cycle

"It's going to rain." When we reached the auditorium, which was already packed with students, Fred looked up at the enchanted ceiling above the auditorium with great interest.The dots of starlight belonging to midsummer are being gradually engulfed by the dark clouds that have deposited down, and the shadows rolled up by the clouds are thicker than the night.George grinned and nodded, echoing his brother's opinion: "That looks really fitting."

Not all of them—or most of them were not in the same good mood as the Weasley twins. The four long tables in the auditorium were filled with disheveled and disheveled students, some of whom were sleepy and didn't know What happened, some curled up in their dressing gowns and looked around, and some were busy sharing their baggy traveling cloaks with friends who didn't have time to put on their coats.The presence of members of the Order of the Phoenix (although I'd prefer it to be just my dad) caused a commotion, a buzz of discussion among the crowd, and occasional screams of surprise or horror.Professor McGonagall has already stood on the high podium in front of the auditorium. When she saw my father, she paused with her majestic eyes scanning the entire auditorium, and made a questioning gesture to him pointing to the podium. My father shook his head expressionlessly to express his refusal. He raised his hand to signal her to continue.

"...That's the current situation. The evacuation is under the supervision of Mr. Filch and Ms. Pomfrey." After McGonagall began to speak, the auditorium became silent, and her loud and clear voice echoed from the walls on all sides. Some of the students had stunned expressions, and the prefects walked through the crowd trying to appease the younger students who started to cry because of fear.Harry and I looked eagerly at Neville and the others while listening to Professor McGonagall's speech, but we still didn't see them until McGonagall finished speaking and someone started asking what to do with the luggage that was too late to pack.

"What if we want to stay and fight?" Ernie MacMillan called out, standing up from the Hufflepuff table, to the cheers of many Gryffindors and Hufflepuffs.

"Only adult students can stay." Professor McGonagall replied, "If you volunteer to stay and defend Hogwarts, Hogwarts has no reason to refuse."

"I don't feel very good, what if they are in trouble?" I whispered to Harry, although I felt that Neville and the others would not have the leisure to sit in the auditorium and cheer with the students, the two of us went along Walking around the long table of Gryffindor, if eyes can burn people, I and his back must not find a piece of intact skin at this moment-even though many people's gazes are pure and well-meaning curiosity .

"I ask you to act quickly and calmly, and obey the prefect's Ann—" Professor McGonagall emphasized sternly for the last time before the evacuation, and all the prefects had already stood by the long table for orders.

Suddenly, another voice filled the Great Hall, drowning out the rest of her voice.The sudden terrified screams didn't affect the high-pitched, cold and clear voice, which seemed to pass through all mediums and penetrate directly into the ears. I almost immediately grabbed Harry's wrist and tried to escape. The fear that this voice brings to me.

"I know you are prepared to resist." Voldemort did not know where he was, but he was speaking slowly to the entire Great Hall, with a politeness that exuded a strong air of hypocrisy, "This is not what I want to see , you are young wizards, you are precious blood, you should receive the best protection and education, your efforts are useless, and bloodshed is just in vain—”

"Alice!" Harry tugged at my sleeve suddenly, I stared wide-eyed at the muddy Neville, Hermione and Ron appearing at the door of the Great Hall, and Hermione hugged an equally dirty Xi's package.Fortunately, most of the people in the auditorium seemed to be nailed to their chairs by Voldemort's voice, and they couldn't move with fear on their faces. The three of them were able to walk to us by sticking to the wall without attracting too many people's attention.

"It's done." Hermione briefly explained the result to us, and then began to listen to Voldemort's next words with a worried face.

"I have to remind you, who is the person who put you in danger? Is it Lord Voldemort? Of course not. I have great respect for the teachers at Hogwarts, and I am grateful to Hogwarts. In the past Even though I had to clash with some misguided wizards in order to advance my ideals (Harry laughed mockingly), please remember that I never set foot in Hogwarts. "

"Because you don't need to come in person at all." A low-pitched gnashing of teeth came from the Gryffindor long table, and the voice was unknown.

