Candor

Wade liked the Weasley Twins. They were the kind of people who, even in the most desperate circumstances, would still try to bring joy to others. He had only wanted to stop them from getting themselves killed, but as he looked at their bright expressions, he could not help thinking—

Why should I keep the truth hidden for Voldemort?

Voldemort went to great lengths to conceal his true identity because he feared Dumbledore. What benefit was there for Wade in helping him hide it?

On the contrary, if Wade was the only one who knew a secret, he would be in danger the moment the other party noticed. But if the secret spread, Voldemort would be the one in trouble.

Once he thought of it that way, the tangled feelings caused by keeping the secret suddenly cleared up.

But Wade did not want to spread the news completely and leave Voldemort with no way out. After all, Dumbledore still could not kill him for good, and Voldemort had only hidden his identity at the school in order to seize the Philosopher's Stone. If he realized there was no hope of obtaining it and went on a murderous rampage in his fury, the students at the school would be no match for him. Who knew how many would die before Dumbledore arrived?

He chose his words carefully. "Actually..."

The Weasley Twins' eyes lit up.

"—Let's find somewhere quiet to talk."

For Wade, aside from his own Dormitory, the safest place was the Umbrella Room.

He remembered that the school also had a hidden Room of Requirement, but when he had watched the movies, he had only paid attention to the plot and special effects, never noticing its exact location. As a result, he had searched for it on and off for three months without finding it.

To avoid a scenario like those in the movies—where the protagonists discussed some crucial secret while a pair of listening ears lurked behind them, leaking it all to the villain and causing a string of tragedies—they went to the Umbrella Room.

The holiday was almost here, and everyone's enthusiasm for studying had fallen accordingly. At the moment, there were only two people in the Umbrella Room—Hermione was almost completely hidden behind a towering stack of books, looking utterly overwhelmed by her reading, while Ryan had brought in a pile of wood and was making new Targets.

"Wow, is this your secret base?" Fred was the first to poke his head in and look around.

Soon, another red-haired head poked in beside him. After taking a look, he greeted, "Hello, Miss Know-it-all."

"Oh, I'm not well," Hermione said gloomily. "Does anyone know who Nicolas Flamel actually is? He's not in Great Wizards of the Twentieth Century, nor is he in Directory of Contemporary Famous Wizards. I can't find his name in Major Discoveries in Modern Magic or Research on the Development of Modern Witchcraft, either. I've gone through nearly a hundred books! Was he never written about at all?"

Everyone inside and outside the room froze at the same time, then said in unison, "What are you talking about, Hermione? That's Nicolas Flamel! Of course he's in books!"

Hermione slowly raised her head and blinked. For once, a bewilderment that made people's hearts ache appeared on her face.

"You... all know Nicolas Flamel?"

"Of course!" Ryan propped up a Target and said, "Last year, he celebrated his 665th birthday. It was even reported in the Daily Prophet! My dad said he might be the longest-lived person in the world."

"Six hundred and sixty-five?" Hermione repeated incredulously.

Fred said, "Nicolas Flamel is the greatest Alchemist. He made the only Philosopher's Stone in the world."

"The Philosopher's Stone?" Hermione felt as though she should have seen that term in one of those books.

George said, "The Philosopher's Stone can turn any metal into pure gold, and it can also make the Elixir of Life. When I was little, my biggest dream was to own a Philosopher's Stone."

"Turning stones into gold? Living forever?" Hermione still only repeated.

Wade, who had turned to close the door, could not help saying, "Hermione, have you turned into a Repeater?"

Fred and the others did not know what a Repeater was, but the meaning was easy enough to understand. They all burst out laughing.

Hermione looked at Wade expectantly. "So, Wade... you know Nicolas Flamel too, don't you?"

Wade explained simply, "I've been studying Alchemy lately. His works were the first things I read."

"Alchemy?" Ryan was surprised. "That's a sixth-year course!"

"Yes, but I can start building a foundation now." Wade asked, "Theo isn't with you today?"

"He went to help Professor Sprout organize the Greenhouse. I remembered that the Targets we broke last time couldn't be repaired, so I decided to make a few new ones." Ryan patted down his clothes, pulled down his sleeves, then walked over and picked up a cup of water to drink.

Wade casually cast Scourgify on him, clearing away the tiny wood shavings.

Fred straddled a chair and poked Hermione. "Hello! Are you all right? Are you alive? Do you know how many fingers this is?"

Hermione, sprawled flat across the table, reached out and slapped away the hand Fred was waving in front of her eyes. Sitting up, she said in frustration, "If I'd known, I would've just asked—I've been looking for over a month!"

Wade flipped through the books on her desk. They were all about relatively modern magical history. Naturally, she would not find Nicolas Flamel that way—he had been born in 14th-century France and was written about in older books.

"Hermione, why are you looking into Nicolas Flamel?" Ryan asked with concern. Whenever Wade was not around, Hermione was always generous about answering everyone's questions. They had long since considered her a true friend.

"I, I just..." Hermione had originally wanted to say it was nothing, because explaining would reveal that they had broken the rules and sneaked into the restricted area at night. But when she looked up and saw everyone around her watching with concern, their gazes open and their expressions sincere—

She felt enormous shame at her own evasiveness.

"It was like this..." Hermione hesitated, but in the end, she told them about their adventure that night. She also told them how, after the Quidditch match, she, Harry, and Ron had gone to visit Hagrid, the gamekeeper, and he had accidentally let something slip, allowing them to learn that what the Three-headed Dog guarded had something to do with Dumbledore and Nicolas Flamel.

"Looking at it this way, that big dog must be guarding Flamel's Philosopher's Stone." Hermione concluded, "I'm sure Flamel asked Dumbledore to keep it safe for him! He knew someone was after the Philosopher's Stone, and he and Dumbledore are friends, so the stone was placed at Hogwarts."

Hermione glanced at Wade but did not mention his previous guess—though she increasingly felt that Wade was right, that the entire matter might be a test Dumbledore had set for Harry. Still, letting other students know that the Headmaster treated one student specially would not be a good thing for Harry.

One only had to look at how Harry had been surrounded and hounded by his classmates when he first arrived at school to understand what it was like to be thrust into the spotlight. Hermione knew that her friend had been deeply troubled by it.

"Then who's after the Philosopher's Stone?" Ryan asked.

Hermione said, "Harry and Ron are both convinced it's Snape, because his leg seems to have been bitten by the Three-headed Dog. But I think—"

Before she could finish, George suddenly said, "—Quirrell?"

Hermione paused for two seconds before saying, "What does Professor Quirrell have to do with it? Though I do think he's not very competent—"