days at Hogwarts

Chapter 506 Post-match review
Cedric stared at the cracks in the stone. Even though he was already sore and red, he didn't want to miss any moment of the wonderful duel. Whether it was Dumbledore or Voldemort, the dueling skills they displayed were completely different from those taught by previous professors. .

He couldn't learn the life-killing curses and the overwhelming flames, but the thick and strange black fog and the angel statues that were both offensive and defensive were very inspiring to him.

In terms of offensive, one side is a blazing sword that burns the space, and the other is a life-killing curse that will cause death upon contact. In terms of protection, one side is a flame that devours all, and the other is an unbreakable shining silver shield.

The two people who were observing secretly were both dazed. This was the legendary wizard at the top of the magic world.

Loren watched silently as the flames and black smoke in the sky gradually dissipated. The thick clouds covering the stars and moon in the sky had dissipated unknowingly. The silver glow was light, the night breeze was cool, and Voldemort was nowhere to be seen.

The white-bearded old principal who had just finished a big battle was not disappointed when he looked at the empty wilderness cemetery. Instead, he noticed the cracked grave of Tom Riddle. He waved his wand, and the surrounding earth and rocks automatically poured towards the crack without wind. The tomb will soon be repaired to its original appearance.

Dumbledore stepped forward to the body of Crouch. The director of the Department of International Affairs and Cooperation, who once cared about his image the most, was now withered and bloody. Only an empty skin frame hanging on the skeleton was left. He was not dead at all. No dignity.

He sighed imperceptibly:

"How long do you two plan to hide?"

……

In a daze, Harry saw a sword made of flames striking towards him. Some kind of secret and distant sound penetrated his consciousness, dragging him out of his deep dream.

"Harry, Harry..."

Mrs. Weasley's gentle call was heard in her ears, and scenes before her coma flashed before her eyes, including Voldemort's mysterious resurrection ceremony, the gathering of Death Eaters, and the souls surrounding him...

There was a searing pain in the scar, and the scattered fragments kept flashing in front of his eyes, and the final image was fixed on Cedric's lifeless legs hanging down limply.

"Cedric, no!"

Harry sat up suddenly from the hospital bed, breathing heavily, and a thin layer of cold sweat was already stuck on his forehead.

"Harry, it's okay, it's okay..."

The bright and clean school infirmary came into view, and the uneasiness in his heart dissipated the moment he realized that he was in Hogwarts. Mrs. Weasley's gentle patting made him gradually relax.

Hermione was fiddling with a crudely designed silver coin, while Hagrid and Professor Moody were standing in the outer circle.

Sirius opened the door and led Ms. Pomfrey in. He squeezed through the brothers and sisters Bill, George, Fred, Ron and Ginny who were gathered together. After a careful inspection, Ms. Pomfrey calmed down. He said: "The arm seems to have been slightly injured, but the healing magic is very good and it has recovered. The only thing left is that the physical energy and magic power have been consumed too much. I need to rest for a few days. Don't worry too much..."

Sirius ruffled Harry's hair, his eyes were slightly red, and he didn't say much.

The emotions that Harry had been suppressing and restraining since he left the maze suddenly came to his heart, making him uncontrollably feel a burning sting in his eyes, but he did not cry under the gaze of everyone.

"Voldemort is back, Cedric was..." Harry couldn't finish the cruel news, his eyes were filled with tears and his voice was choked.

Professor Moody's eyebrows knitted together and his blue magic eyes swung around, as if he didn't believe the news. The Weasleys who were nearby all looked horrified, and Ms. Pomfrey and Hagrid were even more uneasy. .

"This this……"

"Cedric is fine. He is chatting with Dumbledore in the principal's office." Hermione's unhurried voice sounded more beautiful to the ears of several people in the ward than the mermaid's singing. She spread her right hand to show off the small silver coins. , with a cold expression on his little face, "Loren said that if Harry wakes up, he can go to the principal's office."

This...Cedric...he clearly saw it with his own eyes...

Harry's mind was a little hard to turn around, his expression gradually became dull, and he began to doubt himself.

"I'll go with Harry!" Ron said quickly.

"I am coming too!"

"And I!"

