The days at Hogwarts

As for the shrunken Weasley boy further back, I didn't even want to see it, let alone mention it.

Arriving in front of the familiar statue on the third floor, Sirius and Moody consciously stepped aside. Hermione walked to the front and spoke softly: "Caramel sticks."

The statue moved aside and the door opened automatically to reveal the aisle behind. Several people stood on the spiral staircase in silence and went up.

Before they got closer, a dull conversation came through the oak door: "Cedric, although I have no intention of concealing what happened tonight, but in order to prevent your parents and family from being targeted, please be cautious before revealing the matter to others."

"Thank you, Professor. Actually, I, I don't plan to reveal what happened tonight to others, even my parents..."

Cedric's voice was filled with unconcealable fatigue after working hard all night, but Harry still recognized the familiar tone instantly, and his pupils shrank violently in his wide eyes.

He clearly saw with his own eyes that Cedric was struck by Bellatrix's death curse. The body should be cold by now!

By the way, it's Polyjuice Potion! Someone's pretending to be Cedric!

It's a Death Eater conspiracy!

Harry's head suddenly sobered up, and all his grief turned into anger, but amidst the strong anger, he also had a faint hope...

"Don't be embarrassed. Choosing to keep the secret for the sake of your family is also a choice of courage and wisdom."

"It may be a long time before I can thank you, Loren."

"It's best to keep it secret. I don't want to get into trouble."

Hearing Loren's lazy voice, Hermione's face became even colder. She stepped forward and knocked on the oak door: "Principal Dumbledore, Harry is coming with us."

"Please come in."

Pushing open the door and entering, there are only a few weak candles lit in the office. Phoenix Fox is staying on a perch at the door, with his head buried in his right wing. The paintings of previous principals on the wall are flipped over, and there is a peaceful look on the desk. The sight, three cups of yellow-orange pumpkin juice is still steaming.

Cedric was sitting across from the desk. His clothes were messy and had holes in several places, which did not affect his demeanor as a Hufflepuff prefect. His face was a little pale. Loren next to him turned his head and looked at them with a smile.

Dumbledore nodded towards Cedric: "That's it for tonight. If you really have trouble falling asleep, you can go to Ms. Pomfrey. I highly recommend you to use hypnosis to temporarily forget the thrill of this night... …”

"Good night, Principal Dumbledore, good night, Loren..."

Cedric stood up politely and nodded when he saw a few people, "Good evening, everyone."

The moment he passed by Cedric, Harry saw him wink at him. Every part of his eyebrows and expressions were Cedric's original look. The holes in his clothes were from when he was fighting the Acromantula. What was left looked familiar to him.

The Death Eater pretending to be Cedric took off his clothes, so carefully that he even took off his shirt?

Harry fell into endless tangles again. Uncertain expectations and doubts about Cedric's identity were intertwined, making his whole head a mess.

Dumbledore called out several chairs from the cubicle, and took out the tea utensils slowly. He seemed to want to ask a few people what they wanted to drink: "I know, you guys must have a lot to say-"

"Let's get down to business first, Albus." Moody said carelessly.

Loren didn't smell the smell of Polyjuice Potion from Professor Moody, and realized that this was a real retired professor who had been hired back from retirement. Although he had been replaced by others for a year, he stood up when he received the year-end bonus at the end of the school year. .

Dumbledore coughed, but poured the remaining pumpkin juice in the teapot for everyone one by one, making Moody frown. Even after retirement, the elite Auror still has a fiery temper. After being dormant for a year and trying to get information from Barty Crouch Jr., he was very impatient, and his patience had long been worn out.

Loren watched happily, and suddenly heard the little witch's soft voice in his ear: "The adventure tonight must be exciting, right?"

Loren's heart condensed, and he calmly handed the pumpkin juice that Dumbledore had poured to Hermione: "I will tell you more carefully later."

The little witch's eyes narrowed into slits, and her long eyelashes fluttered, which made people feel terrified.

Harry couldn't hold back the hot pumpkin juice and asked cautiously: "Headmaster, I...Cedric...he..."

Dumbledore seemed to understand his uneasiness and doubts, and said with a smile: "Cedric told me part of the truth about what happened tonight. By the way, he conveyed the greetings of Mr. Diggory and Mrs. Diggory. He talked about many things. The prefect’s difficulties and interesting stories, and also talked about how you will walk to the end of the maze together and share the championship of this competition.”

