The days of hanging out at Hogwarts

A tall middle-aged man who looked like a bear walked through the green mountain road, looking at the thicker mountain fog ahead, his expression a little dazed.

A few years ago, I escorted Vincent to transfer to another school. I once climbed the mountain to Ilvermorny under the guidance of a servant. After coming here, I bought a carriage at the wizard market and spent several hundred galleons. I can't remember what magical animal pulled the carriage, maybe a night thestral or a magic horse. At that time, Ilvermorny was considered remote. Vincent transferred to another school midway, and it was troublesome to go up and down the mountain, so the carriage frame and the magical animal pulling the carriage were left to him.

After receiving the news that Vincent was missing, I specially asked someone to search the mountain road and walked through one of the areas myself.

It was summer, the vegetation was dense, the old trees were lush, and occasionally you could see vipers disguised as leaves coiled on the ground, and there were ruts left by wheels on the roadside.

There was no road ahead, and old Crabbe couldn't tell the direction. He only knew that he should go up, so he simply waded through the dense weeds and trampled out a path with his body. The top of the mountain is the castle of Ilvermorny, but unfortunately the mountain fog is thick and the forest is dense. The bushes and weeds beside it all look the same. It is obvious that you are going up, but you turn around a few times and return to the same place.

Unfortunately, Ilvermorny has set up a protective magic here, so you can't Apparate and appear directly at the school gate.

After going around in circles for a few times, old Crabbe's breathing became heavy and he began to get annoyed.

Just when he was about to set something on fire and make a big noise, there was a crisp phoenix cry above his head.

Old Crabbe looked up and didn't see the phoenix. There was only a ray of brilliant flame falling on his shoulder. He didn't have time to react, and it instantly spread to his whole body. The trees and weeds in front of him immediately became blurred.

…

The top of the mountain was covered with thick fog in the early morning, and the light inside the castle was dim. The side hall of the auditorium did not turn on the lights, but rarely lit candles. The candles burned quietly, and the melted wax flowed down the lamps. The dining table was full of food, and the milk and bread were steaming and fragrant.

The dark circles under Professor Snape's eyes became more serious. It seemed that he didn't sleep much last night. He probably stayed up all night to study the snake tree and living Horcruxes. The two headmasters were not quite right, but they couldn't tell what was wrong. They would observe them again.

Around the dining table, Loren and Hermione lowered their heads to eat, and their eyes occasionally glanced at them. The two wizards who graduated from Ilvermorny and returned to school gathered together and whispered about the flames they had just seen and the gorgeous phoenix in the flames.

"Is that the phoenix Fawkes?"

"I heard that only wizards from the Dumbledore family can meet the phoenix."

"Has our headmaster ever raised any magical animals?"

"Does Pukki count..."

Hermione listened to the two people's discussion, shook her head, leaned close to Loren's ear, and whispered: "What job is the headmaster talking about?"

"Welcome a guest."

"Guest?"

"The victim's family, also the suspect's accomplice."

"Ah..."

Hermione bit the bread, blinked, and had a vague guess in her heart.

Ilvermorny's Apparition blockade is slightly different from Hogwarts's protective magic, with a wider coverage area, almost covering the middle of Greylock Mountain, but both have the same flaw, that is, they only target Apparition and cannot prevent the spatial movement of magical animals and elves.

Half a minute later, flames rose again at the door of the side hall, and a figure slowly appeared.

This man was tall and strong, with a strong back and strong waist. His muscles made his sleeves and trousers bulge. He looked middle-aged, with a little baldness and a little old face.

"Mr. Crabbe."

"Dumbledore..."

Old Crabbe looked around the room, his expression still a little dazed.

"Long time no see, Mr. Crabbe, you look tired, do you want to have some breakfast and rest for a while?" Dumbledore's voice was broad and gentle. As soon as he finished speaking, bread, bacon, fried eggs and milk fell in front of the Death Eater. It seemed that the person who came was not a vicious wanted criminal, but just an ordinary student parent.

