HP Midnight Light

- September 1978, 9 - Hogwarts Castle

Cornelia wore a cloak and walked lightly through the lounge towards the stone gate, but a clear call came from behind:

"Rozier."

"Hello, Batty." Cornelia quickly returned to her normal smile after being startled, "You are still in the lounge alone at this late hour?"

She looked at Barty Crouch Jr. who was sitting on the ground without any trace. The shadow cast by the sofa blocked his body so that Cornelia didn't notice his existence.The long-term state of alert made her observe every subtle expression of Crouch vigilantly, trying to discern the reason why he was alone in the lounge in the middle of the night.

"I couldn't sleep, so I came here to finish the thesis ahead of time." He pointed to the stack of books and a few pieces of parchment piled on the coffee table, "Are you also insomnia?"

"Yeah." Cornelia realized that she might be worried, and she simply followed his words, "I want to go for a walk, see you later—"

"Aren't you afraid of being spotted by patrolling people?" Crouch looked up at the clock on the wall, "It's almost twelve o'clock."

Cornelia laughed because of this innocent sentence: "You must be a good boy, but it seems that you have missed a lot of opportunities to see another side of Hogwarts."

She soon paid the price for her talkativeness, and Crouch's eyes lit up: "Maybe you can show me the castle at night? I..." He stumbled, lamely framing the reason, "Tired of writing Yes, I just want to move around." He waited nervously and expectantly for her answer.

Cornelia's smile froze for a moment, but anyone who wasn't a fool could guess what Crouch meant.She felt that he didn't know how to hide his thoughts at all, but she agreed: "Of course, I don't mind having one more companion."

Can anyone recall what love started like?Is it bad words, flushed cheeks, wet palms, notes in the book or roses hidden behind?

On such a night, the moonlight is hazy and the stars are dim.Cornelia stopped in the hall. If she wanted to send Crouch away, now was undoubtedly the best time, but she paused: "Do you want to go to the edge of the Forbidden Forest?"

"Of course... I mean, do you want to go?" Crouch changed his tongue awkwardly, under Cornelia's gaze, he became more and more embarrassed, "No, I mean... um , if you don't want to go, maybe we can find another place..."

"Then come on." Cornelia withdrew her gaze.Crouch blushed at her chuckle.

They walked across the deserted field towards the Forbidden Forest in the night, walking side by side but keeping a subtle distance.At the edge of the Forbidden Forest, Cornelia asked, "You must have never crossed the line?"

She made a double entendre.Crouch nodded, then shook his head again.

"Batty, you really are an obedient child."

"I'm not a kid anymore!" Crouch argued.He hated the feeling of being treated like a child by a girl he had a crush on.

"They are here." Cornelia suddenly said softly.Crouch stared into the vast darkness, and saw nothing except the indistinct depths of the dense forest and the lingering mist.But Cornelia on the side suddenly raised her hand, as if calling for some kind of animal that came from the night.

"what is that?"

"Thestrals." Cornelia reached out and stroked the ugly heads and bony necks of thestrals. "Only those who have seen death can see them."

"The carriages at Hogwarts are pulled by them." Crouch looked at the void, not feeling afraid, "I've heard of it."

"Look, you haven't even seen death." Cornelia patted the Thestral's head to let it go, "People say you'd better never see it, but... not seeing it is not a good thing Right? Sorry, I shouldn't be saying stuff like that at night."

"Never mind." Crouch shook his head, "But have you ever seen—?"

Cornelia moved his left arm, and Crouch immediately realized what a stupid question he had asked, he stopped talking embarrassingly, and focused on the fog in the forest.

"Are you afraid of death?"

Crouch hesitated and did not answer.

"I'm afraid," Cornelia admitted, "but a good Death Eater shouldn't be afraid of death."

"I'll join you," Crouch said impulsively.Cornelia looked sideways at him again, and Crouch looked back at her bravely, "You don't have to be afraid of death, I'll kill people before they try to hurt you."

"You like me a lot?" Cornelia raised her eyebrows.Crouch's eyes flickered under such a straightforward question, but he still insisted:

"Yes."

"It's unbelievable." Cornelia chuckled lowly. "I know people fear me, hate me, and fear me, but you're the first one to say they like me."

"I hope I'm the last one, too." Crouch seemed to have more courage in the dim light.

