Volume 5: The Burning Golden Flame Chapter 357 Prelude to Death
The atmosphere became eerie.
It's not that human memory cannot be tampered with, but no matter how advanced the brain occlusion technique is, it is only easy to change distant memories. If the event happened not long ago or less than three days ago, the memory cannot be tampered with at all.
Especially since Jon recalled this memory in front of everyone around him, in full view of everyone.
Matthew's expression was still as calm as ever. He took a deep breath and walked to Jon's side with a transparent glass bottle in his hand.
"Give it to me. Someone from the referee team will verify this memory. If we really find any clues in it, we will definitely give you and Dumbledore an explanation."
Jon looked up at Dumbledore, who looked at him and nodded slightly.
So Jon shrugged and put the memory into the bottle in Matthew's hand.
"Well, I hope you can give an explanation after you find something."
The matter of the mad fire dragon in the Forbidden Forest came to an end. Matthew certainly would not start to examine this memory directly in front of so many people at the scene. Some things had to be done away from these reporters just for the sake of fairness.
At this time, everyone looked at Emil, who was still standing on the edge of the silver line in a daze, and Matthew asked again.
"So, are you still going to continue the game, Mr. Lestrange?"
Emile looked up at his vice-president somewhat helplessly, but Boster did not even look at him. Instead, he lowered his head with a gloomy expression, not knowing what he was thinking.
At this point, the boy finally couldn't hold on any longer. He walked out of the silver line at the edge of the Forbidden Forest with his head down, holding the cloth bag containing the Golden Snitch in his hand.
And the moment he stepped out, countless flashes captured this scene, which also marked the end of the first event of the Triwizard Tournament.
The three federation referees present did not waste any time. They came to Jon, Diane and Emil respectively, took the cloth bags from them, and began to check the results of their competition in front of everyone.
In the end, as expected, Jon was the one who gained the most. He found a total of 216 golden snitches.
In fact, if he hadn't been chased by those fire dragons, he would have gained more. But no matter how much he gained, there was no way to add any points to his score. It was the same with or without it.
Emile's harvest was actually not bad. He found a total of 148 Golden Snitches. He must have received some unknown help in the Forbidden Forest, otherwise, considering that his strength was actually similar to Diane's, he would not have been able to achieve such a level.
There is no need to say anything about Diane. After meeting up with Jon, she rushed straight to the edge of the Forbidden Forest. She had caught 86 of them when she saw Jon, and now that the game is over, there are naturally only 86 left.
According to the ranking, Jon got 70 points for being the first, and with the 30 points he got for finishing second, his total score of 100 now ranks first.
Diane ranked third with only 30 points, but Jon gave her a push at the last minute, allowing her to finish first and get 40 points, ranking second with a total score of 70.
Emil came in second with 50 points, and finished third with 20 points, for a total score of 70, tying for second place with Diane.
Although it was not bad, it was certainly not the result Emil expected. According to his original idea, the worst ranking would be that he and John would be tied for first place.
The last one is of course Draco, who was eliminated at the beginning of the game. Even though he was eliminated at the beginning, he still got the minimum 20 points and is now last.
However, what happened in the Forbidden Forest might not be a bad thing for him, if he had not planned to get any good results in the Triwizard Tournament from the beginning.
Just when Matthew finally announced the results of the first competition event, suddenly, the sky was lit up with a pale green light!
The light shone on everyone's face, and nearly ten spells representing death were shooting straight at a huge fire dragon at the highest point!
…
Little Barty is going crazy!
His arm was obviously burned by the dragon's breath, and there was a burning smell coming from it.
Fire dragons have never been scary creatures in the eyes of wizards. For wizards who have been dominating the magic world for thousands of years, there are almost no magical animals in the world that can make them afraid, just like Muggles in normal society have also reached the top of the food chain.
But all of this is based on the fact that wizards have actually kept these species in captivity under the guise of protecting fire dragons, and even when they are trying to control the number of dragons in the wild, there are groups of professional dragon slayers who hunt them.
But now there are only more than thirty adult wizards in Hogwarts Castle, but there are seventeen or eighteen fire dragons attacking the castle. On average, it is a bit difficult for two people to deal with one dragon, and they have not received special dragon training, so the situation will only be more difficult.
Alecto was lying on the ground, whimpering like a tied-up pig.
Her body was torn and covered with burns. She had not yet recovered from the Cruciatus Curse cast by little Barty, so she could only roll on the ground.
But little Batty still wouldn't allow her to leave this dangerous place. The reason was simple: whoever retreated would die!
He really put this into practice. Just three minutes ago, a teacher who taught the first-year flying class at the Half-Blood Academy retreated and wanted to escape from the astronomy tower. As a result, little Barty cast a killing curse on him without saying a word.
It was both horrifying and somewhat natural that such crazy behavior happened to him.
Anyone who is absolutely loyal to Voldemort is basically a lunatic. If he is not crazy, he would not be called Barty Crouch Jr.
But no matter how hard they tried, they had little effect when facing these fire dragons, and there was no way to cause much effective damage to them.
Even though some professors and Aurors in pure-blood colleges can use the Killing Curse, the power of the Killing Curse they release is enough to kill people, but it can only make fire dragons bleed from the nose or become more crazy.
Little Barty knew that he couldn't go on like this, and when he first discovered the dragon rampage, he sent people to ask Voldemort for help. However, the castle itself had problems, and it was very troublesome for Voldemort to come over, especially during the period when students stayed in the castle at the beginning and end of the semester.