Old Crabbe was sitting across a table from Dumbledore. He stared at Dumbledore's face and remained silent. The people next to him looked familiar, but he didn't care anymore, no matter that the Death Eater spy was Severus Snape, and the two little wizards were friends of Harry Potter.

He was indeed very tired, his head was dizzy, and his limbs and muscles became unusually heavy.

Because he couldn't remember the location of Ilvermorny, he couldn't Apparate to the foot of the mountain, so he could only use a stupid way to get there. He escaped from the Death Eater's station and Apparate all the way according to the map to assess the direction. It took a whole night from the suburbs of New York to Mount Greylock in Massachusetts.

"Lucius told me that you found Vincent."

Old Crabbe paused, a glimmer of hope flashed across his wooden face. He had been irritable and angry for decades, and he always yelled when he spoke, but now his voice was very soft, "I know what you want from me. As long as he is safe, I can tell you important information about the Dark Lord."

Dumbledore sighed: "Please don't get me wrong. I deliberately passed the news to you through many channels. Although there are indeed considerations against Voldemort and the Death Eaters, it is more of a school professor to inform students' parents, that's all."

"Where is he now?"

"Please follow me."

Dumbledore put down the silver metal cutlery, stood up and led Old Crabbe to the woods behind the castle. The others present also stood up and followed silently.

The group walked into the woods and passed through the vine barrier and came to the vicinity of the snake tree.

The mountain fog was thick, the woods were dense, and the thickest and most luxuriant tree was cut into a hole.

Old Crabbe came to the snake tree and saw the pit at a glance. He walked into the tree hole and saw the pink umbilical cord that was constantly squirming. He saw the almost monster body inside. The figure was vaguely familiar, but he didn't dare to think about it.

Dumbledore glanced at the body covered with snake scales: "Now this body relies on the snake tree to maintain life. With a flesh and blood umbilical cord connected, Voldemort split his soul and attached the soul fragments to Vincent Crabbe's body, devouring the original soul, and using black magic to transform the snake tree and body, intending to make a powerful magic wand."

Old Crabbe opened his mouth and made a difficult voice: "Can you save him?"

"His soul has been wiped out." Dumbledore shook his head and said softly, "Maintaining the status quo will turn this body into a wand core, and directly separating it will cause the body to shrink and wither."

"He's dead, right?"

The old headmaster didn't answer directly, but everyone knew the answer.

Old Crabbe reached his hand into the tree hole and gently touched the body connected by blood. At this moment, he only felt the cold and hard scales. He exhaled a heavy breath and said calmly: "Principal Dumbledore, can we be alone for a while?"

"Of course."

Dumbledore turned and left, taking the bystanders with him.

After the others left, Old Crabbe did not look carefully at the body in the tree hole, but just leaned against the tree trunk.

When they were young, they were not very close. Old Crabbe, who had been irritable all his life, had no patience and did not know how to get along with children. He would beat and scold them at any time, and even punched and kicked them. Now he did not know how to say goodbye, but just stood by and watched quietly.

The mountain fog gathered and dispersed, the sun broke through the clouds and gradually went west, and the sky was bright and dark.

Until the sunset, Old Crabbe stood with numb legs and almost lost consciousness. He had not eaten or drunk for a day and a night, and his whole body was a little stiff. He had to hold the edge of the tree hole to stand steadily. He held it with some effort and supported his body. His vision was a little blurred.

Not sure if it was an illusion, he vaguely saw the snake scales disappear, and the face revealed its original appearance again.

He opened his mouth and uttered a faint throat sound: "Vincent?"

For some reason, the empty shell that had lost its soul began to move, stretched out its right hand, and lightly touched the back of the middle-aged man's hand, as if answering.

The tired and hungry body of old Crabbe surged with strength again. He looked at the orange sky, took out his wand, pressed it against the shell in the tree hole, and said with difficulty:

"Fierce Fire."