From Hogwarts to Strixhaven.

Chapter 342 Prelude
"Excuse me." Hermione interrupted Ron, who was playing wizard chess in the Gryffindor common room, in the most polite voice, "Where is Harry?"

She threw the book in her hand, which was like a big brick, heavily onto the chessboard, saving Neville who was about to be defeated with only three moves left.

"What are you doing!" Ron shouted in dissatisfaction. He had been letting the game go until now by letting it go again and again, and was about to reap the joy of victory, but Hermione messed it up.

Hermione didn't answer, but looked at Neville unkindly.

He shrugged and said sympathetically, "Thank you, Hermione. You two can chat. I'll go find Seamus..."

So Hermione sat on the sofa opposite Ron, with her arms folded across her chest, like a mother who caught her son not studying hard: "You haven't answered my question, Ron."

"Oh!" Ron looked around and said in a low voice, "We have discovered the secret of the golden egg. The second task is carried out in the Black Lake. They are going to take away one of Harry's treasures, and then he has an hour to find it back."

"So he really needs to consider breathing underwater?" Hermione nodded without surprise. "What about him? Did he go swimming in the Black Lake? I think Krum is preparing for this."

"No." Ron looked around furtively again, and after making sure that no one was paying attention to their conversation, he said in a mysterious tone, "He went to Durmstrang's ghost ship!"

"Why is he going there?" Hermione was puzzled. "He can't drive a ghost ship into the water to look for something. Even if the Durmstrang people did emerge from the bottom of the water when they came, that ship is not the Nautilus, and Harry is not Captain Nemo."

"Sailing underwater! What a great idea!" Mr. Ron exclaimed, and then asked a new question, "But what is the Nautilus, and who is Captain Nemo?"

"The characters in the Muggle novels traveled a total of 20,000 miles under the sea..." Hermione gave a brief explanation, and then dragged Ron, who wanted to go off topic, back to the original question, "You haven't answered me yet, why did Harry go on the ghost ship? I don't know which Durmstrang student he is familiar with."

"Because of Barty Crouch." Ron said simply, and then explained in detail what the Marauder's Map was and how they found this strange name on it.

"He shouldn't have done that." Hermione commented bluntly, "He's a warrior now, he should focus on the second project in the Black Lake. What if they lose his Nimbus 2077? The prize money of the Triwizard Tournament can't afford a Nimbus 2077."

"It'll be fine!" said Ron nonchalantly. "He's got the Invisibility Cloak and the Marauder's Map."

Hermione thought for a few seconds, but couldn't think of anything that could expose Harry's disguise, but she still said, "That shouldn't be..."

"Okay! Let's go find Hagrid! Maybe Harry has finished his exploration of the ghost ship and is drinking tea with Hagrid now." Ron interrupted him.

Hermione did not say anything in rebuttal, but helped Ron put away his already old set of wizard chess.

The road leading to Hagrid's cabin was not easy to walk on. The chill in the wind penetrated into their clothes from all angles, making them shiver uncontrollably.

"Why is it so cold today?" Ron's teeth were chattering. He looked up at the orange-red sun hanging in the sky and couldn't help complaining, "Today's sunshine is not warm at all. What's going on?"

"There's someone ahead!" Hermione pulled Ron and took him to hide behind a tree at the edge of the Forbidden Forest. "It looks like Professor Dumbledore!"

After both of them hid themselves, Ron asked quietly, "It's vacation time and it's daytime, why are we hiding?"

Hermione couldn't say, "Because when I'm with you, I always feel like I've done something wrong."

So she had to bite the bullet and said, "Because... I want to hear what they are talking about. Didn't you notice that the person standing opposite Dumbledore is the Minister of Magic?"

"Fudge?" Ron poked his head out to take a look, then shrank back and exclaimed, "It's really him! He's my father's boss! And the biggest one!"

Dumbledore's voice came from a distance. Although it was calm, everyone could hear the anger contained in it: "This is my school! Cornelius! I will never allow you to bring Dementors in!"

