Who Fell In?

"I didn't expect you to be right again." As Fred spoke, he deliberately turned his head to look around, and only when he saw that there was no one else in the corridor did he whisper to the three of them, "The principal really is monitoring that place."

"I really thought Professor Dumbledore would deduct a lot of points from us, give us a severe scolding, and put us in solitary confinement. I didn't expect the headmaster to just tell us to keep it a secret."

The three of them were genuinely startled when the principal suddenly appeared. George turned to Albert and asked curiously, "Did you do something to make the principal let us go so easily?"

"I thought you guys had forgotten what you promised!" Albert raised his index finger and made a shushing gesture at the three of them.

Having just experienced a thrilling adventure, the group felt a bit hungry, so they went to the kitchen together to get some late-night snacks.

I'm on my way back to the dorm now.

"I dare say they've long forgotten," Lee Jordan quipped, his words slurred.

"If your mouth weren't stuffed full, I bet you'd talk even more than us." Fred snatched the oiled paper bag of potato pancakes from Lee Jordan's hand, glaring angrily at the sarcastic guy in front of him.

"Speaking of which, it's amazing you can actually eat that much." George shook his head as he looked at Lee Jordan, whose mouth was stuffed with food.

Although they didn't come into contact with the Troll, passing by Troll room still made them feel uncomfortable, and they wanted to go back and take a shower.

"Why can't you eat?"

No sooner had Lee Jordan finished speaking than Fred took off his boots and brought them in front of him.

"Ugh, you bastard, you're a complete jerk." Lee Jordan almost threw up everything he had just eaten.

The next moment, the two were chasing and fighting.

"Really." Albert shook his head.

At this moment, many people were still busy with their own things in the Gryffindor Common Room, but the Common Room was unusually quiet.

Some fifth and seventh graders were studying hard, while Percy, the Prefect, was maintaining order in the Common Room.

Anyone who dares to speak loudly in the Common Room will immediately be met with a glare from Percy.

So, Fred, who was just nagging a moment ago, ran into trouble as soon as he entered the Common Room.

"Where have you been? What's with that smell? It stinks!" Percy covered his mouth and nose, glaring at Fred for disturbing their study.

"Really?" Fred sniffed himself and even held out his hand for Percy to smell, only to have it slapped away by Percy.

"It stinks!" Percy glared at Fred. "Don't disturb the other students who are studying."

Fred, having amused Percy, turned to look at his brother only to find that his friends who had been beside him were gone.

"Hey, wait for me!" Fred ignored Percy and quickened his pace to catch up.

After taking a good shower and using shower gel to clean off any lingering odor, the group sat down to eat the potato pancakes they had brought back from the kitchen.

When Tom saw Albert return, he immediately came over and nuzzled Albert with his head, asking for the dried fish that had been promised.

"By the way, you still haven't told us what treasure Dumbledore hid?" the three asked Albert, who was feeding the cat, while they ate.

"There's only one magic mirror in the last room, the Mirror of Erised we saw in the Room of Requirement last time, and nothing else," Albert said, scratching Tom's ear as he answered the question Fred, George, and Lee Jordan wanted to know.

"What about the treasure?"

"I suspect it's hidden inside the Mirror of Erised." Albert wasn't lying and began to tell the truth. "It must be a magical trap set up by Dumbledore, which is impossible for an ordinary person to crack."

"That's an ordinary person. Are you an ordinary person?" George turned to look at Albert, then suddenly nodded and said, "You're not an ordinary person. You're Albert!"

"Okay, I'm not an ordinary person." Albert rolled his eyes upon hearing this.

"Look, Albert has finally admitted he's not an ordinary person," Lee Jordan said, patting Albert on the shoulder after swallowing his food.

"Don't change the subject." George raised his hand to stop Lee Jordan from continuing and asked directly, "What is the treasure? Don't tell me you've never seen a treasure before."

If you don't ask directly, the conversation might drift off to who knows where.

"The treasure must be the Philosopher's Stone."

"What kind of stone?"

"The Philosopher's Stone," Albert said.

"What's that?" George asked, raising an eyebrow.

"A magical alchemical artifact," Albert replied. "However, you don't need to worry too much about the treasure. I suspect that the Philosopher's Stone is most likely a fake."

"A fake? You mean the treasure is fake?" Lee Jordan didn't understand what that meant for a moment.

"Isn't that obvious? Albert must have already tested it, otherwise he wouldn't have said it was fake." Fred shoved the paper bag at Lee Jordan, as if to say, "You can go back to eating your pancakes."

"Yeah, I tried it, but it didn't work." Albert quickly snatched the food from Lee Jordan's hand as he was about to finish the last pancake.

"You've already eaten quite a lot; eating too much at night is bad for your stomach."

"That's right, it's bad for your stomach."

"You should eat this instead." George produced a box of Cocoa Bertie Bott's Every Flavor Beans from somewhere, shoved it into Lee Jordan's hand, and said with a smile.

"Then what?"

"At the time, I asked Dumbledore, but he didn't answer. However, I guess that thing was probably fake."

"Why did the principal put a fake Magic Stone there?"

"It's the Philosopher's Stone," Albert corrected.

"Oh, why?"

All three looked at Albert, waiting for his answer.

"What would you do if you knew someone was trying to steal your things?" Albert didn't answer the three men's questions directly, but asked while combing Tom's fur.

"I'll hide and try to catch that damn thief," Lee Jordan said.

"Since I know someone is trying to steal my things, I'll naturally be on guard. I'll make sure my things aren't stolen first, and then try to catch the culprit." George's thoughts were similar.

"No, we should replace it with a fake one in the original place and wait for that damn thief to come. If we can catch him, great; if not, the one that gets stolen is fake anyway." Fred's idea was similar.

"So, that's roughly how it is." Albert lifted Tom high in the air and asked with a grin, "You agree, Tom?"

"Meow!"

Tom chewed on a dried fish and casually meowed.

"I never expected it to be like this. I knew those magical mechanisms couldn't be so simple." George's face showed an expression of realization.

"Easy. I wonder who almost got trapped in the Devil's Snare." Lee Jordan couldn't help but sarcastically remark, "If it weren't for Albert, you wouldn't have even been able to get past the Devil's Snare?"

"Hmph! It's none of your business."

"So, the actual situation is just as you predicted last time: the principal is waiting for the thief to take the bait?" Fred countered.

"Is the thief really Professor Quirrell?"

"That doesn't seem likely. Professor Quirrell seems to have very little responsibility, so why would he steal from the headmaster?"

"I feel Snape is more like a thief." Fred bluntly pinned the blame for being a thief on Snape.

"Do you think we should help the principal and catch that thief faster?" George suggested excitedly.

"For example?" Lee Jordan asked tentatively.

"We can write to Sneaky... well, I mean Professor Quirrell, and tell him that if he really is the thief trying to steal from the headmaster, he'll definitely take action," George suggested excitedly. "In the end, he'll surely fall into the headmaster's trap."

Seeing the eager group of people, Albert was speechless.

Didn't you just promise the principal you'd keep it a secret? And now you're rushing to be the one who leaked it?

"More enthusiastic than me?" Albert decisively rejected the suggestion. "Professor Dumbledore must have his own plan for doing that. We shouldn't do that. It wouldn't be good if we disrupted his plan."

The rewards for the whistleblower's mission are actually quite mediocre. However, the mission itself is a bit tricky; if not handled properly, it feels like you could end up burying yourself in the process.

Even if Albert were to consider undertaking such a risky and low-reward task, he would need to do it at the right time and in the right circumstances.

Ideally, we could use this opportunity to trick Quirrell.

Don't you think so, Tom?