Chapter 38: Conversation in the Hospital Ward

"Headmaster Deng Buliduo." Harry met the most powerful wizard in Britain at the Ministry of Magic; he did not look as dignified as usual.

After all, two fists are no match for four hands, and he was no longer young.

"Harry?" Deng Buliduo was clearly taken aback. "Why are you at the Ministry of Magic? You should be staying safely at Hogwarts."

"We almost died, Headmaster." Zhang Qiu stepped forward, saying with some displeasure, "Because of Quirrell and Snape's conspiracy, Neville nearly lost his life, and Harry was hit by the Cruciatus Curse twice."

"Quirrell..." Deng Buliduo mused, without offering his own opinion.

"I think we should head back to school first." Harry tugged at her sleeve. "We can talk when we get back to school."

The man wearing the long scarf said with some dissatisfaction: "Deng Buliduo, throughout this entire plan, we expected you to make Harry's safety your top priority."

"I am sorry." The old man did not defend himself, but took Harry's hand with some dejection. "Let us go back."

Apparating back to the school entrance, Harry and Zhang Qiu, one holding the Hopping Pot and the other carrying the Invisibility Cloak, followed silently behind Deng Buliduo.

"I am sorry, children." Deng Buliduo said in a low voice. "As soon as I arrived at the Council, I was besieged by at least ten Death Eaters, and their numbers were still increasing. It took me too long to subdue them; I seem to have grown old."

Facing the siege of over a dozen adult wizards, he had ultimately succeeded in stunning them all and sending them to prison, suffering no injuries other than his clothes being slightly disheveled. Yet he was still apologizing, feeling he hadn't done well enough. Harry had studied this rhetorical device; it was called "Versailles."

"You really should pay more attention to the situation at school." Zhang Qiu's tone was extremely cold; Harry swore he had never heard the girl speak like this before.

"Hagrid must have warned you many times that Snape and Quirrell were plotting something." She questioned, "Did you never consider this problem? Let other trustworthy professors keep an eye on them, or simply take them both to the Council."

"The Council only allowed me to go alone." Deng Buliduo said with a hint of apology.

"You are Deng Buliduo, the most powerful wizard in all of Britain." Zhang Qiu said with dissatisfaction. "Why do you care about the Council's red tape? You should drive all those old fogies out of office and replace them with people you trust!"

"Child, I am different from your Master." Deng Buliduo crouched down and gently stroked her face. "Master Xuanjun has lived for who knows how long; he is perhaps older than the world itself. As for me, I am still just a child."

"In the face of power and desire, I once lost myself. When I awoke, I realized I had already lost my own family and lover." Deng Buliduo said sadly. "I will not touch power again. Having one Dark Lord in this world is already terrifying enough; I do not want a White Lord to appear."

Zhang Qiu said with dissatisfaction: "I only know that you are bound by these pedantic concepts, and you nearly cost Harry his life."

"You may not know this, but Snape is one of our own." Deng Buliduo said slowly. "Just as you said, let a trustworthy professor keep an eye on a suspicious one."

"I even suspect he had some grudge against me and planned to kill with a borrowed knife." Harry was very annoyed. "When we were playing chess with Quirrell in the basement, he was still sleeping in his office!"

"Snape swore he would protect you well, because your father once saved his life." Deng Buliduo chose to reveal only a part of the truth.

"But..." Harry was about to retort, but he suddenly fell silent. Voldemort had said he wanted to kill him with his own hands, so he believed Quirrell would not harm him. And the task of resurrecting Voldemort had already been completed the moment he got a handkerchief of blood on Wan Shengjie; the Sorcerer's Stone was merely an optional bonus.

Perhaps the one who truly put Harry in danger was Harry himself, who wanted to play the hero regardless of the consequences.

"Professor, I would like to ask." Harry said. "Why was it me who ended up with the Sorcerer's Stone?"

"That is my pride and joy." Deng Buliduo said with a smile. "The Mirror of Erised can reflect the desires in people's hearts. Only those who want to obtain the stone, but whose purpose is not to use it, can find it."

Harry carefully savored these words; he felt as if he had made a huge mistake.

Quirrell wanted to use the Sorcerer's Stone, so he could not take the stone out of the mirror; Neville only wanted to stop him from getting the stone, and he would have been happy for the stone to remain in the mirror.

Only when he himself rushed to the scene would Quirrell think of using Neville's life to threaten him, and he, too, would want to obtain the stone under the condition that his "purpose was not to use the Sorcerer's Stone."

If he hadn't rushed down in such a hurry, Quirrell, unable to get the stone, would have had to continue torturing Neville, but he perhaps would not have killed Neville, because that was his last remaining hope of obtaining the stone.

