Chapter 17.
They walked forward, down the sloping corridor, with only the sound of their own footsteps and the gentle dripping of water from the walls surrounding them.
"Did you hear something?" Daphne stopped and listened attentively. The others quieted down to hear the sounds around them, and indeed, there seemed to be a faint rustling noise coming from ahead.
"Let's go, we'll find out what's going on," Soren said, pointing ahead where there was light. They discovered that at the end of the corridor, there was a brightly lit room, and the sound was coming from above them.
On the high arched ceiling, countless small birds flitted about, flapping their wings and flying around the room.
"This is... the second trap?" Daphne was cautious after her previous experience, fearing she might fall into another trap. "Do you think if we go straight in, those flying birds will attack us?"
Meredith, who had keen observation skills, pointed to a heavy-looking wooden door on the opposite side and said, "There's a door over there; we will probably need to go through this room."
"What if all those birds suddenly come at us? We could all cast an explosion spell to blow them all away. Wouldn't that let us pass this challenge?" Daphne suggested.
Soren shook his head, "Daphne, your spell-casting and adaptability are quite good, and you also show great courage when facing difficulties, but in terms of observation and reasoning, you should learn more from Meredith—look closely; those things above us are not birds."
In the chaotic future ahead, Soren did not plan to fight alone.
After a whole semester of observation and interaction, he felt that the abilities and dispositions of the two girls were commendable, making them trustworthy candidates; thus, he began to consider cultivating their abilities as potential confidants in the future. Of course, the pleasant appearances of the two girls were also a factor; the two big fools, Goyle and Crabbe, had no chance of becoming Soren's followers.
Taking a closer look, Daphne realized they were actually a swarm of winged keys. "Damn it, this challenge must have been set by Professor McGonagall; did she get the inspiration from your award-winning paper on magical lamps?"
Soren shook his head and did not comment, instead asking, "Have you figured out how to overcome this challenge?"
Daphne furrowed her brow, "Don't tell me we need to find a key from this pile of keys."
"Bingo! You got it right; we probably need to find the right key to open the door," Soren said calmly. "Obviously, they can't just be decorative items."
"But there are hundreds of keys up there!" Daphne frowned.
Meredith had already grabbed a broomstick, getting ready to share the flying broom with Soren and Daphne.
All three were not bad at flying, but compared to Harry or other Quidditch players, they all knew flying was not their strong suit. At that moment, Meredith thought they would just have to bite the bullet and go for it.
Soren said slowly, "Let me give you a valuable lesson; in real-life combat, there are no one-size-fits-all solutions. You need to learn to use your strengths and utilize all the tools at your disposal to achieve your goals. The so-called tools are not just wands—they can include potions, herbs, magical creatures, and of course, many items from the Muggle world. A wizard's true strength lies not in magic, but in wisdom. Whenever you encounter a problem, thinking first about relying on magic to solve it is a sign of weakness. I have always believed that such people are merely brutes who can perform magic. Flexibly using every tool available to us, employing our brains, to solve the insurmountable challenges we face... rather than relying solely on magic or brute force, that's what makes a truly excellent wizard!"
The two girls listened, enlightened, their eyes sparkling as they looked at Soren.
Then, Soren pulled a Muggle universal lock picker from his pocket and, after a few attempts under the astonished gaze of the two girls, with a click, the door lock surprisingly opened. The two girls stood rigidly, watching Soren grasp the doorknob, smiling at them, "The door is open; let's go in." With that, he pushed the door open.
"How... how did you do that?" Meredith stuttered.
Soren explained, "This is a Muggle universal lock picker, specifically used to pry open locks. This lock was enchanted with a counter-Alohomora spell, which makes wizard unlocking methods ineffective, but—"
Soren chuckled at this point, saying, "Wizards are too arrogant. Even Dumbledore didn't show the proper regard for Muggle methods, which is why there are such loopholes. I dare say that any defensive measures within the school, including any faculty office, could be pried open with this tool."
The three crossed the door and entered an empty room, which was pitch black and nothing could be seen in their field of vision.
Suddenly, torches on the surrounding walls ignited, creating a scene reminiscent of battling a boss in a game, which was equally shocking. At that moment, they found themselves standing beside a gigantic chessboard, facing two rows of black statues taller than they were. On the other side of the room, facing them, were two rows of white statues.
"This can't be... Wizard's Chess, can it?" Daphne couldn't help but murmur. "What are we supposed to do now?"
"We might need to step onto the board as pieces. We can only move to the next level after defeating the opponent," Soren speculated, unsure if they could win with just three pieces.
Daphne and Meredith frowned as they considered that if they had to act as pieces, being struck by the weapons of those statue pieces wouldn't be a fun experience.
After thinking for a moment, Soren came up with a plan and asked Daphne to serve as the king, while Meredith took the role of the queen, which were the two pieces least likely to be lost. He would take the role of a knight. "What if we get taken out?" Meredith still worried about various scenarios.
"I'll avoid that situation; if it's truly unavoidable, we'll just blast through with an explosion spell." After saying this, Soren began moving the pieces.
The initial moves were all about exchanging pieces, clearing a larger battlefield. Soren found that Professor McGonagall's chess game wasn't as brilliant as he had imagined. This game progressed more smoothly than expected.
As the number of pieces on the board decreased to a certain extent, they no longer needed to consider exchanges, and Soren started to strategize how to defeat the king quickly.
After the white queen violently knocked another bishop to the floor and tossed it off the board like garbage, Soren immediately stepped forward and happily checkmated the king. Just as he raised his wand, ready to blast the white king to pieces, the king surprisingly removed his crown and threw it at Soren's feet.