Now he didn't know whether Voldemort could wait for him, but there would be casualties in the Astronomy Tower. Although he was crazy and said harsh words, his little rationality told him that the professors in Hogwarts Castle could not really die in this meaningless castle defense battle.
If it comes to that, not to mention the problems with the prestige of the British wizarding world and Voldemort himself, their entire force will suffer a severe blow!
Little Barty gritted his teeth. He couldn't even feel the pain on his burned left arm. His hoarse roar spread throughout the entire astronomy tower.
"Those who can use the killing curse, aim at the Ukrainian iron belly directly above!"
He planned to organize the existing resistance forces to at least make the situation less difficult. From the beginning to now, the most active force that had dealt the greatest blow to their group was the Ukrainian Iron Belly.
The professors in the astronomy tower heard what he said. Not everyone can cast the killing curse. It is not just a question of whether one has the murderous intent in one's heart. There are also thresholds in terms of magic power and willpower.
There were only about eight or nine people at the scene who could use the killing curse, and after hearing little Barty's voice, they all raised their wands together!
"Avada Kedavra!"
The sound of the death curse's incantation rang out on this astronomical tower, and those nearly ten pale green incantations even suppressed the golden-red light of the dragon's breath, illuminating the night sky, and shot straight at the Ukrainian iron belly.
The threat of death stimulated the fire dragon's brain, but its body was the largest among all dragons, and there was no way to avoid it at such a close distance!
As a result, all the killing curses failed and all hit its world-famous iron belly.
The next second, the Ukrainian Iron Belly's wings that were originally spread out stopped spreading. Its blood-red eyes showed that the light of life was fading away. Then, its huge body fell heavily to the ground!
Barty Jr. found the right time to release the killing curse, just when the fire dragon was flying away from the castle. Otherwise, even if he killed it, the impact of its fall would be enough to crush everyone in the tower into meat paste.
After the giant dragon's corpse fell to the ground, the entire area covered by Hogwarts school shook violently for a moment.
The students hiding in the castle had no idea what was going on, but the horrifying noise made them scream. Even the usually silent surface of the Black Lake, which was like a mirror, was splashed with countless water splashes!
Little Batty was breathing heavily, with a look of relief on his face. No matter what, at least now they had the means to kill these fire dragons.
But the relaxation on his face did not last for a few seconds. The next moment, an even more violent tremor caused the entire castle to begin shaking!
The magnitude of this turbulence was so great that many people even had the illusion that the castle was about to collapse!
The death of a Ukrainian Ironbelly made the remaining surviving fire dragons even more crazy!
They collectively crashed into the center of the castle's surface, causing the magic guarding the castle itself to become shaky, as if it could break at any time.
There was another Ukrainian Iron Belly left in the sky. After seeing the death of its own kind, it let out a violent roar, and the scorching dragon flames covered the entire astronomical tower!
The high temperature instantly enveloped everyone. They had just collectively used a killing curse and they had no time to react and jointly use a universal antidote to resist.
Little Batty was filled with despair. He couldn't figure out why things had developed to this point.
Wasn't this their plan for that little mudblood? Why did they have to bear the consequences?
Just when he was about to close his eyes and wait for death, suddenly, the burning sensation disappeared!
Little Batty opened his eyes blankly, and then he saw the man whom he regarded as his spiritual pillar standing in the center of the astronomy tower.
He was wearing a well-fitting dark green robe. The night wind blew up the hem of the robe, making him look so different from everything around him.
But the man's face did not look good. He looked at several fire dragons flying in the sky with their wings spread, and gently raised the magic wand in his hand.
No one heard the spell, but in the next moment, green light illuminated everyone's face!
The Ukrainian Iron Belly, whose throat was spewing sparks as it prepared for the next dragon breath, completely froze!
It took nearly ten people including Little Batty to jointly cast the Killing Curse to kill the fire dragon. And under this silent curse without even a spell being recited... he died.
None of the surviving Hogwarts professors showed any disbelief on their faces. Instead, they looked at the man with endless admiration and respect.
He is just so omnipotent.
After killing the Iron Belly, Voldemort swung the wand in his hand, and the dragon corpse that was originally resting just above the Astronomy Tower fell to the other side as if it was hit by a sledgehammer.
He turned his head with cold eyes and glanced at the people around him. Then without saying anything, he turned into a black mist and flew into the sky!
The green light of death continued to light up everywhere around the castle. The fire dragons had no room to resist at all. None of them could withstand the man's death curse. In less than a minute, the group of dragons that had originally surrounded Hogwarts Castle continued to fall from the sky like dumplings.
The dragon disaster that more than 30 elite wizards were helpless against was not even a problem in front of him. His crushing superiority in magic level allowed him to rule the British wizarding world in a manner equivalent to a dictatorship, and he had almost no rivals in this world.
After solving the troubles facing the castle, Voldemort did not return to the Astronomy Tower, nor did he go to see Dumbledore. He did not contact anyone. He just came to the eighth floor of Hogwarts Castle alone, silently, still maintaining the form of black mist.
He stood in front of the blank wall, and soon a wooden door suddenly appeared. He flew in, opened the trapdoor, passed through the secret passage, and finally came to the Slytherin's secret room.
He walked into the Chamber of Secrets with a blank expression on his face. Finally, he opened the stone door with two snakes carved on it and came to the room where the statue of Slytherin himself was and which was full of magic runes.
