Herman opened his mouth, and for a moment he wanted to say that you can't judge a book by its cover, otherwise Harry would be quite pretty, but in the end he swallowed his words to avoid getting beaten up.
He decided to change the subject. "So you suspected Professor Quirrell just because someone couldn't sleep and went out for a walk in the middle of the night?"
Neville lowered his voice even further. "Standing in front of a door where students aren't allowed to approach in the middle of the night instead of sleeping? Do you think that's reasonable? And he's Defence Against the Dark Arts Professor, using dark creatures like Vampire Monster to teach—why doesn't he just teach the Unforgivable Curses?"
"Besides, my grandma said even the Ministry of Magic strictly controls things like Vampire Monster; ordinary people can't get their hands on them at all. I think he's definitely up to something; we have to investigate."
Hugo interjected from the side, "According to Chapter Twelve of 'The Operating Mechanism of the Department for Regulation and Control of Magical Creatures,' the registration and transfer of Vampire Monster requires the signatures of at least three Ministry of Magic officials. Professor Quirrell's ability to bring it into the school indicates that he either has considerable authority or some special, illegitimate channel."
Herman silently defended Quirrell in his mind. "It was Dumbledore who arranged it. If Dumbledore wanted, he could have arranged for prisoners from Azkaban to attend your classes."
Ron whispered from behind, "I heard from George and the others that Professor Quirrell went to Durmstrang for further studies, the one that openly teaches Dark Magic."
As Herman watched the three of them dig deeper and deeper into Quirrell's suspicions, a complex emotion welled up inside him.
In the original story, Quirrell was so obsequious and perfunctory in class that no one suspected him.
In this world, he prepares his lessons diligently and explains them in depth, even bringing in Vampire Monster as teaching aids, but in the end, he has attracted Neville's attention.
Who the hell can I complain to?
Before he could even speak, Draco in, "You're right! I also think Professor Quirrell is problematic. Defence Against the Dark Arts Professor teaching with dark creatures—what's the difference between that and someone teaching you how to put out a fire carrying a can of gasoline?"
Herman couldn't help but complain, "Maybe it's to make learning applicable and increase the employment rate."
Draco ignored him and added, "But Head of House Snape is definitely fine. He let you go last night, which shows he's a reasonable person. Besides, he even escorted us back to the common room. How responsible!"
Herman paused for a moment, looking at Draco's " Professor Snape is the best in the world" expression, and finally couldn't help but say, "You haven't taken Potions Class yet."
Draco blinked. "What do you mean?"
"It's meaningless." Herman turned to Neville. "Even if Professor Quirrell really has a problem, how do you plan to investigate?"
Neville was clearly prepared, and he briefly explained his plan: observe Quirrell's daily activities, find out when he goes to the third floor, investigate what is hidden behind that door, deduce Quirrell's purpose by starting with his daily routine, and finally invite Herman and others to join the investigation.
After listening, Herman downed his Pumpkin Juice in one gulp, calmly setting down the glass. "I'm not particularly interested. You can investigate yourselves; I'll pretend I didn't hear anything. However, I suggest you trust the professor."
Draco was stunned. This was clearly different from what she had said last night. She frowned as she looked at Herman, then turned to look at Harry, hoping she would say something.
Harry stuffed the last bite of bread into her mouth, brushed the crumbs off her hands, and said casually, as if she were talking about the nice weather, "I'm not going either. The principal said we can't go near that corridor, so I'll just trust his arrangements."
Neville's expectation turned to disappointment, but he didn't say anything more, only nodded. "Then... we'll investigate ourselves."
He turned and left with Hugo and Ron. After taking a few steps, he looked back again, as if he wanted to say something more, but in the end he just waved his hand and walked quickly back to the Gryffindor table.
He had originally planned to invite Herman and the other two along, since they had gone through thick and thin together on the train, and after a few classes, he could tell that these people were quite capable. Moreover, there weren't many people his age he could talk to, so he subconsciously regarded them as trustworthy friends.
Unfortunately, the three didn't seem interested in his plan, so he had to take Hugo and Ron and think of another way.
Once they were out of sight, Draco turned to Herman, her tone clearly displeased. "What are you doing? You clearly said you'd go tonight, and now you're pretending you're not interested? Is it because you're close to Professor Quirrell?"
Before Herman could figure out how to explain, Harry's voice drifted over from the side. "No need to bring them along, we can investigate ourselves."
Herman and Draco looked at her simultaneously. Harry unfolded the newspaper again and tapped the faces of the Goblin on the front page with her fingers. "It's more fun to unravel this mystery yourself."
Besides, we weren't in a hurry to draw conclusions about whether Professor Quirrell was good or bad, and I didn't care. Their job was to keep an eye on Quirrell's movements. Too many people would just create more noise; they'd already attracted Filch before even finding anything."
She paused, then glanced at Herman again. "Besides, we already have an exclusive lead; there's no need to share it with others."
Herman glanced at the newspaper in Harry's hand, and a thought crossed his mind.
Was her "exclusive lead" referring to the Gringotts heist? Herman tentatively asked, "What is your exclusive lead?"
Harry tapped the headline " Gringotts Robbed" on the front page of the newspaper. "There are only two possibilities for not letting us go to the third floor: either there's danger inside, or there's treasure inside."
The school wouldn't need to keep anything dangerous in the castle, so it's most likely hiding something valuable.
Draco played along, asking, "What does that treasure have to do with Gringotts?"
Harry's gaze swept over the newspaper article that read, "The stolen vault was empty": " Herman and I met Hagrid in Gringotts before the robbery."
Although Hagrid was the gamekeeper at Hogwarts, he probably didn't have his own treasury.
His presence there could only mean he was retrieving something for Dumbledore.
News reports after the robbery stated that the broken-in vault was empty, which was very likely the one Hagrid had taken the money from beforehand.
Herman chuckled inwardly: Gringotts doesn't know what's good for them. Hagrid may be broke, but he's got the talent. The entire Forbidden Forest has become his breeding ground.
However, Draco continued to play along, suddenly realizing, "You mean, the treasure hidden on the third floor was the Dumbledore had that big guy retrieve?"
"That's right," Harry folded the newspaper and placed it on the table, "So now our target is clearer Neville's. They're still in Quirrell, we can directly investigate what that thing is."
After hearing Harry's analysis, Herman stared at Harry in disbelief, only one thought in his mind:
Are you still the protagonist? Then is there any hope for this world?
Let's not wait until Voldemort is defeated before we start celebrating the birth of the next Dark Lord Harry Potter.