— — — — — — —
"You idiot! How can you think about running away at a time like this?"
Hermione rolled her eyes. No matter how hard Harry tried to pull her, she didn't move an inch.
To Harry, it felt like he was trying to drag a statue.
"Hermione, why are you so heavy?!"
Harry was shocked but quickly shook it off, still pulling on her. "We need to run! That's Voldemort! We can't win! We have to go get Headmaster Dumbledore!"
That was the Dark Lord after all!
Hermione scoffed. "Oh please, it's just a half-dead Voldemort. Why are you so scared?"
She grabbed Harry's wrist and—whoosh!—in the blink of an eye, she moved so fast that she suddenly appeared behind Professor Quirrell.
BAM!
Before Voldemort could even react, she delivered a powerful kick straight to his back, sending him flying.
Voldemort crashed hard into a stone pillar before rolling to the ground.
Dumbledore: "..."
Harry: "..."
Voldemort: "???"
Did… did the Dark Lord just get dropkicked by a first-year girl?
This felt completely surreal.
Also, wasn't Hermione way too fast just now?!
"You filthy little Mudblood! You're dead!!"
Voldemort, who had fully taken over Quirrell's body, roared in fury. He struggled to his feet and reached into Quirrell's robes, attempting to draw his wand.
"As if I'd let you!"
Before he could even grab it properly, Hermione flashed forward again, dragging Harry along like a doll.
In an instant, she appeared right in front of Voldemort.
She grabbed his wand—
SNAP!
—and broke it in half.
Voldemort: "..."
"What the hell?!"
Voldemort was shocked.
Then, his shock turned into rage.
For years, he had ruled as the Dark Lord, feared by wizards everywhere.
Never before had he suffered such humiliation!
And now, a first-year girl had just stolen and snapped his wand right in front of him?!
This wasn't just breaking a wand—this was shattering his dignity!
"You little brat! Do you think this is over?! I am the Dark Lord!"
Furious, Voldemort's body surged with dark magic. He raised a single finger, a sickly green glow forming at the tip as he prepared to cast a spell without a wand.
"Oh no, you don't!"
At that critical moment, Hermione didn't hesitate and used the weapon in her hand.
She threw Harry forward.
Harry, still dazed from being dragged around at lightning speed, had no idea what was happening.
His hand collided directly with Voldemort's hand.
Instantly—
CRACK!
Voldemort's entire arm turned to stone and crumbled into dust on the floor.
But Hermione wasn't done yet.
Still holding onto Harry, she shoved his face straight into Voldemort's.
"ARGHHHH!!!"
Voldemort let out a bloodcurdling scream as his face began to decay.
Within seconds, his entire body crumbled into ash.
All that remained was an empty pile of clothes.
"NOOOO!! Damn you, damn you, damn you!!"
But Voldemort wasn't completely gone.
His soul, now a shadowy wisp, shot out from the remains, attempting to escape.
But before disappearing, he let out a furious roar, just like every villain does.
"Filthy Mudblood brat! I will make you pay for this!"
Hermione didn't even think about letting him go.
"Harry Shuriken Technique!"
With a swift, Uchiha-style throw, she threw Harry's unconscious body straight at Voldemort's soul.
Fortunately, Harry had already passed out when his face had been smashed into Quirrell's.
Otherwise, he definitely would have been screaming right now.
SPLAT!
Harry slammed into Voldemort's wraith-like soul.
"AAAAAAAHHHHHHHHH!!"
Voldemort's final shriek filled the air before he decayed completely.
Gone.
Not a trace left behind.
"Whew! That's it!"
Hermione leaped up, caught Harry mid-fall by the collar, and landed gracefully.
Grinning brightly, she gave a little twirl. "All done! Heehee! The Dark Lord wasn't that tough after all!"
Meanwhile, Dumbledore—who had been watching in secret: "..."
He was completely speechless.
Just… what the hell did he just witness?!
The Dark Lord's main soul… was completely destroyed.
Just like that?!
And Harry… Harry didn't do a single thing!
No trial, no hardship, no character growth—
He was literally just a weapon.
Dumbledore let out a long sigh.
