he instructed indifferently, "You don't need to go to the Principal's office to find Dumbledore recently."

Hodu's previous guess was not wrong.

Snape was indeed intentionally spreading the news that Dumbledore was not at the school.

In fact, the irritability he showed in the Principal's office was not entirely real. Snape was inherently a deep-thinking person. The complaint just now was both taking the opportunity to vent his dissatisfaction with Dumbledore and reminding Dumbledore that the information revealed was not worthless.

Even Dumbledore couldn't be sure whether the person who stole the Philosopher's Stone was Lord Voldemort, which showed that another possibility indeed existed.

If the Philosopher's Stone was not taken by Lord Voldemort, it meant that they didn't know at all that the Philosopher's Stone had been lost right under Dumbledore's nose.

In this way, as long as the hidden "mouse" in Hogwartstook action, it could prove that the Philosopher's Stone had not fallen into the hands of Lord Voldemort's side.

Of course, Snape wouldn't ignore the other scenario either.

After obtaining the item, the thief might find a way to leave Hogwarts. Therefore, he planned to keep an eye on everyone preparing to leave the school.

Unfortunately, Snape didn't know that the person who stole the Philosopher's Stone had already quietly left Hogwarts.

After returning to the capital, Hodu impatiently pulled open the drawer and took out that red gemstone.

At first glance, it was just a priceless gemstone, but when Hodu held it in his hand, he could clearly feel a surge of abundant magic flowing inside the gemstone.

Turning stone into gold, refining the Elixir of Life.

These two abilities were precisely the most precious functions of the Philosopher's Stone according to rumors.

Turning stone into gold actually held little attraction for Hodu. He could sneak into any golden mountain at any time, or even go search for those gold mines not yet discovered by Muggles.

Of course, the latter would be somewhat more troublesome, but it was just troublesome.

What he truly cared about was the Elixir of Life.

Such temptation was hard for even Hodu to completely ignore. Moreover, this was not groundless; Nicolas Flamelhad lived for quite a long time. Even if no one else personally proved they had drunk the Elixir of Life, no one would doubt that such a Potion truly existed.

However, getting the Philosopher's Stone didn't mean one could directly attain eternal life.

Its true function was to be used for refining the Elixir of Life, and this involved Potions.

Yet Hodu was completely a Muggle when it came to Potions.

Therefore, the Elixir of Life could only be thought about for the time being.

But he still wanted to try out the peculiarity of the Philosopher's Stone in person.

Hodu clenched the gemstone tightly, preparing to use the ability to turn stone into gold. He didn't know how to operate it specifically, but after pondering for a moment, he simply treated the Philosopher's Stone as a wand.

Grasping the gemstone firmly with his right hand, he concentrated his attention and looked at the glass cup on the wooden table in the living room.

Afterwards, he raised his right hand and pointed his index finger towards the glass cup.

The glass cup changed immediately.

That change started from the bottom of the cup and spread upwards bit by bit. The transparent glass gradually faded its original luster and finally completely turned into gold.

A look of surprise appeared on Hodu's face. He reached out to pick up the gold cup on the table and examined it carefully over and over again.

He even pressed hard on the wall of the cup with his fingernail, and a clear mark was indeed left on the cup wall.

Hodu's expression suddenly became a bit odd.

How come it felt like this turning stone into gold was no different from Transfiguration?

He placed the Philosopher's Stone on the desktop and picked up another glass cup nearby. Under the effect of the Self-Transformation trait, the second cup also turned golden.

Regardless of color, shape, or appearance texture, it had no difference from a real gold cup.

But when Hodu released his right hand and put the gold cup transformed by the Philosopher's Stone back onto the table, the cup immediately restored to its original glass appearance.

Glass turning into gold.

Hodu stared at the desktop, a look of contemplation flashing through his eyes. This indeed had a few similarities with the principle of Transfiguration.

The conversion between matter and matter was originally content taught in Hogwarts' first and second years. Afterwards, there were transformation conversions between matter and life, and life and life. Those were truly troublesome high-difficulty courses, and none of them were simpler than the trick right in front of him.

Yet turning stone into gold was never classified under Transfiguration.

This showed that what it changed might not be the surface of the object, but the thing itself, and this change could be maintained permanently without dissolving on its own like ordinary transformation.

Thinking of this, Hodu felt as if he had already grasped the true function of the Philosopher's Stone.

Perhaps it just fixed the transformation effect.

However, this fixing was only directed at the change between matter and gold. When all was said and done, it was an alchemical product manufactured for a specific purpose.

