Vid liked the Weasley twins a lot. They were the kind of people who would try to bring joy to others even in the most desperate situations. Initially, he just wanted to stop them from getting themselves killed, but seeing their bright expressions, he couldn't help but think—
Why should I hide the truth for Voldemort?
Voldemort went to great lengths to hide his true identity because he feared Dumbledore; what good would it do Vid to help him conceal it?
On the contrary, if Vid were the only one who knew the secret, once the other party noticed, his situation would be very dangerous. But if the secret spread out, it would be more troublesome for Voldemort.
Thinking this way, the feeling of being troubled by keeping the secret suddenly cleared up.
But Vid didn't want to completely spread the news, leaving Voldemort no way out. After all, now Dumbledore couldn't completely kill him, and Voldemort was only hiding his identity at the school to seize the Philosopher's Stone. If he found it hopeless to get it and went on a rampage, the students in the school wouldn't be able to stand against him, and who knows how many would die before Dumbledore arrived.
He hesitated and said, "Actually..."
The Weasley twins' eyes lit up.
"—we should find a quiet place to talk."
For Vid, besides his dormitory, the safest place was the Umbrella House.
He remembered there was also a hidden Room of Requirement in the school, but when he watched the movie, he was so distracted by the plot and special effects that he didn't pay attention to the precise location of the Room of Requirement. As a result, he's been searching off and on for three months but hasn't found it.
To avoid a situation like in the movie scene—where the protagonist is discussing a crucial secret, and there's a pair of eavesdropping ears behind them leaking the secret to the villain, leading to a series of tragedies—they came to the Umbrella House.
With holidays approaching, everyone's enthusiasm for studying was also waning, and there were only two people in the Umbrella House at the moment—Hermione was almost completely hidden by stacks of books, looking frazzled from reading, while Leian had brought in a pile of wood and was making new targets.
"Wow, is this your secret base?" Fred was the first to poke his head in and look around.
Soon another red-haired head stretched in next to him, looked around, and greeted, "Hello, Miss Omniscient."
"Oh, I'm not good," Hermione said gloomily. "Does anyone know who Nicolas Flamel really is? He's not in 'Great Witches and Wizards of the 20th Century.' or 'Contemporary Famous Magicians List.' I couldn't find his name in 'Major Discoveries in Modern Magic' or 'Modern Witchcraft Development Research' either. I've flipped through almost a hundred books! Isn't he even written in any books?"
The people inside and outside the room were simultaneously stunned, then said in unison, "What are you talking about, Hermione! That's Nicolas Flamel, of course he's in books!"
Hermione slowly raised her head, blinked, and showed a rare expression of poignant confusion on her face.
"You all... know Nicolas Flamel?"
"Of course!" Leian propped a target and said, "He celebrated his 665th birthday last year, it was even in the Prophet Daily! My dad said he might be the longest-living person in the world."
"665 years old?" Hermione repeated incredulously.
Fred said, "Nicolas Flamel is the greatest Alchemist, and the only Philosopher's Stone in the world was created by him."
"Philosopher's Stone?" Hermione thought she should have seen the term in one of the books.
George said, "The Philosopher's Stone can turn any metal into pure gold, and it can also produce the Elixir of Life. My biggest dream as a kid was to have a Philosopher's Stone."
"Transmutation to gold? Elixir of Life?" Hermione still repeated.
Closing the door, Vid couldn't help but joke, "Hermione, have you turned into a repeating cassette?"
Although Fred and the others didn't know what a repeating cassette was, the meaning was simple and easy to understand, making them burst into laughter.
Hermione looked expectantly at Vid, "So Vid... you wouldn't happen to also know about Nicolas Flamel, would you?"
Vid explained simply and clearly, "I've recently been studying Alchemy, and his works were the first I read."
"Alchemy?" Leian was surprised, "That's a sixth-year course!"
"Yeah, but I can start building a foundation from now," Vid asked, "Isn't Theo with you today?"
"He's helping Professor Sprout organize the greenhouse. I remembered the target we broke last time couldn't be repaired, so I decided to make a few new ones." Leian explained, patting his clothes, putting down his sleeves, and coming over to drink water.
Vid casually cast a "Scourgify" on him, removing the tiny wood shavings.
Fred straddled the chair, poking Hermione, "Hello! Are you okay? Are you still alive? Do you know what day it is?"
Sprawled over the table, Hermione reached out, slapped Fred's hand away from where it was waving in front of her face, and sat up, saying in frustration, "I should've just asked directly—I've been checking for more than a month!"
Vid flipped through the books on her desk, all related to the history of modern magic. No wonder she couldn't find Nicolas Flamel—he was born in 14th century France, written about in much older books.
"Hermione, why are you looking up Nicolas Flamel?" Leian asked with concern. Whenever Vid wasn't around, Hermione would generously answer everyone's questions, and everyone had already regarded her as a true friend.
"I, I just..." Hermione initially wanted to say nothing, as explaining would expose their rule-breaking midnight excursion into the restricted area, but when she looked up, she saw everyone around her watching her with concern, their eyes open and sincere.
This made her feel immense shame for her sneaky behavior.
"Here's the thing—" Hermione hesitated for a moment but finally recounted their adventure, as well as how after the Quidditch match, she and Harry and Ron went to visit Hagrid, the Gamekeeper, who inadvertently let slip that the thing guarded by the three-headed dog was related to Dumbledore and Nicolas Flamel.
"It seems that the big dog must be guarding Flamel's Philosopher's Stone," Hermione concluded, "I'm sure Flamel asked Dumbledore to help keep it safe! He knows someone is after the Philosopher's Stone, and since he and Dumbledore are friends, that's why it's at Hogwarts."
Hermione glanced at Vid but didn't mention his previous guess—even though she was increasingly convinced Vid was right, and the whole situation might just be Dumbledore's test for Harry. But letting other students know the headmaster was giving special treatment to a particular student wouldn't be good for Harry.
Seeing how Harry was pursued and surrounded by classmates as soon as he entered school was a clear sign of what it was like to be put in the spotlight, and Hermione knew her friend felt troubled by it.
"So who is after the Philosopher's Stone?" Leian asked.
Hermione said, "Harry and Ron both think it's Snape because his leg seemed to be bitten by the three-headed dog. But I think—"
Before she could finish, George suddenly said, "—Quirrell?"
Hermione was stunned for two seconds before saying, "What does that have to do with Professor Quirrell? Although I also find him not very competent—"