cycle

"We should help," Harry repeated over and over.But one after another of strong light shot in all directions, some directly smashed the stone bricks, and some were reflected back by the corridor and smashed the picture frame to pieces. Which side are the people fighting in the distance?

"But if we kill the snake—the snake is the last Horcrux!" Hermione continued, "it should—"

The air suddenly exploded, and I instinctively wanted to grab something in the air to maintain my balance, but everything around me flew up with us in an instant, like a floating spell with a huge range-no, not only floating When I got up, everything in front of me was shattering silently and flying to the distance at different speeds, and then a huge sound accompanied by countless distorted screams exploded abruptly in the silence, and the world gradually turned into pain and the only thing in front of me. There is only a blur of light and shadow left, and the sound of the wind whistling in my ears.

Am I thrown straight from the castle to the outside?The pain made my brain into chaos, and I only firmly grasped the thin stick in my hand by instinct.

There were chaotic footsteps and indistinct calls in the distance. I couldn’t tell whether it was an enemy or a friend. I moved the joints of my limbs. Fortunately, there was no severe pain from them, and then I wiped I wiped the sticky liquid from my face, they stuck between my dirty fingers, and they glowed an unsightly scarlet under the night sky—something cold fell from the air, dissolving the blood that had begun to congeal , let them flow down my fingers.

"Harry? Hermione?" It took several seconds before I recalled the current situation dully, trying to stand up from the rubble and look for others, "Neville? Ron?"

Then I heard a heart-wrenching scream—this sound is not unfamiliar, I only heard it on the beach in front of the Shell House not long ago, but the pain in the sound still pierced through the constant blasting thunder above my head my eardrums.I coughed a few times, and pushed my hair, which was wet by rain or blood, behind my ears. I saw Harry and Neville who were struggling to stand up. Walking towards a few gathered people farther away, the heart-piercing shouts came from there.

"No-no-no!" someone yelled, "what a joke--it's not like--"

"Calm down!" I heard my father's stern reprimand, "If you shake him like this again, I can't guarantee that he will be alive in the next second!"

"Is he... still alive?" Hermione asked with quivering lips.

Several fiery heads knelt beside the lying man, and it wasn't until George pulled Fred forcefully away that I could see Percy's lifeless-looking face.Dad drew his wand and moved it along the deep gash in his chest, mouthing a singing spell.

"He, he didn't have to get hurt." Fred's murmur blurred Dad's chanting, and he seemed to be talking to himself, "I stood there thinking he was joking when he rushed towards me, I Never thought of…”

"Someone needs to take him to the school hospital... if the school hospital is still there." Dad stood up after repeating the incantation three times, Percy was still lying unconscious on the ground, "or go to Madam Pomfrey, he can't stay in-"

"Squat!" Harry yelled suddenly, but Dad's reaction was faster, and I was knocked to the ground by him before I could figure out what was going on--he was several meters away from me a second ago.Many spells crackled at us from the darkness, shattering what remained of the wall behind us, and Fred and George narrowly missed being hit by the spell as they tried to shield the unconscious Percy.

Without a second's breath, Hermione screamed, and I looked towards where she was pedaling, and my stomach felt as if I had been wrung by a pair of hands: a giant spider as big as a car was Crawling in through the big gap in the wall, we are probably chunks of juicy meat in its milky eyes.

"Take Percy first, go to Madam Pomfrey!" I jumped up, and cast a stun spell on the giant spiders like Harry and the others—it seemed to be quite effective, many giant spiders were falling from the walls of the castle. The outside climbed up, knocked down by the Stunning Charm and fell on top of my allies, then tumbled down the castle in the pouring rain, and I blinked and turned the rain that was running down the walls into glue.

"Have you finished all the things you have to do?" Before the joy of the spider disappearing lasted for half a second, Dad's cold voice sounded, "If not, you shouldn't waste your time here."

"Not yet, Professor." Neville swallowed, feeling as if he was in the basement classroom of Potions class.

"It's almost, Longbottom, it just didn't do anything in my eyes." Dad roughly drove us off the rickety platform, turned and disappeared into the thick darkness, "Potions must be meticulous in the last step." Lands only work when they're done, and so do everything else - we can hold them off for a while, don't let what's happening here go to waste!"

