News Clues

"Gringotts is now in urgent need of redeploying their security systems. Goblin experts are searching worldwide for excellent dragons to replace the current useless one in the Gringotts underground..." Li Mu frowned as he read this.

Replace the guard dragon? ... Was there such a passage in the original novel? He couldn't remember. He cleared his throat and continued reading: "These experts will also delve into Muggle society to study Muggle security system designs in order to prevent more illegal intrusion incidents from happening."

Referencing the security systems of Muggle society... the goblins' thinking is indeed avant-garde. Li Mu finished reading the entire news item, imagining a group of small people with goat legs swaggering in and out of modern places like ordinary people's banks and prisons, and suddenly felt the scene was truly wonderful.

"Let me see." Harry said suddenly, taking the newspaper from Li Mu's hand. He immediately stared at the date of the news, then turned to Li Mu and Hagrid and exclaimed, "Hey! Isn't the day of the robbery... isn't it when we went to Gringotts to get money?"

"Just a coincidence." Hagrid quickly grinned, trying to explain.

However, Harry's brow furrowed, and so did Li Mu's—what does it mean to wear your heart on your sleeve? Just look at Hagrid; his smile was frozen on his face like he'd had hyaluronic acid injections, lacking his usual roughness and boldness, and only leaving a stiff, insincere smile.

This gamekeeper is truly an honest person. As soon as he lied, not to mention Harry, even the thick-skinned Ron noticed it.

On the way back, the sky had already begun to darken, and the warm summer wind howled. The pockets of the five people were bulging, and they were almost forcibly stuffed with a large pile of hard, Hagrid-style rock cakes.

Ron and Hermione's cold war had not ended. Hinata timidly accompanied Hermione at the back of the group, listening to the boys' conversation in front—mainly Li Mu and Harry's.

"Hagrid is hiding something from us!" Harry's tone was certain. "Otherwise, why would he specifically cut out and save this page of the newspaper?"

"It should be the confidential package in Vault 713—it must be something very important, and someone is coveting this package." Li Mu responded, knowing that even if he didn't spell it out, Harry would think of these things. "Fortunately, we took it out that day, just a little earlier."

Then, Li Mu said, "However, this shouldn't be our concern in the first place. It's only natural that Hagrid is hiding something from us."

He didn't want Harry and the others to get involved in the Philosopher's Stone affair too early. In his opinion, the Hogwarts teachers' protection of the Philosopher's Stone was like a "brave adventure," which seemed intentionally designed to give Harry Potter and others a chance to practice, train, and increase their fame—analyzing from various signs, everything about the Philosopher's Stone seemed to be arranged in advance by Dumbledore. He was waiting for Harry and his friends to jump in, waiting for them to overcome difficulties, and then... be killed by Voldemort, or stop Voldemort and reap glory; develop greed and gain nothing, or obtain the Philosopher's Stone because of justice and selflessness.

But no matter what, Harry Potter, who had just entered school at this stage, was clearly not enough to cope with those problems.

However, Li Mu was overthinking things.

"It's not this... I mean, about Snape." Harry shook his head, his bright green pupils slightly constricted. "Snape is strict and protects his own, everyone knows that, but among the four houses, he is obviously more targeted towards Gryffindor students, and among these students, he is even more targeted towards us—especially me! Hagrid must be hiding something; Snape must hate me for some reason."

"Okay, Snape does seem to be very unhappy with you, but he hasn't had any contact with you before. Why would he hate you?" Li Mu shrugged helplessly. Snape and Harry's relationship was like an inextricable mess. "Or did you do something to offend him?"

Harry shook his head; he couldn't guess the real reason. Now, he just wanted to put these worries aside, but he heard Ron's gloomy voice next to him. Ron said, "Maybe he's a supporter of the Dark Lord? Harry, you're the only savior who defeated the Dark Lord, so he hates you."

"You're saying Snape is Voldemort's subordinate?" Li Mu raised an eyebrow.

"Please, don't say his name!" Ron shuddered, his face turning very ugly.

