"Together in Life and Death" Is More Than Just Words / Ravenclaw's Wisdom Runs in the Family

"Roar..."

Behind her and Harry, Norbert the Norwegian Ridgeback, battered and bleeding from the mouth, was crawling toward them one step at a time...

Faintly ferocious roars kept rumbling from its mouth, and the intense murderous intent in its scarlet, vertical-pupiled eyes had yet to fade!

"It's okay." Harry's voice was soft, as though he hadn't noticed the threat at all. "I trust Norbert. It'll be fine!"

As the Dragon drew closer, Harry reached out his hand.

The Voice of Magic couldn't lie. Norbert was just excited because this was its first fight. It definitely hadn't lost all sense of friend and foe in a burst of wildness!

It was nothing like the irrational creature most people thought it was. It had feelings of its own, too!

Harry had always believed that if he treated Norbert with care, it would become his best partner and would never betray him!

"Whimper..." At last, the Norwegian Ridgeback nudged Harry's palm with its nose and let out a slightly plaintive whine.

As the excitement of defeating its enemy gradually faded, the pain from its injuries at the Troll's hands set in. So little Norbert instinctively wanted to complain and seek comfort from its "guardian," Harry.

"Mhm, you really worked hard this time. I'll treat you right away!" Seeing this, Harry hurriedly praised it in a gentle voice and immediately used the ointment he'd prepared to treat its wounds.

"Reducio." After tending to Norbert's injuries, Harry knew it probably couldn't accompany him through the rest of the challenges, so he could only let it rest for now.

This time, though, Harry put Norbert in Hermione's pocket.

There were things he had to start preparing for now...

"We really have Norbert to thank for that."

Hermione, meanwhile, was beginning to think Harry's decision to raise a Dragon had been absolutely right~

"Let's go and see what kind of challenge Snape has set up!"

After a brief rest, Harry took Hermione's hand, and together they entered the last room before facing Voldemort!

The last room held nothing frightening, just a plain table with seven oddly shaped bottles on it.

"We can't go back!" Hermione glanced over her shoulder, only to find the wooden door behind them engulfed in purple flames.

At the same time, the door in front of them—the one that led out of the room—had been replaced by another kind of flame, this one black.

"So the last challenge is actually a riddle. We have to pick the right Potion out of seven bottles. I should've known Snape would design such an ingenious challenge~"

As he showered Snape with praise, Harry looked at the piece of parchment on the table. It held the clues they needed to get through.

Hmm, it matched Quirrell's warning from earlier that day a little too "perfectly"... Be careful of Potions~

(p.s. The Potion clues are from the original, so I've put them below; they don't count toward the main text. I've also included an image of the actual Potion puzzle. If you're interested, feel free to work it out yourselves. The full solution and reasoning will be revealed next chapter~)

"Danger lies before you, safety lies behind. Two of us will help you, should you find them among our number.

One will take you forward, and another will take you back to where you've just been.

Two among our number hold only Nettle Wine, three are deadly, waiting in line. Choose, unless you wish to stay here forever.

We offer four clues to help you choose:

First, however cleverly the poisons hide, they're always to the left of the Nettle Wine;

Second, the contents at either end are different, and neither will help you move forward;

Third, you'll find the bottles aren't all the same size. Neither the Giant nor the dwarf has Death inside;

Fourth, the second from the left and the second from the right, though they look different, taste the same.

That's all~"

Living and Dying Together Wasn't Just Empty Talk

For Harry, the riddle Snape had left behind wasn't hard to solve.

Once he stripped away the unnecessary flourishes, the parchment was saying that among the seven bottles were two bottles of wine, three bottles of poison, one Forward Potion, and one Return Potion.

If he numbered the bottles from left to right, he could immediately determine that bottle 1, at the far left, couldn't be wine, and bottle 7, at the far right, couldn't be poison.

The first clue said the poisons were to the left of the wine, so the wine couldn't be at the far left. By the same logic, the poison couldn't be at the far right.

