The Return to Hogwarts

Several people descended the platform one after another. After Hermione helped Gabrielle, who seemed to have lost the ability to move, down the platform, she immediately formed a defensive formation with Harry and Ron. It was a defensive formation for gym class. Although Ron's dodging skills were not up to par, Harry still eagerly hoped to practice it with Ron.

Karkarov glanced at the three little guys who were standing in formation with a disdainful look in his eyes. He intended to get rid of them and act on his own, but in the end, for some reason, he did not leave the group.

Gravestones, exuding an aura of death, were placed on crooked graves. Harry and Hermione led the way, with Ron following behind. The three of them carefully made their way around two connected graves, until a Y-shaped fork appeared before them.

A road with withered branches was being cleared along the side of the road, which led to many tombstones, while another road led to the hillside, where the old house stood on the ridge.

"Which way?"

Harry kept his eyes forward, only slightly turning his head to glance at Hermione out of the corner of his eye.

Hermione frowned slightly, her mind filled with uncertainty.

Logically speaking, if this is indeed a large-scale exploration mission, the old house is obviously more in line with the objective. However, this fog-shrouded tombstone path could also be the right direction if the event organizers intend for them to deal with the undead.

No one consulted Karkaroff, even though he was the most skilled and experienced in magic among them. Harry, Harry, and the others knew very well that this seemingly indifferent guy probably had a despicable intention of testing them for danger.

"us--"

After much deliberation, Hermione turned her gaze to the ridge, where the view was more expansive, and if Cedric and Cho Chang had arrived there first, they should have been able to spot them easily.

"Listen!"

Just before Hermione was about to announce the duel, Ron suddenly looked terrified, every syllable he uttered trembling, his suppressed voice even sounding like a sob.

"Someone is crying. It's a female ghost!"

Chapter 847 Death Arrives as Expected

2024-04-06

"Don't talk nonsense, Ron!"

Hermione reprimanded softly, but her face turned deathly pale upon hearing the voice, and her breath caught in her throat.

It came from that misty path strewn with tombstones. It was indeed the cry of some creature. The intermittent, suppressed sobs were particularly shrill and piercing in the eerie and sinister graveyard, and contained boundless despair.

All three men's legs trembled slightly, and Karkaroff, who was squinting at the road, began to breathe rapidly.

"Let's go over and take a look."

Harry gritted his teeth and said.

"Are you crazy, Harry?"

Ron looked on incredulously.

"You know perfectly well that there might be danger there!"

“If this really falls within the scope of the competition,” Harry held his breath, “then we might miss a crucial clue.”

"What if not?"

After a long silence, Karkarov raised his first question.

“If not, Professor Karkaroff,”

Hermione kept a straight face.

"If we came here by accident, or if we were set up by someone, the trap set by the mastermind behind it will not be avoided just because we changed our route."

The conclusion was irrefutable; even if Karkaroff disliked this self-important little witch, he had to admit that her statement was correct.

Is the current situation a test? A simple accident? Or a scheme by someone with ulterior motives?

Even after surviving several brushes with death, Karkaroff couldn't immediately make a judgment, however...

Karkaroff coldly watched the three young Hogwarts wizards marching forward with an air of importance, one of whom was Harry Potter. If they died here, in either of the latter two scenarios, no one would be able to find fault with them.

As he pondered, Karkarov's gaze gradually hardened.

Regardless, they still chose the misty path.

The cold, damp mist hitting my face, and the piercing cries of the black crows flying overhead from time to time, made me feel suffocated.

Especially the sobs, rising and falling, as Hermione drew closer, she felt more and more that the sorrow and despair in their voices didn't seem to be acting.

They passed by tombstones, their shadows cast by the tombstones, most of them broken, which seemed to watch them walk toward their deaths as if Death itself were watching them.

"Oh, how stupid I am."

When Harry could vaguely make out the outline of a creature, his heart skipped a beat. He muttered something under his breath and was the first to emit a bright glow from his wand, which was supported by the darkness. This action made it clear to the others why Harry had called himself foolish. Everyone, including Karkaroff, solemnly made their wands glow. For a moment, the overlapping light was like a bright moon rising from the graveyard.

The desperate sobs were abruptly cut off, and the creature realized that while it was engulfed in unbearable grief, another person had entered the cemetery, and it was someone it knew.

Clunk, clunk, clunk.

The moment Ron saw what the creature was, his teeth started chattering, and Harry and Hermione in front of him weren't much better off. Like cats under serious threat, their hair stood on end, and a chill ran down their spines to the back of their heads, almost making them drop their wands.

"Flash—flash."

Hermione's voice was like that of a traveler lost in the desert, torn, hoarse, and accompanied by tremors and sobs.