Perhaps when Nicolas Flamel forged the Philosopher's Stone back then, it was originally for turning stone into gold, so it could only stabilize the conversion between matter and gold.

Hodu vaguely felt that he was close to figuring out the characteristics of the Philosopher's Stone, but unfortunately, besides this, the Philosopher's Stone did not bring any other functions.

This made him couldn't help but think of his myriad things fusion system.

The system's name sounded quite imposing, claiming to be able to fuse all things, but currently it only supported fusing life, acting just like a semi-finished product whose subsequent functions had not yet been opened.

Hodu muttered inwardly.

He really didn't know how on earth to make the system fuse matter.

Just at this moment, as if the system suddenly heard his complaint, it popped out without any warning.

[After completing an S-rank difficulty fusion, other functions of the system will be unlocked.]

Hodu was slightly stunned.

He didn't expect that casually complaining a bit would actually bring the system out.

If he had known it was useful, why hadn't he said a few more words earlier?

However, an S-rank difficulty fusion... this was a bit tricky.

The last time he fused a Dragon, it was only rated as A-rank by the system, and it also consumed quite a bit of his time.

Even a Dragon, one of the most powerful and dangerous Magical Beasts in the Magical World, was only A-rank, so where on earth could he find an S-rank life form?

Hodu estimated that even a Phoenix might not necessarily meet the system's requirements.

As for the True Dragon that Huo Yunqi had mentioned before, he wasn't clear whether that thing counted. If even a True Dragon didn't meet the conditions, could it be that he would only be able to keep fusing life in the future and never touch other functions of the system?

Just as Hodu frowned in thought, the system gave a prompt once again.

[Warm prompt: The host can open their eyes to look at the universe.]

Looking at this line of text, Hodu was completely dumbfounded.

Chapter 59: The Troll in the Great Hall and the Fake Snape

Seeing the system's prompt, a flash of surprise swept through Hodu's eyes.

Did it mean that S-grade life forms truly existed in the universe?

But on second thought, no one in Harry Potter's world had ever mentioned the universe, let alone seriously studied what the universe was actually like.

The universe spoken of by the system might not be the same thing as the universe he understood.

However, as for exploring the universe, if Wizards were to actually do it, it seemed not entirely impossible.

For Muggles, energy, food, drinking water, and oxygen all had to be prepared in advance.

Wizards were different; their own magic was a fairly powerful source of energy, strong enough to even directly alter reality.

Eating and drinking could also be solved by magic.

As for oxygen, although Wizards did not have a concept for it, as long as they were willing to research it, they might not be unable to come up with corresponding magic.

Summoning spells like Aguamenti were in themselves a good reference.

As for vehicles, after being modified, luggage cases like Newt's might be able to undertake the function of space travel.

What was truly tricky, on the contrary, was speed.

The common flying methods in the Magical Worldnowadays, whether flying broomsticks or peach wood swords, were much faster than ordinary cars.

But if one were to compare them to rockets, that would be a completely different story.

Once a flying broomstick accelerated too much, it might even break itself first.

This belonged to a problem in magic technology, not something that could be solved by shouting a couple of slogans.

Hodu shook his head, temporarily casting these thoughts aside.

Studying the universe right now was of little use.

The system might also just be fooling him; even if there truly were S-grade life forms in the universe, he might spend a lifetime failing to find them, and it was even more likely he wouldn't even touch a clue.

But this path of upgrading the system, he still had to give it a try.

Start with the True Dragon first, and see if that thing could truly reach S-grade.

Ever since Huo Yunqi spoke of the True Dragon remains, Hodu had not been idle.

Whenever he felt bored during class, he would split his focus and search his mind for related things.

As a result, his entire ancestral home was almost turned upside down by him, yet he still hadn't found the so-called True Dragon remains.

Let alone complete remains, even things that could be recognized at a glance, like a dragon's skull, he hadn't found.

It was not that there were no gains at all.

Hodu roughly locked onto the possible location of the Bai family's treasury, and was now eliminating them place by place.

It was just that this matter was not urgent; he hadn't reached the point of dropping everything and using even rest time to stay up late searching.

He lowered his head, his gaze falling upon the Philosopher's Stone on the desk.

Where exactly this thing should be placed really troubled him.

If Dumbledore had a way to find the Philosopher's Stoneback, then no matter where it was hidden, it might eventually be dug out by him.

To this old Principal, it seemed there was simply no such thing as an absolutely safe hiding place.

Stuffing the Philosopher's Stone under Dumbledore's bed board?

As soon as this thought popped into Hodu's mind, he found it somewhat amusing himself.

