<h4>Chapter 64: The curtain opens</h4>


    The next day at noon, an owl arrived at Hogwarts Headmaster''s office, delivering an urgent letter from the Ministry of Magic.


    Upon receiving the letter, Dumbledore smiled with a knowing look and nned to use the firece in his office to travel to the Ministry of Magic in London.


    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 Drac knew I was monitoring a girls'' washroom, he''d surely take the opportunity to tease me."


    Dumbledore nced once more at the monitoring mirror, shook his head with self-deprecation, and stepped into the green mes of the firece.


    ...


    Meanwhile, Professor Drac, 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 minutester, Quirrell imed to have caught a cold and asked Drac for a day off.


    In addition, Drac had two consecutive Defense Against the Dark Arts sses 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 sses seemed insufficient to hinder Drac effectively, or rather, he and Quirrell probably didn''t have any idea to dy this reckless person. Choosing the Defense Against the Dark Arts ss timing was likely just a desperate measure.


    Moreover, Voldemort clearly overestimated Drac''s professional ethics—


    "This ss will be self-study. Prefect, manage the ss discipline well, and don''te 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 ss order."


    Drac hastily arranged for self-study and leaned against the ckboard behind him in boredom. Meanwhile, his vision shifted to another ce.


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


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


    Drac and Fawkes did not wait long.


    During the middle of the first ss 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, reced by arge 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 mes.


    In the Defense Against the Dark Arts ssroom, Drac''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 ss order," he said seriously.


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


    Seeing Drac''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 Gryffindormon room, Harry and Ron were ying wizard''s chess, while Hermione had her face buried in arge stack of books, searching for information.


    From the situation on the chessboard, Ron was ying very well, making Harry sweat and struggle.


    Ronmanded 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 sh of golden-red light appeared.


    "Ron, did you see that? There was a sh 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'' mes. "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..."