This… this was not how things were supposed to go.
Dumbledore was feeling very troubled right now.
He had no idea what to do anymore.
This was supposed to be Harry's big trial, a test to help him grow!
Instead… Hermione soloed the Dark Lord.
There was zero learning experience for Harry!
However, Dumbledore had to admit—Hermione was unexpectedly strong and incredibly sharp.
From his point she managed to figure out Voldemort's weakness—Harry's ability to counter him—just from Voldemort's brief moments of fear and hesitation.
At least that part made Dumbledore feel somewhat relieved.
"Maybe… I should give Hermione more responsibility?"
Dumbledore stroked his beard, deep in thought.
On the other side, Hermione suddenly shivered.
"Ugh… why do I feel like someone's plotting against me?" she muttered, rubbing her arms.
Poof!
With a soft pop, Dumbledore apparated right in front of her, sighing heavily.
"Professor!"
Hermione's eyes lit up, and she quickly took two steps forward. "You're finally here! You have no idea how dangerous things just got! We actually found the Dark Lord down here! Turns out, Professor Quirrell was the real villain all along! And guess what?"
"Voldemort's ugly face was stuck to the back of Quirrell's head—"
She launched into a nonstop chatter, detailing everything at lightning speed.
Dumbledore twitched.
This… this wasn't the Hermione he had imagined.
Oh, wait.
She had already broken character long ago.
Never mind, then… Wait, no, this was still a problem!
"Alright, alright! Miss Granger!" Dumbledore quickly raised a hand to stop her from talking him to death. "I understand the situation. For now, let's focus on getting Harry to the hospital wing first!"
"Fine," Hermione pouted.
She smacked her lips, feeling a bit unsatisfied, but still threw the unconscious Harry over to Dumbledore.
Dumbledore's eyebrow twitched again.
This delicate-looking girl was lifting and throwing a whole human as if he were a ragdoll.
"Alright, let's go!"
He checked on Harry, confirming that he was merely knocked out from the impact, nothing serious. Feeling relieved, he motioned for Hermione to follow him out of the underground chamber.
As they walked, Hermione sidled up to him.
"Hey, hey, Professor!" she grinned. "I totally took out the Dark Lord this time. Doesn't that deserve a reward? How about lending me that Philosopher's Stone? I'd love to study it! I'm super curious about alchemy!"
Dumbledore slipped while walking, nearly falling over.
'This girl…!'
Thankfully, he steadied himself quickly.
He gave her a long, analyzing look, then asked cautiously, "Why do you want the Philosopher's Stone?"
"Why else?" Hermione shrugged, looking innocent. "It's one of the greatest alchemical achievements of all time! I've read about it in so many books. Apparently, it can turn things into gold!"
Her eyes sparkled as she spoke.
"And if I can turn anything into gold…" she continued, deliberately putting on an exaggerated look of greedy excitement, "then I can buy all the magic books and potion ingredients I want!"
"I'd never run out of money for research again!"
Her logic was flawless.
Sure, she could technically use her own powers (fantasy creation) to materialize Galleons, but that wasn't exactly… legal.
She needed a legitimate source of income.
At least for initial funding.
After that, she could find other ways to create money openly while keeping her real abilities hidden.
This was the perfect opportunity.
Sure enough, Dumbledore's eyes softened.
Hearing Hermione's words, his suspicion vanished.
Instead, he felt a hint of pity.
He suddenly remembered Hermione's background.
As a Muggle-born, she had no wealthy wizarding family to support her.
She was stuck with the Ministry's ridiculous currency exchange limits.
Muggle-born students could only exchange a set amount of Muggle money for Galleons each year—200 Galleons, max.
And once they graduated?
They had to pay it back over time.
As for those fanfiction theories Hermione had read in her past life?
The ones that said Muggle-borns could just infinitely exchange pounds for Galleons?
Total nonsense.
Like hell those greedy goblins would let someone exploit the system.
They weren't stupid.
They knew that unlimited currency exchange would completely crash the magical economy.
And that… would never happen.
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{ +80 advanced chapters are available at: patreon.com/_Coreal }