the Gambler

The gleaming golden hall of the Ministry of Magic has completely changed its appearance. The place where Fudge's huge head was originally hung was replaced with a beautiful light purple curtain, and a small silver glass ball was tied to the end. The cute goblins danced happily inside. , every time it rotates, golden sequins will be sprinkled on it.

Wizards wearing all kinds of dresses shuttled among the crowd, and Harry was suddenly a little thankful that his aesthetics had not kept up with the trend of the wizarding world. Seriously, who would put a huge pheasant with colorful pheasants on his head? Feather hat for a dinner party?

Harry smiled and rejected several witches' invitations to dance, and sat down at the round table closest to the corner, which seemed to provide seats for at least ten people.There are also golden pots on the table, which contain delicious pork loin and lamb chops. The rich sauce is sprinkled on the tender meat, which makes people appetite.Too bad Harry wasn't one of those guys.If it weren't for Voldemort's overt and covert threats, he wouldn't be here either.Of course, he had discussed it with Professor Dumbledore beforehand, who seemed to think that occasional 'encouragement' was a good option.

Harry propped his chin up and sighed. He unconsciously poked the potatoes in the bowl with his fork, making a crackling sound.A shadow suddenly fell over his head.

Another guy who couldn't read his face, Harry sullenly thought about raising his head and showing a perfect standard smile.Then the camouflage fell off, and he waved his hand sullenly, burying his head in the food again, even if he had no desire in the first place, it was better than facing Voldemort's face.

The sound of Scrimgeour clearing his throat on purpose made Harry straighten up helplessly, and he smiled brightly.Scrimgeour's mouth twitched.Harry pursed his lips and began to look up and down Voldemort's appearance.Handsome and elegant is the first word that comes to mind, coupled with the faint smile on the corner of the mouth, men do have the power to seduce people.Voldemort wore a low-key dark green robe with a gold pattern only on the neckline.His long black hair was tied into a ponytail on his shoulders and tied with a ribbon of the same hue.

Harry glanced down at his robes, which were not much different from Voldemort's except for the color.

The boy snorted coldly in his heart, this was not an accident, he had already guessed that there would be such a development when he received the package from the vulture in the morning, but fortunately the styles of the robes were not much different, so not many people noticed.The notable exception was Scrimgeour, whose silver-gray eyebrows were raised almost to the hairline.

"It's an honor to meet you, Mr. Potter," Voldemort smiled charmingly, raised Harry's hand to his mouth, and kissed softly the dark green gemstone set on the ring.The silvery metal suddenly warmed, and Harry was so distracted so briefly that he didn't notice the gleam in Voldemort's eye.The man straightened up and said briskly, "I'm Thomas Gunter, thank you for taking care of my younger brother."

Harry's right eyelid twitched.

"He can't stop talking about you." Voldemort didn't let go of Harry's hand, and his tone sounded very sincere. "Today I finally got my wish. I saw you. You are indeed a handsome young man. Of course, I also listened to Lu Minister Firth said you had the best Defense Against the Dark Arts in school, Dumbledore's Army? What an interesting name. You seem to have a lot of respect for him."

"Thank you, you too." Harry pulled out his hand vigorously, and said coldly, "As for the headmaster, I have to explain that no one would slander him, right? You must have heard of many great deeds of him. Voldemort's part."

Voldemort chuckled under his throat. The voice was undeniably sexy, and the witches not far away blushed.He put his hand on Harry's shoulder and squeezed it lightly: "Indeed, being able to stand up to face the mysterious man is worthy of praise. But compared to him, I am more interested in you."

"I'm a bore, Mr. Gaunt."

"No, that's definitely an illusion, at least you are interesting to me." Voldemort said softly, "Don't call me Mr. Gaunt, I heard that you and Marvolo are very close, you can be like him Call me Thomas or Tom the same."

This time, Harry really raised his eyebrows.

Wasn't Voldemort joking?Tom?Don't fool him, Voldemort was well aware that it was another privilege he had given Harry.This made the boy think that Voldemort was slowly trying to replace Tom's existence, and even though it was absurd, he still felt that it was very possible.If he's not mistaken, these two guys have been a bit at odds lately.

Voldemort's hand slowly slid down Harry's arm, hooking the boy's index finger provocatively, pretending to be very interested in the ring, Harry noticed that Scrimgeour had left at some point, and the people next to him They all looked at this side, their heads pressed together, pointing.

"It's a beautiful ring. I haven't had a chance to take a good look at it." Voldemort stared intently at the magic pattern wrapped around it, and there was a flash of madness for a moment. His slender fingers seemed to caress Harry's knuckles unintentionally.The boy could see a faint golden glow around the ring, luckily the already blinding lights of the prom made this unremarkable.Voldemort chuckled again: "He promised that no one but himself would be able to take off the ring. He is possessive of you, there is no doubt about it."

Harry wrinkled his nose as he tried to take off the ring, the little ring seemed to grow on the skin.Even someone as smart as Hermione couldn't help it.

