Hogwarts: Voldemort, don't stop me from studying

That plume of black smoke surged upwards, spreading wantonly in the air, appearing thick and dense. A strong, acrid smell of burning permeated the air, deterring anyone from approaching easily.

The piercing sound of sirens grew louder, and fire trucks roared past on the roadside, their red bodies appearing exceptionally striking, like streaks of red lightning.

Pedestrians on the roadside stopped one after another, and several cars also pulled over to give way, the passengers curiously poking their heads out, craning their necks, and asking each other, "What's on fire up ahead? What place is that?"

Two fat men in police uniforms set up roadblocks, shouting loudly, "Don't approach, return the way you came or detour... There might be an explosion ahead..."

Hearing this, passersby who were originally complaining about the fire delaying them turned around and left, but a few people stayed, seemingly feeling that the place was far enough away that even if there was an explosion, it wouldn't affect them, so they might as well watch the excitement.

A black MPV also stopped on the roadside, the people inside pale-faced, with absolutely no intention of getting out to watch.

John Adler hugged his precious briefcase, trembling as he asked, "Hey... that direction... that's my manor, isn't it?"

The driver, wearing white gloves, tried to say in a steady tone, "Yes, Mr. Adler."

John Adler couldn't speak for a long time.

He vaguely knew that his side was bait, but before coming, someone had solemnly assured him that this operation would be successful, and his manor might suffer some losses, but it would be compensated in other ways.

For example, others in the business would give him more benefits, or increase his share of longevity potions, and so on.

As for him personally, there would definitely be no danger in this operation.

--This is what they call no danger?

If he hadn't run fast, he might have been roasted alive by now!

Abigail, who was also in the car, had already secretly gripped her wand in her right hand.

She tried to contact the people left in the manor, but never received a reply, and she was almost certain that they had all been killed or captured.

Abigail actually didn't understand why the plan had failed—in previous simulations, their probability of winning was over sixty percent; even if they failed, the success rate of the main force escaping was over ninety percent.

But the result was completely unexpected.

--Did Dumbledore and Grindelwald join forces? Or... are there some wizards who, like in legendary stories, can unleash even stronger power when facing a crisis?

But no matter what, since no one ran out alive, no one would be able to find her and Adler.

Looking on the bright side, maybe the people in the manor hadn't reported Adler's desertion yet! After all, although this guy has an annoying personality, he's very generous with money usually.

A dangerous look appeared in Abigail's eyes, and the wand silently extended a small section from her sleeve.

From childhood to adulthood, she had experienced countless battles, and she was already very proficient in using silent spells.

John Adler didn't notice the "wizard bodyguard's" small movements next to him, and he took out his phone, flipping through the contact list while complaining:

"It's all burned up, they have to triple the compensation they promised... no, five times! Don't wait for the others, they must all be dead! Drive now, we're going to Harrison..."

Just as John Adler flipped to the name he was looking for, his whole body suddenly stiffened as if petrified, unable to move even a finger.

The phone slipped from his palm, but before it fell to the ground, it was caught by a hand, and then the cover was closed.

John Adler was sweating profusely, he hurriedly rolled his eyes, and saw that his bodyguards and driver had also all turned into statues, silent and motionless, even the sound of their breathing was so weak that it was almost inaudible.

The only person in the car who could still move normally—was that amiable wizard bodyguard.

John Adler understood something, and he looked at her in shock and fear, not understanding why she would suddenly attack them.

Abigail looked at those strong bodyguards, some of whom were former special forces soldiers, some were snipers, and some were boxing champions, each of whom was much stronger than Abigail in close combat.

But until they were fixed by magic, they didn't know what was happening.

The secretary sitting in the last row had not been controlled by magic due to the angle, but she keenly noticed the sudden petrified state of the people around her, and subconsciously wanted to rush over to pull the car door open, and then found that her position was not convenient for doing so.

The slender wand was already pointing at her nose.

