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Chapter 1247: A Grand Death
Chapter 1247: A Grand Death
"They're retreating!"
Trueman, who had been keeping an eye on the group of Death Eaters through the map, suddenly shouted out loud, "I mean, those damn Death Eaters are retreating!"
In fact, even without Trueman's reminder, everyone could notice the latest change.
Within their line of sight, the Dementors who had been loitering nearby, harassing and causing trouble for them, suddenly stopped and turned their heads towards a certain direction. Then, like a retreating tide, they rushed towards the gap in the school gate, leaving only a group of mindless Inferi, abandoned by the Death Eaters as cannon fodder to delay them.
"Quick, look towards the Forbidden Forest!"
Cedric, following the direction in which the Dementors had turned, was astonished to see green sparks appearing above the forest. There was no doubt that this was the reason for the retreat of the Death Eaters and the Dementors.
"The one who just sent up those green sparks, causing the Death Eaters to retreat, is definitely one of Voldemort's followers." George frowned slightly as he gazed at the green sparks in the sky. "But how did they know that the assassination attempt had failed?"
Ever since Professor McGonagall and her group had come to reinforce them, everyone had learned that the Death Eaters' elaborate plan was to assassinate Dumbledore. However, the entire plot had already been foreseen by Albert, and it had just now completely failed. The dozen or so Death Eaters who had infiltrated the school had all been subdued.
"I wonder where Albert went. I thought he would be dealing with the stragglers." Fred turned to look at Shan Na, who shook her head to indicate that she didn't know.
"You all did well."
Professor McGonagall looked at the Weasley brothers and the group beside them with relief. If it hadn't been for their timely reinforcement, facing those troublesome Dementors would have been difficult even for them.
Not all of the school's professors were capable of conjuring Patronuses.
"You're welcome. We were just... I mean, we're glad to help." George smiled and changed the subject. "By the way, have you seen Albert?"
"No."
Professor McGonagall raised her eyebrows slightly, as she was also quite curious. She wondered how Albert had managed to teach them all to cast corporeal Patronuses, and more importantly, they seemed well-trained despite most of them having graduated less than a year ago. It was truly remarkable.
"Tidying up the aftermath will probably be troublesome." Cedric looked at the bodies scattered on the ground and said, "But I think everyone must be glad to be of help."
They had to carefully comb through the area to dispose of all the Inferi that had invaded Hogwarts.
"Hagrid, please find an empty space to gather those Inferi." Professor McGonagall turned to Hagrid and instructed him.
With Dumbledore absent, she had to take on the duties of the deputy headmaster.
"Are we going to bury them?" Hagrid asked with a raised eyebrow. He didn't think it was a good idea, as there were just too many Inferi. If they were to bury them all, Hogwarts would end up becoming a graveyard.
"Of course not. We'll probably have to burn them to get rid of them completely." Professor McGonagall shook her head. Most of the Inferi were created by Death Eaters using Muggle corpses, and usually, only fire could destroy them thoroughly.
Cleaning up after the battle was undoubtedly a troublesome task, but Professor McGonagall did not involve the heads of the houses in this task. Instead, she asked them to return to their respective houses to calm their students and prevent any further chaos from the students who had been woken up.
The task of dealing with the Inferi was left to the members of the Order of the Phoenix and the Defense Association.
Everything was organized in an orderly manner, and even Filch was given the task of guarding the door to prevent other students from going out and causing trouble.
The members of the Defense Association were quite happy to take on the "arduous task" of cleaning up the Inferi. They finally had the opportunity to fully enjoy the thrill of combat. Although the Inferi were indeed hideous, it did not stop them from relishing the joy of defeating these dark creatures.
This was a practical opportunity that they had never had in their previous Defense Against the Dark Arts classes.
For safety reasons, Shan Na suggested that they should go in pairs to deal with the Inferi.
No one objected, as it was indeed a safety precaution.
Everyone was quite happy to put into practice the spells they had learned in the Defense Association on these hideous dark creatures, and it looked like it would be quite a joyous affair.
"It seems like other spells really can't kill them completely." Lee Jordan pointed at the headless Inferius, excitedly sharing his new discovery with his peers.
It was incredible that it could still move even though its brain had been blown to bits by the Reducto Curse.