The second clue revealed that neither bottle 1 nor bottle 7 was the Forward Potion, so bottle 1 had to contain either poison or the Return Potion, while bottle 7 had to contain either wine or the Return Potion.

According to the third clue, the Giant was bottle 6, the largest, and the dwarf was bottle 3, the smallest. Neither contained poison, so they could each hold the Forward Potion, the Return Potion, or wine.

But the fourth clue said that bottles 2 and 6 contained the same thing. Since there could only be one Forward Potion and one Return Potion, those two bottles had to contain wine!

Once that was settled, it followed that bottle 1 had to be poison. Bottle 7, being neither poison nor wine, could only be the Return Potion!

So, with the locations of the Return Potion and the wine determined, the Potion that would let them move forward could only be in the smallest bottle, number 3!

Good. That meant Hermione would be safe, too...

But just as Harry was about to reach for the smallest bottle, Hermione suddenly snatched up both bottle 3, which held the Forward Potion, and bottle 7, which held the Return Potion!

"These are the two, right, Harry~" Hermione said, waving the bottles at him, a little smugness spreading across her face.

"I didn't expect you to beat me to it this time..."

Harry gave a helpless smile. A top student was a top student. As her magical abilities had improved, she hadn't fallen behind intellectually, either~

"No... We worked it out at almost the same time." Hermione shook her head, and her smile gradually faded. "It's just that you were thinking about more than I was... When I figured out which two bottles held the Potions, you were thinking about how to send me back!"

Crash!

As she spoke, Hermione hurled the round bottle containing the Return Potion to the ground. The liquid inside spilled everywhere.

"Hermione... I'm sorry~"

Faced with this, all Harry could do was apologize.

He'd brought Hermione all the way here because he knew leaving her behind wouldn't help. She would do everything she could to follow him.

But knowing Voldemort had already decided to kill him, could he really take Hermione along and put her life at risk?!

"Harry, do you remember what we said to the Mirror of Erised in the Room of Requirement?"

Hermione looked at Harry earnestly, but all she said was one simple word...

"Us."

That was right. They'd both seen each other in the mirror, and they'd promised each other, "We'll go in together, and we'll come back together." But...

Dying together was easy to say. But how could it ever be easy to do?!

"Hermione... Before you get angry and do something rash, could you look at the bottle in your hand?" When it came to Hermione's safety, Harry wouldn't back down. "There's only enough Potion for one sip. That means only one of us can go on! And in the end, this is between Voldemort and me. I don't want to drag you into it! So... listen to me. Give me the bottle and your wand, then wait here, safe and sound!"

"You've already dragged me into it, whether you wanted to or not! Besides, you're my little brother. Your business is my business!" Hermione stubbornly shook her head. She wasn't listening to a word Harry said. "And besides... how do you know the Potion works by dosage?!"

Hermione suddenly tipped her head back and poured every last drop of the remaining Forward Potion into her mouth!

"Hermione? You..."

Harry was stunned. But the girl across from him strode toward him and, before he could react, locked his face between her hands and forcefully pressed her lips against his!

"Mmph~" Their lips met, and Harry's eyes widened in disbelief!

The first thing he felt was pain. Hermione had moved so hastily that her front teeth had collided with his lips. They were probably both hurting now.

But then, the soft touch of her lips and the icy liquid flowing into his mouth quickly overwhelmed his senses, leaving his heart in turmoil.

Hermione... To face the final enemy with him, she'd gone this far?!

So what was there left for him to hesitate about?!

With that thought, Harry wrapped his arms around Hermione's waist and held her tightly against him. Together, they plunged through the black flames ahead!

The dancing flames scorched their bodies at close range, but Harry and Hermione had no time to care. All they wanted was to hold each other tight and face their final enemy together...

Then go home together!

At last, Harry and Hermione reached the final room and saw the first installment's Boss, who had arrived before them: Quirrell-Voldemort!