She lay sprawled beside a man lying on a bed of damp, withered leaves. It was hard to tell whether the man was dead or alive, but one thing was certain: he had suffered horrific torture. The joints of his hands and feet were bent backwards, and he lay helplessly like a puppet being manipulated.

"Crouch"

Karkaroff, who was taller, was the first to recognize the man, and when Crouch’s name came out of his mouth, no one would think that their current situation was a test of the championship or an accident. There was only one possibility: they had been ambushed!

"Holy crap!"

Karkarov's chest heaved violently, his coldness replaced by panic and terror. Staggering backward, he cried out, "I've had enough! I'm leaving!"

No one stopped Karkaroff from leaving. He held up his wand, posing as if he wanted to Apparate, and the fact that he remained in the sight of Harry, Meyer, and Harry undoubtedly meant that his attempt to Apparate had failed.

Someone has blocked the space!

Harry and Hermione, who had attended that PE class, both realized what had happened. At the same time, regret was tearing at their hearts.

Although physical education was probably the most attentive magic class he ever attended, Harry still blamed himself for not taking Professor Blaine's words seriously enough. A fireplace and a Portkey—he didn't have the ability to make the latter, but building a fireplace wasn't difficult, though he neither knew how to connect a Floo Network nor had he brought any Floo Powder!

Harry Potter

Flash spoke, and some of the sadness and fear in its voice dissipated, replaced by terror and disbelief. Clearly, it lacked sufficient understanding of the terror it was experiencing.

"Harry Potter?"

But its voice brought Crouch, who was beside it, back to his senses and made Harry and the others realize that Mr. Crouch was not dead.

"Harry Potter?"

Crouch repeated himself. Harry couldn't imagine how strong Crouch's willpower was at that moment. When Crouch finally managed to lift his head, they realized that the usually impeccably dressed high-ranking official from the Ministry of Magic, whose meticulously combed gray hair was now completely soaked with blood, still stubbornly raised his head.

His eyes were dazed. The glow from Harry and the others' wands made it impossible for him to immediately identify who they were. He strained to open his eyes wide, his eyeballs bulging out menacingly, desperately trying to see clearly.

"It's me, sir."

Harry put down his wand, and the light that enveloped his pale face faded somewhat. He was panting, each breath like swallowing a mouthful of ice water in the dead of winter.

"It's you--"

With Sparkle's help, Barty Crouch could see Harry's face more clearly. He finally confirmed that Harry Potter was indeed standing before him, and then—

"run!"

It's hard to imagine that Crouch in such a state could still make such a loud sound. When that desperate roar echoed throughout the cemetery, the black crows that were roosting everywhere flapped their wings at the same time, and the deathly silent cemetery seemed to come alive at that moment.

"Run!"

Crouch, with all his might, let out the greatest cry of his life.

"he came!"

Fear gripped everyone, and they began to stagger backward. However, further away, a cold voice pierced the mist.

"Oh, Barty, haven't you learned any manners from all this training these past few days? You probably have no right to turn away the guest I went to so much trouble to invite."

A figure emerged from the mist, a pale-faced middleman with a maniacal smile, cradling an ugly dwarf in his arms.

The instant their eyes met, Harry collapsed to the ground. His scar throbbed with excruciating pain, a pain unlike any he had ever experienced before, causing his body to spasm and curl up. He covered his face with his hands, his head feeling as if it were about to explode.

Igor Karkaroff, who was in a similar state to Harry, also collapsed to the ground after failing to Apparate away. He clutched his melting arm, his dark yellow pupils shrinking to pinpoints with extreme fear, and his whole body trembled like a leaf.

"Harry!"

Hermione's voice was filled with sobs as she and Ron rushed to Harry's side, trying to pull him up from the ground.

"I always thought that Kriona was unwilling to accept the mission, but I didn't expect her to prepare so many guests for me,"

The ugly dwarf revealed a cold smile.

“She probably meant well, but not everyone can witness such a great moment. Oh, Buddy, maybe you could clean up for me. Of course, don’t hurt an old friend. Understand, Buddy?”

"It is my honor, my master!"

Before Hermione and Ron could even figure out what this meant...

"Avada Kedavra!"

A whooshing sound followed by a sharp scream ripped through the dim sky, and a bright green light stung the eyes of the group.

The green light illuminated Hermione and Ron's astonished faces. They saw that the green light had struck the smallest of their group of humans, the one who had been trembling and following behind them.

They watched as life quickly faded from that youthful, delicate face, and the girl's golden hair lost its luster. She lost her balance and fell heavily to the ground, leaving only her lifeless blue eyes staring at the somber sky.

Gabrielle is dead.