The secretary raised her hands, barely showing an ugly smile, and asked in a trembling voice, "Why? Miss Abigail... If, if you're not satisfied with the reward, we can discuss it further. I believe Mr. Adler will definitely be willing to pay a price that will move you."

John Adler blinked desperately, indicating that he thought so too.

"Do you know? My parents died because of two reckless wizards," Abigail suddenly said.

"That..." The secretary was puzzled, and said cautiously, "Is that so? That's so sad..."

Abigail said, "I joined the organization to take revenge... I don't think those reckless wizards should live in this world. The organization's BOSS can lead us to establish a new order—an order where no matter what race, whether or not they have magic, they must be bound by laws and absolutely cannot act recklessly!"

The secretary praised with a smile, "A very noble ideal... So Mr. Adler provides a lot of funds every year to support your organization..."

Adler looked at her with tears in his eyes, hoping she would say more.

But Abigail also petrified the secretary, and continued to say expressionlessly, "I know very well that in order to achieve this goal, necessary sacrifices will certainly be made, and innocent people will definitely be hurt."

"I'm even willing to be the organization's knife—using my wizard identity to steal secrets from the magic world, modify other people's memories, hurt people I didn't want to hurt, kill innocent parents and poor children, and send children who could have gone to school normally to the organization's base, so that they can be trained into qualified warriors for the organization."

"They told me that those who are unwilling to sacrifice anything will not be able to change anything. There will definitely be short-term pain and losses, but these will bring greater changes and progress, in order to let later generations live in a better and fairer world."

"I was deceived."

Abigail said seemingly calmly.

"Of course, the people who deceived me are not you, but you are also part of the organization's sins... and of course, the extremely stupid me."

The secretary still wanted to say something, but was hit in the chest by the green Killing Curse, she screamed, her body bounced, and fell on the chair, already dead.

The witch turned her wand and pointed it at the other terrified eyes.

"Sorry, everyone... I hope we can all be ordinary people in our next lives."

...

Several green lights flashed in the car, and the dark black windows also lit up a few times, but under the effect of the blackout film, this little faint light did not attract the attention of passersby.

All the bodyguards fell on their seats, their faces pale, without any injuries on their bodies, but they were all dead.

Adler was also about to pee his pants.

He widened his eyes, his pupils almost bursting out of their sockets, and looked at Abigail in horror, trying to convey his pleas and offers of exchange of benefits to her with his eyes.

Abigail saw it, but didn't intend to let him off, pointing the wand at Adler's head, and said softly, "Legilimency!"

...

Half an hour later, the witch wearing a baseball cap walked down the car with her head down, she stuffed the crystal bottle containing the silver memory into her backpack, looked around, and slammed the car door shut.

At this time, the black smoke in the distance had become much thinner, and people gathered in the small tavern a few hundred meters away, drinking and excitedly discussing the unlucky Adler family.

There was no one else around.

The wand hidden in the sleeve shook gently, and the car parked on the roadside seemed to be started, slowly sliding forward. It went down the slope, faster and faster, and finally crashed through the railing and headed towards the free sky.

"Boom—"

A violent explosion came from below the steep slope.

Abigail looked at the firelight, recalling the various scenes presented in the Pensieve video.

Those truths that she had been ignoring were so suddenly and directly exposed, comprehensively showing that the organization she served, the colleagues she trusted, were so cruel, ruthless, and cold-blooded, they had no ideals or principles, only endless greed and plunder, and they couldn't even be considered human.

Those parasites enjoyed extravagant lives, and also wanted powerful strength and eternal life, treating wizards and ordinary people other than themselves as materials that could be consumed at will, without any compassion or remorse.

After searching through Adler's mind, Abigail was even more certain of this.

She joined such an organization to avenge her parents, but the organization's actions were a thousand times more evil than those two reckless wizards?

Abigail slowly exhaled, turned and walked towards the adjacent dense forest.

...

Vader held a teacup, sat in Dumbledore's office at Hogwarts, and felt so comfortable that he wanted to lie down and sleep.

This reassuring environment, when you have it, you don't feel anything special, but when you lose it, you realize how precious it is.

