Breaking Into the Forbidden Corridor, Part Two

Although Lin Yue understood what this room wanted her to do, she had no intention of doing what its designer expected.

Back at Fluffy the Three-headed Dog, she had seen a harp left behind.

The moment she saw it, her mind had analyzed that Hermione and the others couldn't have conjured it. Even Hermione's Transfiguration wasn't good enough for that.

So the harp could only belong to one person: Professor Quirrell, the one trying to steal the Philosopher's Stone.

From that, she could deduce that Professor Quirrell had already entered the Forbidden Corridor. And if Hermione and the others had entered it too... Her heart began to pound wildly, and the buzzing in her head returned at once.

With an indifferent expression, Lin Yue lifted her head and strode across the room, pointing her wand at the wooden door in front of her.

"Explosion Charm."

Boom! Bang! As Lin Yue poured out her magic, the door flew backward. But before it was blown away, it had visibly held its ground against her for two seconds. Clearly, it had been protected by a Protective Charm.

As soon as she entered the next room, Lin Yue saw Hermione and Ron. Ron was lying unconscious on a huge chessboard, while Hermione tried to wake him.

Hearing footsteps, Hermione looked up in alarm. When she saw Lin Yue, she relaxed, only to grow even more anxious at once.

"Lin Yue! What are you doing here? Go! Get out and find a professor, quickly!"

Hermione shouted anxiously, but Lin Yue seemed not to hear her. Expressionless, she stepped onto the chessboard.

As if sensing that someone new had entered the board's boundaries, the broken chess pieces immediately reassembled. Soon, both sides' pieces had returned to their positions.

Hermione and Ron were caught among the pieces, but the pieces paid them no mind.

Hermione still wanted to tell Lin Yue to go back, but it was clearly too late. The pieces were ready, and Lin Yue had no choice but to play.

What reassured her a little was that Lin Yue was quite good at Wizard's Chess. She had heard Harry and Ron say that Ron had played ten games against her and lost every one.

Lin Yue's emotionless gaze swept across the pieces arrayed against her, then over Hermione and the unconscious Ron beside her.

Hermione had no obvious injuries, and she was perfectly lucid. She didn't seem to be in any serious trouble.

Ron was unconscious, but Hermione didn't look particularly worried. Lin Yue could infer that he was probably all right too.

Hermione had just told her to go find a professor, and Harry wasn't here. That meant Professor Quirrell had gone farther into the rooms, while Harry had followed him and Hermione had come out to get help.

In an instant, Lin Yue's mind worked out the most likely explanation for what was happening.

Harry's chances of surviving a confrontation with Professor Quirrell were extremely low.

That conclusion surfaced automatically in Lin Yue's mind. Then, with a blank stare, she started toward Hermione and Ron.

Just as she was about to cross the middle of the chessboard, clang! The pieces in the front row swiftly drew their swords and blocked her way.

She raised her wand indifferently and spoke in a flat voice. "Wingardium Leviosa."

The Levitation Charm lifted every chess piece into the air. Hermione stared blankly at the scene before her, remembering how Lin Yue had once wrenched an entire wall out of the ground.

With a blank expression, Lin Yue swept her wand forward. The floating pieces crashed into the wall behind Hermione and Ron, shattering amid a series of impacts.

She walked over and crouched in front of Hermione. Then she touched Ron's chest with her wand. "Enervate."

Ron sucked in a sharp breath and abruptly opened his eyes.

The first person he saw was Lin Yue, and he asked the exact same question as Hermione.

"Lin Yue?! What are you doing here?"

Lin Yue spoke mechanically, her voice utterly flat. "I was worried about you, so I came."

Hearing Lin Yue say outright that she was worried, Hermione looked at her in disbelief, then with delight.

Lin Yue felt Hermione's gaze and looked back at her. She paused for a second when she saw the tear tracks on Hermione's face.

Not knowing how to comfort her, Lin Yue reached into her robe pocket, took out a tissue, and handed it to Hermione.

"Wipe your face."

Lin Yue's voice was still mechanical and stiff, but Hermione could nevertheless hear the warmth in it.

