A Dead End

After Will told Harry and his friends about Nicolas Flamel and the Philosopher's Stone, they grew anxious. Convinced Snape meant to steal the stone and give it to Voldemort, they tried to work out what to do.

"I say we should protect the Philosopher's Stone," Ron said. After a moment, he added, "Or we should get hold of it ourselves. That would make it easier to protect."

Harry nodded emphatically. "Ron's right. We should get hold of the Philosopher's Stone."

"Are you mad?" Hermione stared at them in disbelief.

"Harry defeated You-Know-Who, remember? Maybe the stone would be safest with him." Ron avoided her eyes.

"That's not what I mean." Hermione glared at Ron. "How are you going to get past the trapdoor guarded by that huge dog? It could swallow you both in one bite each and still have a head free to decide whether it wanted seconds!"

"Harry, it's too dangerous. You'll get yourselves killed. There's no way you can make it below the trapdoor," Neville urged, blunt as his warning was.

"Don't be silly, Neville. We'll think of something," Ron muttered. "We just have to get the Philosopher's Stone before Snape does."

"We could ask Hagrid how to subdue the dog," Harry suggested, but Ron shot the idea down at once.

"Harry, Hagrid looked furious. And I don't think he'd tell us how to deal with the dog. He won't even believe Snape would hurt you."

"I mean we could wait until he's calmed down, then ask him. Hagrid lets all sorts of things slip when he's happy. Remember what just happened?" Harry's words made the others realize that Hagrid was no good at keeping secrets.

"Maybe we could give Hagrid a Christmas present to cheer him up."

"But what does Hagrid like?" Neville didn't know him very well yet.

"Anything to do with Fantastic Beasts," Harry said firmly. "We could give him something related to them."

"I'll write to Charlie and ask him to send me a bag of dragon scales." Ron thought of his second-eldest brother, who studied dragons in Romania. Perhaps Charlie could get him some scraps.

"Ron, dragon scales are valuable magical materials. They can be used in alchemy, in Potions, or as special materials. And I read that staff aren't allowed to take any part of a dragon's yield without permission. Are you sure your brother can really send you a whole bag?" Hermione's warning stopped Ron short. He hadn't known any of that; all he knew was that Charlie studied dragons.

"I can pay for them. I've still got plenty of Galleons in my vault," Harry volunteered. Right now, stopping Voldemort mattered more to him than anything else.

"And I think we should tell Professor Dumbledore," Hermione said.

Neville stood beside her. "I—I think we should tell Professor Dumbledore too. We can't match him on our own."

"Hermione, what are you talking about?" Ron stared at her, puzzled. "Wouldn't that mean admitting to Professor Dumbledore that we went into the corridor on the right of the fourth floor?"

Hermione looked at Ron and Harry, her expression grave. "Don't be foolish. What if we can't stop Snape? He's a grown wizard and a Hogwarts professor. You don't really think you can take him on, do you?

"We should tell Professor Dumbledore. Don't forget, he's the only person You-Know-Who ever feared. If we want to stop You-Know-Who's plot, we need to tell him."

Hermione fixed the three boys with a stern look.

Harry stood outside the Headmaster's Office, his throat dry.

Would Professor Dumbledore take points from Gryffindor because he'd entered that corridor? Would he believe Harry? Would he believe Snape wanted to steal the Philosopher's Stone?

Suddenly, Harry felt that his friends had made a mistake sending him. He didn't know the password, either. What if Professor Dumbledore wasn't in his office today, or didn't come back? Would Harry have to wait there all day?

Fortunately, his doubts were put to rest a few minutes later.

Professor Dumbledore opened the door. Surprise showed in his eyes behind his half-moon spectacles. "Harry, what brings you here?"

Harry swallowed. "Professor, I'd like to talk to you about the Philosopher's Stone."

Dumbledore raised his eyebrows and let Harry into the office.

An hour later, Harry emerged and told his friends what he had learned. "Professor Dumbledore says Snape can be trusted completely. He couldn't possibly steal the Philosopher's Stone."

None of them knew what to make of it. Ron even began to doubt Dumbledore. "Could the professor be getting too old..."

Their investigation had hit a dead end.

As for Will, he stayed out of the trouble and kept grinding experience day after day.

[You cast spells repeatedly and became more proficient with one of them. Charms experience +1]

[You gained new Curse Studies knowledge. Curse Studies experience +1]

[You gained new Dark Magic knowledge. Dark Magic experience +1]

[You gained new spell knowledge. Charms experience +1]

The past month had been fairly peaceful for him. By the time Christmas drew near, he had gained another two levels, raising Curse Studies to level 2 and Herbology to level 3. Most importantly, he had ground out plenty of Runes experience, bringing it to [Runes LV2 (100/200)].

Before long, Runes would grant him another bonus ability.

[Potions LV3 (99/300)]

(LV2 bonus ability, Discerning Eye: You can more easily distinguish changes in a potion's state; LV3 bonus ability, Potion Proliferation: The yield of Potions you brew increases by 5%)

[Curse Studies LV2 (79/200)]

(LV2 bonus ability, Curse Factor: Your resistance to curses increases by 10%)

Amid this "peace and quiet," Christmas was approaching, and the young wizards were growing restless with the holiday so close.

One morning, while Will was eating breakfast, his owl flew into the Great Hall and dropped a letter for him. It landed squarely on his fried egg.

Will opened the slightly greasy letter. It was the first one he had received at Hogwarts.

The very first line made his eyebrows rise.

Dear son:

I already know that you've gone to study at Hogwarts...