72: Chapter 72 Quirrell went deeper.

The room behind the door was quieter than the previous challenges.

Harry leaned against the wall, listening for a moment first.

"Nothing moving."

Hermione stepped past him, saw the Troll lying on the ground, and stopped immediately.

"Is this the previous challenge?"

Harry covered his nose.

"It has already been knocked out by someone."

Hermione frowned and walked around the club.

"Snape has been here?"

"Or maybe Quirrell."

"Harry, stop focusing only on Snape."

Harry looked at her.

"Do you think there's something wrong with Quirrell too?"

Hermione raised her wand.

"After the Forbidden Forest, I don't believe he's just cowardly."

Harry didn't argue further and followed her toward the next door.

After the door opened, flames rose up; a wall of black fire blocked the path ahead, and a wall of purple fire sealed the way back.

A piece of parchment lay on a stone table, with seven bottles lined up next to it.

Harry stopped in front of the table.

"What is this?"

Hermione picked up the parchment and finished reading it quickly.

"A Potion riddle."

Harry looked at the flames on both sides.

"I'd rather play another game of chess."

Hermione scanned the bottles.

"Don't touch them. There's poison in the bottles, there's wine, and there's a Potion that allows one to pass through the flames."

Harry looked down at the bottles.

"Snape's challenge?"

"Only he would put a logic puzzle here."

"Then we still have a chance."

Hermione looked up at him.

"It's too late to compliment him now."

Harry twitched the corner of his mouth.

"I wasn't complimenting him."

Hermione flattened the parchment.

"Listen, the largest and smallest bottles are not safe; the second from the left and the second from the right taste the same, but one is poison."

Harry felt a headache coming on just looking at it.

"Can you solve it?"

Hermione didn't look up.

"Don't talk."

Harry shut his mouth, but after a few seconds, he couldn't help but speak again.

"Will Ron be okay?"

Hermione's fingers paused at the rim of a bottle.

"He will be in pain for a few days, but he won't die."

"Are you sure?"

"If you keep making noise, I won't be sure if we can get out."

Harry immediately took half a step back.

Hermione stared at the parchment and then at the bottles.

"This one can go back."

She picked up a round-bellied bottle and handed it to Harry.

"Use this for Ron."

Harry took it.

"What about ahead?"

Hermione picked up the smallest bottle; only a little liquid remained at the bottom.

"This one can pass through the black fire."

Harry looked at the Potion.

"It's only enough for one person."

Hermione shoved the bottle into his hands.

"You go."

Harry was stunned.

"You're not going?"

"I have to go back to look after Ron, and I also need to find Dumbledore."

"Hermione, I can't do this alone."

Hermione stared at him.

"You've already made it this far."

Harry gripped the bottle tightly.

"What if it's really Lord Voldemort inside?"

Hermione didn't answer immediately.

The flames danced against her face, and she tucked the bottle for the return trip into her robe pocket.

"Then you stall him."

Harry gave a bitter smile.

"Sounds great."

"Don't try to be a hero; bring the stone out, or wait for the Professor to arrive."

"Do you think Dumbledore will come back?"

"He definitely will."

Harry looked at the black fire.

"Okay."

Hermione grabbed his sleeve.

"Harry, don't believe what he says."

"Who?"

"Whoever is inside."

Harry nodded and drank the Potion in the small bottle.

"Tastes terrible."

Hermione stepped aside.

"Go quickly."

Harry walked to the black fire and looked back at her.

"Tell Ron that his move in the chess game was brilliant."

Hermione's lips moved.

"Come back and tell him yourself."

Harry turned and stepped into the black fire.

The wall of fire swallowed his figure, leaving only the sound of Hermione's breathing in the room.

She immediately grabbed the other bottle and walked toward the purple fire.

"Ron, you'd better not fall asleep."

The purple flames closed, and the stone chamber fell silent.

The shadows in the corner folded open, and Allen Potter stepped out from behind the Spatial Thin Layer.

In the Portable Space, Void raised its head, its silver eyes fixed on the fire.

Peter Pettigrew pressed against the bars of the cage, his lips moving rapidly.

Allen Potter glanced at the cage.

"Speak."

The cage opened a narrow slit.

Peter Pettigrew spoke immediately.

"Don't go in; that's Snape's fire. If you touch it, you're dead."

Allen Potter walked to the stone table and picked up the parchment.

"The puzzle has already been solved."

"Solving it is useless; the Potion is only enough for one person."

"I don't need the Potion."

Peter Pettigrew grabbed the bars.

"Don't try to be a hero; you're only in your first year."

Allen Potter looked at the seven bottles.

"And you are being imprisoned by a first-year."

Peter Pettigrew shut his mouth, but immediately spoke again.

"I'm serious. That black fire doesn't just burn flesh; it blocks magic."

Allen Potter reached out toward the flames, and the space in front of his fingertips rippled with folded lines.

"It blocks this path."

Peter Pettigrew didn't understand.

"What do you mean?"

"Change to another one."

Void flicked its tongue.

Peter Pettigrew stared at the outside world.

"You're going to move yourself through the fire?"

Allen Potter put away the parchment.

"You're wrong."

Peter Pettigrew said anxiously.

"Then what is it?"

Allen Potter raised his blackthorn wand.

"Move the fire away from in front of me."

The black fire was still burning, and the temperature in the stone chamber did not drop.

Allen Potter took a step forward.

The flames parted against the hem of his robes and closed back up behind him.

Peter Pettigrew's voice stuck in his throat.

Void's tail tip touched the ebony box.

The cracked pocket watch emitted a blue light, and Allen Potter lifted his wrist slightly.

