The days of hanging out at Hogwarts

The sunset was orange, and the clouds were orange-yellow.

Under the setting sun, one side of the canopy of the mountain forest was dyed golden red, and the other side was covered by shadows. The top of the canopy was the boundary between the glow and the shadow.

In the center of the woods, a grand funeral was being held.

The blazing light shone on the tired and numb face of old Crabbe, as if the brass busts in the flower bed were not the afterglow of the setting sun, but the constantly burning flames. The snake tree made a crackling sound, as if crying. Thousands of fallen leaves were wrapped in the air flow and swirled around, igniting themselves to form a whirlwind of flames, and were restricted by invisible magic in the snake tree area, so they could only burn and turn into ashes and scatter everywhere.

Deep in the tree hole, only the empty shell of Vincent Crabbe was left curled up in the hole, with his eyes closed. The flames that used half a tree as firewood were burning him and quickly ignited him. The snake scales melted into black juice, the charred human figure twisted in the fire, and the huge canopy was burning.

The firelight and the sunset glow mixed together, dyeing the sky with color.

Two figures stood on a thick branch of the fir tree outside the vine barrier, dyed the same red as the tree, covering their figures. Only by looking carefully can you see that they are two wizards, one old and one young. The old wizard has gray hair and beard, and the young wizard looks like an adult, with a delicate face, looking at the snake tree from a distance.

In the first grade, I was chased around the castle by this Crabbe. I still remember that violent and fierce look very clearly. Now Mr. Crabbe's appearance and body shape have not changed much, but the arrogant shadow of the board member back then can no longer be seen.

Loren sighed: "Principal, if his son is still alive, will he continue to be loyal to Voldemort?"

"Who knows?"

Dumbledore's blue eyes were particularly deep: "I am 115 years old this year. Nearly a hundred years of experience tells me that setting an illusory condition and speculating on the impact on the current situation has no meaning for the reality in front of me."

The old principal looked at the roiling flames in front of him, and the fire reflected in his eyes: "We always imagine if, but there is never if..."

"Oh." Loren was too lazy to talk about philosophy and life with the principal, and continued to stare at the flames.

Inside the soulless body, a black smoke rose, and the thick black fog condensed into a skull-like face in the roiling flames, making a shrill roar, but the roar only lasted for a few seconds and was soon engulfed by the swirling flames.

Old Crabbe was not afraid, and even thought the sound was somewhat pleasant. The Dark Lord made the same wail as an ordinary wizard.

The afterglow of the setting sun gradually dimmed, the sunset completely faded, the Fiendfyre gradually extinguished, the whole world became dark, the color of the sky was a little cold, the stars showed their traces, and a half-moon hung obliquely in the sky.

In the end, only the lower half of the trunk and root knot of the snake tree remained. The snakewood wand left by Salazar Slytherin thousands of years ago was brought to this distant country by blood relatives across the Atlantic Ocean, where it took root and grew, healing life. Thousands of years later, it was tainted by its own blood relatives with black magic and finally turned into ashes.

The living Horcrux that carried the Dark Lord's victory over death, the son of a certain father, also turned into ashes.

He stared at the face, breathing rapidly, sweat dripping from his forehead, he couldn't help but reach out to cover his chest, his heart was slightly aching.

"Vincent... Crabbe."

The middle-aged man called out the name again, then turned and walked towards the castle. He needed food and sleep, he needed to accumulate energy, and then launch a revenge.

To the most powerful dark wizard in the world, the father launched a revenge for his son.

…

That night, dinner was a little later than usual, but the dishes were still as rich. Loren paid a little attention when he passed by the corridor, but he didn't see old Crabbe in the side hall or the main hall. During the meal, several young wizards quietly listened to the professors' conversation and learned some information.

Old Crabbe revealed some information and was transferred to the school infirmary for recuperation. There was no big problem. He just endured a day and a night, was too tired, and suffered a major setback. His spirit was a little depressed, and he would be fine after a sleep. To say that the bear-like body is different, it took three drops of the living hell soup to fall asleep. If it were an ordinary wizard, one drop would knock him down.

Voldemort has been recovering from his injuries since his defeat last year, so he has been relatively quiet during this period.

The Death Eaters' base is blocked by the Fidelius Charm, and Old Crabbe is not a secret keeper and cannot reveal it.

