How Is Quirrell Still Alive?

"We just went and talked to Hagrid for a while, and you already know who Nicolas Flamel is?"

In the Gryffindor common room, Ron never expected that Hermione would give them such a big surprise so soon after Harry returned.

"Which book did you find it in?" Harry asked.

"On Dumbledore's Chocolate Frog Card!"

Hermione said irritably, "You two keep saying how many cards you've collected, but nobody knows!"

Hearing Hermione's words, Harry was slightly taken aback and immediately gasped. No wonder he felt like he had seen that name somewhere before; now he remembered—it was on the train.

Dumbledore was the first card he collected.

"Also, I found this."

Hermione then took out a thick, large old book and began flipping through its pages rapidly in front of the two of them.

"Nicolas Flamel is the only known creator of the Philosopher's Stone!"

"What stone?" Harry and Ron asked at the same time.

"Oh, what's going on? Don't you two usually read books?... Go read them yourselves!"

Hermione pushed the book towards them and continued, "I bet that big dog is guarding the Philosopher's Stone."

Harry and Ron were like two newbies being led through a dungeon by a max-level player; they had just finished reading the guide the player gave them, but when they looked up, they found that they had already cleared the dungeon.

Hermione not only found Nicolas Flamel, but she even guessed what was hidden under the Trapdoor.

The Philosopher's Stone... No wonder Snape was eyeing it.

A stone that can turn into gold and grant immortality—anyone would want it.

"And what about you two..." Hermione closed the book. "Did Hagrid say what happened yesterday?"

"No." Ron shook his head in frustration. "Hagrid won't say, and no matter how we ask, he won't reveal anything."

"However, we discovered that Hagrid seems to be injured." Harry thought for a moment and said, "There's a bottle of Essence of Dittany in his room. I remember learning in Herbology Class that it's a very effective medicine for treating wounds."

"Essence of Dittany?"

Hermione frowned. So, Hagrid went to the Hospital Wing not to help Madam Pomfrey, but because he was injured.

She was right; Hagrid was definitely involved in what happened yesterday.

"How about we go ask Kyle again?" Ron suggested.

"It's no use," Hermione shook her head. "If he wanted to tell us, he already would. Besides, you don't think he'd let something slip like Hagrid, do you?"

"Hermione is right." Harry nodded in agreement; he wasn't really keen on going to find Kyle either.

It's mainly because of Quidditch.

Since Slytherin's shocking loss to Ravenclaw, they have lost any chance of competing for the championship.

Ravenclaw, having been shut out in their first match, didn't score a high number of points even after their victory.

Therefore, the upcoming match between Hufflepuff and Gryffindor is crucial; whoever wins will secure the victory.

In this situation, the relationship between the two colleges quickly plummeted to a freezing point in just one afternoon, with Harris and Oliver Wood almost coming to blows in the hallway.

At this point, even if they went to Kyle, he might not pay them any attention.

Harry didn't want to go looking for trouble.

Seeing that both of them objected, Ron had no choice but to give up.

When class started the next day, everyone saw Professor Quirrell again.

Clearly, he did not contribute to the curse cast by the Professor of Defense Against the Dark Arts, as most people had guessed.

This has disappointed many people.

They had previously worried that without the professor, the final exams might be canceled sometime.

However, some people noticed that Professor Quirrell's arm was injured again, with thick bandages wrapped around his wrist, and his face was paler than before.

He explained that he was in a rush a couple of days ago and accidentally fell down the stairs, which caused the injury.

Many people felt a pang of regret...

Kyle clearly heard a Slytherin next to him say in a low voice, "The atmosphere was already this tense, and all he got was a broken arm..."

Perhaps due to his injury, Professor Quirrell didn't even bring his "teaching assistant" this time, giving everyone a standard reading lesson. Anyone who didn't know better would have thought they were having History of Magic.

No, that's not right... At least Professor Binns would read those lengthy passages himself, but Professor Quirrell made his students read them while he sat on the podium until the end of class, and he even seemed to take a nap during that time.

The young wizards in the classroom didn't look too happy.

Anyone can read... This salary is too comfortable! If Hogwarts had a professors' slacking competition, Quirrell would definitely be the undisputed champion.

Even if you replaced the professor with Swallow-tailed Dog, he couldn't have done any worse. I really don't understand why Dumbledore hasn't fired him yet.

If Defence Against the Dark Arts was merely getting more and more boring, then Potions Class was torture for Kyle.

Seemingly to vent his frustration at losing the game, or perhaps to transfer that pain onto Kyle, Snape's attitude towards him worsened.

Each time points are deducted, the starting point is five points, with no upper limit.

Although these scores would later be returned through Kanna for various reasons, Kyle was still so angry that he wanted to slam Mikel's cauldron on his head more than once.

As for why he didn't use it on himself... it's because he only brewed standard Potions, so even if he used it on Snape's head, it wouldn't cause much damage, and he could easily handle it.

But Mikel's was different; it was a Schrödinger's Potions. Before it left the cauldron, no one knew what it would do, and it was difficult to find a solution.

Harry had a similar experience to Kyle; he was also targeted by Snape, but he didn't lose as many points.

Moreover, after hearing about Kyle's experience from others, Harry's initially bad mood improved considerably, and he calmed down a lot even when he encountered Snape outside the Potions Classroom.

"Fred and George are right," Harry said casually during a game of Wizard's Chess. "It seems Snape really does dislike Kyle more."

"So, if that's the case, we might actually win the game?" Ron asked, sounding excited.

If Snape can keep causing trouble for Hufflepuff, that would be perfect for Gryffindor.

"Ron, don't say that." Harry commanded the knight to devour a soldier and said confidently, "Even if Snape wasn't the referee, we would still win!"