Harry's hanging heart relaxed. If Cedric was really dead, there would be no way for the disguised Death Eaters to know so many things in the past, but he still couldn't figure it out: "But..."

"Before explaining this matter, everyone here needs to understand the whole matter..."

With Dumbledore's gentle narration, a long and twists and turns story slowly unfolded in front of everyone: "Let me think about it, it should start with Mr. Crouch. I think you have learned about it from Severus. , Thirteen years ago, Crouch personally sent his son to Azkaban. There is another story hidden in it, about a secret and deep love..."

Mrs. Crouch dragged her seriously ill body to replace her son who was serving time in Azkaban. Mr. Crouch imprisoned his son for nearly ten years. Finally, on the night of the Quidditch World Cup, he lost control due to riots and was even led by his own son to attack and murder Voldemort. , turned into a puppet possessed by Voldemort, Barty finally disguised himself as Moody and sneaked into Hogwarts...

After hearing the story of the Crouch family, except for Loren, several young wizards and Sirius were stunned, and their emotions were so complicated that they could not figure it out.

"No wonder there was sparkle at the Dark Mark scene. No wonder she was always taboo about mentioning the Crouch family..." Harry murmured.

Hermione couldn't help but glance at Loren. She was not sure if Loren had known this for a long time, so he made an agreement with Winky...

"These Death Eaters should be given a Dementor's Kiss!" Moody yelled angrily. "Fortunately, they still need to get information about me and use my hair to make Polyjuice Potion, otherwise they will kill me too." "

Sirius looked at Harry in fear, knowing that Barty Crouch Jr., disguised as Moody, had countless opportunities to murder Harry. Harry had been hit by the Imperius Curse hundreds of times in class. If this was the case for the Death Curse...

Harry and Ron also felt their scalps tingling.

Dumbledore sipped the pumpkin juice and continued: "Just like that, Barty Crouch Jr. transformed into Alastor and sneaked into Hogwarts. The good news is that only on the second day of school, Loren and Hermione I discovered his loophole..."

Harry and Ron looked at the two men angrily, and finally suppressed their words and decided to settle the score with them privately.

"Severus and I found the imprisoned Alastor in the Defense Against the Dark Arts professor's office. After some careful discussions, we did not immediately expose his true identity. Instead, we asked Alastor to lurk every night. Extracting information from each other with Barty Crouch Jr...."

"After the opening ceremony of the Tournament, Barty Crouch Jr. put Harry's name into the Goblet of Fire... Combining the information obtained by Alastor and Harry's dream, we deduced their plan..."

Chapter 507 About Professor Granger’s corporal punishment of students

"Decided to accompany them to carry out this stage play to the end."

The old principal's voice fell, and Moody drank the pumpkin juice in the cup in one gulp. The sweet taste made him frown uncomfortably, snorted in disgust and sneered: "What's even more unexpected is that... A bastard got involved and almost got us into big trouble by throwing in the mysterious man's name!"

Harry and Ron turned to look at Loren again. The man was holding a porcelain cup with his head down, looking like he was concentrating on drinking tea, as if he was not the bastard who did this.

"So you already knew..." Harry's eyes were full of resentment. Witnessed by young wizards and many professors from four schools, he was inexplicably elected as a warrior because his age did not meet the competition requirements. Those rumors and sarcastic eyes tortured him. I couldn't eat for several days.

Coupled with the terrifying name "Tom Gaunt" who emerged from the Goblet of Fire, he had nightmares for several nights in a row, which made him unable to sleep or eat well.

Loren sat silently next to him, half his face buried in the tea cup, as if the ordinary pumpkin juice inside was some sweet and expensive rare drink.

Hermione also lowered her head unnaturally. She didn't know whether knowing the information but not reporting it was considered an accomplice, and she was a little ashamed.

Dumbledore watched by himself, and waited until Loren finished drinking the pumpkin juice in the cup despite the gazes of several people, and then poured him another cup, then he spoke slowly:

"This is not a bad thing. Loren's unexpected disruption aroused his competitive spirit and made him very interested in the competition project. It also made our subsequent plans smoother...

"I think you have also seen that "Crouch" can't wait to show his abilities in the first project...

"On the other hand, Barty Jr. disguised as Alastor has been secretly helping Harry, hoping that he can advance to the end...

