Dumbledore successfully persuaded Harry not to go looking for the mirror that could make people waste away again.
In the days that followed, Harry hoped he could easily forget what he had seen in the mirror.
However, he couldn't forget.
He started having nightmares.
He dreamed over and over of his parents disappearing in a flash of green light, accompanied by a loud, cackling laughter.
Harry told his two best friends about this.
"See? Dumbledore was right, that mirror could drive you mad," Ron said.
However, Hermione's view was different from Ron's, and her feelings were very complex.
On one hand, she was terrified that Harry had been wandering around at night throughout the Christmas holidays; on the other, she was deeply disappointed that Harry hadn't even figured out who Nicolas Flamel was.
Once the term started, they resumed their practice of browsing through books during the ten-minute breaks between classes.
However, in their hearts, they had pretty much given up hope of finding out who Nicolas Flamel was in the library.
Unlike the Savior trio who had effectively given up, Kyle was full of motivation.
"Excuse me, another Healing Charm for our Captain, please."
Cedric had already dragged Jack Sparrow off the Quidditch pitch for the third time.
As the Keeper, Captain Jack's training regimen consisted of intercepting Quaffles fired at the goalposts.
Under Kyle's devilish training, Jack's improvement rate was gratifying.
From missing nine out of ten balls at the start, he now missed at most five. As for the other five, he could basically catch them with his face.
However, the consequence was a severe concussion.
Fortunately, their Quidditch team had Kyle, an amateur Healer. A mere concussion couldn't stop the training from continuing.
As long as his head didn't explode and he didn't drop dead on the spot, he could be brought back.
With Kyle's current level of medical magic, Jack would be back on the field, alive and kicking, in three minutes.
Two minutes later, Cedric dragged their Chaser, Cadwallader, to Kyle's side again.
"Kyle, thank goodness you're here, or I wouldn't know what to do." Cedric looked at Kyle gratefully.
"Small matter."
However, Kyle didn't treat him personally this time. Instead, he signaled for Hannah, who was standing nearby, to treat Cadwallader.
Hannah had been learning medical magic for some time now. During this period, she had often gone to the hospital wing to help Madam Pomfrey.
Even Madam Pomfrey had praised Hannah for having quite good talent in medical magic.
However, her progress in learning medical magic had stagnated recently.
What Hannah lacked most now was sufficient practical opportunity, because there weren't many injured patients for the school nurse to deal with every day.
But ever since Hufflepuff began their devilish Quidditch training, Hannah no longer had to worry about this problem.
Because almost every two or three minutes, Cedric would drag another injured person over.
Minor injuries were given to Hannah to practice on; heavier ones, like their Captain's concussion, were handled by Kyle personally.
For Hannah, this was a rare opportunity for practice, so her level of medical magic had improved by leaps and bounds recently.
Watching Hannah treat Cadwallader, Kyle rubbed his smooth chin. Should I find some time to teach Hannah the Chakra Enhanced Strength technique?
On this day, the Hufflepuff Quidditch players experienced true despair for the first time.
At eleven o'clock at night, the little badgers of Hufflepuff walked out of the suitcase supporting each other, looking tragic.
Seeing their pale faces and shaky steps, anyone who didn't know better might think they had just engaged in some vigorous multiplayer...
Well, Quidditch is indeed a multiplayer sport.
Never mind then.
Although they didn't have a single scratch on their bodies, their spirits had been devastated.
Tonight, every single one of them had experienced being shot down by a Bludger or a Quaffle no less than ten times.
But in the end, they were all saved by the miraculous Doctor Hannah.
They would rest off the field for less than two minutes before being forced by the death stare of a certain demon to tremblingly mount their brooms and return to that terrifying training ground comparable to hell.
If possible, they never wanted to experience this again in their lives.
"Tomorrow night at eight, training continues."
Hearing Cedric's words, everyone except Kyle let out a painful wail.
But no one dared to voice a refusal.
Because earlier, they had already protested once, and the ending was not pleasant.
The result: including the reserve players, there were eleven wizards in total, two of whom were sixth-year seniors.
Kyle hadn't even drawn his wand before he beat them all up.
Overwhelming martial suppression had already made them give up hope. They couldn't beat him, and they couldn't die—what else could they do?
"Finished? Let me copy it."
In the library, seeing Hermione put down her quill, Kyle immediately reached out to grab the parchment in front of her.
The Little Beaver glared at Kyle and slapped the hand he had extended.
However, she couldn't move it. Kyle shamelessly took her History of Magic assignment anyway.
The Little Beaver shook her head helplessly at this, then stood up and left her seat.
When she returned, she was holding a stack of books on modern magical history.
"What are you looking for?" Hannah stuck her head over curiously.
For some time now, she had constantly seen Hermione holding a stack of books from the shelves after finishing her homework, flipping through them rapidly as if looking for some specific information inside.
The Little Beaver hesitated; she was wondering whether to tell Hannah and Kyle about this.
Revealing the name Nicolas Flamel to these two shouldn't be a problem, right? Neither of them was the type with exploding curiosity.
Hermione was very afraid of dragging her two good friends into the events behind the trapdoor.
But eventually, she spoke up. "I'm looking for who Nicolas Flamel is."
"Nicolas Flamel?" Kyle, who was copying homework, paused his hand movements. The Savior trio has already traced it to this point?
Dumbledore had told him not to interfere with the Savior's trials, but he didn't say he couldn't give them a little assistance.
Just as Kyle was preparing to tell Hermione, Hannah beat him to it:
"I know! I've seen that name on a Chocolate Frog card!"
"You know?" Hermione raised her head in pleasant surprise. She hadn't held out any hope, but she hadn't expected Hannah to actually say she knew.
Hannah poured a large pile of Chocolate Frog cards from her pocket onto the table in front of her with a clatter, rummaging through them nonstop.
Soon, she found her target—Albus Dumbledore's wizard card.
"Look here," Hannah pointed to the back of the card. "Dumbledore's widely known contributions include: defeating the Dark Wizard Grindelwald in 1945, discovering the twelve uses of dragon's blood, and his effective work on alchemy with his partner, Nicolas Flamel!"
Hermione jumped up. She hadn't been this excited since they received the grades for their first homework assignment.
She quickly brought back a huge old book from near the bookshelf and began flipping through the pages rapidly, muttering under her breath.
Finally, she found it.
On the page, a sentence was written: "Nicolas Flamel is the only known maker of the Sorcerer's Stone."
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