After finishing our conversation with a dejected Hagrid, we headed back to the dormitory.
On the way, Harry asked me curiously.
"But why was the Philosopher's Stone brought to Hogwarts?"
The Philosopher's Stone. Known by a more famous name in the Muggle world, the 'Sorcerer's Stone.'
A fantastical alchemical catalyst that could turn any metal into gold, it was also famous for another effect: 'immortality.'
Anyone with a desire to live for a long time would want to possess the Philosopher's Stone.
Logically, one could say that since Gringotts was being robbed, it was moved to Albus for safekeeping, but my thoughts were different.
There was no way Albus would handle things in such a 'logical,' or in other words, 'predictable,' manner.
Besides, simply protecting the Philosopher's Stone from danger. That was too one-dimensional a way of handling things. Albus is a person who thinks of at least two benefits to be gained from a single action.
And most importantly, I could perfectly recall the meaningful smile he had worn as he spoke at the start-of-term feast.
"'If you do not wish to suffer a most painful death, do not enter the locked room in the third-floor corridor,' was it?"
"What?"
The two safest places in Hogwarts are by my side, or by Albus's side.
And yet, for him to specifically make such an announcement to the students could only be interpreted in one way.
"No, it's just that I think you'll have quite a bit to do, Harry."
If that was the case, then only one possibility remained. The 'training for Harry' that Albus had spoken of.
Well, since it's Harry who's training, I didn't feel the need to interfere with Albus's plan.
Harry, who had been thinking hard about my words, snapped his fingers as if in realization.
"Ah, then does that mean the Philosopher's Stone is hidden in that locked room on the third floor?"
"That's the most likely possibility."
Hearing that, Harry seemed to want to go to the third floor right away, but I stopped him.
Considering Albus's plan, he was surely planning to use the Philosopher's Stone to lure Quirrell and have him face off against Harry.
But if Harry went and took the Philosopher's Stone now, the bait and everything else would be meaningless.
Of course, I couldn't say it like that, so I gave Harry a suitable excuse. There was the option of telling him the truth, but in that case, it wouldn't be real combat experience.
"In any case, that stone belongs to old Mr. Nicolas, so there's no need for us to touch it, is there?"
"That's true. Aren't you interested in the Philosopher's Stone, Master?"
At Harry's question, I thought for a moment.
The Philosopher's Stone, the Philosopher's Stone.
Even before the immortality, as a wizard, it would be a lie to say I wasn't interested.
A product of such a miracle is not easily made, after all.
In my personal opinion, I thought the Philosopher's Stone was a treasure comparable to the Deathly Hallows.
I tilted my head and answered.
"Well, I don't really have any intention of using it, but it's certainly worth researching if I had it. The old man wouldn't lend me the Philosopher's Stone, you see."
"I see..."
Actually, it would be stranger for a pen pal to lend someone the Philosopher's Stone.
I thought for a moment about whether I should send a letter to the Flamels for the first time in a while as we returned to the dormitory.
How much time had passed since then? Time continued to flow. It had already been over two months since we had come to Hogwarts.
The Halloween festival season had arrived, but not much had changed.
The classes were still boring, Quirrell was still hiding his true colors, and I had still not been able to improve the Polyjuice Potion.
Ah, there was one thing that had changed, and that was that we had started to learn magic in Charms class.
The teacher for Charms class was Flitwick. He was short due to being part-goblin, but he possessed rather outstanding skill.
Professor Flitwick said.
"Now, everyone! I think it's time for you to use proper magic! Magic with incantations is very different from magic without!"
To be precise, an incantation is a type of formula. Since spells that use formulas are often too difficult to use without them, he wasn't entirely wrong.
However, if you become too fixated on formulas, you may become unable to use magic that isn't a formula.
I had already taught Harry enough about this aspect, so there wasn't much to worry about.
"Now, then, shall we pair up and try?"
After pairing up, I was with Hermione, and Harry was with Ron.
"Pay attention to the flexible movement of your wrist, and the correct pronunciation!"
With the professor's instructions, the students began to practice.
Hermione gave me a smug smile and said.
"Aisen, even you will have a hard time with incantation-based magic since you haven't read the exact theory in the textbook."
Since I hadn't taken out my textbook for the past month until the professor had reprimanded me, Hermione's face was full of confidence.
A playful thought suddenly came to me, and I said.
"Oh yeah? Then what will you do if I succeed on my first try?"
"Hehe. That won't happen, but if you do succeed, uh, um..."
As she said that, Hermione seemed to recall my record in Transfiguration class, and the confidence on her face began to fade.
It seemed she had lost her confidence now that we were making a bet.
To ease Hermione's worries, I said.
"Alright, if you think I'm going to succeed on the first try, how about this? Let's bet on which of us uses the magic more perfectly."
At those words, Hermione's expression brightened.
Even if I succeeded in one go with my genius talent, she must have thought that in terms of perfection, she, who had practiced dozens of times, would be better.
"Alright! Then what's the wager if you lose?"
"Well, how about something simple, like the loser has to follow one command from the winner?"
"A command? Anything?"
"Something like that."
At those words, Hermione's face reddened for a moment, as if she had thought of something. Whoa, whoa, hold on. Do you think I'm crazy enough to make an eleven-year-old kid do something weird?
Goodness me.
I shrugged and said.
"I won't make you do anything strange, so don't worry."
"S-strange? I wasn't even thinking of anything like that! Besides, don't tell me you think you're going to win, Aisen?"