"What are you causing trouble?" Looking at the screaming twins, Molly couldn't help but hit them on the head, then turned around and made a calm decision, "Sirius and Alastor took Harry to the office. , you guys go back and have a good sleep."

"Oh..." The Weasley siblings responded reluctantly.

Sirius and Moody looked at each other and nodded in agreement.

In this way, Harry walked to the principal's office in a daze, supported by the two men. When he went out, his expression was still dull and his mind was in a mess.

Ginny watched the three of them go away, and noticed the figure of a little curly-haired witch behind her. She couldn't help but ask, "Hey, Hermione, why are you following me?"

"I'm going to find Loren." The little witch replied coldly, with a chill in her voice for no reason.

Ron rolled his eyes and followed the wall. After running out, the voice came back from far away:
"I'll go find Loren too."

……

"Deng...deng..."

The wooden prosthetic leg of the retired Auror with magic eyes made a sound in the empty corridor. Harry was supported by Sirius with a dazed look on his face. The person involved did not speak, and no one else asked. They couldn't calm down after such a thrilling night. They waited for Harry to clear his mind and left all questions to be raised in the principal's office later.

The little witch walking next to her held a silver coin in her right hand across her lower abdomen. Her calm little face was full of sternness, her lips were tightly pursed into a slit, and the wide sleeves and back hem of her magic robe were fluttering in the wind. At this age, he already has some of the magnificence of Professor McGonagall.

No one knew that this serious-faced know-it-all was thinking about how to beat someone up.

As for the shrunken Weasley boy further back, I didn't even want to see it, let alone mention it.

Arriving in front of the familiar statue on the third floor, Sirius and Moody consciously stepped aside. Hermione walked to the front and spoke softly: "Caramel sticks."

The statue moved aside in response, and the doors automatically opened to both sides to reveal the aisles behind them. Several people stood silently on the spiral staircase, all the way up. Before they could get closer, some dull voices came out through the oak door: "Cedric, although I have no intention of concealing what happened tonight, it involves... In order to prevent your parents and family from being targeted, Please be careful before disclosing things to others.”

"Thank you, Professor. Actually, I, I don't plan to reveal what happened tonight to others, even my parents..."

Cedric's voice was filled with unconcealable fatigue after working hard all night, but Harry still recognized the familiar tone instantly, and his pupils shrank violently in his wide eyes.

He clearly saw with his own eyes that Cedric was struck by Bellatrix's death curse. The body should be cold by now!

By the way, it's Polyjuice Potion! Someone's pretending to be Cedric!

It's a Death Eater conspiracy!
Harry's head suddenly sobered up, and all his grief turned into anger, but amidst the strong anger, he also had a faint hope...

"Don't be embarrassed. Choosing to keep the secret for the sake of your family is also a choice of courage and wisdom."

"It may be a long time before I can thank you, Loren."

"It's best to keep it secret. I don't want to get into trouble."

Hearing Loren's lazy voice, Hermione's face became even colder. She stepped forward and knocked on the oak door: "Principal Dumbledore, Harry is coming with us."

"Please come in."

Pushing open the door and entering, there are only a few weak candles lit in the office. Phoenix Fox is staying on a perch at the door, with his head buried in his right wing. The paintings of previous principals on the wall are flipped over, and there is a peaceful look on the desk. The sight, three cups of yellow-orange pumpkin juice is still steaming.

Cedric was sitting across from the desk. His clothes were messy and had holes in several places, which did not affect his demeanor as a Hufflepuff prefect. His face was a little pale. Loren next to him turned his head and looked at them with a smile.

Dumbledore nodded towards Cedric: "That's it for tonight. If you really have trouble falling asleep, you can go to Ms. Pomfrey. I highly recommend you to use hypnosis to temporarily forget the thrill of this night... …”

"Good night, Principal Dumbledore, good night, Loren..."

Cedric stood up politely and nodded when he saw a few people, "Good evening, everyone."

The moment he passed by Cedric, Harry saw him wink at him. Every part of his eyebrows and expressions were Cedric's original look. The holes in his clothes were from when he was fighting the Acromantula. What was left looked familiar to him.

The Death Eater pretending to be Cedric took off his clothes, so carefully that he even took off his shirt?

