404 Not much time left, return, suddenness in the ruins

404 Not much time left, return, suddenness in the ruins

The deep black enchanted ceiling in the auditorium hall is dotted with twinkling stars. The four long college tables below are filled with disheveled students - all of them were woken up suddenly and still don't understand what happened. What happened.

The current head of Slytherin House, Professor Slughorn, is sitting on the high platform. There is a huge swelling on his forehead and he is applying an ice pack on it.

A young woman standing next to him was telling the students about the battle that had just occurred - the professors fought with the Death Eaters and drove Principal Abraxas out of the school.

This made Gryffindor, Ravenclaw, Hufflepuff, and even some students in Slytherin cheer - the war has lasted for too long, and Voldemort's true cruelty has long been overthrown by the arrogant pure-bloods. The supremacists discovered that, coupled with Draco's constant lobbying, the savior Harry came from Slytherin House, which prevented him from receiving too much hostility from students in the same house.

"But the first priority now is to get you out of school."

The young woman turned to say, "This will be done under the supervision of Mr. Filch and Madam Pomfrey—"

"But, Dean Pandora -" a frightened girl asked timidly: "How should we evacuate? It is said that the secret passages are already occupied by dementors."

Professor Pandora, the dean of Ravenclaw House, looked back at Professor Slughorn, as if asking for his opinion.

Professor Slughorn sighed silently in his heart - he had long since become the most senior professor in the entire school, and the other deans of the school were all young people later. This made him inexplicable at this critical moment. Became the backbone of the school.

He always likes to hide behind the scenes and doesn't like to appear in front of the stage. This cannot bring him more satisfaction.

But what could he complain about?Even the old guy Dippet died. He thought it would be his turn soon, but he was reluctant to leave Hogwarts, the safest place in the wizarding world, and so many students.Although he likes to collect such excellent collections, he still loves education after all, just like another old guy who has disappeared long ago-Albus Dumbledore, but their methods of education are somewhat different... .....

"Horace?" Pandora reminded in a low voice: "Why don't you speak? Could it be that you haven't recovered from your injuries? The students are all watching below."

Professor Slughorn immediately came back from his thoughts. He said the method he had thought of for a long time: "First gather the prefects and student union presidents who have learned the Patronus Charm, and then send an extra professor. Choice - Isn't Regulus here? He's the best Patronus Charm caster among us. Forget it, go ahead, my dear. Protect your daughter Luna, and take care of Sybil. I don’t know if the poor girl is awake now or not.”

Pandora glanced at her daughter in the direction of the Ravenclaw table - Luna's innocent face was also looking at her, with some worry in her eyes.

"I understand." Pandora finally nodded in agreement.

At this time, a senior student suddenly asked loudly: "But what if we want to fight?"

"You have no place to fight here!"

Professor Slughorn suddenly stood up angrily, and glared at several nearby students who wanted to applaud: "Everyone must hurry up and leave the school! As for the future..."

"Don't come back again."

"We alone can't defeat the mysterious man. At most, we can buy you some time..."

He looked around at the stunned students one last time, scanning their faces one by one.

"Okay, let's go."

he finally said.

The entire wizarding war really lasted too long. It was so long that Professor McGonagall, who originally planned to hold on to the end, died at a young age, and it was so long that Professor Slughorn gave up hope of continuing to resist.

At the same time, this also makes the originally cunning and scheming Professor Slughorn become more righteous little by little - just like Snape in the normal timeline, he is constantly protecting Harry silently. Changes occurred along the way.

Fundamentally speaking, Professor Slughorn is still a kind person, otherwise he would have turned to darkness during the initial recruitment of the mysterious man.

After seeing too many sacrifices, Slughorn knew that it was impossible for the ruthless mysterious man to really let these students go.

Don't let unnecessary sacrifices continue.

At least until he dies.

Suddenly there was a harsh sound of chairs scratching the ground in the auditorium. Faced with the sudden change, the students looked in a mess, and many of them were wearing pajamas.

The prefects loudly maintained order. They kept rejecting the students' ideas of returning to the dormitory to pick up their luggage. They were also secretly feeling nervous about the dementors they were about to face.

Professor Slughorn sat back in his chair, watching the scene helplessly.After a while, he suddenly asked another young man next to him: "Do you have any pineapple preserves, Ted?"

Ted Tonks, the head of Hufflepuff's college, reshaped the ice pack while shaking his head and said: "Not now, sir. But I can help you go to the kitchen and take a look, and by the way, I can also help the house elves. Leave with the students, lest they be tortured by the mysterious man."