"Does your father know you're like this?" Cornelia asked sharply. "Want to be a Death Eater, fall in love with a Death Eater?"

"I chose my path," Crouch said. "I'm not like him."

"So, are you starting to notice me because I want to join the Death Eaters, or because of the Death Eaters?"

Crouch suddenly remembered the day he entered the branch, the gaze cast from the Slytherin table.A few years later, they officially met, but at the black magic group gathering organized by Signus, she became beautiful and dangerous, arrogant and confident, and she stood out among the crowd, making him feel ashamed.

"None." He replied, "It just happened to meet together."

Crouch is such a contradiction.Cornelia thought.On the one hand he's so childish, on the other hand he's so cruel in the Dark Arts Squad.

She waved her wand and it bloomed a white rose.She handed it to Crouch: "When it withers, ask yourself if you really like me."

- October 1978, 10 - outside Edinburgh, Scotland

"We'll stay here tonight." Caradoc walked around the tent and cast a defensive spell. "The other ends of Edinburgh are scattered with wizarding towns or villages. If Death Eaters want to enter the city, this is the place to go." their only way."

"And the nearby residents reported that there were suspicious men in black in this forest a few days ago." Dorcas lit the bonfire and distributed pumpkin juice and butter beer to everyone, "Marlene, you will go to the competition with me tomorrow Find out about the situation at a few wizard gathering places far away, and see if there is any more news."

A group of four followed the footsteps of the Death Eaters all the way to Edinburgh. The group of Death Eaters moved secretly and did not launch an attack for a long time.As time went on, Caradoc and Dorcas began to worry that they had been tricked.

"If they don't strike by the planned date, do we stay here, or go back to London and wait for further instructions?" Sirius asked.

"It depends on Dumbledore." Caradoc turned on the bonfire and began to roast sausages, "You seem to be worried that we will postpone it?"

The person who cared most about time and date along the way was Sirius.

Marlene sneered, Dorcas and Caradoc glanced at her at the same time, and she continued to speak regardless of Sirius' threatening gaze: "Someone is waiting for him in London."

"Oh!" Caradoc immediately nodded understandingly, "I understand, I understand...According to the usual practice, Dumbledore will usually let us return to London first. Unless the situation is extremely urgent. But, Sirius, you should know that in general We can’t always think about going home when we’re on a mission.”

"I'm sorry, just this once." Sirius apologized, "I'm afraid she will worry about me."

"Don't spoil the fun, Caradoc! Tell me, who is she?" Dorcas asked with great interest, "I made a bet with Guspard Singleton before I graduated, and he firmly believes that you Won't spark with any girl in my life—except James' sister, if there was one."

"It's a Slytherin—"

"—Hyase." Sirius interrupted Marlene, "You have all seen it."

The firewood crackled, Caradoc choked on the pumpkin juice, and Dorcas' eyes widened:

"Then when you came to St. Mungo's last year..."

"At that time, I went to confess. I have been stupid for the past six months."

"Yes, and then you took her to Diagon Alley all day!" Dorcas snorted heavily. "I thought she was taken or kidnapped."

Sirius smiled. "I'm sorry, Dorcas."

Caradoc began to distribute bread and sausages: "I remember that kid should still be studying at Hogwarts?"

"Apparently she dropped out of Hogwarts just to hang on to Sirius—"

"I lured her away." Sirius glanced at Marlene. "The rest of Slytherin treated her badly."

"So," Caradoc pressed, "how long have you been in a relationship?"

"79 days." Sirius smiled at the butterbeer in his hand.

"It's so sweet." Of course Caradoc noticed this idiotic, smirk in love that he thought would never appear on Sirius's face, he shivered, and quickly took a sip of the hot pumpkin juice Suppressed.

"It was sweet when you fantasized about dating Tracy Davis," Dorcas sarcastically said.Caradoc fell silent for a moment. He glanced at Dorcas, gulped down half a bottle of pumpkin juice, and complained in a low voice:

"Can't you not mention that?"

"I'm going to ask Guspard for a bet later." Dorcas clinked glasses with Sirius with great interest, "Congratulations. Come on, let me be frank, which one of you will fall in love with first?"

"I took the initiative." Sirius complained joyfully, "otherwise I would never have been able to wait for her to speak."

