Black American Comics: Start with a Snap

Chapter 215 After the War
The sun rose, slowly poked its head out, and the sunlight sprinkled on the ruins of Hogwarts.

The broken walls and ruins were silent in the faint golden light, showing the cruelty of the war that took place yesterday night. Broken stones were scattered all over the ground, mixed with blood. The once magnificent buildings were now only left with crumbling stone pillars.

Half of the castle collapsed, and some exposed wood emitted a pungent burnt smell that filled the air.

Members of the Order of the Phoenix organized the students to clean up the battlefield. Although they successfully defeated Tom Riddle and defended Hogwarts, no one smiled.

Everyone was feeling exhausted after surviving a disaster. Professor McGonagall waved her wand to move a huge rock away, but when she saw the bodies of the students under the rock that had been smashed beyond recognition, she couldn't help but cover her mouth.

Professor Snape had already returned to his office with several Slytherin students to prepare potions. Since his office had better protection and was far away from the battlefield, it was the only place that had not been destroyed.

Many students died in this battle. They were all strangled when the dark army broke through the defense line. In addition, there were many wounded waiting for treatment. Before St. Mungo's Hospital sent people over, Professor Snape wanted to save as many students' lives as possible.

Professor Lupin and Sirius were directing the students to clean up the debris in the ruins of Hogwarts. Their voices were a little hoarse, but their eyes were unusually firm.

In fact, compared with what they had achieved back then, this battle was already a great victory.

The injured students lay at the edge of the fountain square, with sounds of pain and groaning audible from time to time. Madam Pomfrey kept moving among the wounded, treating some of the slightly injured students.

On the other side of the fountain square, there were two rows of corpses on the ground.

Some of them had fear on their faces, and it looked like they died instantly without suffering any pain. Others had their bodies torn apart and could only be barely put together.

Quietly watching these students who died heroically, Dumbledore's expression was serious and solemn. Beside him, Constantine was solemnly reciting the eulogy.

Constantine did not recover his memory, he was just reciting the normal eulogy, but the magic power in his body was subconsciously mobilized and released autonomously.

Strands of pure white energy emerged from Constantine's hands and brushed across the surface of the corpse like silk.

As if affected by this magic, or perhaps Constantine's eulogy had an effect, the expressions of the corpses gradually relaxed and became peaceful.

“They are all heroes.”

As the eulogy ended, Dumbledore sighed deeply and couldn't help but speak in a low voice.

Hearing this, Constantine nodded. Although he had not lived in Hogwarts for a very long time, the atmosphere here gave him a feeling of "home".

Although Jessica and Matt are very nice to him in the Marvel Universe, Constantine always feels a little alienated.

At first, he just thought that he had lost his memory, so he had this feeling, but when he came to Hogwarts, he found that the feeling of home had nothing to do with whether he had memory or not.

These students truly treated him like a friend.

A breeze blew quietly, raising a cloud of dust.

The school flag in the ruins fluttered in the wind. Even though the morning sun was shining brightly, it still couldn't dispel the sadness on this land.

Suze and Tonks were walking over from a distance, and behind them, Barty Crouch looked extremely pale.

Hearing the noise, Dumbledore slowly turned around and met Su Ze and others.

"The Aurors have sent the Death Eaters back to Azkaban. In addition to those who escaped from prison, those summoned by the Dark Mark were also sent in." Su Ze said.

"Yes." Dumbledore nodded and forced a smile on his face. "Then I feel relieved."

After Suze opened the portal to Azkaban, the Death Eaters were unable to resist even if they were unwilling.

When the first Death Eater who tried to Apparate crashed into the space enclosed by Suze and fell unconscious, the other Death Eaters knew that they could not escape.

They shouted one by one, "I have shed blood for Hogwarts, I have worked for Headmaster Dumbledore, you can't do this to me," and then they were pushed back to the cells of Azkaban one by one.

However, there were some Death Eaters who didn't care at all, such as Bella. She walked into the portal with her original crazy smile, without anyone forcing her, as if she was going home.

It was at this time that the Aurors from the Ministry of Magic arrived late.

Minister Fudge still hadn't shown up. After the war ended with Hogwarts' victory, his resignation was a foregone conclusion.

The person who rushed here at this time was none other than Barty Crouch. When he saw his son Barty Jr. lying unconscious on the ground, his face suddenly turned pale.