She accepted the tissue with a grateful smile, wiped her face haphazardly, and murmured, "Thank you."

Ron lay on the ground and quietly looked away. He thought he might feel more at ease if he were in a bed in the Medical Wing right now.

If nothing else... he was willing to play another game of chess. This was getting a little awkward.

Fortunately, his embarrassment didn't last long. Once Hermione had wiped away her tears, Lin Yue stood up without hesitation.

Seeing her continue forward, Hermione hurriedly called out, "Lin Yue! It's dangerous up ahead. The person trying to steal the Philosopher's Stone is in there. Come back with us and find a professor!"

Hermione's gaze and her words were both almost pleading. She knew Harry was up ahead too... but the thought of Lin Yue going there as well made her feel as if her heart were being cut apart.

She didn't want Lin Yue to go. The thought appeared unmistakably in her mind. In her distress, she had already forgotten that the potion that would let them proceed had been used up in the other room.

"Harry's chances of surviving a confrontation with Professor Quirrell are extremely low," Lin Yue repeated.

Then she looked at Hermione and added, "Hermione... won't want Harry to die."

Lin Yue stumbled over the words. She could work out the conclusion they expressed, but she couldn't fully understand the factors behind it.

Her mind was still seriously lacking in emotion, so she couldn't complete the analysis she had just begun.

Hermione stared blankly as Lin Yue blasted the wooden door open and stepped through without hesitation.

It was true that she didn't want Harry to die... but she wanted you to stay alive even more! You idiot!

But Hermione knew that rushing after her would be pointless. Lin Yue's words had been a rejection, and Hermione couldn't drag her back by force. Besides, with Lin Yue's strength, Hermione would only get in her way.

The only thing to do was find a professor. Once she brought one back, Lin Yue and Harry would truly be safe.

Grinding her teeth, Hermione found strength she never usually had in an emergency. She hauled Ron up from the ground, then unceremoniously draped one of his arms over her shoulder and helped him toward the exit.

Feeling the pain in his body, Ron struggled to keep his voice from shaking. "Hermione, just leave me here. You'll be too slow if you take me with you. Go find a professor."

"Don't talk nonsense, Ron!" Hermione shouted back. If she left him there, he'd have no way to defend himself against danger in his condition. If anything happened to him, it would be over.

Meanwhile, when Lin Yue blasted open the door and entered the next room, a foul stench hit her.

A huge Troll lay on the floor. It was even bigger than the one she had killed last time.

Without the slightest change in her expression, Lin Yue stepped over the Troll and went straight to the entrance to the next room.

But this entrance had no door. In its place, purple flames blocked the way.

Without hesitation, Lin Yue's mind dismissed the purple flames and selected the wall beside them instead.

"Explosion Charm, Explosion Charm, Explosion Charm..."

One Demolition Charm after another shot from Lin Yue's wand. Even the wall, which could deflect protective spells, gradually began to give way, and chunks of stone flew in all directions.

Finally, after a full eight Demolition Charms, Lin Yue blasted a huge hole through the wall in front of her. She stepped through the opening she had made—and found another wall ahead.

She didn't even glance at the table holding the potions nearby. With the same indifferent tone, Lin Yue continued blasting the wall with Demolition Charms.

As the explosions boomed, Quirrell, who had Harry captive in the innermost room and was making him look into the Mirror of Erised, and Voldemort on the back of his head couldn't help but freeze.

That sound... Could Dumbledore have arrived?

Bang! As the final explosion faded, the figure of a girl appeared in the hole in the wall.

Harry turned and saw Lin Yue. His eyes widened in shock, and his fear vanished, replaced by worry for his friend.

"Run! Lin Yue, run!"

At his shout, Quirrell and Voldemort on the back of his head finally reacted too. "Seize her!"

A thin, raspy voice rang out. Lin Yue fixed her gaze on the back of Quirrell's head. The voice had come from there.

At the order, Quirrell immediately raised his wand. "Incarcerous!"

Lin Yue remained utterly calm as she watched the spell streak toward her. She dodged to the side, and it struck the ground behind her.

"Wingardium Leviosa."

Hearing the incantation, Quirrell tensed at once, gripping his wand tightly as he prepared to fight. He hadn't forgotten how masterfully this little girl wielded the Levitation Charm.

