In Action

"What's wrong with Ron?"

Harry hurried into the hall and saw Ron looking dejected next to Hermione. He asked Hermione what had happened and why Ron looked so upset.

"Oh, he was eliminated from the Wizard Card Competition just now."

Hermione forced herself not to laugh out loud and simply told Harry about Ron's participation in the Wizard Card Preliminaries and how he was easily defeated by his opponent in no time.

Ron's Wizard Card skills are really bad; he got completely crushed by his opponent and is now totally depressed.

"Shut up, thank you."

Ron glared at Hermione, annoyed. Being easily defeated three times in a row had indeed dealt a significant blow to his confidence.

"You can count the number of times you've played Wizard Card on your hands. What makes you think you can beat those students who play Wizard Card all the time?" Ron's idea amused Hermione; it was simply wishful thinking.

"Wizard Card and Wizard's Chess are both games that require thinking..." Ron was about to say something more, but Harry interrupted him.

"Alright, I have something to tell you."

Harry led the two out of the noisy hall and into a deserted corridor before stopping to tell Hermione and Ron about what he had accidentally bumped into earlier.

When Harry told Hermione and Ron that Snape had pressured Quirrell in the classroom to reveal how to pass the challenge of Protect the Philosopher's Stone, both looked uneasy.

Are you sure?

"Has Professor Quirrell really given in?" Hermione asked in a low voice.

"It seems not yet, but I don't know how much longer Professor Quirrell can hold on." Harry's face was full of deep worry. "Perhaps we should do something to stop all of this from happening."

"But... there's nothing we can do." Hermione's brow furrowed even deeper, as if she was thinking about how to handle the situation. She said to Harry, "Maybe we should go and have a good talk with Hagrid."

"Hagrid doesn't trust us," Ron warned.

The three of them fell silent.

Yes!

Hagrid didn't believe Snape would steal what Dumbledore had hidden, and he didn't believe what they said at all, thinking it was just the three of them being prejudiced against Snape.

Even if Harry, Hermione, and Ron wanted to get to the Philosopher's Stone before Snape, they simply couldn't get past Hagrid's Three-Headed Dog; forcing their way through would only result in their legs being bitten off.

"How about we write a letter to Headmaster Dumbledore? Even if he doesn't want to believe it, he should be wary," Hermione suggested.

She knew very well that it was almost impossible for the three of them to stop Snape from stealing the Philosopher's Stone, and that it would be more appropriate for Dumbledore to handle the matter in the end.

"Who will write the letter?" Harry agreed. He didn't know if Dumbledore would believe what they wrote, but writing was better than doing nothing.

"I don't think the principal will believe you."

A cold voice suddenly rang out behind them, startling all three. When they turned around, they were met with Snape's gloomy and ugly face.

At that moment, the hearts of the three almost stopped beating.

"Potter, the ideas in your head really surprise me."

Snape's lips curled up slightly as if mocking the three of them. "Perhaps you should try it. Slandering a professor is enough for me to deduct a hundred points from each of you."

"Sir, I think you've got it wrong," Harry replied dryly. "We never intended to slander any professor, nor would we."

"That would be best." Snape stared at Harry for a long time, then added before turning to leave, "Don't let me catch you."

"Harry, what should we do now?" Ron was both angry and uneasy in the face of Snape's threat.

Harry did want to write to Dumbledore, but now he hesitated. If Gryffindor really lost a lot of points, they wouldn't be able to beat Slytherin again. He also knew that many students in the school hoped Gryffindor could defeat Slytherin again, and he couldn't ruin it all.

At this moment, all three of them were lost in confusion.

In the end, Harry decided to write a letter to Dumbledore. He didn't mention Snape in the letter, but said that someone in the school had their eye on the Philosopher's Stone and was inquiring about the mechanism Protect the Philosopher's Stone.

Harry told Dumbledore everything he knew, even though it was just their guess. Harry believed that mentioning that pile of stuff in the letter would make the headmaster a little more vigilant.

The letter was written by Hermione, because her handwriting was the best of the three.

On their way to the Owlery, they encountered Professor Quirrell, the Defence Against the Dark Arts Professor, who appeared to be ill, his face almost bloodless.

Harry, Ron, and Hermione all gave Professor Quirrell an encouraging smile, unaware that their smiles were making Quirrell quite confused.

Quirrell's health was indeed very bad; he was terminally ill and near death.

Since Quirrell's last attempt to create the Philosopher's Stone ended in disastrous failure.

Voldemort was furious at Quirrell's stupidity and punished him severely.

Voldemort has grown stronger by absorbing Quirrell's life force, but at the cost of Quirrell's own lifespan.

He's really dying.

If Quirrell cannot obtain the Philosopher's Stone 'Philosopher's Stone in the remaining time and use it to extend his life, Quirrell is truly doomed.

Despite the dire situation, Quirrell did not despair. He had found a way through the big dog—no, he had found a way to deal with Hagrid.

This is all thanks to Albert. Yesterday, when we were discussing how a wizard could face a dragon alone, Albert casually mentioned that Hagrid had always longed to have a dragon.

Since Hagrid longs to raise a dragon, I could easily find a way to give Hagrid a dragon egg, then get him drunk through some means. With a little subtle probing, I'm sure I could find out how to deal with Three-Headed Dog.

Of course, he needed to be very careful not to let Hagrid know his identity.

Yes, this is easy.

"But what is this? Is this the reward for racking my brains every day to answer that annoying brat's questions?" Quirrell couldn't help but laugh at himself.

He had just written to a smuggler, intending to spend a large sum of money to buy a dragon egg from him.

As long as he could get the Philosopher's Stone, he wouldn't lack Galleon. Besides, if he died, Galleon wouldn't be of any use to him. So Quirrell was very generous. The two sides had reached an agreement. He just needed to wait patiently for a while, at most a month, and the smuggler would get him a dragon egg from abroad.