"Yes, we're going to find the snake!" Hermione wiped her eyes.

"But Percy—" Ron's eyes instinctively followed his two twin brothers, who were struggling to lead Percy through the spells, and if Hermione hadn't grabbed him, he would have caught up with them . "I want to help - for Merlin's sake, that's my brother! Damn Death Eaters - they should pay - should -"

"But at least he's alive!" Hermione dragged him desperately, and the two of them almost twisted together. "Professor Snape has healed his worst wounds, Ron! Only we can put an end to this once and for all!"

"The snake—the snake must be with Voldemort!" Harry paled, and I knew he must have felt Ron's emotions, but he turned to Neville and asked, "Can you see him? Look inside his mind!" "

We retreated into the castle, watched Neville nervously and sat down against the railing of the stairs. I asked him in a low voice if he needed any sound-blocking spells to improve his concentration. Neville shook his head and replied in a hoarse voice: " My scar is burning all the time, just close my eyes."

There was a moment of silence—but in fact, the distance was filled with battle cries, crashes, and all kinds of chaotic and harsh sounds.Ron had basically calmed down, and was panting heavily while treating his bleeding arm under Hermione's guidance.I shivered, realizing that all of our clothes were already soaked in rain, and the midsummer night felt the chill of late autumn at this time.I tried to steam everyone's clothes, but it soon became apparent that it was futile - the rain was falling harder and harder, pouring in through the shattered and wide-open windows.

I have already lost my basic understanding of time. Maybe the clock tower of Hogwarts was also damaged in the battle just now. Shot between the wall and the ruins.

"He's in a very run-down area, the windows are mostly boarded up, leaving only one with a view of the castle - it looks like he's outside Hogwarts... I can hear the rain falling on the The voice on the weeds." After a long time, Neville took a deep breath and coughed a few times due to the rain, "I saw the big snake, protected by a layer of magic around him, and then Lucius Malfoy was begging He, it sounded like he was going to run off with his son and wife but was found... Voldemort wasn't angry, he seemed confused about something, and then he sent Lucius Malfoy to get his son."

"Outside Hogwarts?" Hermione asked angrily. "He didn't—he didn't even fight?"

"He didn't think it was necessary." Neville looked up at Harry and me, "He thought the three of us would take the initiative to send them to our door."

"Since the snake was next to him, it was pretty obvious," said Harry. "We had to go find him to get to that thing."

"Then you can't go." Ron puffed up his chest. "He must have planned several traps waiting for you. You stay and take care of Hermione. I'll get that—"

"The most appropriate way is for me to wear the Invisibility Cloak." Hermione interrupted him, "Now you guys can't be completely covered by the Invisibility Cloak—"

"Don't even think about it!" Ron yelled at her.

"Where is he?" I found that they had forgotten the question, "The dilapidated wooden house, the castle where Hogwarts can be seen... I couldn't think of a specific place for a while."

"Screaming Shack." Harry replied firmly, "Voldemort will not be too far away from Hogwarts, there is a high probability that in Hogsmeade, the only place with a large grassy field and dilapidated wooden houses is the Shrieking Shack. "

"Then the three of us don't go at the same time." I thought of those words Voldemort said during the summer vacation, "He will only do it after we have all three of us, so the best way is-"

Before I could finish my sentence, the tapestry on the top of the stairs was suddenly torn.

"Big jackpot!" Two masked Death Eaters stood there, but before they could raise their wands, Hermione yelled, "The slide is flat!"

The stairs under our feet immediately turned into a smooth ramp. After flying through the hidden tapestry at the bottom of the stairs, Hermione turned the tapestry into a heavy stone slab. With two muffled bangs, the two Death Eaters chasing us It hit the top firmly.It was hard to tell where we were at this point, the explosion that had just blown up half the castle threw everything into chaos.Professor McGonagall, with her hair down, was charging forward at the helm of tables waving wooden legs, and she didn't even notice that we were passing her.Running down another flight of stairs, he found the foyer of the auditorium filled with combatants, masked Death Eaters fighting with uncovered teachers and students.The floor was littered with various plants that should grow in a greenhouse, and I almost stepped on a bunch of poisonous tentacles, and Ron yelled and fought off the werewolves who were about to bite Lavender Brown.Then there was a flash of blinding white light, and we watched as a huge crystal ball fell from upstairs and hit him on the top of his head, and he immediately collapsed to the ground and could not move.