...I don't think I've even considered the possibility of losing for about ten years now.
As if she was angered by my expression, Hermione pouted and raised her wand.
"Then I'll go first. Win-GAR-dium Levi-O-sa!"
The appropriate flick of the wrist, and a perfect stressed pronunciation. As per Hermione's spell, the tip of her wand flashed for a moment, and then a feather on the desk began to float.
The feather, which had risen to a height of exactly one meter from the desk, floated in the air for a moment and then fluttered down onto the desk.
Professor Flitwick, who had seen it from the podium, exclaimed in admiration.
"Excellent, Miss Granger! You've done it!"
Hermione, who had put away her wand, gave a triumphant, smug smile. Since it was a perfect spell for a first-year, she had every right to be confident.
That is, at a first-year level.
After thinking for a moment, I took out my wand. A simple levitation charm like this could be cast not only non-verbally, but even without a wand, with just a glance, but that would be too conspicuous, wouldn't it?
I lightly waved my wand and said.
"Wingardium Leviosa."
Hearing my pronunciation, Hermione grinned and said.
"Aisen, with that pronunciation, the spell won't work properly—huh?"
But seeing the sight that unfolded before her eyes, she couldn't help but let her words trail off.
Because the feather had floated up just fine. And, it was faster and more elegant than when Hermione had used the spell.
Flitwick clapped his hands and said, watching the feather fly in the air in an elegant curve, as if a swan was flapping its wings.
"Mr. Potter, that is absolutely perfect! Oh, what a truly beautiful levitation charm!"
And then, I put my wand away, and the feather drew a gentle left-handed spiral curve and landed on Hermione's head.
Hermione, who had neurotically snatched the feather that had fallen on her head, said in a torrent of words.
"Wh-what did you do! The stress on the pronunciation was definitely different from the textbook! You're supposed to pronounce the 'gar' in Win-GAR-dium long and strong, but you just said it short. How did the spell work so well?"
"Calm down, Hermione. The image is what's important. The pronunciation comes later."
We'll all be using non-verbal magic later anyway, so what's the point of pronunciation? At my level, I could even shout 'Avada Kedavra' with my mouth and cast a levitation charm with my wand.
But Hermione, as if she couldn't accept it, puffed out her cheeks and bit her lip.
I spoke to Hermione in a mature manner.
"Hermione, so I won the bet, right?"
"Ah! But... ugh! Fine, you won."
She seemed to have a lot she wanted to say, but no matter how she thought about it, she couldn't help but admit that my levitation charm was better, and she couldn't continue her words.
As if to show her, a feather from the table in front of us floated up.
A feather that rose in a graceful curve. The perfection of that levitation charm was comparable to, or even better than, Hermione's.
Needless to say, it was Harry's work.
Ron, who was sitting next to Harry, clapped him on the shoulder in admiration, and Harry, with a grin, kept his eyes fixed on the feather.
Professor Flitwick awarded three points to the once-again-successful Gryffindor.
I watched the scene and said.
"Hermione, isn't magic too boring if you only look at the textbook?"
"...Hmph! You're so full of yourself!"
When even Harry used the spell more brilliantly than Hermione, Hermione completely sulked.
She was so sulky that she didn't say a single word to me until the class was over and we left the classroom.
Seeing this, Harry came up to me and asked.
"Master, what's wrong with Hermione?"
After hearing my brief explanation of the situation, Harry gave a bitter smile.
"Master..."
Kee-roo-roo-rook!
As if from a hallucination, I heard Ardeura's cry, telling me to act my age, but I ignored it.
As if she was quite sulky about what I had said, Hermione didn't speak a single word to me after that.
Or perhaps her clever mind had realized that if she didn't encounter me, she wouldn't have to follow my command.
In any case, she was still sulking even when the Halloween party was held a few days later.
Well, we're in the same house anyway, so we'll meet eventually.
In any case, Harry, Ron, and I were on our way to the Halloween party.
Harry seemed to have high expectations for Halloween, and this was because I had never really celebrated it.
At most, I would just hand out candy.
In any case, the Halloween party hall we entered with such expectations was, in a word, amazing.
The swarms of bats that decorated the ceiling, and the colorful Halloween decorations that adorned the chandeliers.
On top of that, with pumpkin pasties to match the atmosphere, it was properly showing what Halloween was all about.
"Wow, this is amazing."
Not only were Harry and Ron impressed, but even I couldn't help but admire the sight.
When I was a student, Headmaster Black, who didn't really enjoy festivals like this, would never have held such an event.
There were even years when he used some excuse or other to ban the inter-house Quidditch match, so how could he possibly host a festival like this?
In that respect, perhaps because Albus was the Headmaster, it seemed he knew how to throw a grand festival.
As we were enjoying the Halloween atmosphere while eating all sorts of food, the main door of the Great Hall suddenly burst open with a loud bang.
The one who appeared there was Quirrell.
His turban was even disheveled, and his face was full of fear. For me, who roughly knew his true identity, it was an acting skill worthy of admiration.
Having drawn everyone's attention, Quirrell limped to the front of Albus's table and said.
"H-Headmaster. A t-t-troll has escaped the dungeons. Th-thought you ought to know."
And then, he collapsed.
At the same time, the Great Hall became a scene of chaos.
And Harry and I grinned and thought.
Halloween is a really fun festival!
"Harry, go and practice catching a troll!"
"Alright! Let's go!"
"Good, we have to catch it before the professors get there!"
"Of course!"