Hermione's voice came from behind: "Impossible, how can you be so stupid? Professor Dumbledore wouldn't be so foolish as to let the Dark Lord's subordinate be a professor."

"Why do you always have to interfere so much!" Ron turned around, feeling his intelligence insulted, and the freckles on his face turned crimson. "No one would think you're mute if you didn't speak!"

Hermione muttered softly, "I just can't help it..."

She wanted to say something more, but Hinata tugged hard at her sleeve.

"Alright, shut up!" Ron was still furious. Harry put his arm around Ron's shoulder, preventing him from saying anything more unpleasant. Li Mu also quickly grabbed his arm.

Li Mu couldn't understand why the relationship between Ron and Hermione had become so bad—no, it seemed their relationship had never been good, and it was even worse than in "history" from the moment they met on the train... they were supposed to be the core "iron triangle."

Ron grunted sullenly, pushed away Harry and Li Mu's hands, and stormed off ahead.

"Ron!" Harry called out anxiously.

But Ron's figure eventually disappeared into the deep darkness.

(End of this chapter)

"Li Mu"

"Gringotts." Li Mu looked at the tall white building and said.

"Yeah, Hagrid said that's the safest place in the world." Hinata said, looking at the Gringotts in front of her.

"Let's go, we need to exchange some gold galleons." Li Mu said, and then walked in.

"Good morning, is there anything I can do for you?" A Goblin came over and asked.

"Good morning, I need to exchange some gold galleons." Li Mu said.

"Please come with me." The Goblin took Li Mu to a counter.

"How many gold galleons do you want to exchange?"

"All of them." Li Mu said, and then took out all the gold galleons in his space.

"So many." The Goblin was shocked, but he still started to count.

"A total of 10,000 gold galleons, do you want to exchange them all for Muggle money?"

"Yes."

"Okay, please wait a moment." The Goblin went to the back to prepare the money.

"Here is 51,000 pounds, please count it." The Goblin put the money on the table.

"Okay." Li Mu counted it, and then put the money away.

"I need to go to Vault 713." Li Mu said.

"Okay, please come with me." The Goblin took Li Mu to a small cart.

"Put your hand here." The Goblin said.

Li Mu put his hand on it, and then the cart started to move.

The speed of the cart was very fast, and Li Mu felt like he was on a roller coaster.

After a while, the cart stopped.

"This is Vault 713, please open the door." The Goblin said.

Li Mu took out the Philosopher's Stone and put it on the door.

The door opened.

"Okay, you can take things now." The Goblin said.

Li Mu walked in and saw a lot of gold coins and a package.

Li Mu opened the package and saw a letter and a flute.

Li Mu opened the letter.

"Dear Li Mu, if you can see this letter, it means I am already dead. This is the flute I used to play when I was young. I hope you like it. Dumbledore."

Li Mu put the flute away, and then took all the gold coins away.

"Okay, let's go back." Li Mu said.

The Goblin took Li Mu back to the lobby.

"Thank you." Li Mu said.

"You're welcome." The Goblin said.

Li Mu and Hinata left Gringotts.

"What are we going to do now?" Hinata asked.

"Let's go buy a magic wand." Li Mu said.

"Okay."

Li Mu and Hinata came to Ollivander's Wand Shop.

"Good afternoon." Li Mu said.

"Good afternoon, I'm Ollivander." An old man came over and said.

"I want to buy a magic wand." Li Mu said.

"Okay, let me see." Ollivander took out a ruler and started to measure Li Mu.

"Okay, try this one, 11 inches, holly, phoenix feather." Ollivander handed Li Mu a magic wand.

Li Mu took the magic wand and waved it, but nothing happened.

"Try this one, 13 inches, willow, dragon heartstring."

Li Mu took the magic wand and waved it, but nothing happened.

"This one, 12 inches, ebony, unicorn hair."

Li Mu took the magic wand, and a burst of magic power came out.

"Okay, it's this one." Ollivander said.

"How much?" Li Mu asked.

"7 gold galleons."

Li Mu paid the money and left Ollivander's Wand Shop.