But now is not the time to sleep.

After Dumbledore brought him back just now, he said he was going to pick up other people, and left in a hurry again, presumably he would be back soon.

Vader drank a cup of hot chocolate, and walked around the room casually.

The sleeping portraits and the rotating silverware were as usual, and suddenly there was a large space near the wall, which turned out to be a landscape-rich miniature world, as if the essence of nature was condensed in a small space.

Mountains three or four feet high stood against the wall, a winding river flowed between the mountains, and the riverbed was even paved with small pebbles, and wild flowers the size of rice grains were distributed on the grassland by the river.

On the side of the mountain there was a miniature forest, and Dumbledore's animal puppets were distributed in their favorite places, and even the number was a little more, such as hares the size of fingernails and squirrels the size of peas.

There was also a house at the foot of the mountain, and a family of five tiny humanoid puppets lived in it, some fetching water, some feeding chickens, some lying on the haystack sleeping, and two lying on the attic floor, seemingly playing Gobstones.

After a while, the "mother" who had finished feeding the chickens took the spoon for feeding the chickens, knocked up the son who was hiding and sleeping, and called down the two children playing games upstairs. The family carried baskets and went out together, seemingly to pick mulberries.

Although that primitive life was simple, it had a carefree feeling, and watching it calmed people's hearts.

Vader watched for a long time, and when they were about to return, he also planned to pour himself a glass of water, and turned around to find that Dumbledore had already returned.

He looked no different from before, smiling kindly, and beckoned Vader to sit opposite him.

"Professor," Vader sat down and said, "Your miniature world is getting richer and richer."

"Yes," Dumbledore said with a smile, "Sometimes I feel upset, and looking at them will calm me down... Although I may have said it many times, I have to praise it again—what a great invention, Vader."

Vader smiled, "Thank you, Professor."

"Tell me about your experiences during this time," Dumbledore said, "I think you must have a lot to tell."

...

The candlelight in the headmaster's office changed from bright to gradually dim until it was completely extinguished.

Because the sky outside the window was already bright, the warm sunlight shone through the window and onto the ground, outlining the blurred boundaries of the window frames.

Vader could even hear the students' noisy voices on campus, and in the distance a few figures flew and chased in the Quidditch pitch, those were the Quidditch players training.

He suddenly remembered that in about a month, it would be the match between Ravenclaw and Slytherin, and perhaps this was one of the teams training.

"Grindelwald's attitude confuses me a bit, Professor," Vader said, "I mean... I can roughly understand the intention he wants to show, but I don't understand..."

"Why you?" Dumbledore interlocked his thumbs and asked.

"Yes... the Wizengamot, Durmstrang, or there are many other excellent young wizards in other countries."

Vader said, "I won't underestimate myself, but after all, I am your student. I think... I thought later that the main reason Grindelwald wanted to win me over might be... to target you."

Dumbledore smiled.

"You underestimate your own value, Vader. If I were Grindelwald, I would also have high hopes for you—of course, I'm not saying you can believe him without reservation."

A hint of coldness and complexity flashed in Dumbledore's eyes, and his gaze, through his half-moon spectacles, stared at the spots of light scattered on the table.

"Just like I told you before... Gellert Grindelwald, he is a very dangerous person, who can easily ignite people's hearts with words, turn his ideals into other people's ideals, and even make people follow him to the death."

"His most dangerous thing is to make people believe that his goal is noble, his means are legitimate, and his actions are all for the progress of all mankind... but in reality, he is just sacrificing others at the expense of others, and using any means to achieve his own goals."

"I believe you won't be deceived by him, Weide. Because you not only have a clear head, but also parents and friends who love you. Even for their sake, you won't go down a dark and destructive path like Grindelwald."

"But sometimes, what we do is not up to us, but is always pushed by the outside world. So I still want to remind you..."

"Be vigilant at all times, Weide, be vigilant against the temptation of power and the poison of thought, and examine your own heart frequently... Remember, choice reflects a person's essence more than ability."