"It is Albus Dumbledore and his pathetic brainwashed minions who have caused all this pain and loss. I can only express regret that he tried to destroy my great cause even while lying in his coffin." In the Great Hall Except for Voldemort's bewitching voice, there is only silence. This kind of silence oppresses people's hearts and eardrums like an entity, and there is even an illusion that the windows are about to burst because they can't bear it.

"I only need three people, Neville Longbottom, Harry Potter and Alice Snape." Voldemort said at the end, "As long as the three of them are brought before me, everyone here No harm will be done, the whole school will be safe, and you will all be rewarded generously by Lord Voldemort - but my patience is limited."

"Don't make me wait too long."

The dead silence once again engulfed the entire auditorium, but this time it didn't last long. Fred Weasley, who was leaning against the wall, suddenly yelled at the ceiling: "Go eat shit!"

His voice hummed in my ears, and then I gradually realized that the hum was real, and people began to talk softly again, and with the Weasley twins whistling, the hum gradually mixed There were some dry laughs trying to dispel the fear, until another rude and swear word was uttered by someone who didn't know, and there was a burst of happy laughter at the long table of Gryffindor.

"I saw them! All three of them were there!" Just as the Gryffindors and Hufflepuff began to shout swear words that they never dared to say at home before, the long table of Slytherin Suddenly there was a scream, and a girl with a ponytail pointed in our direction and shouted excitedly, "Catch them all!"

The sound of chairs rubbing against the ground was heard one after another, and I immediately took out my wand and began to be pulled back continuously. I thought it was Hermione, but it turned out that it was a boy who was not as tall as me—not only him, but also the person in front of us. The Ryffindors and Hufflepuffs all stood up, pulling those standing beside us, Harry, Neville and me, behind them, while Ravenclaw, who was far away from us, faced Slytherin Standing like a human wall, wands were drawn from all directions, some from under the cloak, some from the inside of the sleeve.

"Don't be afraid, we will protect you, Miss Snape!" The junior boy's voice hadn't completely changed from a boy to a teenager, and there was a funny ending at the end of the sentence. He tried to stand on tiptoe in front of me. See clearly the red, red acne pimple on his forehead.

"Ah, she has me, don't worry." Harry, who was squeezed into the corner by a group of enthusiastic Gryffindors for protection, moved to my side with difficulty, "You are not old enough, evacuating as soon as possible is the best help for us— —”

Fireworks of four colors suddenly exploded over the crowd, and then quickly dispersed to become four-color arrows suspended in the air.Dad didn't know when he stood beside Professor McGonagall, scanning the crowd with a gloomy face, until all the students saw him again, then closed their mouths again and pointed their wand at Slytherin on the other side of the auditorium: "Slytherin and Fair Qi and follow the signs along the road and leave the auditorium first, hurry up."

"Ravenclaw, follow!" Professor McGonagall yelled after all the Slytherins had left, "follow the colors of your house and don't get crowded!"

Pansy Parkinson stayed at the long empty Slytherin table, as if in a daze, until the Ravenclaw junior students filed out and she suddenly woke up, looking at the same surprised face in panic eyeing her Hufflepuff pupil.

"She won't stay and want to report to people outside the school, right?" Ron said suspiciously, "The possibility of her wanting to stay and help is lower than that of Merlin resurrecting tonight and beating up the mysterious man."

"Not one more." Neville shrugged, and Luna, who stayed behind, was waving happily at him.

"It looks like she just missed it because she was in a daze." Hermione has always hated Pansy Parkinson, she didn't even bother to turn around to look at that face, shaking her head while helping the other two boys clean up the sticky mud piece.

"Maybe she doesn't know the Malfoys have been kicked out yet," I said, watching Parkinson hurried off at the end of the Hufflepuff line. "Hermione, what are you holding?"

