I, Hogwarts Second Time Around.

Chapter 578 The Brutal Battle

Hermione, as if facing a formidable enemy, immediately returned to the alchemy workshop.

She quickly summoned Dobby and relayed the message to Mr. Theseus Scamander and Sirius.

The Blade of Prometheus is extremely important.

She can give up the Elder Wand, but she must never give up the fight for the Blade of Prometheus.

This is horrible.

Theseus Scamander reacted quickly.

They arrived at the alchemy workshop in just a few minutes.

Is everything you're saying true?

Theseus Scamander, the former war hero, appeared before Hermione like a whirlwind, his black robes billowing. His face was slightly weary, and deep worry lurked beneath his pale skin. Time had not only left its mark on his beard and hair, but also hunched his back, a testament to the heavy burden he had borne for the magical world over the years.

"Hermione, every word you say carries immense weight." Theseus's voice was deep and powerful as he stared intently into Hermione's eyes, as if confirming the veracity of the information.

"It's true," Hermione affirmed, pulling out her copy of "Hogwarts: A History of the School," saying, "You can see the text on the title page in the moonlight. Perhaps Dumbledore knew I would stay up all night studying it, so he left this mechanism."

Theseus Scamander took the book and left the workshop without looking back.

Half a minute later, he came back, his brows furrowed.

"What about the other one?"

"The other one hasn't changed," Hermione said.

"Very good, your intelligence is very important," said Theseus Scamander. "I will send men to the Fairy Kingdom immediately."

"I want to go too." Hermione looked at Theseus Scamander seriously. "Sir, no one knows the truth about the Outer Gods better than I do, except for Owen. Perhaps I can help you."

"And us!" Harry and the others said urgently.

Theseus Scamander looked at the young wizards, pondered for a moment, and then said, "Alright. But if anything unexpected happens, you can't stay there."

Having said that, he gestured for the young wizards to prepare.

A moment later, everyone gathered in the kitchen.

Hermione, Harry, Ginny, and Fred traveled together.

The others remained in the workshop.

Theseus Scamander took out a door key.

The five people held hands and formed a circle, as a distorted, grayish-white light illuminated the spacetime.

They left the place.

Meanwhile, Sirius Black and Lu Ping, who were far away in Paris, also prepared to head to the Fairy Kingdom immediately after receiving the news.

They know more than Hermione and the others.

For example, Rozier's Magical Disability Hospital hasn't received a reply from the group of healers sent to the Fairy Kingdom for quite some time.

It has been about two days since the last message was sent.

An unease hung over Sirius and Lupin.

Given the current situation, it's hard not to imagine things could turn out even worse.

Has the Federation sent any back?

The two Apparated and arrived at the foot of the Alps.

The fairies forbade them to use the anchor point for the kingdom's door key.

They also cast many anti-apparition spells at the entrance.

The remaining path, the path leading to the mountainside, they have to walk themselves.

"Quiet as a stagnant pool," Lupin replied with a worried expression.

The Aurors responsible for protecting even the healers were not from the Order of the Phoenix or the Ministry of Magic of their respective countries.

Europe has been in turmoil for several years. They can't spare any manpower.

The protection work is mainly the responsibility of the federation.

"I have a bad feeling," Sirius said, frowning.

If Rocher's therapist's disappearance could be an accident, what about the association's employees?

It's impossible for everyone to forget about communication; this isn't a vacation.

"Be careful," Lupin said.

"Where are the others?"

"They're all on their way," Sirius said.

The two immediately stopped talking and began to climb the mountain in front of them.

About an hour later.

Sirius and Lupin arrived halfway up the mountain, at the entrance to the Fairy Kingdom.

Before my eyes lay a scene of utter chaos.

The pavilion where the elevator was located was blown to pieces.

Even the base was reduced to just a few stones.

The elevator platform was nowhere to be found.

The two were panting heavily, and could only see a deep pit.

"We're too late." Sirius Black took the lead and jumped into the deep pit.

Lupin jumped down after him.

The wind was whistling past my ears.

The air was thick with the lingering stench of blood.

The concentration is so strong that it can make someone who inhales it suddenly faint.

"Shock absorption and speed reduction!" Sirius Black cast a spell.

