Chapter 283

Harry was taken to the side by Professor McGonagall, and the atmosphere in the tavern was very oppressive for a while.

"Let him finish saying the rest." Barty Crouch spoke up to break this atmosphere. Quirrell was about to die, he must be made to say everything he knew quickly.

"Continue to talk about the following things." Rasim ordered Quirrell.

"Lukas and Harry disappeared, and we also lost the Sorcerer's Stone. The Master was furious, but we had no other way, we could only go to find Nicolas Flamel... fortunately, we knew his address, we Apparated there, and then the Master removed the magic outside his house and broke in."

"Nicolas Flamel was very old, he almost, cough cough cough..." Quirrell suddenly coughed violently, his breath weakening by another point. "He, he didn't expect us to break in, we controlled him without any effort, and then threatened him with his wife to hand over the Immortality Potion. He didn't seem to value the Immortality Potion very much, and handed it all over."

"Ma, cough, Master thought he was playing tricks, threatened him to confirm if the Immortality Potion was real, and finally killed his wife, but Nicolas Flamel seemed to be scared silly, he didn't speak anymore. The Master actually knew that what he got was the real Immortality Potion, he killed that old guy because he was very angry, but he still didn't kill Nicolas Flamel, he was worried that if there were other changes, Nicolas Flamel would still be useful."

Several people looked at Dumbledore. They all knew that Nicolas Flamel and his wife were Dumbledore's friends.

But Dumbledore was still expressionless.

"We left Nicolas Flamel's home, returned to the graveyard, and prepared the potion again..." Quirrell said this, frowning in pain. "I offered my hand, and then Murphy, Murphy appeared..."

"His spell hit me, and then, I watched him add many things to the Resurrection Potion... and then the Master, the Master became a monster... Murphy killed him, the Master's resurrection plan was stopped again, stopped..."

"Then Murphy knocked me unconscious again... when I woke up, I was here..."

Everyone nodded. Quirrell's testimony matched Murphy's statement. It seemed that Voldemort was stopped twice tonight, once by Tom, and once by Murphy.

"Quirrell, I want to hear you talk more carefully about that diary..." Dumbledore just opened his mouth, but saw Quirrell suddenly widen his eyes, and a stream of blood flowed out of his nostrils. "Master, don't leave me, Master..."

He wailed, looked up, and suddenly lost his breath.

Quirrell was dead.

The Aurors took Quirrell's corpse away for a final check.

Rasim also questioned Snape, Ron, Hermione, Qiu Zhang, and others, learning the reasons and process of several people going to the trapdoor.

Except that several young wizards were too bold, there were no suspicious points.

Hermione and others also learned from this that Snape protected Harry and had been trying to protect the Sorcerer's Stone from being stolen by Quirrell.

Finally, Rasim looked at Murphy. "Professor Murphy, Lukas finally handed the Sorcerer's Stone to you, right? Where is it now?"

"No, I didn't get the Sorcerer's Stone."

"What?" Rasim didn't quite understand.

"It's a pity, the Sorcerer's Stone Lukas handed to me was fake. When I went to find the teacher, the teacher told me."

Murphy said, taking out a pile of broken stones packed in a plastic bag. "It's this, it broke with one hammer, it's just red crystal."

"You mean, Voldemort still took the real Sorcerer's Stone?" Rasim asked in shock. "Then why did he still go to Nicolas Flamel's place to snatch the Immortality Potion?"

"So, Voldemort didn't know the Sorcerer's Stone was fake either." Murphy said. "And I don't think Tom and Harry would lie to me."

"Therefore, I think, thanks to the Headmaster's deep foresight, the Sorcerer's Stone should not have been placed in those traps from the beginning. Now, it should still be in the Headmaster's hand, right?"

"Is that so?" Harry was shocked, and all the professors were shocked. They looked at Dumbledore. "There was no Sorcerer's Stone in that trap at all, that was a trap set to confuse people? Dumbledore?"

"Sometimes we need to prepare for the worst." Dumbledore said.

"So, the Sorcerer's Stone is in your hand now?" Watcher Commander Winston Robinson asked.

Dumbledore glanced at him. "Yes."

"Then I'm afraid, you should return the Sorcerer's Stone to Mr. Murphy."

"Return to?" Dumbledore keenly discovered the other party's subtle wording.

"Yes," Winston said. "Earlier, we received a notification from Mr. Nicolas Flamel. He invited us to verify a will he had newly established. He handed over all his research materials, achievements, utensils, and alchemical products related to alchemy—including the Sorcerer's Stone and the Immortality Potion—to his disciple, Mr. Murphy Darkholm."

"Therefore, the Sorcerer's Stone now belongs to Mr. Murphy Darkholm."

Dumbledore showed a slight look of realization, but then asked in doubt: "But I have never heard Flamel mention that you are his student."

"Maybe because I am still too immature, the teacher didn't admit that I was his disciple in the past." Murphy said. "To be honest, I didn't expect the teacher to leave these things to me."

Dumbledore scrutinized him for a long while, then turned his gaze away. "Then Nicolas he..."

"It's a pity, Mr. Nicolas Flamel took an overdose of Draught of Living Death half an hour ago, following his wife, and passed away."

Dumbledore's gaze dimmed for a moment. "Is that so?"

He wasn't particularly surprised either. From the previous few letters, they had all mentioned this possibility, and the Flamel couple had long been prepared.

"Then, can we now conclude," Rasim said, "that the death of this student was because he bravely resisted Voldemort. This was a feat, but also a terrible tragedy. Can we consider that apart from Voldemort, no one else needs to take responsibility for the death of this student?"

However, as soon as Rasim's words fell, he heard a witch shout: "What kind of joke are you making?!"

"A student, died during school, yet no one needs to take responsibility for this?!"

"Ms. Caliman, what do you mean?"

Caliman was a white-haired witch. She was the Chair of the Hogwarts School Governors. At this moment, she glared at Rasim. "Doesn't this count as the school's dereliction of duty?"

"Or, is it because this student is an orphan, and no one can seek justice for him, so you intend to let it go?"

For a time, everyone dared not speak.

This was of course the school's dereliction of duty.

After all, Hogwarts was a boarding school. Students sent their children here to learn, and students had to live in the school for a whole year except for holidays. The school of course had the obligation to protect the safety of students.

Dumbledore had to speak. "Something like this happening in the school is my dereliction of duty."

"This is of course your dereliction of duty! Albus!" Caliman was not polite at all.

"We also happen to have some questions that need to be asked to you, let the hearing start now."

(End of chapter)