Alaric was adding meat sauce to the fried noodles when Anthony nudged him.
Anthony whispered in his ear, "Hey, great guy, have you heard? The three of them went to explore the forbidden corridor on the third floor last night, so daring. When should we sneak a peek too?"
Before Alaric could respond, Hermione interjected, "I heard it, Anthony! How could you encourage him to do such things? It could cost us house points."
"Oh, Hermione, can't you lighten up a bit?" Terry Boot, sitting beside them, sounded a bit exasperated.
They all agreed that Hermione was great in everything but too serious, too fond of meddling in others' business.
"Yeah, Alaric, please take care of your girlfriend," Michael Corner chimed in.
"I'm not his girlfriend!" Hermione retorted, her face turning slightly red.
However, her voice was a bit soft, and her gaze shifted uncertainly towards Alaric, evidently lacking confidence.
"Alright, Hermione, everyone is just discussing it. Don't take it so seriously." Alaric put down the fork in his hand, soothingly patting the girl's thick, long hair. He had become quite skilled at this action.
Hermione calmly fell silent, a somewhat strange situation to Alaric. Since the incident in the flying class, this has happened several times. Every time, Alaric easily comforted the angry Hermione.
However, in the past, Hermione would argue with him each time until he left her speechless.
Meanwhile, Cho Chang smoothly changed the topic of discussion, "Do any of you know what's inside that corridor? I've heard many senior students secretly exploring it, but they never tell me what they find."
"There's a three-headed dog inside," Penelope, sitting across from Alaric, answered the question.
Now she was also a member of this little group, often staying with Alaric, Hermione, and Cho Chang.
"I tried sneaking into that corridor for an adventure before. I was blocked by a three-headed dog; the big dog is much taller than me and looks fierce, showing its teeth.
Although it mostly sleeps soundly, one head is always awake. By the way, I found a trapdoor on the floor where the three-headed dog lies. I think the secret is behind that trapdoor."
Then she lowered her voice and whispered, "I heard that over the summer vacation, Dumbledore gathered Professor McGonagall, Professor Flitwick, Professor Sprout, Professor Snape, Professor Quirrell, and Hagrid to create a challenge in that corridor. Each person designed a level."
"Is that true? Why would they do that?" Hermione sounded incredulous.
"I guess there's definitely something they don't want others to get hold of," Cho Chang confidently said.
"Otherwise, they wouldn't go to such lengths to set up obstacles with stages."
"I think so too."
"That's what I think."
Others expressed their agreement.
But as a reincarnator, Alaric had a different opinion.
"I actually think Dumbledore deliberately set up a trap," he explained. "If Dumbledore wanted to hide something, he could easily do it alone in a place only he knows."
"But now, Dumbledore's choice is to put something in that corridor, explicitly telling everyone not to enter. Obviously, he's telling others: there's a secret here.
And the news that Dumbledore invited the professors to build stages has already spread, further confirming this conclusion: Dumbledore himself doesn't seem to want to hide that secret. He might even want everyone to know what's hidden there."
At this point, he paused deliberately. Around him, three girls and three roommates all cast their expectant and approving glances at him, so he continued.
"And the purpose of the stages is to test us. Dumbledore hopes that students can pass these stages to undergo a practical assessment."
"Another possibility is that these stages are for catching thieves. Someone wants to steal something from Dumbledore, and the professors set up these stages as traps. They use what the thief wants to steal as bait in the trap.
The thief probably thinks these stages are Dumbledore's anti-theft measures, but in reality, the stages are just a disguise.
The ultimate goal is to attract the thief's attention and make the thief believe that what he wants to steal is hidden there—everyone believes that the more precious something is, the better it is protected.
If the thief really breaks into the stages, he falls into the trap because Dumbledore wants to lure him out."
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