To be honest, Dumbledore making the consequences sound so severe would, at most, deter young wizards like the Weasley twins, who were pure troublemakers but not bad at heart.
As for the other young wizards, the vast majority would simply stay out when told to, rather than insist on going in to investigate.
After all, the coursework at Hogwarts was far from easy, and the older students also faced some fairly difficult exams. They were under quite a lot of pressure.
Every branch of magic was a profoundly complex discipline, and naturally could not be mastered with ease.
So, those words of Dumbledore's...
To be honest, they only deterred the well-behaved, not those with ill intentions.
For a certain two-faced individual sharing a body with someone else and harboring ulterior motives, Dumbledore's actions were nothing short of pointing the way.
Voldemort had not known where the Philosopher's Stone was hidden.
Well, now Dumbledore had said it himself.
Once the feast ended, he would have Quirrell go ahead and scout the way!
Naturally, Quirrell could not disobey Voldemort's orders.
After hearing Voldemort's demand, Quirrell gritted his teeth and risked arousing suspicion.
Before Dumbledore announced the end of the feast, while everyone was singing the Hogwarts School Song...
He simply excused himself on the grounds that he felt unwell, left the Great Hall, and slowly headed toward the castle...
"Something really is wrong..."
As soon as the feast ended, Professor Snape said nothing unnecessary.
He glanced at the robes that were a little tight across his chest, frowned, and threw on a pitch-black cloak.
What a nuisance. They sway back and forth when I walk and ruin my mood.
They even slow me down. Thoroughly unsatisfactory.
How awful!
Though Professor Snape was somewhat displeased, his pace was not slow in the slightest.
Fastening his cloak as he went, he followed the direction Professor Quirrell had taken and swiftly ran out of Hogwarts' Great Hall...
The tap-tap-tap of footsteps echoed through the hall for a while, then was quickly swallowed by the clamor of the departing young wizards.
Professor Snape vanished along with it into the night at Hogwarts...
Quirrell wasn't normal. He wasn't normal at all!
Snape had realized that now.
Last year, when Quirrell was still teaching Muggle Studies, he would not have left without a word.
Though Quirrell had been a little shy and not very talkative then, it had been clear that he really was an outstanding Ravenclaw graduate.
At the very least, his magical fundamentals were solid. His teaching might not have been particularly good, but it had been far from poor.
Normally, he had not worn that ridiculous turban around his head, nor had he carried that dizzyingly overpowering smell of garlic.
But this year, Quirrell had changed far too much.
Not only did he look stranger, but even by wizarding standards, his attire was no longer within the bounds of normality.
He had even slipped furtively into the castle before the feast ended, using the extremely flimsy excuse of a "stomachache"!
Snape would never believe there was nothing wrong with that!
In the past, Snape would not actually have been quite so sensitive.
But just now, when she looked at Potter, Potter had suddenly developed a headache...
The scar was connected to Voldemort. Snape was not the only one who knew that; Dumbledore and the others knew it too.
So, if Quirrell had not done it, could she possibly have done it herself?
Anyone might want to kill Harry, but never her!
At most, she would torment Harry...
Of course, if Harry were like Lily, she certainly would not make things difficult for him...
Following behind Professor Quirrell, Professor Snape's long, narrow eyes grew even graver.
This made the air around Snape even colder and more unapproachable. Quite a few young wizards passing by hurriedly gave Professor Snape, who looked somewhat angry now, a wide berth...
How frightening. Who had upset her this time...?
Snape's presence already made people instinctively overlook what she looked like, leaving only fear...
"How strange. Quirrell's office is on the second floor. What's he going to the Third Floor Corridor for...?"
Snape's coldly beautiful figure swiftly followed Quirrell's footsteps like a bat in the night.
It had to be said that Quirrell ran very fast...
Professor Snape's deep black eyes grew increasingly solemn.
His mind raced as he tried to connect every unusual occurrence over the past few months.
"Wait, that thing Dumbledore had before, and the news about Gringotts being broken into over the summer..."
Snape seemed to have thought of something, and his long eyelashes trembled slightly.
Quirrell left Britain and went all the way to Albania...
After returning, he became strange all over, and even carried an odd smell...
His temperament changed drastically, and his stutter grew worse...
Gringotts was broken into over the summer, but nothing was stolen...
Dumbledore...
The thing he had Hagrid look after...
The Third Floor Corridor, the Elixir of Life, Harry's scar hurting...
Damn it!
There really was something wrong with Quirrell!
It was as though he had hit upon a perfectly coherent chain of reasoning.
Professor Snape's cold, narrow eyes suddenly widened.
Less than a day into the school year, she seemed to have discovered something extraordinary...
Although Snape currently had no evidence proving that Professor Quirrell was indeed doing something bad.
Professor Snape now had a sufficient chain of reasoning to convince herself that the Quirrell she was following was not normal!
The first thing she needed to do from now on was protect Potter. After all, he was the person the Dark Lord wanted to kill most...
While protecting Potter, she might be able to interrogate Quirrell, or find out just what Quirrell intended to do!
As far as Professor Snape was concerned, Voldemort had not returned to life yet, anyway.
Quirrell probably could not beat her, so there was no need to worry too much...
Without hesitation, now that both he and Professor Quirrell had reached the Third Floor Corridor...
There were no longer any obstacles here behind which to conceal himself.
But that did not matter. Snape tapped his body with his wand, and a powerful Disillusionment Charm made him vanish into the air.
"Heh. The defenses aren't even set up yet. How could Dumbledore possibly put that thing in here now...?"
Snape gave a contemptuous chuckle and took one last look at the spot where Quirrell had disappeared.
Yes, she had seen correctly!
Quirrell had indeed entered that door, but the mechanisms behind it were not yet complete...
Having seen what he wanted to see, Professor Snape could consider his task for tonight complete.
Now that he knew Quirrell was up to no good, what Snape needed to do next was target Quirrell relentlessly!
Before you continue