Chapter 927: Confrontation, Voldemort's Shriek
Chapter 927: Confrontation, Voldemort's Shriek
Harry, Ron, and Hermione had never known they could run this fast; Harry even felt he could catch the Golden Snitch with just his legs.
Driven by fear, they unleashed their full potential, rolling and crawling through twists and turns in the shortest time possible, and the exit was now within sight.
But at that moment, Harry suddenly thought of another problem.
Voldemort was chasing them right now. If they ran out, wouldn't they be leading Voldemort straight to Hogwarts?
Damn it!
At this thought, Harry's face went pale, but he couldn't stop. In the blink of an eye, the three of them reached right below the entrance.
A scorching wind blew in from outside, snapping Harry back to his senses.
"Listen to me..." He stopped Ron and said anxiously, "We can't go out like this, or we'll lead Voldemort right to Hogwarts!"
In an instant, Ron's face also turned pale.
Lead Voldemort here?
Just this thought alone was enough for Mrs. Weasley to kill him ten times over.
"Now is not the time for that!" Hermione, slightly calmer than the others, grabbed Ron and pushed him upwards while quickly saying, "The moment Voldemort discovered us, this secret passage to Hogwarts was exposed... And even without this passage, wouldn't Voldemort still go to Hogwarts?"
"Hurry, he's almost here!"
At Hermione's urging, Ron gritted his teeth and crawled out of the hole, followed closely by Hermione.
As someone intruded on its territory, a thick branch of the Whomping Willow suddenly lashed out. Harry, who had just crawled out of the hole, was caught off guard and was whipped away by the branch.
Fortunately, as a Seeker, Harry's reflexes were quick enough, and he managed to grab the branch, preventing himself from being thrown away.
"Harry!"
Ron shouted anxiously and reached for the knot on his arm, the key to controlling the Whomping Willow. If he poked it, the tree would stop.
However, his hand was stopped.
"Hermione, you..."
"Wait, Harry isn't in danger right now, wait a little longer!" Hermione said, her breath heavy, as she stared intently at the direction of the passage.
Ron didn't ask further but stepped forward, trying to free Harry from the branch.
But the branch was too powerful, and after several attempts, they still couldn't succeed. In the end, Harry let go at the right moment, when the branch was closer to the ground.
Harry flew out and collided with Ron, and they both rolled onto the nearby open space.
"Hermione!" Harry got up and shouted, "Hurry over, he's coming out!"
Ron also yelled from the side, "Hurry, Hermione, what are you still doing there!"
But in response to their urging, Hermione seemed not to hear them, giving no reply and not even turning her head.
She bit her lip, her eyes fixed on the passage without blinking.
"Thump, thump..."
Footsteps seemed to be coming from the passage, and they were getting closer.
Hermione held her breath, her entire body tense to the extreme, like a tightly drawn bowstring.
The footsteps grew nearer.
At this point, she could even see the two long, thin, scarlet-red pupils in the dark passage.
Hermione quickly extended her wand.
"Exploding Blast!"
It seemed a little late, as by the time Hermione finished the spell, Voldemort had already stepped out of the passage. At this moment, the blasting spell was completely ineffective as a surprise attack.
The blasting spell hit the tree trunk, blasting out a large pit.
This action thoroughly enraged the Whomping Willow.
Almost all the branches started moving, including the thicker main branches, like dozens or even hundreds of raging beasts, trying to smash the wizard who had harmed it into pieces.
Prepared, Hermione followed Harry's example, hugging one of the branches and avoiding the first wave of attacks.
But Voldemort and Snape were not so lucky.
Having just emerged from the secret passage, they hadn't even caught their breath when they saw the branches and tree trunks wildly swinging towards them.
Snape was immediately knocked away.
A thick branch heavily struck his body, and Snape felt as if he had been punched by a giant, his body uncontrollably flying backwards and slamming into the ground.
Accompanied by a teeth-grinding crunch, Snape's leg was twisted in an odd position, clearly broken.
The excruciating pain made Snape's face turn deathly pale.
He couldn't understand how he had been walking and suddenly got knocked away.
"Success?"
Seeing Snape's miserable state, a flash of joy passed through Hermione's eyes.
Everything was as she had expected. Even a professor, when facing the Whomping Willow's sudden attack, would get injured.
Snape was already injured, and Voldemort probably wouldn't be any better off.
Hermione, excited, looked towards the secret passage, and then her mood plummeted.
Voldemort still stood there, unharmed. The swinging branches seemed to avoid him, hitting other places instead.
Voldemort strolled leisurely to the open space in front, looking at Hermione with an appreciative gaze. The Elder Wand in his hand moved slightly, and Hermione floated uncontrollably towards him.
"Not a bad plan, a surprise attack, and quite bold."