"Yo yo yo--"

"Hush!" Caradoc extinguished the bonfire with a wave of his wand.In the silence, the four people sitting around in the darkness heard the whirring sound of robes being dragged on the ground.

"Stay vigilant!" A hoarse male voice came, and several fluorescent lights shone from a place close to them.Even knowing that the Death Eaters couldn't see them, Sirius couldn't help but tighten his heart and grip his wand tightly.

"Don't get together, spread out." A female voice—it must be Alectocarlo.

As the Death Eaters got closer, they saw five of them coming.Sirius knew exactly who they were, even though they were all hooded and their faces could not be seen clearly.

"Would you like to check for an ambush nearby, Amycus?"

"certainly.

"Listen to my orders, and then attack." Caradoc stared sharply at the leader, Amycus Carlo, and ordered, "Beware of the Carlo brothers and sisters, they like to use the Cruciatus Curse—three, two, one, attack!"

Caradoc withdrew all the defensive spells, and Dorcas took the lead in attacking Amycus: "Stunned!"

"There is an ambush!"

"Disarm!" Sirius pointed at Alecto, who dodged it with the Iron Armor Curse, then roared and began to fight back: "Crucio!"

"All petrified!" A red light brushed past Sirius' ears, and Marlene jumped forward:

"Long time no see, Travers. Passionate!"

"My dear Albus has recruited a lot of new people." Amycus and Dorcas fought fiercely, their wands waving into blurred shadows.On the other side, Caradoc took over the battle with Alecto, and they hurled spell after spell at each other in such a rage that the air became hot.

"I hear that dear Voldemort is doing his best to recruit as well, each other."

"How dare you call him by his name!" Amycus growled, and suddenly he swung his wand violently, a purple flame burst out, and Dorcas cast the Iron Armor Charm in time, but the power of the spell Still let her fall heavily to the ground.

"Dorcas!" Caradoc dealt with old Avery and Alecto at the same time.

"All petrified! I'm fine!"

"Shenfeng Wuying!" A deep wound appeared on Little Avery's body, and he staggered back, blood soaking his robe quickly.Sirius turned around and aimed his wand at Amycus: "Dizzy—"

"Don't try to get at me, boy!" Amycus yelled, and with one swipe of his wand, Dorcas was thrown high into a tree, and she slid limply down the trunk, Amycus turned his wand again and pointed at Sirius: "Driller—"

"Armor for protection!" Marlene yelled, having just handed over Travers' wand.

"Nice job, boys!" Caradoc brought Alecto down, and he threw a barrage of spells at old Avery.With a roar, Travers rushed forward and grabbed Marlene by the throat.

"Li Song is exhausted!" Ma Lin struggled and shouted, "All petrified!"

"Let's go!" shouted Amycus to old Avery, warding off the spell, and he stumbled to his sister, waving his wand once more as he had at Dorcas.

"Armor protection!" Sirius yelled, at the same time he felt something cold penetrate his body, and Sirius almost fainted for a moment, but the Iron Armor Curse saved him, except for a short period of dizziness He suffered no other injuries.With a scream, Marlene fell to the ground to avoid the power of the spell.

"Bones to pieces!" Elder Avery pointed at the ground, and the dust and gravel that erupted blocked the sight of Caradoc and the remaining two people.They only heard two crackles.

"They ran away and Apparated!"

"Dorcas!"

Something black was dripping from the corner of Dorcas's mouth, she smirked weakly, fell to the ground and reached out to grab Caradoc's robe front: "Look, Pluto!"

Marlene looked at her in horror: "What happened to her?"

"Got it, we're in the galaxy." Dorcas was still smirking, and a blood bubble popped from the corner of her mouth, then burst.

"Dark magic. Not life threatening, but needs treatment." Caradoc replied simply, "Sirius, help me."

Sirius helped drag Dorcas up from the ground, she was still holding on to Caradoc's robes, so Caradoc had to hold her sideways: "Apparate to the small town of Constantine, west of Edinburgh. "

-September 1978, 10 -Burstead Manor

"Where have you been?" Signus embraced Margaret and kissed her on the cheek. Tonight's banquet was a success, and he couldn't help but smile smugly.

"Go upstairs and rest for a while," Margaret replied.

