The four little ones reached the final level of their challenge, with only two people remaining.
Neville helped Harry remove the outer casing of the piston door, revealing the redstone circuitry inside.
Harry pressed the small redstone block onto the redstone circuit, and the piston door opened with a clack.
"Alright, let's go in," Harry breathed a sigh of relief. This door was almost exactly as Professor Kaisen had described. If it weren't for the fact that it was impossible, he would have thought that Kaisen had foreseen he would come here and specially taught him the redstone theory.
The two walked side by side through the door, looking at the shadow at the end and the mirror behind it.
"Mr. Potter, and, Mr. Longbottom, how do you do?" Quirrell said without turning his head, or rather, it wasn't Quirrell's voice at all.
"Do you have a speaker wrapped in your turban?" Harry looked at Quirrell, who didn't seem to have any immediate intention of killing them, but he still had no good feelings towards Dark Wizards, so he started with insults.
"Quirrell, relax, let me out, let me see him..." The voice came from behind the turban again.
Quirrell nodded obediently and began to unwrap the turban from his head, layer by layer.
It revealed a pale, sinister, noseless, ugly face on the back of his head.
"Mr. Potter, the last time I saw you, I gave you two gifts."
"Your father's death, and your mother's death."
"Similarly, Mr. Longbottom, what about your parents? I later received some news, and I can only say your parents were very brave, but they weren't smart enough. They didn't know how to choose sides, they stood on the wrong side, and therefore they met their fate."
"You're full of it!" Neville roared.
Harry, after hearing Lord Voldemort's malicious words, still maintained a basic level of sanity, but Neville was different.
Harry only knew that his parents had been murdered by the man in front of him, that he had become an orphan, and had since lived with his aunt. Only the mirror of erised could allow him to see his parents' true faces in the mirror.
But Neville was different. He had truly seen his parents tortured into St. Mungo's. In St. Mungo's, two warriors who had been fighting Death Eaters on the front lines were tormented by some petty individuals, who used their numerical advantage, to such a state by the Cruciatus Curse...
"Oh... I perfectly understand your... um... desire to stand up for your parents, but before that, you need to help me find the Philosopher's Stone hidden here by Dumbledore. When that time comes, I will give you your eleven-year overdue gifts."
"Merciful death, and reunion with your parents."
"We won't let you get the Philosopher's Stone, Stupefy!" Harry drew his wand first, firing a spell as swiftly as a Western gunslinger, but it was easily deflected by Lord Voldemort's magic in front of Quirrell.
"You are very much like your father... he tried to attack me with his fists back then."
Meanwhile, Neville, at some unknown point, had also pulled out his wand, and an upward force was instantly applied to Lord Voldemort.
Of course, it wasn't that he had only learned this one spell in a semester; it was instinctively, he used the magic he was best at.
"Hmph, Muggle-like magic. Your parents were much stronger than you," Lord Voldemort said disdainfully.
"Then, Master, should I kill him?" Quirrell asked.
"Keep him. We still need our Mr. Potter to help us find the Philosopher's Stone in this mirror. If he's unwilling, we'll need our Mr. Longbottom to help us make Mr. Potter willing."
"Praise your wisdom, Master."
"Come on, dear little Harry, before that damned Kaisen comes to bother me, I remember you used to like me quite a bit. Why are you looking at me with such eyes now?" Quirrell maliciously looked at Harry and teased him.
"You don't deserve to speak that name! On the dueling platform that day, Professor Kaisen should have just killed you!" Harry said, word for word.
"Do you think he didn't do that? Do you think your Professor Kaisen is some kind of good person?"
Quirrell's previously smug expression instantly collapsed, as if Harry mentioning Kaisen in front of him was an unforgivable sin. He frantically pulled up his sleeves.
"Look at this, evil Dark Arts. This is what your Professor Kaisen gave me that day in the Forbidden Forest. Do you think he's some kind of great, righteous good person? If I didn't have my great Master, I would have died from such Dark Arts long ago. Similarly, Kaisen Heath, who invented such Dark Arts, is no good person either!"
Quirrell roared somewhat maniacally, then kicked Harry with his thick cowhide boot, and after knocking Harry down, he kicked him again and again as if to vent his anger.
It was as if he wasn't kicking Harry at that moment, but Kaisen, and each kick was accompanied by excited sounds, as if he was taking revenge on Kaisen by tormenting Harry.
Neville, in the corner, had his hands behind his back. He was using his second-least proficient magic, Transfiguration. Since any magic could be deflected by that damned Quirrell.
What about something that wasn't magic?
He decided to transform the Remembrall bracelet he was wearing into a knife.
This should be doable; if not, there was nothing he could do. This was the only transformable item he had on him.
"Mr. Longbottom... you don't look as honest as you appear," Lord Voldemort, on the back of Quirrell's head, noticed Neville's small movement and spoke to warn him.
Seeing this, Quirrell walked towards Neville again: "Don't you like that so-called Professor Kaisen? Where is Professor Kaisen now? Can he come and save you?"
"Oh... the only thing he can do is cry like a weakling. If you ask why... I remember he's quite fond of you students, isn't he? When he sees your corpses... he'll cry very ugly, I guarantee it!"
Quirrell roared as he walked towards Neville, pulling out his wand. With a casual flick, a silver light shot out, leaving a bloodline on Neville's face, and then blood gushed out in the blink of an eye...
"Hmph, let alone the Forbidden Forest, even in the Medical Wing that day, I could guess who that tasteless fellow was with my toes. Isn't he very powerful? Let him suddenly appear here and save you then?"
Quirrell kicked Neville's shin, making him suddenly lose balance and fall to the ground.
Then he heavily stepped on Neville's wrist, which had the Remembrall bracelet, with his boot, as if to crush the bracelet.
"You don't deserve to mention him," Neville struggled to lift his head, looking at Quirrell with hateful eyes.
Quirrell was provoked by this gaze and immediately wanted to pull out his wand to make Neville experience the fate he had once endured, but Lord Voldemort, on the back of his head, let out a displeased sound.
"Do you remember what we came here for? Don't waste any more time."
Quirrell was startled and quickly nodded humbly.
"Yes, Master." With that, he walked towards Harry.
Harry, meanwhile, was clutching his aching stomach, but he finally reacted to Quirrell's taunt.
Professor Kaisen could indeed appear here suddenly.
He painstakingly pulled out a dark green pearl from the hidden pocket of his Wizard robe and forcefully smashed it onto the ground.
Crack!
Buzz...
--+--
T/N: Although I'm an inexperienced Editor, I do have a Patreon account! Although it seems like I don't have many supporters right now, my webnovel will be released in full every day, and the advanced chapters will be uploaded to Patreon.
It may not be worth it now, but who knows, it might be different in the future. Who knows!
patreon.com/DaoistRoeoNQ
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