Chapter 318 - 318 King’s Cross Station(End of article)
Chapter 318: Chapter 318 King's Cross Station(End of article)
Dracula, Dumbledore and Grindelwald walked out of the Hog's Head and came to the streets of Hogsmeade.
In the distance, a dense crowd of people appeared at the end of Hogsmeade Village, which had already flooded the tracks of Hogsmeade Station and moved eastward towards Hogwarts like zombies.
Not only that, the originally clear sky seemed to be filled with dark clouds, the atmosphere was particularly depressing, and endless negative emotions fell from the sky, wiping out the smiles on everyone's faces.
"Look, who just said that Voldemort has been dealt with?" Aberforth said in a sarcastic tone, "The number of Inferi and Dementors this time is far greater than any previous time. Could it be that a dark demon more powerful than Voldemort suddenly appears?"
"That's hard to say." Dracula smiled with interest and turned to look at Dumbledore: "Well, Albus, how do the Inferi and Dementors on both sides divide the work?"
Dumbledore looked at the Hogwarts Castle in the east, his face also smiling, and he seemed to be in a good mood. T/his chapter is updat/𝓮d by n𝒐v(ê(l)biin.c/o/m
"It seems that there is no need for us to take action there, right?"
Dracula and Grindelwald also looked over the uneven roofs of Hogsmeade and looked at the tall main tower of Hogwarts.
Under the influence of the Dementors, in the dark sky, a faint silver light penetrated the dense group of Dementors and dispelled a circle of negative emotions of fear and sadness.
Then, two more silver lights shone out.
The silver light became more and more, gradually converging into a torrent as bright as the Milky Way.
A bright stag rushed to the front of the torrent, followed by an otter and a Jack Russell terrier, and then a horse, a hare, a swan, and foxes, wild boars, cats and other animals running in the torrent...
In addition to these tangible patronuses, there are countless half-solid and half-illusory silver lights and endless silver mists accompanying them.
Facing such a large number of Dementors, a single patronus may seem powerless.
But when half of the students in the castle have learned the Patronus Charm, the momentum of the patronus will be no less than that of the Dementors.
"Unconsciously, the children have grown up, and it's time for them to be independent." Dumbledore looked at the silver torrent, wiped his eyes, and said with emotion.
"Sometimes I really thought they were freshmen who had just enrolled. They were more naughty than each other. Minerva kept nagging me to manage them well..."
"Why do you suddenly miss the past?" Grindelwald interrupted him with a smile, "Then I want to tell you how I spent those fifty years in the tower."
Seeing that Dumbledore and Grindelwald were about to start reminiscing about the past, and Dracula looked like he was interested in listening to the story, Aberforth next to him couldn't stand it anymore.
"What's wrong with you three?" Aberforth said impatiently, "The Inferi and Dementors are here, and you three don't want to find a way to solve them, but instead miss the past here? Is this the time for you to miss the past!"
Dumbledore woke up from a dream, as if he had just remembered the business.
"I'm old, and I always like to recall the past." He shook his head with some shame, and said softly, "Don't worry, Aberforth, this matter will be resolved soon."
Then, Dumbledore looked at Grindelwald, hesitated for a moment, and handed over the resurrection stone ring on his finger.
Grindelwald looked at the ring handed over by Dumbledore, and his expression was dazed for a moment.
"Gellert, you take the resurrection stone first, and the piece of Inferi will be handed over to you." Dumbledore saw that Grindelwald did not move, and reminded him, "I remember you were good at necromancy."
"Well... I used necromancy to resurrect a little unicorn at that time, and you and Newt destroyed it." Grindelwald came back to his senses, gently took the ring, and replied casually, "No problem, it's just some low-level Inferi."
"Professor Dracula..." Dumbledore turned his head and looked at Dracula again.
"Go and do what you need to do." Dracula nodded, "I'll watch in the dark, don't worry."
Dumbledore finally put his mind at ease and raised his arm to his side.
A fiery red phoenix landed on his arm, and took Dumbledore with it, turning into a golden red flame and dissipating on the spot.
Grindelwald looked at Dumbledore's departing figure, tightly holding the Resurrection Stone Ring in his hand.
Then he chuckled softly, turned around, and faced the group of Inferi that had already entered the scope of Hogsmeade Village and caused a commotion.
Now, only Aberforth and Dracula were left at the door of the Hog's Head.
"Why do both of them have missions, but you don't?" Aberforth looked at Dracula who was still standing there, and asked in confusion.
"Who said that?" Dracula glanced at him, "My mission is the most important, understand?"
"So what is your mission?" Aberforth asked.
"My mission..." Dracula laughed happily, and turned back to the Hog's Head, "First, have a glass of your best drink to calm down!"