"Come and see off the guests with me." Signus didn't care about her rash absence.Tonight's guests were either Death Eaters or pure-blood wizards who had decided to serve the Dark Lord.They came to bond, and Signus took the opportunity to show off his current status among the Death Eaters.In many ways, it can be said that the host and guest enjoyed themselves.

"See you later, Signus." Lucius Malfoy turned his gaze to Margaret, "Maggie, if you have time, why not visit Sissy more often, she misses you very much." Margaret visited Malfoy The frequency of the manor is high enough. Lucius' words seem to have multiple meanings. Signus glanced at him lightly, and Margaret responded with a smile:

"I will, Lucius. Tell Sissy I miss her too."

The guests bid farewell one by one, and the penultimate guest who said goodbye was a witch that Margaret was not familiar with.

"See you later, Margaret." The witch looked straight at the hostess of the banquet, and called Margaret's name unreasonably.

But Margaret didn't care much about these details: "Have a nice evening, Miss Shafik."

The witch's eyes met briefly with Signus, whose eyes were blatantly annoyed.

The last guest to leave was Severus Snape. After a short conversation with Signus, he hesitated to extend his hand to Margaret: "Thank you for your hospitality."

"You're welcome."

Signus watched the simple interaction between them and saw nothing unusual.Then he cast his gaze outside the door: "I'll see off the guests."

"Okay." Margaret nodded, and she clenched her right hand nervously.

Signus walked out the door quickly, and as expected, the witch who had just left was sitting on the edge of the fountain waiting for him.

"You shouldn't come!" Signus seldom showed obvious anger, "When will I allow you to enter Burst Manor and appear in front of my wife without my consent?"

"I just want to see what kind of person you married." Catherine twitched her lips. She admitted that Margaret was outstanding in appearance and had a great father, but so what?

"Just this one time," Signus warned, unwilling to risk pestering Catherine at the door.

"Of course." Catherine looked at Signus with fiery eyes, "Then, see you at the old time tomorrow."

Signus returned to the bedroom in his bathrobe, and Margaret was sitting in front of the vanity mirror combing her hair.

"We need a potions master." Signus without warning repeated the topic that Margaret avoided at today's banquet.

Her movements paused: "Have you found the right candidate?"

"The Dark Lord hopes that this person will preferably have a close connection with us." Signus changed into his pajamas. "Severus is indeed an outstanding potion master, but that is not enough..."

"No, Signus!" Margaret refused without thinking. "My father is old. He can't work like that, and you know it very well."

People are always the easiest to leave holes when they panic, even Margaret is no exception.

"I'm not talking about your father, Maggie." Signus lay lazily on the bed, and Margaret saw his paranoid and passionate eyes in the mirror, and couldn't help but raise her vigilance, "I'm talking about you."

The comb fell silently to the carpet, and Margaret turned her head in disbelief: "Signus?"

"You must have seen the Lestranges, right?" Signus laughed softly, and he simply let Margaret see his intentions, "We can be like them, Maggie. Think about it Look... Mr. and Mrs. Burst, I'm sure we can work together flawlessly, don't we?"

After a moment of silence, Margaret leaned over and picked up the comb: "I'll think about it, Signus."

"I thought you wouldn't hesitate to join our team."

"Didn't Narcissa not follow in the footsteps of Lucius? Well, I promise you that I will think about it, isn't that enough?" Margaret grabbed her bathrobe and refused to give a positive answer.

Signus reconfirmed without stopping: "But, you will think about it carefully, right?"

"Yes." Margaret hurriedly got up and walked to the bathroom.Signus watched her back - she should have known from the day Margaret was engaged to him that sooner or later she would be sitting around a table with the Death Eaters.Even Narcissa had to follow Lucius to Death Eater meeting after meeting, didn't she?

A moment later Margaret returned to the bedroom, and with a wave of her wand she extinguished the lights.

"I think we could consider having a baby, don't you think?" Signus asked in the darkness.

The author has something to say:

1. Guspard Singleton: born in 1959, the inventor of the automatic stirring crucible. Mentioned in History of Magic class in Philosopher's Stone.

2. Tracy Davis: Privately set.Mrs. Zabini.

3. The spell of purple flame: Dolohov used it to deal with Hermione in "Order of the Phoenix".

4. The second black magic: the symptoms that appeared after Pluto exploded in front of Ron in "Order of the Phoenix".

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