Hermione swallowed the potion in her mouth and found that it was as cold as ice, and it penetrated all over her body. She kept walking and stepped firmly over the high wall formed by the black flames.
At that moment, she seemed to be unable to see anything, and her eyes were completely dark. When she saw the light again, she froze on the spot.
What kind of magic can make a room look like this
Standing here was like standing on a lake as calm as a mirror—in fact, the water beneath her feet was indeed water at this moment, but she did not fall because of it.
In the center of the lake, there is a gray-white rock platform, and there is already a person standing on it.
"You!" Hermione couldn't help but exclaimed as she looked at the familiar figure.
That was not Snape, nor Voldemort, but the stammering, timid Defense Against the Dark Arts professor Quirinus Quirrell.
Quirrell was still wearing his ridiculous turban, but now that he was here, it couldn't help but make Hermione a little creepy.
Quirrell turned around, looked at the surprised Hermione and smiled.
Now his face no longer twitches randomly, and he speaks as smoothly as others.
"It's me," he said calmly, "I was just wondering if I would meet Potter here. But I think it's not that surprising that you, Miss Granger, can come here. .”
"Oh! It's you. It turns out that Snape has been wary of you! This made Harry mistakenly think that Snape was going to-" Hermione was obviously smarter, and because of Maka, she didn't treat Snape like that Harry felt so much disgust.
She thought about it carefully and almost sorted out the cause and effect.
"Snape?" Quirrell laughed. This laugh was not his usual high-pitched trill, but a chilling sneer.
"Yeah! Snape really doesn't look like a nice guy, does he? He's flying around like a giant bat, which is really helpful to us. With him there, who would doubt... But, where is the poor, stammering Professor Quirrell?"
"No, I think Professor Dumbledore noticed it," Hermione suppressed the uneasiness and fear in her heart and pretended to lower her head and look at the lake, "Am I right? Professor Dumbledore!"
Quirrell was obviously frightened and trembled all over. He took a few trembling steps back and stared at the lake, but saw nothing.
"No-impossible!" Quirrell shouted crazily, "Dumbledore has been tricked by me into going to London! He can't be here at this time!"
"Professor Dumbledore," Hermione continued. She felt that she had been led astray by Maka and actually knew how to lie. "I think Professor Quirrell is just obsessed. He must have been confused, otherwise he would definitely not He did this. After all, it is obviously impossible to steal the Magic Stone under your protection."
Quirrell was trembling all over. He kept leaning towards the middle of the stone platform while saying "impossible" repeatedly. He knew that with Dumbledore's unfathomable magical strength, he could come back at any time; or that - in fact, Dumbledore didn't leave at all
"idiot!"
A voice suddenly sounded somewhere behind Quirrell. There was a frightening coldness and ruthlessness in that rough and weak voice.
"That little girl is lying to you! Dumbledore is not here at all!" the voice growled, "If you dare to run away, I will make it impossible for you to die even if you want to!"
Quirrell was so frightened by the voice that he knelt on the ground, his whole body trembling, and he kept begging for mercy.
"V-Voldemort!" Hermione said in horror.
"Catch her!"
Voldemort roared, and Quirrell immediately waved his wand and used a disarming spell to knock Hermione's wand away far away. Then, he waved again, and Hermione suddenly felt an invisible force restricting her movements.
Hermione fell to the ground, but Quirrell ignored her. Instead, he followed Voldemort's orders and continued to study the secrets in this room.
"Master, this should be the right place," Quirrell whispered, "There is nothing on this platform, only a sword stuck in the ground."
"Pull out the sword!" Voldemort said in a low voice.
Upon hearing this, Quirrell immediately stretched out his hand and grabbed the sword inserted in the center of the platform, but he couldn't pull it out at all.
"Hmph, let me take a look for myself." Voldemort snorted and ordered Quirrell.
"But, Master... your strength has not recovered yet!"
"This little strength... I still have it."
Hermione struggled, but found that she couldn't move at all. She watched as Quirrell raised his hand and took off the scarf from his head - what was going on? The big scarf fell down, and Quirrell's exposed head looked surprisingly small.
"oh-"
From Hermione's perspective, it was easy to see that there was a terrifying face on the back of Quirrell's head! The face was as pale as chalk, with bright red eyes and two nostrils as slender as snakes.
Those eyes swept across Hermione's body, making her hold her breath. The next moment, Quirrell turned around.
"Uh-oh, yes. Gryffindor's sword, stuck in a rock?" There was a hint of mockery in Voldemort's deep and hoarse voice, "Dumbledore's little trick looks familiar."
"Bring that little girl here and let her pull out the sword. She is the only one here who can do this."
"Yes, Master." Quirrell replied cautiously.
