Hogwarts: Harry Returns from Azeroth

Chapter 240, Page 239: The Death of the Crown and Harry's Stabbing

It's unclear what valuable items Dumbledore has collected in his office, but it's obvious that if he returns, he'll definitely have to redecorate his office.

Hopefully, the old man won't break down in tears because of the huge loss... probably not.

"Hey! Little Harry! Come quick, save the Sorting Hat!" the Sorting Hat cried out in panic. "Oh my god! The flames are going to burn me! No! They're already burning me!"

"The Sorting Hat is flying in!"

As Harry cast the Sorting Hat, it arrived beside him before being burned to ashes by the fel flames.

“I must say thank you, but it would be even better if you could carry me on your head instead of at your waist... That’s how I fought alongside Gryffindor over a thousand years ago.”

The Sorting Hat was still chattering away, but its attitude was much better than Harry had imagined; even after almost being burned by fel flames, it was still in the mood to joke.

Frosty breath from the Angry Horn spewed in through the huge, shattered French windows. Even fel flames are subject to the laws of physics, and were being extinguished in large swaths in this extreme cold.

Quirrell's soul had long since vanished into the fel flames, and even Voldemort's main soul, if not for his fragmented soul pulling him back, would likely have been burned to ashes by the fel fire.

“Stop talking nonsense, Sorting Hat. Didn’t Dumbledore set up any traps in his office? Or do you know of any special security measures for the Headmaster’s office here?” Harry interrupted the Sorting Hat.

One beam of green light after another was shooting from the opposite side. Compared to fel magic, Voldemort was indeed more comfortable using the Unforgivable Curse, based on his years of experience.

“Oh, good question,” the Sorting Hat muttered. “I knew you still wanted to save that girl. Well… the answer is no! You have to know that some audacious little wizards will sneak into the headmaster’s office, so for the safety of these mischievous ones, the headmasters can’t leave any dangerous defensive measures here.”

“I can testify, Harry, it was perfectly safe when we sneaked in,” James interjected, who was guiding his soul power to try and kill Voldemort’s main soul. “Ravenclaw’s tiara is already Voldemort’s Horcrux. I think it was that thing on that girl’s head that controlled her. You might as well destroy that tiara yourself.”

“Destroy the crown? Flitwick would go crazy if he heard that,” the Sorting Hat muttered again. “But… well, what can we do? The situation is urgent right now. I’ll keep it a secret.”

Ginny's body probably couldn't support Voldemort continuing to exploit her magic like this. After all, she was just a child. Harry knew that if he didn't hurry, even if Ginny was rescued later, she probably wouldn't be able to become a wizard. That would be too cruel for a child who knew magic.

After ascending, Harry directly wielded the primal elemental power, which was far more powerful than ordinary elements. Meanwhile, Voldemort's soul fragments, lacking a reliable body, could not unleash more unknown spells even if they pushed their hosts to their limits.

Not long after, Ginny, who had tried to rush out of the headmaster's office again but failed, was forced back by the storm. Unable to use Apparition, she could not break through the storm with her own body. Voldemort dared not gamble that Harry would hold back if he really sacrificed the girl's life to run into the storm—after all, the cold-blooded boy had really looked like he was about to smash the girl's head with a hammer.

If even this physical body is gone, then a Horcrux alone is useless.

They are not the main soul, so they cannot separate from the Horcrux and act independently as soul fragments.

"It's over, Voldemort."

Harry's voice quietly reached Voldemort's ears. Now a Storm Rising One, he had essentially become a new elemental being, no longer a being of flesh and blood—and while the body of an element is formless, the important thing is the elemental core.

For Harry at this moment, he exists in one part of the headmaster's office, but his body is not limited to that small area; rather, he is the wind that is constantly flowing through the office.

It can be tangible or intangible.

For example, right now, a wisp of wind suddenly appeared near Ginny's ear. It was a continuation of Harry's body, deliberately flowing out, like a delicate hook. As Harry spoke, this hook had already forcefully snatched the crown from Ginny's head.

"Do not!!!"

Ginny's face suddenly turned terrified. She screamed, or rather, the fragment of her soul in the crown screamed. She hurriedly reached out to grab her original body, but faster than her hand was a warhammer that whistled past, even wrapped in a storm—Clang!
The crown, which was hooked in mid-air, was instantly smashed behind it. Pure physical damage, or even most magic, could not destroy the Horcrux, not to mention that Ravenclaw's crown itself had many protective spells, but all of this became futile at this moment.

"This is impossible!!!"

Ginny screamed and collapsed to her knees in agony. In contrast, Harry clearly saw that the crown that had fallen to the ground had been dented by the warhammer he had swung, and a large amount of milky white, translucent liquid, resembling blood, was constantly flowing out of the hole—as if the crown had been killed.

"I am immortal!! Nothing can destroy a Horcrux—impossible!!!"

“Nothing is impossible.” Raising his right hand, a lightning chain pulled the flying warhammer back into Harry’s hand. He said coldly, “You are dead.”

It's a strange kind of magic. If Horcruxes are essentially the bodies of fragments of a soul, then judging from the amount of bleeding, Harry thinks that Ravenclaw's tiara is equivalent to a normal person having half of their chest cavity smashed open—that's roughly the idea.

"Basilisk fangs?! You're using Basilisk fangs?!" Suddenly turning her head to look at Harry's warhammer, she seemed to finally realize the crux of the matter. Countless feelings of weakness overwhelmed the consciousness of this fragment of Voldemort's soul. She screamed and struggled to crawl towards her original body, but the blood-like liquid quickly seemed to drain away, gradually becoming thin and dim.

