The Bard of Hogwarts

Chapter 352 The Composed Voldemort

Hogsmeade on Christmas Day was enveloped in a faint chill.

The sudden falling snowflakes in the sky made Mad-Eye Moody look up.

"Go back now! I can pretend I know nothing about this."

Moody spoke to the two young wizards in front of him, who were clearly not even in the third year.

The two young wizards, facing the wildly spinning demonic eye, also nodded in agreement with lingering fear.

"Yes, sir! We'll go back right away."

The two exchanged a glance, both puzzled, but they didn't stop and quickly ran in the other direction.

……

At the same time.

After climbing down the rope ladder, Hermione ran out of the residential area near the cabin and made her way to the vicinity of Old Banshee's Alchemy Shop.

Hermione's expression relaxed considerably as the area had become bustling with people.

She spotted Mad-Eye Moody not far away, but after some deliberation, she took out a bright orange feather from her inner pocket.

With a soft "chirp," Krepp appeared instantly on Hermione's shoulder.

"Crepe, take me back to the castle," Hermione said softly.

A flash of orange-red light appeared, and the person and the phoenix vanished from their spot in an instant.

Not far away, Moody watched the whole thing. After the figure disappeared, his demonic eyes stopped spinning wildly, and when he looked up at the snowflakes, a meaningful expression appeared on his face.

It seems to be an exclamation of admiration for the creativity of young people.

……

With Hermione's departure.

A magical scene also unfolded on the first floor of the small house.

Surprisingly, the atmosphere in the living room became much more harmonious, at least on the surface.

"Purpose of the visit?" Voldemort smiled slightly.

Although this made his face look even more terrifying, it also perfectly showcased his elegant demeanor.

"Ino, may I call you that? What I'm trying to say is, you must have met the famous Nicolas Flamel this summer, thanks to the arrangement of a certain biased professor..."

Seemingly to increase his persuasiveness, Voldemort took out a three-inch video mirror from his pocket, his pale hand gently stroking the patterns on the edge of the mirror.

"What an amazing product! If I were your professor, I would recommend such an outstanding student to a legendary alchemy master."

As Voldemort finished speaking, Ino leaned back on the sofa and slowly began to speak:

"Of course! You can call me Ino. But the 'video mirror' is knowledge from our predecessors; I'm just retrieving it from history."

He held no pride in the Mirror of the Vision. To be honest, everything about the Mirror of the Vision came from the Two-Way Mirror and the Mirror of Erised; even the alchemical formulas were borrowed from the single-spiral curve formula in the Two-Way Mirror.

Voldemort smiled noncommittally at Ino's modesty and changed the subject, saying instead:

"Now that you've met Mr. Lemaître, he must have told you that many high-end alchemical items are incomplete..."

Listen carefully to the words, and savor the taste of tea.

At that moment, Ino already had a rough guess in her mind: Voldemort seemed to have not given up on the idea of ​​immortality, or rather, his desire had been rekindled.

This seems to explain why Voldemort, who was previously insane, paranoid, and reckless, has become calm and rational.

It makes sense, really. When all hope seems lost, a sudden turn of events can be devastating. Even Newton in his later years probably wouldn't have gone mad.

……

The first floor of the small house.

Ino sat on the sofa, listening quietly to Voldemort's narration:

"...So what I'm trying to say is that it's not just powerful alchemical items that are incomplete; ordinary things, even joke props, are the same, it's just that no one is willing to study them in depth."

"The ancient Egyptian pyramids, the tombs of the pharaohs, the Mesopotamian plain, the glorious Mesopotamian civilization, even the civilization left behind by giants in Albania, the civilization of centaurs and mermaids... From the visible historical relics, nothing could be more remarkable than this."

Voldemort's narration appears calm, but his tone is filled with regret and感慨.

On the other side...

After Voldemort finished his narration, Ino also fell into thought.

He didn't doubt whether Voldemort was lying, because it was pointless; any viewing mirror could verify the truth, and besides, the Philosopher's Stone and the Time-Turner were indeed incomplete.

……

in the room.

As Ino fell into thought, Voldemort also stopped talking.

The first floor of the cabin fell into a brief silence at this moment.

At this moment, the fireplace seems to have become the protagonist of this little world. It burns quietly, the flames leaping among the firewood and making crackling sounds.

The firelight reflected off the walls, casting a faint orange-yellow hue over everything around them.

……

a long time.

"So? Did you tell me all this just for the sake of it?"

Ino asked calmly, and before the other could answer, he slowly continued:

"To be honest, I have no intention of doing anything else, and besides, given your current situation, many things are already in the past."

This answer may seem like a compromise, but he had thought about it for a long time.

In his rational state, Voldemort didn't want to provoke him, not out of fear, but because it wasn't worth it.

At this moment, Ino felt a little bitter. It was highly likely that the old headmaster was really no match for his opponent.

It's like two people playing Wizarding Chess. Dumbledore can only move one step at a time according to the rules, while Voldemort can occasionally break the rules and move two, three, or even more steps at a time.

Of course, if the skill levels of the players are too different, it doesn't matter if they make a few more moves.

But in reality, these two are at a much higher level.

Voldemort is weaker, but not so weak that he is completely defenseless, which is evident right now.

Although it seemed like he had tricked Dumbledore into leaving, Voldemort made no attempt to hide his tracks, brazenly appearing in Hogsmeade and even taking the time to buy candy from Honeydukes.

All of the above, including the news of his resurrection, was probably deliberately intended to be known to Dumbledore.

"That snake, though its flesh is soft, has fangs that are highly venomous and can cause fatal damage when it moves."

The phrase gradually came to mind for Ino, a famous saying widely circulated in the desert region.

……

Although my mind was racing, only a few seconds had actually passed.

Voldemort suddenly laughed after hearing Ino's conciliatory remarks. It was hard to believe that such a terrifying face could display such a radiant smile.

"We are standard Slytherins! That's good, really! Even if you killed that snake king, it was just a Slytherin pet."

Hearing about the basilisk so suddenly should have been surprising, but Ino remained calm.

In fact, from the moment Voldemort took out the cream toffee, he was no longer surprised.

From summer vacation until now, a full five months have passed. Heaven knows what the other party has found out. If they can mention the basilisk, then the Horcrux notebook is bound to be mentioned.

But from beginning to end, Ino couldn't understand what it was about him that attracted Voldemort.

Instead of focusing on Harry, they went to great lengths to find out about his past preferences and even went to great lengths to lure Dumbledore away.

(End of this chapter)