Harry Potter and the Candy Factory

At the stairwell, Quirrell stood there, motionless.

He just quietly watched the two people walk into the second floor step by step, then disappear into the darkness.

Until even the sound gradually faded away, almost imperceptible, Quirrell's smile faded a bit, and he turned his head and calmly strolled back to his teacher's quarters.

"Creak... Bang!"

When the wooden door of the room was completely closed, the expression on his face suddenly became ferocious.

His eyes were bloodshot, almost popping out of their sockets, and the muscles in his cheeks were twitching slightly, as if he was enduring some great pain.

He staggered forward two steps, then fell to his knees with a thud. Sweat dripped like raindrops, "噼里啪啦" wetting the floor beneath him, but Quirrell couldn't care less.

He hurriedly reached out and took off the heavy turban that was wrapped around his head, releasing Voldemort's ugly face, which was branded on the back of his head, once again.

Having just broken free from the sweaty, smelly turban and breathed in the fresh air, Voldemort immediately struggled and roared at Quirrell.

"Look at what stupid thing you've done again!? Even such a small thing, you let those two little whelps discover!!!"

"Immediately!! I want you to find an opportunity immediately! Use any means necessary! Get rid of them! Besides Harry Potter, that other child! I must get rid of him too!"

However, hearing Voldemort's order, Quirrell, who was kneeling on the ground, couldn't help but shudder.

It seemed that some extremely terrifying memory had re-entered his mind, allowing him to barely raise his head and resist tremblingly, even in the face of his master's anger.

"No... my master... you can't do this!"

Voldemort obviously did not expect that Quirrell, who had always been respectful and obedient, would dare to openly defy his orders at this moment. He was stunned for a moment, and then, in the next second, a severe pain enveloped Quirrell's body.

Voldemort hissed and roared, his ugly face constantly tugging at the skin on the back of his head, almost causing him to lose control of his body.

"Do you want to die!? Quirrell! Don't think you are irreplaceable!! I can find a follower who is more loyal! More useful to be used by me at any time!!! You damned dog thing!!"

Quirrell, because of the pain, really did as Voldemort said, abandoning his kneeling posture. Like a stray dog ​​whipped by humans, he convulsed and rolled around on the floor in a mess.

At the same time, he used all his remaining strength to barely maintain his sanity and explained to his master.

"That child... he is Charlie Black's nephew."

As soon as these words came out, Voldemort's rage suddenly stopped.

And the pain that enveloped Quirrell, which he would never forget in his life, finally stopped.

"Huff... Huff... Huff..."

Gasping for breath, in the next second after the pain stopped, he hurriedly turned his body over again, returning to the most humble and loyal posture he had started with, and then used a somewhat hoarse voice to barely explain to his master in detail.

"Charlie Black is his uncle... This matter is almost well known at Hogwarts. He said that Charlie Black dotes on him very much, and even gave him his personal notes from his school days intact."

Sweat soaked the already thin pajamas, causing the fabric on his back to stick directly to his back. It was sticky and extremely uncomfortable...

But not daring to be negligent, Quirrell knew that his life was in Voldemort's hands, and he could easily take his life whenever he wanted.

As for whether it was really as he said to the other party, that after killing himself, there would be a large group of subordinates who would be willing to take his place and serve him... Quirrell didn't know, but he didn't dare to try.

After all, even if there was only a one percent chance that it was true, he couldn't afford to gamble.

What he wanted was powerful strength, power, and more wealth... The greed in his heart made him turn to the Dark Lord and believe in him, regarding him as his god. But compared to others, he was even more afraid of death.

So, after only taking a few breaths, he continued non-stop. Telling the other party all his thoughts.

"If... if Draco really dies... then Charlie Black will definitely come to Hogwarts.

As long as he detects a trace of my aura—then my master, we're done..."

After speaking, Quirrell deliberately paused carefully for a while. Seeing that Voldemort was silent, seemingly still thinking, he finally breathed a sigh of relief.

He hurriedly seized the opportunity to continue persuading him.

"Please forgive my abruptness, Master... The invincible you are still too weak and need a long time to recover. If we really ignite Charlie Black's anger because of this, then with just the two of us, it is impossible to quell it... At that time, his identity will change. From the original ally to a life-threatening hungry wolf."

"This... this is not a worthwhile deal."

Quirrell's words were finished, and his head was slammed hard on the floor, his body still trembling, waiting for his master's reaction.

After a long time... Voldemort calmed down, and his hoarse, unpleasant voice rarely revealed a bit of the ease and gentleness he usually didn't have.

"I wronged you, my loyal servant. This... is indeed a very difficult thing."

Quirrell couldn't help but close his eyes, and a sigh of relief came down, almost unable to support himself and falling to the ground.

However, Voldemort's words were not finished.

"But... some things always have to be done, and there will always be a way to do them."

He spoke again, his voice still revealing gentleness, but the tone of command was unquestionable.

"Think about it, find a way that can both kill those two children and not let Charlie Black discover that it was our doing."

"I think you can do it. Right, Quirinus Quirrell?"

Quirrell felt a strange chill sweep through him, penetrating his entire body, running through his internal organs.

"Yes... I understand. Just like you said, my master."

… … … … … … … … … … … … … … …

The next day, Harry Potter, who hadn't slept all night, walked out of the Slytherin common room with huge dark circles under his eyes, and walked side by side with Draco, who was also not very energetic, towards the classroom where the first class of the morning was held.

