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Chapter 1172: The Terrifying Albert
Chapter 1172: The Terrifying Albert
"You have failed, Bella."
Lord Voldemort put down the newspaper and looked down at the woman cowering beside him. He had even forgotten when he had started reading these lying newspapers.
"Master, I'm sorry, please forgive me, I..."
"Enough, you have disappointed me. Because of your stupidity and arrogance, we have lost four Death Eaters." Lord Voldemort interrupted Bella's excuses indifferently and pointed his wand at the foolish woman in front of him.
"Crucio!"
Bellatrix fell to the ground, writhing and screaming in pain, while the surrounding Death Eaters stared at her coldly. They had long been fed up with this madwoman.
"I do not wish to see such stupidity again." Lord Voldemort raised his wand to warn the Death Eaters present.
In fact, from the very beginning, Lord Voldemort had not expected Bella to be able to kill that cunning Mudblood. However, it was the stupidity and arrogance of this woman that had caused the death of several Death Eaters, which was the real reason for his anger.
In just under three months, the number of Death Eaters had decreased by a quarter. How could this not enrage Lord Voldemort? Even during the last Wizarding War, there had not been such severe losses.
It was as if someone had slapped him repeatedly and then punched him squarely in the face. If it weren't for the fact that everyone knew his nose had always been like that, they might have thought it had been flattened by a punch.
"Alecto!"
"Master."
"Do you have something to tell me?"
Lord Voldemort fixed his sharp gaze on one of the two Death Eaters who had managed to escape.
"The connection between that Mudblood and the Ministry of Magic is deeper than we expected. He is using the power of the Ministry and the Order of the Phoenix against us." Alecto lowered her head. "Perhaps we should deal with his allies first before we go after him."
"Albert Anderson."
Lord Voldemort whispered the name of the Mudblood who had caused so much loss to the Death Eaters.
"I have been wary of him, but that Mudblood has proven to us time and again that our wariness is not enough."
"He possesses the power to foresee the future and uses it cunningly to turn the Ministry and the Order against us."
"But is it really possible? Scrimgeour is no fool. How could he be so easily deceived?" A newly recruited Death Eater couldn't help but question, immediately drawing the attention of the older Death Eaters.
In fact, anyone who knew anything about divination would know that it was often a joke. Predicting the future was difficult enough, let alone doing so accurately. It was like something out of a fairy tale.
"That Mudblood is undoubtedly clever. He always finds a way to make Scrimgeour believe him." Alecto looked at Snape and asked with certainty, "He must have convinced the Order as well!"
"Yes, the members of the Order believe in his prophecies. It is said that since he started making prophecies, not a single one has been wrong." Under the gaze of everyone, Snape said expressionlessly, "Of course, this may also be closely related to his relationship with Dumbledore."
Perhaps sensing Lord Voldemort's gaze, Snape continued, "It is said that he is hiding in a house protected by the Fidelius Charm. Only Dumbledore knows his exact location, so it will be very difficult to find and kill him."
"I recall that Mudblood having a close relationship with the two young Weasley boys." Alecto reminded, "They even opened a shop together."
"Yes, that is true. However, due to James Potter's experience with the betrayal of Wormtail, Albert Anderson has learned his lesson and does not trust his friends easily. Perhaps he fears betrayal or there are other reasons. In any case, he is very cautious, and it is because of this that he only provides partial prophecies to Dumbledore." Snape said expressionlessly, "And Dumbledore has paid a price to obtain these prophecies."
"What kind of price?"
"He seems to believe that Dumbledore is nearing his end, so he has his eyes on the old wizard's legacy!"
In Snape's opinion, the reason Bella and her group had such bad luck was because they had tried to kill Albert at his wedding, causing the Mudblood to hold a grudge against them. On top of that, there was also the matter of the 10,000 Galleon bounty. The fact that Bella had managed to come back alive surprised Snape.
"Legacy?"
"Books. This is what I heard accidentally. He is worried that this knowledge will be lost after Dumbledore's death, so he took that part of the collection."
