days at Hogwarts

Chapter 532 Night Talk
Many miles outside the city of London, a huge chimney stood tall and gloomy, a relic of an abandoned mill. There was no sound around, only the whimpering of the black river, without any sign of life. The fog that once wandered outside the Prime Minister's window was now floating on a dirty river, which was winding and the banks were overgrown with weeds and piles of garbage.

Along the creek are rows of old gatehouses. The doorplates are covered with dust, but the words are still clear - Spider's Tail Alley.

His footsteps echoed on the cobblestone path. Snape came to a house, stopped for a moment, reached out and pushed open the door and returned to his home.

There were two lights on in the spacious living room, but no one was to be seen. However, Snape had long been accustomed to such an environment, with dim lights and a gloomy atmosphere. The same was true of the office of the Slytherin Headmaster at Hogwarts where he had lived for a long time. He seldom came back here, and this overly spacious house was vacant all year round, and most of the time it was quiet and deserted.

Perhaps it was for this reason that Voldemort gave up the luxurious Malfoy Manor and chose to live here temporarily.

The house was very quiet. The sound of the door opening startled the house-elf who was seconded from the Malfoy family to do the cleaning and washing. The slightly ugly head poked out from the kitchen door: "Mr. Snape, have you had dinner? Do you want anything to eat?"

Snape glanced at it indifferently and shook his head. He understood why the poor little servant was so cautious. Ever since the great Dark Lord decided to stay here temporarily, this empty house had been shrouded in a gloomy and terrifying atmosphere for a long time.

One of the house-elfs had already turned to mud at the bottom of the creek outside. The lowly non-human magical creatures were no different from insects in the eyes of the Dark Lord.

Would anyone blame themselves for stepping on an ant?

At least Voldemort certainly wouldn't...

Snape changed his coat lightly and hung his robe on the rack in the hallway. He glanced at the thin figure trembling at the kitchen door and, ignoring the frightened expression of the house-elf, walked upstairs.

He came to the outside of the study where the Dark Lord was and knocked on the door: "Master, Harry Potter has new information."

"Severus, come in..." A low and lazy voice came from the door, with pleasure and a hint of interest. Voldemort looked up from behind the desk. Even if he had seen it many times, the grotesque snake face with scarlet eyes and a flat nose with only two pores would make people shudder. "Have you found where he is hiding?"

Snape suppressed the weirdness in his heart, lowered his head respectfully, and quickly adjusted his expression: "He was hidden by Dumbledore in a place I cannot reveal. What I want to tell you is another piece of information."

The light in the room was dim and yellow. In comparison, the pair of scarlet snake eyes that were ready to devour anyone attracted people's attention even more, as if there was some kind of weird black hole hidden inside, making people dare not look directly at it: "You said..."

"Someone from the Ministry of Magic sent the Dementors to attack Harry Potter. It was not one of ours. According to the information investigated by the Order of the Phoenix, it was Minister Fudge who believed that Dumbledore was plotting to overthrow his rule, and that the Boy-Who-Lived was his tool, so..."

“Oh?” The red light in Voldemort’s eyes lit up, and the corners of his mouth curled up with pleasant sarcasm. “Now, old Dumbledore has finally tasted the bitter fruit of his indecision and fear of action… I heard that the Ministry of Magic had nominated him as Minister many times, but he always declined the position. During the years when I had to lie dormant, he finally chose Cornelius Fudge as Minister.”

Snape nodded and glanced at the book on his desk about wand making without haste: "The original candidate was Barty Crouch, but he was implicated..."

"This is just a lie to fool the public. If Dumbledore uses his reputation to speak for him, what can't be saved?" Voldemort said coldly, "It's just that he doesn't think highly of Mr. Crouch, who is tough and cold. Albus Dumbledore, who always has the overall situation in mind, arrogantly believes that the Ministry of Magic needs a mild-mannered minister, so he recommended Cornelius Fudge, who is not up to standard."

