"Unexpected gains, Hagrid." Brian peeled away the layers of spider silk bit by bit and took out the Firefly Stone fragments from inside. "Can you see what I'm holding in my hand?"
"A bunch of air." Hagrid said cheerfully, "But I guess there must be something there. Can I take a look?"
"Of course." Brian placed the Firefly Stone fragments into Hagrid's hand. "Give them a squeeze, but not too hard, or you'll scratch your hands."
"Whoa, there really is something!" Hagrid cautiously squeezed the stones in his hand. "They're so warm. What on earth are these?"
"I don't know, but I have a guess." Brian took out the other Firefly Stone fragment from inside his robe and placed it together in Hagrid's palm. "These are fragments of the Philosopher's Stone. Collect enough fragments, and you can piece together the Philosopher's Stone-I already have two fragments."
He watched as the two Firefly Stone fragments bumped into each other with a soft pop. One of the smaller fragments even spun around a little before the two pieces fused together, and the warmth they emitted increased significantly.
Brian was quite satisfied with this change. The weather was getting colder, and Hogwarts would soon be covered in ice and snow. With the Firefly Stone fragments, he could wear one less sweater and make the bulky winter a bit easier to bear.
"Oh, what did you just say? The Philosopher's Stone? Ha... hahaha!"
Whether it was because the things tickled his palm or for some other reason, upon hearing Brian's guess, Hagrid burst into uncontrollable laughter.
"No, no, no, this is definitely not the Philosopher's Stone... Haha, but you're not entirely wrong either. How could a stone cast with invisibility magic not be a Philosopher's Stone? Great guess... Haha!"
"Really? Why are you so certain?" Brian put the fused stone fragments back into his inner pocket and said casually, "Could it be that you've seen what the Philosopher's Stone looks like?"
"Of course! Not only have I seen it, I also..." Hagrid blurted out, then pulled himself up short.
"It's a secret, Brian. I can't say!"
"Right, a secret." Brian said with a smile, "Thanks for telling me this isn't the Philosopher's Stone."
"You're welcome." Hagrid breathed a sigh of relief. "Let's walk a bit faster; I still need to find Dumbledore."
He really wanted to tell Hagrid that actually, you had already let it slip-but there was no need. Sometimes, keeping things to yourself was better than saying them out loud.
Hagrid headed straight for Dumbledore's office, while Brian returned to his room, planning to wait a little while longer before going to talk to Moaning Myrtle about the monster-feared it might hurt the girl, but she was the only clue that could clear Hagrid's name.
Yes, Brian wasn't very worried about the unicorn and Philosopher's Stone matters anymore. Centaurs were rigorous creatures; since Firenze dared to state with certainty that the unicorns wouldn't be harmed anytime soon, he naturally had his own sufficient reasons.
He had originally wanted to find Dumbledore to explain everything that happened tonight, but Hagrid had already taken the task upon himself. As for the Philosopher's Stone-he had to admit, Hagrid was far too easy to read. When all the clues converged into a single rope, the truth came to light.
Brian now had a ninety percent certainty that the Philosopher's Stone was hidden inside Hogwarts under a trapdoor guarded by a Three-Headed Dog, and Hagrid was the stone's protector-or one of the protectors, anyway. Dumbledore must have been the one who made an agreement with Hagrid to keep the secret.
Come to think of it, Dumbledore also had an agreement with him to keep a secret. Just how many people had this smiling, white-bearded old man made secret-keeping agreements with? Brian suddenly let his thoughts wander.
Considering Dumbledore's long life, if someone were to tell him now that "every single one of Dumbledore's hairs represents a secret," he would be quite willing to believe it.
Wizards always liked to use "Merlin's beard" to express their inner astonishment; now it seemed that using "Dumbledore's beard" as a replacement wouldn't be out of the question.
Mm... Come to think of it, perhaps Dumbledore had known all along who the fellow trying to steal the Philosopher's Stone was. The possibility was quite high; even if he didn't know, he would certainly have a few suspects after tonight.
Judging by the testimony of the eyewitness, "Aragog's one hundred and eighty-eighth grandson," the wizard who broke into the Forbidden Forest tonight was indeed someone from within Hogwarts-and Hagrid would inform Dumbledore of this matter shortly.
While Brian was wondering how to bring up her cause of death to Moaning Myrtle later, he toyed with the Firefly Stone fragments. To an outsider, he was mostly just playing with his fingers, but his book didn't seem to think so.