"I still have some more!" Professor Trelawney stood on the railing above, and her crooked glasses made her eyes look big and small, "It's quite useful, isn't it?"

"You three better put on the Invisibility Cloak!" Hermione squealed, "Those Death Eaters would love to catch you and go back to claim their bounty—"

Neville hurriedly took out Harry's invisibility cloak. He seemed to want to cover all five of us, but it obviously didn't work. From the perspective of others, it was probably five headless bodies avoiding magic in funny poses. While trying to get closer to the gate, fortunately, most people have no time to pay attention to things other than themselves.

"Spiders! Here they come again!" I pointed to the wooden door we were approaching, and another group of spiders burst straight through it and burst into the foyer. The air was filled with terrified screams, and even the masked Death Eaters Flee in a hurry.

"Hagrid! Hagrid!" Harry and Ron yelled loudly, waving a flower umbrella and rushing towards the tall figure of the spider swarm, but he was quickly overwhelmed by the spider swarm, and Hermione's mouth was long He forgot to walk for a moment, and at this moment the castle shook dangerously, and everyone heard heavy footsteps.

"It's a giant!" I don't know who shouted first, with the heavy and pure knocking sound, the glass window fragments of the castle fell like heavy rain outside the window, and fear and panic were spreading throughout the building. The twenty-foot-tall giant was peering in, even reaching out from the window to grab someone straight out.

"Go! Evacuate!" I couldn't tell whose voice it was, there were screams and loud roars everywhere. Before the wooden door completely fell down, I was grabbed by Harry and rushed down the steps into the playground.

"Where's Neville? Where's Hermione and Ron?" I grabbed the invisibility cloak that was still wrapped around my head indiscriminately. He could clearly see who was running in the darkness.

"I was still holding Neville!" Harry had to raise his voice so that I could hear it clearly, because the dull thunder began to roar again with the lightning that lit up the sky, "Someone cast a Stunning Spell on us, I Had to let go of him, and then I got hit a couple of times—”

"Are you okay?" I wiped the rainwater dripping from my hair.

"It's okay." He still pulled me to run towards the Forbidden Forest, "Listen Alice, Neville has the Marauder's Map, and they will know where we are. You are right, as long as the three of us are not at the same time Going to Voldemort won't do it, so you'll be guarding the Whomping Willow later—"

"I won't let you go alone." I interrupted him quickly, and suddenly remembered what Neville had just said. His voice overlapped with Pansy Parkinson's voice not long ago, which made me A strange discomfort welled up in my heart, "I feel that I have to go...don't always feel that I need to be protected."

Not only were club-wielding giants prowling the playground, but at least a hundred dementors wandered silently in the darkness, freezing the rainwater on the ground into hoarfrost and ice.I was gasping for breath, my wand was trembling between my fingers, and Harry was yelling the Patronus spell, but my mind was stuck and I couldn't think of any happy memories— —The castle is still collapsing, and people are still being injured... Did Fred and the others find Madam Pomfrey?How would they fight if they met masked Death Eaters with a comatose man... and Dad, I never saw him again, those giants had already started throwing stones at the tallest tower, I vaguely remember The elders said they would fight on the tower...

It's all collapsing, it's all shattering, it's all doomed, I know there's an end to everything...but...it's not supposed to be like this...it's not supposed to be now...

"Alice!" Someone called my name from a distance, "Concentrate!"

I felt like poking my head out of the only hole in a frozen lake, my teeth chattering in the cold and I could hardly hold my wand, and the silver spark at the tip of Harry's wand flickered faintly in the air that was beginning to freeze. went out.I took a deep breath, pinched my face fiercely, and raised my wand: "Call God to protect you!"

There wasn't any light leaping from the wand, but I felt something warm, and a silver rabbit, a boar, and a broad-eared fox flew over us and charged at the dementors, Luna, Ernie, and Si Mo appeared in the light.

