"Harry! Hermione!"
As Sean called out, both Harry and Hermione stopped in their tracks.
Walking up to them, Sean gently pinched his nose. The smell here was truly unbearable—the troll's pungent body odor mixed with the coppery tang of blood. Any creature with a sense of smell would suffer ten thousand points of severe damage.
The smell of blood…
Sean turned his head to look at the troll. He suddenly realized that this troll hadn't been knocked unconscious by a blow to the head. Looking closely, this troll's head had actually been directly blown off. The part of its head above its eyes looked like it had exploded, its brain and flesh blasted into a paste and splattered all over the wall behind it.
So violent? How do I remember the original work being children's literature at the beginning? Even the adapted movie was rated PG! Does such a thing as an exploding head really exist in the original novel?
Ever since coming into contact with the magical world, Sean had always felt a sense of incongruity. For example, his grandfather, who, without using a wand, had directly expelled his uncle from the family with a single angry roar. Later, the magic recorded in the notes left by his grandfather clearly exceeded Sean's understanding of this world.
Then, after starting school, there was Jensen, who in his third year had already mastered the Shield Charm, which many adult wizards in the original novels couldn't master. And there were the two Aurors he encountered in Diagon Alley, who looked obviously quite elite, like professional soldiers from the real world.
Oh, and there was also the pure white pocket watch that his grandfather had given him, its effect was also excessively powerful…
Sean had always felt that these things were a bit inconsistent and beyond his understanding of the world, but he hadn't paid too much attention to it, just thinking it might be a series of accidents.
Now, as Sean saw this troll whose head had been directly blown off, he finally realized that this world was more dangerous than the one he knew. The magic was stronger, stranger, and more perilous. There were more people who mastered powerful magic than Sean had ever imagined.
At this level, if it were a movie, PG-13 wouldn't be enough; it would definitely be heading towards an R rating, the kind that was both dark and profound.
Shaking his head, Sean pulled his thoughts back.
I'm thinking too far ahead.
"Harry, Hermione, what are you doing here?"
"We…"
Harry and Hermione exchanged glances, not knowing where to begin. Were they supposed to say, we're going to expose Snape's conspiracy and protect the Philosopher's Stone? They both knew very well that Snape was very good to Sean, and they were afraid that if they told the truth, Sean wouldn't believe them.
"Forget it, I won't ask you anymore. What do you want to do now?"
"We need to go to the deepest part of this place."
"Alright." Sean nodded to Hermione and said, "I'll go in with you."
"But…"
Looking at the hesitant Harry and Hermione, Sean suddenly remembered that at this time, they seemed to be suspecting his Head of House of trying to steal the Philosopher's Stone. Looking at it this way, it was no wonder they were so hesitant when they saw him.
Thinking of this, Sean immediately put on an act, as if he were a little anxious, and said, "Don't you two dawdle. When I came, I saw Professor Snape and Professor McGonagall patrolling outside at night. If we keep dawdling, once they find out we've come in here, it will be really troublesome!"
"Snape…?"
Harry and Hermione exchanged glances, and both saw the surprise in the other's eyes. If Snape was outside, then who was the person who had rushed in ahead of them? Who was the person who had tricked Hagrid into telling them how to make Fluffy fall asleep? Who was the person who had killed the unicorn and drank its blood? Who was the person who had come here to steal the Philosopher's Stone?
As for whether Sean would deceive them, Harry and Hermione didn't doubt that. Although Sean was in Slytherin, in their opinion, he was definitely one of the rare good people in that house. They believed Sean; it was just that before, they had suspected that the person stealing the Philosopher's Stone was Snape, so they had deliberately avoided him.
"Sean, is that really Professor Snape outside?"
Nodding, Sean pretended to be confused and said, "He's walking with Professor McGonagall, so no one should be able to impersonate him, right?"
"If Professor Snape is outside, then who is inside?"
Harry heard Hermione's words, turned to look at her, and a solemn expression appeared on his face.
Although Sean's words hadn't completely dispelled their suspicions about Snape, there wasn't much left.
"No matter who that person inside is, we have to stop him!" Harry turned to look at Sean and said, "Sean, let's go together, and I'll explain to you on the way."
"Alright."
The three of them left the troll's room and walked through a not-so-long corridor. Hermione briefly explained the situation to Sean, and Sean said he understood. The three of them arrived at the potions room. The moment they crossed the threshold, black flames ignited at the front of the room, and purple flames ignited at the back, blocking the three of them inside.
"Look, there are seven bottles here and a piece of parchment." Hermione quickly walked up, picked up the parchment, looked at the contents, and continued, "Interesting, this is a riddle. Three of the seven bottles are poison, two are wine, one can let them pass through the black flames in front, and one can let us return through the purple flames. Give me a minute, and I can figure out which bottle we need."
As she spoke, Hermione began to prepare to solve the riddle.
But at this moment, Sean stepped forward and sniffed the contents of the bottles one by one.
Finally, Sean picked up the smallest bottle among them.
"This contains a Fire Protection Potion. If there are no surprises, this is the potion we need to drink."
Hermione was stunned for a moment, then asked, "Why do you say that? Don't we need to solve the riddle to know what we need?"
"Are your Potions lessons just for show?" Sean shook his head, pointing to the other bottles one by one, and said, "These two contain wine, and these three contain poison. Actually, they're not really poison; they're powerful sleeping potions, like a Draught of Living Death. As for the remaining one, it's a sedative. None of them can help us pass through the flames. Only this thing in my hand can help us pass through the flames. A Fire Protection Potion."
"How do you know this is a Fire Protection Potion?"
"Because I brought some potions when I came, including a Fire Protection Potion."
As he spoke, Sean took out a test tube from the potion bag behind him. Inside was the same liquid as in the small bottle.
***
(End of Chapter)
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