The two didn't say anything, but they exchanged a tacit look. Their eyes were full of complexity……

And just like that, the morning's classes passed by in a daze. Even Draco, in his favorite Potions class, didn't display his usual brilliance, and he didn't even deliberately raise his hand when they were asked questions… causing Hermione, who saw him as a rival, to look at him in disbelief.

The change in the two people's state naturally couldn't be hidden from their friends.

It wasn't until the four of them arrived at the dining hall for lunch that Harry, facing Ron and Hermione's questioning and pressing, finally couldn't resist any longer and reluctantly told them what had happened the night before.

In between, after telling them about the two of them sneaking into the restricted section of the library, he also specifically glanced at Draco beside him.

Seeing that the other party didn't stop him from continuing, he told Ron and Hermione everything that had happened afterward.

Ron sat across from Harry, his eyes wide. Even though he had just taken a bite of the chicken leg in his hand, he forgot to chew at this moment.

Even Hermione couldn't help but have a wave of emotion flicker in her beautiful eyes, her mouth slightly open, subconsciously wanting to scold the two of them, but she was attracted by the story Harry was telling, so she could only suppress it for now and continue listening.

It wasn't until Harry finished telling the story of Professor Quirrell's appearance and said that he and Draco had returned to the Slytherin common room with a whole bag of candy that the two of them finally recovered.

"You two went on an adventure without me?!"

Ron blinked, skillfully gnawed the chicken leg in his hand clean in two bites, and then shouted with a look of grief and indignation, his eyes full of resentment, as if the thing he had been worried about before had finally come true at this moment.

Obviously, he didn't hear the main point of the story Harry was trying to express. He was just attracted by "Draco and Harry not calling him and sneaking out to play at night," which took up all of his attention.

This made Hermione, who was just about to speak, couldn't help but give him a big eye roll.

"Is there something wrong with your comprehension skills?" The scolding that was originally directed at Harry and Draco suddenly shifted its firepower to Ron.

"That's what I thought from the beginning." Draco, who had been silent, just focusing on eating the food on his plate and thinking about something, raised his head and manually gave Hermione a thumbs up, as if he had found a confidant.

But unexpectedly, after speaking to Ron, Hermione's attention returned to Harry and Draco.

"And you two—are you crazy?"

To express the severity of her tone, Hermione frowned slightly as she spoke, her delicate hands clenched into fists, and she hammered the table heavily.

"How dare you do that?! Let's not even talk about you going to the restricted section without permission. Shouldn't the first thing you do when you encounter a dangerous guy like that be to ensure your own safety? Why did you follow him like that?!"

Harry couldn't help but shrink his neck from Hermione's scolding. Recalling his and Draco's state at the time, he didn't know what was wrong with him, and his blood rushed to his head for a moment, so he chased after him with Draco. Now that he thought about it carefully, it was chilling and made him feel scared.

His eyes glanced at Draco, who lowered his head again and fiddled with the food on his plate.

The original small tomato was almost turned into tomato sauce by the fork.

Even so, with Draco's proud nature, he didn't stand up and passionately argue with Hermione. It seemed that he also knew he was in the wrong and chose to bear it silently.

"Okay—"

After lecturing the two of them for nearly ten minutes, Ron, who had finished his chicken leg, watched the show and secretly finished Draco's portion as well.

Hermione, whose mouth was dry, finally stopped and gave a conclusion to this "meeting."

"You two must not act alone next time!! Tonight, when you go to the restricted section, you must bring me along!"

"Huh?!" As soon as these words came out, it was obviously beyond Harry and Draco's expectations, and they suddenly raised their heads and looked at Hermione together.

Hermione was, after all, not as thick-skinned as the other three boys. Meeting their surprised gazes, she couldn't help but blush slightly. She could only pretend to be matter-of-fact and explained dryly,

"Anyway… anyway, even if I advise you, you definitely won't listen to me, right? Then I might as well go with you. If you really encounter any danger, I can definitely do more!"

Hearing this, Harry hadn't reacted yet, but Ron, who was eating happily on the opposite side, quickly swallowed the food in his mouth and quickly raised his hand to express his position, "Uh! I want to go too! If you let Hermione go, you must bring me along too."

"Whatever…"

Draco looked around, scanning everyone's faces, and his mood inevitably improved a bit.

He shrugged, picked up the small tomato that was almost ruined on the plate with a fork, and put it in his mouth.

Feeling its juice burst in his mouth, Draco nodded and said,

"Anyway, one more person means one more strength."

… … … … … … … … … … … … …

At the same time, let's shift our attention back to Charlie.

At this moment, he was rarely not staying in his office as usual, leisurely spending the day.

Instead, he came to the gate of the candy factory with Russell.

Even more than just the two of them, the elves in the factory also stopped their work at this moment and all walked out of the factory to come behind Charlie.

For no other reason than that today was the day Dobby went to Hogwarts!

Unlike the last time he went to the American magical world, this time Dobby was not leaving in the manner of a "business trip," but was officially "transferred" to a brand new environment.

Although facing this child who had grown up under their collective eyes, all the elves were willing to offer their best wishes, they couldn't help but worry about him.

After all, no one could speak more authoritatively about what the outside world was like than them.

"Are you really sure you've made up your mind?"

Charlie bent down, patted Dobby on the shoulder, and looked at him carrying a large bag. It was as if he saw his own child about to travel far away, making him unable to help but sigh.

"Yes!"

Dobby didn't say much, just nodded, his eyes as firm as ever.