"It's hard to believe he's a Gryffindor and not a Ravenclaw." One of the Death Eaters scoffed.
"We are not here to discuss this. We must get rid of this nuisance, or else something like this will happen a third time, or even a fourth."
Lord Voldemort's expression was equally unpleasant as he thought of his secret base that had been thoroughly ransacked.
To this day, he still hadn't caught that damn thief.
However, he was almost certain that the one responsible for this was none other than that damn Mudblood.
"I think we should ignore the Mudblood for now and focus on getting rid of Scrimgeour. We should promote our own people to positions of power within the Ministry and prevent them from becoming our enemies again." Yaxley shared his thoughts on the matter, agreeing that going head-to-head with the Ministry would be foolish.
"We should stick to the original plan and gain control of the Ministry first. We will turn the employees of the Ministry into our allies and expand our power."
"Yaxley."
Lord Voldemort had never imagined that the Ministry would become such a nuisance. "I need you to speed up your infiltration of the Ministry. I will take care of Scrimgeour personally."
"Before that, we cannot ignore the deaths of the Lestrange brothers and the other Death Eaters. Let everyone take action and teach the Ministry a lesson they will not forget."
"Severus, is there something else?"
After the meeting had dispersed, Lord Voldemort signaled for Snape to stay and speak with him.
"Regarding Draco Malfoy's plan." Snape's lips twitched as he spoke before the Dark Lord could, "His plan is not foolproof and may alert our target. If the situation permits, allow me to use this opportunity to get rid of Dumbledore."
"Oh? It seems you are confident." Lord Voldemort appraised Snape coldly. "I do not wish for you to make the same foolish mistakes as Bella and Lucius."
Snape was his secret weapon to kill Dumbledore, and he would not allow any mishaps.
"This actually brings me to another matter I wished to report to you, my Lord." Snape met Lord Voldemort's gaze as he explained.
"Dumbledore is injured, and it is a severe injury. Although I do not know how he was wounded, it is clear that he does not have many years left."
"I have heard similar rumors.
"It was Voldemort," Snape replied.
Most of the Hogwarts students noticed Dumbledore's injury during the start-of-term feast.
"It's true, I've examined Dumbledore, and he has about five to eight years left," Snape judged, "Although I can't confirm if his strength has diminished, I think he will gradually grow weaker."
"Draco Malfoy's plan is to gather a group of people to sneak into Hogwarts and ambush Dumbledore."
Voldemort frowned slightly, clearly skeptical of the plan, or perhaps he had never truly believed that Draco Malfoy could succeed.
"I don't think Draco Malfoy's plan will pose much of a threat to Dumbledore, but if the right opportunity arises, I will strike from the shadows and kill him," Snape revealed his plan, making no attempt to hide his intention to use others as cannon fodder.
Of course, these so-called plans were not of his own making, but rather concocted by Dumbledore. However, Snape likely didn't know that the entire scheme originated from a suggestion made by Albert to Dumbledore, encouraging him to make a meaningful contribution before his impending death.
"Don't disappoint me, you know the consequences of failure," Voldemort said coldly.
However, what Voldemort didn't know was that an hour later, Snape would be in the Headmaster's office, reporting the night's events to Dumbledore.
"Well done, Severus," Dumbledore said softly, "But regarding Draco, you need to keep a close eye on him. Don't let him carry out those unreliable plans; they could be dangerous for the students of Hogwarts."
"Dangerous? I think allowing Death Eaters to infiltrate Hogwarts is even more dangerous!" Snape retorted.
"That's why it must be done at night, when everyone is resting," Dumbledore said calmly.
"I don't think this can be hidden from Anderson," Snape suddenly looked up at Dumbledore, "Are you planning to use this opportunity to capture all the Death Eaters who intrude into the school?"
"I heard Voldemort recruited Fenrir Greyback?" Dumbledore suddenly changed the subject, "And dear Bellatrix. To be honest, I'm surprised she's still alive."