That could only count as a joke about things being darkest under the lamp; the magic in the Philosopher's Stone was too abundant, and a slightly powerful Wizard could not possibly turn a blind eye to it.

He quickly thought of Gringotts again.

It claimed to be safe, but if Dumbledore truly wanted to enter, I'm afraid it wouldn't pose much difficulty.

If the Philosopher's Stone hadn't been transferred out of Gringotts in time earlier, the thing would have long fallen into Quirrell's hands.

Even Quirrell could get it; switched to Dumbledore, naturally it wouldn't be any more difficult.

Pondering for a moment, Hodu still brought the Philosopher's Stone back to Hogwarts.

This time, he played a trick of hiding in plain sight.

Using the Earth-Splitting Stone-Cracking Technique from beside the Forbidden Forest, he drilled directly into the underground beneath the Hogwarts Castle, going five hundred meters deeper all the way.

Upon reaching the place, he casually dropped the safe containing the Philosopher's Stone, turned around, and left.

Above was the Castle, below was five hundred meters deep underground, plus Treasure Perception was constantly monitoring that safe.

As long as Hodu was still at Hogwarts, every move of the safe could not escape his perception.

If anyone dared to move it, he would know immediately.

Unless the opponent could leave the underground before he noticed, Hodu was confident he could keep the person right there.

After returning to Hogwarts once more, his mood finally relaxed a bit.

Hodu casually sensed the Elder Wand on Dumbledore, confirming that that Principal was indeed not at the school, and the situation was the same as what Snape had said before.

Since Dumbledore was not around, he could start stirring up trouble.

Only today would not do.

Today was Saturday; most of the senior students had gone to Hogsmeade Village, and the people remaining to eat in the Great Hall were also much fewer.

With too few people, it was instead inconvenient to make a big commotion.

Waiting until Sunday night, dinner time.

Hodu's figure shifted, transforming into a Wizard who looked slightly younger.

He wrapped a purple turban around his head, and his entire face also became identical to Quirrell's, with the only difference being that he did not have that strange odor on his body like Quirrell.

Just now, through sensing Professor Quirrell's wand, he had already confirmed that Quirrell was not staying at Hogwarts.

Since this opportunity was there, he might as well use it to impersonate the other party.

After an Apparition, Hodu appeared outside the Great Hall.

At this moment, Snape was inside.

He first took two deep breaths, then shook his shoulders and head, as if warming himself up.

After preparing almost enough, Hodu's face suddenly turned pale, relying on Self-Transformation to make his skin completely bloodless.

The next second, he stumbled into the Great Hall.

"It's bad! It's bad! A, a Troll has appeared again! I saw it on the fourth floor!"

In order to act out Quirrell's panic, Hodu used almost all the acting skills of his life.

Under the gaze of everyone, he jogged all the way from the door to the front of the Professors' table, running as if he was about to run out of breath immediately.

Afterwards, he stumbled and fell directly to the ground, looking around in panic.

"Dumbledore... Where is Professor Dumbledore!"

Snape stood up abruptly, eyeing the fake Quirrell in front of him with disgust.

A Defense Against the Dark Arts Class Professor could actually be scared into this kind of state by a Troll.

What on earth was Dumbledore thinking, actually letting this kind of person come teach classes?

Too lazy to continue watching, he directly ordered in a cold voice: "Everyone stay in the Great Hall, the prefects of each house immediately check the headcount of your house!"

Finished speaking, Snape walked out hurriedly, casting a cold glance at Harry right before going out the door.

The students looked at each other, their faces carrying more or less unease.

Wasn't the previous Troll already dealt with? Why had another one come?

Although Hogwarts hadn't been absolutely safe in the past either, for such things to happen back to back was simply too outrageous.

After a moment, the fake Quirrell still sitting on the ground seemed to finally snap out of it.

He scrambled to his feet in a fluster and said loudly, "Right, right! I have to go help Professor Snape!"

Having said that, he also hurried out of the Great Hall.

But not long after he left, a scream suddenly sounded by the door.

That sound was high and piercing, instantly spreading throughout the entire Great Hall.

The screaming person pointed one finger at the door, their body shivering uncontrollably, as if they had seen something extremely terrifying.

"A, a Troll!"

Everyone's line of sight turned toward the door simultaneously, and their hearts sank along with it.

Students with smaller guts started feeling weak in the legs.

I saw a behemoth standing at the door, its height almost level with the door frame.

Its head was like a sharpened pencil tip, its body frighteningly thick and sturdy, and it was holding a huge wooden club in its hand.

"Grr, grr!"

The Troll opened its mouth and let out a roar, and the Great Hall immediately turned into another chorus of screams.