"Don't you want to know why I found you so easily?" Voldemort changed the subject, and he pulled Harry to the center of the dance floor.A soft piano piece played, and the man's hand slid to his waist, shaking slowly with the music.Looking at them more intensely, Voldemort shielded the others and focused his attention on Harry, "The Slytherin locket uses the same rune, as long as we are still connected by the soul, I can Come to you."

Harry's wide eyes made him look amused, and Voldemort increased his strength slightly, pressing Harry against himself, a happy gasp from his throat, like a big cat being scratched by its owner Like the root of the ear.Contrary to his happy mood, Harry seemed to have been poured a bucket of ice water over his head. Now that he was fine, he had truly become a magnet for trouble, and the one who attracted it was a particularly large one.

"Don't be nervous, Harry." Voldemort spat out his name ambiguously, wrapped in a layer of sticky honey, "just to remind you that it is safer to stay celibate, who knows if I will accidentally show up at the Death Eaters meeting calling you—”

"You can't enter Hogwarts Castle," Harry said firmly.

"But you can't stay in it forever." Voldemort murmured softly in Harry's ear, "How about a deal? I will try my best to save Hogwarts students from dying, as long as they don't take the initiative to resist. The Wizarding World The birth rate has never been high, so I naturally want to preserve as much as possible.”

"Are you going to attack Hogwarts?" Harry asked in surprise.

"That is the last bastion of the light side. After taking down Hogwarts, the symbolic meaning of Dumbledore will completely disappear. Of course, I can kill him earlier. He is no longer as good as before."

"If he falls, I will still stand up against you. No one's life should be trampled underfoot, no matter how righteous the reason is." Harry looked firmly at Voldemort, "as long as your blood If the idea of ​​supremacy is not shaken for a day, I will fight forever, live or die, that is not my concern."

"Interesting, very interesting," said Voldemort cheerfully, his lake-blue eyes gleaming under the spell, "if anyone else said that, he would be dead. Harry, you are the only one who has made me compromise." I will think about it carefully." He raised his chin and pointed in a certain direction, and his eyes became sharper, "Dumbledore."

Dumbledore walked into the ball calmly, wearing a dark red robe with a vivid phoenix pattern on it with gold thread.Calmly but quickly, he came to Harry's side and greeted Voldemort and Scrimgeour gently.The headmaster's appearance caused the other two wizards to frown indistinctly at the same time.Harry guessed that none of them expected Dumbledore to accept an invitation to the Ministry party.

Dumbledore blinked at Harry a few times, and a warm feeling slid into the boy's stomach.No matter when and where, the presence of the old man made Harry feel at ease and relaxed.He turned his head to look at Voldemort, the mask on the other side's face was not loose, and he was still smiling faintly, the image of a cold and distant politician.

"You must be the famous Mr. Albus Dumbledore." Voldemort stretched out his hand, "Below is Thomas Gaunt, Marvolo Gaunt's brother."

"Mr. Gaunt," said Dumbledore kindly, his hand firmly grasping Voldemort's, which shook quickly before withdrawing, "Marvolo is a clever boy," and here Voldemort's eyebrows twitched, and the headmaster Pretend not to notice, and continued to praise, "I also found that the excellent genes of the Gunter family also flow in your blood. As such a young politician, you have achieved achievements that many people will never be able to achieve in their lifetime."

"Thank you." Voldemort nodded slightly in thanks. "I just did my best to make the land that gave birth to me a better place."

"Of course, of course." Dumbledore said enthusiastically, and he changed the subject casually. "I'd like to know what your opinion is on the issue of blood? You see, under Voldemort's leadership, Death Eaters have been attacking more and more recently. , which makes the issue of lineage once again the center of controversy.”

Harry applauded the headmaster mentally, it was very vicious to force Voldemort to express his views in front of Scrimgeour.He raised his head and looked at the calm man expectantly. After a moment of silence, Voldemort replied calmly, "I'm a half-breed, sir. You don't think I agree with the idea of ​​the mysterious man?"

"Oh?" Dumbledore squinted and smiled, "I think so too. You have to forgive me for being suspicious. After all, the current situation is not peaceful. Young people like you who are firm in their ideas are an important force for us to defeat Voldemort." He took out a small glass bottle from his pocket, and there was a ladybug crawling around in dissatisfaction. This time Harry finally couldn't help laughing out loud.Voldemort's confusion was transmitted to Harry via the link.

Dumbledore handed the bottle to Harry, and said kindly: "She is such a naughty fellow, Mr. Potter. I believe you can handle your pets properly, maybe it would be a good suggestion to discuss it with Miss Granger. Oh, yes," the Headmaster refocused on Scrimgeour, "Miss Rita Skeeter always knows how to stir up public sentiment effectively, Rufus, maybe tomorrow's Daily Prophet headlines It would be more appropriate to give it to her. What the Ministry of Magic needs at the moment is to promote positive influence, especially positive young people like Mr. Gunter and Mr. Potter."

Scrimgeour nodded in agreement with Dumbledore's suggestion despite his displeasure.On the other hand, Voldemort seemed to have given up the chance to argue, and just took advantage of the Minister of Magic's blind spot to throw a knife at Dumbledore with hatred.Harry stuffed the glass bottle into his pocket and smiled the most sincerely since he went to the ball, showing a row of white teeth.