[Chapter Size: 1900 Words.]
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Although Wood had said he would intensify the training, in reality, the intensity after Christmas was only high for the first two weeks, and then it became much less intense.
Harry figured this probably happened because his grades in the first half of the semester were very good.
He also figured that if he had lost the first match against Ravenclaw, he definitely would have been trained to death by Wood the following week.
Fortunately, although the match between Ravenclaw and Gryffindor was very tight, Gryffindor's Chasers were excellent, and at one point they dominated Ravenclaw and led by 70 points.
But Harry met everyone's expectations and caught the Golden Snitch before his opponent.
In the second match, Wood chose Ron as the first player. This decision was supported by Angelina and the other three girls, who felt that Wood's performance in the last match hadn't been as good as Ron's before.
Wood was like a little girl who had been wronged. As captain, he had no authority over the three girls and could only grit his teeth and let Ron play.
But after the match, Wood smiled like a child.
Because of this game, Gryffindor achieved a big victory.
Harry took only five minutes to catch the Snitch. During those five minutes, although the Chasers from both sides exchanged more than ten shots, Ravenclaw scored only three goals. Gryffindor scored nine.
There were only two matches left to win the Quidditch Cup. In the remaining matches, neither Slytherin, who had been defeated in the first match, nor Hufflepuff, who had been easily beaten later, were considered strong opponents in Wood's opinion.
The Quidditch Cup seemed to be within reach!
…
"Harry, I saw Snape today, and he seemed to be threatening Professor Quirrell."
After the match, there was a celebration in the Gryffindor common room, as usual.
The twins always had a way of getting lots of chocolates and other sweets from Honeydukes on days when they weren't allowed to go to Hogsmeade.
Everyone was loudly expressing their excitement.
This made Ron's whisper to Harry go unnoticed by everyone except Neville and Hermione.
Unlike Harry, Ron's broomstick belonged to the House. So, he had to return the broomstick after the match.
According to him, he had planned to fly to the broomstick tower but had found Snape pinning Quirrell against a wall in a corner of the castle.
"Snape's face was close to Professor Quirrell's at the time. It was about this far apart!" Ron held his fingers up to indicate the distance between them.
Harry blinked, the image in his mind was a bit odd.
He also remembered that during the Christmas holidays, when he discovered the Mirror of Erised, Snape had seemed to be threatening Professor Quirrell. Professor Quirrell had looked frightened of him.
"Snape seems to have a lot of issues with Professor Quirrell. I've seen him following him more than once. In the end, it seemed like he said something and then left. Then, Professor Quirrell just, well, he shrank into a corner like a quail."
Neville hesitated for a moment, then shared what he had seen.
Since Neville often couldn't find his way back to his room, he wandered the castle now and then, and inevitably, he saw things he wasn't supposed to see:
For example, he said that once he saw Percy sitting very close to a girl in a corridor where few people passed. Ron and the twins were very interested in this, but it was a pity that Neville hadn't seen what the girl looked like.
"No, no." Ron shook his head and said to Neville, "I didn't dare get close at the time, but I heard something vaguely. They mentioned the three-headed dog!"
"Three-headed dog!" Harry and the others suddenly realized that the problem wasn't so simple after all.
"Let's talk somewhere else." Harry frowned. This sort of thing probably shouldn't be known by too many people, or it could end up reaching Snape.
The four of them found an empty classroom. Harry carefully checked the room to make sure that Peeves or other ghosts weren't around before gathering everyone again.
"Did Snape mention the three-headed dog? Are they studying how to get past the three-headed dog?" Hermione asked eagerly and nervously as soon as she sat down.
"Why are Snape and the others studying the three-headed dog?" Neville seemed confused. He didn't know anything about the Philosopher's Stone, at least not everything.
Harry was still unsure whether to pull Neville into this, but Ron couldn't keep his mouth shut and had already whispered everything about the Philosopher's Stone.
Ron had always had a strong desire to express himself and tell stories, so he spoke with a lot of detail. Hermione had to help him improve his efficiency several times, interrupting many unnecessary descriptions.
"If that's the case, do you think it's possible?" To Harry's surprise, after hearing Ron and Hermione, Neville began to analyze.
"Behind the trapdoor under the three-headed dog's feet lies the Philosopher's Stone. Let's assume this is the case. It's a very precious treasure. I don't think Dumbledore and the professors would just place a three-headed dog as a measure of protection. There must be many other defenses and charms."
"Very likely!" Hermione nodded immediately, and her worried expression eased slightly.
"Neville, do you have any other ideas?" Harry noticed that Hermione had interrupted Neville because she had spoken too quickly.
"Well," Neville nodded, "Could it be that Snape and Professor Quirrell were involved in protecting the Philosopher's Stone?"
"Ah!" Ron let out a low shout, and his expression suddenly became strange.