"Very good!" Luna's tone was full of encouragement. It sounded like this was just a practice of DA's spell, "Everyone think about happy things!"

"Luna, if you see Neville, tell him that the two of us are going to the place we mentioned earlier!" I shouted to her.

Before I could say a word of thanks, the dangerous shaking of the ground indicated that a giant was approaching, and the few people who had just approached had to run away in the heavy rain, and then a big foot landed on the place where we were standing just now.Harry lifted the tip of his wand, and this time the stag emerged from the darkness smoothly and ran forward, fighting off the dementors while lighting a path to the Whooping Willow at the end.

The pouring rain, running with all my strength, and the trees dancing wildly in the rain, I always feel that this scene is familiar.

Harry picked up a branch from the ground, controlled it with the Levitation Charm, and poked the trunk of the Whomping Willow. Suddenly, the frenzied whipping sound stopped, and I watched it quiet down with wide eyes, like an ordinary tree. The willows hang down their branches quietly and let the rain wash away.

"It might just be a trap." Harry pulled out the cloak to cover the two of us, the sound of the rain was blocked out by the cloak, and I could finally see his dark eyes clearly, "If you must go, I don't want to stop you, but we promise each other to get out alive."

"Kill that snake and escape alive." I added, forcing myself to finish the sentence even though it felt like my heart had grown under my quivering throat. All sacrifices... are meaningless."

Harry seemed to have been to this secret passage before. He cautiously lit up his wand and walked ahead—rather than walking, he crawled forward. The entire passage was narrow and cramped, and the two of them could not walk forward wearing the cloak of invisibility. Wrap me indiscriminately with an invisibility cloak.

We are moving away from Hogwarts, because all kinds of fierce voices are gradually disappearing. Listening to the muffled thunder outside, there is an illusion that this place will collapse at any time.I wasted some time crawling forward as quietly as possible, but encountered no obstacles, and finally the tunnel began to ascend, and I saw a narrow light ahead of me over Harry's head, and Harry extinguished his wand .

The thunder at this time was more like Merlin's mercy to us. Our small voices were completely covered by the thunder in the wilderness, allowing us to get closer to Voldemort's hut.Through the old box and the narrow gap in the gap, I could already see Nagini - it was in a magic ball floating in mid-air, twisting and coiling itself in the air as if it were in the water of a lake body.Then I saw Voldemort's hand, twirling the wand he had taken from Dumbledore's grave with his long, pale fingertips.

Then I heard Draco Malfoy's voice, and I almost made a noise in my shock—his voice was so close to me, it sounded like he was inches from where we were curled up and hiding.

"This is a misunderstanding, or a frame-up," Draco said in a sharper voice than usual, "Master, you must have noticed that many people are dissatisfied with your entrusting me with important tasks, and they think I am just an inexperienced person." The hairy boy—”

"Indeed, you are just an inexperienced boy, Draco." Voldemort's high-pitched, clear voice echoed through the dull thunder and the endless rain in the cabin, "I never thought you Excellent or outstanding, I can only say that it may be slightly better than other peers, but it is far from enough."

After a while of silence, Draco's voice trembled slightly: "But I will do my best to faithfully complete everything you have told me, master, this is true of me and my parents, we definitely do not intend to escape tonight , I just thought I should inform you of the riots at Hogwarts as soon as possible—"

"Loyalty is the cheapest thing." Voldemort replied in a bored tone, "For Lord Voldemort, loyalty is just an appendage of fear and submission, which is inexhaustible."

"I can—I can go and capture the three people my master wants." Draco's voice trembled even more, "As long as you tell me, I will do it... like let me kill Like Albus Dumbledore, everyone thought I couldn't do it, but I proved to my master..."

"Ah, Albus Dumbledore." There was an eerie pleasure in Voldemort's voice. "You know, my dear boy, I've been sitting here today thinking of a difficult problem, and it's been fruitless."

I felt Harry raise a hand, he seemed to be judging whether he could attack the big snake directly from here, he quickly gave up, because none of us knew what the magic to protect the big snake was, what kind of spell it was can go through it.Once we act rashly, we will expose our position.

