Volume 5: The Burning Golden Flame Chapter 358 Deep Meaning
It was quiet inside Slytherin's Chamber of Secrets.
The dwarf trapped in shackles still lay quietly in front of the statue, as if dead.
There was no expression on Voldemort's face as he slowly walked into the Chamber of Secrets.
The runes on the ground lit up, and the dense patterns flickered, as if celebrating the arrival of their owner.
Walking up to the statue, he looked at the silent dwarf and waved his wand.
No spell was uttered, nor did it seem like any magic was activated. The surrounding text symbols suddenly gathered together and rushed along the five chains to hit the dwarf, whose body surface had begun to become illusory.
Voldemort raised one of his feet, and the pair of expensive leather boots stepped on the dwarf. The next moment, the round-faced, big-mouthed dwarf was shattered into pieces, and the runes around him became brighter.
"The haunting continues."
After saying this, Voldemort turned and walked out of the Chamber of Secrets, as if he had not noticed that anyone else had been in this room.
The door of the secret room was closed again, and the glowing runes gradually turned back to their original dim appearance. The whole room became dark and extremely quiet.
This silence lasted for a very long time. Late at night, a "click" sound suddenly came from the darkness, and the mouth of the statue of Salazar Slytherin suddenly opened!
A little girl wearing an invisibility cloak and holding a phoenix in her arms crawled out.
Her face was obviously pale with fear, but she did not leave in a hurry. Instead, she took out a thick roll of parchment from the bag she carried with her, spread it on the ground, and then, with the faint light from the wand illumination spell, copied the runes on the ground onto the paper bit by bit.
…
Many people saw the appearance of Voldemort.
At the edge of the Forbidden Forest, John saw with his own eyes the black fog surrounding Hogwarts Castle and killing all the dragons. The method was simple and unpretentious, but it made everyone who saw the scene shudder with fear.
This man is truly unimaginably powerful .
In the Forbidden Forest, even if John used all his strength to cast a strengthened Killing Curse, it had no real effect on the Hungarian Horntail Dragon. But under Voldemort's hands, his Killing Curse was truly an Unforgivable Curse.
When every green light comes on, there will inevitably be an end of life.
When Boster saw that the dragon disaster in the castle had been resolved, an ecstatic expression appeared on his face.
He looked at Dumbledore, John and the others with a wild look on his face, as if he had already forgotten about the outcome of the game.
"No matter what schemes you have, they are all in vain in front of the master! Do you think a group of fire dragons can make Hogwarts Castle fall? Dream on!"
Jon looked at him speechlessly. This vice-headmaster of Beauxbatons was probably frightened by Rosier to the point of having his brain broken.
Whose conspiracy is this group of fire dragons?
He really can't not know, right?
Just as the black fog eliminated all the fire dragons, it disappeared a few minutes later.
Suddenly, a handsome wizard wearing an exquisite dark green robe slowly came to the competition venue from the edge of the Black Lake.
No one could tell any expression from his face. He was as unpredictable as the dark clouds in the sky. The change from thunder and rain to sunny weather could happen in just a moment.
"gentlemen."
Matthew bowed slightly and addressed the man who was causing chaos in Europe.
Even now, few people know Voldemort's full name, and even among those who do, only a handful dare to call him out or address him by his surname.
In formal occasions, people generally call him "Sir", and those who are more fanatical about him will naturally add the prefix "Great".
"Master! They cheated! That little Mudblood cheated and beat Emile! You must be fair. This match was proposed by you, and we must ensure fairness!"
Bulstrode cried and hugged Voldemort's thighs, accusing John and the others of their crimes in tears.
The atmosphere at the scene suddenly became a little gloomy, even tense.
Only a small number of reporters who were willing to sacrifice themselves for the news stayed behind, but they turned off their flash and continued to work hard to freeze the picture so that they would not have to worry about the news for the next two weeks.
Most of the reporters, who had already sensed that something was wrong with the situation, did not dare to stay here for a moment and immediately trotted out of the Hogwarts campus with their cameras.
Today's harvest is enough. If they stay any longer, there may be bigger news, but they will have to be alive to bring it out.
Jon looked at the man calmly, and Voldemort was also looking at him calmly.
"Your performance has truly exceeded my expectations and you continue to surprise me time and time again, Jon Green."
There didn't seem to be much malice in his words, it was as if he was sincerely expressing his admiration for Jon.
No one could hear much anger from his mouth, as if what happened to Hogwarts Castle tonight was of no importance to him at all.
Jon stared into Voldemort's eyes, trying to see from his eyes what this completely different Voldemort was thinking.
However, a person's eyes could not express the details of his inner thoughts after all. The most Jon could see was that he was indeed not disguising himself, and he did not care much about the fact that he was not killed this time, but the Hogwarts Castle was attacked instead.
So what exactly does he want to do?
Isn't the ultimate purpose of designing these fire dragons to kill oneself?
He looked so nonchalant, but he was still in control of the situation as soon as he appeared on the stage.
Bulstrode was still hugging Voldemort's thigh, but his master never looked at him from beginning to end.
"So the first event is over? What's the score?"
Matthew answered his question.
"Jon Green scored 100 points, Diane Rozier and Emil Lestrange both scored 70 points."
After hearing his words, Voldemort suddenly kicked Bulstrode away from his legs.
"Since the referee team has already come up with the score, it means they recognize the current result. I invited the referees from the Federation, which means I trust their abilities. Is it your turn to say it's unfair?"