Aberforth: "..."
...
When Dumbledore arrived at Hogwarts Castle, the Dementors in the sky had been dispersed.
A figure was standing at the gate leading to the hall of Hogwarts, pacing back and forth anxiously.
"Tom? Why are you not going to Minerva's office? What are you doing here?" Dumbledore asked in surprise when he saw this figure. "Aren't you here to compete with Severus for the position of Defense Against the Dark Arts Professor?"
"That's right, but aren't there a large number of Dementors invading?" Riddle looked very worried. "I think this Dementor invasion is by no means accidental. There must be someone behind it."
"I feel it's necessary to show my ability in front of you and Headmaster Minerva through this incident. In order to investigate the person behind the Dementors, I searched carefully near the castle and finally found a suspicious trace!"
"Did you find the suspicious person?" Dumbledore's face was Became serious, "Where is he!"
"When I found him just now, he was deep in the Forbidden Forest." Riddle said in a deep voice, "But even though I absorbed the soul fragments of Voldemort, I haven't digested it completely, and my strength is still a step away from being a great wizard..."
"Therefore, I am not sure I can deal with that suspicious person alone, so I must come here and wait for you and Professor Dracula to come!"
"Tom, you did a good job!" Dumbledore said seriously, "Wait for me here for a while, I will explain this to Minerva, and then go with you to find the suspicious trace."
After that, Dumbledore was about to walk to the marble staircase leading to the second floor next to the entrance courtyard, when Riddle called him from behind again.
"Headmaster, is Professor Dracula nearby?" Riddle asked, "Should we wait for him to go together, it would be safer..."
"Professor Dracula has his own things to do and has no time to return to Hogwarts now." Dumbledore shook his head, "Don't worry, with the two of us together, most situations are enough to deal with. There is no need to trouble Professor Dracula."
Riddle nodded gently.
"I see." He said.
...
A few minutes later, Dumbledore hurried down from upstairs and came straight to Riddle.
"Are you ready, Tom?" he asked softly.
"I'm ready here, Headmaster Dumbledore." Riddle nodded.
I don't know if it's an illusion, he feels that Dumbledore seems to have changed his temperament in just a few minutes. The mysterious and vicissitudes of life on his body seem to disappear, and instead become... seem to be a lot younger.
'Maybe he has explained the school affairs to Professor McGonagall and relaxed a lot. 'He could only think so.
Then, Riddle led the way, and Dumbledore followed him quietly, and they walked into a gloomy cypress deep in the Forbidden Forest.
"This is it, Mr. Headmaster." Riddle pointed to a dark symbol carved on the cypress in front of him, and said slowly, "Look at that runic symbol, isn't it strange..."
Dumbledore frowned, walked towards the thick cypress in front, and looked at the black runic characters that seemed to be constantly jumping.
"This is..."
His eyes seemed to be sucked into the runic characters, and a trace of confusion appeared in his eyes.
At the same moment, Dumbledore didn't see that Riddle behind him suddenly raised his wand——
"Avada Kedavra!"
A dazzling green light penetrated the darkness of the Forbidden Forest and hit Dumbledore's back squarely...
The old man fell weakly and heavily on the ground covered with pine leaves like a big doll. The glasses on his face broke into two pieces, and his eyes were wide open. It seemed that he could not imagine that the attack came from behind.
Riddle panted heavily, looking at the fallen old headmaster, and couldn't believe that he succeeded so easily.
For some reason, although he achieved his goal, he had the illusion that something had left him...
"Tom, you are still obsessed."
In the silent Forbidden Forest, a voice suddenly broke the silence of the air.
Riddle turned his head suddenly, his eyes full of disbelief.
"How is it possible! You are not..."
"Tom, do you really think you are hiding well?" Dumbledore, with silver hair, walked out from the other side of the Forbidden Forest and said with a heavy expression.
Phoenix Fawkes stood on his shoulder, combing his golden and red feathers comfortably.
"When Professor Dracula told me that you learned to repent, I realized that you were back on your old path." Dumbledore looked deeply into Riddle's eyes, "The Tom Riddle I know may change his position, but he will never repent for what he did..."
"Not to mention, many of Voldemort's actions were not done by him in your eyes... Why do you repent for him?"
"At that time, Professor Dracula already understood that you were able to piece your soul together with the help of the power of the god of death, and the price might be to offer part of the soul fragments to the god of death after the success."
Riddle's child hole shrank violently, and it was obvious that he had not recovered from the shock.
He looked at Dumbledore, who had been hit by the Killing Curse and fell to the ground, in disbelief. He saw that old face twitched a few times, and the wrinkled skin gradually became smooth, the white hair became black and messy, and a lightning-shaped scar appeared on the forehead...