"Oh, you really did manage to make it here, Harley Potter!"

Seeing Harry and Hermione emerge from the flames together, Quirrell smiled. He wasn't stammering now, and his face no longer twitched as it had before... But he still didn't have his front teeth~

Still, Quirrell was only putting on an act. Harry didn't reply at all; he just glared coldly at him.

As if! What did Harry Potter have to do with Harry Granger?

Rather than waste time chatting with him, Harry would be better off sneaking a few items out of his Space Ring to use on him later.

"Looks like you really do have some ability. You even managed not to become that Troll's dinner." Seeing that Harry wasn't speaking, Quirrell continued his pretence. "But what surprises me is that you actually brought this Mudblood witch along, as if you knew no fear!"

This time, however, Harry didn't ignore him.

"You're dead."

Harry's tone was very calm, and he looked at Quirrell as though he were already a dead man.

The two of them were going to fight to the death anyway, but now Quirrell-Voldemort had one more reason to die!

"Dead... Heh. Tell me, who among us isn't doomed?" Quirrell suddenly shrieked hysterically. "When I discovered the Sorcerer's Stone wasn't at Hogwarts, I knew... that as my Master's servant, I wouldn't survive!!"

He cursed Dumbledore furiously, then hurled a bundle from his robes to the ground.

"When I opened the vault, this was what I found. After breaking through challenge after challenge to get here, this is what I find again! You should take a good look, Harley Potter! Look at Albus Dumbledore, that man who calls himself the greatest wizard of all, and see what filthy trick he used to humiliate me and my Master!!"

Something that looked like a woolen sock tumbled out of the bundle. At the same time, Harry caught a glimpse of something flame-red inside it!

(p.s. Actually, it's faster to work backward from the fourth clue when solving the Potion puzzle. Sanmiao just wanted to make the explanation clearer~)

The Wisdom of Eagle House Ran in the Family

Inside the bundle was a Phoenix Feather. Judging by the Voice of Magic, it came from the same Phoenix as the core of the Holly Wand—in other words, Dumbledore's bird.

So Quirrell had been so certain that the Sorcerer's Stone was in Dumbledore's hands because he'd seen this in Gringotts!

As for the woolen sock, Harry had no idea what it meant.

"Heh heh... Hahahaha!"

Suddenly, Quirrell let out a string of deranged laughter.

"But... Dumbledore miscalculated after all!" Quirrell roared viciously. "Did he really think he could fool my great Master with a nonexistent Sorcerer's Stone? Did he think this little deception could keep you, the Boy Who Lived, from being killed by me right away? Did he think I'd be stupid enough to do as he expected, and interrogate you about the Stone after you followed me here? But the truth is... there's only one possible ending for you today: death!!"

Quirrell grinned smugly and raised both hands, as if everything were under his control.

Harry understood why he was so pleased with himself. In the original story, Voldemort had needed to question him about the Sorcerer's Stone, so he definitely wouldn't have attacked right away.

But now there was no Sorcerer's Stone, so Voldemort had only one reason for summoning him: to kill him!

Even so...

This guy had left so many openings. Did he really think he'd already won?

Harry clenched the hand hidden in his sleeve, ready to launch a surprise attack!

"Surprise attack... A foolish idea, but one that shows admirable courage."

Just then, a hoarse voice suddenly came from Quirrell, leaving all three of them stunned.

Harry's expression tightened. Voldemort was about to take the field himself!

"M-Master?" Quirrell's face suddenly filled with terror. "Your strength hasn't recovered yet. Why don't you let me..."

"Enough!!" A furious shout cut him off. "Stop showing off your self-important little tricks! Do as I say, now!!"

"No... Master, don't! Harry... run! Vol— Aaaaaah!!"

Quirrell tore off his turban, clutched his head, and wailed in agony. He even rolled desperately on the ground, as if enduring some unbearable torture.

Soon, the screaming and struggling stopped. Quirrell got back to his feet, his back to Harry.