Hogwarts Advanced Guide

Chapter 479 The Crown - Destroyed by Crabbe

Ron jumped and avoided the green light directly.Hermione rushed forward, hitting Goyle with the Stunning Charm as she ran.Draco, wandless, hid behind a triangular-legged wardrobe.

"Here it is!" Harry called to Hermione, pointing to the pile of rubbish the diadem had fallen into. "Find him out and I'll help Lo—"

"Harry!" Hermione yelled.

There was a rolling, rushing sound behind Harry, and for a moment he had a premonition of something ominous.He turned to see Ron and Crabbe running lifelessly down the passage.

"Like hot stuff, huh?" Crabbe yelled as he ran, but he was also dodging the flames in his hands, and in fact he didn't look like he could control what he was doing, the raging flames chasing after them, consuming the edge of the trash wall.

Wherever the flames go, there is ashes.

"Clear water like a dog!" Harry shouted, but it was useless, the water column was evaporated almost instantly.

"Run!" Draco grabbed the stunned Goyle and dragged him away. Crabbe, who looked panicked, ran ahead.Harry, Ron, and Hermione galloped after him, with Fire on their heels.

This is no ordinary fire, this is Fiendish, a Fiendish enough to burn everything.A fire that will never be extinguished without burning everything clean.

Not only that, but the flame seemed to be alive, as if determined to burn them to death.Then the flames began to transfigure, and became a multitude of wild beasts of fire: serpents, chimeras, and dragons, who soared, fell, soared up again, and the rags of so many worlds were thrown into the air by them, fell into their tusks, fell on their clawed feet, and were consumed in hellish fire.

"What?" Hermione screamed amidst the deafening roar of the flames. "What?"

"Give!"

Harry grabbed two heavy-looking brooms from the nearest rubbish heap and tossed a handful to Ron.Ron pulled Hermione to sit behind him, and Harry mounted the second broom, kicked the ground hard a few times, and flew into the air, only a few feet away from the sharp beak of a giant fire-breathing bird that opened its mouth to bite them.

Thick smoke and heat waves are suffocating, and below them, the evil fire devours the illegal items of many generations of traced students, devours the sinful fruits of thousands of forbidden experiments, and devours countless people hiding in this room secret.

Harry couldn't see Malfoy, Crabbe, or Goyle anywhere.He flew as low as he could above the ravenous and vicious fire-beasts, looking for them, but saw nothing but fire.This kind of death is too tragic... He never wants to...

If possible, Harry hoped that he could save them—if it was Draco or someone else, there was a high probability that they would not care about Goyle and Crabbe in it. After all, they were followers of Voldemort and already evil wizards—after all, being able to release the Death Curse proved that they were serious about everything.

"Harry, let's get out, let's get out!" Ron roared, but in the black smoke it was impossible to see where the door was.

Just then, amidst the roar of the engulfing flames, Harry heard the faint scream of a man.

Harry hovered in the air, filled with smoke, his glasses protecting his eyes, allowing him to continue searching through the choking smoke.

He skimmed the raging flames below, looking for signs of life, an arm that might not have been charred, a face
He saw it!

Draco had his arms around the unconscious Goyle, on top of a crumbling tower of charred tables.Harry swooped down immediately, and Draco raised an arm quickly when he saw him coming.

But as soon as Harry got started, he knew it was useless: Goyle was too heavy, Draco's hand was sweaty, and it slipped out of Harry's hand in an instant——

"If we're dragged to our death by them, I'll kill you, Harry!" roared Ron's voice.Nevertheless, he and Hermione cooperatively dragged Goyle onto his broom, and spun and heaved into the air again.

And all around them, the last things not consumed by the flames were jubilantly tossed into the air by the vile monster of fire: a cup, a shield, a shining necklace, and an old faded crown—

Meanwhile, Draco crawled up behind Harry.

It's extremely risky, and Draco could kill Harry right now if he wanted to - like stealing the wand from Harry's pocket -

But he didn't, because Harry made a sharp turn and dived.

"What are you doing, what are you doing? The door is over there!" Draco screamed.

The glittering diadem appears to be landing in slow motion, flipping, and slowly falling into the mouth of a huge snake that is opening its jaws.

Harry got it!
He succeeds, wrapping his wrist around it!

Harry turned and flew into the air, heading for the door.Draco screamed as he clutched Harry so hard it hurt.Then, through the smoke, Harry saw a rectangle on the wall, and aimed his broom at it.

Moments later, fresh air was filling his lungs, and they hit the wall of the hallway outside.

Draco fell off the broom and lay face down on the ground, panting, coughing, and retching.

Harry rolled over and sat up.The door to the Room of Requirement disappeared, and Ron and Hermione sat on the floor panting next to Goyle, who was still delirious.

"K-Crabbe," Draco choked out as soon as he could speak, "K-Crabbe..."

"He's dead," said Ron curtly.

Silence, only gasping and coughing.Then a series of loud bangs made the whole castle tremble. A mighty team of transparent figures galloped past on horseback, their heads tucked under their arms, still shouting murderously.After the Headless Hunters passed by, Harry stood up unsteadily and looked around: the war has begun!

In addition to the retreating ghosts just now, he heard more people shouting.His heart was full of panic.

"No," said Hermione, standing up too.Draco and Goyle were still slumped on the hallway floor, both wandless. "Let's not part. Let's go—Harry, what's that on your arm?"

"What? Oh, yes—"

He took the diadem from his wrist and held it up in his hand.The crown was still hot and covered with black soot, but when he looked carefully, he could barely make out the tiny words engraved on it: Extraordinary intelligence is the greatest treasure of mankind.

