Chapter 1247 The Great Death
“They retreated.”
Truman, who had been paying attention to the movements of the group of dark wizards through the map, suddenly reminded loudly: "I mean those **** dark wizards have retreated!"
In fact, even without Truman’s reminder, everyone can notice the latest changes.
In their line of sight, the dementors that were still wandering nearby and causing trouble for everyone suddenly stopped, turned their heads to look in a certain direction, and then rushed towards the gap at the school gate like a receding tide. A group of irrational Inferi were left behind, abandoned by the dark wizard as cannon fodder to delay them.
“Look in the direction of the Forbidden Forest!”
Cedric looked in the direction in which the Dementors turned their heads, and was shocked to find green sparks appearing in the sky above the Forbidden Forest. This was undoubtedly the reason why the dark wizard and the Dementors retreated.
"The guy who fired the green sparks just now and made the group of dark wizards retreat was obviously a Death Eater." George looked at the green sparks in the sky, frowned slightly and said, "How do they know the assassination mission failed?"
After Professor McGonagall and a group of people came over for reinforcements, everyone already knew that the Death Eaters went to great lengths to murder Dumbledore. However, the entire plan had been predicted in advance by Albert, and it failed completely just now. More than a dozen people who invaded the school The Death Eaters have all been subdued.
"Where did Albert go? I thought he went to deal with the fish that slipped through the net." Fred turned to look at Shanna, who shook her head and said she didn't know.
“You did a good job.”
Professor McGonagall looked at the Weasley brothers and the group of people around them with relief. If their reinforcements had not been timely, even they would have had a hard time dealing with the difficult group of dementors.
Even if they are professors at school, not everyone can summon a patron saint.
"You're welcome, let's play too...I mean I'm glad I can help." George smiled and changed the subject and asked, "By the way, have you seen Albert?"
"No."
Professor McGonagall raised her eyebrows slightly. She was actually very curious about how Albert allowed them all to master the physical Patronus. More importantly, most of them had graduated less than a year ago, and they actually looked well-trained. It was really Incredible.
"I'm afraid it will be troublesome to clean up the mess next." Cedric said, looking at the corpses scattered all over the place. "But I think everyone must be happy that he can help."
They must carefully investigate and deal with all the Inferi that have invaded Hogwarts.
“Hagrid, please find an open space and gather the Inferi first.” Professor McGonagall turned her head and said to Hagrid.
With Dumbledore not coming, she would have to take on the duties of deputy principal.
"Should we bury them?" Hagrid asked with raised eyebrows. He didn't think this was a good idea. There were too many Inferi. If they were buried directly, Hogwarts would have to become a cemetery.
"Of course not. I'm afraid I'll have to set fire to burn them clean by then." Professor McGonagall shook her head and said that most of the Inferi were made by dark wizards using Muggle corpses, and usually only flames could be used to completely destroy them.
Cleaning up the mess after the battle was undoubtedly a troublesome task, but Professor McGonagall did not involve the deans. Instead, he asked them to go back and appease the students in their own colleges to prevent the awakened students from each college from causing greater trouble. .
The work of clearing the Inferi was left to members of the Order of the Phoenix and the Defense Society.
Everything was arranged in an orderly manner, even Filch was given the task of guarding the door to prevent other students from running out and causing trouble.
The members of the Defense Association were happy to accept the "drudgery" of cleaning up the Inferi. They finally had the opportunity to enjoy the fun of fighting. Although the objects do look more ferocious, it does not prevent them from having fun fighting monsters.
This is a practical opportunity that I have never had in the Defense Against the Dark Arts class before.
To ensure safety, Zannah believed that several people should be killed together.
No one objects, after all, it is for safety.
Everyone will be happy to use the spells they learned in the Defense Association on this group of ferocious dark creatures, which looks really happy.
“Other spells really don’t seem to be able to kill them completely.” Lee Jordan pointed at the headless inferi and excitedly told his friends around him about his new discovery.
It’s incredible that he can still move even though his brain has been blown away by the Crushing Curse.