"That's why we need to use fire to burn them all." Shan Na walked over, using the Full-Body Bind Curse to immobilize the Inferius, then glanced at Lee Jordan with disgust. "Can you please not make it so disgusting?"
"They're already disgusting to begin with." Lee Jordan waved his wand, dragging several bound Inferi over to Hagrid.
"This number is truly astonishing."
Hagrid threw the bodies that Lee Jordan had brought over onto the small mountain of Inferi corpses. "There must be at least several hundred, or even a thousand, Inferi that invaded Hogwarts. Those guys must be crazy!"
"Those guys are already insane. The Ministry of Magic should have executed them all a long time ago." The brutality and cold-bloodedness of the Death Eaters sent a chill down Shan Na's spine.
"The Ministry of Magic doesn't have the death penalty, or even executions, unless you count having your soul sucked out by a Dementor. But now, the Dementors have turned to the side of the mysterious man!" Lee Jordan muttered, "If the younger students had seen this, they would definitely be traumatized."
"They're not as fragile as you think." Angelina dragged a few Inferi corpses over and reminded them, "Don't slack off. We've already taken care of eleven Inferi over there."
"We have more than you. Thirteen."
"You guys are so boring."
"Who's there!"
As Hagrid threw the Inferi into the pile of corpses, he seemed to sense something and suddenly turned his head towards the direction of the Forbidden Forest, shouting loudly.
Hagrid's shout immediately put everyone on high alert, and they all raised their wands, pointing them at the strange figure that appeared from the direction of the Forbidden Forest.
"It's me."
"Harry? What are you doing here, and what's that behind you?"
When Hagrid saw clearly that the person walking out of the Forbidden Forest was Harry, he was slightly taken aback. This was because he noticed that there seemed to be several Inferi being dragged behind Harry.
No, those weren't Inferi. They were... Death Eaters.
That's right, Death Eaters.
They were firmly bound by vines, looking like dead dogs as Harry dragged them along.
"Death Eaters..." Harry seemed to take a long time to react, and he said softly, "The Death Eaters that Albert just captured... I was asked to bring them back on my way here."
"See, I told you Albert would definitely round up all the Death Eaters." Lee Jordan smiled at the others. "Now, the Ministry of Magic has a few more Death Eaters to execute, and that's definitely worth celebrating."
"If we go by your calculation, there must be several dozen captured Death Eaters. This is like poking a hornet's nest and capturing all their followers. Are they trying to anger the mysterious man?"
Angelina couldn't help but interject, feeling that there were definitely some bystanders among those captured, and those Death Eaters weren't just cabbage that could be picked up so easily.
"That's very likely." Shan Na wasn't surprised, as this incident was meant to strike at the mysterious man's minions, and it wasn't the first time Albert had done something like this.
Hagrid had never seen Harry look so dejected, and he asked with concern, "Are you alright, Harry?"
"Not really," Harry replied.
He continued dragging the Death Eaters towards the oak front doors, where a slight commotion seemed to be taking place.
"What's going on over there?" Hagrid asked, puzzled.
"They probably just found out about Dumbledore's death," Harry said hoarsely. He saw Mrs. Weasley, and if she had followed them earlier, she would have definitely seen Dumbledore's body.
"Dumbledore's dead?" Hagrid lowered his head and glared at Harry, refuting loudly, "What are you talking about, Harry? Professor McGonagall said..."
"Dumbledore is dead, Hagrid."
Harry's lips quivered as he said hoarsely, "Snape killed Dumbledore. Not long after Professor McGonagall and the others left, Snape sneaked up and attacked him."
Harry paid no heed to the astonished gazes of the others as he slowly continued, "By the time I got there, they had already jumped off the Astronomy Tower, trying to escape through the Forbidden Forest, but Albert had blocked their path."
Not just Hagrid, but everyone else was completely stunned by the news Harry had just delivered.
"This... this can't be, it's impossible! How could Dumbledore be dead?" Hagrid muttered in disbelief. "Where's Snape? I'm going to tear him limb from limb."
"He got away!" Harry said.
"How could Albert let that scum escape?" Hagrid exclaimed, his eyes widening in disbelief.
Harry had no intention of telling Hagrid that it was Albert who had let Snape go, nor did he know how to explain that it was all Dumbledore's arrangement.