"That guy's methods are truly chilling," Snape understood Dumbledore's implication.
"Werewolves are to be pitied. No one wants to suffer from lycanthropy, but to willfully spread it to others is extremely infuriating, especially when Voldemort will undoubtedly use werewolves to threaten ordinary people in the future."
Dumbledore disliked Greyback intensely, not only because he loved attacking children but also because he was dedicated to creating more werewolves and spreading lycanthropy. So, when Albert suggested that Dumbledore do something meaningful before his death, he didn't refuse.
"You seem to trust him, or are you trying to use him, just as you use me?" Snape narrowed his eyes, "I think you're playing with fire. Anderson is smart, very smart. He even manipulates the Ministry and the Order of the Phoenix like chess pieces, and I recall he once won the International Wizard Chess Championship."
"Thank you for the reminder, but I agree with his view—it's a win-win situation!"
Dumbledore wasn't overly concerned about Albert. He had watched the young man grow up and graduate, and while Albert was indeed intelligent, Dumbledore could deduce from his attitude towards friends and family, as well as his conduct, that Albert was even more harmless than the young Harry.
In a sense, Albert was more suited to be his successor than Harry.
"Win-win? He won't be pleased if he finds out that you're the one who convinced the Dark Lord to shift his attention to him," Snape said in a mocking tone.
Voldemort's fear of Albert was partly due to the information Snape had conveyed.
Dumbledore wanted to pull Albert to their side, to have him stand with the Order of the Phoenix, and the effect of this would undoubtedly be astonishing, as evidenced by the number of Death Eaters who had perished in the past few months.
"Albert already knew. He understands the danger posed by the mysterious person better than anyone, otherwise, he would have settled down in another country long ago. Do you really think I could convince him?" Dumbledore said calmly.
"Wasn't it the wedding attack that truly enraged him?" Snape believed that the ambush at the wedding was what had truly infuriated Albert.
"Of course not, he stayed by his own choice," Dumbledore said softly, "And even if the mysterious person is hostile towards him, it's useless because Voldemort can't find him or his family. That young man is more cautious than you imagine."
"Moreover, he's a master of prophecies, able to peer into the past and predict the future."
"Can prophecies really achieve such a level of accuracy?"
"Yes, there are those who can predict what we will do before we even do it ourselves!" Dumbledore recalled, "But Albert's talent for prophecy is even more powerful. He might be the most powerful master of prophecies in history, it's incredible. Perhaps he will be the Merlin of our time."
"I thought you were the Merlin of our time," Snape said with a twist of his lips.
"You give me too much credit," Dumbledore said humbly, "Do you have any other questions?"
"If he truly is the most powerful master of prophecies in history, then I suppose I might be facing death as well?" Snape suddenly said.
"What do you mean?" Dumbledore looked at Snape, puzzled by his statement.
"Anderson left a prophecy for me and Draco," Snape walked to the Pensieve and extracted a memory from the depths of his mind.
Dumbledore raised his eyebrows slightly and joined Snape in front of the Pensieve, watching as the memory became clearer.
"In the future, if anything happens to my cat, I will hold you responsible."
The Pensieve echoed with Albert's threatening voice, after which Dumbledore saw the memory Snape wanted to show him—a prophecy Albert had made for Malfoy.
"Something related to your name will bring you an unexpected journey; cursed blood does not bring eternal life, and you will bear witness as it happens to him as well. Stay away from the shadow, or the conspiracy will arise from you, bringing death to you or to others." As he pondered this prophecy in a low voice, Albert made another prophecy for Snape.
"Beware of black and white, stay away from the cursed lesson, otherwise, when your wish is fulfilled, death will be near!"
"What a terrible prophecy. I'll find an opportunity to talk to Albert about this."
Dumbledore understood Snape's implication. Undoubtedly, Albert's prophecies had mostly come true, whether it was about Malfoy or Snape's predictions.
(End of Chapter)
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