[HP]Timepiece Countdown

By the time Harry returned to the hotel where he was staying, it was already midnight.He had expected everyone else to be asleep, but to his surprise, Kingsley was snoozing in an armchair in front of the fireplace.There was a soft knock on the door panel, and he immediately opened his eyes alertly. "Oh, Harry, you're back." After quickly surveying Harry's whole body, his expression became less tense, "It seems that you didn't encounter any problems?"

Harry followed Kingsley's gaze to look at himself.He had already used a spell to clean up the stained clothes, and there was no way he would show up with suspicious marks on his body. "It's okay," he lied guiltily, thinking that Voldemort must be the biggest problem, "you know what Dumbledore told you."

After hearing this, Kingsley became cautious again. "He did tell me this," he said gravely, "but I don't think it's a good idea to put you on your own risk."

Harry opened his mouth and closed it again.Truth be told, no one was safer than him when it came to snooping on the Death Eaters, because the Dark Lord wouldn't allow his minions to touch him.The problem is that almost no one, including Kingsley, knows about his deep relationship with Voldemort. "I know the scale," he explained vaguely, hoping that Kingsley would not get to the bottom of it.

Kingsley frowned as expected.Yue Mo saw what Harry meant, and changed the subject thoughtfully. "Tonks originally wanted to wait for you with me, but it was too obvious, so I asked her to go back to her room to rest." He said, his gaze still falling on Harry, "Did you find any new clues?"

The impending meeting of the Death Eaters was definitely a new clue, though Harry wasn't sure he could tell Kingsley just yet. "I think I have to go back to England at once," he said of his intention, "I may have found the whereabouts of Peter Pedro."

When he heard the first sentence, Kingsley raised his eyebrows uncontrollably; but when he heard the next sentence, he understood immediately. "Really?" He suddenly cheered up. "It's really good news! So far, we haven't found any traces of him! Do you need help?"

The subtext was to send an Auror with him - Kingsley was the head of the Auror's office - and Harry shook his head quickly. "I'm not sure whether the source of the news is reliable..." He hesitated, inexplicably thinking that Voldemort might give him two extra-large eyes when he knew what he said. Support for our subsequent actions. I plan to tell Dumbledore that it is more appropriate for the Order of the Phoenix to do this."

Kingsley thought for a moment and was convinced. "Then do that. There's only one day left for the meeting in Paris. It's not a big problem for you to ask for leave."

"Thank you," Harry said sincerely.With Kingsley helping him with the Ministry's procedures, he would have the time to think about whether it would be more appropriate for him to catch Wormtail, or to let someone else do it for him while he tried to find out where the Death Eaters were meeting. fit.

**

Late at night, Pere Lachaise Cemetery.

As the resting place of Chopin, Molière, Balzac and many other celebrities, this cemetery is an important check-in attraction for tourists in Paris. During the day, it can only be described as people coming and going, shoulder to shoulder.Because of the elegant environment, even the surrounding residents often come here to take a walk and read books.

But in such a situation where every inch of land is very expensive, there is actually a barren land in the east of the cemetery.No one knows why it was left there, or why it wasn't developed.Because Muggles can't see it at all, and it's not marked on the map.Maybe a few long-lived old people can still vaguely remember that the cemetery of the Lestrange family was originally here, which was destroyed by a strange fire in 1927.But even if they said it, no one would believe it.

In the dark night where you can't see your fingers, two wizards in black robes wearing silver masks appeared at the entrance silently.The tall man checked around, then turned to the other person and said, "There are indeed blinding spells, space folding spells, and Muggle-repelling spells here."

His companions were busy spreading an impenetrable black mist. "The French Ministry of Magic." He replied in a low voice, without stopping for a moment. "They will send people to make up for it on a regular basis. The previous plan was to take turns guarding it, but this job is too boring and no one wants to do it."

The tall man nodded knowingly. "After all, it is a place that has been burned by Fiercefire." He shrugged indifferently to this extremely dark magic, and joined the ranks of casting black mist, "No one wants to have an accident by themselves."

It is not easy to completely cover a 10,000+ square foot area with black mist, but the space folding spell effectively shortens the time.The two quickly finished the preliminary preparations, and then drilled through the thick fog one after the other.After the internal inspection was complete, the shorter wizard lifted up the sleeve of his left hand, and pressed his wand on the skin of the upper arm at the mark——

The skull-like pattern quickly turned black and hot.The big snake drilled out of the skeleton's mouth seemed to be alive, swimming its body, the black snake letter stretched and stretched, and the green light in the eyes flashed and disappeared in a flash.

"Master heard."

"They're coming!"

These two sentences sounded almost at the same time.The two silver masks looked at each other, and both captured excitement and excitement from each other's eyes.Soon, the faint sound of the wind whistled from far to near——

First one or two, then five or ten.In just 3 minutes, two groups of people had already gathered in the open space.The larger group is carefully looking at the other side, whispering to each other from time to time; while the smaller group is looking around curiously, and two of them have already begun to try to say hello to each other.

Just at this moment, another wizard landed on the ground, right in the middle of the two sides. "Master wants me to count the number of people first." Crouch Jr. straightened up and explained his intention clearly, "He will be there soon after everyone is ready."

