Hogwarts Archaeologist Toby

After Hermione left in despair, Toby arbitrarily advocated to help Quirrell make a decision: "That's it, Professor Quirrell. I'm a little busy recently, and I guess you are the same. Wait until the next Quidditch The day when the Odd match starts, that's the match between Gryffindor and Hufflepuff. I'll come to you then, and you should be free on that day."

"I—" Quirrell watched Toby walk out of the office without saying a word of rejection.

At the same time, he was horrified to find that the time agreed by Toby happened to be exactly the same as the time ordered by the curse, both on the day when the Quidditch match started.

He...could he have noticed something?

On the other side, Hermione returned to the Gryffindor common room with a heavy heart. She found Harry and Ron, took them to chairs in the corner of the room, and whispered solemnly: "I suspect Professor Highmore wants to Steal the Philosopher's Stone."

Ever since they learned of Nick Flamel's identity, they had guessed that what was in the small package was the Sorcerer's Stone—a magical substance that can turn any metal into pure gold and create the elixir of life.

Harry obviously didn't expect Hermione to say this, and Ron stared at her with wide eyes: "Is this some kind of infectious disease? First, Harry suspected Professor Heimer, and then you. I thought you two It’s pretty awesome, why haven’t you worried about me yet?”

Harry acted a little embarrassed, while Hermione stared at Ron with a strange expression - he was quite convincing if he didn't add the last sentence.

"I'm not kidding."

Hermione lowered her voice like acting and said: "You should all know Professor Highmore's previous occupation. He was an archaeologist, but he is not as simple as an archaeologist in the Muggle world."

Ron asked back: "There are also archaeologists in the Muggle world? I thought this profession had long been extinct among Muggles. Look at the injuries on Professor Highmore's body—oh, I forgot, you haven't seen it." , only Percy and I have seen it with our own eyes."

Hermione gave Ron a blank look. He would often show off this incident and act like a warrior, but he was not the one who was injured.

"And then?" Harry asked impatiently, "What happened to the archaeologist?"

"Dark magic." Hermione said bluntly: "The ancient ruins recorded in the library alone are full of all kinds of deadly black magic."

"Actually, I've long felt that something was wrong. I read the first draft of the new textbook before any of you—"

Ron quietly rolled his eyes when she said that too - something Hermione always showed off too.

"However, a very small part of it is extremely dangerous, and it is often dismissed in one stroke, but I think it must be more than that. For example, the magic circle can also be portrayed with the blood of a wizard, and there are strange things that appear in the magic circle. creature, that sounds too much like dark magic."

"I suspect that there must be a lot of black magic in the ancient magic studied by Professor Heimer, but he deliberately concealed it."?

"In other words, he is very likely to have been affected by black magic, and this influence will continue to deepen his pursuit of black magic, even the pursuit of evil nature."

This time, neither Ron nor Harry refuted Hermione's words.

They still remembered that in one of the ancient magic classes, Professor Haimer showed them the illusion of summoning monsters, which undoubtedly belonged to the category of black magic in the magic circle.

Moreover, there is indeed something wrong with Professor Heimer's character. Especially at the beginning, many people secretly called him a devil, and some students still call him that.

Hermione saw that the two of them at least accepted these statements, and she immediately threw out another piece of evidence: "One more thing, I heard Professor Haimer say something like this—[Archaeology is inherently dangerous, and I and the danger Coexistence, the danger is myself, otherwise, I will not control ancient magic, but ancient magic will control me].”

Harry gasped, this was exactly what he imagined dark magic would be.

Ron obviously knew more than Harry, and he asked frightenedly, "Professor Highmore really said that? What exactly has he been in contact with?"

"There must be more than we thought." Hermione said worriedly: "And you shouldn't object to the Philosopher's Stone being part of ancient magic, right? At least it won't be modern, at least we haven't mentioned it in "Research on the Development of Modern Witchcraft" "Nick Flamel's account was found in "."

"I wouldn't let go of this opportunity anyway." Ron thought about it and said, "The Philosopher's Stone must have a fatal attraction to Professor Haimer, and he doesn't need to go to the ancient ruins in person, as long as he can get the other things done." The apparatus set up by the professors will suffice."

"That's the problem." Hermione threw out the second strong evidence: "I just overheard the conversation between Professor Highmore and Professor Quirrell. He said to Professor Quirrell, 'It just so happens that you have This is a chance to fully experience the power of the magic circle. You simply can’t imagine what the magic circle alone can do."

That's all Hermione overheard.

"Threat." Ron said in horror: "This is a completely undisguised threat. How dare Professor Haimo blatantly threaten another professor, or is he in the other's office?"

"It doesn't sound strange at all." Harry also followed up the analysis: "Since he dared to fight Snape, it is naturally impossible for him to be afraid of the timid Professor Quirrell—by the way, maybe Highmore From the beginning, the professor had the purpose of investigating the agency, so he forced a fight with Snape!"

"He's done with Snape, and he's probably done with many more professors!"

All three friends were frightened by this guess.

If they're right, it won't be long before Professor Highmore successfully steals the Philosopher's Stone.

After a while, Harry murmured in a low voice: "But how could it be? Professor Highmore is obviously not an evil Slytherin, how could he want to do such a thing? Or risking such a Big risk."

Hermione took a deep breath, and she said nervously: "This is also related to the reason why I came to you, I believe the three of us agree that Professor Highmore is not a bad person, whether it is a Christmas gift or later The way of protecting Neville is enough to prove this point."

"Then the reason is very simple - Professor Heimer is controlled by evil ancient magic, so he can't restrain the impulsive thoughts coming out of his heart. Coupled with the constant pursuit of ancient magic, he naturally The target will be on the magic stone."

Hermione looked at the two of them with firm eyes: "I plan to stop Professor Heimer, and I can't tell other professors yet, otherwise once others find out about Professor Heimer's strange behavior, he will definitely be kicked out of the school. I don't want him to." He just left.”

Harry and Ron exchanged glances.

"Of course we will."

Harry said equally firmly: "Professor Heimer knows my parents, and I don't want him to leave."

"I don't need to say it," Ron said, "Professor Haimer helped Bill, and now it's our turn to help him."

"Help him suppress the evil thoughts in his heart and protect the magic stone."