"Oh!" Hermione pulled me down from the podium to avoid the aggressiveness and drove away the low-grade Gryffindor Professor McGonagall. The five of us walked to the gate and watched McGonagall talk to those who were not old enough and wanted to stay and fight. The students yelled, "We were all planning to leave, but Neville suddenly thought that after getting the crown, we need something to destroy it, so we can't go to the Chamber of Secrets again!"

"I don't ever want to go again in my life." Ron rolled his eyes. "Huge, rotting snake carcass... gh—"

"So we took a little longer and went back and broke off a few basilisk teeth." Neville pointed to the package in Hermione's arms.

"We thought you were in trouble." I rejoiced that I had a weapon to destroy Horcruxes. Professor McGonagall was personally supervising the departure of Gryffindor underage students. As long as they all evacuated to the Pig's Head Bar, we would Being able to find the crown in that junk maze, everything seems to be going according to plan.

"Alice has been worried." Harry was visibly relieved, "I kept convincing her to trust you—but it did take me longer than I thought."

The remaining senior students were lining up to receive tasks from their deans. There was no one in front of Dad and Slughorn, and Slughorn kept taking out a handkerchief from his pocket to wipe his sweat.McGonagall left with the lower grade students, and the senior Gryffindor fell into a daze. After a long hesitation, a student walked up to Slughorn, and then one after another, the long line of Hufflepuff, People from both Ravenclaw and Gryffindor started walking towards him.

The cold sound of chains rubbing against each other could be heard from all around, and the heavy locks fell, bringing up a cloud of smoke. Dad stood in the center and raised his wand to watch everything around him, like a motionless black statue.

"Do what you have to do, don't waste your time," he said simply, without even looking at me, as I pushed my way in front of him.

"Protect yourself, my boy!" Slughorn shouted at me on tiptoe, and when he pressed his hand as fat as a sea cucumber on his chest, I thought I was surrounded by students from various academies and needed to take care of him. It must have been a familiar and unfamiliar experience, "Don't be hurt like your mother—I'm old enough to have had too much heartache—"

"Okay." I replied loudly.I am ashamed to say that I have always enjoyed the special love of this old man since the first time I saw Slughorn, but because I dislike some of his vanity, I have never really loved him, nor have I ever loved him because of this. Feel guilty.And at that moment when I turned around and waved and smiled at him, I thought that if I survived, I would make myself one of his proudest collectibles for the rest of his life.

We followed the procession led by Professor McGonagall out of the Great Hall, keeping a little distance from them so that the students could not hear our conversation.

"Ah, we actually took a detour just now." For some reason, Hermione blushed suddenly when she said this, and Ron coughed and looked at the empty oil painting frame.

Harry didn't notice the abnormality of these two people, so he was busy asking them what they were doing. I tilted my head to look at the expression on Neville's face, who was also a little uncomfortable.

"Oh, we just passed by that huge pear." Ron said in the same tone of voice he had when he was with Lavender, and kept rubbing the bright red freckles on his face with his hands, " Then I thought about house-elves, they don't know anything, do they? They need someone to tell them what's going on, they have the same choice as wizards, stay or fight."

A loud bang came from outside, and we drew out our wands in shock to look around, and the lightning that followed immediately turned the night sky near midnight into day.

"It's not a bad thing, is it?" We looked at each other's pale faces illuminated by lightning, and Neville said, "With such a loud thunder, the Death Eaters patrolling Hogsmeade village would not pay attention to the noise in the Hog's Head pub." movement."

"Yeah." I echoed absent-mindedly, no matter what time it is, thunderstorms are not pleasant weather.

"Your face is so red." I looked at Hermione's face that seemed to be dripping blood. The last time I saw her expression like this was probably describing Viktor Krum inviting her to the Christmas ball, "It happened What's the matter?"

"No, there's nothing - well, they're in the Room of Requirement!" Hermione smoothed her long hair, tied it in a conjured scrunchie, and gave me one back.I hesitated for a moment, and pulled my hair back according to her appearance, revealing the scar on my face.