He glanced at her up and down and said, "Pity you're a Muggle-born. As a reward, I'll kill you myself... You should feel honored to die at the hands of the great Dark Lord!"
Now closer, Hermione realized there seemed to be a layer of magic around Voldemort, the very magic that made the Whomping Willow ignore him.
As for the specifics of this magic, Hermione didn't know.
She saw Voldemort raise his wand, and she tried to break free from the restraint, but to no avail. She was like someone petrified, unable even to move a finger.
But just as she was preparing to die, Voldemort paused.
His eyes struggled, as if he had thought of another Muggle-born witch.
... Lily Evans.
As an extreme pure-blood supremacist, Voldemort despised Muggle-borns the most and even believed that these filthy wizarding bloodlines were not worthy of dying under his magic.
But over a decade ago, he was defeated by a Muggle-born witch, Lily Evans, who deflected his Killing Curse with an unknown protective spell, causing him to wander like a lowly ghost in the dark alleys for years.
Now, he encountered another Muggle-born witch, one who also caused trouble and was connected to Harry Potter.
Was it a coincidence?
Voldemort was well aware that not all Muggle-born witches were like Lily Evans; she was an exception.
But subconsciously, he thought of the other witch, and the Killing Curse from the Elder Wand was delayed.
This gave others an opportunity!
"Disarm!"
"Stupefy!"
Two angry shouts came one after the other.
"Let go of Hermione!" Harry clenched his wand, glaring at Voldemort, while Ron's face turned red with anger.
Voldemort effortlessly swatted away the incoming spells with his wand but also lost control over Hermione.
Seizing the opportunity, Hermione smoothly broke free from his grasp and ran to Harry and Ron's side.
Voldemort wasn't annoyed... or perhaps this was intentional.
Killing Hermione was too easy; she was just a Muggle-born, not worthy of being killed by the Elder Wand. His precious wand hadn't even had its dinner yet.
Voldemort lightly waved his wand, and a massive Dark Mark appeared above his head.
This commotion also attracted other Death Eaters, who quickly gathered.
But...
Voldemort looked at the group of less than a hundred around him, his face turning ashen.
Although he had learned of the Death Eaters' failure from Snape, he hadn't expected such a thorough defeat.
It had only been a short while, and yet only a tenth of them remained... Even if they had released hundreds of pigs, they wouldn't have been slaughtered so quickly.
"Are you... joking?"
"Master!" Barty Crouch Jr. stood at the front, his voice trembling. He, of course, knew why Voldemort was angry, but this outcome was beyond their expectations.
"More of our people are trapped..." he said, gritting his teeth. "If we can free them, we can definitely break through Hogwarts!"
Following Barty Crouch Jr.'s finger, Voldemort saw a massive pillar of Cruciatus Curse.
It was truly enormous, almost the size of a Quidditch pitch, and the towering inferno was even more eye-catching than Hogwarts Castle. He could also sense the Dark Mark within.
Obviously, his Death Eaters were inside.
"Ho ho ho... Kyle... very good..." Upon seeing such a colossal Cruciatus Curse, Voldemort instantly identified the culprit.
There was no doubt; only Kyle could control so much Cruciatus Curse within Hogwarts.
It wasn't that Voldemort underestimated the professors and the Aurors from the Ministry of Magic; they genuinely couldn't do it.
Controlling the Cruciatus Curse was ten times more difficult than casting it, and keeping the already formed Cruciatus Curse in one place without spreading was almost impossible.
However, he had seen Kyle use a similar spell in the Hebrides Islands.
Thinking of this, Voldemort subconsciously touched his half-face, which seemed to be stinging from the burn of the Cruciatus Curse.
"Do you think you can trap my Death Eaters like this? Dream on!" Voldemort extended his wand.
"You won't!"
A row of desks and chairs suddenly descended from the sky, crashing down on Voldemort.
Voldemort could only turn his wand, shattering all the desks and chairs wielded by the two-handed swords and chain maces.
A tabby cat fell from mid-air, transforming into Professor McGonagall, who stood in front of the trio, shielding them.
"Thud, thud..."
The ground trembled as a giant and a slightly shorter half-giant rushed over, resembling two enraged elephants.
It was Hagrid and his brother, Grawp.
Scrimgeour was also there, with a broken leg supported by a wooden stump, but his wand was steady in his hand.
The Weasley couple, Remus Lupin, Tonks, and Kingsley followed closely behind.
Chris quickly scanned the trio, then showed a disappointed expression, but he didn't say anything and instead positioned himself opposite Voldemort as quickly as possible.
"Kyle should be fine..." Chris thought to himself.
Since the Cruciatus Curse hadn't collapsed, it meant Kyle's magic was still holding, so Chris had nothing to worry about.
"Everyone's here," Voldemort said calmly, showing no surprise.
This was his intention all along.
Killing Harry was simple; if he truly wanted to, he could have easily done so in the secret passage, and Harry wouldn't have had a chance to escape.