A blood-like, black and viscous thing seemed to be oozing from the crown.Suddenly, Harry felt the diadem vibrate violently, and then shattered into pieces in his hands.As it splintered, Harry heard faint, distant cries of pain, not from the castle or the playground, but from the newly shattered thing between his fingers.

"It must be Fiendfire!" Hermione cried, staring at the shards.

"What did you say?"

"Fiendfyre—bad fire—one of the substances that can destroy Horcruxes, but I've never had the guts to use it in my life, it's too dangerous. How did Crabbe know—?"

"Must have learned it from the Carrows," said Harry grimly.

"It's a pity he didn't pay attention to how to put the fire out," said Ron, his hair scorched like Hermione's and his face darkened. "I'd be sorry he died too if he didn't want to kill us too."

"But did it ever occur to you—" Hermione whispered, "that is, if we could get that snake—"

Yes, after a month, they have come to the conclusion that Nagini is definitely one of Voldemort's Horcruxes, otherwise how could a snake communicate with Voldemort at a distance?
Among other things, Harry had heard how Voldemort told Nagini the mission, which was suspicious enough.

But before Hermione could finish her sentence, she was interrupted, because the screams, shouts, and fighting sounded throughout the corridor, and Harry looked around, his heart sinking: the Death Eaters had already invaded Hogwarts.

On the other side, Hera was confronting Voldemort. They stood in the open space in front of the castle. The atmosphere between the two of them was not as tense as in the castle.

It's just that the professors and the Death Eaters who have been awarded the Dark Mark are separated.

"Hera, I have to admit that your plan was brilliant, and I was almost tricked by you." Voldemort's fingers lightly ran across his wand of yew wood and phoenix tail feathers. "But you will know the consequences of lying to Voldemort."

"Tom, I don't think you can be called Voldemort now, after all, you have lost the surname Gaunt." Hera smiled lightly, and easily said enough to make Voldemort collapse, "Let me think about it, Tom Riddle, who also lost Marvolo's middle name, what should I call you?"

"You're incapable of doing that," said Voldemort coldly, his eyes gleaming red, and no one would have suspected that he would strike suddenly the next moment.

"No, I have, because I'm Salazar Slytherin," said Hera. "You've known, you've always known, haven't you?"

"I took you out of the old house, but you are not Slytherin." Voldemort grinned grimly. "You are just a defective product of an experiment, just a by-product. Slytherin didn't intend to make you."

The Death Eaters and professors next to him widened their eyes. They didn't expect such explosive news.

Among them, Professor McGonagall and Professor Flitwick were the most shocked. They were good friends of Hera. Now that they had just learned that Hera hadn't really died, they were ecstatic, but then Voldemort's words made them fall to the bottom again.

"It doesn't matter what you said," Hera said faintly, "You should feel it. Since the beginning of August, the imprint of Slytherin on you has been fading, and your name has also disappeared from the genealogy."

"You!" Voldemort was furious, and the fake smile on his face could no longer be maintained.

"Time to get serious, Tom."

"Don't call me that name again!" Voldemort roared, "Avada ate a big melon!"

Hera dodged to dodge the green spell, "Damn out!"

Voldemort just waved his wand gently, without even making a sound, to block Hera's curse, and then another death curse: "Avada ate a big melon!"

"You're still thinking of using these childish spells on me, Mightiest Wizard," growled Voldemort, feeling insulted.

Hera shook her head, "Of course not, but I think you must be much more anxious than me right now, I just need to hold you back."

"You - I have contacts in the castle, and they will help me kill Potter," Voldemort's harsh voice called, accompanied by a sharp laugh as a spatula rubbed against an iron pan.

"Really, then let's see who will succeed first." Hera smiled lightly, and several more spells flew out.

The two cursed for about 10 minutes, but they were surprised to find that they couldn't handle each other.

"Damn it, if you have the Elder Wand." Voldemort stared at the elder wand in Hera's hand with lowered eyelids, with a cruel smile on the corner of his mouth, "then who else can stop the great Lord Voldemort?"

"There are many people, Tom, maybe they can't kill you, but they will stop you with their lives." Hera said loudly.

"Yes, that's right!" Professor McGonagall replied.

"We will all defend justice with our lives." It was Professor Flitwick's voice.

Professor Sprout also shouted, "There is nothing more worthy of protection than Hogwarts."

"Then I'll kill them all," said Voldemort cruelly, waving his wand across everyone who tried to stop him.

At this moment, Hera's figure began to twitch, and the effect of the compound decoction began to decline.

"Aha, let you see that Salazar Slytherin, whom you have always trusted, is actually just a poor fellow!" Voldemort yelled loudly like a speech, and at the same time stopped the spell in his hand.

He intended for all to see this, to let them know that Salazar Slytherin was nothing more than a coward on Polyjuice Potion!
"Hera, why did you refuse to show your true colors at first? Was it because you were worried that everyone would find out that you were actually Hera Lestrange? Or was it because you were afraid that people would find out that you were careful—"

Hera interrupted him, "I'm not you, Tom, I don't have so many sinister plans, I just want to win, to—"

"For the greater good? That really sounds like the words of those two old fellows in the grave."

Hera was silent.

"Let's play a game. Since you all pin your hopes on Harry Potter, why not let's play a game." Voldemort cracked an exaggerated smile, which made Hera have a bad feeling.

"An hour to see whether your Harry finds that thing first, or my men catch him first."

(End of this chapter)