Although he knew that Barty Crouch Jr. came here to help, he was a member of the Death Eaters, and his presence here also meant that his secret help for his son's escape would be exposed. Barty Crouch Jr. not only attacked Moody and kidnapped him, but also used Polyjuice Potion to sneak into Hogwarts in Moody's guise. During the battle, he single-handedly destroyed the protective spell of Hogwarts.

Although this action was intended to help the Death Eaters' reinforcements reach Hogwarts more quickly, his actions still violated more than a hundred Ministry of Magic laws.

At this moment, Barty Crouch stood in front of Dumbledore, not daring to raise his head, like a student who had made a serious mistake facing his class teacher.

His eyes slowly lingered on Barty Crouch for a while, and Dumbledore finally raised his hand and patted his shoulder. "Thank you for your hard work, Mr. Crouch."

Feeling Dumbledore's hand, Barty Crouch's body suddenly stiffened.

"I'm sorry, Headmaster Dumbledore, the Ministry of Magic has failed Hogwarts and these students..."

"Okay, no need to say more." Dumbledore interrupted Barty Crouch. "These students have sacrificed their lives for the school. They are true heroes and worth remembering at Hogwarts."

Knowing that Dumbledore didn't want to talk about this any more, Barty Crouch didn't dwell on the topic any longer and continued speaking.

"I will definitely give you an answer to the matter of Sirius Black. Now that Peter Pettigrew is alive, it proves that the verdict was wrong. I will definitely investigate this matter thoroughly and give you a satisfactory answer."

Dumbledore's expression relaxed a little after hearing this. "Go back and call Fudge back. The Ministry of Magic still has more things to deal with. Once Hogwarts is stable, I will make time to go to the Ministry of Magic."

"Yes, I know what to do." Barty Crouch lowered his head.

After chatting for a while, Barty Crouch found an excuse to leave. When leaving Hogwarts, he also helped to block the group of reporters from the Daily Prophet who wanted to come in.

Although the group of reporters did not have the opportunity to enter Hogwarts, the photos taken from the outside were enough for them to guess how brutal the war last night was.

If it were in the past, they would definitely show the charm of journalism and report the incident with exaggeration, but at this moment, all the reporters fell silent and were thinking about how to report the incident correctly.

Hogwarts had experienced such a disaster, and no one dared to offend Dumbledore at this time.

The Ministry of Magic doesn't dare, and they dare even less.

"It seems that Hogwarts will not be able to resume classes for a while."

Looking at the half-collapsed castle, Dumbledore sighed with a complicated expression.

Unlike the steel and concrete of the human world, Hogwarts is full of traces of magic. Rebuilding it is not as simple as waving a magic wand. It requires a lot of manpower and resources.

"This time, thanks to your help," Dumbledore turned to look at Su Ze and said sincerely.

"Don't say that. After all, I am also a professor at Hogwarts." Su Ze met Dumbledore's gaze with a solemn expression.

Gently raising his palm and looking at the charred mark that had not yet disappeared, Dumbledore sighed. "Although we defeated him this time, we did not kill him. Tom Riddle still has the power to control time. His next revenge will definitely be even more fierce."

Hearing this, Su Ze tilted his head slightly. "That's a possibility, but you can rest assured that after his arm was broken this time, Tom won't dare to do it again in the short term. If he is smart enough, he should stay quiet."

"He is not as honest as you think." Dumbledore showed a complicated smile.

"I understand, so next time, I will definitely solve this trouble completely and take the invading time force away from this world." Su Ze said seriously.

"But didn't you say before that if we want to defeat Tom Riddle, we need to kill him from his own timeline?" Constantine couldn't help but ask. "Can you open a portal to fifty years ago?"

"I'm afraid I can't time travel," Su Ze shook his head.

"A time-turner should be able to work. I happen to have one, and there are many in the Ministry of Magic." Dumbledore made a suggestion.

"The time converter can travel through time, but if you use that kind of magic, Tom, who controls time, will definitely notice it. He's not stupid. Fifty years ago was his home turf. We want to catch him off guard. We think of other ways."

"Any other way?" Dumbledore frowned. "Could you pry open a time channel where Tom Riddle wouldn't notice?"

“I can’t do it”

Su Ze paused and raised his head.

"But I know a few guys who are smart enough."

(End of this chapter)