Ever since arriving here, Ethan had been studying the Mirror of Erised in front of him. This object was quite interesting to him.
Due to the reshaping of his divine body, Ethan's strength had decreased compared to before, but his knowledge of magic, especially his understanding of various rules, had significantly improved.
Compared to that, the magic used in the Mirror of Erised couldn't possibly confuse him. He easily retrieved the Philosopher's Stone. The mirror employed illusion, phantoms, mental attacks (reading), and some rule-based magic. After solving these puzzles one by one, the actual location of the Philosopher's Stone was no different from it being placed directly in front of him.
Because of the special nature of the "location" where the Mirror of Erised stored the Philosopher's Stone, the distance between them was meaningless. After figuring everything out, Ethan simply took it out, even though he was far away from the mirror and wasn't even truly looking into it.
In short, Ethan's retrieval of the Philosopher's Stone from the mirror was a very profound magical operation, but only Scáthach could see part of what was happening. The rest were completely baffled, including Voldemort, who had no idea how Ethan had done it.
In everyone else's eyes, Ethan had just gotten lucky. Even Voldemort thought so. He didn't take Ethan seriously at all.
Just a brat. What ability could he possibly have?
"Hand over the Philosopher's Stone!"
Quirrell, reminded by his master, realized that the Philosopher's Stone he had been unable to find was right in front of him. Seeing hope within reach, he could no longer suppress his urgency. His usually meek expression twisted horribly as he roared and lunged toward Ethan.
Seeing Quirrell charging at him, Ethan didn't even look directly at him. Instead, he gently pushed Harry, who was standing beside him. Harry stumbled forward and instinctively reached out to grab something... and ended up grabbing the charging Professor Quirrell.
What happened next was no surprise. Because Harry carried the protective magic left by his mother, Quirrell was immediately attacked the moment he touched Harry.
This protective magic was originally intended to harm Voldemort, but since Voldemort was currently possessing Quirrell, there was no difference. Quirrell was severely burned the moment he made contact with Harry.
When Harry discovered that his touch could injure this villain, he very rudely pressed his hand directly onto Quirrell's face. Under everyone's gaze, Quirrell petrified and crumbled into dust.
Ron and Hermione, who didn't know the truth, thought Harry had used some special ability or cast a powerful spell to turn a terrifying villain into dust. It was simply too cool.
The two crowded around him, constantly examining him and asking question after question that Harry couldn't answer.
"It's not over yet."
Ethan's reminder came at just the right time. Even though he hadn't lifted his head this whole time, when the Gryffindor trio looked up at him, they happened to see Malfoy next to him wearing a terrified expression and staring behind them.
Without needing to think, they realized something was happening behind them. And in that direction, all that was left was Quirrell's remains.
As they turned back, a cloud of black smoke rose from the ashes and slowly condensed into a blurry humanoid form. The twisted face glared at Harry with a hatred so intense it made the three children tremble.
After forming into a humanoid shape, the smoke let out a roar and lunged at Harry. The terrified Harry didn't even dodge, and it looked like he was about to take the hit head-on.
At that moment, Harry felt someone yank him hard. He suddenly fell backward and hit the ground.
Although he was dizzy and sore from the fall, he had coincidentally avoided the terrifying smoke.
The human face formed by the smoke glared one last time at Harry, who lay on the ground. Thinking Harry had simply been lucky to fall at the right moment, it fled without hesitation. Without a physical body, Voldemort was at a severe disadvantage and needed to find a new host or hiding place as soon as possible.
Ethan, who had been fiddling with the Philosopher's Stone, had simply crooked his finger. Harry's fall had been his doing.
"This way... it shouldn't have affected the plot, right?"
He had tried to stay as low-key as possible. Not facing off against Voldemort directly was already cutting him some slack. After all, the villain still had many appearances to come. Voldemort had created many Horcruxes, and he could revive without all of them being destroyed. It was too troublesome to eliminate him completely, and Ethan couldn't be bothered.