Of course, this Troll was still transformed by Hodu, and the wooden club in its hand was likewise a transformation creation.

If it were to actually smash onto someone's body, they probably wouldn't even feel pain; it was purely for show.

To make everyone believe it was real, he swung the wooden club and smashed it fiercely toward the ground.

The wooden club fell, and the ground surprisingly became like soft dough, being forcefully embedded in a section.

The students' complexions changed instantly.

Just how much strength was needed to smash the ground into this state?

This scene relied on the Earth-Splitting Stone-Cracking Technique.

As long as they could calm down a little bit, they should have discovered something was not quite right, but unfortunately right now no one was in the mood to observe carefully.

Hodu pulled out the wooden club, strode with his two thick legs, and approached the crowd step by step.

"Quickly cast spells on it!"

Percy Weasley reacted first, shouting at the young Wizards around him at the top of his lungs.

This sentence seemed to drag them out of fear.

Everyone successively drew their wands and launched attacks at the Troll.

"Stupefy!"

"Expelliarmus!"

"Petrificus Totalus!"

"Immobulus!"

Spell after spell landed successively on Hodu.

He cooperated by letting out angry roars, as if completely enraged by these attacks, yet in reality feeling nothing at all.

Until the very last third-year student also cast Immobulus.

Normal people generally wouldn't use this spell against a Troll.

It's just about suitable for tying up a Wizard, but a Troll is so strong; trying to restrict it with a piece of rope looks like daydreaming no matter how you look at it.

Yet that rope flew out from the tip of the wand, wrapped around Hodu's giant feet a few times, and then suddenly tightened, binding his two feet firmly together.

At first, Hodu didn't realize the problem.

Following a Troll's instinct, he immediately tried hard to snap the rope apart.

The rope didn't budge at all.

Hodu sobered up on the spot.

He didn't have the strength of a Troll at all, so of course it was impossible to break free by brute force.

Tough Skin couldn't help either, because this spell wasn't attacking him, but simply binding him.

Damn it.

This time it seems like the act went too far.

Seeing the Troll's feet bound, Fred was overjoyed and shouted to the other students: "Quick! Keep using Incarcerous!"

This spell wasn't all that advanced, and quite a few people knew how to use it.

Lower-grade students couldn't help and could only stand by and watch helplessly, and Harry was one of them.

However, seeing the Troll actually being entangled, an expression of excitement still appeared on his face.

In Hodu's mind, there instantly remained only two words.

Finished.

A large number of ropes flew over one after another, quickly ensnaring his body.

He only struggled a few times before his entire body was tightly bound; looking from afar, he was simply like a giant rice dumpling.

Of course he didn't just sit and wait for death; he quietly cast an Alohomora.

But after the magic landed, the knots didn't change in the slightest.

This thing seemed to only be effective on door locks, and couldn't be used to untie ropes at all.

Actually, breaking these ropes wasn't difficult for Hodu.

A stream of flames could burn them all clean, or he could transform again directly, shrinking his body, and easily escape from the restraint.

The problem was, Trolls couldn't do these things.

Helpless, Hodu could only roar while hopping away with ropes all over his body.

Although the process was somewhat different from expected, at least the performance he originally wanted to stage had been achieved; everyone would think the Trollcouldn't withstand the magic attacks and ultimately fled in a sorry state.

Some students wanted to chase after it and top it off with a few spells, but they were stopped by a few relatively sane prefects.

Upper-year students had already noticed that those attacking spells from earlier had landed on the Trollwithout causing any effect at all.

That fellow's hide was abnormally thick; rushing to follow rashly would likely throw themselves into danger.

As soon as the Troll left, cheers instantly erupted in the Great Hall.

The students raised the cups on their tables, celebrating this victory of their own, and in a blink of an eye started boasting to each other about how many spells they had used just now.

Not long after, a person with a gloomy expression walked into the Great Hall.

The commotion was cut off as if by a pair of hands, and everyone instinctively quieted down.

The newcomer was none other than Snape. He swept his gloomy gaze across the Great Hall and asked, "What are you all doing here?"

A senior Slytherin student hurriedly answered, "Professor, we just drove the Troll away."

"I know." Snape's expression softened slightly, and he unexpectedly offered a rare compliment, "Well done."

All the students were stunned, as if they had seen something even rarer than a Troll.

Snape then announced, "In view of your performance just now, Gryffindor, Ravenclaw, and Hufflepuff will each receive fifty points, and Slytherin will receive sixty points."

Students from the other houses had slightly darkened expressions, but no one spoke out in opposition. They were long used to such favoritism.