"What are you still doing here?" McGonagall looked suspiciously at Crabbe and Goyle who suddenly appeared in the crowd, "Shouldn't you be the first to leave?"

"We found Pansy missing," Goyle said slowly, "and came back to find her."

"Where did Draco go?" It turned out that Pansy Parkinson hadn't gone either, and her voice sounded shrill with excitement, "You killed him—"

"Miss Parkinson, we didn't kill our student's interest, of course we wouldn't know about it." McGonagall's voice was also very sharp because of annoyance, "If you must know, he ran away, and his father Let's go find their master together."

"No!" Strangely, Pansy screamed when she heard this, and she looked around distortedly, waving her fingers in the air, and finally pointed at me.

"You'll regret it!" she roared with a look of horror. "You'll all—all of you!"

"Two of you, take her away." Mag waved impatiently, watching the backs of the three people disappear at the end of the passage, and said in a warning tone, "If you choose to cause trouble here, I guarantee that all of you will regret."

Voldemort didn't leave us much time. The last batch of Gryffindor students had just been driven into the passageway leading to the Hog's Head Bar from the Room of Requirement by McGonagall, and the castle was shaking dangerously with another loud noise. Get up, and this time there is no lightning splitting the dark night sky - they are already on the attack.

"They are coming, but the noise just now seems to be caused by Hagrid and his giant brothers." After we all held on to the railing, Harry looked downstairs, "Okay, Professor McGonagall is out—let's hurry up go in."

"We will buy you as much time as possible." Mag, who passed by us, has already drawn out her wand, and countless lights that have never been seen before are rushing out of the tip of her wand, enveloping us. Running away with an unknown force, "Go, children."

I closed my eyes and started pacing in front of the Room of Requirement.

I need that hiding place... what do I regret?Was she talking to me just now?She looked like a lunatic though... Never mind what the lunatic said.

I heard screams...someone was hurt already - no, focus, I need that hiding place.

It's loud, something has collapsed, it doesn't sound far away - no, that's not something to think about right now, I need that place to hide things.

"Let's go." I looked at the small door that looked like a broom cabinet, and felt my voice trembling.

"The crown is flying!" Hermione yelled impatiently just after entering the city-like garbage maze, but nothing responded to her.

"That level of protection against Voldemort would certainly do well," said Harry, "and the chalice at Gringotts will not respond to Summoning Charms."

"Do you remember exactly where it was hidden?" Neville asked, turning to me.

"I put it on the head of a wizard bust with a dirty old wig on it," I replied, "but I accidentally knocked them off as I was leaving— —”

"Okay, then we'll search separately, and if we find anything suspicious, we'll fire red fireworks." Neville said, we nodded and dispersed towards several forks.

We walked among the towering garbage dumps, and we could hear the footsteps of our companions not far away, but if we had to meet each other and walk around for a long time, we would choke on the flying dust in our throats when we talked at the top of our throats.I walked forward while trying to dig out my memory, but I ran away in a panic because I knocked over something, and the specific route seemed very vague...

How did I leave then?Thinking of this, I was refreshed, and my mind suddenly became much clearer—reversing my thinking, I put the crown on the bust of the wizard and left the room without taking too long, then——

I turned around and ran, turned into another fork in the road, the surrounding scene became more and more familiar, suddenly I felt the vibration of the soul - it was there, the dark, rusty crown, lying quietly in the dust On the statue, it looks very funny.

"Stop, stop there." I had already stretched out my hand, but a voice that didn't belong to my companion came from behind me.

Without thinking, I immediately squatted down and rolled over to a triangular cabinet next to it, and fired a binding spell at the source of the sound. At the same time, a red light flew past the side of the cabinet, and then there was a burst of debris collapsing. sound.

"If I were you, give up struggling, there are two of us here." I couldn't help rolling my eyes after hearing that the silly voice belonged to Gore, and fired the agreed red fireworks.

