"What do you plan to do?" Hermione asked. "Drink another Polyjuice Potion?"
"…"
Harry was immediately reminded of his time transformed into a girl.
"No, better not," Harry said, almost PTSD-stricken by Polyjuice Potion.
What scared him most wasn't the embarrassment of becoming a girl but the fact that after half a month, he was not as averse to living as a girl as before.
It was terrifying – too terrifying.
He feared that another transformation might make it permanent.
"And even if we transformed into a professor, Quirrell might not dare to say anything. He seems very afraid of Snape."
"So…"
"We have to take the last resort," Harry looked at Tom. "We need to get the Philosopher's Stone before he does."
However, easier said than done – they dared not break into the trapdoor right away.
They couldn't even get past the first challenge.
The three-headed dog would bite them, not caring if they were good guys or Death Eaters.
They needed to extract some information from Hagrid first.
Fortunately, Hagrid seemed to have gotten a baby dragon. Regularly visiting under the pretext of caring for the dragon wouldn't raise suspicions.
…
While Harry and others were ingratiating themselves with Hagrid, Murphy wasn't idle either, constantly feeding Tom and Hermione advanced mathematics problems.
The traps set by other professors were manageable, as they had been passed in the original story. But Murphy's trap had not been tested.
Although he had considered easing its difficulty while setting it up, it was better not to make it too obvious.
Meanwhile, Murphy was also gathering so-called evidence, preparing to oust Dumbledore from the school.
This shouldn't be difficult, but Murphy couldn't act yet. If Dumbledore left, he'd likely take the Philosopher's Stone with him, and Murphy didn't want his year-long effort to go to waste.
Simultaneously, there were significant developments in the Soviet Union.
Valery and Qinye Li gradually turned the tide through power exchanges, bloody suppression, and bribing with anti-aging potions, gaining a group of key officials who would obey their commands. The situation in the Soviet Union stabilized.
Following Murphy's instructions, they opened investment channels for Umbrella, making it the first international corporation in the medical and technological fields to enter the Soviet Union.
Now Valery and Qinye Li had another weapon to attract allies: money.
Murphy knew that power gathered through these means was unreliable, but given the situation in the Soviet Union, he had already priced his gifts.
Want money, power, and eternal youth?
No problem, just hand over your soul.
Murphy felt this demand was quite fair.
Even the devil would call it a fair trade.
According to information from Bartemius Crouch Jr., over eight hundred potions had been injected into various officials. Through them, Valery and Qinye Li's orders were finally executed effectively, and the vast machinery of the nation began to run again.
If necessary, Murphy could directly control the viruses inside these people through the Heartseed. It might be difficult to control them directly, but inducing viral encephalitis to force them to abdicate was no problem.
As Valery and Qinye Li's power grew, the most radical separatists were killed or captured, and the Soviet Union's situation improved. Just as Murphy was about to breathe a sigh of relief, an urgent message from Bartemius Crouch Jr. arrived.
"Master, we've been targeted!" Crouch Jr. spoke urgently. "Wizards have been appearing around us lately. Yesterday, a werewolf mercenary disappeared, and a former Watcher… No Muggle could kill them so silently; it must be wizards. The Soviet wizards have discovered us."
Finally, they came.
Murphy had anticipated this situation. In fact, the current state was better than he expected.
The train attack last November was hard to conceal. He had only been able to alter the plan to brainwash Qinye Li, avoiding direct exposure. But with at least three Soviet wizards dead and three missing, including a high-ranking shaman, it was impossible for the Soviet wizards to have no reaction.
Half a year had passed since the attack, and the enemy's response was much slower than Murphy had expected.
There must be a reason, perhaps one he could exploit.
"Contract our forces for now," Murphy instructed. "Figure out their purpose, and try to make contact with them."
Direct confrontation with a magical government, especially an imperial one with trained combat mages, was unrealistic – their overall strength might even surpass the British wizarding world.
Seeking dialogue and looking for a way to defuse the situation was the first step.
"Yes, master."
However, as soon as Crouch Jr. ended the call and stepped out of his room, he found seven or eight people lying scattered on the ground.
A man wearing deer antlers appeared in the courtyard.
This was Crouch Jr.'s hideout, where he acted as a high-ranking KGB agent and a pharmaceutical businessman. The people outside were his bodyguards.
"So, you are their leader?" the man spoke in heavily accented English. "I advise you not to resist, or I can't guarantee your survival."
Crouch Jr., holding his wand, paused. "Who are you? Whatever you want, we can negotiate."
"Negotiate?" The man's eyes shimmered with a faint blue mist, like a deity. "You are invaders, with no right to negotiate. Come with me peacefully, and maybe the Grand Duke will spare your life."
"The Grand Duke?" Crouch Jr. caught the anomaly. "Aren't you here by the Emperor's orders?"
Murphy had interrogated several Soviet wizards, giving Crouch Jr. some basic knowledge of the Soviet wizarding world.
The man frowned, realizing he had said too much. "Foreigner, last warning – drop your wand and come with me, or…"
"Or, will you execute a foreign envoy in secret?" An old voice suddenly came from outside the courtyard.
The man turned sharply. A moment later, a water shield formed behind him. A black object, coming from nowhere, hit the shield but couldn't break through.
But just as the man thought he was safe, a breeze blew, and something flickered in the air. The next moment, the man's head rolled off his neck.
Amidst the spraying blood, an old woman in a maid's uniform approached, "Tell your master, if he wants to continue his plans, come to Priyorsk alone."
"Remember, only him."
___________________
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