"It doesn't work for me, Draco, can you think why?" Voldemort stood up, and he held the Elder Wand delicately and gracefully between his fingertips, as if he were holding a baton.

There was a brief moment of silence, and I could hear Draco's gradually rapid breathing, and the hiss of the snake as it coiled and stretched.

"I-I don't understand," he replied, "you must have used it to perform the most sublime magic we can only look up to—"

"No, obviously, I have always been superb, but its performance is not worthy of its name-I can't feel the difference between it and my yew wand." Voldemort's tone was very calm, sounding He was really thinking about something seriously, but the contrast between the pressure and the beating heart in his chest was maddening.

"The Malfoy family will serve Lord Voldemort forever, as you said, will it not?" After pacing the room slowly for a while, Voldemort said softly, "Your father and you have told me so, and you will never Don't hesitate to give everything I want you to give, don't you?"

"Of course." I could finally see Draco's face, turning as Voldemort paced, pale as marble, "All the wealth we have—"

"I don't value that." Voldemort interrupted him cruelly. "I want to win, I want to be invincible, I want to kill those marionettes of Dumbledore, make him completely The ground rots underground."

"I can—I can get them here, Master, please let me—"

"Why? Why is it that I have this Elder Wand, but not recognized by it?" Voldemort said to himself as if he hadn't heard Draco's words, "I'm sitting here, looking at the people who are close at hand. Victory but dare not act rashly, I have made too many mistakes, so I have to get the answer before I can start... Then I finally thought of some possibilities."

"You have done many things for me, my dear child. Some things I think you can never accomplish. How you accomplish them is not important to me. Lord Voldemort only needs a final result." Voldemort Laughing, the blood-red snake pupils stared carefully at Draco's face, "Ah, your mother begged me to forgive you and your father, although I don't know why I should forgive my loyal servant, she said she Willing to give my life in exchange for—"

"She was confused." Draco's voice choked up, "Master, my mother believed Aunt Bella's words and said that because she thought you were going to kill me here. She didn't—"

Voldemort waved his hand: "It's far away, I just said, I have a problem, and then I got the answer. Why can't the Elder Wand work well for me? Because I am not its real owner, I didn't kill it Its last owner - its last owner... was killed by you, Draco."

"Master!" Draco took a hurried step back and raised his wand.

"So your mother guessed right, and I'm sorry, my dear child," said Voldemort slowly. "I must conquer this wand, and I must kill everything that stands in my way."

Voldemort raised the Elder Wand and slammed it in the air - but nothing happened.However, just when Draco thought this represented a kind of immunity, the opened snake cage was buckled upside down on top of his head, and I only heard Voldemort's throat twitch, and he let out a snake-like hiss, and then There was a terrible scream - if it hadn't been for the thunder after thunder, I think Voldemort would have heard me shaking constantly.

"I think, when Lord Voldemort wins the final victory, your parents will be proud of your final contribution." Voldemort said coldly.

"Alice..." I heard someone calling me in a low voice, "he has left with the snake."

I looked up blankly to see that Harry was using his wand to lift the boxes in front of us, letting them float aside as quietly as possible.I mechanically leaned out from the hole, the sound and shadow leaning against the wall was close at hand, but I saw only a blur in my eyes, and then a large area of ​​deep red suddenly stimulated me, and I came back to my senses.

"Blood...stop the bleeding." I took off the Invisibility Cloak and threw it to Harry indiscriminately, and crawled to Draco's side, "I know the spell, I heard it when Dad said it—"

My non-wand hand was jerked with a very light force, and I stared wide-eyed at Draco, who moved slightly with that hand, pointing with difficulty at the pocket of his blood-soaked robes.

"There are medicines there! Well, I know!" I could only nod incoherently, "I know...there are medicines in my pocket..."

Harry helped me up Draco, who was already powerless and slumped on the ground, and pressed his hand to the wound that he had no strength to plug with his fingers.With trembling hands, I took out a crystal bottle with his body temperature from Draco's pocket. In my panic, I didn't have time to confirm what the liquid was, so I poured it out and spilled a lot of water. On the ground - like pouring out a bright starry sky in the palm of your hand.