Last time, in the Forbidden Forest, he had almost died beneath her Levitation Charm. If his master hadn't saved him, he would have died then and there.

But, contrary to what he expected, Lin Yue wasn't aiming her Levitation Charm at him. She was aiming it at Harry beside him.

Harry was still reeling from the shock and worry of seeing Lin Yue appear when he felt himself rise into the air. The next moment, Lin Yue pulled him behind her.

"Seize her! Seize them! The Philosopher's Stone is in that boy's pocket!"

The thin, raspy voice rang out again. Lin Yue kept her eyes fixed on the back of Quirrell's head.

At the command, Quirrell stopped hesitating and sent one Killing Curse after another toward Lin Yue.

"Wingardium Leviosa." She pointed her wand at the ground and swept it upward. The bricks immediately rose into the air and formed a wall in front of Lin Yue, blocking Quirrell's Killing Curses completely.

If Lin Yue were alone, she could have traded spells with Quirrell directly. But Harry was tied up behind her and unable to move, so she had to focus on defense first.

As she used the Levitation Charm to raise more bricks and repair the "wall" in front of her, Lin Yue turned and spoke to Harry without expression.

"Untie yourself. Take the Philosopher's Stone and run."

Looking at Lin Yue standing in front of him, Harry clenched his teeth and used all his strength to break free of the ropes. He scrambled up and ran toward the hole Lin Yue had blasted in the wall.

He understood that Lin Yue would be able to fight without holding back once he was gone. As long as he stayed, she would have to worry about keeping him safe and would be held back.

She turned her head slightly and watched Harry leave through the hole in the wall from the corner of her eye. Then Lin Yue sharply swept her wand forward, and the "wall" in front of her collapsed into countless bricks that flew at Quirrell.

Quirrell rolled across the floor several times in a panic, barely dodging the bricks hurtling toward him. Then a Bat-Bogey Hex hit him.

Seeing that her attack had landed, Harry immediately ducked back behind the hole in the wall. He had no problem running out of the room, but he couldn't abandon Lin Yue and escape for good.

Lin Yue dodged two streaks of green light and cast four Fire-Making Spells around Quirrell, forcibly surrounding him in flames.

"Wingardium Leviosa."

She cast the Levitation Charm again. The flames from the Fire-Making Spells immediately surged upward, then began to whirl around Quirrell under Lin Yue's control. They formed a tornado of fire that completely engulfed him.

The temperature in the room rose sharply. Even Harry, standing in the next room, felt the scorching air coming through the hole in the wall.

At the center of the fire tornado, Quirrell screamed in agony. He hurled curses outward in a desperate barrage, but he had failed to hit Lin Yue even when he could see. Trapped in the fire tornado and unable to see anything, how could he possibly hit her?

Lin Yue dodged from side to side without the slightest change in her expression, keeping the fire tornado burning and spinning. Quirrell's screams reached her ears, but they stirred no emotion in her.

She felt no satisfaction at defeating an enemy, no fear or panic at the thought that she was about to kill someone, and no pity.

As far as Lin Yue was concerned, she hadn't broken any rule that demanded her life as punishment. Therefore, her life shouldn't be taken.

Now Quirrell was trying to take her life in violation of the rules. That meant she could fight back however she wanted.

Quirrell's spellcasting in the fire tornado gradually slowed. His body had been badly burned and was even beginning to char.

Voldemort roared from the back of his head, then tore free of Quirrell's body and flew away. Lin Yue shifted her gaze to the black smoke escaping from the fire tornado. It faintly resembled a human head.

Voldemort. Lin Yue's mind quickly identified him and assessed the situation: he could pass through fire, so physical attacks wouldn't hurt him. For now, she couldn't inflict any effective damage.

She looked away and sharply swept her wand downward. The fire in the tornado poured down, and Quirrell screamed as he was burned to ashes from head to toe.

Hearing Quirrell's screams from the room behind him, Harry couldn't help swallowing. That was Lin Yue for you...

He looked up and saw the black smoke that had just passed through the wall. He recognized it at once. It was Voldemort!