This indicated that Soren had won.
Passing through the wooden door, there was a corridor behind it, and the group followed it forward.
Meredith said to herself, "The three-headed dog is Hagrid's challenge; that devil's snare must be Professor Sprout's trap; the enchanted keys are definitely the work of Professor Flitwick, and McGonagall's giant chessboard— the three heads of the houses have all participated. So... it's very likely we'll face a trap set by Snape next?"
Soren smiled, "Did you forget about our Defense Against the Dark Arts professor?"
As they spoke, they arrived at a door. The moment the door was opened, a nauseating stench wafted out, and they almost instinctively raised their clothes to cover their noses. The next moment, the sound of iron chains being pulled resounded, followed by a deafening roar from inside the room.
"It's a troll!" Meredith screamed. Girls are generally frightened by the terrifying appearance and enormous size of trolls, losing their battle spirit regardless of their own strength. Daphne fared slightly better than Meredith; she didn't scream, but her face still looked quite pale.
Soren said nonchalantly, "It's just a troll. You didn't forget that I defeated one on Halloween, did you?" After he said this, both girls seemed to realize, and their expressions became less grim.
Soren continued, "Trolls have brute strength similar to giants, and their skin has considerable magic resistance, so it's unrealistic to knock it out with a stunning spell. However, it has a weakness—do you know what it is?"
Meredith and Daphne answered in unison, "The back of its head! That's its weakness."
Soren snapped his fingers and smiled with satisfaction, "Exactly! Knowing its weakness makes it a lot less scary. In a moment, I'll use the impediment jinx to limit its movements while you two use the levitation spell to control the stick in its hand and hit it on the back of its head. Understand?"
Both girls had been instructed by Soren on the advanced use of the levitation spell and quickly nodded to show they understood.
After opening the door, Soren took the lead, using an obstacle spell to hinder and delay the giant's movements. The two girls simultaneously cast a levitation spell on the wooden sticks on the giant's body. The tacit understanding they developed over the entire semester was now evident, as both girls used their minds to control the wooden sticks, bringing them to the giant's back of the head and delivering a heavy blow that successfully knocked the giant unconscious.
With the achievement, the two girls happily hugged each other and high-fived in celebration, and unknowingly, the slight misunderstandings between them dissipated.
Next was Professor Snape's logic puzzle challenge.
Neither of the girls was particularly skilled in logical reasoning, so Soren patiently guided them through the principles behind logical reasoning and provided some example problems from the Muggle world. While they waited for themselves, they attempted to solve the problems using their own abilities. Meanwhile, he drank the antidote alone and passed through the black flames, arriving at the final checkpoint—the room with the Mirror of Erised.
Soren was not as ignorant about the Mirror of Erised as Harry was in the original story.
The Mirror of Erised was a creation from a 14th-century alchemist, and unfortunately, the method of making this alchemical product had been lost. This wasn't an isolated case in the alchemical world; many other alchemical products from the same period had also lost their manufacturing methods—such as the Vanishing Cabinet, the two-way mirror, the Resurrection Stone, and the Invisibility Cloak, all due to the chaotic environment of war and the wizards' penchant for guarding their treasures.
The magic inscribed on the Mirror of Erised was none other than the art of Soul-Reading.
It used the art of Soul-Reading to read the thoughts of the person looking into the mirror, uncovering their innermost desires and projecting an image in the mirror. Dumbledore had made some modifications to this mirror, allowing it to store precious items—those who desired to obtain the Philosopher's Stone could see an illusory image of themselves holding it in the mirror, but only those who did not wish to use it could truly retrieve the stone.
However, knowing the underlying principle of the mirror did not guarantee success. After casting a brain-blocking spell, Soren attempted to approach the mirror, discovering that the reflection of himself was smiling back. The reflection of Soren pulled a red stone out of its pocket, and when Soren reached into his own pocket, he indeed found the legendary Philosopher's Stone.
Having obtained the Philosopher's Stone, Soren transformed it into an identical-looking replica using Transfiguration. Then, using the brain-blocking spell, he began to attempt to place the replica into the Mirror of Erised. After several attempts, he finally found the trick and successfully placed the replica into the mirror.
Perhaps Dumbledore could see through the fact that this was a replica of the Philosopher's Stone, but so what?
With hundreds of people in the entire school, it was unlikely Dumbledore would suspect this first-year student, especially since his actions tonight were meticulously prepared—he knew that apart from the caretaker Filch, all the portraits in the castle served as Dumbledore's eyes and ears. The three of them used the Disillusionment Charm and the Silencing Spell to sneak out of the dormitory, ensuring that no one in the castle's portraits would be aware that they had left.
The only remaining issue was that Dumbledore might summon the Philosopher's Stone with a summoning spell, but there was a solution—Hogwarts' anti-disillusionment spells had a fatal flaw: non-wizard apparitions could not be prohibited, such as phoenixes, Thestrals, and house-elves.
Soren hurriedly had Dobby take the Philosopher's Stone back to Malfoy Manor, placing it in a secret room that had heavy protective wards, concealment charms, and shielding spells released by the family.
After doing all this, Soren quickly brought Daphne and Meredith back to the Slytherin dormitory, using the Disillusionment Charm and the Silencing Spell.
At this point, Soren was grateful that the entrance to the Slytherin dormitory was a stone wall; as long as the correct password was spoken, the entrance would appear on the wall, unlike Gryffindor, which had a portrait of the Fat Lady guarding it—this avoided the risk of someone discovering that someone had left the dormitory.
[Philosopher's Stone Obtained!]