The troll was taken away by Snape, who declared it was excellent potion material.
Dumbledore returned to the Great Hall to announce that the matter had been resolved, then hurried back to his office.
The gargoyle guarding the entrance had been knocked down, and the Headmaster's office was in shambles. The exquisite silver instruments on the tables were roughly smashed, the Sorting Hat was covered with a torn cloth, and all the portraits were turned 180 degrees.
The portraits seemed to sense the castle's contractor had returned.
"We're terribly sorry, we didn't see what the attackers looked like, but we're sure there were two of them," one portrait stated.
"One of them had incredibly evil magic," another portrait added.
Dumbledore's face was grim as he cast a spell to restore the office to its original state. Then, he pulled a red stone from his pocket.
Fiddling with the Philosopher's Stone, Dumbledore murmured to himself, "You finally couldn't resist, Tom."
Before Dumbledore returned to his office, Quirrell had also left the Great Hall with the other professors. Professor McGonagall had told everyone to split up and search for any stray young wizards, which played right into Quirrell's hands.
Quirrell quickly ran back into the castle, cast a Disillusionment Charm on himself, and headed towards the Headmaster's office.
Seeing the gargoyle guarding the door, Quirrell found himself in a pickle.
"Idiot! Give me control of your body!"
"Master, if we make too much noise, Dumbledore will rush back."
Voldemort clearly had no patience for speaking to this imbecile; how could he possibly think a mere troll could stop Dumbledore?
Quirrell let out a wail as Voldemort forcibly took control of his body.
Enduring the body's rejection, Voldemort looked at the pathetic excuse for an alchemical creation before him.
"Visitors, speak the password."
A flash of red light, and the gargoyle was sent flying.
Another spell flew out, masking everything, then Voldemort expertly strode into the Headmaster's office.
(Please remember website ①⓪①ⓚⓐⓝ.ⓒⓞⓜ for the fastest chapter updates)
"Ah, familiar territory."
"Master, we don't have much time."
"Heh, the Philosopher's Stone isn't here."
Voldemort knew the Philosopher's Stone wasn't there the moment he stepped into the office. A powerful wizard like him was incredibly sensitive to magical energy, let alone the immense, extreme magical aura of the Philosopher's Stone.
"But I have found something interesting," he mused, reaching for a crystal vial on a bookshelf. Inside, it contained Harry's childhood memories.
"Why would Dumbledore keep this bottle of memories here?" Voldemort muttered to himself.
"Master? Were you speaking to me?"
"Silence."
Sensing Dumbledore's imminent return, Voldemort cast a spell to thoroughly mess up the room, then flew out the window.
Bang! The Headmaster's office door was flung open, and Snape strode in with purpose.
Snape spoke directly, "Quirrell is gone."
Dumbledore nodded knowingly. If it truly was Quirrell, then many things would make sense.
"Dumbledore, I told you long ago there was something wrong with Quirrell!"
"Severus, I can hardly administer Veritaserum to a professor based on mere suspicion."
At Dumbledore's words, Snape couldn't help but let out a laugh.
"Is that your reason for letting Quirrell escape? He could very well be back with the Dark Lord right now!"
"No, Tom and Quirrell were just here."
Upon hearing this, Snape's eyes widened in disbelief as he stared at Dumbledore.
"Then the Philosopher's Stone?" he asked, his voice trembling.
"I've kept it on me all along."
Snape let out a sigh of relief, then immediately tensed up again.
"Tom took something."
Click. The door opened, and someone else walked in.
A house-elf handed Harry a note. Harry raised an eyebrow as he read the password on the slip of parchment.
As Harry approached the Headmaster's office door, the gargoyle simply moved aside.
"Professor, you sent for me?"
Harry pushed the door open, and both Snape and Dumbledore looked over simultaneously.
"Harry, you've arrived just in time; we were just talking about you."
"Are you sure you want Potter to know? While his magical power is strong, he's just a brainless idiot—" Snape mumbled quietly.
Dumbledore rose, interrupting Snape, and took an ancient book from the bookshelf behind him.
He placed the book on the table, carefully turning to a specific page.
"This book should be a unique copy now; I borrowed it from my old friend, Nicolas."
"Nicolas? Nicolas Flamel?"
Snape realized who Dumbledore was referring to and immediately stepped forward to examine the book. But to his disappointment, it was merely an old, medieval family tree.
Snape looked at Dumbledore, puzzled, wondering why he would bring out such a book.
Dumbledore, however, beckoned Harry to come closer and look as well.
"Look here, the family tree after the three Peverell brothers separated."
"The Peverells? I always thought that was just a legend," Snape said, surprised.
Harry had no idea who the Peverells were, so Dumbledore briefly explained that they were the three brothers from "The Tale of the Three Brothers" in The Tales of Beedle the Bard.
"Iolanthe Peverell was the granddaughter of the youngest brother, Ignotus Peverell. She changed her surname to Potter after marrying Hardwin Potter. That would be your ancestor, Harry."
Snape's face immediately darkened. He remembered how Potter often appeared out of nowhere to bother him and Lily during their school days, realizing now it was due to the Invisibility Cloak.
"The Gaunt family was formed by the intermarriage of Salazar Slytherin's descendants and the descendants of the second brother, Cadmus Peverell."
Dumbledore paused, then continued, "Nicolas told me that at a certain point, the two families intermarried to achieve some kind of purpose. Harry, it's very likely your Parseltongue came about this way."
"Some kind of purpose? Are you saying they wanted to increase their blood purity to summon Death?" Snape, being a Potions Master, had conducted many similar experiments and quickly guessed the underlying meaning of Dumbledore's words.
Dumbledore didn't deny it, but Harry raised a question.
"What does this have to do with me now?"
"This means your Parseltongue likely has nothing to do with Tom, which also means that day, Lily—" Dumbledore's words abruptly stopped.
"What happened to my mum that day?" Harry demanded, unhappy, and Snape also perked up his ears.
But Dumbledore merely shook his head, saying it wasn't time for them to know yet.
"Tom invaded my office tonight. I suspect he didn't find what he was looking for, but he did take your childhood memories, Harry."
What?!
Snape jumped up from his seat in shock, roaring, "You asked me for a potion that day, saying it was just to talk to Potter, but you didn't mention his memories!"
"Calm down, Severus. Those memories weren't extracted from Harry's mind."
Harry watched Snape suddenly defending him, and in his mind, he concluded that his mum must have been the one who broke up with Snape back then.