"Harry Potter?!" Riddle was horrified to see Dumbledore's face turned into Harry, and he couldn't believe his eyes at all, "How is this possible..."
Then he turned his head suddenly and questioned Dumbledore: "Did you feed Harry the Polyjuice Potion?"
"Is this your responsibility as the headmaster of Hogwarts? Let your "Your students will take the killing curse for you!"
"Tom, don't you realize it yet?" Dumbledore said calmly, "After Voldemort cast the killing curse on Harry seventeen years ago, he accidentally left a piece of his soul in Harry's body, and Harry became a special Horcrux at that time..."
"Ha, I know!" Riddle smiled sarcastically, "Just because of this, in order to kill me, you must let your students be buried with me, right? The great wizard who protects the magic world is indeed worthy of his reputation!"
"You think too much, Tom, Harry will be fine." Dumbledore said softly.
"I was hit by a killing curse, and you told me he would be fine? !" Riddle sneered.
"I don't need to lie to you." Dumbledore shook his head.
...
At this moment, Harry stood up in a silent space.
It was a huge round glass roof, gleaming in the sunlight high above his head; there was silence all around, only a strange thumping and whimpering sound coming from the mist nearby...
Harry stood there and slowly turned around, and the surrounding scenery seemed to appear before his eyes.
A large and vast space, bright and clean, a hall much larger than the Great Hall, with the clear glass dome above. The hall was empty, with only him, except for -
He saw the thing that made the strange sound.
The thing was shaped like a naked child, curled up on the ground, with red and rough skin, looking like it had been peeled off, shivering under a seat, stuffed there randomly, struggling to breathe.
Harry felt a little scared and took two steps back.
Although the thing was small and weak, a familiar, evil and terrifying breath came from its body from time to time...
"You came at the wrong time."
A voice suddenly rang in the silent space.
Harry turned around suddenly and saw Professor Dracula with silver hair walking towards him, with brisk steps and an interested look on his face.
"Professor Dracula?" Harry asked in surprise, "Where am I... and why do you say I came at the wrong time?"
"Because I just cheated a bottle of good red wine from a miser, but you were cursed at this time." Dracula moved a chair from somewhere and sat down, motioning to Harry, "Sit down."
"Yes, I seem to have been cursed by Tom..." Harry said with a complicated expression, "When Dumbledore told me to cooperate with him to do something, I thought he was joking."
Then, Harry suddenly widened his eyes.
"So, professor, you are dead too?" he asked in astonishment.
"What nonsense are you talking about?" Dracula glanced at him, "I hope I can die, but I can't do it at all, unfortunately..."
"But...then why are you here, isn't this heaven?" Harry asked.
"Heaven?" Dracula curled his lips, "I feel like the place I went to before is more like hell... Well, to be precise, this place should be called the Lost Realm, which is the narrow space between life and death."
"The Lost Realm?" Harry looked around in confusion.
"Yes, Lost Realm." Dracula nodded, "Riddle has your blood in his body, and has absorbed a small part of the spell left by your mother when she died for you. When Voldemort created this body, he believed that this would make him fearless of the powerful guardian magic..."
"But in fact, this will only form a cycle between you, a cycle in which no one can kill anyone."
"Riddle inherited the body created by Voldemort, so he is also trapped in this cycle - he can't really kill you, he can only drive your soul to the narrow space between life and death now."
"But... I always feel that this place is like King's Cross Station." Harry said, "but it's much cleaner and emptier, and I can't see the train."
"King's Cross Station?" Dracula looked around with interest, then nodded affirmatively, "Yes, everyone sees different things when they come here. Maybe in your impression, King's Cross Station just gave you a deep impression."
"After all, that station is also the door that leads you to the real wizarding world, right?"
Harry nodded gently.
"So, how did you get here, professor?" he asked, "Did you also get hit by the killing curse?"
"That's not the case." Dracula shrugged, "I collected the three Deathly Hallows, defeated the previous Death, and became the current one."
Harry's eyes widened, dumbfounded.
"You...you're not kidding?" he asked stutteringly.
"Do you think I'm kidding?" Dracula asked back with a chuckle, "If you hadn't come to this place, I would definitely not tell you about this."
Harry suddenly became excited.
"I can't believe that the legendary Death has become my professor!" He shouted excitedly, "Then even if another Voldemort appears in the future, do I not have to worry?"
"I'm the Death now, and you're not afraid of me?" Dracula asked in surprise.
"Why should I be afraid of you, Professor?" Harry said with a smile, "You are the most popular Defense Against the Dark Arts professor at Hogwarts!"
