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'That's about enough, Professor Dracula.' Dumbledore declined Dracula's invitation to rub Fluffy's head together and reluctantly changed the subject. 'Don't you still have to set up protective barriers for the Philosopher's Stone?'
'That's right.' Dracula nodded, seemingly finding another source of amusement.
'When you have time, you must give Fluffy a bath. He's too dirty right now—it affects the feel.' As he spoke, he patted the 3-headed dog's large head and said to it, 'Fluffy, move your fat belly to the side. You're blocking the door.'
As soon as Dracula had entered the room, he'd noticed Fluffy standing on a trapdoor. The dog was clearly guarding something.
Fluffy obediently moved his body, squeezing into a corner of the room. This cleared a path to the trapdoor for Dracula and Dumbledore.
Dumbledore beckoned. The pull ring on the trapdoor was immediately pulled up by an invisible force, opening it wide.
The doorway below was dark and deep. But with a vampire's excellent night vision, Dracula could clearly see the situation below.
'Tsk—specially laid out a patch of Devil's Snare. Professor Sprout is afraid that anyone trying to steal the Philosopher's Stone will get hurt,' Dracula glanced at Dumbledore and teased. 'Besides, there shouldn't be many wizards who haven't learned the Slowing Charm, right? Perhaps this is a barrier specifically prepared for low-grade little wizards?'
Dumbledore smiled without speaking and lightly descended to the ground below the trapdoor.
Dracula, on the other hand, fell backward into the opening with a flourish. After a moment, he floated down and lay on a soft patch of Devil's Snare.
'Prepared so thoughtfully to protect the intruders—truly commendable,' he sighed, lying on the Devil's Snare, which dared not move due to the intense aura of darkness he exuded.
Dracula stood up. Together with Dumbledore, he walked along the stone corridor in front of the Devil's Snare to the end, where they saw a brightly lit room.
The room had a high vaulted ceiling. Countless small birds—as dazzling as gemstones—fluttered their wings and flew around the room. And on the opposite side of the room was a heavy wooden door.
'Setting up a wooden door but leaving the key behind—and even thoughtfully leaving a few flying brooms,' Dracula looked at the magical birds in the sky and the brooms in the corner and chuckled. 'Turning the anti-intrusion protection into a level-based game. That's really you, Dumbledore.'
Hearing Dracula's sarcastic remarks all the way, Dumbledore finally couldn't hold back his calm expression and smiled helplessly.
'Professor Dracula, I knew I couldn't hide it from you,' he said. 'Actually, you may have guessed it. I never intended to keep the real intruders out with these few obstacles. These are just trials and training for the students.'
'Testing who? And training who?' Dracula chuckled. 'If I'm not mistaken, you're doing this for the Boy Who Lived—Harry Potter—right?'
'As expected, I can't escape your eyes, Professor Dracula.' Dumbledore sighed softly. 'I do want to train Harry. He is an indispensable part of completely defeating Voldemort.'
'So I must ask you, don't set the difficulty of the next level too high. I don't want Harry to lose confidence because of the barriers set up by his own professor before he even faces Voldemort.'
Dracula nodded indifferently. He wanted to know more about the secrets of this saviour anyway. What exactly did a child—who was only 1 year old at the time—rely on to defeat the most powerful dark wizard in the world? Dracula was very curious about this.
The 2 of them casually waved their hands, unlocking the thick wooden door. Then, after passing through a large puzzle chessboard, they arrived at a room that still faintly smelled of decay.
'There was a troll here. Quirrell just transported it away yesterday,' Dumbledore explained. 'So the smell is still not very pleasant. Then I'll trouble Professor Dracula to set up a barrier here.'
Dracula looked around the empty room.
'Before setting up a barrier, I have a question. What level of difficulty is needed for a little wizard like Harry Potter to pass smoothly?' He asked mercilessly. 'After these few classes, I really dare not compliment the spellcasting level of Hogwarts. I'm afraid the spellcasting ability of 1st-year students is infinitely close to zero, right?'
Dumbledore concealed his inner embarrassment with a smile and changed his words to Dracula. 'I believe that under the guidance of Professor Dracula, the little wizards will definitely improve quickly.'
Dracula shook his head, completely losing interest in setting up a level-based game for children to play.
'Forget it. Let Quirrell give the troll a bath and then stuff it back in,' he said lazily.
With that, Dracula walked straight to the next door.
Dumbledore shrugged and followed Dracula's pace.
The next room only had a table with 7 bottles of different shapes on it.
As soon as the 2 of them crossed the threshold, a flame suddenly rose behind them, sealing the door. This flame was unusual—it was purple. At the same time, black flames sprang up at the door leading to the front, trapping the 2 of them in the middle.
'Turning Snape's potion barrier into a simple logic question—he really didn't try to fight you on this?' Dracula looked at the roll of parchment placed next to the bottles, the corners of his mouth slightly raised.
The riddle on the parchment was not a question about potions but a logic problem. It simply put the correct potion choice directly into the intruder's hands.
Dracula and Dumbledore weren't afraid of flames of this temperature. They forcibly passed through the black flames, arriving at the final barrier.
The final barrier was nothing else—just a very grand mirror.
The Philosopher's Stone was hidden by Dumbledore in this mirror.
The top of the ancient mirror was engraved with an inscription: 'Erised stra ehru oyt ube cafru oyt on wohsi'. It must be read backward to reveal its true meaning. After reversing the order of the letters and re-punctuating, one can obtain the sentence: I show not your face but your heart's desire.
Looking at this mirror, Dracula paused. A look of interest gradually appeared on his face.
'The Mirror of Erised shows people their most intense desires—usually the fulfilment of a goal or ambition. But just as everyone is unique, the image presented by the mirror is different for each person,' Dumbledore explained with a smile.
'So can you tell me, what do you see, Professor Dracula?'
Dracula was silent for a while, then chuckled.
'I see endless fun, flying towards me,' Dracula's eyes flickered, and he said softly.
Dracula was not telling the truth.
The scene he saw in the Mirror of Erised was not himself or even any concrete thing.
What he saw was a war sweeping through the entire wizarding world—a chaotic situation.
Is this what he wants? To find fun in chaos, to stir up trouble in conflict…
Wishing for the world to be in chaos.
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