Fudge played with the dark green hat with his hands, his face had turned purple. "This is... you forced me to do this! Dumbledore! I can't allow werewolves to live in the Forbidden Forest!"

"Everything I said has irrefutable evidence! No one is forcing you!" Dumbledore's voice was reminiscent of thunder in the sky in midsummer, as if it had a natural persuasiveness. "You are on the wrong path, but it is not too late to turn back now! Cornelius!"

"You are the one who did something wrong! Dumbledore!" Fudge's face turned purple again, and he burst into an inexplicable anger. "Whether it's the werewolves in the Forbidden Forest or the mysterious man who has fallen many years ago... You seem to have been trying to create a panic mood to destroy everything we have painstakingly built in the past thirteen years! You want the wizarding world to feel that they can't do without you, right? Without the great Dumbledore, who will resist the mysterious man who is nowhere to be found?"

Fudge's retort calmed Dumbledore down completely. He shook his head and even had a smile on his face. "For the whole world, no one is indispensable. Even if Albus Dumbledore no longer exists, there will be another white wizard in the world to lead people to fight against Voldemort. I have no intention of destroying the peace of the wizarding world, but we cannot turn a blind eye to the danger that is at hand. If you are willing to open your eyes and take a look, you will find, like me, that Voldemort's dark forces are rising..."

"Ridiculous!" Fudge took a half step back. "Crazy! You are really crazy! Dumbledore!"

Before the old headmaster spoke again, Fudge waved his arms vigorously. Hermione and Ron, who were hiding at the edge of the Forbidden Forest, suddenly felt colder, as if all the heat in their bodies was being taken away, and even the emotions that made people feel happy disappeared.

"Dementors..." Ron said with difficulty, "The guards of Azkaban... they're in the Forbidden Forest..."

Countless black cloaks floated in the depths of the forest, like skeleton-like fingers pointing towards the castle, as if they wanted to swallow up all the passionate emotions inside. Hermione's lips had completely lost their color, and she had no strength to speak. She could only watch the heat in her body being exhaled bit by bit.

"I don't think this is a good decision, Mr. Minister." Ivy's polite voice came from a distance, and Hermione and Ron suddenly felt the heat returning to their bodies.

They saw that the orange-red sun had somehow turned into a dazzling golden color, casting a dazzling light on the earth. The Dementors that had originally emerged from the Forbidden Forest howled miserably and retreated towards the shadows in the Forbidden Forest.

"Ivy, you're here too." Dumbledore was not surprised, because it was Ivy who revealed to him the news that Fudge brought the Dementors to the Forbidden Forest. At that time, Ivy was helping his warlock tattoo in the Fire Dragon District.

There has been great progress in the research on turning magical familiars into tattoos and integrating them into the body, and Cassandra is his first experimental subject.

However, Fudge's arrival was not at an opportune time, and Ivy was unable to deal with it with all his attention, so he had to ask Phoenix Spark to notify Dumbledore, who was in the principal's office handling paperwork.

By the time he had finally turned Norbeta, the Norwegian Ridgeback, into a tattoo on Cassandra's back, Fudge was on the verge of a head-on conflict with Dumbledore.

In a sense, Ivy's appearance saved Fudge, otherwise he definitely didn't want to see what the White Devil, who had lived for more than a hundred years, would look like when he got angry.

Fudge was obviously shocked by Ivy's magic. He put down his arms waving in the air, took out a handkerchief and kept wiping the sweat on his forehead. "You must be Mr. Doom? Lucius often mentioned you to me. He said that you are a great wizard who can surpass Salazar Slytherin... As expected! You were elected as the champion of Hogwarts! And your magic in the first project also fascinated me. It's a pity that I didn't come to watch it!"

Seeing that Ivy just smiled and shook his head, he continued: "You don't know yet, there are many werewolves living in the Forbidden Forest, which is a danger to all the students in Hogwarts! But you can rest assured that I will never let them threaten the students in the castle! You see, I will let the Dementors put them all in Azkaban!"

