Hogwarts Advanced Guide

Chapter 456 The funeral is over, a new journey

"At that time, we called him the generous Mr. Hera," the old woman recalled the past, her tears couldn't stop falling again, she hurriedly took out a handkerchief from her pocket and wiped it, "but as time went by, his reputation grew, and the International Ministry of Magic couldn't bear him anymore, so he had to leave us. We only heard that he had returned to teach at Hogwarts, and we wisely didn't bother him anymore."

"So what did he do?" Harry's curiosity was aroused, and he was eager to learn about Hera's past.

"He has done so much that I can't explain it to you simply, child." The old woman said lovingly, "You just need to know that he is a very good person, and that is enough."

"But I don't understand," said Harry. "Can you tell us?"

"Oh, child, I can only tell you a little bit, before the funeral officially started." The old woman said, "I got into a little trouble at the time, and Hera risked his life to rescue me there. Afterwards, in order not to make me feel guilty, he even charged a symbolic amount of gold galleons. Such a good man left us forever." She began to cry again, and a dry skull fell out of her arms when her shoulders shook.

"Sorry, this is my husband's." She apologized repeatedly.

Harry and Ron looked at the skull numbly, and swallowed secretly.Ginny seemed to have thought of something suddenly, and hurriedly tugged on Harry's cuff, "The funeral is about to begin."

The old woman bent down to pick up the skull and turned her head back at the same time.

"Why—" Harry asked Ginny in a low voice, but Ginny immediately stopped her mouth, "Don't ask, I'll tell you when I get back."

Harry had to suppress his confusion, and he and Ron looked at each other suspiciously, but Ginny just rolled her eyes at them.

And the elegantly dressed woman also whispered to the stern man beside her.

"What's it like to attend your own funeral?" Leni whispered, her expression was serious, but her tone was extraordinarily playful.

Hera raised her eyebrows, "It's quite novel, it's the first time I know that I have so many 'friends', but it seems that I have deceived quite a few of them, and I have seen no less than three of them, especially the old lady, who is the notorious Condon Sharon Stone. I have deceived her a lot of Galleons, but I heard that she is quite rich."

"Condon Sharonstone?" Leni repeated the name in surprise, "The witch who killed her whole family?"

"Yes, but she is also a poor person. Her husband gave her a cursed earring, which made her aged at least 30 years." Hera said with emotion, "I almost asked for 500 gold Galleons to save her from the hands of the Austrian Ministry of Magic."

"Do you know how much her bounty is?" Leni's appearance became very strange, "Her bounty is almost ranked among the top ten in Austria, and she has been ranked among the top in the past 50 years."

"It has nothing to do with me, does it?" Hera smiled, "And how dare I go to the Ministry of Magic to see the arrest warrant? Maybe my name is on it, if they catch me"

"Austria is not looking for you. In fact, no country is looking for you at all." Leni said, "Her bounty is a full three thousand galleons!"

"What!" Hera couldn't help but exclaimed, which attracted the attention of many people, but they silently retracted their gazes after seeing the leader Leni and the people behind them-the saints, they can't afford it.

The funeral had officially begun, opening with a procession of merfolk emerging from the clear green waters of the lake, inches below the surface, their pale faces rippling and purple hair floating around them.The sound made the hairs on the back of everyone's necks stand on end, but it wasn't harsh.They speak plainly of grief and despair. They have lost Dumbledore, and now they have lost Hera. What have they to lose?

There are always very few people like them.It wasn't that they didn't have confidence in Principal McGonagall, but that the successive blows made them fall into despair.

Hagrid was walking slowly down the aisle between the seats, weeping silently, tears glistening on his face, and in his arms was the body of Hera, wrapped in purple velvet studded with gold stars—exactly the same as Dumbledore had been, because they both died equally at the hands of Voldemort and his henchmen, and they deserved the same.

For a moment, the strange music, and the corpse so close to them, seemed to take away all the warmth of the people present, their cheeks became wet, and the tears seemed to be falling down uncontrollably.

They either held handkerchiefs or wiped with the back of their hands, and tears always blurred everything in front of them.Hagrid placed the body carefully on the marble table.He was walking back down the aisle, pinching his nose and blowing a trumpet, but no one cared, they were all in mourning.

Hagrid's eyes were swollen and slit, and he was crying not only for Hera, but also for the Order of the Phoenix, and for the future of the wizarding world.Without Dumbledore, without Hera, who will be the next person to leave?
Hagrid couldn't figure it out, no one else could.Principal McGonagall is already old, and last year's accident made her body worse. It couldn't be worse. Everyone in the Order of the Phoenix understands that they can't let Professor McGonagall stand in front of the stage, which is undoubtedly letting her die—but right now, they have no better choice at all.

Professor McGonagall sat up from her seat, and there was a big wet stain on the handkerchief in her hand. Everyone knew the pain in her heart.She walked slowly to the marble table, glanced casually at Hera's body, but couldn't suppress the grief in her heart, and began to cry in front of everyone.

"You have a good relationship with her?" Leni bumped Hera with her shoulder and said in a low voice.

Hera had a cold face, but frowned slightly, and he said in a very complicated tone: "I think, in Hogwarts, she is the only person who really regards me as a junior and a relative. She is much better than Dumbledore."

"Worse than Dumbledore?" Leni asked suspiciously.

Hera nodded heavily, "That's right."