"That's why we need to use flames to burn them all to death." Shanna came over, used a full-body binding spell to knock down the inferi, glanced at Lee Jordan with disgust, and complained: "Can you please stop causing this?" So disgusting."
“They are disgusting enough on their own.” Lee Jordan waved his wand and dragged several Inferi bound by spells to Hagrid.
“This number is really astonishing.”
Hagrid threw the corpses brought by Lee Jordan onto the hill ahead of them where the Inferi were piled up. “The Inferi that invaded Hogwarts are at least hundreds, even thousands. Those guys are really crazy!”
"Those guys were lunatics, and the Ministry of Magic should have hanged them all long ago." The cruelty and cold-bloodedness of the Death Eaters made Zannah feel inexplicably chilled.
"There is no hanging in the Ministry of Magic. It should be said that there is no death penalty, if the soul is sucked away by the dementors. However, now the dementors have turned to the mysterious man!" Lee Jordan said in a broken voice, " If other junior students saw it, they would be frightened and psychologically affected."
“They are not as fragile as you think.” Angelina dragged several Inferi over and reminded: “Don’t be lazy, we have already eliminated eleven Inferi over there.”
“There are more of us than you, thirteen.”
“You are so boring.”
“Who is there!”
When Hagrid threw the Inferi into the pile of corpses, he seemed to notice something and suddenly turned his head to look in the direction of the Forbidden Forest and shouted.
Hagrid’s shout immediately alerted everyone, and they all raised their wands and pointed at the strange figure emerging from the Forbidden Forest.
"it's me."
"Harry? Why are you here, and what is that behind you?"
After Hagrid saw clearly that the person coming from the Forbidden Forest was Harry, he was slightly startled because he saw that Harry seemed to be dragging several Inferi behind him.
No, that thing doesn’t seem to be an Inferi, but... a Death Eater.
That’s right, Death Eaters.
They were tightly entangled in the vines and dragged along like dead dogs by Harry.
"Look, I said that Albert will definitely kill all the Death Eaters." Lee Jordan smiled and said to the others, "Now the Ministry of Magic has a few more Death Eaters that need to be executed. It's really congratulations."
"According to your calculations, there are dozens of Death Eaters who have been caught. Is this a stab at the mysterious man's lair and capture all their Death Eaters?" Angelina couldn't help but complain, She felt that among the people caught, there must be some who were not Death Eaters. Those guys were not cabbage, how could they catch a lot of them.
"It's very possible." Shanna was not surprised. This incident was originally intended to attack the mysterious man's minions, and it was not the first time that Albert had done this.
Hagrid had never seen Harry so lonely before, and asked worriedly, "Are you okay, Harry?"
"not too good."
Harry dragged the Death Eaters and continued towards the oak door, where there was a small commotion for some unknown reason.
“What’s going on over there?” Hagrid asked doubtfully.
"They probably know the news that Dumbledore is dead." Harry said hoarsely. She saw Mrs. Weasley. If she had followed earlier, she would have definitely seen Dumbledore's body.
"Dumbledore is dead?" Hagrid glared down at Harry and retorted loudly, "What do you say, Harry? Didn't Professor McGonagall say..."
“Hagrid, Dumbledore is dead.”
Harry trembled his withered lips and said in a hoarse voice: "Snape killed Dumbledore. Not long after Professor McGonagall and others left, Snape attacked and killed Dumbledore in a sneak attack."
Harry didn't pay attention to the astonished looks of others and said slowly, "When I rushed over, they had jumped directly from the astronomy tower and tried to leave from the Forbidden Forest, but they were still blocked by Albert. In the woods.”
Not only Hagrid, but also everyone else was completely stunned by the news Harry provided.
"This, this is impossible, impossible, how could Dumbledore die!" Hagrid murmured. "Where is Snape? Where is that beast? I must break every bone of his with my own hands."
“He got away!” said Harry.
“How could Albert let that beast escape!” Hagrid’s eyes widened in disbelief.
Harry had no intention of telling Hagrid that it was Albert who let Snape go, and he didn't know how to tell them that it was all Dumbledore's arrangement.
In fact, Harry is equally confused now. Maybe only Albert or Dumbledore knows all the truth now.