Upon hearing this, the black-robed wizards who had been whispering together spontaneously dispersed and stood according to their respective positions.And seeing that there are customary rules in it, the smaller wizarding group is a little nervous now.

Little Crouch noticed their subtle movements. "Newcomers," he said in a deep voice, "your position will be designated by the master." His eyes passed through his mask, and he walked around the silver masks of those people one by one, "according to your respective..."

Before he finished speaking, a silver light flashed in the sky above.All the Death Eaters were fascinated by this phenomenon, which had never happened before, and looked up in unison.Soon, they realized to their amazement that it was not the Dark Lord, but a newcomer who was about to be late.

"I'm sorry," the new wizard apologized immediately after standing still, with a clear and sweet voice, "Am I late?"

It turned out to be a young woman, and there was an uproar in the crowd.Although Death Eaters generally only require magical abilities, witches are indeed rare among them.

"Not yet." The interrupted little Crouch answered her, his eyes unconsciously resting on the two small silver horns protruding from the opponent's mask, "Your mask is very distinctive."

The witch froze for a moment, and then became happy at this unexpected kindness. "Thanks, I think so too."

I don't know who chuckled, the originally dull and depressing atmosphere became much more lively.But the relief lasted only for a moment.Because before Crouch Jr. could answer, someone took a big step forward from his position. "Who are you?"

Leaving aside how cold and vigilant the tone was, at least she showed her true face without fear of the possible conflict that might arise next.

Because of this, the new witch recognized each other immediately. "Bellatrix Lestrange?" she said interestedly. "I've seen your face in the papers."

"It's indeed me." Bellatrix snorted coldly, raising her chin proudly, "You haven't answered my question yet."

The new witch paused. "Should I introduce myself now?" She looked around, "I thought this session would start after the arrival of the master."

The rules are indeed so, and many people are secretly nodding.Bellatrix felt ashamed and glanced around in annoyance.She didn't want to overstep the bounds, so she could only reluctantly back down. "It's okay to wait until then, but at least you have to explain what just happened!"

"What..." the new witch—that is, Freya Duran—asked reflexively, and then she reacted. "Are you talking about this?" She raised her right hand, and the silver ring of double snakes on it was shining brightly. "This is the token of the master, and the effect is about equal to your logo."

Although she had guessed, when she actually heard it, Bellatrix still widened her big eyes. "Why?" Her tone was indeed aggressive now, "Why did you get that?"

Apparently, she was close to talking about "why do you have special treatment" and "companions without the Dark Mark are not trustworthy".But even when she didn't say it, the subtext was so obvious that most Death Eaters looked suspiciously at it.

Duran frowned under his mask, instinctively feeling that this woman's attitude was not quite right.The old members may have resistance to the new members, but this resistance is too much... "I declare in advance that I am happy, but what the master wants me to do is not convenient for branding." She tried her best to explain, and at the same time tried to analyze the real source of the other party's hostility, "Besides, I'm sure the master will explain this himself in a moment."

It was true, but Bellatrix was even angrier. "Is there anything only you can do?" she raged, almost yelling. "Me too, I can be of service to my master—anything!"

Everything else is fine, but the professionalism is questioned...

Duran was also annoyed. "That may not work," she pushed back tit for tat, "The reason why the master needs me is because only I can do that! I—" She just wanted to say that when all smart people encounter the problem of soul mates She was the first thing that came to mind, but Bellatrix didn't seem to know that Voldemort had a soul mate.

she does not know……

Oh.

Duran understood immediately.She's been Bellatrix's imaginary enemy, the emotional kind, and - hell - about the Dark Lord. "Although I shouldn't say this, but—" she began to feel that the matter became funny, "I will give you a kind reminder, don't expect to get things that have nothing to do with you, Bellatrix."

It was so blunt that someone was gasping, and Bellatrix was completely enraged. "You—how dare you—" she said angrily, reaching for the wand pouch at her waist as she hurried forward, "I must teach you a lesson—"

"Stop, Bella." Little Crouch had been paying attention to the development of the situation, and immediately intervened between the two of them, "You don't really intend to make trouble at this time, do you? The master will be here soon."

The name Voldemort had calmed Bellatrix a little, but only a little. "Listen to what she said, Barty!" She was still furious, "Who does she think she is..."

"I didn't think I was who I am," Duran immediately seized the opportunity to retort, "at least I never had such extravagant expectations as you! You know, that position is destined, and none of us are qualified! "

As soon as these words came out, the entire venue was instantly silent.Not only was Bellatrix frozen in place; in fact, everyone was staring at Duran in shock.

All the old Death Eaters knew that Bellatrix had abnormal fanaticism for Voldemort, so they knew what Duran's "extravagant hope" meant.Wanting to be Voldemort's other half is indeed an extravagant wish, after all, the Dark Lord is not a good object of love in any way.

But she actually said—

"That position was meant to be"?

"None of us qualify"?

It seems that there is only one situation that fits the above description...

Just when the Death Eaters were full of thoughts such as "Does the Dark Lord really have a soul mate?", the protagonist of the topic came late.

No sooner had he passed through the layer of fog that allowed only those with the Dark Mark to pass than Voldemort felt that something was wrong; when he saw all the Death Eaters turning to him quickly and in unison, every eye behind the silver mask was open to horror. , it feels even more wrong. "What's the matter with you?"