"Don't move."

The blue light retracted into the cracks of the box.

Peter Pettigrew shouted from behind the cage.

"You just walked through it?"

Allen Potter ignored him, took a second step, and was already standing on the other side of the black fire.

There were no scorch marks on the hem of his robes.

Behind the wall of fire was a short corridor, with the door at the end half-ajar.

Allen Potter looked back once.

"Physical barrier."

Peter Pettigrew swallowed.

"Snape would be furious if he knew."

"He won't know."

Allen Potter pushed the door open and went in.

The stone chamber was empty, with the mirror of erised placed in the center, its surface facing the entrance.

Footprints remained on the ground; Harry's tracks led to the front of the mirror and then toward the deeper part.

Allen Potter stopped by the door.

"A step too late."

Peter Pettigrew asked hurriedly.

"Where's the stone?"

Allen Potter walked to the mirror, not looking at the surface for too long.

"It's been taken."

Peter Pettigrew's face pressed against the bars of the cage.

"Harry took it?"

"Yes."

"Then the Master is inside too!"

Allen Potter crouched down and picked up a silver button from the edge of a stone crevice.

The edges of the button were scorched soft, and ash was stuck in the middle.

Void raised its head inside the Portable Space.

Allen Potter placed the button in his palm.

"It's from the invisibility cloak."

Peter Pettigrew was anxious.

"Why are you still looking at this? Go, quickly!"

Allen Potter turned the button over.

"Melted by high heat; it didn't fall long ago."

"Did you hear me? The Master is just ahead!"

"I heard you."

Peter Pettigrew slapped the bars.

"Then why aren't you chasing after him?"

Allen Potter tapped the stone floor with his wand.

"Confirm first."

Peter Pettigrew glared at him.

"Confirm what?"

"Who is ahead, who is still alive, and how to retreat."

Peter Pettigrew's lips trembled.

"You treat this as a chess game?"

Allen Potter raised his eyes.

"Do you have an objection?"

Peter Pettigrew shrank back.

"No."

Allen Potter tucked the button into his sleeve pocket and brought his wand close to the ground.

The lingering magic in the cracks of the stone tiles was lifted by the Spatial Thin Layer, separating into several directions.

Harry's tracks were clean, mixed with the residue of the invisibility cloak.

Another trail of magic was damp and cold, leading intermittently into the depths.

Allen Potter looked toward the end of the corridor.

"Quirrell."

Peter Pettigrew immediately chimed in.

"He has the Master on him."

"I know."

"That trail will contaminate your Portable Space. Don't touch it directly."

Allen Potter withdrew his wand.

"I won't."

Peter Pettigrew watched the gray lines floating from the ground being folded into the void and couldn't help but ask.

"Where did you throw it?"

"By the side of the road."

"Which road?"

"The road you don't need to walk."

Peter Pettigrew choked.

Void circled around the ebony box, its tail tip pointing at the mirror.

Allen Potter walked to the mirror.

Inside the mirror, there was only the empty stone chamber; his reflection was missing.

Seeing this, Peter Pettigrew gripped the bars.

"The mirror didn't show you."

Allen Potter looked at the runes on the mirror frame.

"It reflects desires."

"You don't have any?"

"I do."

"Then why isn't it there?"

Allen Potter turned to the side, avoiding the center of the mirror.

"It can't find the coordinates."

Peter Pettigrew was silent for a moment.

"You even deceive the mirror?"

"It's not smart enough."

Peter Pettigrew said in a low voice.

"That's something Dumbledore placed there."

"That's why I didn't smash it."

Allen Potter checked the mirror frame, confirming that the Philosopher's Stone had been taken, and the magic remaining on the surface was still shrinking.

Harry had obtained the stone here and was then forced by Quirrell toward the space behind.

A low sound came from the distance in the corridor, but the content was unclear.

Peter Pettigrew immediately looked up.

"They've clashed!"

Allen Potter pressed his hand against the wall.

"Not yet."

"How do you know?"

"The magic isn't chaotic."

"Then they are talking; the Master is best at talking."

Allen Potter turned and walked toward the corridor.

"So Harry is still alive."

Peter Pettigrew stomped his feet in anxiety.

"Being alive doesn't mean he's safe!"

Allen Potter stopped at the door.

"I only need him to be alive right now."

Peter Pettigrew looked at him, opened his mouth, but didn't dare to persuade him further.

Void slid from beside the box to the edge of the space, its silver eyes fixed on the dark corridor outside.

Allen Potter raised his wand and left a knut by the door.

The knut pressed into the stone crevice, its edges covered by the Spatial Thin Layer.

Peter Pettigrew asked in a low voice.

"Another anchor point?"

"For retreat."

"You're still planning to take Harry and retreat?"

"Depends on the situation."

"What about the stone?"

Allen Potter checked above the corridor.

"It's already on him."

Peter Pettigrew looked toward the deeper part.

"The Master will find out."

"He has already found out."

"Then what are you waiting for?"

Allen Potter walked into the corridor.

"Waiting for him to reach out."

Peter Pettigrew stopped talking.

The firelight in the corridor grew dimmer and dimmer; ash marks from Quirrell's robes were left on the walls, and the air smelled of garlic mixed with decaying magic.

Allen Potter scanned ahead with Spatial Perception.

Harry's magic stopped in the deepest part; Quirrell's tracks circled him once and then tightened toward the center of the underground stone chamber.

Allen Potter gripped his blackthorn wand.

"Confirmed."

Void raised its head.

Peter Pettigrew sat down against the cage.

"What?"

Allen Potter looked at the end of the darkness.

"Quirrell went deeper."