Dracula was stunned for a moment, then he also chuckled.
"Yeah, you are right." He chuckled and his mood became very good.
"Professor, tell me quickly, what does it feel like to be the god of death?" Harry asked curiously next to Dracula, "It must be very powerful."
"No feeling, not much different from before." Dracula sighed and said depressedly, "I thought it would be fun to be the god of death, but I was so disappointed..."
"And as a vampire, I might be able to find a chance to die if I look carefully, but now I have become the god of death, I can't die at all!"
"I dare not think about it, how boring I will be in the next few years..."
Dracula collapsed in the chair, and suddenly felt that his future was bleak.
Looking at this scene, Harry wanted to laugh a little, but felt it was not appropriate, so he could only purse his lips tightly, his face flushed.
"Forget it, the more I talk, the more depressed I am. I won't talk to you anymore." Dracula stood up from the chair with a stern face and snapped his fingers.
Harry saw that the strange thing under the chair was instantly burned to ashes.
"The soul fragment of Voldemort in your body has been solved." Dracula clapped his hands, as if he had slapped a mosquito to death, "Now you can go back, don't stay in the Lost Land for too long."
"But... how should I go back?" Harry asked.
"Well, let me think..." Dracula thought and said softly, "Since you said we are at King's Cross Station, then I think you can... for example... get on a train?"
Harry turned his head and saw that a train seemed to have really appeared in the fog nearby, exactly the same as the Hogwarts Express.
...
Harry woke up and fell face down on the ground, and the smell of the Forbidden Forest hit his nose.
He felt the cold, hard ground and many thick pine needles under his cheeks, and felt the corner of his glasses that was knocked crooked when he landed piercing his temple. There was no part of his body that didn't hurt. The places hit by the killing curse felt like being hit by an iron fist.
He struggled to move, barely got up half of his body from the ground, and vaguely saw two people confronting each other.
"Harry, you're back?" Dumbledore's voice reached Harry's ears.
The glasses on his face were suddenly repaired by a silent repair spell. Harry put on the glasses and saw Dumbledore's kind smile and Riddle's stunned face.
"Why... why did you not die after being hit by the Killing Curse?" Riddle asked in astonishment, "This is unfair. Last time, your mother's protective magic was there. What's the reason this time?"
"It doesn't matter." Dumbledore said softly, "Tom, it's over. You have to admit that you have no chance to become the next Dark Lord."
"No! It's not over yet!" Riddle shouted unconvinced, "There is one thing I haven't told anyone. After absorbing Voldemort's soul, I have already reached the magical strength of a great wizard. Now I am definitely stronger than you!"
"What if I am included?" Another white-haired old man appeared in the Forbidden Forest and stood side by side with Dumbledore.
With the help of the Resurrection Stone, it won't take him much time to deal with those corpses.
"Grindelwald." Riddle's face darkened. "Do you think two great wizards can stop me? At worst, I can only leave two soul fragments and sacrifice all the other souls to the god of death... He will be willing to lend me power!"
"Puff--"
A shrill laugh came into Riddle's ears.
He turned his head and saw Harry covering his mouth, trying hard to hold back his laughter.
"What are you laughing at?!" Riddle asked angrily.
Harry waved his hands quickly, but his body was still trembling, obviously unable to stop laughing.
He turned his head again to look at Dumbledore and Grindelwald, but found that they were also full of mocking smiles.
"How dare you laugh at me?" Riddle growled angrily, "I think you don't understand how powerful the power of the god of death is!"
"Then go and borrow it quickly, we'll wait for you here." Grindelwald sneered maliciously.
"You wait!" Riddle said gloomily.
His eyes were filled with dark flames, trying to connect with the realm of death.
However, the next moment, the black flames in his eyes went out.
Riddle was stunned. He tried to connect again, but this time the black flames did not even burn.
"What's the matter? Can't you borrow power?" Grindelwald sneered, "You don't think about improving your own strength, but always want to rely on external things. People like you will suffer sooner or later."
Dumbledore took two steps forward and sighed.
"It's over, Tom." He raised his wand.
...
Without the power of the god of death, how could Riddle be the opponent of the well-prepared Dumbledore and Grindelwald?
He didn't struggle for a few minutes, and was tied to the thick trunk of a cypress tree by Dumbledore's Transfiguration.
Dumbledore held the wand and looked deeply at Riddle in front of him, with a hint of hesitation in his eyes.
"Albus, you've been a good guy for too long. Maybe you've forgotten how to kill people?" Grindelwald laughed wildly and patted Dumbledore on the shoulder. "Leave this to me."
He raised his wand suddenly-
"Avada Kedavra!"