Harry Potter and the Great Old Ones

Chapter 481 Nightmare
Marietta never felt that she had done anything wrong.

Even that night, when faced with Dumbledore's words, "You have betrayed your class, you have betrayed your companions," Marietta felt only fear, unease, and apprehension, but no regret or guilt.

“I am different from them.”

—Mariette thought to herself, her mother worked at the Ministry of Magic, and it was her mother's job to monitor the Floo Network. Even without her, her mother certainly wouldn't have stood by and watched Harry contact a dangerous fugitive like Sirius Black without her consent.

Moreover, she was forced by Zhang Qiu to join Dumbledore's Army; it was not her own choice to participate. She was dragged into the training before she even understood the situation.

"They forced me to do it all."

—Mariette thought to herself, “It’s not my fault that I never intended to participate.”

"And they weren't punished in the end."

That's right. Anyway, they weren't punished in the end, and no one was expelled. Even though George and Fred Weasley made such a fuss afterward because of Dumbledore's threat before he left, they weren't expelled.

If he hadn't betrayed Umbridge, Dumbledore wouldn't have been able to threaten him. And if Dumbledore hadn't threatened Umbridge, the Weasley twins would have been expelled long ago.

Thinking about it this way, Marietta felt even more at ease.

After she informed on him, apart from Zhang Qiu often ignoring her, her life seemed to remain unchanged. In fact, her act of informing on him even saved the disciplinary inspection team from causing Ravenclaw a lot of trouble.

But things don't always go as she planned.

At first, Marietta only felt a strange gaze following her, but she didn't pay attention to it, thinking it was just someone's prank or some boy who had a crush on her secretly watching her. Marietta was even secretly pleased about it for a while.

But one late night, when Marietta had just finished reviewing her OWLs and returned from the library, walking alone in the deserted corridors of Hogwarts with her books in her arms, that strange gaze appeared again.

Unlike usual, that gaze contained utter malice and indifference, and fear instantly enveloped Marietta like a quagmire.

Marietta felt a sudden chill run down her spine, and stood frozen in place. Then, trembling, she followed the gaze.

Marietta didn't see anyone; what she saw was—

It was just a reflection of myself in the endless darkness outside the window.

The reflection was both itself and not itself; its face showed the same panic as its reflection, but its eyes stared intently at it like those of a demon.

Marietta couldn't stand the stares and screamed as she fled back to her room, hiding under the covers on her bed as if her life depended on it.

Only in this way could Marietta seemingly shield herself from that malicious gaze.

From then on, Marietta could feel that malicious gaze whenever she passed a mirror, glass, window, or even a small puddle.

Marietta smashed all her mirrors, covered all the windows of her dormitory at night, and even avoided all puddles when she went out.

—And so, by avoiding anything that could reflect her image, Marietta no longer felt that gaze.

But for some reason, everyone's gaze toward him became increasingly strange.

Until one day, her roommate brought over a mirror and persuaded her to look at herself—

Marietta, enduring the malicious gaze, opened her eyes and glanced at it—

"what----!"

Marietta let out a heart-wrenching scream and tumbled off the sofa in the Ravenclaw common room. Her legs were too weak to move, and she could only crawl shakily toward the door.

"Harry, Harry, and Hermione! Help me! Help me..."

Marietta eventually encountered Harry, Ron, and Hermione in the black market trading area, and rushed to them, bursting into tears.

Marietta's memory ends there. She doesn't know how she got back to her room, and when she woke up again, she found herself lying quietly in bed.

Marietta was terrified, but for some reason, her body stopped trembling and she even started to vomit.

It's as if your heart and your body are separated by an invisible membrane.

Marietta sat up in bed, picked up her books somewhat calmly, and headed towards the library.

Marietta seems to want to continue what she previously suspended—

Reviewing for the OWLs exam.

Marietta felt like a puppet operating according to a predetermined program, like a walking corpse, reading each day with a cold, indifferent, and terrifying attitude.

It seems that only in the dreams at night can I briefly be myself again.

Time flies, and the OWLs exam is fast approaching.

With Tierra's guidance, the members of Dumbledore's Army, including Ron, who disliked studying the most, easily passed the written and practical parts of Transfiguration, Potions, Defense Against the Dark Arts, and Charms classes.

But during the final OWL exam, the History of Magic exam, Harry felt a chilling image pierce his mind—

Harry felt himself walking down that cold, dark corridor of the Department of Mysteries once again, his steps firm and decisive, occasionally running a few steps. He finally made up his mind to reach his destination.

The black door opened for him as usual, and he entered the circular room with many doors. He walked straight across the black stone floor, through the second door, where patches of light danced on the walls and floor, accompanied by the ticking of strange machines. But there was no time to see what was going on; he had to hurry—

He jogged a few more steps to the third door, which opened like the others. Once again, he found himself in a room the size of a cathedral, filled with shelves and glass balls. His heart was pounding; he was about to reach his destination.

He turned left when he reached the ninety-seventh shelf and hurried along the narrow aisle between the two rows of shelves. But at the end of the aisle, there was a figure on the floor, a figure moving on the floor, like an injured animal. Harry's stomach clenched in fear—

Perhaps it was the excitement that caused it to tighten.

He felt a sound emerge from his mouth, a sharp, cold sound, devoid of any human kindness—

"Get it for me...take it down, quick! I can't touch it...but you can..."

The black figure on the floor moved slightly.

Harry saw a long, white hand grip a wand tightly, raised at the end of its arm, and heard a sharp, cold voice say, "Crunch in the Heart!"

The man on the floor screamed in pain. He tried to stand up, but twisted his body and fell.

Harry was laughing. He raised his wand, the spell stopped, and the figure groaned and stopped moving.

The man on the ground was trembling. He very slowly raised his shoulders a few inches and lifted his head—

Harry finally saw it clearly: it was Sirius Black!

Sirius's face was stained with blood, he looked haggard, and his face was contorted in pain, yet he still wore a resolute and unyielding expression.

“Then you must kill me,” Sirius whispered.

“Without a doubt, I will do it in the end,” the cold voice said. “But first you have to bring it to me, Blake… Do you think you’ve felt that much pain? Think again… We have several hours left, and no one will be able to hear you scream.”

But when Voldemort put down his wand, someone screamed.

Harry yelled and collapsed from behind a scorching table onto the cold stone floor beside him.

He woke up with a start when he fell to the ground, still shouting loudly. His scars were burning, and everyone in the auditorium around him was alarmed.

(End of this chapter)