Among the several houses present, perhaps only the students and professors of Hufflepuff were the most concerned about the situation of the house elves.

Professor Slughorn nodded dejectedly, and now he was unwilling to hide his inner disappointment.

"Ted, check for mead again. Maybe we'll have time for another drink—"

At this time, the end of Professor Slughorn's words was drowned out by another voice echoing in the hall.

The voice was harsh, cold and clear.No one could tell where it came from, it was like the sound coming from the wall itself, like a beast that had been sleeping for hundreds of years had awakened.

"I know you have put up a resistance and driven my loyal servants out of the school."

Screams erupted from the students, and some huddled together in fear, looking around in fear for the source of the sound.

"But it's all in vain."

The hall was now silent, a silence that pressed against the eardrums. It was so huge that it seemed that it could no longer be contained in the hall.

"I originally wanted to let you live, but I have changed my mind now."

Voldemort said: "Leave Harry Snape to me, and the professors who have attacked my servants must also come forward."

"You all need to surrender wherever I go."

"Otherwise, blood will flow all over Hogwarts."

"Don't let me down, wizards."

"You only have less than 1 minute to think about it."

"Let me see what choices you will make."

"Now, here I am."

Silence once again engulfed the auditorium, and all the students heard Voldemort's ultimatum clearly. Different from the original timeline, this time he did not even give the students and professors more time to think about it. He had just arrived at Hogwarts. , can’t wait to achieve the ultimate goal.

After a period of wordless silence, a junior student screamed in panic, followed by more screams. Everyone was running around like headless flies, loudly looking for friends who were close to them. .

Slughorn no longer cared about pineapple preserves. He and Ted walked to the auditorium to maintain order. Other professors also came to help, but when someone saw the black smoke slowly drifting from the school gate, After the movie, the fear in people's hearts intensified, and no one could calm down.

"Look!"

One student suddenly pointed out the window and said, "What do you think that is?!"

In the direction that his finger pointed, which was also directly in front of Voldemort, as if squeezed out of the air - traces of black mist emerged, and soon condensed into a blurry figure.

Then, in the curious and inquiring eyes of the students, the figure suddenly turned into a huge black ball and rushed towards Voldemort.

Many people couldn't help but scream again, but at this moment, a ball of flame appeared in the center of the auditorium.

Albus Dumbledore strode out of the flames and walked directly to Professor Slughorn, who was staring at him blankly.

"haven't seen you for a long time."

Dumbledore said with a smile, his light blue eyes shining behind his half-moon lenses.

Suddenly, Slughorn relaxed. He slumped down in a chair and said, "It's been a long time indeed, Albus."

On the other side, in the Forbidden Lake ruins, several people who had just walked back to the ruins hall also heard Voldemort's ultimatum.

James and Regulus immediately changed their expressions - no matter how they looked at it, Voldemort looked like he was about to go on a killing spree.

"We have to go back and protect the students!"

James asked, looking at Karan.

Although the legacy in the lion statue is equally important, James really cannot ignore the safety of the students.

Surprisingly, Karan did not stop the request.

"No problem." He said immediately: "I'll go with you. If Death didn't deceive us, Dumbledore and Credence would have followed them back to Hogwarts, and I happened to have something to find them. .”

He didn't say what it was, and quickly stopped Harry who was about to leave with him.

"You stay here." Karan stared at Harry and said, "Don't go anywhere."

"Why?!" Harry retorted anxiously: "Do you think you can protect me like this? Don't be kidding! There is no way the mysterious man will let me go. At the very least, he has to let me fight. And you still have to It’s not my uncle!”

Harry hurriedly dismissed Callan's excuse, and at the same time glanced at James guiltily, fearing that his adoptive father would also force him to stay in the Forbidden Lake ruins.

"That's only part of the reason."

At such a critical juncture, Karan didn't care much. He directly told the last secret of the Forbidden Lake Ruins: "After we leave, the gate of the Forbidden Lake Ruins will be sealed, and we can no longer continue to search for the Forbidden Lake Ruins." The legacy of Lanffindor, so some people must be left in the ruins.”

"And if nothing else happens, maybe even the memories of those who went out will be erased - so I have to try to preserve the integrity of the ruins. After all, that is also one of the hopes of ending the war."

After Karan said these words, several people stared at him in surprise, looking a little unbelievable - because judging from various signs, Karan had not lost the memory in the Forbidden Lake ruins, and had even been there. Lead them.

