A ruined Hogwarts

In the messy office, the doors and windows are tightly closed. Thick curtains blocked out the starry night sky, and the air was so stuffy that it made people breathless.

"Lockhart" had just thrown the reply into the fireplace and watched the parchment disappear in the purple-black flames. Then he slowly sat back on his chair and unconsciously rubbed the badge of the Aether Society.

Tom's diary was spread out on the corner of the table, and the lines of beautiful handwriting on it were quickly disappearing.

There is a page next to the diary, which contains the contents of the newly deciphered letter:

"Lockhart, I have carefully considered the plan you proposed. Although it is simple and crude, it is indeed feasible. It seems that you are not too stupid.

"Then, I will go over the capture plan for Harry Potter here. Please be sure to keep your mission in mind."

"First of all, our actions must avoid Dumbledore. But we don't need to lure him away, that would be too deliberate. According to my investigation, Dumbledore has often been away from Hogwarts for more than a year. We just Need to wait for the opportunity.

"Lockhart, you control this timing. You need to keep an eye on Dumbledore's movements in the past few days and send us a message after confirming that he is not in Hogwarts. The best time to take action is within this week, the earlier the better. Well, to avoid accidents.

"We will always be on alert. We will set off immediately after receiving your letter and sneak into the Forbidden Forest of Hogwarts through a secret passage in Hogsmeade Village. We will wait for you near the secret passage. The specific location will be Tell us on the day of the operation to avoid being ambushed due to accidental leakage of information - It's not that I don't trust you, I never trust anyone easily.

"Your mission is to bring Harry Potter to meet us as soon as possible. Remember, it can only be the two of you! I don't want you to reveal your mission to a third person again, no matter who it is! But I hope you haven't forgotten the mess you made last time. I don't think you'll make the same mistake twice.

"Also, try to deceive Potter instead of forcing him to come, so as not to be discovered by Dumbledore in advance. We must ensure that he discovers it as late as possible.

"I hope that as you said in yesterday's letter, you can easily do this and are not just talking big words.

"After a successful rendezvous, we will knock Harry Potter unconscious and put him in the box, take him out of Hogwarts through the secret passage as quickly as possible, and rush directly to the headquarters of the society. As long as we return in time Dumbledore would never be able to find the headquarters, even if he cast a tracking spell on Potter.

"Tref volunteered to join this mission, which means that three people, including myself, Benny and Tref, will be responsible for blocking or distracting possible pursuers - I don't think Harry Potter has anyone other than Dumbledore on his side. There is no other guardian besides Lido.

"The above is the specific content of the plan. Lockhart, your mission is very important. I don't want to see you slip up at a critical moment. Otherwise, I will seriously consider whether it is the right decision for you to continue to stay in the Aether Society.

"Lilith."

Under the lines of writing, he jotted down the content of the reply he just sent: "No problem, just leave it to me - Lockhart."

At this time, a line of writing slowly appeared on the yellowed blank page of the diary: Summon the Dark Lord and tell him the plan.

Lockhart glanced at this line of text and his shoulders trembled. He raised his hand and closed the diary, murmured something under his breath, and then uttered the spell to summon the Dark Lord.

After a while, an inexplicable dark atmosphere poured into the room, and a cold and erratic voice suddenly sounded.

"Wormtail, is there any progress?"

"Yes, Master! Lilith has sent the final plan!" Peter Pettigrew said sharply, reading the contents of the letter quickly.

"Three people are responding..." The voices coming from all directions were filled with deep displeasure.

Peter Pettigrew was keenly aware of this and hurriedly explained: "Master, I have been replying according to the requirements in the diary, but Lilith still added one more person..."

"Humph, she is a very cautious person, and this approach does not surprise me." Voldemort sneered coldly, and then said in deep thought: "But it's not that we don't have the initiative, at least we have the opportunity to take action... "

He thought for a while, then lowered his voice and whispered: "Wormtail, can I entrust you with an important task?"

"Of course, of course, Master! I will go through fire and water for you..." Peter Pettigrew said nervously, wringing his fingers and looking around.

"I will disguise myself as Harry Potter and go with you to meet those three people..." Voldemort said with a hint of hesitation in his voice, "You need to sneak up and stun Benny Smith by surprise. At the same time, I will also Lilith takes action. If everything goes well, we will only have one person left to fight head-on."

He and Wormtail had three people to deal with. Wormtail often messes up things and is not necessarily reliable, and he is far from his prime. As for their opponent, Lilith is a very vigilant person and may not be able to successfully attack. The other two people still don't know the reality, but as members of the Aether Society, they cannot be useless.

Faced with this two-on-three situation, if any link goes wrong, he may have to deal with the siege of multiple people, which will consume a lot of life force, and may even capsize in the gutter. Even if they win in the end, things will become very troublesome once one or two escape and they go back to warn others in the Aether Society.

Voldemort said softly: "Wormtail, I just need you to knock Smith out and ensure that he survives in the next battle. We still need him, we just need him..."

His tone suddenly became stern: "Wormtail, can you do it?"

"I...I will try my best, Master!" Peter Pettigrew screamed. But whether it was the guilty tone in his tone or the timid look on his face, it was difficult for people to trust him.

Voldemort obviously couldn't believe it even more. He was silent for a moment, resisting the urge to kill Wormtail right then and there. There was a permeating low pressure in the air.

As he was thinking of a more feasible plan, Harry Potter's face suddenly flashed in his mind. Ever since the hasty conversation that day, there has been nothing more, but if we could really control the boy, things might be much simpler.

After thinking for a while, he said coldly: "I need to think about it again..."

"How was the contact with Owen Shafiq?" he asked instead.

Peter Pettigrew was stunned for a moment, and then he remembered the instructions he had received when he and Owen exchanged identities again three days ago. He frowned and recalled carefully, then recited the answer with some stumble:

"According to the master's wishes, I communicated with him. Shafiq promised to provide financial support to the Ether Society in exchange for me taking him to join the Ether Society and protecting his personal safety in the next period of time."

"I promised to protect him and told him that the Aether Society has always attached great importance to the protection of its members. He seemed very happy at the time and seemed to be a lot more relaxed. He also told me that he knew the secret of the Dark Lord..." Peter Pettigrew paused, his voice Getting lower and lower, "He said that as long as the Aether Society can protect his safety, he will tell us this secret..."

"He will soon feel the taste of being played and deceived." Voldemort didn't pay attention to Wormtail's stuttering story. He sneered, with hatred and hatred in his tone, as well as deep disdain and teasing. This news alone made him feel slightly satisfied.

"By the way, I will come and take away my diary. You no longer need to use it to learn to communicate with the Aether." Knowing that Wormtail was unreliable, he did not trust putting his Horcrux in his hand. It took too long, after all, his diary was very weak. Now that the Aether Society's plans have been confirmed, it's time to get it back.

Peter Pettigrew secretly glanced at the diary placed on the corner of the table and said obediently: "Yes, Master."

When the gloomy atmosphere around him dissipated, he took two anxious steps back and forth in the office, and then picked up the badge of the Aether Society.

Although Peter Pettigrew, who was controlled by the Imperius Curse, was still afraid of the Dark Lord's power, he was absolutely loyal to his controller. He always kept Owen's orders in mind: keep the diary well and don't have too much contact or communication with it. Only in emergencies can he contact his real owner through the badge...

The Dark Lord is coming to take away the diary, and now there is an emergency! Peter Pettigrew pressed hard on the badge in his hand without thinking. He had to tell Owen the news before the Dark Lord arrived.

The old diary that he had ignored lay quietly on the table, its black cover looking even darker under the firelight. (End of chapter)