Harry fell into endless tangles again. Uncertain expectations and doubts about Cedric's identity were intertwined, making his whole head a mess.

Dumbledore called out several chairs from the cubicle, and took out the tea utensils slowly. He seemed to want to ask a few people what they wanted to drink: "I know, you guys must have a lot to say-"

"Let's get down to business first, Albus." Moody said carelessly.

Loren didn't smell the smell of Polyjuice Potion from Professor Moody, and realized that this was a real retired professor who had been hired back from retirement. Although he had been replaced by others for a year, he stood up when he received the year-end bonus at the end of the school year. .

Dumbledore coughed, but poured the remaining pumpkin juice in the teapot for everyone one by one, making Moody frown. Even after retirement, the elite Auror still has a fiery temper. After being dormant for a year and trying to get information from Barty Crouch Jr., he was very impatient, and his patience had long been worn out.

Loren watched happily, and suddenly heard the little witch's soft voice in his ear: "The adventure tonight must be exciting, right?"

Loren's heart condensed, and he calmly handed the pumpkin juice that Dumbledore had poured to Hermione: "I will tell you more carefully later."

The little witch's eyes narrowed into slits, and her long eyelashes fluttered, which made people feel terrified.

Harry couldn't hold back the hot pumpkin juice and asked cautiously: "Headmaster, I...Cedric...he..."

Dumbledore seemed to understand his uneasiness and doubts, and said with a smile: "Cedric told me part of the truth about what happened tonight. By the way, he conveyed the greetings of Mr. Diggory and Mrs. Diggory. He talked about many things. The prefect’s difficulties and interesting stories, and also talked about how you will walk to the end of the maze together and share the championship of this competition.”

Harry's hanging heart relaxed. If Cedric was really dead, there would be no way for the disguised Death Eaters to know so many things in the past, but he still couldn't figure it out: "But..."

"Before explaining this matter, everyone here needs to understand the whole matter..."

With Dumbledore's gentle narration, a long and twists and turns story slowly unfolded in front of everyone: "Let me think about it, it should start with Mr. Crouch. I think you have learned about it from Severus. , Thirteen years ago, Crouch personally sent his son to Azkaban. There is another story hidden in it, about a secret and deep love..."

Mrs. Crouch dragged her seriously ill body to replace her son who was serving time in Azkaban. Mr. Crouch imprisoned his son for nearly ten years. Finally, on the night of the Quidditch World Cup, he lost control due to riots and was even led by his own son to attack and murder Voldemort. , turned into a puppet possessed by Voldemort, Barty finally disguised himself as Moody and sneaked into Hogwarts...

After hearing the story of the Crouch family, except for Loren, several young wizards and Sirius were stunned, and their emotions were so complicated that they could not figure it out.

"No wonder there was sparkle at the Dark Mark scene. No wonder she was always taboo about mentioning the Crouch family..." Harry murmured.

Hermione couldn't help but glance at Loren. She was not sure if Loren had known this for a long time, so he made an agreement with Winky...

"These Death Eaters should be given a Dementor's Kiss!" Moody yelled angrily. "Fortunately, they still need to get information about me and use my hair to make Polyjuice Potion, otherwise they will kill me too." "

Sirius looked at Harry in fear, knowing that Barty Crouch Jr., disguised as Moody, had countless opportunities to murder Harry. Harry had been hit by the Imperius Curse hundreds of times in class. If this was the case for the Death Curse...

Harry and Ron also felt their scalps tingling.

Dumbledore sipped the pumpkin juice and continued: "Just like that, Barty Crouch Jr. transformed into Alastor and sneaked into Hogwarts. The good news is that only on the second day of school, Loren and Hermione I discovered his loophole..."

Harry and Ron looked at the two men angrily, and finally suppressed their words and decided to settle the score with them privately.

"Severus and I found the imprisoned Alastor in the Defense Against the Dark Arts professor's office. After some careful discussions, we did not immediately expose his true identity. Instead, we asked Alastor to lurk every night. Extracting information from each other with Barty Crouch Jr...."

"After the opening ceremony of the Tournament, Barty Crouch Jr. put Harry's name into the Goblet of Fire... Combining the information obtained by Alastor and Harry's dream, we deduced their plan..."

(End of this chapter)