"It seems that you are a little behind the times, Mr. Minister." Ivy said slowly, "It was me who cured the lycanthropy curse and turned it into a talent that can be inherited through blood. It is no longer a disease and curse that troubles wizards. It was also me who suggested that Professor Lupin pursue equal rights between werewolves and wizards. The people you are going to let the Dementors deal with are my friends."

"W...what!" As the Minister of Magic, Fudge was undoubtedly a failure. After all this time, he still hadn't figured out the person behind the werewolf rights movement. Besides, Ivy had no intention of hiding it at all.

It seems that apart from Rita Skeeter, the British wizarding world has no talent at all in digging up news. Even Rita uses the Animagus method, which has no "journalistic charm" at all. The talent gap in the wizarding world is really too serious.

"How about this, Mr. Minister? Let me take you to see a good show." Ivy said without letting anyone refuse. "I also think that Voldemort needs some audience to witness his demise."

"V..." Fudge quickly stopped talking and swallowed, "Why are you also discussing the You-Know-Who? Could it be that Dumbledore has already instilled this concept into everyone in the castle?"

Ivy ignored the dazed Fudge and said to Dumbledore, "Did you notice that Harry is no longer in the castle, Professor?"

"Can you tell me where he went, Ivy?" Dumbledore's expression did not change. "I guess you know."

"Moody was under the control of the Imperius Curse, and Karkaroff was killed on the night of the Christmas ball." Ivy said calmly, "As far as I know, Barty Crouch Jr. is the murderer who committed these cases. He transported Harry to Hogsmeade through the secret passage in the school, and then went to the cemetery in Little Hangleton Village. Voldemort had been waiting for a long time. If you calculate the time, he must have been resurrected through Harry's blood."

"Is this what you have been planning with Lucius?" asked Dumbledore.

"No, the instructions I gave to Lucius were to attract the attention of the Death Eaters. I asked him to command Goyle to release the Dark Mark at the Quidditch World Cup final to attract Voldemort's attention. I also helped him put Harry's name in the Goblet of Fire so that he could gain Voldemort's wholehearted trust." Ivy explained slowly. "As for the cases committed by Barty Crouch Jr., I had not expected them before. After all, my information came entirely from Lucius, and he actually met Voldemort today."

While they were talking, two stumbling figures ran out of the castle. One of them was wearing a black robe and the other was wearing a red robe. They were Severus Snape and Lily Potter.

"He... he's back! Dumbledore!" The moment he saw Dumbledore, Snape rolled up his sleeves and showed the blood-red Dark Mark on his arm to everyone, "Look! He's back! Where's Harry? Where is he?"

"My son disappeared from the castle! I could feel it!" Lily no longer cared about any disguise and reached out to grab Dumbledore's robes. "Where did he go? You must know, Dumbledore... I can't lose him again..."

"Lily Evans!" Fudge was even more horrified. "What on earth happened today? The person I saw buried with my own eyes actually came back to life? Am I still asleep?"

"Don't worry, ma'am." Ivy used an enchantment spell to calm the Potions professor. "Harry has been kidnapped by Death Eaters, but I promise he will return safely."

"Come with me, friends, let us witness the end of Voldemort together." Ivy said briskly, "I believe this will bring you great comfort."

"Have you prepared the portkey to Little Hangleton?" Dumbledore looked at Ivy coldly.

"I'm not sure if Voldemort will choose to return to the Gaunt mansion after we destroy the Horcruxes hidden there, so I made more general preparations." Ivy took the lead and took a step towards the depths of the Forbidden Forest. "We need an open space, and I happen to know an empty place in the Forbidden Forest. The dragons have all left, and I thought we could leave a few dragon eggs there, Dumbledore."

Dumbledore supported Lily Evans, who was still unsteady on her feet, and handed her to Snape, who had also rushed up. Then he followed Ivy without saying a word.

The wizards at the edge of the Forbidden Forest did not hesitate and walked towards the depths of the Forbidden Forest. That was the road Harry had walked when he saw the dragon. Now there was another group of people going to witness the end of something even more terrifying.

Even Fudge, who looked confused, followed the group. Even if this was really a dream, he wanted to know what would happen next.

(End of this chapter)