Sean watched the disguised Crabbe and Goyle. Ever since they entered, the two had become even more awkward and out of place.
"What do we do now?" Ron whispered nervously, glancing around at the Slytherin students.
Harry said, "Let's go to Draco's dorm. There are too many people here."
"Where's Draco's dorm?" Ron asked.
Harry shook his head. "No idea. But there are only three first-year boys' dorms. He has to be in one of them."
The problem was—they didn't even know which rooms belonged to the first years. The Slytherin dorms were completely different from Gryffindor's—one was in the dungeons, the other in a tower.
Just as they were stuck, Draco's voice called out from the second-floor corridor.
"Where have you two been? You disappeared right after dinner."
"Uh… we weren't full, so we went to get some dessert," Harry replied.
Draco looked at them with disgust. "Gluttons. Get up here. I've got something to tell you."
Harry and Ron hurried up the stairs and followed Draco into his dorm. It just so happened that this was also Crabbe and Goyle's room.
Unaware of that, the two stood stiffly. Draco leaned against his bed and looked at them.
"Blaise has been really annoying lately. We need to teach him a lesson. Got any ideas?"
Harry and Ron had only seen Blaise a couple of times in shared classes—they knew nothing about him.
But Draco bringing him up gave Harry the perfect opening.
"Um… Draco, why did you make that bet if you knew you'd lose?"
Draco sat up, staring at "Crabbe" with a strange expression. "Are you stupid? I already told you—I didn't lose. I just gave Sean face and didn't go looking for Flamel's student."
Hearing this firsthand, Harry pressed eagerly, "So Flamel's student really is at Hogwarts?"
Draco said impatiently, "Sean told me himself."
"Sean again…" Harry thought. In his mind, Sean seemed to know all kinds of hidden secrets about the school.
Back in his dorm, Sean sneezed, then glanced at the Marauder's Map and spotted the two troublemakers.
"As expected—it's those two. What are they up to?" he muttered.
Having gotten what he wanted, Harry was now even more convinced that the Philosopher's Stone was hidden in the third-floor room.
He nudged Ron, signaling it was time to leave.
As they turned to go, Draco frowned. "Where are you going?"
"We ate too much. Going for a walk to digest," Harry said.
Draco waved them off with another look of disdain. "Go, go."
Harry and Ron hurried out. Just as they thought they'd escaped smoothly, Sean called out to them from the common room.
"You two—Crabbe, Goyle."
They froze.
Slowly turning around, they forced themselves to stay calm. "What is it?"
"Tell Draco not to mess with that third-floor room. He'll get himself killed," Sean said mysteriously.
Hearing that only convinced Harry further that Draco was plotting to steal the Philosopher's Stone.
"Got it. We'll tell him."
The two quickly left the Slytherin common room. Even though the Polyjuice Potion hadn't worn off yet, they couldn't bear staying there any longer.
Watching them leave, Sean thought, They're probably going to try the challenge tonight.
The traps had already been reset last week. That was why Sean had deliberately nudged Harry again.
Sure enough, back in the second-floor girls' bathroom, Harry said excitedly, "Hermione, we're going to the third-floor room tonight. We have to get there before Draco and protect the Philosopher's Stone."
He recounted everything Draco and Sean had said.
After listening, Hermione nodded. "That makes sense. Draco went there before to find the stone. But if Sean warned him he could die, then the protections must be extremely dangerous."
But Harry was fired up after everything he'd learned. He wanted to push forward in one go and head there after curfew.
Hermione wanted to object, but hesitated.
The three agreed to meet in the Gryffindor common room after curfew. Harry would use the Invisibility Cloak to sneak to the third floor.
"Who stepped on my foot?" Hermione whispered sharply.
"Not me," Harry said immediately.
Meanwhile, Sean lay comfortably on his bed, Jerry sprawled lazily across him. He watched the trio's movements on the Marauder's Map.
"Let's see if you can clear it tonight."
Aside from Hagrid's three-headed dog, Quirrell's troll, and Dumbledore's Mirror of Erised, four more trials set by the heads of house remained.
When the trio reached the cluttered room at the corner, Harry removed the cloak and looked around.
"On Christmas night, I saw Sean come here looking for something. I checked later but didn't find anything special."
"The three-headed dog used to guard this room. It was over there," Hermione said, pointing at a massive pile of old wooden desks and chairs.
"Move those and see what's underneath."
Ron tried pushing them, but the stack was nearly three meters high. It was impossible for them to move it by hand—and dangerous if it collapsed.
"No good," Ron said helplessly.
Hermione glared at him. "Are you serious? Who told you to use your hands? Use magic—the Levitation Charm!"
"Oh! Right, the Levitation Charm—I can do that," Ron said quickly.
Working together, the three cast the spell. After a few minutes, they cleared the pile, revealing a dusty trapdoor.
"Look! A door!" Harry said excitedly.
They jumped down and immediately encountered Professor Sprout's Devil's Snare.
On the Marauder's Map, their names began moving rapidly. Sean knew—they had found the entrance.
The four trials seemed almost tailor-made for them. Each of the trio used their strengths, working together to pass all four.
But Ron was injured, and Hermione took him back, leaving Harry alone.
In the final room, there was nothing.
Empty.
Harry searched frantically, convinced there had to be something hidden.
Then a voice rang out behind him, startling him.
"No need to look. The Philosopher's Stone isn't here."
Harry spun around.
Sean stood there.
"Why? Isn't the stone here? Isn't Draco trying to steal it? Aren't those trials protecting it?" Harry asked, confused.
Sean replied calmly, "No. No. Yes."
"What?" Harry was completely lost.
"The stone isn't here. Draco isn't stealing it. But those trials were originally meant to protect it," Sean explained.
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