"Then have I been here before?" Gaspard suddenly asked.

Karan shook his head and said: "It's not you. It's Snape, James and Sirius. It was the four of us who explored the ruins of the Forbidden Lake, but in the end I was the only one who retained the memory."

Gaspard looked a little disappointed, as if he regretted that his memory had not been wiped.

"Besides, you have to stay in here."

Karan finally said to Gaspard, and at the same time gave him a look. Gaspard nodded inadvertently - he fully understood what Karan meant, hoping that he could keep an eye on Harry.

The reluctance in his heart was much calmed down, and Harry, who looked a little unnatural, finally agreed to Karan's request.

He looked at Callan, James, Regulus, and Draco running along the corridor towards the gate of the Forbidden Lake ruins.

Now he and Gaspard were the only two people left in the entire ruins.

Harry looked at the huge lion statue, and he suggested: "Maybe we shouldn't waste time, but should take this time to try the lion statue to see if we can get the last remnant."

Gaspard looked up at Harry, his eyes behind the lenses looked a little weird, as if to say - are you really a Slytherin?Are you even thinking about taking risks at this time?

Harry's expression was a little unnatural when he was being stared at. He retorted to the little boy who was difficult to deal with: "Really, I just don't intend to waste time."

Gaspard still didn't speak. He found a place to sit down, took off his glasses and wiped the lenses carefully.

Gaspard's indifferent attitude annoyed Harry. He originally didn't like Professor Gaspard in this world. He was a rigid and crazy person, otherwise he would not have thought of helping Hermione complete her two tasks. A magic pistol specially designed to destroy Horcruxes.

Harry didn't expect that Gaspard would be even more annoying when he was a child, but he still tried to induce him: "Don't you want to be as beautiful as Karan? This is a great opportunity. We return to Hogwarts with Gryffindor's treasure, and everyone will adore us. I remember you two were roommates, right? Don't you want to give it a try?"

Gaspar put on his glasses again and said calmly: "Isn't this your own idea - you want to become more beautiful than Karan?"

Harry was completely irritated. He had always felt that he had not been of much use after meeting Karan. This was originally a good thing, but it turned out that the person who predicted it was a third-year student. , younger than his age, and Harry even watched Karan suffer the punishment of the crown, unable to do anything to help.

"never mind!"

Harry turned around angrily and said, "At worst, I'll go by myself!"

But at this moment, he clearly heard a sound echoing in the ruins hall.

It was a sound Harry knew all too well - the sound of a bullet being loaded.

He looked back blankly.

Gaspard had already raised a pistol and pointed it steadily at him.

"You're kidding...right?"

Harry asked, full of absurdity.

Gaspard did not answer, but ordered: "Hand over your wand and the other two pistols. Remember to move slowly. I am not skilled enough in using this weapon. Don't let me make mistakes. "

Under Gaspard's cold gaze, a drop of cold sweat slowly slipped from Harry's forehead.

He carefully took out his wand and two pistols, and then placed them gently on the ground.

Gaspard walked over and picked up these things, and also put away his pistol. Then he had the time to explain: "Don't forget what Karan said, the gate of the Forbidden Lake Ruins is It will disappear and cannot be opened again after that.”

"If you make any unexpected move, both of us will be trapped and die in here."

"It may not matter if you die, but I haven't won the gold medal at the Alchemy Conference yet."

Harry couldn't believe the last words he heard - when had a gold medal been more important than a person's life?

However, after Gaspard's explanation, Harry finally felt a lot more comfortable - after all, Gaspard was just trying to avoid the worst consequences, but the method seemed a bit rough... and a little surprising.

He breathed a sigh of relief and said while changing positions: "You should have told me this reason earlier, otherwise I wouldn't-"

Another click stopped Harry's words, and Gaspard raised the pistol again, aiming it at the scar on Harry's forehead.

"Don't move." He warned: "Don't get too close to me, and don't leave my sight. It's best not to do anything, just sit on the ground."

Harry stared at Gaspard angrily: "Are you going too far?"

Gaspard's glasses flashed with light: "Who makes you a Slytherin?"

Harry sat on the ground glumly, and Gaspard sat not far from him, placing the pistol in front of him and looking at it carefully.

He sighed in a low voice: "This thing is really——"

Harry, who was still angry, immediately interrupted: "I know! It's much easier to use than a wand!"

"You don't need to remind me!"