He walked quickly towards Hermione, pulled her up and dragged her to the Sword of Gryffindor.
Hermione couldn't help but look at the sword. It was a two-handed cross sword with complicated patterns. There was a ruby on the hilt, which was shining brightly. It was inserted diagonally on the platform. It seemed that it was not difficult to pull out, but Quirrell tried all his strength to not lift it up.
"The sword in the stone?" Seeing this scene, Hermione's guess couldn't help but blurt out.
"Humph, this is just a little trick that Dumbledore made to imitate the story of the Sword in the Stone." Voldemort said disdainfully, "Pull it out quickly and complete your mission. Don't talk too much."
Hermione bit her lip without saying a word or moving.
"Quirrell!" Voldemort roared upon seeing this.
"Yes, Master!" Quirrell pulled Hermione up, waved his wand to remove the restrictions on her, and then pressed her hand to the hilt of the sword.
"Pull out! Or do you want Quirrell to cast a Soul-Imperius Curse on you?"
Amidst Voldemort's angry roar, Hermione became really frightened - she had never seen such a scary person.
Moreover, she had seen some information about the Imperius Curse in the notebook about "Occlumency" that Maka gave to Harry. That is a very terrible curse. It can directly control people's souls, allowing the subject to do anything under the control of others.
Hermione held the hilt of the sword with a trembling hand, but found that the sword was surprisingly light, and she pulled it out with only a little force. The ground also shattered a lot, revealing a small space below.
"Hahahaha - I saw it, right down there!" Voldemort laughed and said, "Quirrell, take it out! It's time for you to perform a meritorious service!"
Quirrell hurriedly turned around, pushed Hermione away, and quickly stretched out his hand.
"Oh - the Philosopher's Stone! It's really the Philosopher's Stone! Master, I got it for you!" Quirrell held up the transparent gem that was red in color and had a little golden light inside, and lowered his head to let it go. Voldemort could see it.
"Hmph hum - ha ha ha - good, well done! You will get the reward you deserve." Voldemort looked at the stone happily, the red light in his eyes getting deeper and deeper, "With it, I can Resurrect perfectly and return to this wonderful world with true eternal life! Haha—uh—"
Voldemort was halfway through his words when he noticed that Hermione jumped up and slapped the stone to the ground. Voldemort forcibly controlled Quirrell's neck to lift up, and watched it fall heavily to the ground, but it shattered with a click.
"No - how is it possible! Little girl, I want to -" Voldemort's anger reached its extreme. He looked like crazy and looked at Hermione, but suddenly stopped talking.
Hermione stepped back quickly in fear. She didn't know where the courage had driven her to do this, but she knew that she was in danger.
But Hermione stood by the wall of black flames and waited for a long time, only to find that Voldemort was not looking at her at all, but was staring at the calm lake in trance.
"...The sword in the stone, hum, the sword in the stone?" Voldemort said bitterly, "What sword in the stone! I almost fell into that old guy's trap!"
"Master, master, master, what is going on?" Quirrell was in shock, he really stuttered this time.
"King Arthur pulled out the Sword in the Stone, but it wasn't the one that helped him reach his greatest heyday!" Voldemort seemed to be explaining, or talking to himself, "The Sword in the Stone broke during the duel. Then his best friend and mentor, the wizard Merlin, took him to a lake and obtained the 'Lake Sword' from the hands of the Saint in the Lake. That is the real 'Broken Steel Holy Sword'!"
"So - that one was a fake magic stone, it was really in the lake?" Quirrell continued.
"Let that stupid little girl stick the Sword of Gryffindor into the lake!" Voldemort shouted.
When Hermione saw Quirrell walking towards her, she immediately raised the wand she had just sneaked over to pick up, but she didn't want to be knocked away by Quirrell again. It was obvious that she was no match for Quirrell.
It seems that the statement that Quirrell was once an outstanding student at Hogwarts is indeed correct.
"Levitate into the air!" A simple levitating spell made Hermione fly into the air under his control, and then suddenly fall down.
When the edge of Gryffindor's sword touched the lake, Hermione immediately felt unsteady under her feet, and then her whole body was surrounded by coldness - she fell into the water!
The surface of the lake gradually churned, and not long after, a red stone suddenly flew up from the lake, and was summoned into his hand by Quirrell with a wave of his wand.
"I got it! I got it! It's true this time!" Quirrell shouted excitedly.
"It's all thanks to that stupid little girl, hum -" Voldemort said, "What are you still doing? Get out of here! Now!"
When Quirrell heard this, he ignored the turbulent water in the lake. He jumped into the water and swam towards the door. Not far away, Hermione finally lost strength and sank into the water after hearing Voldemort's last words.