After annihilating one-seventh of Voldemort's soul, Victor put away the Philosopher's Stone and turned to look at the Gryffindor trio.
"Miss Granger!" Victor called out Hermione's last name without a hint of emotion, and his strict tone startled her. "Let's ignore these two fools for now," Victor said, pointing at a dumbfounded Harry and Ron next to him. "I seem to recall that I told you to consider the consequences before you do anything, didn't I? Can you tell me what the purpose and reason behind what you did tonight were?"
"I… we thought…" Hermione lowered her head and stammered, unable to give a coherent answer.
"You thought Snape would come to steal the Philosopher's Stone, didn't you?" Victor helped Hermione say what she wanted to say. "Alright, Miss Granger, what speculation led you to that conclusion?"
"…"
"It's because she saw Snape casting a spell at me during the Quidditch match! He wanted to harm me!" Harry couldn't help but argue on Hermione's behalf, seeing her pitiable expression.
"He was saving you, you fool!" Victor looked at Harry with cold eyes. "If Snape hadn't been constantly casting the counter-curse, Quirrell's spell would have already thrown you to the ground."
"What… how is that possible?" Harry looked incredulous upon hearing the truth.
"I have to say, you three little lions are really blessed with a protagonist's halo. If Peeves hadn't discovered Voldemort had slithered into the school tonight, what do you think would have happened to you?" Victor asked mockingly.
"…" The three of them fell silent.
"Even if your previous guess was true, and Snape really did want to steal the Philosopher's Stone, you don't really think you could deal with a professor, do you? And even if you hadn't run into Snape or Voldemort tonight, after you took the Philosopher's Stone out of the Mirror of Erised, where were you planning to take it?"
"We were planning to hide it in the common room. As long as Voldemort doesn't have the password, he can't get in," Ron said in a low voice, a little unconvinced.
"Heh, you think the trouble you've already caused isn't big enough, so you wanted to drag the entire Gryffindor House to their graves with you, is that it?" Victor sneered, then continued. "Voldemort can bypass Hogwarts's defensive mechanisms. Do you think he can't get into the Gryffindor common room? You're not so naive as to think that only the students of your House know the password to the Gryffindor common room, are you? Have you ever counted how many students pass by the Fat Lady's portrait every day?"
"The truth is, if you three had just stayed in your dorms tonight and not done anything extra, Voldemort would never have been able to get through the Mirror of Erised's defenses and get the Philosopher's Stone. To put it bluntly, your arrogance almost allowed Voldemort to get the Philosopher's Stone, and you almost lost three lives in the process."
"I'm not going to say anything else. Right now, your best course of action is to go back the way you came and confess your mistakes to Professor McGonagall. Make sure you tell her everything that happened tonight."
"Otherwise, I'll throw you into the pumpkin patch on the first floor of the school and let you experience the preciousness of life!"
"And I'll make no exceptions for you, Miss Granger!"
With that, Victor vanished…
In front of the Mirror of Erised, the trio looked at each other with forlorn expressions. They had thought they were being heroic, but it turned out that their good intentions had led to bad consequences.
"Do we really have to go see Professor McGonagall?" Ron asked timidly. "I think if we use the Invisibility Cloak to go back now, no one will know what we did."
"Are you stupid? Even if Victor doesn't tell Professor McGonagall what happened, he already took the Philosopher's Stone. Plus, with all those challenges we passed, do you really think that if we pretend nothing happened, the professors won't find us?" Hermione glared at Ron and said irritably.
"It's all my fault. I dragged you into this…" Harry said, lowering his head in shame. To be honest, the feeling of powerlessness he had felt when facing Voldemort just now made him feel very afraid and regretful.
"Let's go see the professor!" Hermione said despondently. "I can already imagine how the people in the House will look at us tomorrow."
She felt that with the big trouble they had caused this time, Professor McGonagall would at least deduct 300 points from them, and the hourglass might even go into the negative.
However, even though the three of them had decided to listen to Victor and go see Professor McGonagall, when they arrived at the door of her office, they couldn't bring themselves to knock.
It wasn't until the sun slowly rose and Professor McGonagall was all washed up and properly dressed that she discovered the trio had been waiting at her door for most of the night.
