The Admiral of Hogwarts

“Oh my goodness, is that Harry!” Madam Pomfrey exclaimed in shock as Hugo and the others appeared in the school hospital wing. Simultaneously, she drew her wand and cast a spell on Harry. After the results of the magical examination came back, she immediately looked up at Professor Dumbledore. “Albus, what on earth is going on with this little one? If I remember correctly, he's only a first year. How is his physical condition so terrible?”

As the sole healer in the school hospital wing, Madam Pomfrey was definitely qualified. Putting aside the fact that her first reaction upon seeing the school leaders and a group of professors was to examine the injured student on the field, the fact that a single spell revealed Harry's condition clearly demonstrated her skill.

“He was subjected to some Dark Magic, which is why he's injured like this,” Dumbledore explained vaguely. At this point, he had roughly guessed that Harry's injury was related to the connection between him and Voldemort. Through questioning, he learned from Hugo and Professor McGonagall that Harry's scar had started hurting precisely when Professor McGonagall and Professor Flitwick began their duel. However, he didn't think it appropriate to reveal this conjecture at the moment.

“Dark Magic, and inside the castle no less—” Madam Pomfrey said, waving her wand to levitate Harry onto a hospital bed. Then, she began a very careful examination. After what felt like a long time, she finally looked up and said, “Although his injuries are somewhat complex, fortunately they are not too severe. I believe I can have him back to his usual lively self in about a week.”

“Now, Headmaster, and ladies and gentlemen, if there's nothing else, please leave,” Madam Pomfrey said, rising to her feet and gesturing for them to leave. “The patient needs rest to recover, so it needs to be quiet here.”

After leaving the school hospital wing, Hugo and the other students originally planned to return to their respective dormitories to rest, as it was already close to midnight. However, Professor Dumbledore called everyone to his office.

“Lemon Sherbet.” Normally, the headmaster's office appeared to be just a section of wall guarded by two stone gargoyles, but after Dumbledore spoke the password, they sprang aside, and the entrance to the headmaster's office opened. Hugo and the others followed Professor Dumbledore onto the automatically rotating staircase behind the stone beasts, which carried this small group of teachers and students to the door of the headmaster's office at the top.

It was a gleaming oak door with a griffin-shaped brass knocker. Dumbledore pushed the door open, and everyone filed in.

Upon entering the headmaster's office, Hugo immediately began to survey the room, which he was entering for the first time. Professor Dumbledore walked behind a large desk with legs shaped like the claws of some strange beast. The desk appeared cluttered, with various oddly shaped and unidentifiable silver instruments placed on it. The dusty, old Sorting Hat sat on a shelf along the edge of the desk.

“Everyone, please sit down. I think we can all have a little hot tea first,” Dumbledore said, conjuring a gilded red velvet armchair for each person with a wave of his wand and gesturing for them to sit. Then, he tapped the desk with his wand.

Soon, a large silver tray containing a teapot and teacups appeared on the desk. Then, Headmaster Dumbledore waved his wand, causing the teapot to pour tea into each teacup and send them floating to each person.

Hugo took the opportunity to drink tea and carefully examine the office. He noticed that it was an oval-shaped room, with walls and ceilings covered in ornate wallpaper. The walls were also adorned with portraits of former headmasters of Hogwarts. Because so many people had entered the office at once, the headmasters who had been sleeping had also woken up and were curiously watching the people in the headmaster's office.

“Alright, everyone, let's talk about what happened to you just now,” Professor Dumbledore said, putting down his teacup after everyone had drunk their hot tea and relaxed a little. So, for the next while, first the two professors, and then Hugo and the other students, each recounted what they had done that night.

From everyone's account of their experiences that night, Hugo realized that, just as he had guessed, Professor McGonagall and Professor Flitwick had entered the final room and caught Quirrell, who was holding the Mirror of Erised and repeatedly searching for the location of the Philosopher's Stone.

At first, Quirrell tried to distract the two professors with sophistry and take the opportunity to attack them. However, his movements could not escape the notice of Professor Flitwick, who had won many dueling championships in his youth.

So, after the attempted sneak attack failed, the two sides immediately began to fight. From a certain point of view, it was a two-on-two battle. And Voldemort's side was, from a certain point of view, even stronger.

However, because Voldemort had forcibly taken over Quirrell's body when facing Venetto's barrage in the Forbidden Forest, even after using many spells and various potions and unicorn blood purchased on the black market to try to heal, he only managed to slow down the collapse of the body and failed to reverse its decay.

And this problem suddenly erupted when he fought against Professor McGonagall and Professor Flitwick. At first, he had suppressed the joint attack of Professor McGonagall and Professor Flitwick, but soon the injuries on his body completely erupted because Voldemort was fully engaged in the battle with the two professors.

So, to the surprise of the two professors, Professor Quirrell, who had originally been in the upper hand in the battle, suddenly developed a large number of wounds, and then his entire body gradually shattered before their eyes, eventually turning into a pile of ashes amidst his shrill, banshee-like screams.

At the same time, a cloud of black mist rose from the pile of ashes and quickly flew towards the exit of the underground structure. Because the cloud of mist was flying too fast, the two professors ultimately failed to catch it.

Only, when Voldemort, transformed into mist, was escaping, he sensed Harry's presence nearby through the soul connection and tried to imitate Professor McGonagall's voice to trick Hugo and the others into opening the door and then attacking Harry. What he didn't expect was that Hugo didn't fall for it, and Dumbledore arrived too quickly, so in the end he could only escape the castle in a disheveled state.

The Headmaster, on the one hand, was worried about Harry's condition, and on the other hand, he roughly knew that Voldemort's current state was terrible, but he had no way to stop him. So, he simply let go of Voldemort in the form of black mist and entered the room, then began to check on Harry's condition.

“I must say that everyone did very well tonight, and thanks to you, the Philosopher's Stone did not fall into the hands of someone who should not have it, so I must thank you,” Professor Dumbledore said, standing up after listening to everyone's account of tonight's events, and then bowing solemnly to everyone.