Chapter 499

“That’s good.”

Professor Quirrell smiled, carefully cradling the Tree-Protecting Beetle, bowed respectfully, and vanished.

After the professor left, Wizard Sean remained standing in place.

He had asked Professor Quirrell to go to the Albanian Forest and search for Voldemort’s trail.

After Voldemort’s possession of Quirrell failed in stealing the Philosopher’s Stone, he should still be wandering there.

But finding him was clearly difficult, and more importantly, even if they found Voldemort, how could Wizard Sean destroy something that didn’t exist?

Voldemort drifted as a soul; when he fled from Quirrell’s body, even Dumbledore couldn’t stop him.

When he entered Harry’s body, even Dumbledore was powerless.

But Wizard Sean still needed to find his trail—not only because the Soul Relic could exert special influence on souls, but also to understand what state Voldemort was in.

Now, the professor told him that even if they destroyed all the Horcruxes, Voldemort wouldn’t die outright.

He could merely be killed.

Only after they inflicted real harm upon that core fragment of his soul could they utterly destroy Voldemort.

There was no other way.

And that fragment of Voldemort’s soul lay hidden there—in the Albanian Forest.

He might be inhabiting a rat, a snake, a lizard—or manipulating any wizard he deemed useful…

Unless…

Wizard Sean entered Flourish and Blotts, knowing there was one wizard who could truly locate Voldemort.

But finding him was useless.

Wizard Sean had to destroy him.

He hoped he still had enough time…

Flourish and Blotts was noisy; Wizard Sean looked up and was slightly surprised.

The shop usually displayed magical books as thick as paving stones, but now behind the glass stood a large iron cage containing about a hundred copies of The Monster Book of Monsters.

The books were all tangled together, fiercely battling one another like wrestlers in a fierce match, shredded pages flying everywhere.

Wizard Sean pulled out his book list from his pocket and examined it carefully.

The Monster Book of Monsters was listed as a textbook for Care of Magical Creatures. That was what Hagrid had always said—it would come in handy.

At that moment, the manager hurried over.

“From Hogwarts?”

He asked abruptly,

“Here to buy new textbooks?”

“Yes,”

Wizard Sean said.

“Then… Mr. Green?!”

The manager scrutinized Wizard Sean closely and exclaimed,

“You’re here too? Oh, of course, of course—you haven’t graduated yet!”

It seemed the manager knew Wizard Sean.

This wasn’t common.

Only the earliest editions of the Green Notes featured Wizard Sean’s photo, which the owner of Flourish and Blotts had forcibly insisted on adding.

In all other newspapers, only Wizard Sean’s back had ever appeared.

“It’s such an honor to meet you!”

The manager said, pulling out a copy of the Green Notes and a pen—just as Wizard Sean had expected: the original Green Notes, the edition published by Flourish and Blotts before the Green Bookshop was established.

“Mr. Green, please sign this.”

The manager hesitated slightly.

Wizard Sean’s quill floated up and swiftly wrote “Wizard Sean Green.”

“Oh, oh, this is wonderful—”

The manager beamed.

A genuine autograph from Mr. Green could sell for over a dozen Jin Jin Jialong in the hands of certain magical families’ witches!

“You know, you get a 40% discount here, and if you’re willing to provide more sales channels, Flourish and Blotts would be happy to partner with you.”

“I’ll get your books right away.”

The manager finished speaking and walked off happily.

Wizard Sean saw him put on thick gloves and pick up a gnarled, knotted walking stick, heading toward the cage holding The Monster Book of Monsters.

“Sir, please wait—I already have that book.”

Wizard Sean said.

“Oh?”

The manager instantly looked relieved,

“Thank goodness—I’ve already been bitten five times today—”

A loud ripping sound cut through the air as two Monster Books seized a third and tore it in half.

“Stop! Stop!”

The manager shouted, shoving the stick into the cage and striking the books to separate them,

“I’ll never stock these again, never again! What a mess!

Last time we bought two hundred copies of The Invisible Book of Invisibility—we spent a fortune, and we never found a single one…

I thought nothing could be worse than that… So, do you need anything else?”

“Yes,”

Wizard Sean said, looking down at his list,

“I need Cassandra Vablatsky’s Seeing Through the Veil.”

“Ah, you’ve started Divination, then?”

The manager said, removing his gloves and leading Wizard Sean to the back of the store, where a corner was dedicated to Divination books.

A small table was piled high with massive tomes like The Unpredictable Prophecy: Avoiding Panic, The Shattered Orb: When Misfortune Comes…

“Here you are,”

The manager climbed a ladder and retrieved a thick black-covered book,

“Seeing Through the Veil.

An excellent Making Guide—it teaches all the basic Divination methods—palm reading, crystal balls, bird entrails…”

He trailed off.

Then both he and Wizard Sean turned their gaze to a crouching wizard.

Wizard Sean recognized him as Harry, who was staring blankly at a book lying on the floor directly in front of them.

Amid the bustling crowd of Flourish and Blotts, Harry had remained crouched there, motionless.

Wizard Sean spotted the title: Omens of Death: What to Do When Doom Approaches.

“Oh, I wouldn’t read that book myself,”

The manager glanced at the book Harry was staring at and said casually to Wizard Sean,

“After reading it, you’ll see omens of death everywhere—it could scare you to death.”

His voice was loud, but Harry seemed not to hear; he still stared at the cover, which depicted a black dog as large as a bear, its eyes gleaming.

It looked so familiar…

The clerk shoved Seeing Through the Veil into Wizard Sean’s hands.

“Anything else?”

He asked.

“Yes. Intermediate Transfiguration and Standard Spellbook, Level Three…”

Wizard Sean recited every title on his list without missing one.

Then he stood quietly before Harry, shielding the crouching boy from the crowd.

While the manager fetched the books, Wizard Sean noticed other young wizards retrieving volumes from various shelves, and finally fixed his gaze on a small “goblin” and the black dog it was leading.