Harry swung back onto his broom and shot upward. He glided silently over the castle rooftops and saw Snape running straight into the Forbidden Forest. Harry followed.
The dense trees quickly swallowed his view, and he lost sight of where Snape had gone. He circled lower and lower, until he was almost brushing the treetops, when at last he caught the sound of voices drifting up from below…
He steered toward them without a sound and settled lightly atop a towering tree. Hovering amid the canopy, he gripped his broom tightly, peering through the leaves. In a shadow-filled clearing below stood Snape—and facing him, Professor Quirrell, who appeared to be trembling.
Harry couldn't make out Quirrell's expression, but his stutter was worse than ever.
"…I–I don't know why you had to c-c-choose this place to meet, Severus…"
"Why do you think?" Snape replied coldly. "Do you expect us to discuss how to obtain the Philosopher's Stone inside Hogwarts, right under Dumbledore's nose?"
Quirrell seemed to mutter something, but Snape cut him off impatiently. "Have you figured out how to get past that blasted three-headed dog or not?!"
"Severus, I—I…"
"You wouldn't want to be my enemy, Quirrell."
As he spoke, Snape stepped closer.
"I–I don't kn-know what you—" Quirrell stumbled backward, looking on the verge of tears.
"You know exactly what I mean," Snape sneered. "If you insist on carrying on like this… I'll be waiting to see your little secret tricks."
"B–but I d-d-don't—"
"Very well."
Snape cut him off. "I'll give you time to think it through. Once you've decided who you truly serve, we'll have another talk."
He pulled his cloak over his head and strode out of the clearing.
Night had nearly fallen, yet Harry could still see Quirrell standing there motionless, like a statue of clay and wood.
…
"Harry! Where have you been?" Hermione screamed.
"We won! You won! We won!" Ron thumped Harry hard on the back. "Everyone's waiting for you in the common room—we're having a celebration! Fred and George nicked some cakes from the kitchens, and Hufflepuff didn't even try to stop us—"
"Forget that for now," Harry panted. "Find an empty classroom. I've got something important to tell you."
After making sure no one else was inside, the three of them shut the door. Harry then told Ron and Hermione everything he had just seen and heard.
"So our earlier guess was right," Hermione said, regaining her composure first and beginning to analyze methodically. "That thing really is the Philosopher's Stone. Snape is trying to force Quirrell to help him get it. He asked whether Quirrell knew how to get past Fluffy, and he mentioned Quirrell's 'secret tricks'…"
"I'd guess that besides Fluffy, there are other defenses guarding the Stone," she continued. "Probably a whole series of magical protections—some of them may even have been set up by Professor Quirrell himself…"
"But…" Harry's face had gone pale. "Didn't Ken swear up and down that the one trying to steal the Stone definitely wasn't Snape?"
As soon as the words left his mouth, all three of them fell silent.
"…You saw it with your own eyes," Hermione sighed. "Snape is the one trying to steal the Philosopher's Stone. What does that mean…?"
"Could Ken and Snape be working together?" Ron ventured.
"Unlikely."Harry shook his head. "Snape has always favored Slytherin. Plenty of Hufflepuff students complain that he plays favorites with his own house, don't they?"
"But doesn't Ken just happen to have a Slytherin friend?" Ron countered.
"That proves even less," Harry replied. "Don't forget—when Snape tried to kill me before, it was Baron who helped me. I think Ken might have been fooled by Snape. He's a good student, like Hermione—always assuming professors are saints…"
"Hm?"
Hermione shot Harry a threatening look, making him instinctively take half a step back. "Isn't that true? Before you personally saw Snape trying to harm me, you thought the same way."
"Ha."
Hermione had no comeback and could only glare at him fiercely.
"You never should've believed him in the first place," Ron complained from the side. "Snape trying to hurt you, and getting bitten by Fluffy on Halloween—that's not something you can fake, is it? Isn't that proof enough? And Ken never gave you any real explanation either—he just brushed it off with vague words…"
"…I'm going to ask him directly," Harry said, turning toward the door. "No matter what, Ken is definitely involved with the Philosopher's Stone somehow. He knows more than we do. I need to tell him what's going on—and ask why he trusts Snape!"
"Wait!" Hermione grabbed him at once. "If he was merely deceived by Snape, that's one thing—but what if Ron is right, and he really is on Snape's side? Don't forget, Ken's background is incredibly mysterious. No one even knows his real name. If he was born with a particular allegiance, then his involvement with the Stone as a student would make perfect sense!"
"We can't confirm which side he's on, so we can't rule out the possibility that he's working with Snape. And if that's true, then him bringing up Nicolas Flamel and claiming that Dumbledore knows about everything might have been lies—meant to stop you from investigating further. If you go to him on your own, you'd just be exposing yourself to Snape!"
"Then I'll go straight to Dumbledore!"
"You might not even be able to see him," Ron said, frowning deeply. "I've heard that entering the headmaster's office requires a special password—one only the professors know. They've worked with Snape for years; they won't suspect him easily. And besides, we don't have any direct evidence…"
When he finished, the empty classroom fell into silence as the three of them stared at one another.
"…Let's check with Hufflepuff first," Hermione finally sighed. "At least find out which subject Ken excels at, and which professors he's closest to. That should give us a rough idea…"
"That's all we can do for now."
In the end, the three of them left the empty classroom and headed down toward the underground level where the Hufflepuff common room was located, planning to ask around. And then—
"Harry, Ron, Hermione? What are you doing here?"
Avada looked at the three standing by the stacks of barrels, clearly surprised.
"Ah, it's nothing—we—we…" Hermione hurried forward with a sweet smile. "We were just a bit hungry and thought we'd go to the kitchens for something to eat. Oh, we're just jealous that Hufflepuff is so close to the kitchens—you can eat whatever you want whenever you like…"
Avada: …
If your mental energy didn't practically scream nervous, panicked, and suspicious, I might have believed that.
As for why they were acting like this all of a sudden, he had a pretty good guess—most likely they had finally stumbled upon Snape and Quirrell plotting together, or found some other leverage against Snape, and were now suspecting that he was in league with Snape and had deceived them earlier…
The problem was, there was no way to explain it—because he really was on the same side as Snape.
Both of them were working for Dumbledore, serving as spies under Voldemort. Not just allies—colleagues.
So… how was he supposed to talk his way out of this next?
(End of Chapter)