Chapter 64 - 64 The curtain opens

Chapter 64: Chapter 64 The curtain opens

The next day at noon, an owl arrived at Hogwarts Headmaster's office, delivering an urgent letter from the Ministry of Magic.

Upon receiving the letter, Dumbledore smiled with a knowing look and planned to use the fireplace in his office to travel to the Ministry of Magic in London.

Before he left, he turned to Fawkes and instructed softly, "When there is any activity in that washroom, take this letter to Harry."

Fawkes nodded thoughtfully and looked at Dumbledore's desk.

On the desk was a letter addressed to "Mr. Harry Potter."

Next to the letter was a mirror engraved with a rune resembling a watchful eye, reflecting a clear image of the abandoned girls' washroom—a row of brass faucets dripping water, one of which was conspicuously not dripping and had lost its handle...

"If Professor Dracula knew I was monitoring a girls' washroom, he'd surely take the opportunity to tease me."

Dumbledore glanced once more at the monitoring mirror, shook his head with self-deprecation, and stepped into the green flames of the fireplace.

...

Meanwhile, Professor Dracula, whom Dumbledore worried would mock such behavior, was doing exactly the same—observing the situation in the girls' washroom...

Everything seemed normal today, but there were signs of abnormality everywhere.

Dumbledore had just been called away by the urgent letter from the Ministry, and minutes later, Quirrell claimed to have caught a cold and asked Dracula for a day off.

In addition, Dracula had two consecutive Defense Against the Dark Arts classes that afternoon, leaving him little time to spare.

Each event appeared to be normal and routine, but when these coincidences piled up, they ceased to be mere coincidences—

This clearly indicated that Voldemort was preparing to act on the Philosopher's Stone!

Despite Voldemort's preparations, the two Defense Against the Dark Arts classes seemed insufficient to hinder Dracula effectively, or rather, he and Quirrell probably didn't have any idea to delay this reckless person. Choosing the Defense Against the Dark Arts class timing was likely just a desperate measure.

Saying this, he grabbed George and stood up, shouting, "The professor's gone, let's have some fun!"

Cedric hurriedly stood up, trying to stop them, but amidst the growing enthusiasm of the Gryffindor students, it proved futile...

...

In the Gryffindor common room, Harry and Ron were playing wizard's chess, while Hermione had her face buried in a large stack of books, searching for information.

From the situation on the chessboard, Ron was playing very well, making Harry sweat and struggle.

Ron commanded the queen on the board to move diagonally forward again, with a triumphant smile.

"Give up, Harry!" he said excitedly.

"Wait a minute, I can hold on a bit longer," Harry retorted stubbornly.

At that moment, a flash of golden-red light appeared.

"Ron, did you see that? There was a flash of red light just now," Harry said, momentarily distracted.

"Harry, don't try those little tricks. Those distraction methods are old hat for Fred and George!" Ron said, his focus entirely on the board, not noticing Fawkes' flames. "Just give up, Harry, be a man!"

However, Harry's attention was now on the small empty table behind him. He walked over and picked up the letter.

"Mr. Harry Potter... Is this a letter for me?"

He puzzledly opened the envelope.

Inside was a piece of parchment with elegant and fine handwriting—

"Harry, if you're attentive enough, you might recognize this handwriting. Indeed, the Invisibility Cloak was delivered to you by me..."