“Heh…” Voldemort sneered, as if he was reminded of some experience and sneered, “A short-sighted fool, a fat-bellied waste, a cowardly and incompetent mediocrity, stupid and unaware of it. Dumbledore would rather put such a person in a seat of power than employ those who are truly knowledgeable and far-sighted.”

Snape suddenly remembered that the Dark Lord had been rejected for a job at Hogwarts. The person who interviewed him happened to be Dumbledore, who had just taken office as the headmaster. His expression suddenly became a little strange: "..."

Voldemort's eyes flashed with blood, and he closed the book and threw it on the table: "Can we control the current stupid minister? With his name, our cause will be easier."

Snape was silent for a moment. "As you said, Cornelius Fudge is a foolish and ignorant fellow, greedy for power but cowardly. If we really appeared in front of him, he would probably be frightened and seek Dumbledore's protection immediately."

"Forget it then, let's proceed according to the original plan."

Voldemort said casually, no longer concerned about the Ministry's affairs, "Have you found out about the wand?"

Snape had a blank expression on his face. He spoke calmly and calmly: "I have concealed my identity and talked to Ollivander in Diagon Alley. According to him, twin wands with the same core will not be hostile to each other. If both sides are determined to duel, there is a certain chance that anomalies will be triggered..."

After hearing his report, Voldemort's pupils slowly shrank, and his gloomy snake face showed no expression: "What a fateful coincidence, what do you think, Severus? The prophecy of that year connected Harry Potter and me, and the cores of the two wands also echoed fate!"

"Just use a different wand next time you deal with Harry Potter." Snape said casually.

"Change to another wand. I think so too. And it must be the most powerful wand in the world." Voldemort exhaled and said as a matter of course, "Bellatrix has already taken action for this. I believe it won't be long before he brings back good news..."

"Bella..."

Snape's eyes narrowed slightly, and then he noticed the wand book next to Voldemort. He forced himself to control his emotions, calmed down, and asked casually, "Can she do it alone? Do we need to send a few more people to help?"

"No, we're just going to Germany to deal with an old guy." Voldemort didn't seem to want to talk more, and asked about something else, "How's your progress in studying Horcruxes?"

Snape memorized the information about "Germany" and "old guy" in his heart. His eyes radiated a burning light, and his voice was no longer calm and composed as before: "I have carefully deduced it many times, and I can start at any time..."

Voldemort narrowed his eyes slightly, sizing up the servant in front of him who was different from the other Death Eaters. The corners of his mouth raised a ferocious arc, and he said sinisterly: "Although you have carefully read the book before, the actual refining is very different from the theory. It takes guiltless murder to split your soul. Severus, are you sure you can do it?"

“Never wavered.”

"Don't worry, Severus, we'll be able to start soon, soon..."

...Late at night, number 12, Grimmauld Place.

The lively and cheerful dinner has ended. Dumbledore personally answered the many questions that the little wizards had accumulated. Although they still didn't get real answers, the emotional value was sufficient. Harry and the Weasley brothers and sisters left the party contentedly, and went upstairs happily to bed at Molly's urging.

The joyful mood made people relax their vigilance, so no one noticed that Loren and Hermione went back to the bedroom but then turned back and sat at the long table in the basement to have a conversation between only three people.

"How admirable..." After listening to Regulus' story, Dumbledore wiped his eyes, his tone slightly tearful.

The light yellow candlelight was not very bright, so Loren and Hermione could not see clearly whether he was crying or not. After nearly two months, the headmaster still looked the same, with silver hair and beard, deep blue eyes, a long but crooked nose, and looked like he had been beaten up several times. The gray cloth robe made his temperament even softer.

It seemed that nothing had changed, but the principal seemed to have aged a little.

But Loren couldn't remember how many wrinkles he had or how many hairs he had, so he wasn't sure if it was an illusion. He touched the pendant on his chest and reached out to hand the locket to the old principal.

"Headmaster Dumbledore, this is Slytherin's locket."

The three of them looked at the exquisite pendant together. The snake pattern inlaid with emeralds shone faintly in the goose yellow candlelight, as if the snake's scales were reflecting light inch by inch, making people wonder if the little snake was alive and twisting.