Boster looked aggrieved.
"But they still accused us of cheating, Master! They said it was us who planned for these fire dragons to go crazy!"
Voldemort's face was calm.
"So we planned this?"
"Of course not!"
Bulstrode's voice has never been louder.
"Then why are you so excited? We know there is nothing wrong with us, so let them investigate. I think since Mr. Graves can ensure the fairness of the game, he will not let either party suffer such slander, right?"
Facing Voldemort's gaze, Matthew was obviously under a lot of pressure, and he swallowed.
"That's what I came here for, sir."
"very good."
Voldemort's gaze turned to Emil, who was lowering his head, not daring to look at him, with shame on his face.
"I never expect young people to succeed in whatever they do, but you won't always let me down, will you?"
There was no blame, but more like a word of encouragement, which allowed Emil to calm down his emotions. He looked up at Voldemort with excitement and determination in his eyes, a look of reverence, as if he would not hesitate if Voldemort ordered him to die on the spot.
"No, sir, I won't let you down again!"
Jon watched all this silently. From Cedric's communication with him in the Forbidden Forest and the current scene, it was not difficult for him to tell that Voldemort was actually more prestigious among young wizards.
"Since the first event is over, everyone should go back and rest as soon as possible. I am looking forward to the next game, and I hope it will bring me a more exciting scene than tonight."
He didn't seem to realize how embarrassing it would be for him as the principal to have the castle attacked by a fire dragon. But just as he was about to leave, a gentle voice suddenly rang out.
"Are you planning on going back to the Ministry of Magic, Riddle?"
The whole scene suddenly became extremely quiet. Everyone held their breath when they heard this last name, which was not uncommon in the magic world but was unfamiliar to most people at this time.
There was only one person present who dared to call Voldemort that.
Dumbledore looked at Voldemort, who suddenly stopped walking, without fading the smile on his face.
"Such a big thing happened in the school, but you still pretend to be so nonchalant. Don't you really plan to stay in the castle for one night to appease the emotions of your subordinates and the students?"
No one present except John understood what Dumbledore meant by these words which sounded more like suggestions.
They all knew that there were irreconcilable contradictions between the two, but they did not hear any tension in their words.
However, Voldemort, who had remained calm all the time, turned around at this moment and looked at Dumbledore with an extremely cold expression.
"Don't blame me for not reminding you in advance, old man. Since you have already sworn a blood oath, you'd better honestly follow the rules of the game and get things over with. If you want to do anything else, be careful of the consequences!"
His sudden change of attitude left everyone confused, but they could all see that Dumbledore's words had obviously touched Voldemort's sore spot.
But his threat did not change Dumbledore's expression much, he remained as calm as ever.
"Of course, as long as you also ensure that the game itself is correct."
"Of course I can guarantee the blood oath I've sworn."
"It is only the result that is restricted by the blood oath, not the game itself. You and I both know this."
"Since you knew everything, why didn't you reject me then?"
"Because things don't always go the way you think, do they?" Dumbledore blinked.
Voldemort's expression became increasingly cold.
"Then let's continue reading."
After saying that, he walked towards the castle without looking back.
Seeing him leave, Bulstrode and Emile had no intention of staying and followed him out of the edge of the Forbidden Forest.
Finally, only Dumbledore and his group and three referees from the Federation were left.
Matthew looked at Dumbledore, who was still holding the bottle containing Jon's own extracted memories.
"I will investigate what happened during the match, Albus, but you should understand that there will be no clear conclusion in such a situation."
Of course, both Dumbledore and John knew very well that even if the evidence was conclusive, it would not have any impact on the situation.
Unless Voldemort is certain to be defeated and has lost the strength to compete with them, even if there is more evidence, as long as the other party insists on it, there will be no further developments.
"I can understand your difficulties, and you have done well enough so far. After all, you are just an outsider."
Dumbledore said softly, and then turned around with John, Rosier and the others to leave.
"Go to bed early tonight. You will be busy preparing for the second project later."
On the way back, Jon could clearly feel that Dumbledore's steps were very fast, as if he was in a hurry.
"What's wrong, Professor?"
Dumbledore's face was serious.
"We must go back as soon as possible to see if Hermione has returned."
…
When Voldemort returned to the castle, his face still retained the gloomy look he had when he finished talking with Dumbledore.
After he came back, Snape hurried to greet him. Many professors followed him. Even though many of them were still injured, as long as they were still able to breathe and move, they would not dare to lie in bed when their master came to the castle.
"How are things going?"
"We have settled all the students. Crouch is taking people to check the dragon corpses. Amycus is confirming the damage to the castle, but it seems that the loss is not serious at the moment."
"What about the personnel?"
"Two people died. An Auror was accidentally pierced by the fangs of a Peruvian Venomous Dragon, and Pierre from the Half-Blood Academy was killed by Crouch for being cowardly."
"Take these people to work. Also, find out as soon as possible why these dragons suddenly set their sights on the castle. I hope your report will be on my desk before this time tomorrow."
"I understand, Master."
Snape left with the people around him with a serious expression, leaving Voldemort alone standing in the castle hall. He was still thinking about the last conversation between him and Dumbledore.
He felt that the cunning old man wanted to say more than just this to him. The fact that Dumbledore stopped him at the moment he was about to leave was itself worthy of deep thought.
Suddenly, Voldemort narrowed his eyes, and his body turned into black mist again, flying towards the eighth floor of the castle!