"Let's go buy some books." Li Mu said.

"Okay."

Li Mu and Hinata came to Flourish and Blotts.

Li Mu bought a lot of magic books, and then they went to buy some potions.

After buying everything, Li Mu and Hinata went back to the Leaky Cauldron.

"Let's go to Hogwarts." Li Mu said.

"Okay." Hinata said.

Li Mu and Hinata came to King's Cross Station.

"Where is Platform 9 3/4?" Hinata asked.

"It's there." Li Mu took Hinata to the wall between Platform 9 and 10.

"Are we going to crash into it?" Hinata asked nervously.

"Don't worry, just follow me." Li Mu said, and then ran towards the wall.

Li Mu and Hinata passed through the wall and came to Platform 9 3/4.

"It's so magical." Hinata said in surprise.

"Let's get on the train." Li Mu said.

Li Mu and Hinata got on the Hogwarts Express.

"Let's sit here." Li Mu said, and then sat down in a compartment.

After a while, Ron and Hermione came in.

"Can we sit here?" Ron asked.

"Yes." Li Mu said.

Ron and Hermione sat down.

"I'm Ron Weasley." Ron said.

"I'm Hermione Granger." Hermione said.

"Li Mu."

"Hinata."

"Are you two first year students?" Hermione asked.

"Yes." Li Mu said.

"I heard that Harry Potter is also coming to Hogwarts." Ron said.

"Really?" Hermione said excitedly.

"Yeah, I heard it from my brother." Ron said.

Li Mu didn't say anything, he knew that Harry Potter would definitely come to Hogwarts.

The Hogwarts Express arrived at Hogwarts.

"First year students, follow me." Hagrid said.

Li Mu and Hinata followed Hagrid to a lake.

"Get on the boats." Hagrid said.

Li Mu and Hinata got on the boats and sailed towards Hogwarts.

Hogwarts was very beautiful, like a castle in a fairy tale.

"Wow, it's so beautiful." Hinata said in surprise.

"Yeah." Li Mu said.

The boats arrived at Hogwarts.

"Follow me." Hagrid said.

Li Mu and Hinata followed Hagrid into Hogwarts.

"Welcome to Hogwarts." Professor McGonagall said.

"Before the Sorting Ceremony, you have to wait here for a while."

"Okay."

After a while, Professor McGonagall came back.

"Follow me." Professor McGonagall said.

Li Mu and Hinata followed Professor McGonagall to the Great Hall.

There was a hat on the stage.

"When I call your name, come up and put on the hat." Professor McGonagall said.

"Hermione Granger."

Hermione went up and put on the hat.

"Gryffindor."

"Ron Weasley."

"Gryffindor."

"Li Mu."

Li Mu went up and put on the hat.

"Hmm, very powerful magic power, very smart, very ambitious, Slytherin, Ravenclaw, Gryffindor, which one do you want to go to?" The Sorting Hat said.

"Gryffindor." Li Mu said.

"Okay, Gryffindor." The Sorting Hat said loudly.

Li Mu took off the hat and went to Gryffindor.

"Hinata."

Hinata went up and put on the hat.

"Gryffindor."

Hinata took off the hat and went to Gryffindor.

After the Sorting Ceremony, Dumbledore stood up and said.

"Welcome everyone to Hogwarts, now let's eat."

The students started to eat.

"Li Mu, you are also in Gryffindor." Ron said happily.

"Yeah." Li Mu said.

"I heard that you are very powerful." Ron said.

"No." Li Mu said.

"You are too modest." Ron said.

After dinner, the students went back to their dormitories.

"The password is Caput Draconis." The Fat Lady said.

Ron said the password, and then the Fat Lady opened the door.

"Girls' dormitory is on the left, boys' dormitory is on the right."

Li Mu and Ron went to the boys' dormitory.

"Our dormitory is so big." Ron said in surprise.

"Yeah." Li Mu said.

There were five beds in the dormitory.

"Let's sleep here." Ron said, pointing to a bed.

"Okay." Li Mu said.

Li Mu and Ron went to sleep.