The most important thing is that Voldemort received the news that Harry Potter was about to go to New York and was preparing for an attack. It is said that the source of the news is a spy left in the Ministry of Magic, but it is not clear who it is. Dumbledore does not seem surprised. Anyway, Loren did not see any expression of worry or anxiety on his face.

"It's a pity that the snake tree burned down." Loren could not help but feel sorry.

Fontana took a sip of champagne, smiled, and looked happy: "The snake tree is not dead, its roots are still in Ilvermorny, clean up the rotten trunk, remove the borers inside, and wait until next spring, new branches will sprout again."

Hearing this, Pickley and Nancy breathed a sigh of relief.

Hermione looked at her headmaster and asked in confusion: "Professor, are Professor McGonagall and Harry still coming to New York? Why not cancel this trip directly?"

"Because the tickets and procedures have been handled."

"But the living Horcruxes have been destroyed."

"Their target has never been the living Horcruxes."

Dumbledore explained patiently: "Voldemort has experienced several setbacks. Voldemort has experienced several setbacks. He is now full of vigilance, like a rat in a water pipe. He will hide as soon as he hears the slightest noise. If he learns that all souls All the weapons have been destroyed, and it will be difficult to find his traces.”

Dumbledore quietly looked at the burning flames of the candlestick with deep eyes: "And as early as sixteen years ago, Harry's fate was intertwined with Voldemort. His life is still very long, and he cannot always be like this summer vacation. Avoid Voldemort and block yourself in a small place like a school or the Ministry of Magic."

"..." Hermione thought thoughtfully.

Several wizards in Ilvermorny were confused.

Loren raised his head and looked at the old principal curiously: "Professor, you had already expected that there was a spy for Voldemort in the Ministry of Magic? So you deliberately leaked Harry's whereabouts in order to lure Voldemort, the poisonous snake, out of his cave, and you planned to take advantage of it. Take their opportunity to launch an attack and completely eliminate Voldemort and his Death Eaters? "

Dumbledore shook his head: "Before this, I had only made some guesses, and Mr. Crabbe happened to confirm my guess."

Loren pouted.

Who knows what this old man thinks.

…

August 4th, cloudy.

Loren saw the door key in the shape of a wizard's hat again, and also learned about the arrangements for the ambush from Pickley.

The investigation conducted by the Magical Congress of the United States of America in the past few days has yielded results. By obtaining relevant information from the No-Maj Police Department, it was confirmed that a group of dark wizards once stayed in Brooklyn for about two months. The presence of Death Eaters led to robbery, theft, Crimes such as extortion have been significantly reduced, which has greatly improved the security level in Brooklyn.

It was not until they moved away some time ago that the crime rate here slowly recovered.

Dumbledore and Fontana passed the information to the relevant departments. Previous investigations and Old Crabbe's intelligence confirmed that a group of wizard terrorists were lurking in New York, which attracted the attention of the Magical Congress of the United States and reminded them of the werewolf conspiracy a few years ago. Even the most conservative members of Congress expressed their approval of this anti-terrorism operation.

After breakfast, Loren and his team set off. They first took a car to the mountainside, left the space blockade area, and then activated the door key to head to New York. The three professors and Old Crabbe used another portkey. They had other plans and needed to go to Woolworth Building first.

Loren once again came to the small handicraft shop next to the New York Airport. While waiting for Harry's plane to arrive, he listened to Nancy describe the operation and discussed it quietly with Hermione next to him.

As for Pikli?

He's already pretending.

"The Fourth Auror Team is setting up magic to wait for the Death Eaters to step into the trap. We will immediately block the Apparition...

"The Third Auror Team is guiding the passengers to evacuate. They are pretending to be airport staff. They have persuaded all the passengers who can be persuaded to leave. The other passengers who cannot be persuaded to leave are being guided to the shelter room to ensure that the subsequent battle will not accidentally injure No-Majs. .

"The Second Auror Team has blocked the relevant electronic equipment, and all audio and video equipment will stop working at the appropriate time.

"The Department of International Magical Cooperation has agreed with the No-Maj government that other flights arriving tonight will be diverted to John F. Kennedy International Airport."

"..."

Looking at Pickley, who was reporting to the Auror Director, Nancy pursed her lips, and heard Loren next to her turn to ask: "We have the fourth to second teams, then the first Auror team is in charge. do what?"