So, Harry was going to the principal's office to look for Dumbledore's portrait. He wanted to ask him personally and ask everything clearly.
When he passed the oak door, he saw Professor McGonagall, who had just received the news of Dumbledore's death from Mrs. Weasley, wiping the corners of her tearful eyes with a plaid lace handkerchief.
“Snape ran away!”
Before Harry walked up the stone steps, he threw the dragging Death Eaters aside and said to Professor McGonagall: "Snape abandoned the other Death Eaters and ran away with Malfoy. Albert Didn’t block him.”
After saying that, Harry ignored the astonished looks of others, walked directly through the oak door, and rushed towards the principal's office on the eighth floor of the castle.
There, a new portrait has joined the ranks of the late Headmasters of Hogwarts House.
Harry took a deep breath, closed the door of the principal's office, looked at Dumbledore's portrait, and said hoarsely: "Sir, I have something to ask you!"
Several other principals around him pricked up their ears to listen. They had known that Dumbledore would die tonight.
However, Dumbledore seemed to be in a deep sleep and did not respond to Harry's question.
"Albert told me everything, why did you let Snape kill you?" Harry asked again, "Even if you didn't tell me, I could get the answer from Albert, but I I hope you can tell me in person."
"Harry, people are bound to die. It is meaningless to die under the curse of a curse. It is better to exert the last bit of value before dying."
The man in the golden photo frame reopened his eyes and no longer tried to pretend to be asleep. He looked into Harry's eyes calmly and said with a smile: "Remember to keep this matter secret for the time being. This is very important."
"Is it really just like that?" Harry didn't want to believe the truth, "But if that's the case, why did Albert reject Snape so much."
“Snape dislikes you too, doesn’t he?”
"Definitely not, at least not entirely." Harry continued to ask his doubts, "He also said that there are better choices, but you still insist on choosing the worst script. Albert seems to be disgusted with you sacrificing yourself to save the world. Exit Snape and Malfoy."
"I just made the right choice, Harry." Dumbledore's half-moon glasses revealed a kind light, "My death can maximize the benefits. I have to brag here. I died very well." great."
Harry suddenly fell silent.
"Voldemort wants me to die. Only if I die will Voldemort relax his vigilance and become unscrupulous. At that time, he will be close to being finished. And your chance will come. As for Severus, I Thinking that his life is more valuable, he can use this to gain Voldemort's trust, and he can also work as a spy and help protect the students of Hogwarts when necessary."
"Are you sure Snape is reliable?" Harry frowned and said hoarsely, "But Albert said Snape is unreliable."
"That's just a little prejudice." Dumbledore comforted, "Severus is still reliable on some things."
"Where's Draco Malfoy?" Harry asked. "That guy wanted to assassinate you from the beginning, and yet you still favored him."
"Mr. Malfoy is just passing by. You can think of it as a little selfishness as a principal. No one wants to see their students go astray." Dumbledore explained.
"But he almost killed Katie." Harry reminded, "If Katie died because of the innocent incident, would you still favor Malfoy?"
“But Katie is not dead, Harry,” Dumbledore said softly.
"Yeah, luckily Katie's not dead." Harry slowed down his voice and said suddenly, "I actually think you should accept Albert's suggestion."
“He is not suitable and many people may die.”
Dumbledore was not very optimistic about Albert's method. After all, Voldemort was crazy. Even if his power was gradually suppressed through the Ministry of Magic and the entire British wizarding world stood up to resist him, it was still possible that more people in the British wizarding community would be suppressed. The wizard is involved in this huge vortex of war, and it will only become out of control.
Dumbledore, who has been hostile to Voldemort for many years, knows better than anyone that it is too difficult to defeat him directly from the front.
What's more, Dumbledore didn't know how long he could hold on, let alone God knows what crazy things would happen if he pushed a guy like that into a desperate situation.
In that case, it is better to spend your last life in exchange for another possible victory.
Dumbledore believes that Harry will be able to complete his mission under his own arrangements. Even if Harry does fail in the end, Albert will come out to clean up the mess.
(End of this chapter)