Sorcerer's Stone

On the way to the room in the fourth-floor corridor, Damon cast spell after spell.

"Protego Maxima."

"Defodio."

"Odorem Abdo."

Shielding his entire body with the strongest Protego, further reinforcing his invisibility with Defodio, then erasing his scent and tracks with Odorem Abdo, Damon arrived before the room housing the three-headed dog, Fluffy.

"Alohomora."

Damon made no attempt to hide it—even if he used nonverbal casting, could the three-headed dog possibly fail to hear the sound of the lock opening? Besides, judging from the magical energy consumed, the door lock had clearly been reinforced with magic. With his current skill in Charms, he couldn't break through that limitation while also casting nonverbally.

Click.

As the door swung open, the stone bricks in the corridor suddenly flew up and transformed into a flute, notes playing of their own accord.

Damon opened the door, quickly closed it, and the sleeping three-headed dog Fluffy lay sprawled before him, quietly slumbering.

Three-headed dog, danger rating 5X. As a powerful Magical Creature, this beast possessed extremely strong resistance to magical spells, making it very difficult to deal with. But it also had two fatal weaknesses: 1. A sweet tooth—it could be distracted with sugary treats. 2. It would fall asleep upon hearing music. As long as one exploited the second weakness, dealing with it was exceedingly easy. Conversely, it became extremely difficult. Generally speaking, the larger the Magical Creature, the stronger its resistance—this was likely why Snape had fallen victim to it. Legend had it that the hide of a Manticore could even reflect all known spells.

Gazing at the sleeping, mountain-like mythical beast, Damon marveled inwardly—he was actually curious: if he went all out right now, could he be a match for such a creature?

"Pfft!"

Just then, the sleeping Fluffy let out a snort, reeking of foul odor.

Damon waved his hand, looking at the Trapdoor pinned under the dog's paw, a curious expression on his face. It was still three months before the trio would enter the Trapdoor. The Mirror of Erised, originally used to hide the Sorcerer's Stone, was now in his hands. How would Dumbledore arrange the storage of the Sorcerer's Stone?

He waved his wand, and the floor tiles spontaneously transformed into six stone golems, which "laboriously" lifted Fluffy's paw, revealing the complete Trapdoor.

Damon stepped into the Trapdoor, and the stones beneath his feet shifted into stairs, carrying him down step by step.

"So it's already set up now?"

Seeing the familiar Devil's Snare, Damon smiled lightly and said calmly:

"Lumos."

Watching the Devil's Snare recoil from the bright light, Damon passed through quickly and promptly withdrew his magic—he had to leave these Devil's Snare intact for the trio's trial; he couldn't damage them.

Ahead, the view was narrow, with only a single stone corridor to pass through.

Damon continued forward, listening to the sound of water droplets slowly trickling down the walls, a smile naturally curling on his face, until faint rustling and clinking sounds came from up ahead.

At the end of the corridor was a brightly lit room, topped with a high vaulted ceiling. Countless birds, dazzling like gems, fluttered about the room, while opposite stood a heavy wooden door.

This was the second trial.

These birds were actually transformed keys, only one of which could open the heavy wooden door ahead. But for Damon, he had other methods.

He calmly walked through the flock of keys without stirring any disturbance. As he reached the heavy wooden door, it began to deform on its own, collapsing and melting like liquid into a hollow circular opening. He stepped through.

Once Damon passed through, the wooden door returned to its original state, as if nothing had happened.

The third trial was a giant chessboard, requiring one to treat themselves as a chess piece and simulate a game of wizarding chess to win. But for Damon?

He simply walked calmly through the chess pieces to the end of the room, without disturbing a single one.

Damon pushed open the door, and next came the fourth trial: a logic puzzle—from the information on the stone table's note, he had to deduce which potion could break through the flame barrier and which could allow safe escape.

To avoid triggering the fourth trial's mechanisms, he waved his wand and thrust it sharply into the ground, channeling a large amount of his magic power into the earth, carefully probing.

"Finite Incantatem."

Then, he stepped across the threshold. The alert function, which should have raised flames to surround him, briefly lost its effect.

Damon walked forward, descended the steps, and entered the final room.

In the room stood only a stone platform. Damon approached and saw an inscription carved on it:

[Stone is not stone, gold is not gold, only the one who crosses sees the true form.]

And the Sorcerer's Stone was nowhere to be seen.

The entire room held only this solitary stone platform, and aside from this line of text, there was nothing else.

"The fourth trial was already a puzzle game, and now this one's another riddle? Could Harry possibly figure it out?"

Damon chuckled, sensing something unusual in the air. He raised his wand and said:

"Microcosmic Incantation."

His eyes glowed faintly, and the scene before him subtly shifted—countless red particles filled the air, unaffected and unsummoned by anyone.

"So it's hidden here?"

Damon stared at the irregular hollow in the stone platform, realizing that to obtain the Sorcerer's Stone, he would likely need to gather all the particles into this very spot.

Next, he made countless attempts.

Levitation Charm, Immobilization Charm, Movement Charm, Cleaning Charm, Spell Removal, Total Restoration.

One after another, simple spells of unimaginable power flowed from his wand, but all came to nothing. Throughout the process, he felt as though he were dueling Dumbledore from afar.

After about ten minutes of trying, Damon stopped waving his wand and began to think.

Before long, he smiled freely.

Well, it made sense. Professor Quirrell, who had broken into Gringotts with the help of The Dark Lord, hadn't been able to find the Sorcerer's Stone either. With his current level of magical skill, he might have a chance of winning in a duel, but in other respects, he still lagged behind wizards of that T1 tier.

Forget it.

He'd originally wanted to get his hands on the Sorcerer's Stone early, to eliminate the last shred of uncertainty and also study whether it was truly as miraculous as legend claimed. Since he couldn't take it, so be it. He'd just wait for the plot to end and let Dumbledore destroy it. Nothing to regret.

That was what Damon thought, and that was what he did. Without a trace of reluctance, he turned and stepped onto the stairs, ready to leave.

But just then, the uncontrolled red dust filling the air suddenly trembled, gathering like crimson quicksand in the sky before surging all at once into the irregular hole at the center of the stone platform, transforming into a breathtakingly beautiful red gem.

Sensing the movement, Damon turned his head, looked at the gem radiating a captivating glow from the hollow, and let out a soft laugh—it seemed Dumbledore was still playing by that same logic.

Only those who wished to find the Sorcerer's Stone—to find it, but not to use it—could obtain it.