Snape, the Sunshine of Hogwarts.

Chapter 230 Response
Albanian forests.

Barty Jr. and Perkins were extremely excited after sensing a reaction from the Dark Mark on their arms.

This proves they came to the right place; the Dark Lord is here, and is still summoning his servants!

So they made a lot of noise that day. According to Little Barty's idea, since they didn't have any clues about where the Dark Lord was, they should first tell their master where they were.

If they make a big fuss, the Dark Lord will come after them.

And so the emerald green black magic mark was lit up in the sky above a foreign land.

Because of the Fountain of Good Fortune, wizards from many countries near Albania have gathered here, and many of them recognize what the symbol represents.

Soon, the lighting of the Black Mark caused great panic in the area, and the Albanian Aurors deployed almost all of their forces to the forest.

While maintaining order, they were also on edge, preparing to find the person who released the Dark Mark.

The Death Eaters' target was not just Britain; they had a considerable notoriety throughout Europe (as Rowling said in an interview, Voldemort's goal was Europe first, then the world).

For the Ministry of Magic of a small country like Albania, the mere appearance of a Dark Magic Mark was enough to put them on high alert!

Barty and Perkins hid very well, avoiding the Aurors who were constantly searching the forest, but they never saw the Dark Lord come looking for them.

Two more days passed, and Perkins finally couldn't hold back any longer.

"Could it be that Snape and the others have already found their master? The Dark Mark is reacting; is it the master responding to him?"

Little Barty didn't say anything; he just stared at the darkening night sky with a somewhat gloomy look in his eyes.

Perkins paced anxiously back and forth.

"And we haven't been able to find him since yesterday. They disappeared from the original troll camp, the day after the mark started reacting! Logically speaking, Snape also sensed his master's call, so he should have stayed behind to look for his master like us. It's impossible that he didn't react at all after discovering that we had revealed the Dark Mark!"

Seeing that Barty Jr. was still sitting there silently, Perkins became even more anxious.

"How can you still be sitting here? If Snape really finds Master, he'll definitely slander us! It's fine if Master doesn't believe him, but what if he does? What should we do? What should we do?!"

Just as Perkins was pacing anxiously, an owl suddenly swooped down from the night sky and flew towards their location.

Upon seeing the owl, Barty squinted, and Perkins was completely stunned.

"Who would know we're here? There's no place for us, so who would get an owl to deliver the message?"

Little Barty, unlike Perkins, had many questions. He simply took the letter from the owl's claws, glanced at it, shook it, and let a ball of fire suddenly burn it to ashes.

"What does the letter say!" Perkins stared intently at Barty. "Why won't you let me see this letter! Has Snape already returned to England with his master?!"

Barty remained silent, his hand tucked into his sleeve, gripping one end of the wand.

"Why won't you speak! You're scared, aren't you! You're afraid to tell me the truth! Snape has found his master! He's the most loyal servant! The master trusts him! Is that it!!"

Perkins almost lost his mind and tried to reach out and grab Barty's shoulder, but before he could even take a step forward, a wand suddenly pulled from his sleeve was already pointed at him!
"Heart-breaking and bone-cutting!"

The Crucifix, which acts directly on the soul, caused Perkins immense torment without any reaction or resistance!
The excruciating pain, as if his entire body were being roasted on fire and every part of his body were being cut and chiseled, caused Perkins to let out a tremendous wail.

"what--"

"Idiots! I've had enough of you idiots!!"

Little Barty's voice almost roared out of his mouth.

"Heart-piercing, bone-scraping pain!!"

Another Crucifixion was cast, causing Perkins' entire body to curl up like a boiled shrimp, his muscles spasming incessantly.

"So what if Snape found his master first! Why are you afraid? Why are you anxious? Why are you scared?!"

"As long as our master can come back, as long as our master can continue to lead us to achieve that great ideal! Does it really matter who finds him?! Ah! Speak up!"

"Only a bunch of pigs and dogs like you, whose eyes are only on power and profit, would think only about what benefits they would get from finding their master first! If you hadn't found your master first, wouldn't you have hoped that your master would never come back?"

"Extremely painful!!!"

After the third Crucifixion was cast, Perkins had completely lost consciousness. He lay on the ground with empty eyes, foaming at the mouth, his face as pale as a dead man!
As night fell, the forest fell silent once more, save for the sound of Little Barty's rapid breathing.

But before long, Little Barty also adjusted his breathing, and he returned to his gloomy, aloof, and taciturn appearance.

He pulled a handkerchief from his pocket, gently wiped the sweat from his hands, and then threw the handkerchief at Perkins.

Barty Jr. let out a long sigh, as if he were talking to Perkins, or perhaps to himself.

"To be honest, I didn't really want to kill you. No matter what, no matter what your purpose was, you can still be of help to the master."

"But your stupidity is unbearable to me, it makes me want to vomit, it's as disgusting as that damned pickled auk from the Eskimos!"

He gently aimed the wand back at Perkins.

"Avada Kedavra!"

After meeting with the Death Eaters, Severus did not return to the Weasleys to find Harry and the others.

Instead, they returned to Hogwarts and went straight to the Headmaster's office, where they found Dumbledore, who, although he had changed into his pajamas and nightcap, was still sitting in his office chair deep in thought.

Ever since Severus handed over the Voldemort fragment from Harry that morning, Dumbledore had been pondering it.

However, even he couldn't think of a way to harmlessly separate the remnant soul from the Horcrux!