Fewer and fewer, until it disappeared completely. It crawled on the ground, but before its consciousness could fully reach its own 'corpse', Ginny's body collapsed to the ground, one hand still reaching forward, but unable to reach it no matter what it did.

"The basilisk's fangs have a special effect on Horcruxes?" Harry looked at his weapon with some surprise upon hearing the last words of the Coronet Soul Fragment.

This is a good thing.

Harry strode past the dilapidated headmaster's office and soon arrived at the body of the crown... Well, that description is indeed a bit strange, but it was indeed part of Voldemort's corpse.

Harry carefully picked up the crown with his earth-elemental hands. He didn't intend to touch such a dangerous dark magic object directly until he was sure it was completely safe. Who knew if Voldemort had left any malicious traps behind?

The translucent, blood-like liquid that had previously gushed out, which had covered the entire ground near the wall, had gradually disappeared as if it had never been there.

Can the soul have blood?
Harry didn't know the answer to that question, or perhaps what was gushing out was part of Voldemort?

These questions might only be answered after Voldemort was found. He carefully placed the tiara in a box made of earth elemental, and then went to check on Ginny's condition.

The idea that he would rather kill Ginny than Voldemort is obviously false... Well, it can't be said to be completely false. If Voldemort really refused to leave Ginny's body and used Ginny to blackmail Harry, then no matter how much Harry cared about the Weasleys' feelings, he would resolutely kill Ginny and Voldemort who was possessing her.

But if he could save Ginny, Harry would never hurt his friend like that—the key is to never let Voldemort realize that he could use Ginny's life to threaten Harry into giving up.

As it turned out, Harry's decision was necessary; at least Voldemort abandoned his plan to hold a wand to his neck and force Harry to surrender.

She was extremely weak; the little girl's breathing was so faint it was almost nonexistent. What reassured Harry was that although her breathing was weak, it was still relatively stable and not rapid or getting weaker.

Healing surge, soul purification, torrent... Given the urgency and time constraints, Harry could only quickly provide Ginny with emergency treatment to prevent her condition from worsening.

The purifying and healing power of the water was clearly working; Ginny's face, which had become extremely pale due to the draining of a large amount of life force and magic, was showing signs of improvement. This was all Harry could do for the time being—as for replenishing the lost life force, that would have to wait until everything was over before taking care of it.

After confirming that Ginny's condition had stabilized, Harry wanted to pick her up and put her in his suitcase world. Compared to the castle, which was full of demons, the suitcase was the only safe place.

Harry slipped his arms under Ginny's legs and behind her neck, but just as he managed to stand up, Ginny, whom he was holding, suddenly opened her eyes!

Those were not the shy eyes Harry had ever seen before, but cold and malicious eyes, like Voldemort's—no! They were Voldemort!
Without hesitation, Ginny pulled a dagger from her robes and plunged it into Harry's heart!

There was no time to dodge, nor time to throw Ginny away. In his haste, Harry only had time to let go and lean back. At that moment, the wind elements floating in the air gathered towards Harry's chest, trying to form a wind wall to block the attack for him.

However, the dagger in Ginny's hand gleamed with an evil light. Neither the wind elemental resistance nor the chainmail she wore seemed to exist in front of this dagger. At most, it only offered a slight degree of resistance before being easily sliced ​​through.

Blood splattered everywhere!!
It even splashed onto Ginny's face, who was standing right next to him. After being thrown by Harry, the girl simply waved her hand and floated into the air before landing lightly on the ground with a ecstatic smile on her face.

"Haha, hahaha, ahahahahahahahahahahahaha!!"

Ginny was laughing maniacally—or rather, Voldemort was laughing maniacally!

"Potter! Ah~ kind Potter! You were so careless! Ahahahahahaha!!" Seeing Harry kneeling on the ground, clutching his chest and looking pale, Ginny's laughter became even more unrestrained, making her laugh so hard she was bent over.

Wiping away the tears streaming from her eyes from laughing hysterically, Ginny reached into her robes and pulled out a notebook with a black cover, waving it proudly at Harry.

“You didn’t expect that, did you, Potter?” she said smugly. “It wasn’t just one split soul, it was two!”

That black-covered notebook turned out to be another Horcrux!
“I have to thank Lucius, even though he’s an absolute idiot,” Ginny said, shaking her head dramatically. “He actually dared to give away what I entrusted to him just for something as trivial as getting revenge on the Weasleys!”

“If he weren’t here right now, I would definitely teach him a lesson he’d never forget!” Ginny gritted her teeth, her face contorted with rage as she sheathed the blood-stained dagger in her hand. But her anger vanished quickly, replaced by a laugh. “However, it’s all thanks to his stupidity that I have this opportunity to eliminate you, this boy who miraculously survived, along with Dumbledore—I can even take another step closer to immortality! Make me even stronger!!”

"I'm confident I have the situation under control," the new Voldemort shouted with unbridled fervor.

No one knew better than Voldemort the power of the dagger he had plunged into Potter's body, or what kind of evil magic had been added to it. The boy's life was already on the countdown to death!
"How foolish!" As if stripped of a garment, the new Voldemort even left Ginny's body, appearing directly in the real world as a phantom, while Ginny's body collapsed to the ground like a kite with a broken string.

This new Voldemort looks younger and more handsome, at least more handsome than the Voldemort soul Harry had ever seen.

(End of this chapter)