After a period of recuperation, Quirrell's injuries finally fully recovered on the eve of Christmas.
By this time, Lord Voldemort's main soul was on the brink of collapse. He desperately needed to drink Unicorn blood to sustain his existence; otherwise, his consciousness would slowly dissipate.
Under Lord Voldemort's urging, Quirrell had no choice but to brace himself and leave the Castle to scout the perimeter of the Forbidden Forest.
As Quirrell was wandering near the Forbidden Forest, he unfortunately encountered the Weasley Twins; these two pranksters were feeling bored at the moment and were looking for some fun.
Upon seeing Quirrell, they immediately hatched a plan, casting Tracking magic on several snowballs to make them chase and pelt the back of Quirrell's head.
Dodging attacks of this level was a piece of cake for Quirrell—but he overlooked Adelaide, who enjoyed causing trouble from the shadows.
Adelaide hid her wand in her sleeve and cast several silent Tripping Jinxes at Quirrell.
Quirrell took a few steps in the snow before being suddenly tripped by an invisible force. He fell clumsily to the ground, and Lord Voldemort suffered quite a few snowball hits along with him.
By now, Lord Voldemort had sensed something was wrong; there was definitely someone manipulating things from the shadows... That hypocrite Dumbledore would certainly disdain doing such a thing, but who else could trip him up right under the Great Lord Voldemort's nose... It was the curse!
It was definitely the curse on the Defense Against the Dark Arts position!
Dammit!
Lord Voldemort, his face contorted, gave Quirrell an order: "A piece of trash like you can't withstand the curse I left behind. Go back and hide in Hogwarts Castle for now. Once this wave of the curse passes, we will go find Unicorn blood again."
Quirrell, who had little mind of his own, immediately fled back to Hogwarts Castle dejectedly, locking himself in the Defense Against the Dark Arts professor's office with no intention of coming out.
Adelaide arrived at the pumpkin patch near Hagrid's hut in a pleasant mood. She used the drifting snow to pile up a plump white snowman, using branches and colored stones for its arms and facial features, giving it quite an artistic flair.
In the corner of the wooden hut not far behind Adelaide, Harry was holding a small meeting with Draco, Ron, and Neville with a serious expression.
Ever since Hermione had been pulled into Adelaide's Correspondence Processing Group by Amandine, she had been so busy all day that she had no time at all to mind these 'troublemakers' anymore.
And Harry, who could never stand loneliness, naturally wouldn't obediently give up on adventure. After just a few days, his restless heart began to stir again.
"Hagrid accidentally let it slip before that the thing the Three-headed Dog is guarding is related to a Wizard named Nicolas Flamel."
Harry lowered his voice, his eyes flashing with excitement. As he spoke, he looked around warily, afraid of being overheard.
"Does any of you know what this Nicolas Flamel does? Once we get specific information about him, we can deduce what the Three-headed Dog is guarding."
Harry's gaze swept back and forth between Draco, Ron, and Neville, hoping they could provide some useful information.
After all, these three brothers of his had grown up in the Wizarding World and surely knew more than he did, coming from the Muggle World.
Draco, Ron, and Neville looked at each other with blank expressions; clearly, they were also unfamiliar with this 'Nicolas Flamel'.
Draco spoke first: "Nicolas Flamel? It sounds a bit familiar... I can only be sure he's not from a British Pure-blood family; hmm... maybe he's a foreign Wizard."
Ron and Neville simply shook their heads, indicating they had never heard the name.
"None of you know? Then that's a problem..."
Harry's voice betrayed a hint of anxiety and helplessness. He had originally counted on getting some clues from his brothers, but now it seemed that hope had fallen through.
Noticing Harry's low spirits, Draco couldn't help but offer some sympathetic comfort: "Although I don't know now, my father certainly will. I'll go ask him when I go home for Christmas."
Draco's tone was firm, as if his father would definitely be able to solve this problem.
Neville also quickly chimed in: "Right, I can also go back and ask my grandmother. She should know something about Nicolas Flamel; my grandmother knows a lot."
Ron looked a bit dejected. This year his parents were going to Romania to visit their brother Charlie, so he, Fred, George, and Percy all had to stay at Hogwarts for Christmas—this meant he couldn't go home to ask his parents like Draco and Neville.
Would Harry think he's useless... Ron scratched his head. It seemed that since he and Harry became close, he hadn't been of much use many times, especially now with Draco, who was also a brother and practically omnipotent, around. This gave Ron a slight sense of crisis.
"How about I go ask Percy? He's a Prefect—"
Harry immediately interrupted Ron: "No, we can't alert the enemy at school... Don't forget Hermione is still watching us from the shadows!"
At the thought of Hermione, who was becoming increasingly temperamental for some reason, finding out they were still tracking what the Cerberus was guarding... Harry couldn't help but shudder. He continued, "I learned from Parvati Patil yesterday that Hermione is going home for Christmas. So we'll split into two groups—Draco and Neville will go home to ask their parents, and Ron and I will stay behind to search the library for traces of Nicolas Flamel."
As soon as Ron heard they were going to the library, a pained expression immediately appeared on his face. He muttered softly, "We still have to go to the library even during the holidays..."
Weren't holidays supposed to be a time for relaxation and play!
Harry pretended not to hear Ron's complaint and continued, "Anyway, to prevent Snape from getting what the Three-headed Dog is guarding, we must work hard."
Draco also muttered with some dissatisfaction, "I've always felt we must be mistaken. How could the Dean be plotting something like this..."
Harry patted Draco's shoulder and comforted him, "We're doing this for Snape's own good. Stopping his actions before he makes a bigger mistake is actually a form of help for him. When the time comes, as long as he can sincerely apologize to Headmaster Dumbledore and reflect deeply, I believe Dumbledore won't punish him too severely."
Adelaide, listening from the side, finally couldn't hold it in and burst out laughing. She thought to herself that the four of them combined didn't seem to possess a single clever brain.
Humming a little tune, she returned to the Ravenclaw common room. She wrote down Harry and the others' next move, along with some inflammatory remarks, on a piece of parchment. Using her wand, she folded the parchment into a beautiful Paper crane and let it fly out the window, through the ventilation duct outside the Castle, and into Snape's office.
---------------------------------
I hope you enjoy this fanfiction! If you're having fun and want to read 30 chapters in advance, feel free to check out my Patreon: patreon.com/TLScarlet
Your support means a lot so if you like the story, don't forget to drop a Power Stone.