Chapter 1545: Fooled
Chapter 1545: Fooled
"Defeated. We truly lost without a shred of dignity."
Yaxley paid no heed to the Death Eater clutching at his collar, his lowered head unable to conceal his bitterness.
"That Mudblood, Albert Anderson, is truly formidable to the point that we are unwilling to accept this cruel fact of defeat." Yaxley muttered loud enough for those around him to hear, "Even before we stepped into this ancient castle, we had already fallen into the enemy's trap."
"Hey, Yaxley, pull yourself together!"
Several slaps later, Yaxley remained unresponsive, his expression still broken, filling the surrounding Death Eaters with unease.
There was no other way; the current situation was dire.
No, it was not just dire, it was downright disastrous.
The corridor strewn with fallen Dark wizards and the faint cries that could still be heard were testament to their incompetence.
"What do we do now? Do we retreat?"
Several Death Eaters anxiously looked at Yaxley, awaiting his final decision.
It wasn't that this group of newly recruited Death Eaters trusted Yaxley, but rather, they wanted to shift the blame onto him.
The events that had transpired had already inflicted severe psychological trauma on those who had barely survived.
No one wanted to lose their life inexplicably.
And no one wanted such an unfortunate end for themselves.
They should retreat, immediately leave this damned castle and distance themselves from this cursed Wizarding War.
However, none of the Death Eaters dared to suggest retreat.
Even if it was obvious to anyone who wasn't a fool that they had already lost, and lost badly.
But due to the pressure exerted by Voldemort, none of the Death Eaters dared to bring up the topic of retreat, so the final decision was left to Yaxley.
To retreat, or not to retreat?
Yaxley had to make the right choice.
"Perhaps, from the very beginning, I should have stopped the Dark Lord. I should have prevented him from stepping into the enemy's trap, unprepared, otherwise, we wouldn't have suffered such a crushing defeat!"
Although Yaxley said this, he was well aware of how determined Voldemort was to attack Hogwarts, and there was no way he could have stopped him, nor could he even voice such an opinion unless he wanted to court death.
"Now is not the time for that. Are we retreating or not?" a Death Eater urged.
There was no other choice; the gazes of the surrounding Dark wizards were becoming increasingly malevolent.
And they couldn't blame the Dark wizards for that.
Who else could they blame but Voldemort, who had led them into this castle, only to pit them all in a dire situation, as if he had intentionally brought them here to perish.
"Let's contact the Dark Lord first. We must inform him of the situation here. If we still want to win this Wizarding War, we may have to resort to our last resort."
In the end, Yaxley still didn't give a direct response and instead chose to leave the decision to Voldemort.
"What should we do?"
Everyone breathed a sigh of relief, although they were reluctant to admit it, but Yaxley was relatively dependable in critical moments.
After sacrificing so much, they couldn't afford to lose, and that was crucial.
"Let the Dark Lord duel with Harry Potter."
Yaxley directly suggested what he had once proposed to Voldemort.
"Only the Dark Lord himself has a chance to turn the tables now." Yaxley's expression suddenly turned exceedingly sinister, "I believe that as long as we threaten the lives of the people they care about, Harry Potter will surely show up to duel with the Dark Lord."
Several Death Eaters exchanged glances and eventually accepted Yaxley's plan. They also believed that the surrounding Dark wizards should be able to accept this decision, as there really wasn't a better option.
As for shifting the blame onto Yaxley?
They were all aware that it was unnecessary, because as long as Yaxley was still alive, he would inevitably shoulder most of the blame as the mastermind of this entire plan.
After making the decision, the Death Eaters exchanged glances once more, rolled up their sleeves, and pressed their wands against the Dark Mark to summon the Dark Lord urgently.
However, the Death Eaters' summons went unanswered.
At this moment, Voldemort, who had temporarily given up on searching for the Ravenclaw Diadem in the trash heap, came up with another plan upon realizing that he couldn't find the Diadem in a short time. He pretended to leave the Room of Requirement and hid himself with a powerful spell, intending to lure Harry Potter, who was ambushing nearby and planning to set the Room of Requirement on fire, out of hiding.
However, for some reason, even though Voldemort had pretended to leave and concealed himself, waiting to ambush his prey, he still failed to attract Harry Potter, as if the savior had known of his presence from the very beginning.
Voldemort, of course, had no idea that someone was secretly monitoring the movement of people within Hogwarts Castle through the living map, and he himself was one of the closely watched targets.
Most importantly, the Horcrux that was originally hidden in the Room of Requirement had already been taken by Dumbledore, so there was no need to risk setting it on fire.
Therefore, Voldemort had been played for a fool from the very start.
Fortunately, he was unaware that he was being made a mockery of, or he would have been furious enough to go on a killing spree.
When the Death Eaters activated the Dark Mark to summon Voldemort, he was still lurking near the Room of Requirement. But as time passed and the summons showed no signs of stopping, Voldemort furrowed his brows. Undoubtedly, something had gone wrong, otherwise, the Death Eaters wouldn't have been so rash in their attempts to reach him.
According to Voldemort's speculation, it was likely that the Mudblood was indiscriminately slaughtering his servants, intending to draw him away and create an opportunity for Harry Potter to destroy the Ravenclaw Diadem.
To be honest, Voldemort didn't really care about the casualties among the Dark wizards, but continuing to lie in wait here wasn't a viable option either. He couldn't just stay put and wait for the Death Eaters to win the Wizarding War! Initially, Voldemort had entertained such a thought, but the desperate summons from his followers indicated that they were indeed in grave danger.
Perhaps this was an opportunity.
Voldemort gazed at the entrance of the Room of Requirement and waved his wand, demolishing the stone wall. He then cast an extremely malicious curse on it, ensuring that anyone who attempted to enter the Room of Requirement would pay a painful price.
Although this move seemed a bit like covering up his tracks, with Harry Potter already aware of the Horcrux's location, he had no choice but to take the risk, hoping that it might lure Harry Potter out and give him a chance to kill him.
However, Voldemort had no idea that all his efforts were in vain.
(End of Chapter)
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