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Chapter 64: The curtain opens

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.

Moreover, Voldemort clearly overestimated Dracula's professional ethics—

"This class will be self-study. Prefect, manage the class discipline well, and don't come asking me any questions if you don't understand something, I won't be answering. What? No prefect? Then you, Diggory, you're in charge of maintaining class order."

Dracula hastily arranged for self-study and leaned against the blackboard behind him in boredom. Meanwhile, his vision shifted to another place.

It was the perspective of a bat, or more precisely, the hearing of a bat.

The bat Dracula left in the washroom emitted ultrasonic waves that humans could not hear. Once the signals bounced back from the room, it constructed a complete map of the washroom, unaffected by the darkness within.

Dracula and Fawkes did not wait long.

During the middle of the first class of the afternoon, a sneaky figure wearing a purple turban slipped into the girls' washroom and walked straight to the row of brass faucets.

A chilling "hiss" came from Quirrell's turban.

Immediately, the faucet without a handle emitted a brilliant white light and began to spin rapidly. Then, the sink began to move, slowly sinking out of view, replaced by a large pipe wide enough for a person to crawl through.

In the Headmaster's office, Fawkes widened his eyes and watched the scene through the mirror, realizing this was the disturbance Dumbledore had mentioned.

He picked up the letter from the desk with his talons and then vanished in a burst of golden-red flames.

In the Defense Against the Dark Arts classroom, Dracula's eyes suddenly opened, revealing a frightening gleam.

"Continue with self-study. I'll be out for a while. Diggory, don't forget to manage the class order," he said seriously.

However, his mouth could not suppress a growing smile, appearing very enthusiastic.

Seeing Dracula's smile, the Weasley twins, who had been quietly discussing how to avoid detention, shivered.

"What's up with the professor? That smile is terrifying..." George whispered.

"It is indeed scary," Fred nodded, then suddenly realized, "Wait a minute, if the professor is gone, why are we still scared?"

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..."