The spell transformed into a wisp of smoke, gently lifting him and Lupin up.

At a height of several tens of feet above the ground.

Their falling speed suddenly decreased, like autumn leaves, until they landed smoothly.

"Merlin!" Lupin stared at the figure before him, his eyes wide with fury.

Blood, corpses, scattered haphazardly like carelessly discarded trash left behind.

Dozens of healers from Rozier's Magical Disability Hospital lay dead in pools of blood.

There were even more corpses of fairies.

From the elevator platform all the way to the city gate.

The ground was covered in blood for dozens of feet, leaving them nowhere to put their feet.

Sirius rushed into the group of healers.

Check each of them to see if they still have stock.

"They're all dead." He gritted his teeth and spat out those three words.

"It wasn't a killing curse that killed them."

All the corpses here bear signs of being torn apart; otherwise, there wouldn't be a river of blood.

The Killing Curse only destroys the soul of the killer, without causing any harm to the body, so the killer must have been some kind of wild beast.

Perhaps it is the "child of an ominous sign".

Sirius is not entirely sure.

But he did not stay there; instead, he paced forward.

As he passed through the narrow staircase, the image of the Fairy Kingdom and the Eternal City struggling in flames in the distance was clearly etched into his eyes.

Under the covered bridge, he saw human corpses, fairy corpses, and the corpses of ominous signs, all of them like rotten flower buds thrown into the underground river.

Thousands upon thousands of lives were contaminated in the river.

The river water became still and stopped flowing.

Stagnation breeds corruption.

Corrupted buds sprouted from the valley, blasphemous creatures composed of countless fragments of flesh and blood.

It is currently spraying poison gas.

Sirius felt dizzy as soon as he entered the area.

He immediately cast a head-bubble spell, a spell that envelops the head in bubbles, allowing one to breathe underwater.

That feeling gradually disappeared.

"Will there be any survivors?" Professor Lupin also cast the Bubble Head Curse. Although he was a werewolf, his resistance to poisonous gases was much stronger than that of ordinary wizards, but inhaling such gases for a long time would still cause him unpredictable damage.

"I don't know." Sirius shook his head. In the distance, the entire Eternal City was engulfed in flames, the fire tearing apart the stars on the ceiling of the cave.

This cruel destruction has ravaged this magnificent landscape.

"The ancient ruins beneath the fairy city are vast, and perhaps some individual fairies escaped this brutal massacre."

"Sigh—" Professor Lupin sighed, "Let's put out the fire first. Those ruins are also relics left by wizards, and it's my responsibility to protect them."

Sirius then remembered that Lupin was still the director of the Federation's Excavation Committee at the time, so it was indeed true that protecting ancient ruins was his responsibility.

The two immediately began to put out the fire.

For large-scale fires like this, using the Weather Charm is the simplest method.

Together they waved their wands, conjuring up rolling dark clouds.

Then, manipulate the dark clouds to make it rain.

However, their magic was limited; the Eternal City was simply too vast. The rain could only extinguish fires in a very small area.

Sirius Black had no choice but to preserve the most important royal palace buildings.

The fire at the royal court was quickly extinguished.

The charred corpses scattered all over the ground were unmistakable proof that a massacre had taken place here not long ago.

Sirius and Lupin walked into the hall with frowns, not seeing a single survivor.

After that, they went to the entrance of the ancient ruins.

The entire route was dilapidated, so there was no chance of any survivors.

About half an hour later.

The Eternal City welcomed its second group of visitors.

It was Theseus Scamander leading Hermione and her companions.

And Zhang Xiaolin, Basil Pierre, Winston Norm, and other members of the federation.

They arrived at the royal city one after the other.

The horrific scene shocked everyone.

Almost immediately, the members of the Federation began examining the bodies on the ground, searching for survivors.

More people rushed into the Eternal City.

Hermione and her other friends followed in silently, their pale faces devoid of color.

Think about it, how long has it been since she last came here?

It's only been a little over a month.

In just over a month, the fairy has encountered such a great calamity.

Perhaps—Hermione suddenly thought of the goblin infection [Omen] and the Gorlon rebellion that occurred before her last visit.

These incidents seem to suggest that some powerful force is deliberately weakening the fairy's power.

If it weren't for the two previous misfortunes, perhaps the fairies would have been able to fight Voldemort.