But Voldemort didn't do that because he wanted to kill Harry in front of everyone.
He wanted to shatter everyone's savior fantasy, telling them it was just an unrealistic illusion... He, the Dark Lord, was invincible!
Now, the audience was in place, but they seemed unwilling to quietly watch his performance.
This wasn't a problem; he just needed to make some necessary preparations.
Voldemort waved his wand.
The ground cracked, and countless black hands reached out from the fissures, grabbing those closest to them.
Scrimgeour, who was closest to the fissure, was grabbed by one of the hands, and within seconds, he turned into a pile of mud.
"Watch out, don't let those things touch you!" he shouted as he backed away.
Voldemort waved his wand again, and the black arms began to stretch, like agile venomous snakes...
"Crack!" A faint sound came from the Elder Wand, so quiet that only Voldemort heard it.
He saw another crack on the Elder Wand, deep enough to reveal the black wand core within.
Again...
Voldemort, seething with anger, did not increase his power further.
The black arms retreated back into the fissure, but the crisis was far from over.
"Up!" Voldemort shouted. "Kill them, don't let me down again."
The surrounding Death Eaters immediately charged forward, with Barty Crouch Jr. leading the way, aiming his wand at the Minister of Magic, who was also his father.
"Avada Kedavra!"
The battle reignited, and everyone focused on fighting the Death Eaters while pushing Harry back.
They all knew they were no match for Voldemort, and the only thing they could do was to protect Harry Potter... at least they couldn't let him die here.
Harry was pushed to the back, growing farther from Voldemort, until he suddenly bumped into someone.
"Potter!"
A familiar voice called out from behind, and Harry stiffened, recognizing it as Snape's voice.
"You..."
Just as he turned, a hand grabbed him forcefully, pulling him down.
"Let go of Harry!"
Ron and Hermione simultaneously raised their wands, but Snape seemed to ignore them, still holding Harry's collar tightly.
He didn't seem to intend to harm Harry, but instead took out a bottle.
"Take this... go... to the Headmaster's office!"
Harry had never seen Snape like this—determined and resolute. But why was he sending him to the Headmaster's office, and what was he supposed to take there?
Soon, Harry understood. The substance in the bottle was a silvery-blue, neither liquid nor gas, but more like solidified wind.
Harry realized what it was—a physical manifestation of a memory, meant to be used with a Pensieve.
But why was Snape giving him a memory?
"Go to the Headmaster's office... and do what you must." Snape looked deeply into Harry's eyes, then stood up and walked away in another direction.
"Harry..." Hermione and Ron ran over.
"It's strange, he didn't capture you to go to his master." Ron whispered.
"That's what I'm wondering too." Harry frowned slightly.
At that moment, none of them noticed Snape, who could have easily killed or captured them by surprise.
But Snape didn't do that. Instead, he gave Harry a memory, and Harry was momentarily puzzled by what was happening.
"To the Headmaster's office?" He looked at the bottle in his hand.
But now, everyone was fighting Voldemort, and he couldn't just leave...
Harry was torn. On one hand, he desperately wanted to understand what Snape meant and the phrase he said... to do what he must.
On the other hand, Harry didn't want to be a deserter. He wanted to fight alongside everyone else.
"Harry, the Death Eaters are catching up!"
Hermione's shout made up his mind.
No!
He couldn't choose to believe Snape, an enemy, just because of a few words.
What he should do... at least for now, was to fight alongside the others and kill the Erumpent, which was one of Voldemort's Horcruxes.
Strange, where was that Erumpent?
Harry looked around but couldn't find the Erumpent.
It seemed that after they passed through the secret passage and returned to Hogwarts, Voldemort had hidden the Erumpent again.
But Harry didn't think much of it. As long as they united to defeat Voldemort, they would have enough time to find and kill the Erumpent.
He quickly put the bottle into his bag, drew his wand, and pointed it at a charging Death Eater.
"Disarm!"
A wand spun and fell to the ground, broken by someone in the chaos.
"Oh, Harry, I think a Stunning Spell is more useful than a Disarming Spell right now!" Hermione shouted to him.
Harry tugged at his hair, "Sorry, I'm used to it... Stupify!"
Everyone was fighting in a mess, and Voldemort raised his wand again, knowing the Elder Wand's limits and preparing to end this farce.
As long as they didn't use overly powerful spells, it would be simple.
"Avada..."
No one knew what happened, but Voldemort's voice suddenly turned into a shrill scream.
His entire face contorted in agony, as if he was experiencing immense pain...
This sudden turn of events made everyone stop and look at Voldemort.
In that moment, whether they were Death Eaters, Aurors, or teachers and students, their expressions were all the same—astonishment and shock.
What happened to Voldemort? This was the question on everyone's mind.
(End of Chapter)
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