In the end, the professors failed to uncover anything. All they could do was have the prefects escort everyone back to their dormitories to sleep. Before they left, Dumbledore specifically warned the students to obey the rules and not wander the castle at night.
All kinds of rumors flooded Hogwarts, and the entire school seemed to be shrouded beneath a dark cloud.
Friday was the day first-year students looked forward to most, because that morning they had a Defence Against the Dark Arts class. Everyone hoped to learn something about dueling, resisting dark magic, and dealing with magical creatures. But once they had actually attended the lesson, every last one of the little witches and wizards was bitterly disappointed.
There was no helping it. Professor Quirrell was simply too pathetic.
The man stammered whenever he spoke. Even when a student merely raised a hand to ask a question, he would jump in fright. His appearance was also bizarre, and he reeked of pungent garlic.
People were even saying that the cloth wrapped around his head was stuffed full of garlic underneath.
After one thoroughly muddled Defence Against the Dark Arts class, they had Herbology in the greenhouses that afternoon. They helped Professor Sprout weed, pack soil, and remove pests from her magical plants. In any case, there was nothing particularly unusual about it.
Once the day's lessons were over, everyone gathered in the Great Hall for their meal, and the atmosphere in the hall was still as strange as ever.
The enchanted ceiling, which should have been showing a dazzling star-filled sky, had for some unknown reason turned into a scene of rolling thunder and storm clouds.
The professors all looked grim, because in their view, if it had not been a student who stole Snape's potion ingredients, then someone had somehow infiltrated Hogwarts.
For something like this to happen just one week after the start of term was nothing short of shocking.
Dumbledore, meanwhile, suspected that the Death Eaters were behind it, including the looting of Knockturn Alley. He believed they intended to steal the Philosopher's Stone, then use Snape's ingredients and the Stone to brew an Elixir of Life and resurrect Voldemort.
Professor McGonagall and the others found this reasoning entirely plausible. They repeatedly instructed the prefects to keep a close watch on the students and make sure they did not go wandering about. New rules were also issued, such as requiring students to travel in groups whenever possible instead of being alone.
Professor Quirrell, for his part, also displayed exactly the terror his persona ought to have shown. Of course, his fear was entirely real.
After all, Dumbledore's reasoning made a great deal of sense. The only problem was that Voldemort was literally hiding on the back of his head right now.
Did this mean there was another group out there trying to steal the Philosopher's Stone as well?
That group had managed to loot Knockturn Alley, slip into Hogwarts without anyone noticing, and steal Snape's collection without leaving a trace. If they were capable of all that, would stealing the Philosopher's Stone really be difficult for them?
Then what was Quirell supposed to do?
Without the Philosopher's Stone, Voldemort would never spare him.
In short, under the influence of the professors, the atmosphere throughout Hogwarts grew more and more tense.
And so the two days of weekend break came to an end in that strange, oppressive mood.
During those two days, Altair did not do much else. He simply wandered around the castle and the grounds with Hermione, and whenever she went to the library to read, he would head to the Room of Requirement on the eighth floor and find a place to brew potions.
After all, he needed to assemble an army of five thousand Uruk-hai, and that meant he needed five thousand doses of Orc potion.
When the weekend ended, the little witches and wizards had to begin classes again.
Unlike the first week, this week the first-years finally started flying lessons. Their instructor was Madam Hooch, who had short gray hair and a pair of yellow eyes.
Most of the students from wizarding families had already had some contact with broomsticks. Only Neville had not, because his grandmother would not allow him near something so dangerous.
Hermione, unusually, was a little nervous. Over the weekend she had found a book in the library called Quidditch Through the Ages, and had used it to study a few flying techniques.
Altair, on the other hand, did not feel nervous at all. He was simply very curious about flying broomsticks.
Because he was so tense, Neville still failed to control his broom properly and shot into the air before Madam Hooch had even finished her countdown. Altair happened to be standing right beside him, so he immediately cast a Levitation Charm to catch him and gently lower him back down.
Neville was scared half to death. Madam Hooch told him to sit to one side and rest for a while. Because Altair had intervened, the conflict between Malfoy and Harry never happened either. Although Harry still displayed remarkable flying talent, unfortunately Professor McGonagall did not witness it.
After flying class ended, they still had another Herbology lesson that afternoon. Herbology was three times a week.
At lunch, Altair saw Professor Snape.
His spirits seemed to have recovered a little, but his complexion was still poor, and a trace of exhaustion showed through his cold, indifferent eyes.
"I heard Professor Snape applied to come back to teaching, but Dumbledore turned him down."
"They said Professor Snape still isn't in a good mental state. Someone saw him talking to himself yesterday."
"The Weasley twins were out wandering at night and saw Professor Snape casting spells outside his office..."
People muttered among themselves. Altair listened as he ate his lunch with perfect elegance.
Not a single person could tell that he had the slightest connection to any of it.
The Herbology class that afternoon was just as dull as ever. Sprout introduced them to an herb called dittany, and after that it was the usual routine of filling soil and removing bugs. Altair seriously suspected that Sprout was making legal use of child labor to tend her magical plants.
Two more days passed like that.
Then, that evening, Altair suddenly overheard Malfoy and his two lackeys talking about Harry Potter.