Darker Still

"Have you sorted things out with Filch?"

Hearing footsteps behind him, Albert turned around and looked in the direction of the sound. He saw that Fred and George had returned to the secret passage and asked them if they had successfully dragged Filch to another floor.

"All done!" Fred raised his hand in an OK gesture and grinned mischievously.

"Someone threw a few Dungbombs into the Second Floor West Side, and someone else smeared Frog Brains on the walls," George explained for his brother. "Filch is cursing as he cleans up the smears."

"Are you sure you're not referring to the two of you when you say 'someone'?" Lee Jordan teased Fred and George with a laugh. He thought it was those two who were up to the job; the Twins had given Filch a lot of trouble.

The Dungbombs was thrown by Fred and George.

According to Albert's original plan, Fred and George needed to throw a few Dungbombs into the corridor to attract Filch's attention, so that the building manager wouldn't suddenly jump out and cause trouble when they entered the restricted corridor on the fourth floor.

"I swear, we absolutely didn't do that." Fred was very unhappy, as if Lee Jordan's suspicion of this matter was a suspicion of their character.

"You can't slander us," George said seriously. "Well, actually we did want to do that, but someone beat us to it."

Lee Jordan suddenly didn't want to talk to them anymore.

"Hurry up and go in to see what's inside the restricted area of the corridor. Who knows when Filch will arrive?" Fred didn't want to talk about the previous topic anymore.

"Is anyone near that restricted corridor on the fourth floor?" George asked Albert, who was holding the Marauder's Map and hadn't said much.

"There are people, quite a few. When you saw someone trying to distract Filch, you should have guessed that someone wanted to get inside." Albert stuffed the Marauder's Map into his pocket. "Many people are curious about what's in that restricted corridor on the fourth floor."

"Then what do we do?" All three looked at Albert, ready to let him make a decision.

"What should we do? Of course, we should go in with the others. If things don't work out, we can sneak out." Albert came out of the secret passage and beckoned the three behind him to follow. The four of them headed towards the restricted area of Third Floor Corridor.

On their way, they also encountered Professor Quirrell, the Defence Against the Dark Arts Professor, who was also presumably looking for a way to Three-Headed Dog Fluffy.

However, Albert did not see Tom Riddle's name on the Marauder's Map, which means that Voldemort's half-dead state was not shown on the Marauder's Map.

This fact had already been confirmed through the Marauder's Map on the second day after Albert enrolled.

It's a good thing it wasn't displayed, otherwise Fred and George would definitely have noticed, and who knows what they would have thought!

Could it be that Professor Quirrell carries around a pet named Tom Riddle? Why a pet?

They already have a cat named Tom in their dorm.

Of course, even if Voldemort appeared at Hogwarts, the Marauder's Map wouldn't show Voldemort directly; instead, it would show Tom Riddle.

Albert didn't use the Disillusionment Charm on them. He knew Professor Quirrell was watching them, and it would be even stranger if they were discovered while hiding. It was better to disguise themselves as... well, actually, the four of them were indeed just curious students.

Quirrell did know that many students had broken into the forbidden corridor on the fourth floor, but he had no intention of stopping them. He had already checked the first checkpoint Protect the Philosopher's Stone on the first day.

As for the three-headed dog, Quirrell has not yet determined who owns it.

At Hogwarts School Care of Magical Creatures, besides Professor Sylvanus Kettleburn of the Magical Creatures class who was capable of taming such a large creature, only Hagrid, the big guy in the Hunting Grounds, might be able to tame it.

In fact, Quirrell could easily subdue Three-Headed Dog with his abilities, but he was worried that he would make too much of a commotion, so he didn't plan to do it for the time being. He might only have one chance, and if he failed, Dumbledore wouldn't give him another one.

As soon as Albert got close to Professor Quirrell, he could smell the strange odor emanating from him.

He thought the smell was likely due to Voldemort possessing Quirrell.

After Professor Quirrell had walked away, Fred whispered, "Did you guys notice that the Large Scarf on Professor Quirrell's head smelled strange?"

Last time, the classroom smelled strongly of garlic, but no one noticed. This time it's different; the scarf really smelled strong.

"Perhaps the scarf is stuffed with garlic," George said without hesitation. "Why don't we try selling the Garlic Cross to Professor Quirrell?"

"That's a good idea," Fred agreed.

Albert's lips twitched.

Everyone says that Professor Quirrell made himself smell strange in order to ward off a vampire he encountered in Romania, fearing that the vampire might come back to cause him trouble. That way, he could always be on guard against vampires.

This story is probably fake; it's just an excuse Quirrell made up for himself.

As for how to deal with Voldemort, isn't there still the savior Harry Potter? If necessary, Albert could subtly give Potter a little hint to get the passionate savior to charge forward.

When the four sneaked over, they found that there were already people lurking around suspiciously. Undoubtedly, these people were looking for an opportunity to quickly pass through that door.

"I think Professor Quirrell definitely knows what they're planning!" Fred pointed at the group of people in front of him and couldn't help but complain.

There was no way around it; it was too obvious, and anyone could spot the flaw at a glance.

"Professor Quirrell didn't even stop them." Lee Jordan looked at Albert with great confusion.

"Actually, Dumbledore doesn't care too much about other people entering the so-called forbidden area, otherwise he would have used a more powerful protective spell on that door, and then no student would have been able to open it."

"You're right!"

"You should also explore that forbidden corridor," Albert said, walking up to Truman and patting him on the shoulder.

"Oh! It's Albert! You startled me!" Truman turned around and saw Albert, and breathed a sigh of relief.

"That won't do!" Albert teased. "You, Prefect of Hufflepuff, are actually planning to lead the way in breaking the School Rules yourself."

"Didn't you come here yourself?" Truman smiled and looked at the door, saying to Albert, "Everyone is curious about what's inside the restricted area. Someone has already gone in."

"I heard Filch is throwing a tantrum upstairs. What 'good deed' have you done?"

"I saw it thrown by you upperclassmen from Gryffindor," Truman said, sounding a little guilty, because the Frog Brains was something he had tricked Peeves into doing.

Of course, Truman wouldn't tell anyone about this, pretending he knew nothing.

He counted the number of people and said to Albert, "With so many people, it's easy to be discovered if we go in together."

"As long as Filch isn't here, the professors at the school basically don't care about this. Otherwise, how do you think they opened that door?"

Albert began to beckon Fred and the others into the restricted area of the corridor.