The book, which had already retreated into its trunk to sleep, suddenly opened its trunk and flew onto the bed for some reason.
"What's wrong, good book?" Brian sat up, rubbing the book's cover.
"Could it be that your pages also record 'the secret to communicating amicably with ghosts about their causes of death'?"
After finishing his sentence, Brian really hoped the book would suddenly flip itself open to a certain page. After all, the book had already brought him too many surprises. But unfortunately, the book didn't do that; it just conjured a mouth for itself, opening it extremely wide.
"...You want to eat this thing?" Brian understood what the book meant. He tried moving the Firefly Stone fragment closer to the book's mouth-the closer it got, the wider the book's mouth opened.
"So this thing is actually your snack?" Brian touched the Firefly Stone fragment in his hand. It seemed his hand-warmer was about to become the book's rations. "Can you even digest stone?"
The book anxiously nudged forward against his knee. Brian took this as a "yes" and put the Firefly Stone fragment into the book's mouth. The book's mouth vanished in an instant, and the Firefly Stone fragment vanished along with it. With a thud, the book collapsed onto the bed.
"Are you alright?" Brian grew nervous, cautiously poking the book. "If you're fine, give a little wobble."
He had expected the book to undergo some special transformation after eating the stone, but he hadn't expected its reaction to be dropping off to sleep right away-not even managing to return to its beloved trunk.
Brian stared closely at the book and saw it give an imperceptible wobble.
"...Alright, sweet dreams." Brian put the book back into the trunk lined with a thin blanket, conveniently covering the book's cover with a handkerchief as if tucking it in for bed. After all, the trunk wasn't very warm once the weather turned cold.
The book might undergo some changes after waking up, but it looked like it wouldn't react for quite a while. He was glad he had found the correct use for the Firefly Stone fragments-well, hopefully this was the correct use.
After eleven o'clock, Brian cast a Disillusionment Charm on himself to achieve invisibility (since he was heading to the Girls' Bathroom, after all). He tiptoed out of the library and made his way all the way to the entrance of the third-floor Girls' Bathroom at Hogwarts-truly, he rarely used the word desolate to describe a restroom.
Pushing open the dilapidated door, he found a row of mold-covered stone sinks set in a floor smeared with murky water stains, topped by a massive mirror cracked all the way from the top-left corner to the bottom-right. The place looked even gloomier than Snape's scowling face.
The only saving grace was that there was still light in this bathroom-three candles burning in sconces. Their dim light didn't feel warm in the least; instead, it made the place feel several shades creepier. Anyone seeing this scene would suspect ghosts haunted the area.
In fact, there really was a ghost here.
Brian had already spotted the ghost girl-Moaning Myrtle-with half her body submerged in a toilet tank and the other half exposed to the air, wearing glasses and staring blankly up at the ceiling. She hadn't even noticed the door opening and closing.
Even though she had turned into a ghost, her long, straight, dark-brown hair couldn't hide the pimples on her face. She just floated there silently in mid-air, lost in thought. Brian couldn't help but wonder: what was this girl thinking about?
Was it her death?
When Brian opened his mouth to say something, he suddenly realized he was still invisible-goodness, he had almost frightened a ghost girl out of her wits. He quietly retreated from the bathroom, cancelled the invisibility, and obediently knocked twice on the door.
"Hello, Myrtle. May I come in and chat with you?" Brian asked in a gentle tone.
"Hey! Who is that? You're interrupting me while I'm thinking about a very important matter! I'm thinking-whether it's better to hang myself with a rope, or smash my head against a wall!" Myrtle shrieked with extreme dissatisfaction.
"Are you planning to curse me a bit to vent your emotions, too?! Fine, suit yourself; nobody likes me anyway! Four-eyed dog Myrtle! Fatso Myrtle! Ugly mug Myrtle! Poor, weeping, miserable Myrtle!"
She shouted, thrusting her head directly out through the bathroom wall with an angry expression. But the moment she saw Brian's face, her tone softened, her expression turned cheerful, and she said sweetly:
"You're so good-looking... Hello there. Forget everything that just happened... Come in and chat with me, shall you?"
"Of course, I'd be happy to... Would you mind pulling your head back inside first?" Brian cautiously reminded her.
Myrtle blinked in surprise. "Oh... you're right. I forgot I was dead."
Before you continue