"No, not for me." When I pressed my palm against his neck, he suddenly struggled, "Sta Iris, poison, snake venom, there is no way."

He was right, when my finger full of medicine was close to his wound, the open flesh began to squirm and heal at a speed visible to the naked eye, but the black substance was spreading from the closed wound to the blood vessels on his neck, Draco's lips had turned a terrifying blue-black color, but his eyes were temporarily a little brighter due to the reduction in blood loss.

"Here, yours." His hand full of his own blood scratched randomly at the potion I spilled on the floor, then lifted it up and stretched it towards my face, "I don't need it."

"Alice." Harry reminded me, and I realized that Draco's hand was falling due to weakness. I didn't know what he wanted to do, so I could only grab his hand and press it on myself indiscriminately. on the cheek.

"No." He moved to my right cheek with difficulty, until he touched my bumpy wound, "I, a lot, Liz, I don't want to—"

"Let's go to Madam Pomfrey." There was a slight tingle from the scar on my cheek, and I tried to stand up with a blank mind, "Madam Pomfrey will find a way—"

"Take it... and then you will know..." But Draco's strength suddenly became stronger, and he seemed to hold my wrist tightly with his last strength, a silver-blue color that was neither gas nor liquid Out of his mouth, ears and eyes, I've only seen such things in Dumbledore's Pensieve, "Your father knows something too... Dumbledore promised, I'll help him ,my parents--"

"The wand is, mother's, give it back to her." The light in his eyes was fading as the memory escaped, the words that were eager to speak swirled in his throat, and finally managed to utter a few words Come.

"Okay." Harry conjured up a narrow-necked bottle to help me store those memories, "We must return it to her."

There was a snoring sound in Draco's throat, and he trembled and raised the corners of his mouth to show a mocking smile: "I didn't tell you..., Potter."

"Anything else, anything, we'll remember." I heard Harry say to him, "Don't worry, we'll remember."

"I want... to go back to the past." He leaned on my shoulder, and I remained motionless as if my soul was out of my body, watching him loosen his grip on my wrist due to weakness, "I have everything... ...Sometimes, there are..."

"Liz, at that time..." he said softly, and I looked down to see the reflection of my own green pupils in his light-colored eyes.

"I know." I heard myself reply, "That's the benefit of growing up together, isn't it? You don't have to finish the sentence... you can know what the other person wants to say."

He seemed to be unable to hear me anymore, he just looked into my eyes and repeated in a low voice: "The best... time."

A second later, the ends of his eyes flickered, something went out in the endless rainy night, everything became dazed and empty.

I heard the sound of rain dripping from my hair, the sound of grass dancing with the long wind in the wilderness, the sound of hands falling on the floor, all the small sounds filled my ears with a thousand times the volume at that moment, but only Only he couldn't hear his own crying, and he couldn't even tell whether the liquid rolling down his face was tears or rain.

"Let's take him to Madam Pomfrey." I said in a calm tone as Harry pulled me up, "Madam Pomfrey will find a way."

"Alice, he's already—"

"Take him to find Dad, Dad must have a way, Dad can save Percy's serious injury, this is just a bite of a snake, he will find a way—"

"Alice." Harry stretched out his cold hand, and stroked the hair that was sticking to my cheek because of being soaked, and pushed it behind my ear. "He's dead."

I raised my head and stared at him for a while, but there was not a word stuck in my throat, but I felt that there was a pile of things, they were piercing my throat upwards, and crawling down to fill my heart.All I could feel was a sharp, inescapable pain spreading to every sensory organ in my body, and it exploded soundlessly in my body.

They said, and kept talking, and kept talking, that the night must pass, the rain must cease, the sun must rise, the clouds must clear, and a new day must come.

But some people stayed in the night, and some people stayed in the rain. They still have their eyes wide open, but they will never be able to look at the next dawn that is getting brighter.

----------

Rosesdie,

These cretis inside the pain,

Winds are high upon the hill,

I can not say you,

Come and hold me close,

I'm shivering cold in the heart of rain,

Darknessfalls,

I'm callingforthedawn.

——"everytimeyoukissedme"-Emily Bindiger