Now that he couldn't resolve the issue instantly and would only draw unwanted attention, it was better to leave Voldemort to clash with Harry, the chosen one. Ethan could continue studying the Stone.
"How long are you going to look at that thing? Are you planning to live forever?"
Voldemort had already fled, and Ron and Hermione had helped Harry back to his feet. After checking that everyone was unharmed, the group walked back together.
Harry glanced at the Philosopher's Stone in Ethan's hand. He now understood that Voldemort wanted it and that it seemed to be incredibly important.
He wanted to say something, but he wasn't familiar with Ethan, a Slytherin who hung out with Malfoy (Ethan: ?). If he spoke up, the other party probably wouldn't be willing to hand it over, right?
Harry and Ron exchanged looks. They were thinking the same thing and felt awkward about what to do.
Only Hermione was direct. She had interacted with Ethan and didn't hold as strong a bias against Slytherin as in the original plot—mostly because Malfoy hadn't seriously insulted her yet. He hadn't called her a Mudblood (a highly offensive slur for wizards from Muggle families).
Given Ethan's presence, Malfoy likely wouldn't dare to use that word again, unless he wanted to be beaten into a pulp. According to the pure-blood faction's standards, Ethan's background would also be labeled as Mudblood.
"I'm just studying how magical this thing is. As for living forever..."
Ethan smiled. The most appealing aspect of the Philosopher's Stone didn't matter much to him. He was more interested in the amount of energy it contained.
After observing it for so long, he had a rough understanding of its properties.
Simply put, the stone contained a large amount of magic and carried some mysterious rules.
That was all.
To Ethan, it wasn't particularly useful. He didn't need its core function, and as for the magic power he desired... the amount stored in this thing clearly didn't meet his needs.
"Then you're after gold?"
"If you want it, just say so."
Hermione spoke seriously. She didn't want the Philosopher's Stone for herself, but this item was extremely important. Now that it had been recovered, it needed to be handed over to Professor Dumbledore for safekeeping.
"Oh."
"Oh?!" Hermione couldn't tell if that was agreement or rejection. "I think we should give it to Dumbledore right away."
"Yes, Hermione's right," Ron added, clearly reminding Ethan not to try keeping the Philosopher's Stone for himself.
Ethan smiled. The reason he hadn't answered wasn't because he was hesitating. He had been using the time to extract some of the magic from the Philosopher's Stone.
The energy it held wasn't enough to help his body develop, but he remembered he needed to collect all kinds of energy to make his spiritual universe more complete.
He was in such a rush to extract it here because he had sensed Dumbledore's presence. The old man was already nearby, hiding in the shadows. It seemed he wanted to use this opportunity to observe the children?
Dumbledore couldn't have guessed that beings like Ethan and Scáthach had blended into the group. His presence had already been exposed long ago.
Right now, he was quite satisfied with Harry's growth. Hermione was also an outstanding and righteous student, and Ron had demonstrated great potential. These two would make good companions for Harry.
He had already formed clear evaluations of the three. Even Rin, who often stayed with Hermione, had been judged.
It was Ethan and Scáthach who left him uncertain. That was why he hadn't shown himself, choosing instead to observe if Ethan could resist the temptation of a treasure like the Philosopher's Stone.
Based on Ethan's earlier behavior, this top Slytherin student seemed to be developing in the exact direction he feared most. He didn't seem willing to give up the Philosopher's Stone.
But in the next moment, something unexpected happened. Ethan casually tossed the Philosopher's Stone to Hermione, as if throwing away a rock he picked up off the ground.
"If you care about it so much, then take it."
His expression didn't seem forced. Dumbledore didn't believe a boy this young could act that well either.
Hermione fumbled to catch the Philosopher's Stone, and only after holding it securely in her hands did she breathe a sigh of relief.
"This is the Philosopher's Stone. And you just threw it like that?"
"It's just a stone."
Ethan shook his head, wondering if he should go back to sleep before Dumbledore showed up.
Unfortunately, Dumbledore didn't give him the chance. The old man finally revealed himself and appeared before the children.
(To be continued.)