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"Professor! Professor Grindelwald!"
"Professor Dumbledore?"
Harry's heart sank as he called out, his expression growing more bitter. He truly felt powerless in the current situation. Despite having spent an entire year diligently practicing magic, it wasn't something that could be mastered just by sheer will. Magic might seem idealistic in theory, but reality was far more grounded.
Without enough knowledge, theoretical understanding, or practice time, it simply couldn't be done. Sure, Harry had almost mastered all the spells from the first three years at Hogwarts, but that was because those years were all about building a foundation. Most of the spells were beginner-level, and with enough time, any wizard could get the hang of them. These weren't spells that required talent—just effort.
However, when it came to more advanced magic, Harry only knew two spells: the Disillusionment Charm and the Exploding Charm. The Disillusionment Charm was useless in this situation, and the Exploding Charm couldn't deal significant damage to the demon centurion. What was he supposed to do? Disarm the demon by knocking off its arms, legs, and teeth? Demons weren't like Voldemort; they wouldn't play along with an Avada Kedavra duel.
"Look at you, darting around like that."
Though his call for help had failed, Harry couldn't help but sneer when he saw Voldemort's reaction.
"The great Dark Lord, did you spot some invisible person lurking in the air? Of course, only someone like you could see what us mere mortals cannot."
"Shut up!" Voldemort snapped, visibly irritated. When Harry had shouted out Grindelwald's name, it had momentarily startled him. After all, if he ran into Grindelwald now, he'd be doomed. Unlike Dumbledore, Grindelwald wasn't one to show mercy. He was ruthless, a man who believed in leaving no loose ends. When the Death Eater movement began to rise, Grindelwald had assassinated nearly a tenth of Europe's magical elite to pave the way for his followers' infiltration.
"Quite the trick to pull before you die, huh?"
Voldemort's face twisted in fury as he spoke, his body almost boiling with the black mist that formed him.
"When I send you to join your wretched parents, I hope you'll still be able to smile, Potter!"
"Is that so?"
Harry rolled aside, narrowly avoiding another furious charge from the demon centurion. From his pocket, he pulled out a shimmering silver cloak.
"Why don't you entertain this guy for a bit?"
Taking advantage of Voldemort's momentary distraction, Harry had repositioned himself. Now, the centurion's charging path led straight toward Voldemort. As the massive stone creature blocked Voldemort's line of sight for a brief moment, Harry quickly draped the cloak over himself, disappearing as though melting into thin air.
The Invisibility Cloak couldn't hide sounds or scents, but it could perfectly shield Harry from any form of magical detection. As soon as Harry vanished, Voldemort cast a detection spell that rippled outward in invisible waves, but it yielded no feedback. For a brief moment, Voldemort believed Harry had left the room.
Earlier, Voldemort had used special techniques to mask his own magical aura from the demon centurion. However, his reflexive spellcasting had just revealed his presence. Demons didn't care whether the person in front of them had opened a path for them to sneak in or not. If it was a living being with magical energy, they were prey. Before, the centurion hadn't noticed him, but now that it had, there was no chance it would let him go. The stone-headed demon charged after Voldemort with relentless determination.
Voldemort could have opted to go back into stealth and escape the centurion's pursuit. But without using magic, he had no way of tracking Harry's location. He could deal with the demon anytime, but Harry? He couldn't let him slip away.
Voldemort, with only a fraction of his strength remaining, couldn't guarantee that after dealing with the demon centurion, he would have enough energy left to finish off Harry. The current situation had caught him off guard. His original plan had been for the demons to kill Harry first, after which he would unleash them on Hogwarts to cause chaos, all while slipping away unnoticed with his prize. But the plan had faltered before even reaching its first step.
Meanwhile, though Harry had successfully escaped immediate danger, he wasn't feeling secure. He knew that, although his Invisibility Cloak—a Deathly Hallow—granted him immunity to magical detection, and even perhaps masked his presence from the demon by suppressing its ability to sense magical energy, there were ways to crack such illusions. Once Voldemort figured it out, Harry would undoubtedly be dragged back into the fight.
Harry opened his right hand and stared at the Philosopher's Stone resting in his palm, feeling torn. Had his plan gone uninterrupted, he would have used the Stone to become a unique Animagus. He had even daydreamed about what form he might take—a dragon, perhaps, or a sleek and powerful Thunderbird, or maybe some other impressive magical creature.
"But now, there's no time left for daydreaming," Harry muttered with a sigh.
Whether Grindelwald wasn't coming, or had never planned on helping him in the first place, Harry had no time to dwell on it. He could only rely on himself now.
Reluctantly, Harry gritted his teeth and shoved the Philosopher's Stone back into his mouth. But this time, instead of hiding it, he bit down on it with all his strength.
Despite its appearance as a stone, the Philosopher's Stone felt harder than a rock cake. But the moment Harry's teeth met the surface, it shattered into pieces. The crunch of the Stone breaking was barely audible, and sharp fragments sliced Harry's tongue, leaving numerous small cuts that bled.
However, as soon as his blood touched the Stone's fragments, they began to soften, liquefy, and finally transform into a strange-tasting fluid that Harry swallowed in one gulp.
The tiny cuts in his mouth healed instantly under the effects of the Stone's powerful magic. Harry, now quietly waiting for the Stone's magic to take full effect, paid no attention to the bizarre game of "cat and mouse" unfolding between Voldemort and the demon centurion in the room.
Eating the Stone outright wasn't the best use of it, according to the research Harry had studied. Nicolas Flamel had once written a short note on this very topic:
"It's hard and unpleasant to eat. I tore a hole in my tongue and had diarrhea the next day. But my body felt lighter, as if I were ten years younger. Unfortunately, since I'm nearly three hundred years old, it didn't do much for me. The alchemical poisons I expected never appeared. Maybe it's because the Philosopher's Stone is the perfect alchemical creation, its internal components having achieved a flawless balance. Otherwise, the ingredients could have easily poisoned an entire city."
Flamel's note concluded, "So far, the known effects include purification of magical power and enhanced energy resistance. I should try eating a tenth of it next time—there could be more to discover. But these effects mostly enhance physical abilities, and I don't recommend using the Stone in this way. If I had no other choice, I'd rather use it to upgrade my wand. At least it'd make the spells look prettier."
Even as the owner of the Philosopher's Stone, Nicolas Flamel had treated its consumption with restraint. The idea of eating it had been an unexpected revelation to many, and even Flamel himself had never dared to consume the entire Stone like candy.
Though purification of magical power and increased energy resistance seemed rather mundane compared to its other abilities, these could be exactly what Harry needed to turn the situation around. Whether it meant enhancing his spell potency or braving the flames to escape the sealed chamber, these newfound strengths could provide Harry a fighting chance.
As Harry waited in silence, a fierce wind suddenly swept through the chamber. Dust, debris, and stones were sent flying, and the powerful gust nearly ripped the Invisibility Cloak right off his body.
Just as the cloak was about to be lifted away, a cold, chilling voice rang through the wind-filled room.
"I've got you, Potter!"
"Game over."
(End of chapter)