In fact, Harry himself was equally confused at the moment. Perhaps only Albert, or Dumbledore, knew the whole truth.
So, Harry decided to pay a visit to the headmaster's office to seek out Dumbledore's portrait, wanting to ask him personally and get some answers.
As he passed by the oak front doors, he saw Professor McGonagall, who had just learned of Dumbledore's death from Mrs. Weasley, wiping her tears with a checkered handkerchief.
"Snape got away!"
Harry walked up the stone steps, casually tossing the bound Death Eaters aside, and said to Professor McGonagall, "Snape abandoned the other Death Eaters and fled with Malfoy. Albert couldn't stop him."
Without waiting for a response, Harry ignored the astonished gazes of the others once more and strode through the oak front doors, heading towards the headmaster's office on the eighth floor of the castle.
There, a new portrait had joined the ranks of the late headmasters and headmistresses of Hogwarts.
Harry took a deep breath, closed the door to the headmaster's office, and looked at Dumbledore's portrait, asking hoarsely, "Sir, I have some questions for you!"
The other former headmasters and headmistresses perked up their ears, as they had already known that Dumbledore would die tonight.
However, Dumbledore pretended to be asleep and didn't respond to Harry's question.
"Albert told me everything. Why did you let Snape kill you?" Harry asked again. "Even if you don't tell me, I can get the answers from Albert, but I'd rather hear it from you personally."
"Harry, everyone must die eventually. It's better to die with some meaning than to perish under the curse of a meaningless spell," the man in the golden frame replied as he opened his eyes and stopped pretending to be asleep. He looked calmly into Harry's eyes and said with a smile, "Remember to keep this a secret for now, it's important."
"Is that really all there is to it?" Harry was reluctant to believe this truth. "But if that's the case, why does Albert seem so averse to Snape?"
"Snape doesn't like you either, does he?"
"Of course not, at least not entirely." Harry continued to voice his doubts. "Albert said there were better options, but you still insisted on choosing the worst one. Albert seemed quite disgusted by your decision to sacrifice yourself to save Snape and Malfoy."
"I simply made the most correct choice, Harry," Dumbledore said, his half-moon glasses reflecting a gentle light. "My death maximizes the benefits. Allow me to toot my own horn a bit here—I died a noble death."
Harry fell silent.
"Voldemort wanted me dead, and only by dying could I lower his guard and make him reckless. That's when he'll be closest to his downfall," Dumbledore explained. "As for Severus, I believe he's more valuable alive. He can gain Voldemort's trust, act as a spy, and help protect the students of Hogwarts when necessary."
"Are you sure Snape is reliable?" Harry frowned and asked hoarsely. "But Albert said Snape isn't reliable."
"That's just a little prejudice," Dumbledore reassured him. "Severus is reliable in certain matters."
"What about Draco Malfoy?" Harry countered. "That guy wanted to kill you from the start, yet you still favored him."
"Mr. Malfoy was just an incidental beneficiary of my decision. You could say it's a headmaster's little bias—no one wants to see their students go down the wrong path," Dumbledore explained.
"But he almost got Katie killed!" Harry reminded him. "Would you still favor Malfoy if an innocent Katie had died?"
"But Katie didn't die, Harry," Dumbledore said softly.
"Yes, thankfully she didn't," Harry said, lowering his voice. "To be honest, I think you should have listened to Albert's suggestion."
"His plan might have resulted in the deaths of many."
Dumbledore wasn't very optimistic about Albert's approach. After all, Voldemort was insane, and even if they gradually suppressed him through the Ministry of Magic and rallied all of Britain's magical community against him, it was still possible that more wizards would be dragged into the whirlpool of this massive war, making the situation completely unmanageable.
Having opposed Voldemort for many years, Dumbledore knew better than anyone that directly crushing him from the front was extremely difficult.
Moreover, Dumbledore himself wasn't sure how long he could hold on, nor did he know what madness that man would unleash if he was pushed to a dead end.
It was better to use his own life to exchange for another possible victory.
Dumbledore believed that Harry would definitely accomplish his mission under his arrangement, and even if Harry ultimately failed, Albert would step in to clean up the mess.
(End of Chapter)
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