"Neville, now that you mention it, do you think Snape already knows how to get past the three-headed dog? But Professor Quirrell also set up a mechanism to defend against the Dark Arts. Snape wants to find a way to steal it from him, so he keeps causing trouble for Professor Quirrell."
"Very likely!" Harry nodded repeatedly and looked at Hermione, but unexpectedly, Hermione was staring at Neville.
"Neville, when did you become so smart?" Hermione looked at Neville in disbelief.
Neville's conjecture wasn't actually that complicated. But it was surprising that it had come from Neville. Harry and Ron were both stunned when those words were spoken. Then they reacted and looked at Neville strangely.
"Is it?" Hermione's words weren't very pleasant to hear, but Neville didn't mind. On the contrary, he seemed a bit embarrassed. "I... I'm not really sure, but it seems like my memory has really improved since the Christmas holidays."
"Well, thinking about it, I don't think I've caught you near the common room door recently," Ron nodded repeatedly.
He and Harry often stayed up late doing homework in the library, after all, they needed Padma's help, and Padma wasn't allowed in the Gryffindor common room.
As for the others, at least the younger students, most of them did their homework in the common room.
Since they were up late, Harry and Ron often ran into Neville, who would be waiting by the Fat Lady's portrait because he'd gotten lost, came back late, and forgotten the password.
But after returning from the Christmas holidays, these things didn't seem to happen anymore.
Not only had they not found him, but there were also no reports of anyone finding Neville by the common room door.
"Well, I haven't forgotten the password recently," Neville said somewhat embarrassedly, but also with a bit of pride.
Harry thought quickly: "Could this be the effect of meditation and Occlumency?"
Both meditation and Occlumency can improve mental growth. According to scattered knowledge of the soul that Harry had obtained from Neil, it was also mentioned that, although mental power and the soul weren't exactly the same thing, they were closely related.
According to Eagean's theory, if mental power is strong, the soul is usually strong as well. If the soul is strong, then the mental power should be strong.
A strong mental and spiritual force brings great benefits: memory and reasoning ability improve. Harry had always had very good grades in primary school due to his excellent memory.
Now that he thought about it, it was probably because he'd practiced meditation since he was seven or eight, though he hadn't taken it too seriously back then.
Although Harry didn't say this, Ron guessed it could be related to meditation and Occlumency. After all, his memory had significantly improved recently. Otherwise, with the teachers increasing the intensity of teaching at the start of the new term, even with Hermione and Padma as tutors, it wouldn't be easy for him to keep up.
But, in fact, although Ron found doing homework every day to be a nightmare, he always managed to get back to the dormitory before ten o'clock and still had time to boast to his roommates.
In contrast, except for him and Harry, the other three, including Neville, were completely unable to handle their homework, especially Seamus, who was already showing signs of collapse.
Hermione thought about this, shook her head, and didn't express any opinion. She didn't feel anything. Well, the academic girl always had a good memory.
After a brief discussion on the subject, the four returned to the topic of Snape and the Philosopher's Stone.
"How many professors do you think are involved in protecting the Philosopher's Stone?" Harry asked.
"I don't think there would be many, after all, this is a very confidential matter. I think, at most, some heads of houses, plus Professor Quirrell, and maybe Professor Kettleburn?" Hermione speculated.
"I think the three-headed dog was the work of Kettleburn and Hagrid," Ron guessed.
"That's possible," Hermione nodded.
Harry's expression darkened. "If the three-headed dog can't stop Snape, do you think these others could stop him?"
"I think Professor Sprout might be a bit difficult..." Neville said hesitantly, "People who are good at potion-making usually aren't bad at herbology. Professor Sprout always says that."
"It's hard for Professor Flitwick too." Hermione shook her head, not knowing what she was thinking. She couldn't help but curve the corners of her mouth. It was very subtle, but Harry still noticed.
"I think his skills could easily be tricked by Snape."
"Professor McGonagall's should be better, right?" Ron said. Harry nodded in agreement, and Hermione and the others also expressed their agreement. But this didn't make them feel any better.
"Then, there's a high probability that Professor Sprout and Professor Flitwick's preparations won't stop Snape. Besides Snape's own preparations, if he finds out about Professor Quirrell's..." Hermione's face looked a little unhappy.
"We have to hope that Professor Quirrell can withstand Snape's pressure. Otherwise, Snape will be able to get through almost everyone's preparations. If it's just Professor McGonagall, it would be very dangerous..." Harry said worriedly.
"I'm freaking out now. How could Professor Quirrell face Snape?" Ron covered his face, his tone full of frustration. "When I saw them today, Professor Quirrell looked like he was about to cry."
"Actually, I heard that someone saw Professor Quirrell quietly crying in an empty classroom..." Neville whispered again.
Harry and the others, who already had grim expressions, suddenly looked even grimmer.
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