"In the preparation stage for the third task, Voldemort and Barty Crouch Jr. exchanged identities again. Barty Crouch Jr. waited for news in the referee's booth to guard against unexpected situations - if Harry left the maze early, he would take Harry away in other ways.

"And Voldemort joined the patrol team in the form of Alastor and entered the maze. He used the Imperius Curse to control Krum and attacked Miss Delacour and Graves...Cedric was even better than he expected. After defeating Krum, The Queen joined you and defeated the last Acromantula, and Voldemort finally had to share the championship trophy with you."

No one expected that the seemingly peaceful maze would hide such waves.

Ron and Sirius were stunned.

Harry also opened his mouth in surprise: "What happened later? I clearly saw Cedric being hit by the Death Curse with my own eyes, but he seemed fine?"

"That's another story..." Dumbledore took a sip of pumpkin juice and looked at the boy on his left. "Please let me, an old guy, rest for a while and let Loren tell you about his story." Heroic deeds.”

Facing the probing eyes of others, Loren grinned: "There is no heroic story. I just felt a little uneasy before the game started, so I asked Mai to hide in the maze in advance. Harry and Cedric had just been taken away by the portkey. , I followed..."

A group of people were listening to him describe the process of saving Cedric in vague words. As a retired Auror, Moody keenly sensed something unusual in it. The blue magic eye stared at him, and the other eye looked at Dumbledore issued a cryptic inquiry:

How did he know about Voldemort's plan?

How did he know that Voldemort's destination was Little Hangleton?

How could he, an ordinary student, be able to save someone in front of Bellatrix without even letting her notice that something was wrong?

Dumbledore lowered his eyelids and shook the tea cup in his hand, as if he refused to accept all questions.

He didn't care. No matter how many doubts others had, Loren had proven himself by taking action to save Cedric without hesitation.

"In order to prevent Bellatrix from exploring, I used leaves to transform and leave a fake corpse, but it was useless in the end." Loren sighed, seeming quite regretful.

"..."

Harry's mouth was slightly open, his expression was numb, his eyes were dull, and he looked very unintelligent.

He was full of dissatisfaction, aggrieved and depressed. It was clear that he was the witness to all events, it was clear that he was Voldemort's target, and it was clear that he was abducted by Voldemort himself. But why did these people know the truth of the incident better than him? .

His selection as a warrior was planned by Voldemort, and the old principal agreed to allow him to participate in the tournament. Later, Death Eaters even continued to provide help...

Voldemort and the house elves were hidden in the maze. He was kidnapped by Voldemort on his front legs, and Loren followed on his hind legs.

How many things are he still unaware of?

Why can't you tell him?

Who is the chosen boy?

However, despite being angry and complaining, Harry was also relieved deep down in his heart. Hearing with his own ears that Cedric had returned safely and intact, his heart that had been hanging on him finally dropped.

Only he himself knows how the internal organs in his body twitched and hurt when he saw Cedric lose his life in front of him, and when his legs were weak and hanging down, how despair and self-blame he felt in his heart...

That scene was more unforgettable than Voldemort's resurrection.

"Okay, the prologue has begun. Let Harry tell us the rest of the story." Dumbledore winked at him and said with a smile, "But pay attention to the time, Harry, it's already very late. I I hope your story will be as brief and concise as possible. You must be considerate of me, an insomniac old man, and those Death Eater scenes are not important, okay?"

Harry listened to this meaningful instruction and nodded subconsciously. Snape's face flashed through his mind. After thinking for a while, he slowly spoke:

"Bellatrix collected three materials and added them to the crucible. They were her father's bones and the ashes taken from Tom Riddle's grave... The last one was the blood of her enemies. She collected a few drops of blood from me... "

Harry stretched out his arm to show the torn robe and the healed wound on his arm. The new flesh was pinker than the old flesh around it. "He said that using my blood would be more effective than using other people's blood and would make him Stronger, and said that the ancient magical power that my mother left in my body also flows in his body... It turned out that he was right, and it was no longer hurt when he touched my forehead. "

For a brief moment, Harry seemed to see a flash of joy in Dumbledore's eyes.

Is it my own delusion?

When he came back to his senses, the white-bearded old principal returned to his kind face, with a little compassion in his blue eyes, seeming to feel sorry for Lily Potter. Harry paused and continued: "He is very proud of the resurrection ceremony. Planned, spent a long time showing off, then released me from my bonds and asked me to duel with him..."