"Is that what your dear Death Eater teachers taught you? Fighting is based on counting heads?" I answered crisply while glancing at the bust above my head out of the corner of my eye, where the diadem was still intact.I'm sure I can subdue them both at the same time, but I'm not at all sure how much damage will be done, whether the crown will disappear into the jumble of rubbish.

I had already heard other footsteps approaching this direction, so I delayed asking, "Didn't you take Parkinson away? Draco Malfoy also escaped, what are you doing back?"

"We've stopped working with that guy Draco. He's been looked down upon by anyone since he got the Dark Lord's favor." Crabbe whispered, with a tinge of anger in his voice, "But now he's going to regret it , as long as we capture the three of you, we will be rewarded with the supremacy of the Dark Lord, and the era of belonging to the Malfoy family should have passed by long ago."

"Alice?" I heard Hermione and Harry calling me urgently, "Where are you?"

"But how do you guys know how to get in?" I hold my breath, judging the distance between the voice and me, and if anyone catches Crabbe and Goyle's attention briefly, I'll stand up and take the crown.

"Draco ordered us to stand guard for him for a school year." Goyle answered my question seriously, stupidly, "We'll see how he gets in, and then learn it, just walk back and forth and read the password."

"What are you talking about so much about her? Think she's someone we need to be careful with?" Crabbe said gruffly. "I told you, we don't need to listen to anyone anymore! Now we just do What you want to do!"

"Oh, oh, that's right, I forgot." In Goyle's dull voice, I heard Harry's inquiry: "Alice, who are you talking to?"

This is the time!I just stood up, but I didn't expect Crabbe to yell in the direction Harry came from: "Fall!"

Immediately the fifty-foot wall of rubbish shook, and countless shabby furniture, torn robes, boxes, textbooks, and miscellaneous things began to collapse, along with the statue of the wizard and the crown right at my fingertips, all submerged into it. Into the sudden dust.

"Curse stop!" I screamed, wanting to just cast Crabbe with the most vicious spell imaginable at the moment.Harry was calling me persistently from the other side, and Hermione sounded joined Ron, their voices coming from the other direction.

"Alice?" Neville suddenly appeared from a side fork. I was desperately searching for the crown in the garbage dump, and I had to throw a heavy table to block Crabbe's Cruciatus. Bone curse.Fortunately, they realized almost immediately that someone else was in the house, and stopped loudly revealing their positions.

"I see Longbottom! And that Mudblood—Avada Kedavra!" Crabbe yelled, and I protected myself from the collapsing pile of debris, realizing that if they weren't dealt with they would be wasting more Too much time - and they dared to use the killing curse on Hermione, I felt a surge of anger rising and falling in my heart, like seeing Talus's gradually lifeless eyes in the smoke-filled void.

But at this moment, my fingertips knocked over something cold and metallic, and I could rub its delicate patterns.

"I found it!" I yelled, momentarily forgetting to cover my position. "Don't waste time with them! Let's get out of here first!"

"Want to leave? It's not that easy!" Just as I gave up my cover and started to blow up the garbage wall on a large scale to join Harry and the others, a scorching heat wave suddenly came from behind me.

"They used Fiendfire!" cried Harry. "I know the spell—Alice! Where are you? Clear water—"

"This won't work!" Hermione's voice was shaking. "Ron, Neville? Where are you?"

"You go away first!" I don't think it's far from the door of the Room of Requirement, and Crabbe obviously couldn't control the evil flames he summoned just like me a year ago, and they were the first to ignite after leaping from the tip of his staff The heap of rubbish closest to him and Goyle was reduced to ashes wherever the flames touched, and then the jumping flames gathered in silhouettes of a great herd of beasts—salamanders, chimeras, and charmanders.And Crabbe and Goyle remained motionless as if stupefied by the sight in front of them. The flames were hissing towards them, transforming into a mouth full of fangs, which engulfed Crabbe in an instant. .

"Help me!" Goyle suddenly yelled at me as he rolled and barely avoided the attack, waving his arms awkwardly, "I—I was pulled here by him! I didn't think about it, Miss Snape -"

I felt like my skin was screaming from dehydration and burning, and I could only back away from the flames trying to remember how my dad conjured up a water prison to trap Fiercefire in it - but the one I summoned Fiendfire hasn't had time to conjure such a living entity yet, and I don't know the exact spell.

