“Ron, are you alright?”
After achieving victory, Chen Yu, Harry, and Hermione immediately went to check on Ron's condition.
Ron's face was extremely pale, and he was curled up on the ground, sweat dripping from his forehead, down his nose, and onto the floor.
He hugged his abdomen tightly, trying to relieve the intense pain in his stomach.
Ron waved his hand, indicating he was fine.
But his pained expression made it clear he was far from alright.
Tears welled up in Ron's eyes, and snot uncontrollably flowed from his nose.
“I… I… I’m fine. Don’t worry about me, stopping Snape is more important!”
Ron gritted his teeth, the words coming out one by one.
Although Ron said he was fine, his expression clearly showed he was in great pain.
He also knew he couldn't continue and wanted Harry, Ron, and Chen Yu to hurry and not worry about him.
Hermione's lips trembled as she said to Harry and Chen Yu, “The next challenges are up to you. Someone must look after Ron. Lord Voldemort's minions aren't just Snape; there's also the Dark Wizard Hagrid encountered. We can't leave Ron here alone; he'll be in danger!”
“Don’t mind me; I can take care of myself.”
Ron, one hand clutching his stomach, tried to stand up with difficulty, but failed after several attempts.
“Don’t be so stubborn, Ron. Hermione is right; we can’t leave you here alone. Hermione, I’ll leave this to you. Look after Ron. Chen Yu and I will go ahead.”
Harry was still worried about Ron, but to prevent Snape from causing a greater disaster, he resolutely decided to leave Hermione to care for Ron.
“If I could ruin Lord Voldemort’s plans once, I can stop him a second, and a third time!”
With that, Harry quickly led Chen Yu into the next room.
Passing through a long corridor, Chen Yu and Harry arrived at another doorway.
Pushing open the door, a nauseating stench assailed them. Chen Yu quickly cast the Bubblehead Charm on himself and Harry, which then blocked out the room's odor.
Upon closer inspection, the spacious room contained two enormous Trolls.
These two Trolls were larger than any Chen Yu and Harry had ever seen, their massive bodies unable to pass through the narrow doorway, so they had eaten, drunk, and relieved themselves all within this room.
The room's walls were covered in cracks, the result of the two Trolls' furious outbursts after being trapped.
Had Quirrell raided a Troll's nest?
Otherwise, why would there be two more Trolls acting as guards?
Fortunately, these two Trolls, one male and one female, were not engaged in procreation at the moment.
Otherwise, upon entering and seeing such a scene, not to mention Harry, even he wouldn't be able to stand such an eye-sescorching sight.
Hearing the sound of the door opening, the two Trolls immediately stood up alertly.
Seeing the small door open and two Little Wizards enter, thick drool involuntarily flowed from their mouths.
Clearly, after being trapped in the room for so long, their diet wasn't great. Seeing Chen Yu and Harry, two ready-made snacks, they eagerly prepared to feast.
Just as the two Trolls rapidly ran towards them, and Harry intended to retreat behind the door to plan, two gunshots solved the problem of the two Trolls.
The Trolls, each with a bullet hole in their forehead, instantly fell to the ground, sliding forward about a meter before stopping at Chen Yu's feet.
Chen Yu blew on the wisps of smoke rising from his revolver and said to Harry, “Beyond seven steps, the gun is fast. Within seven steps, the gun is both accurate and fast. Sometimes, a gun can be much quicker than a wand.”
Imagining a wizard being shot in the head, Harry shivered and carefully stepped over the fallen Trolls.
“Let’s go quickly! Let’s hurry to the next stage! The guard for this stage was a Troll; the guard for the next stage might be a Dragon!”
The appearance of the Trolls gave Harry an ominous premonition.
Fluffy, Devil's Snare, the Chessboard, Trolls.
If he were the owner of the Philosopher's Stone, he would definitely arrange for a Dragon to guard the treasure, just like Gringotts.
The two of them worked together to pull open the next door and looked at the next challenge.
Harry was wrong; there was no Dragon in this room, only a table with seven bottles of various shapes on it.
As the two entered the room to read the parchment on the table, a purple flame instantly erupted at the doorway, blocking their retreat.
The path ahead was also blocked by black flames.
The two were trapped next to the table, caught between a rock and a hard place.
This was Snape's Potion challenge; he was testing not magic, but logical thinking.
Just as Snape had always believed, potion-making was a precise and rigorous craft that required strong logical thinking.
Whimsical potion-making was precisely what he despised.
After Harry and Chen Yu finished reading the contents of the parchment, Harry looked utterly bewildered; he hadn't encountered such a difficult problem even in his first year.
Chen Yu, however, was much more relieved; at least Snape hadn't thrown in any other tricky questions. He pointed to the smallest bottle and said, “This smallest bottle can help us pass through the black flames, but its contents are less than a mouthful. It seems the person who set the puzzle only wants one person to pass through the black flames…”
Chen Yu was interrupted by Harry before he could finish: “Which bottle allows one to pass through the purple flames and return?”
Chen Yu pointed to the bottle on the far right.
As soon as Chen Yu pointed, Harry immediately grabbed the smallest bottle and then said to Chen Yu, “Chen Yu, let me face the final challenge alone. If I managed to escape once by luck, I can do it a second time, and you’ve also given me something to save my life. I can’t let you take this risk.”
Since only one person could pass the test and enter the next stage, Harry chose to face the upcoming danger alone.
“Listen to me. You drink the other potion and go back to find Ron and Hermione, then use your magical portal spell to take them out directly. After that, go to the owlery to find Hedwig and have her quickly send a letter to Professor Dumbledore.”
“I will try my best to hold back Snape, but I am absolutely no match for him…”
Harry's voice trembled slightly; his heart was not as strong as he claimed.
“Who says there’s only one way to clear the stage? Don’t worry, I won’t let you face the final BOSS alone.”
Chen Yu also interrupted Harry: “Do you know the Counter-Fire Charm? This is a spell invented by medieval wizards to protect themselves from fire. After this spell was invented, some wizards at the time would deliberately allow themselves to be caught by Muggles, then use this spell to tease those Muggles.”
“However, after Muggles discovered that fire couldn't kill those wizards, they resorted to hanging.”
“The Counter-Fire Charm isn't very difficult to learn; it's just a bit obscure. I only read about this interesting spell while browsing books about medieval wizards in the Library and memorized it.”
Chen Yu cast the Counter-Fire Charm on himself, and still feeling a bit uneasy, activated a Magic Shield.
With the double buffs, Chen Yu easily passed through the black flames.
This scene left Harry a bit stunned, feeling that his long speech to Chen Yu just now made him seem quite foolish.
Looking at the potion bottle in his hand, he immediately poured the potion into his mouth, and after drinking it, he shivered all over.
It felt as if he had swallowed not a potion, but a piece of ice, bone-chillingly cold.
Feeling the potion's effects constantly fading in his body, Harry quickly crossed the black flames.
“Chen Yu, wait for me!”