It won't end in a one-sided massacre.

"He really is a monster now." Arriving near the royal court, Harry finally couldn't help but exclaim in horror, "How many goblins have died? I can't count them? They're everywhere!"

"There might be tens of thousands," Ginny said through gritted teeth, her whole body trembling.

"I think it's at least 100,000," Fred said in a deep voice. "Didn't you see that lake? It was full of dead bodies."

"That's actually a river," Hermione explained. "Perhaps there were too many corpses, and they blocked the outlet."

"Merlin!"

A gasp of surprise rippled through the crowd.

The sheer number of corpses brought the river to a standstill; what a terrible massacre this must have been!

"Why?" Fred asked. "Why did he set it on fire?" He looked up at the magnificent building in the distance and the dilapidated Starry Sky Dome.

Even though the flames have not yet been extinguished.

The dome was destroyed beyond recognition, but from the few remaining remnants, one can still glimpse how great and magnificent this city must have been.

Hermione remained silent and did not answer.

She knew the answer.

Voldemort would definitely set fire.

He'll definitely set it on fire!

The fact that fairies were taking over ancient wizarding relics was a heinous crime in the eyes of a wizard supremacist like Voldemort.

He probably wishes he could remove the fairy race from this planet.

"Wait—" The little witch paused, suddenly realizing something, "Gringotts—that's the goblins' last stronghold."

If Voldemort intended to exterminate them all, whether out of his own hatred for goblins or his desire to keep the secret of the Blade of Prometheus buried in Hell forever, he would have a very high chance of storming Gringotts and completely eradicating the goblins.

"I've already sent men to Gringotts," Theseus Scamander said coldly. "Hopefully, they're not too late." A hint of worry flashed in his eyes.

"We should be able to make it in time. The Death Eaters aren't capable of sealing off Diagon Alley. The fact that we haven't received any news means Gringotts is still in the hands of the goblins," Hermione said.

The fairy kingdom is too isolated.

There is only one entrance, and anti-apparition spells and various protective spells are cast everywhere.

Once faced with an invincible enemy, the fairy will be trapped like a turtle in a jar, with nowhere to escape.

This provided the venue for the massacre.

Just then, Sirius and Lupin ran into them head-on.

Several bewildered fairies followed behind the two.

This may be the only remaining fairy in the entire Eternal City.

"Frances?" Hermione recognized the goblin walking at the front immediately.

"Yes, it's you." Upon suddenly hearing his own name, Frans snapped back to reality.

His pale, green face was filled with a numbness that went deep into his bones.

It's as if they're overwhelmed with grief and have no strength left to express their emotions.

"The mysterious man came here? Was he the one who killed your people?"

The fairy didn't speak, but just nodded blankly.

Hermione understood; the situation was urgent, and she didn't have the energy to comfort them.

So I simply brought up my question directly.

"Did he steal one of your treasures? A treasure called the Blade of Prometheus!"

Hearing this, Frans looked up, his eyes glazed, and said, "No—madam. I don't know anything about the 'Blade of Prometheus,' but the king was indeed forced to give something to that horrible monster." He shuddered and said, "It looked like a dagger, but it was a broken blade, only the tip remained."

"The tip of the blade?" Hermione breathed a sigh of relief. This meant that Voldemort hadn't obtained the complete Blade of Prometheus, and they still had a chance.

"What about the rest? Or rather, where is the fairy who best understands the treasure and is most likely to know what the [Blade of Prometheus] is?"

"Miss, are you preparing to fight that monster?" Frans suddenly asked.

"Yes," Hermione nodded. "We all are. This is a fight to the death."

"Then I'm willing to tell you." A sudden surge of intense hatred flashed in Frans' eyes.

He witnessed the tragic deaths of his own people.

Because he was familiar with the layout of the ancient ruins, he found a hidden place and managed to survive.

Now, all Frans has left to do is seek revenge.

Revenge—revenge at any cost!

"The Collector Nagnock," Frans exclaimed sharply. "He's the most enthusiastic collector among us, especially of artifacts from ancient ruins; he knows the most about them."

"Where is he?" Hermione pressed.

"At Gringotts!"

"He is one of the heads of Gringotts."

(End of this chapter)