"Mr. Potter, what are you doing here?" Professor McGonagall asked, surprised and full of questions. The three students in front of her had messy hair and were all dirty, looking as if they had just returned from the front lines of a battle.
"Professor McGonagall, we…" Harry looked up at Professor McGonagall nervously, mustering up the courage to tell her what had happened last night, but he was immediately stuck after only a few words. For some reason, he just couldn't get the rest of the words out.
"Come inside, all of you!" Professor McGonagall also seemed to realize that these three students had probably caused a lot of trouble, so she sternly called them into her office.
About half an hour later, the Gryffindor prefect, Percy Weasley, came to Professor McGonagall's office. Since the final exams were over, he had come to ask for instructions on the holiday arrangements for the students and the preparations for the next school year. But just as he was about to knock on the office door, a furious curse came from behind the door, making Percy quickly take two steps back.
Inside the office, Professor McGonagall had completely lost her usual calm and composure. She was like a roaring lion, yelling at the trio:
"You three, how dare you do something like this? You've made me so mad I could scream!"
"Do you have any idea how important the Philosopher's Stone is? Once it's lost, how many people will kill each other for it? And how many people will lose their lives because of your arrogance!"
"I can tell you clearly, the trouble you have caused this time is enough for the school to expel you!"
This last sentence made the trio gasp in unison, and their hearts immediately filled with unease.
Harry felt despair, because if he was expelled, he would have to go back to his aunt and uncle's house and go back to living in that dark, little cupboard.
Ron was terrified, because if he was expelled, his mother, Mrs. Weasley, would absolutely skin him alive.
Although Hermione was not as despairing or afraid as the other two, she too saw a future where she couldn't study magic, a future of gloom and despair.
"Pro… Professor, it's not that serious. The Philosopher's Stone isn't even missing," Ron stammered, trying to get a lighter punishment. "We absolutely won't do it again…"
But he was met with Professor McGonagall's angry glare. She just said, "Mr. Weasley, you want a next time?"
Ron immediately lowered his head.
"Listen up, all three of you, and listen well!" Professor McGonagall's voice rose a few more decibels, and the trio immediately stood up straight with their backs straight! "You are not allowed to leave this office without my permission. I am now going to write a letter to inform Professor Dumbledore. You will know your punishment at the latest by tonight."
With that, she quickly walked out of the office.
Percy, who had been eavesdropping outside the door, quickly hid behind the door when he heard Professor McGonagall was about to come out. Although he didn't know what had happened inside, he felt that he shouldn't ask about work-related matters today. At a time like this, it would be bad to cross Professor McGonagall's path, as he would probably be bringing trouble upon himself.
At the same time, the trio in the office watched the door being slammed shut not far away, and looks of despair appeared on their faces.
Hermione's eyes immediately turned red, and she ran to a corner and started to cry. Harry and Ron didn't know how to comfort her, because they were also in a lot of trouble themselves.
"If I really get expelled, I'm sure my mum will kill me!" Ron's eyes had now lost their light.
"Don't think like that, Ron!" Harry said, trying to comfort him while suppressing the despair in his own heart. "The result of the punishment isn't out yet, is it? Maybe we won't be expelled."
"I hope so…" Ron replied. Then his body slumped against the wall, looking like someone who was about to be executed.
Meanwhile, after calming herself down, Professor McGonagall first went to the Owlery and sent her letter, then she went to the Ravenclaw common room.
Inside the Ravenclaw boys' dorm, Victor was sleeping soundly, catching up on his sleep. But just then, a beautiful figure suddenly appeared by his bed, and a slender, pale hand pushed Victor, who was in bed.
"Victor! Victor!"
"Hmm?!" Victor slowly opened his eyes, looked at the person who had come, and then groggily turned his body over, mumbling in a sleepy voice, "Good morning, Penelope! Can whatever it is wait until I've woken up?"
"Don't sleep anymore. Professor McGonagall is looking for you!" Penelope said, tapping the blanket-covered Victor again.
"Professor McGonagall… Zzzzz…" But Victor seemed to not have heard her and continued to sleep. Penelope shook her head at the sight, then took out her wand and used a spell to wrap Victor and his blanket into a burrito, and then used a floating charm to pull him out of the dorm.
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