"Responsible for combat security."

"Combat...Security..."

Neither Loren nor Hermione quite understood how these two words were connected.

Nancy was silent for a moment, with a subtle expression: "Pickley is in the first team, and the other team members are responsible for protecting his safety during the battle."

"..."

Loren and Hermione couldn't help falling silent.

…

The blue and white "Boeing 777" climbed upwards, emitting a roar that ripped through the air.

This is the world's largest twin-engine wide-body passenger aircraft. It can carry up to 368 passengers in a three-class cabin. It adopts a circular fuselage design and has a total of 12 main landing gear wheels. Its design is outstanding and its technology is advanced. It is Boeing's In order to reverse the decline, the company invested a lot of resources in developing a model with a huge gamble, and finally achieved great success... With this plane, they could fly across the Atlantic Ocean and reach New York in a few hours.

Under the light of a reading lamp, I flipped through the brochure I had picked up when boarding the plane. The color-printed cardboard booklet felt completely different from parchment paper. Harry looked through it with interest, curious about everything inside the giant steel bird. As a Quidditch player, he was passionate about all flying equipment.

The somewhat distorted voice of the staff came from the radio: "Good afternoon, passengers, this is the captain of this aircraft. First of all, welcome everyone to flight 941. We are currently cruising at an airspeed of 400 miles per hour. The time is 10:00 a.m. 25. The weather is good, tailwind, and we are expected to arrive in New York about 15 minutes early. The weather in New York will be cloudy for the rest of the flight.”

Professor McGonagall was sitting by the window with her eyes closed and concentrating. The passenger on the right side of the front seat was always wearing a fedora and could not see his face clearly. The cabin was surprisingly quiet. Except for the slight tightness of the cochlea, the riding experience was very good.

Occasionally, a passenger would get up to go to the toilet, but Harry paid no attention to this and kept his head down while flipping through the brochures.

Until he caught a glimpse of a familiar figure passing by and sitting slowly in the seat in front of him, Harry glanced at him and found that the person next to him was even more familiar, with pink hair that was very recognizable. He couldn't help but glance at him again, and finally shouted in disbelief: "Remus, Tonks... Sirius!"

The two people in the front row turned their heads and smiled gently: "Harry, long time no see..."

The parties or baits of this operation learned the truth belatedly.

The Ministry of Magic also received the intelligence information provided by Dumbledore. Minister Scrimgeour believed that Voldemort and the Death Eaters were terrorist organizations in the British region, and the Ministry of Magic had the responsibility to capture and eliminate them, and could not let the American Magical Congress do the work of the Ministry of Magic. So he selected several groups of core Aurors, temporarily joined forces with the Order of the Phoenix, and went to New York to participate in this encirclement and suppression work.

Harry gathered his chaotic thoughts and scanned the cargo hold. He then noticed many familiar faces: Kingsley, the Longbottoms, Prout, Williamson, Elphia Dogo, Dedalus Digg, Emmeline Vance, Sturgis Podmore...

Sitting in the front row were the leaders of both sides, Minister Scrimgeour and Mad-Eye Moody, who were discussing the battle arrangements and analyzing the spies in the department in a low voice. It took a long time for them to quiet down.

"Will he really not get tired?"

Scrimgeour couldn't help but glance at Mad-Eye next to him. When this guy closed his eyes to rest, the bulging magic eye was still spinning and occasionally staying on his body, which made him feel inexplicably, as if Mad-Eye was watching him in his sleep.

Recalling this emergency encirclement and suppression operation, there are still many doubts in my heart.

Why is the Phoenix Order, which always lurks in the dark, finally willing to reveal its identity? Do they think there is no need to continue lurking?

Why did Dumbledore know that the Death Eaters were hiding in New York, and was sure that they would take the risk to attack Potter? Who was Dumbledore's spy inside the Death Eaters? Who was Voldemort's spy inside the Ministry of Magic?

Why did so many key figures gather in New York? Voldemort, Dumbledore, Harry Potter... something was attracting them.

"..."

Scrimgeour closed his eyes, pausing his chaotic thoughts and speculations.

The huge city that was already brightly lit in the evening appeared under the wing. The street lights and traffic on the highway wove a web of light, waiting for the giant steel bird to fall into the web. That was the city where the Magic Congress was located, and that was the city where the Death Eaters were located.