Professor McGonagall finally stopped crying. She raised her head, wiped her cheeks vigorously with a handkerchief, and then said: "Just a few days ago, we lost a very, very important person. In my heart, he is no less than Albus Dumbledore. Every day I was with him was so happy. From the time he returned to teach at Hogwarts, I knew he was destined to be extraordinary, but none of us expected it. I vaguely remember the first time we watched a Quidditch match together. After Dumbledore left the castle, he was the one who took the lead. He risked his life to fight the Death Eaters in the battle of the Ministry of Magic"

It made Scrimgeour's beard twitch, and he seemed annoyed that the Order of the Phoenix had broken into the Ministry of Magic that night, even though their actions proved to be entirely justified in hindsight.

"Perhaps he is not so perfect in the hearts of many people, but there is no doubt that he is one of the best graduates in the history of Hogwarts." Principal McGonagall continued to say, but not many people listened to it. These had little to do with the Hera they knew, and they were all immersed in their memories of Hera.

The sound of splashing water came from the left, and the mermaid fell asleep and listened carefully.

Professor McGonagall finally finished speaking. In the end, she almost broke down in tears, completely immersed in memories, and returned to her seat with the support of Professor Sprout.

Suddenly, several people screamed, and dazzling white flames shot out from Hera's body and around the table, and the flames jumped higher and higher, covering the body.White smoke curled up into the air, and finally turned into a huge python.Harry recognized it as the basilisk, hovering in the air and whining mournfully around Hera's body.But then it went straight into the sky, and the flames died out, and so did Hera's body, leaving only a white marble tomb in its place, enclosing Hera's body and the table on which it rested.

"He finally got his wish." Hera nodded lightly and said softly.

Leni also breathed a sigh of relief as if relieved, "Yes, we finally fulfilled his last wish. Fortunately, I was worried that Death Eaters would come to make trouble, so I brought so many people on purpose."

"The Dark Lord and the Death Eaters never cared about the dead," Hera said.He shook the black cloak he was wearing outside, "We can leave now."

"Just leave like this?" Leni was a little surprised, "You don't want to say hello to your former colleagues?"

"Hello?" Hera stared at Leni with the eyes of the mentally retarded, until she was a little hairy, "Let me tell them that Hera didn't die, and their tears flowed in vain?"

"Well, it seems so"

"I bet that Professor McGonagall will definitely turn me into a parrot and put it in her office to avoid any accidents." Hera said speechlessly. "Okay, let's get ready to leave."

Suddenly, countless arrows shot into the air like a shower, causing a few screams, but they fell far away from the crowd-it was the horse people mourning.

"You still know the horseman?"

"I tried to make a deal with them, but failed." Hera said very briefly. He didn't want to talk more carefully with Lani. He still had a lot of things to do. Coming to Hogwarts today was already an extremely risky thing.

Hera stood up first, followed by Leni, and then the saints behind them all stood up, and they walked towards the gate.

Scrimgeour narrowed his eyes and looked at their backs. Behind him, the gray-haired Dawlish approached his ear and said, "Mr. Minister, are we going to let them go like this? I saw at least a dozen guys on the wanted list."

"Bastard, Dawlish, do you want to attack his friends at Hera's funeral?" Scrimgeour slammed Dawlish on the head, "Look at how many people we brought today? Do you think you can fight against any of them?"

Dawlish kept his mouth shut. His combat effectiveness was indeed not strong. If he hadn't been loyal to Scrimgeour, he might have been transferred to another department long ago.

The moment Hera left the Hogwarts grounds, she used Apparition almost without thinking, and returned directly to the Rozier Mansion in Germany.

Faster Rost was sitting on the right side of the chief seat, and he was leaning on a cane. When Hera's figure reappeared in the center of the living room, he tremblingly stood up while supporting the cane.

"Mr. Hera, you are back."

"En." Hera nodded, and sat directly on the chief seat. After he took his seat, Fast sat down again with difficulty.Leni stood beside Hera.

"I will notify others to rush to the mansion as soon as possible, please wait a moment." Fast's old voice sounded.

Hera nodded slightly, and spit out a short word, "As soon as possible."

"Yes."

Two men suddenly appeared from the void, a few meters apart in a narrow moonlit alley.They stood motionless for a second, pointing their wands at each other's chests.Then, recognizing each other, they tucked their wands under their cloaks, and walked quickly in the same direction.

"Any news?" the taller man asked.

"It couldn't be better," Snape replied.

On the left side of the alley are low thorn bushes that grow randomly, and on the right side are tall hedges that are neatly built.The two strode forward, their long cloaks flapping at their ankles.

"I thought I was late." Yaxley said, the low-hanging branches above his head blocked Yuguang from time to time, and his dull facial features seemed to flicker. "I didn't expect you to actually do it. Tell me, how did you do all this? I don't believe that kid from the Malfoy family can do it."

Snape just replied coldly, "Draco did it. He fixed the Vanishing Cabinet and gave them a chance." He didn't go into details, and what he said was almost the entire official response in the newspaper.

Yaxley wanted to ask for more details, but Snape had already turned right, and he was out of the alley, so Yaxley had to hurry to keep up.They entered a wide driveway, blocked by two very imposing wrought-iron gates.None of them stopped, but silently raised their left arms in a salute, and walked straight through, as if the black wrought iron was nothing but disgust.

The yew hedge muffled the sound of their footsteps, and when there was a rustle from something to the right, Yaxley drew his wand again and held it above his head, only to discover that the sound was made by a white peacock, walking gracefully atop the hedge.

Yaxley snorted, tucked his wand back under his cloak, and said grumblingly, "This Lucius is always so fussy, Peacock"

(End of this chapter)