Nicolas Flamel

Wood's mouth opened and closed, while the Gryffindor Quidditch team stood there with blank expressions.

"What? What did Wood say?" George nudged Fred with his elbow.

"He said Snape is going to referee the Quidditch final," Fred answered instinctively.

Harry did not know how he had made it back to the common room. He felt like everything was over.

"Don't compete."

"How about pretending to be sick?"

"Just say your leg is broken."

"Actually break your leg."

Hermione and Ron learned what had happened from Harry and began throwing out suggestions one after another.

Harry shook his head. "Gryffindor doesn't have a substitute Seeker. If I don't play, the Gryffindor team won't even be able to compete."

Kano comforted him from the side. "It's all right. I don't think Snape would target you in front of the entire school."

"Our opponent in the final is Hufflepuff. Having Slytherin's Head of House, Snape, as referee actually limits him."

"Headmaster Dumbledore must have his own arrangements."

Harry nodded. He had no choice but to grit his teeth and take the field.

At that moment, Neville hopped in through the portrait hole, his round little face flushed bright red.

Everyone in the common room burst out laughing. Hermione did not laugh; she stepped forward and undid the Leg-Locker Curse for him, while Kano pulled over an armchair for him to sit in.

"Malfoy—that guy blocked me outside the library and said he wanted to try out a new spell he'd learned." Neville's clothes were still streaked with blood. Harry and the other two rose with grim expressions, ready to go find Professor McGonagall.

But Kano studied Neville carefully. "That blood isn't yours?"

"Of course not." Neville grinned. "Malfoy had Crabbe and Goyle grab me and cast the Leg-Locker Curse on me. Right after he finished the spell, I rammed my head into his nose."

"Harry, Malfoy's face was covered in blood when his lackeys carried him away." Neville pumped his fist excitedly.

Harry remembered Malfoy standing there on the night of the duel, nose bleeding as he screamed for his father, and burst into laughter.

The Gryffindors in the common room began cheering, pulling out snacks to celebrate Malfoy's unfortunate nose.

Neville seemed to have shown the courage to resist his oppressor ahead of time. Was it because he was facing a Malfoy who had repeatedly suffered setbacks?

Kano could not say for sure, but it was a good thing regardless.

Then Harry let out an annoyed growl. He was holding a Chocolate Frog card, and the bearded Dumbledore on it was looking curiously at him.

"Nicolas Flamel—I found him."

He flipped the card over and pointed out a line of small print to Kano and the others.

"Dumbledore and Nicolas Flamel discovered the twelve uses of dragon's blood."

Kano calmly watched as Hermione ran back to the dormitory, pulled out a thick book, opened it to a page, and pointed it out to them.

The book read:

Ancient alchemy was concerned with the making of the Philosopher's Stone, a legendary substance with astonishing powers. The Philosopher's Stone could turn any metal into pure gold, and it also produced the Elixir of Life, which made the drinker immortal.

There had been many reports of the Philosopher's Stone over the centuries, but the only Stone currently known to exist belonged to the famous alchemist and opera lover, Mr. Nicolas Flamel. He celebrated his six hundred and sixty-fifth birthday last year and now lived in seclusion in Devonshire with his wife Perenelle, who was six hundred and fifty-eight.

"He has the only Philosopher's Stone in the world—the Philosopher's Stone, the Sage's Stone, call it whatever you like." Hermione lowered her voice. "Hagrid's big dog must be guarding it. That thing is at Hogwarts."

"Snape must want it. With the Philosopher's Stone, he could turn stone into gold and live forever." Harry continued excitedly, having solved the mystery. "Anyone would be tempted, wouldn't they?"

Ron picked up the thread as well. "That man is already over six hundred years old. No wonder we couldn't find him among the famous modern wizards."

Kano listened to the children discussing it with a mixture of amusement and exasperation, then interrupted them.

"I have a question. Why would Nicolas Flamel leave the Philosopher's Stone, something that could be called his entire fortune and his very life, at Hogwarts?"

The three looked at one another, unable to answer for a moment.

"Hogwarts is the safest place in the wizarding world," Harry said uncertainly.

"Harry, Gringotts is very safe too. Would you store your Invisibility Cloak there?"

"Of course not," Harry replied reflexively. "How could something so important... be kept away from me?"

"Exactly. Something as important as the Philosopher's Stone would never be as reassuring anywhere as it would be on your person." Kano shook his head. "I'll be blunt. I'm afraid that thing is bait."

"Bait?" Hermione seemed to realize something. "Who does Dumbledore want to lure out with it?"

"Maybe Snape, or maybe someone else." Kano claimed not to know. The three overheated children had cold water poured over them and gradually calmed down.

"So there's more to this than we thought?" Harry's feelings were complicated too. He felt as though all his efforts had been for nothing.

"There must be another side to this, Harry. But that doesn't stop us from eating snacks and watching the show, does it?" Kano patted Harry on the shoulder, stretched, and went back to sleep.

Why had Kano, who had always stayed detached, suddenly stepped in? The reason was simple.

Dumbledore had a complete training plan to turn Harry into a hero. The plan was highly flexible, and how it was carried out depended entirely on Dumbledore's fine control.

Dumbledore's skill at fine control was extremely high—roughly on par with a dozen or so flawless sages of all ages, blank space. But his plan had one defining trait: it gave each member of the Golden Trio a separate role.

Harry was responsible for facing Voldemort head-on. He did not need brains. Ron was pure-blooded and knew all the twists and turns of the wizarding world. Hermione was brilliantly talented, serving as the Golden Trio's strategist and logistical support.

But looking at the entire process of defeating Voldemort, Harry often let his dislike of Snape cloud his judgment, leading his friends straight into trouble.

Not to mention his impulsiveness, which directly caused the death of his godfather, Sirius Black.

So Kano planned to add something to Dumbledore's plan—knock some sense into Harry, so that perhaps in the future he would ruin fewer things through impulsiveness.

He could not just sit by and watch Harry get someone close to him killed someday.

Kano lay on his bed, pondering the trap Dumbledore had set for Voldemort this year.

For now, Harry still trusted him greatly. But when the time came, if he acted alongside Harry, they could simply bulldoze their way through all those obstacles.

Holding back without making it obvious would be rather difficult. After all, Hermione had seen his true strength clearly during their usual classes.

Should he find an excuse to disappear for a while, like Dumbledore?

Or should he take this opportunity to exchange a few moves with Voldemort ahead of time and see what state he was actually in?

With my current strength, dealing with Quirrell should not be a problem, right?

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