"Help me!" Goyle's voice sounded as desperate as a wild beast, and was quickly drowned out by the roar of the flames.

Right now it's not a question of saving him or not, the surroundings are already engulfed in flames, if I just run and hide like this, it's only a matter of time before I'm engulfed by Fiendfire.I thought as I dodged the rubbish collapse, I put the crown on my wrist so I could take it with me if I could escape, and if I got burned...it would be destroyed by Fiendfire too Lose.

"Alice!" There was a roar in the air, and I was grabbed by the waist and lifted into the air-then found myself sitting on a broomstick, and Harry took me up quickly, avoiding a Greedy and vicious fire beast.

"I found the Horcrux!" I said loudly to him while coughing, "Did Hermione leave?"

"Here we are!" Hermione waved to me from the back of Ron's broom, and Neville frowned on the third broom.

"But Goyle seems to be alive." I hesitated. "He begged me to save him, but I couldn't—"

"I see it, it's there!" Neville gripped his broom handle tightly and pointed to a crumbling tower. Goyle was climbing there like an orangutan, hugging the motionless Crabbe, and we couldn't hear Howling, Neville turned his broom and almost fell off - he was really not good at riding broomsticks.

"I'm going to save it—it's okay, I know it." Harry motioned me to climb onto Neville's broom as fast as possible, "You guys go first, hurry up!"

"Don't lose your life for that guy!" Ron yelled at Harry's back as he rushed into the flames.

"Be careful!" A huge Chimera rushed towards us suddenly, Neville, who was evading in panic, swung his broom violently, and the crown spun and fell from my wrist that was not holding the broom handle.

"No!" I yelled, "Ron—the crown!"

"I see!" Ron yelled, "Hermione, sit still!"

This is the defense that the Gryffindor goalkeeper talked about most in his life. Ron drove Hermione into a sharp turn, and after accurately avoiding a flame attack, he hit the crown with the tail of a broom at a critical moment. , to prevent it from falling into the dragon's wide-open mouth, the crown drew a graceful arc in the air, and was firmly held in his hand by the rising Ron.

"Awesome!" screamed Hermione, "You're so handsome!"

"Why are you still here!" With a roar, Harry dragged the unconscious Goyle back, and dangerous black smoke was rising from the tail of his broom, "Hurry up!"

"Over there!" I yelled, pointing at a rectangle on the wall, "There's a door!"

Moments later, the fresh air was filling our lungs again, and we slammed into the wall of the outer corridor, staring in horror at the wall—fortunately, no flames came from it.

"It's a good thing he's unconscious, otherwise we have to think about what to do with him." Harry coughed and said, pulling Goyle's blistered hands away from his waist with his hands, "I told him that Crabbe was dead. If you don't let go, he will die there, he won't listen to me."

"No one would want to leave their friends in such a sea of ​​fire." Neville stood up unsteadily, looked at Ron's hands, "The crown—"

"Oh! He gave it to me!" Hermione showed us the diadem, "but the basilisk's teeth just seemed to be taken by me—"

The teeth of the basilisk are no longer needed. The silver crown is smoking due to the high temperature. If you look carefully, you can see the small words engraved on it: Extraordinary ingenuity is the greatest wealth of human beings.A blood-like, black and viscous thing was slowly seeping out from the pattern of the crown, and I realized that it was covered with fine cracks, and it was vibrating and shattering at an extremely fast speed—from Hermione's The fingertips fell to the carpet, which looked like ordinary metal fragments blackened by the heat.

"Does that mean," Hermione asked us, looking up in a trembling voice, "that if we kill that snake—"

She didn't finish her sentence, as screams, yells, and the distinct sounds of fighting filled the hallway, and the Death Eaters had invaded Hogwarts by the time we entered the Room of Requirement.