No, if he had rushed into the scene with the professor, the desperate Quirrell would certainly not have spared a Killing Curse before fleeing. Therefore, the current outcome was already the best-case scenario; the young wizards had used their courage and wisdom to save their companion's life.

Furthermore, they had also kept the Sorcerer's Stone and destroyed the freshly obtained blood of the enemy. If the blood Quirrell had obtained on Wan Shengjie hadn't yet been handed over to Voldemort, then that was equivalent to preventing his resurrection.

It was just that too much time had passed since Wan Shengjie, and Harry dared not guarantee that this guess was true.

"I think I have one last question." Harry said. "What do you think of Neville? He said he was also the child in the prophecy."

"Oh, you already know about that prophecy." Deng Buliduo looked somewhat hesitant. "In reality, there can only be one child in the prophecy, because the prophecy mentions 'the Dark Lord himself marks him as his equal'."

"But Neville also longs to prove himself, and his parents were also..."

"I know, I know." Deng Buliduo said dejectedly. "The Longbottoms, but I had no choice, Harry. Only you possess the ability to defeat him."

"Mr. Deng Buliduo, I have a request." Harry said. "I hope you will not involve other students in the grievances between Voldemort and me again."

"... I am sorry." Deng Buliduo had said this word several times today, but every time he said it, Harry could hear the firmness in his deep apology that he would do it again next time.

The three parted ways at the castle entrance; Harry and Zhang Qiu planned to go to the school hospital to visit Neville, while Deng Buliduo had to return to the Headmaster's office to deal with some issues.

"Deng Buliduo is a typical 'White Left'." On the way to the hospital, Zhang Qiu criticized him without reservation: "Blindly pursuing political correctness, naively thinking that the enemy is as childish as he is."

"Uh, that's not necessarily true." Harry felt that saying so was too offensive.

"Revolution is not a dinner party; it cannot be so refined and polite," Zhang Qiu said with great intensity. "Just look at what he has done: designing obstacle games, hinting for you to defeat enemies, while he himself steps right into a Death Eater's trap. Does he think he is writing a fairy tale? That brave Harry cleverly completed the obstacle game and then defeated the Death Eater at the end of the level?"

"In fact, isn't that how divination is written?" Harry said optimistically. "When I was tortured by the Cruciatus Curse but insisted on not yielding, I finally understood what 'unyielding' meant."

"Why didn't he carry the Sorcerer's Stone on himself from the start?" Zhang Qiu pointed out this most fatal mistake. "Even if he was hindered by various red tape and couldn't deal with Quirrell directly, he could have perfectly protected the Sorcerer's Stone, instead of handing the task of preventing Voldemort's resurrection to an eleven-year-old child!"

"Neville also said something similar." Harry said, frowning. "Perhaps Deng Buliduo is a master at dueling, but he is indeed somewhat naive when it comes to struggle."

Walking and chatting along the way, carrying a slight dissatisfaction with Deng Buliduo, they walked into the school hospital.

As soon as they entered the ward, they could see Neville lying on the bed, with bandages in several places on his body. Hannah was quietly guarding him by the bedside; Luo En and Hermione were not there.

"Hi, Hannah." Harry greeted. "How is Neville?"

"Madam Pomfrey said the burns and muscle strains can be treated, but the exhaustion of the soul can only wait for him to recover on his own." Hannah said with some worry.

"Soul?" Harry also became worried. "What vicious spell did Quirrell use?"

"It was my own spell." Neville opened his eyes; he looked listless. "That kind of high-speed movement puts a great burden on both the body and the soul."

"Oh, you're back." Luo En was just entering from the ward door. "It's really great that everyone is okay."

"I'm sorry, Quirrell got away." Before Harry could speak, Zhang Qiu spoke first.

"Well, but Harry, you look in good spirits." Luo En patted him on the shoulder. "It seems the Cruciatus Curse didn't have any effect on you."

Harry thought to himself, I lay in the afterlife for at least half an hour before I could barely feel my bones not hurting so much.

But since Zhang Qiu was unwilling to talk about those things, he had to pretend he hadn't been to the afterlife: "Maybe my constitution is a bit special."

There were no other patients in the ward, so no one cared about them chatting away. Neville joined the conversation, and before long, Hermione also came over with a pile of snacks. The children chatted about their respective heroic performances, complaining about Snape's cowardice and Deng Buliduo's miscalculation, their faces full of smiles of those who had survived a disaster.

"Really good, eleven-year-old Harry has already learned to keep secrets." Deng Buliduo thought with gratification, not disturbing the children's clamor. ===== CHAPTER 39 =====