Dumbledore observed the locket in silence, then raised his head slightly to glance at the two people sitting side by side opposite him. Their statures were almost the same as those of adult wizards. Although he had witnessed the growth of enough young wizards in his long life, his eyes still could not help but be dazed when he saw Loren and Hermione now.

Ever since Voldemort's resurrection, everyone in the Order of the Phoenix has been on high alert, dreading seeing the familiar Dark Mark again one day, dreading seeing his obituary in the newspaper after more than a decade of absence... He, the leader of the Order of the Phoenix, has not been idle either. While dealing with outside surveillance, he has been visiting places where Tom Riddle once stayed, trying to find some clues about the Horcruxes.

Slytherin's locket was the focus of the search. Unexpectedly, after many twists and turns, it was finally handed to him by Loren himself...

"I have copied down the magic runes above and identified thirteen of them. There are still four that I don't recognize..." Loren pointed to the four mysterious characters.

"Hmm..." Dumbledore came back to his senses and squinted his azure eyes to carefully identify it for a while. "An ancient magic rune that has been abandoned. I have seen it on the coffin of the Egyptian pharaoh. It is a magic that targets the soul..."

"Can you confirm what it means?"

"No."

"..."

Although Hermione was also curious about the meaning of the runes, she was more curious about what was hidden in the locket and asked quietly, "Should we open it here?"

"Why not?" Dumbledore smiled gently, "With Loren Morgan and Hermione Granger guarding me, there is no place that makes me feel more at ease."

If we really rely on the two of us, there will be a big problem, Loren complained silently in his heart, looking down at the locket: "Use Parseltongue to open it, Principal, come on."

Dumbledore waved his wand at the teacup on the table. The white porcelain trembled slightly and turned into a coiled little white snake, twisting its body and slowly crawling towards the locket.

The contents of the locket seemed to be startled, like some uneasy little animal rustling and wagging its tail for mercy.

The little white snake spat out its tongue towards the snake-shaped pattern inlaid with emeralds and made a hoarse hissing sound: "Open..."

The last word was spoken in a slightly louder voice, and the small metal lid of the locket popped open with a click, revealing two agile eyeballs behind two small glass windows, clearly black and white, bright and full of spirit.

A crystal blue light appeared in Loren's eyes, and he clearly saw a faint but agile magic power spreading rapidly. Just when he was about to wave his wand to defend himself, he found that the magic power retracted again and did not cause any harm to him and Hermione.

As his eyes rolled around, a voice hissed from the Horcrux.

"I see your heart, and it's mine."

"I saw your dream, Albus Dumbledore. I also saw your dissatisfaction. You don't want to be confined to the small Godric's Hollow. You don't want to be tied down to your family for your whole life..."

Loren turned to look at Dumbledore, with Fiendfyre on the tip of his wand ready to go. If he found anything wrong with the headmaster, he would immediately set fire to the Horcrux. Hermione also held her wand tightly, with many healing magics and spells to awaken the mind ready to go.

However, Dumbledore had a calm expression and seemed very sober: "Tom? Is this your original eyeball? When did you leave it?"

"You dare not recall what happened that day. You dare not think about who cast the fatal curse... You made a mistake. You will be trapped in guilt for the rest of your life. You are afraid to move forward..."

"Is this the information you have investigated, or did you use the magic left by Slytherin on the locket to read my memory?" Dumbledore was unmoved and even asked for interaction. "Then did you see that I have collected several other Horcruxes? Your attempt to defeat death will fail..."

"Shut up!" The locket's voice sounded a little annoyed.

The metal box glowed red, and the two small glass windows shook gently. Many scarlet bloodshot veins suddenly appeared around the eyeballs. Dark black fog suddenly rose, and spread in the air like steam. Three grotesque bubbles slowly emerged from the black fog, and the top slowly turned into a human head, followed by a torso, limbs, and finally three clear human figures.

(End of this chapter)