94 Diagon Alley - Chapter 264

    He saw Voldemort standing a little in front of him, stroking Nagini’s head with a pale finger. Harry closed his eyes again.

    “No!”

    “No!”

    “Harry! Harry!”

    Ron, Hermione, and Ginny’s voices were more poignant than McGonagall’s. Harry wanted to yell at them, but he forced himself to lie down in silence. Their shouts were like detonators, and the survivors rose up, shouting curses at the Death Eaters.

    “You’re lying—” George shouted, “get your Death Eater **** out!”

    “He won’t run away!” cried Gwen and several Gryffindor students with tears in their eyes.

    “Quiet!” Voldemort shouted, only to hear a thud, a flash of light, and they were all forced to silence: “It’s over! Hagrid, put him at my feet, He just deserves to be here!”

    Harry felt himself being put on the grass.

    “See?” said Voldemort, and Harry felt him striding back and forth beside him, “Harry Potter is dead! You blinded people, see now He is nothing at all, just a little boy who relies on others to sacrifice for him!”

    “He beat you!” shouted Ron, and the spell was broken, and the defenders of Hogwarts roared and shouted again. A second later, with an even more earth-shattering bang, they fell silent again.

    “He was killed while trying to escape the school,” Voldemort said, seeming complacent at lying, “killed while trying to escape himself—”

    But Voldemort couldn’t finish his sentence, and Harry heard scuffles, shouts, and then a thud, a flash, and a painful grunt. He opened his eyes a little bit. It turned out that someone broke free from the crowd and rushed towards Voldemort. Harry saw the figure disarmed and slumped to the ground, and Voldemort laughed and threw the challenger’s wand aside.

    “Who is this?” He said in a soft, snake-like hiss, “Who takes the initiative to test the law and let everyone see what will happen if they continue to resist after the defeat?”

    Bellatrix laughed happily.

    “It’s Neville Longbottom, Master! The boy who caused so much trouble for the Carrolls! The son of the Aurors, remember?”

    “Ah, yes, I remember.” Voldemort said, looking down at Neville. Neville struggled to his feet with bare hands and no cover, and stood in the clearing between the survivors and the Death Eaters. “But you’re a purebred wizard, aren’t you, my brave boy?” Voldemort asked Neville, who stood facing him, empty palms clenched into fists.

    “So what?” Neville exclaimed.

    “You have shown courage and determination, and a noble birth. You will be a Death Eater to behold. We need people like you, Neville Longbottom.”

    “I won’t go with you until **** freezes,” said Neville, “Dumbledore’s Army!” Breath spell doesn’t seem to work either

    “Very good,” said Voldemort, and Harry recognized that his smooth voice contained more danger than the cruelest spell. “If that’s your choice, Longbottom, we’ll just have to do it as planned. Let it,” he said softly, “on your head.”

    Still across the eyelashes, Harry saw Voldemort wave his wand. A few seconds later, a strange bird-like thing flew out of one of the smashed windows of the castle. It flew out of the dim light and fell into Voldemort’s hands. Voldemort grabbed the musty object and shook it by the prongs, and it drooped down empty and rotten: the Sorting Hat.

    “Hogwarts Schools will no longer need divisions,” said Voldemort, “never divided into several Houses. My noble ancestor, the coat of arms of Salazar Slytherin, Shields and flags, enough for everyone, isn’t it, Neville Longbottom?”

    He pointed his wand at Neville, who immediately became stiff and motionless. Then Voldemort put the hat on Neville’s head so that the brim slipped under Neville’s eyes. There was a commotion in the crowd watching this scene in front of the castle, and the Death Eaters raised their wands in unison, keeping the Hogwarts rebels away.

    “Neville is going to show everyone what happens to those who foolishly continue to resist me.” Voldemort said with a wave of his wand, and the Sorting Hat burst into flames.

    Cries pierced the dawn sky, Neville was on fire, but was pinned to the ground, unable to move. Harry couldn’t take it anymore, he had to act—

    A lot of things happened at the same time.

    “I insist that Hogwarts needs four houses.” A calm and familiar voice came over all the shouting. The fire on the Sorting Hat went out, and Dumbledore came out of the castle. “Tom, because my students have different, but equally valuable qualities.”

