Chapter 266

The exam is coming soon, and the students have been working very hard recently.

The Weasley twins' "communication ritual" suddenly became popular, but it wasn't because of the communication notebook, but because it was used on draft paper—students soon realized that draft paper that could synchronize what another person wrote was simply an ideal cheating tool.

But unfortunately, the professors also realized this problem and announced that draft paper, gold coins, and any magic tools that could communicate were not allowed to be brought into the examination room—they would use the Summoning Charm during the exam to ensure this.

Harry and the others have more worries than other students.

A few days ago, they finally managed to send Norbert away, but no matter how they hinted, Hagrid just wouldn't tell them how to pass Fluffy.

And what made them even more miserable was that their detention punishment finally came: they were ordered to patrol the Forbidden Forest with Hagrid at night.

Several people were scared by this order. Letting a few first or second-year students patrol the Forbidden Forest at night is really too outrageous. Do these professors think they can beat black bears or fight werewolves?

Harry received Professor McGonagall's letter at lunch. Tom wasn't there at the time.

Recently, this little partner of theirs has become more and more mysterious, often disappearing, and occasionally having dark circles under his eyes, not knowing what he is busy with.

They tried to contact Tom with a Goblin gold coin, but couldn't reach him, and there was no class with Slytherin in the afternoon, so Harry decided to go to the Slytherin common room to find Tom and tell him the news.

If he didn't go to detention as required, he didn't know what kind of punishment he would receive.

Murphy once wanted to connect the common rooms of the four houses, but it was always opposed by the heads of houses and senior students, so it couldn't be implemented. However, he still issued an order to lift the ban on other students not being able to go to other houses' common rooms and canceled the rule of needing to say a password to enter the door.

However, very few people have done so to this day, especially between Gryffindor and Slytherin.

Harry and Ron had been there during the winter break, but there were very few students in the school at that time, but now it's different. When Harry entered the Slytherin common room, he was glared at by several senior students for a long time.

He came to Tom's dormitory and found no one. Harry originally wanted to wait outside, but the gazes of those seniors were really too scary, so he simply sat down by Tom's bed.

Harry glanced at Tom's desk casually. Tom's History of Magic textbook was still on the table. He would definitely come back to get it when he had class in the afternoon.

Besides textbooks, Tom's desk also had many difficult books: "Basics of Alchemy," "Advanced Potions," "Resurrected Wizard," "Soul Transfer," etc.

But soon, Harry's gaze was attracted by a black-covered notebook on the table.

Just as he looked over, the notebook suddenly opened by itself, and the pages flipped through many pages without wind.

Harry was taken aback and curiously leaned over.

He saw a few sentences appearing on that page.

"Main quest: Seize the Sorcerer's Stone."

"Quest reward: Live."

"You, already, dead."

"Your pain sensation is far lower than ordinary people, you will not be affected by physical discomfort, you are immune to dizziness and coma, even if you receive almost fatal blows, you are still awake."

"Don't you find it strange?"

"You want to know who you are?"

"Retrieve the Sorcerer's Stone, and you will get the answer."

Just as Harry looked over, another line of text appeared on the notebook: "Tom, your time is running out."

Harry was startled and suddenly understood. This is a "communication notebook," and someone is talking to Tom through this notebook!

But he asked Tom to seize the Sorcerer's Stone?

And, what does he mean by saying Tom is already dead?

Most importantly, who exactly is giving orders to Tom?

But at this moment, footsteps sounded outside the door, and someone was coming.

Harry slammed the notebook shut, then grabbed a book, sat on the bed, opened it, and pretended to be reading.

The door was pushed open.

"Harry?" Tom looked at Harry in astonishment, and the book he seemed to be holding upside down. "Why are you here?"

Harry also discovered that his book was upside down, so he quickly closed it and stood up. "Just received a letter from Professor McGonagall. She asked us to go to the Forbidden Forest tonight. This is our detention task. You weren't there at lunch, so I came to notify you."

"We couldn't reach you with the Goblin gold coin either," he added.

"Ah, I was chatting with a senior just now and didn't take the gold coin," Tom said.

"Oh, okay."

Both were silent for a moment. Harry said: "Then I'll go first."

"Okay."

Leaving the Slytherin common room, Harry frowned tightly.

Tom is lying!

He wasn't with some senior. His clothes were covered in dust and spiderwebs. He must have been in some place where people don't often pass by just now!

For example—the fourth-floor corridor.

No wonder Tom proposed to get the Sorcerer's Stone first, because this is his mission.

Whose mission is this?

Could it be that Tom is the one...

He didn't dare to think anymore and ran towards the Gryffindor tower almost at a sprint. He must tell Ron this news quickly... He couldn't use the Goblin gold coin because Tom also had one, and he would hear what he said.

However, when he arrived at the Gryffindor common room, the blood-red twisted text on the notebook appeared in his mind.

"You, already, dead."

What does this mean?

And, the quest reward is "Live"?

Could it be that Tom can only live if he completes the quest of seizing the Sorcerer's Stone?

On the other side, after Harry left, Tom looked at his desk with slight confusion, and his gaze suddenly fell on that notebook.

It seems... it moved a little bit?

He frowned, opened the notebook, and in his heart, there was both the panic of his secret possibly being exposed and a kind of faint expectation of no longer needing to keep the secret.

Harry's expression just now kept replaying in his mind.

He just wanted to know now, did Harry see this notebook just now?

In the afternoon Charms class, Harry was always a little distracted.

They had this class with Ravenclaw. Hermione was sitting next to him. Seeing him get the wand-waving sequence for Lumos wrong several times, she couldn't help but speak, "It's drawing a knot counterclockwise, not clockwise. What's wrong with you?"

Harry hesitated, but finally didn't say what he saw today, but asked: "If you were threatened with death and had to steal something, what would you do?"

"Oh, my god, who would do such a terrible thing. Are you talking about, You-Know-Who?"

"Let's say so."

"I hope I never encounter such a thing. But if I were really threatened like that... I might do it. Sorry, I'm not Gryffindor, maybe I don't have as much courage as you."

Harry shook his head. "Maybe I don't either."

"Compared to dying, the guilt of stealing something shouldn't be that big..." Hermione said. "Perhaps, it should count as emergency avoidance? Or a coerced accomplice? I don't know, at least the punishment should be reduced a little, right?"

Emergency avoidance?

Harry breathed a sigh of relief, feeling more comfortable in his heart.

Soon, night fell. Five little wizards: Harry, Tom, Ron, Hermione, and Qiu Zhang were taken to Hagrid's hut by Filch. Along the way, Filch kept telling them how terrible the Forbidden Forest was, that they would definitely die without a whole corpse, etc., scaring the little wizards quite a bit.

Hagrid told them that a unicorn had been attacked, and they had to find it and end its suffering.

Soon, Hagrid proposed to split into two groups. "As long as you are with me or Fang, no creature in the Forbidden Forest will hurt you."

Harry and Tom looked at each other and then avoided each other's gaze. Harry said: "I'll go with you, Hagrid."

Tom: "I want Fang."

Hermione's eyes moved back and forth between the two boys. When did they quarrel?

(End of chapter)