It wasn't until Severus returned to the headmaster's office and found him that Dumbledore's face, which had been furrowed all afternoon, finally broke into a smile.

"Have you taken care of everything that needed to be taken care of?" Severus plopped down opposite Dumbledore, then expertly rummaged through the old man's snack box, taking out butter biscuits to serve as a midnight snack.

"It's almost done, even more smoothly than I expected. Voldemort doesn't trust anyone else, only me. He's put all the command of those people in my hands."

"I've had the Carol siblings contact Barty. Soon those fugitives wanted by the Ministry of Magic will gather here, and dealing with them will be a piece of cake."

Dumbledore listened intently to Severus's words. He knew very well that Severus had more to say than just this. Ever since August, whenever this man appeared in his office, he always brought him surprises.

"Finally, there's Voldemort himself."

Severus took out a teacup and placed it on the desk.

"He couldn't wait any longer. Living without a body for so long, in this inhuman form, made him weaker and weaker. If it weren't for someone's help, he wouldn't even have been able to leave that forest in Albania in his entire life."

"So he gave Lucius and his men a task: they had to get the unicorn's blood within a week."

"At the same time, he was also making arrangements for me in private, asking me to prepare his resurrection plan."

Upon hearing this, Dumbledore, whose brow had relaxed upon seeing Severus, couldn't help but furrow his brow again.

"What did he ask you to do?"

"The bones of the father, the blood of the enemy, and the flesh of the servant."

As a centenarian wizard, Dumbledore naturally understood what method Voldemort intended to use to resurrect himself upon hearing these things!
From Voldemort's own perspective, with Severus around, preparing these things would be a piece of cake.

Old Tom's grave is there; it won't be moved.

He had countless loyal servants, some of whom were willing to offer their flesh for him.

As for the most difficult issue—the blood of his enemies—Harry Potter is now under Severus's protection, making this the easiest problem to solve.

Similarly, Dumbledore understood Severus's purpose in approaching him.

"In other words, we don't have much time left to make a decision?" Dumbledore said softly.

Severus simply held up two fingers, which still had crumbs of biscuit on them.

"Two weeks. He gave me two weeks. If I hadn't prepared these things after two weeks, it would basically mean turning against him and telling him outright that I was a traitor."

Dumbledore's expression turned serious.

This is definitely not good news!
Two weeks is too short a time; no matter which method they choose, they won't be able to prepare adequately.

If we want to follow Severus's suggestion, we should first trick Voldemort into completing his resurrection according to his planned steps, and then have Harry and Voldemort have a final life-or-death duel, so that Voldemort can kill the part of his own soul that is inside Harry's body.

During this period, it is also essential to nurture and educate Harry himself.

Dumbledore was certain that the protective spell Lily left on Harry would only unleash its full power, ensuring Harry's survival at Voldemort's hands, when Harry's own conviction reached a peak.

But Harry, who has only recently turned nine, cannot compare to his adult self, no matter how strong his beliefs are.

If Harry were simply allowed to confront the resurrected Voldemort, he would most likely die from Voldemort's wand.

However, if you choose to turn against Voldemort now, you must be prepared to seal Voldemort in this teacup for a long time.

By then, Severus would no longer be able to keep it a secret from Lucius and his gang. Even if those opportunists and die-hards who were still thinking of following Voldemort were temporarily arrested, once some of them left prison, they might start thinking about finding the Dark Lord again.

There's no such thing as being a thief for a thousand days and guarding against thieves for a thousand days. Severus and Dumbledore couldn't possibly guard this teacup forever.

Just as Dumbledore was deep in thought, feeling that the current situation was approaching a final decision, he suddenly looked up and saw Severus sitting opposite him, leisurely eating butter biscuits and drinking lemonade.

Upon seeing this, Dumbledore was taken aback, then suddenly laughed as if he had thought of something.

Severus was baffled by his sudden change of attitude.

"why are you laughing?"

Dumbledore relaxed his body, shifted into a comfortable position against the back of his chair, and gazed at Severus. He spoke softly.

“I can see, Severus, no matter who you become, you still have a sincere and righteous heart.”

Severus simply rolled his eyes.

"Even if you flatter me, I can't just pull the soul fragment out of Harry's body on the spot."

“You must have a plan, right?” A white light flashed on Dumbledore’s glasses. “If you didn’t have a contingency plan in mind, you couldn’t be acting so relaxed right now.”

Severus and Dumbledore looked at each other, and he clapped his hands.

"You've schemed against me all along."

“Severus, talk to me,” Dumbledore said softly. “What are your plans?”

“At Harry’s age, there’s absolutely no way we’d let him go and have a duel with Voldemort. That wouldn’t be saving him; that would be sending him to his death,” Severus said definitively.

"Aside from that, we only have one option left: to completely break with Voldemort and seal him permanently in this teacup until we find a way to help Harry extract Voldemort's remnant soul, or simply wait until Harry dies of old age."

"The most crucial issue with doing this is that we absolutely cannot keep Voldemort's remnant soul hidden around us. Otherwise, those treacherous people could guess with their bare hands where they could rescue their master."

As Severus finished speaking, he reached into the pocket of his robe and pulled out a newspaper, slamming it down in front of Dumbledore.

"We're lucky. A big project is currently in the works and will officially launch on October 18th. All we need to do is figure out how to get on board with them."

"There will never be another Voldemort, neither a person nor a monster, in the wizarding world in the future."

(End of this chapter)