The duel that took place tonight flashed before his eyes like a movie: the painful Cruciatus Curse, the twisted and ferocious pale snake face, the two magic strings connected together, the golden beam and the song of the phoenix, and The last soul that emerged...

"...With their help, I successfully obtained the door key and returned to Hogwarts."

Recalling his parents' vivid faces and their soft voices, Harry felt a sense of relief, as if something poisonous was being expelled from his body little by little as he told the story.

At the end of the sentence, Fawkes on the perch let out a soft and trembling cry, and the sound trembled slightly in the air. Harry drank a large glass of pumpkin juice and felt a hot liquid slide down his throat into his stomach. My body feels warm and I feel comfortable both physically and mentally.

Everyone present was silent as they silently digested Harry's narration of events. The two men were surrounded by Death Eaters during the duel, and with the golden light blocking their vision, even Dumbledore, who was present, was unclear about the specific circumstances of what was happening inside the aperture.

"Two wands connected together?" Sirius, who had said very little that night, broke the silence, his brows knitted together, "Why?"

"Because the two wands have the same core, both of which come from the feathers on Fawkes." Dumbledore pointed to the phoenix on the branch. "Four years ago, when you just left Mr. Ollivander's shop, he He wrote to me about it."

"If twin wands touch each other in a duel, they will not attack each other normally. If they insist on fighting, this may happen." Dumbledore looked at Harry's face, seeming to see from his eyes There were some overflowing emotions, "But no magic can reawaken the dead. It is just a reflection of the soul, and those voices are just distant echoes between life and death."

Harry lowered his eyes lonely.

Loren looked at Harry's wand thoughtfully. Not all twin wands should have the effect of summoning souls. The unique magic of Phoenix Nirvana may have played a key role in it, but the research samples of twin wands are too rare. , and he wasn't sure.

I don’t know if I will have the opportunity to do experiments in the future.

Fox, who was combing his feathers on a perch, felt a chill coming over him for no reason. He shrank his wings in an attempt to keep himself warm.

Wand...life and death...

Loren's eyes couldn't help but fall on the ancient wand in Dumbledore's hand, and he silently observed the lines of the old trees on it.

This Elder Wand is unusually long. Generally, wands are about ten inches in length. This one is a full fifteen inches. The gray wand is dotted with wood grain spots. It is said that Death used elder branches from the banks of the River Styx when making it. It is the handle of the staff, and the Thestral's tail hair is the core of the staff. Although it is full of ominousness, it is also surprisingly powerful.

Recalling the scene of the duel between the two legendary wizards tonight, although it felt like Dumbledore was indeed suppressing Voldemort, I don't know how much effect the Elder Wand played in it.

Gee, I'm a little greedy...

Everything was presented to everyone from beginning to end. Moody's gloomy face covered with wounds looked a little hideous. The actively moving blue magic eye proved that his mind was working rapidly. Sirius spoke very little all night.

Except for Loren, the other three students all had questions in their minds, but in a depressing atmosphere, they did not ask them.

"I must say," Dumbledore said solemnly and solemnly, "You have been very brave tonight, far beyond my expectations of you, Harry. The courage you have shown is the same as those who were at the same time as Voldemort in his heyday. He fights to the death as many wizards as you can, you take on the heavy responsibility of an adult wizard and show that you are capable of shouldering this burden.

"Please forgive me for hiding many things from you, and will continue to hide them for some time to come, but please also believe that the day when I confess to you will come soon. Before that, you can continue to enjoy Hogwart ci’s life.”

Harry's eyes were a little sore. He was dissatisfied with everyone's hiding from him, but thinking that all dangers were under the supervision of the principal, he felt at ease.

He asked aggrievedly: "Do you need me to keep tonight's affairs a secret?"

"Given the history between you and him, keeping it secret won't make him let go of his hatred for you, right?" Dumbledore asked softly.

"My matters must be kept secret." Loren said simply. "I'm afraid of trouble. I hope you will tell the public that Cedric managed to survive on his own."

Harry nodded, and everyone except Moody stood up, said goodbye to the principal, and left the principal's office.

Not far into the corridor, Molly and the Weasley family came to greet them. The dull atmosphere was suddenly broken, and the corridor became lively late at night.

"Harry! Oh, Harry!" Molly's voice trembled slightly.

"I'm fine..." Harry was choked with breathlessness.