Scared to Death

Gemini wasn't sure if Moaning Myrtle could keep Professor Quirrell occupied, but it didn't matter. He'd just run into Peeves wandering the castle.

"Good afternoon, Mr. Peeves."

Gemini greeted Peeves with a gentle smile.

"Oh~ Gemini~ Gemini~ Split the two ways~" (Gemini and the splitting spell sounded very similar.)

"That sounds like a great rhyme," Gemini chuckled. "I hope you're this happy every day."

"Hah~ Of course I'm happy~ I'm happy every day! Heeheehee~" Peeves spun a few times in mid-air and stuck his tongue out at Gemini.

"Speaking of which, I just thought of something very interesting," Gemini said with a smile, holding up a finger. "As the prankster king of Hogwarts, Mr. Peeves, you must know a lot of interesting secrets, right?"

"Oh—you sneaky little Fox baby," Peeves stared straight at Gemini with his small black eyes. "Trying to trick me into telling you, huh? Even if I knew, I wouldn't tell you!"

"You misunderstand, I'm not trying to trick you," Gemini spread his hands. "I just made a bet with the Weasley twins. They said Professor Quirrell was balding under his turban, but I guessed he was just bald. Do you know what's under his turban?"

Peeves froze, floating in mid-air, somewhat at a loss.

"It seems even you don't know..." Gemini sighed. "Never mind, they've already gone to find out. I guess they're more professional when it comes to pranks..."

"That's not true!" Peeves shrieked, as if deeply offended. "You just wait! I'll show you who the real prankster king is! Also, I bet his turban is full of boils!"

Whoosh—

In the blink of an eye, Peeves disappeared down the corridor.

With Moaning Myrtle crying and Peeves enjoying his pranks, Gemini figured that should give Quirrell a headache for a while.

After some time, Gemini finally got Hermione's location from Parvati.

Knock, knock, knock…

A knock sounded on the door.

"Hermione, are you in there?"

Clang! The stall door opened, and Hermione, with red eyes and a look of utter shock, stared at Gemini.

"Gemini? What are you doing here? This is the girls' restroom!"

"I know," Gemini nodded gently. "But it's okay. When I came in, all the girls screamed and ran out, so no one was disturbed."

Hermione's mouth dropped open. "There must be something wrong with your thinking!"

"Just kidding, no one else was here when I came in. The feast is about to start, everyone should be in the Great Hall by now."

Gemini waved his hands with a smile, and Hermione finally relaxed. She didn't want the owner of this handsome face to be a pervert.

"You... you go ahead, I'm not very hungry yet," Hermione said, her eyes dimming as if remembering something sad.

"Not very hungry?" Gemini glanced into the stall behind Hermione. "Are you full?"

"Of course not!" Hermione's face turned red with anger. "See! There must be something wrong with your head! Oh dear... this is the girls' restroom! It's a toilet!"

"Alright," Gemini shrugged. "I thought you didn't like the food in the Great Hall and wanted to eat something unusual."

As he spoke, a small hand pinched Gemini's waist, making him gasp in pain.

Hermione, with a small, stern face, glared at Gemini. After a few seconds, she burst out laughing.

"It looks like you're feeling much better," Gemini said with a smile. "Let's go eat. I hope those two idiots Crabbe and Goyle didn't touch my baked potato."

"You like baked potatoes?" Hermione asked, looking intently at Gemini's profile.

"That's right," Gemini smiled and pushed open the girls' restroom door. "The aroma of baked potatoes, their soft and fragrant texture, and you can choose to add salt and pepper, or black pepper, or whatever you like. As a staple food, it's just perfect—Ugh!"

Before he could finish, a strong, foul odor assaulted his nostrils, and Gemini leaned against the door, gagging.

It was like the smell of rotten socks mixed with the odor of a toilet that hadn't been cleaned in ages, bringing tears to Gemini's eyes. The sheer force of the smell almost blew his mind.

Boom, boom, boom…

Heavy footsteps echoed from the end of the corridor. Gemini stared in shock at the shadow cast by the moonlight around the corner.

It was a troll...

No, two of them!

"What's going on?" Gemini asked, pinching his nose, his face filled with astonishment.

Hermione beside him had clearly also smelled the stench and was rolling her eyes in disgust.

"The face!!!!"

A scream rang out in the corridor. Peeves flew past Gemini in a flurry. "Quirrell has a face on the back of his head! Ah—scary ghost!!!!"

Gemini's mouth hung open, his face a mask of shock. "No way..."

Peeves had ripped off Quirrell's turban!

Thinking of this, Gemini was completely stunned.

Holy crap, was it that careless?

Gemini now understood what the two trolls in the corridor were about. Quirrell, upon being exposed, had immediately released the trolls to catch them off guard and take the Sorcerer's Stone.

But fortunately, at this point, he probably didn't know how to get past the three-headed dog yet...

"Snore..."

A low panting sound came from the other end of the corridor. Gemini's face stiffened as he turned his head, meeting three pairs of bright, dark eyes.

What a magnificent hellhound.

Gemini's face darkened.

He had originally just intended for Peeves to stall Professor Quirrell for a while, but he hadn't expected Peeves to be so capable, directly snatching Quirrell's turban.

Did that turban not have any magical protection? It was exposed so easily?

In fact, Professor Quirrell hadn't expected something like this to happen either. Who the heck would just come up and snatch someone's turban for no reason?

No matter how cowardly a professor was, they were still a professor. At Hogwarts, professors held significant authority. Even the lawless Peeves showed a certain level of respect to professors; he never caused trouble in classrooms during lessons.

However, while Peeves showed professors a certain level of respect, that didn't mean he wouldn't play pranks on them—like snatching their turbans...

This was something neither Quirrell nor Gemini had anticipated.

Gemini could clearly see that Professor Quirrell was now in a "what the hell, might as well" state. His actions had shifted from stealing the Sorcerer's Stone to seizing it. The goal was the same, but the method was entirely different.

Normally, Quirrell's plan should have been to steal the Sorcerer's Stone while drawing as little attention from Dumbledore as possible.

But now, with Peeves causing this scene and Voldemort on the back of his head being exposed, Quirrell had no choice but to go all in and forcibly seize the Sorcerer's Stone.

However, this wasn't entirely without benefit for Quirrell. The three-headed dog, which had previously been a major obstacle for him, could now be lured away with impunity.

This thick-skinned, tough hellhound had a resistance to spells comparable to a dragon, which had always rendered Quirrell helpless. Luring it away would also cause a commotion, ensuring Dumbledore would notice him immediately.

But now, he didn't have to worry about that—he was completely exposed anyway.

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