Chapter 60: Return (Part 1)

Boom.

As Professor Quirrell collapsed in the sea of flames due to the Shield Charm, a black shadow flew out from his body—it was Voldemort's soul.

"Remember this," the soul snarled at Daniel before giving a resentful glance at Harry Potter. Leaving these words behind, Voldemort's soul escaped through the Shield Charm.

"You really think I can't deal with a soul? If it weren't for the fact that I still have use for you, I'd burn you to ashes right now," Daniel thought disdainfully as he watched Voldemort disappear.

Ordinary flames couldn't harm a soul, but Fiendfyre could. One of Voldemort's Horcruxes had been destroyed by Fiendfyre, a dark magic strictly forbidden mainly because of this reason.

Even without Fiendfyre, Daniel had means to deal with souls. After all, Kamar-Taj's magic excelled in this area.

"Now, can you tell me what happened here?" With Voldemort gone, Daniel turned his attention to Harry.

"Professor Quirrell wanted the Sorcerer's Stone to revive the Dark Lord," Harry said, slowly stepping back, trying to hide something in his side pocket.

"What do you have there? Hand it over," Daniel demanded, pointing at Harry's pocket.

"It's the Sorcerer's Stone," Harry hesitated for a moment before slowly taking out the stone—a pale red, irregular crystal.

"Let me see it," Daniel extended his left hand, his right still holding his wand.

"This belongs to Professor Dumbledore," Harry said as he slowly approached Daniel, seemingly trying to use Dumbledore's name to intimidate him.

Perhaps Quirrell's betrayal made Harry distrustful of everyone except Dumbledore.

"I'm just going to take a look," Daniel didn't reach for it. When Harry finally stood before him and placed the stone in his left hand, a fist-sized spherical space appeared, enveloping the stone.

"So this is the Sorcerer's Stone. I see," After a moment, Daniel deactivated the power of the Ope-Ope Fruit, then tossed the stone back to Harry, who caught it clumsily, looking puzzled.

The Sorcerer's Stone was famous in the wizarding world for its ability to turn any metal into pure gold and produce the Elixir of Life, granting immortality. Although the wizarding world had other means of extending life, the Sorcerer's Stone was unique. Only Nicolas Flamel could create it, and it seemed he had only ever made one, which kept him and his wife alive until now.

Besides immortality, the stone's ability to transmute substances was also significant. It wasn't just limited to turning stone into gold but could permanently alter the nature of substances. However, Flamel seemed to have only used it to produce a large amount of gold, allowing him and his wife to live in wealth.

Now that the stone was in Dumbledore's possession, it implied that Flamel and his wife no longer wished to live. If the stone were destroyed, their immortality would end.

Given these factors and the fact that Dumbledore was watching, Daniel wasn't tempted by the stone. Another reason was that he had roughly figured out how to create one.

The Sorcerer's Stone, also known as the Philosopher's Stone, was a material sought after by alchemists for its ability to alter substances. For an alchemist, having this stone meant never lacking materials. However, creating it required a crucial ingredient: a large number of human souls, not just any souls, but concentrated ones.

Strictly speaking, the stone couldn't grant eternal life indefinitely. Its power was limited by the number of concentrated souls used in its creation.

Soul energy was a fundamental energy of the universe. While most people might not understand this, Kamar-Taj's magic began with understanding the soul. Coupled with the power of the Ope-Ope Fruit, Daniel could create the Sorcerer's Stone if he wanted.

But doing so would necessitate mass slaughter, something Daniel could never do, no matter how tempting the stone's substance-altering abilities were.

"Give it to Professor Dumbledore once we're out. Let him handle it," Daniel said, extinguishing the flames and dispelling the Shield Charm. He then walked towards a large mirror on the wall inside the chamber.

The Mirror of Erised, a huge magical mirror, could show a person their deepest, most desperate desires.

Daniel wanted to see what his most desperate desire was.

These desires weren't superficial but rooted in the subconscious. For instance, Harry saw his parents beside him, while Ron saw himself as the Head Boy, admired by everyone.

Dumbledore saw his family.

Grindelwald's greatest regret was a miscalculation that led to the accidental death of Dumbledore's sister, causing a rift between them. Without this incident, the war would have had a different outcome. But even with a Time-Turner, one couldn't change the past.

In theory, Dumbledore could have saved his sister using a Time-Turner when she died. However, he chose not to. Similarly, Grindelwald didn't use a Time-Turner after his defeat, nor did Voldemort try to alter his fate with one.

Thinking about it this way, the Harry Potter world was incredibly chaotic, capable of spawning infinite variations of itself.

Perhaps, like the Marvel universe, Harry's world had countless parallel dimensions. Using a Time-Turner wouldn't change the current reality, only create another parallel dimension.

"As expected," Daniel said, looking at the Mirror of Erised, which reflected nothing but his own image. He wasn't disappointed, as he had anticipated this outcome.

The Mirror of Erised was powerful, but its power was limited to this world; it couldn't transcend dimensions.

"Let's go. Hermione and Ron are waiting," Daniel said, looking around but not finding any trace of Dumbledore.

"Ron, Hermione!" Harry suddenly remembered his friends. He quickly put the Sorcerer's Stone back in his pocket and ran out, with Daniel following closely behind.

"Yes." After Daniel left, Dumbledore emerged from a wall, walked to the Mirror of Erised, and stood silently.

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