    The crowd automatically opened an avenue for him, and all the students and professors exclaimed, as if their endless prayers had finally won Merlin’s mercy.

    Voldemort’s complacent expression cracked in shock.

    “You are dead, Dumbledore,” he said.

    “You are carried away by your own desires, Tom.” Dumbledore shook his head regretfully, “I’m standing right in front of you, living well.”

    Voldemort sneered and raised his wand, “I don’t need to argue with you, Dumbledore. Because I could kill you again.”

    “Your magic is far less powerful than you think,” said the aging headmaster. “On the contrary, we have a power that you and your followers cannot match.”

    “Really?” Voldemort was incensed, but he quickly thought of a good way to fight back, “So you’ve been hiding like a mouse for a year? Let your minions die for you , sacrifice in vain? How touching, Dumbledore.”

    “He protected us!” Hermione cried suddenly, “His magic keeps us safe in war!”

    “Thank you, Miss Granger.” Dumbledore bent slightly, “Indeed, an ancient magic, and the magic that Lily Potter used to protect her son more than ten years ago Similarly, this requires wizards to protect their loved ones with the belief that they will die. But there are limitations, such as I can’t cast this spell on people with dark marks – so I have to ask others for help, use To protect some great, secret allies. You see, that’s what Mr. Tom Riddle doesn’t understand. He doesn’t believe in people’s willingness to sacrifice for others, and he doesn’t believe that there is one emotion that trumps the pursuit of fame and fortune, and this Exactly the greatest magic…”

    “Love?” said Voldemort sneeringly. “Then, Dumbledore, let’s see what terrible consequences the so-called ‘love’ can have on you.”

    Streets of red and green light shot towards Dumbledore and the crowd behind him, and the Death Eaters rushed over.

    At this time, there was a commotion from the school boundary wall in the distance. It seemed that thousands of people mighty over the wall outside their sight, rushing towards the castle with a loud cry. Meanwhile, Grapp wobbled from the side of the castle, shouting, “Hagrid!” Voldemort’s giants roared in response. They sprinted toward Glop like elephants, shaking with shock. Then there was the sound of hoofs, the sound of a bow being drawn, and in a blink of an eye, arrows were shot among the Death Eaters. They screamed in surprise and lost their way. Harry pulled the Invisibility Cloak from his robes and draped it over him, leaping from the ground, just as Neville moved.

    Neville stiffened and the Sorting Hat slipped. He drew from it a silvery thing with a gleaming handle and rubies–

    In the roar of the crowd, in the slaughter of giants, in the hoofs of the swarming centaurs, no one could hear the silver sword slashing, but It seems to attract every pair of eyes. With a single strike, Neville chopped off the serpent’s head, which whirled high into the sky, shining in the lights from the hallway. Voldemort opened his mouth and let out an angry cry, but no one could hear it, and then, with a thud, the snake fell heavily at his feet—

    Harry hid under the invisibility cloak, and before Voldemort could raise his wand, he cast an iron spell between him and Neville. Then, amidst the shouts and roars and the heavy footsteps of the fighting giants, Hagrid’s shouts overshadowed everything.

    “Harry!” cried Hagrid, “Harry—where is Harry?”

    The whole scene was chaotic. The centaurs charged into the battle, chasing the Death Eaters in all directions, everyone was escaping the trampling of giants, and the reinforcements coming from nowhere were so powerful that they were getting closer and closer. Harry saw the winged behemoth Thestral and the hippogriff Buckbeak hovering over Voldemort’s giant, scratching their eyes, and Grapp’s fist on their faces. At this point all the wizards, the defenders of Hogwarts, the Death Eaters of Voldemort, were forced to retreat to the castle. Harry fired curses and spells whenever he saw the Death Eaters, and they collapsed, not knowing who or what animal had attacked him, and then their bodies were stomped under the feet of the retreating crowd.

    Harry, still hidden under the Invisibility Cloak, was crowded into the foyer. He was looking for Voldemort, and then he saw Voldemort across the room, still in command of Loud, as he retreated into the Great Hall, waving his wand and shooting spells in all directions. Harry cast a few more Iron Charms, and Seamus Finnigan and Hannah Abbott, who were nearly hit by Voldemort, hurried past him into the Great Hall, joining the already