Chapter 31 - 31 Chilo cleared?
Chapter 31: Chapter 31 Chilo cleared?
Quirrell's bald head was exposed, looking strangely small and completely hairless.
Dracula looked at his egg-shaped bald head with distaste and furrowed his brow, saying:
"Stop fooling around, turn around."
Quirrell slowly turned around, presenting the back of his head to the professors.
The professors were all stunned.
Professor Sprout quickly covered her eyes, leaving a clear red mark on her forehead from the swift gesture; Snape's mouth and eyes twitched, his facial features twisted into a grimace; Professor Flitwick, who was eating, vomited upon seeing Quirrell's scalp...
Dracula, most directly affected, lifted his hand in disgust and slapped the air, hitting Quirrell's head. Quirrell spun around a few times and then crashed heavily to the ground, creating a large dent in the floor of the professors' lounge, embedding his head into the floor.
It turned out that behind Quirrell's head were three very grotesque scars—two on the top and one on the bottom—forming a grotesque, eerie face when put together!
This ugly face disgusted the professors profoundly, making them lose their appetite for days.
...
Despite being unwilling to believe it, Professor McGonagall, as the impartial Deputy Headmistress of Hogwarts, had to admit that although Quirrell's scars were hideous, there was indeed nothing else under the turban.
So now the villains were the professors.
They had acted like a group of ruthless bullies, cornering the weak Quirrell and stripping him of his last shred of decency...
"Are you... satisfied now?" With his head embedded in the floor, the pitiful Quirrell sobbed, "I... I always used my turban to hide these unsightly scars because I was afraid... afraid that you and the students would dislike me. If... if laughing at me makes you happy, then... then I accept it..."
Moved by Quirrell's pitiable speech, Professors McGonagall and Sprout were both touched.
Professor Sprout said with a sigh, "Oh, poor Professor Quirrell, it's our fault for uncovering your wounds."
"Don't worry, Quirrell, Hogwarts will never wrong a good person!" Professor McGonagall also comforted him.
After much gratitude, Quirrell carefully pulled his head out of the floor and limped away from the professors' lounge, holding his head.
After Quirrell left, Snape looked at Professor McGonagall and Professor Sprout with an unfriendly expression.
"Because of your kindness, our last clue has been destroyed," he said slowly, each word seeming to be squeezed out from between his teeth.
"Oh, don't say that, Severus," seeing the two ladies' unhappy expressions, Professor Flitwick quickly stood on a table, straining to block the view from both sides, "Minerva and Pomona only didn't want to wrong a good person. I think Professor Quirrell is also quite pitiable, why not observe him further?"
"Sentimental women," Snape scoffed.
He then swung his long cloak and left the professors' lounge with a bat-like stride.
"Severus really has no manners," Professor McGonagall was furious and nearly chased after him to show him what it meant for a woman to hold up half the sky!
Kind-hearted Professor Sprout quickly grabbed Professor McGonagall's arm, "Minerva, let it go, it's not worth it. You know Severus has always been like this..."
Following this unpleasant episode, the professors dispersed unhappily.
Dracula stayed behind.
He walked slowly to the pit in the ground, gazing at the purple turban that Quirrell had forgotten to take away, deep in thought.
The turban still faintly emitted a trace of cheap perfume, but it was already very faint, detectable only by a vampire's sensitive sense of smell.
Dracula hadn't noticed it before, but it suddenly occurred to him that he hadn't smelled the strong perfume on Quirrell for some time. This might also be why the professors hadn't been too averse to Quirrell today.
If Quirrell had come to the professors' lounge reeking of perfume as before, instead of feeling pity, Professor McGonagall and Professor Sprout would probably have been the first to drive him back to his office, unable to tolerate such a walking biochemical weapon!
Recalling all of Quirrell's unusual behaviors, Dracula gradually pieced together a vague truth.
From the first time he saw Quirrell, Quirrell had been using various strong smells to cover another scent on him.
Initially, it was the smell of garlic, which Dracula found extremely unpleasant, and thus ordered Quirrell to remove it.
Later, Quirrell switched to the stench of troll's socks and toilets. The troll's odor could make a normal person vomit, yet Quirrell could carry such a smell and live normally for an entire day. In this regard, he was indeed a tough guy.
Finally, Quirrell removed the troll smell, leaving only the strong scent of cheap perfume.
Because the perfume smell seemed somewhat normal, Hogwarts had not prohibited it, so Quirrell was able to get away with it for most of the semester.
As Christmas approached, the professors were overwhelmed with work and no longer paid much attention to the man who sprayed perfume every day.
Dracula continued to think,
It seemed that the perfume smell on Quirrell started to gradually dissipate right before Harry's first Quidditch match.
With this thought, Dracula took out the Hogwarts deed from his pocket and looked at a small room surrounded by deep protective enchantments, invisible to the deed.
That was Quirrell's office.
"Interesting."
Dracula smirked slightly and vanished from his spot.
...
In Quirrell's office, the bald man knelt respectfully, holding a diary and placing it on the desk in front of him.
"I've finally cleared my name, Master!" he trembled and said excitedly, "Master, rest assured, I will definitely help you get the Philosopher's Stone!"
A misty shadow of a black-haired boy appeared above the diary.
He nodded slowly at Quirrell, a dark smile appearing on his face.