Harry lowered his voice and muttered, "Now that's more like Snape."

Snape scanned the crowd again and instructed, "Everyone remain in the Great Hall. No one is allowed to go out without my permission."

After making sure these students understood, he strode away, seeming to go after the escaped Troll.

No sooner had he left than the atmosphere in the Great Hall became lively again. The students continued discussing the battle just now, each vying to say how much magic they had cast at the Troll.

Just at this moment, the departed Snape turned back.

His expression was even uglier than before.

"The Professors are out there risking their lives searching for the Troll, yet you are staying here laughing and making merry!" Snape surveyed the entire room and scolded angrily, "You'd better use those Troll brains of yours to think carefully about whose safety the Professors are running around for!"

The students were all stunned at once.

Malfoy stared at him for a while before cautiously asking, "Professor, didn't you... already come back once just now?"

Snape's gaze immediately fell upon him, his voice as cold as ice: "What do you want to say?"

"We just drove the Troll away, and you even came back to award us points." Malfoy was obviously somewhat nervous under that gaze and hurriedly said, "Don't you remember?"

The other students also held their breath, looking uniformly at Snape, waiting for his answer.

Snape's expression instantly darkened to the extreme.

From his reaction, everyone had already guessed the answer.

That Snape from just now was fake!

"A bunch of trash!" Snape cursed angrily, "You couldn't even recognize an impostor standing right in front of you. In my opinion, that Troll wasn't driven away by you at all; it was stupid enough to run into your spells on its own!"

He glared at the students one by one until they lowered their heads in shame, then strode out of the Great Hall.

After Snape walked far away, Ron immediately said with indignation, "That Snape just now was actually fake! Who could tell the difference? He talked and acted just as hatefully as the real one. I thought it was strange how Snape could possibly compliment people; turns out it wasn't him at all!"

"That's right." Harry nodded in deep agreement, "He clearly didn't do anything at all; the ones who truly drove the Troll away were us."

Hermione frowned and said, "Hodu wouldn't be in danger, would he?"

"Don't worry." Ron answered with full confidence, "At this time, Hodu is definitely in Hogsmeade Village. He usually comes back very late."

Speaking of this, he couldn't help feeling a bit envious again. Being able to go to Hogsmeade Village was truly something to drool over.

Harry also nodded along.

After a while longer, two figures appeared outside the Great Hall door again.

This time, the students didn't cheer immediately, but all stared fixedly at the door. Having experienced that scene earlier, they no longer dared to easily believe their own eyes.

When they clearly saw the appearance of the newcomers, everyone was dumbfounded.

One of them was Snape, and the other was Professor McGonagall.

Snape scanned the room, failed to find Quirrell, and asked with a cold face, "Where is Quirrell? We didn't see the Trollhe mentioned at all."

As soon as these words dropped, a gasp instantly resounded in the Great Hall.

Many students' faces turned pale, and they even instinctively took a step back.

Now they had completely lost the ability to judge true from false.

Among the two Snapes that had appeared earlier, at least one was fake. But was this Snape standing beside Professor McGonagall right now definitely real? Who could guarantee that Professor McGonagall herself hadn't been impersonated?

Thinking of this, many people even generated the thought of fleeing back home.

This was simply too terrifying, practically like the Castlewas haunted.

Snape and Professor McGonagall looked at these students in puzzlement, not understanding why they looked as if facing a formidable enemy. They weren't Trolls, after all.

Seeing Professor McGonagall and Snape standing very close, and worrying about the safety of his Dean, Harrymustered his courage and shouted a warning: "Professor McGonagall, be careful! This Professor Snape might be fake!"

Snape and Professor McGonagall startled at the same time.

Before Snape could speak, Malfoy retorted first: "What right do you have to say Professor Snape is fake? What if the Professor McGonagall beside him is the impostor?"

Hearing this, the surrounding students suddenly felt that these words made a lot of sense.

They remembered that Professor McGonagall had also been impersonated before; this Professor McGonagallbefore their eyes naturally could not be directly confirmed as real either.

Snape and Professor McGonagall's brows furrowed together, and the two exchanged a glance, obviously already understanding what had happened in the Great Hall.

Snape's hand hidden inside his Wizard robes quietly gripped his wand, and his body, which had originally stood side by side with McGonagall, shifted slightly to the side.

He was the one who had notified Professor McGonagall to search for the Troll in the Castle together. But the two of them had acted separately previously, only meeting just now. That being the case, who could guarantee that the person standing next to him had no problems?

Professor McGonagall also turned to look at Snape, a bit of hesitation in her gaze. Her palm unostentatiously gripped her wand.