Kulkan's intelligence was extremely high. In Sean's opinion, she was not weaker than most magical creatures and was even among the best of them. The most important point was that Kulkan could understand Sean's words and comprehend his meaning. Based on this alone, Sean knew that Kulkan was definitely not an ordinary white snake.
Slithering down from Sean's body, Kulkan held a thumb-sized glass bottle in her mouth. As long as she could find a wound and collect a bit of unicorn blood, tonight's adventure would be completely worthwhile.
Nothing unexpected happened during the process.
Sean watched the centaur Firenze take Harry away and watched the Forbidden Forest gradually fall silent. He couldn't help but hold his breath until Kulkan returned to his feet and burrowed into Sean's crouching form. Only then did he slightly relax.
It's done!
Putting the unicorn blood that Kulkan had brought back into his pocket, Sean got up to leave. But the moment he turned around, his excited blood instantly turned cold. A person wearing a black cloak stood behind him like a ghost, having appeared without Sean noticing. Who could it be if not the two-faced Quirrell?
Damn it!
How did I run into this guy?
I've been so careful, why was I still discovered!
The two-faced Quirrell was possessed by Voldemort. Although he didn't gain Voldemort's full power, with Voldemort teaching him in secret, Quirrell's level of magic had improved significantly. The current Sean, facing such a Quirrell, even without Voldemort's power boosting him, could absolutely not confront him head-on.
Fortunately, before entering the Forbidden Forest, Sean had brought the pure white pocket watch with him to prevent this kind of extreme situation.
Of course, the pure white pocket watch should be used as little as possible. Otherwise, once its effect of reversing fatal magic—usable once every seven days—was spent, Sean's plan to use Harry to defeat Quirrell and snatch the final reward would have to be abandoned.
Thoughts raced through his mind. A look of excitement and relief suddenly appeared on Sean's face. He looked in the direction behind Quirrell and shouted with surprise, "Headmaster! Professors! You're here!"
Hearing this, Quirrell's heart was filled with panic. Disregarding Voldemort's warnings and commands, without the slightest hesitation, he immediately turned into a black mist and rushed into the depths of the Forbidden Forest.
Seeing this scene, Sean didn't hesitate at all. He immediately fled towards Hogwarts, waving the wand in his hand and, without any sense of ethics, starting large-scale fires.
"Incendio!"
"Incendio!"
"Incendio!"
The power of magical flames is incomparable to ordinary flames. Soon, the surrounding forest was engulfed in blazing flames, and the fire spread extremely quickly, showing a tendency to intensify.
At this time, under Voldemort's constant scolding, Quirrell finally realized that he had been tricked. Dumbledore and the others hadn't come at all. He had completely been seeing things. During his time at Hogwarts, Quirrell's greatest fear was always his secret being discovered by Dumbledore. Sean's words just now undoubtedly struck the deepest fear in Quirrell's heart, causing him to lose his reason and only think about escaping immediately, which resulted in him falling for Sean's scheme.
"Stupid fellow, to be tricked by a Hogwarts student!"
Along with Voldemort's angry roar, Quirrell immediately felt a pain originating from the depths of his soul. He fell to the ground, his body constantly twitching, and irrepressible wails coming from his throat.
"Master, great Master, please, please have mercy… I, I will chase after him immediately, and I will definitely kill that… kill that damned boy and wash away the shame!"
"Idiot! Quirrell, you truly are an incredibly stupid fellow!" Although he kept cursing Quirrell, Voldemort could only rely on Quirrell now. He had had enough of living as a parasite on rats or snakes in the forest. Parasitizing Quirrell, at least he could be a person. So, despite the cursing, Voldemort still stopped punishing Quirrell and said in a hoarse voice, "That boy is not easy to deal with. When he escaped just now, he set a fire, which will soon attract the Hogwarts professors and even Dumbledore."
"Although I am here, and you don't need to fear those Hogwarts professors or even Dumbledore, doing so would mean I lose the possibility of obtaining the Philosopher's Stone. When I am resurrected, that boy will eventually fall into my hands, and it won't be too late to wash away today's shame then."
"Then, then, then Master, now, should I leave the Forbidden Forest immediately?"
"Leave the Forbidden Forest, and then return as a professor to put out the fire. That's what you, as a professor, should do, isn't it?"
"Yes, yes, Master."
Glancing at the completely spread fire, Quirrell immediately turned into a black mist and fled out of the Forbidden Forest.
In the dead of night, a large fire broke out in the Forbidden Forest and was soon discovered. Before it could cause too much harm, the Hogwarts professors rushed over one after another and extinguished the fire using magic. For a wizard, extinguishing a fire is not too difficult. Even the trees burned by the fire can be helped to recover faster using magic and potions. It wouldn't take long for the Forbidden Forest to return to its original state.
Standing in the burned forest, Dumbledore frowned. He already knew that someone was attempting to steal the Philosopher's Stone, and he also knew that Quirrell was quite suspicious. However, he still couldn't figure out why Quirrell would set this fire. If it wasn't Quirrell who set the fire, then who was it, and what was the purpose of setting the fire?
"Dumbledore, that dark shadow Potter encountered earlier, could it be…"
Snape didn't finish his sentence, but Dumbledore already knew what Snape wanted to say. He nodded slightly and whispered, "It's very likely him."
"But… but didn't he die? Why!" Snape's face was full of shock. Although Dumbledore had told him before that Voldemort might not have completely died, Snape had only thought Dumbledore was old and rambling.
But just now, when he heard Harry and Professor McGonagall say that when he encountered that dark shadow, the scar on his forehead hurt a lot, and he also lost his ability to resist. This made Snape immediately realize something was wrong. He rushed over, wanting to confirm with Dumbledore that Harry's scar pain and abnormal reaction were unrelated to Voldemort, but the answer he received was contrary to his wishes.
"Severus, it is undeniable that Tom was a very powerful wizard. No matter how powerful the magic Lily performed was, the possibility of completely killing a powerful wizard like Tom is very low, so…" At this point, Dumbledore turned to look at Snape. His eyes, which were usually full of kindness and gentleness, became sharp and piercing. He stared intently into Snape's eyes and said, "So, Severus, are you still willing to pay any price to protect that child, the only child Lily gave birth to?"
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