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My head felt like a cauldron that was about to explode and melt in a second, and the things I had just heard from Dumbledore's portrait were boiling in it.The wind blew in through the broken window, and I stretched out my hand to touch my face, feeling that my cheeks were hard, like an unsuccessful petrification spell that was slowly losing its effect.The monster stone statue behind him whirled and spun back to its original position, making a heavy muffled sound, which echoed in the empty corridor.

It seemed to be raining again. I stood by the window for a while, and there was cold rain blowing in with the wind, but there was no sound of dense raindrops, and the thick clouds in the sky were gradually dispersing.What time is it now?I finally figured it out, fingers resting on my cheeks until the nails sank into the skin and felt a tinge of pain—feelings that only the living have, but I was expected to go to an end called death.

I can't hear any sound other than my own heartbeat at this moment, as if I was the only one left in the huge Hogwarts castle.Had I only been in the principal's office for less than an hour?But talking to Harry seemed like a lifetime away.

I touched a round and cold object with my left hand, and only then realized that I actually sat down against the stone statue. Of course, now is not the time to rest.I stared dully at the golden orb for a while, until its little wings fluttered feebly before I realized it was Harry's Snitch.He once told me at Shell Cottage that Dumbledore hid the Resurrection Stone inside.I shook it desperately, but I didn't hear any sound from inside. Did Harry just sit where I am now, take out the Resurrection Stone and leave the Snitch here not long ago?

Where is Harry?When I stared wide-eyed in the headmaster's office and listened to Dumbledore's portrait reveal the dusty secrets to me for many years, I reflexively judged that he was going to hide me in the headmaster's office and face it with Neville. Voldemort.But after being blown by the wind for a while, I think I gradually regained my normal thinking ability-Voldemort needs the three of us to be in front of him at the same time, and even if he and Neville go to the Forbidden Forest, it will not change the fact that Harry Not unexpected.

How ridiculous, at this moment, I'm thinking to myself what it would be like to be a ghost, floating in this world that doesn't belong to me, students playing around while passing through my pearly white body, what You can't touch them, but you can still communicate with them, and you can watch them... It doesn't seem so bad when you think about it.Why give me time to think?In Malfoy Manor, when Voldemort first found out that I was also a child born at the end of July, it might have been better to die, because I was afraid and had no time to think and could only watch everything happen. All the books say that death is an instant thing —but how much courage and time does it take to walk slowly towards it?

"You are here." I suddenly heard a strange female voice, stood up in a panic as if she had plunged into a pool full of ice cubes, and the woman also exclaimed, "What an offensive behavior——"

"Sorry." I absently apologize to the ghost hanging a few inches above the ground. She has waist-length hair and must have been a great beauty in life, but at the same time the expression on her face conjures a kind of supercilious arrogance. .

"Someone is looking for you," she said as she straightened the hem of her robes. "In that tone, asking the ghosts to do something, if it wasn't for the defense of this castle—"

"Who's looking for me? Where are they?" I asked eagerly.

"The auditorium, everyone is there." She probably felt that my tone was also very rude, and after leaving a word, she fluttered through the wall and disappeared.

The whole school seemed to have fallen into a strange dead silence. As I ran, the wind blew the robe behind me, and I felt that I had turned into a ghost, but my heart was still beating violently, and I even had a kind of chest pain. The illusion of being shaken achingly by the rest of life.

I just ran to the shadow of the statue next to the foyer, and watched the people coming and going in the auditorium, but I hesitated: If someone finds out at this time, is there still a chance to rush to the Forbidden Forest?But soon I saw the Weasley family gathered together at the end of the long Gryffindor table. Mrs. Weasley, who was sitting on the stool, held Neville's wrist Hold tight.

"Alice!" Mrs. Weasley let out an exclamation just as I walked towards them against the wall, and then covered her mouth immediately, "Great! Great, finally found another one, Arthur, you Come quickly and take care of her, I will send a letter to her father—”

"Neville, did you see Harry later?" Fortunately, Percy, who was lying flat on the long table receiving Madam Pomfrey's treatment, murmured a series of inaudible whispers, and Mr. and Mrs. Weasley temporarily focused on Moving on to my son, I was able to squeeze in beside Neville and ask him out of the corner of my mouth.

"We were going to kill the snake together!" Neville's voice was full of pain, "Harry told me that his father told him a way to break the magic shield. It's not that I'm crazy, it's that -"

"Resurrection Stone, I know." I took out the Snitch from my pocket, "And then?"

"Mrs. Weasley happened to find both of us, but Harry was under the Invisibility Cloak." Neville took a deep breath, "She shouted 'the grown-ups are still fighting, the children will never be allowed to sacrifice' Just dragged me away, until now I can't find a way to leave her side for half a step, and then Harry used the invisibility cloak to avoid everyone and left the auditorium... I think he should be in the Forbidden Forest now."

"I'm sorry, Alice." Neville showed a guilty expression, "If I got under the Invisibility Cloak first and then listened to his explanation—"

"No, it's not anyone's fault." I realized I couldn't speak to Neville in a packed Great Hall, with everyone passing by trying to hear what we were talking about. "Neville, I have something very important to tell you - Professor Dumbledore's portrait tells me something about the three of us."

"Mrs. Weasley." I cleared my throat, trying not to sound normal.

Hearing me calling her, the woman who lowered her head and carefully wiped the mud on her son's face raised her head and looked at me tenderly. There was obvious exhaustion in her expression: "My dear, what's the matter? Don't be afraid, I have asked the guardian God has a message for your father, and he should be back from the playground in a while."

"Uh... Ma'am, I have something I want to talk to Neville alone." Seeing Mrs. Weasley's eyes widen in alarm, I quickly added, "We'll talk in the hallway, and I'll make sure you turn around as soon as you can." Where you see it, please."

"Okay." After a moment of silence, Mrs. Weasley finally let go of Neville's wrist, "I'll watch over you—don't try to do anything stupid! Everyone here is not just here to protect you Fight with three."

In the shadow cast by the statue in the foyer, I told Neville everything I'd heard from the Dumbledore portrait as succinctly as possible, and the retelling of "We must die" made my heart beat faster— It's like finishing all the beatings for the rest of my life in one breath.

After saying this, my eyes turned uncontrollably to Oliver Wood who came in from the gate on the other side. He was carrying a dead body on his shoulders like a sandbag and walking into the auditorium. Compared with the boy with his eyes closed, he was too young. He was obviously not old enough, and he might have sneaked back on the way to evacuate.The people in the auditorium walked up and down, comforting each other, eating something hastily brought from the kitchen to replenish their strength, so Wood continued to carry the boy to the side of the hall, where several pairs of feet were already lined up.After he walked in, I stared at the pimple on the boy's forehead and felt it go into my eye like a needle, hours before he was standing on tiptoe in front of me, with the characteristic characteristic of adolescent boys. Don't be afraid of his funny voice, he will protect me with others.

"—Then, I just need to die alone." Neville puffed out his chest when I came back to my senses, and compared with my pale face and trembling hands, he even looked more energetic than before, " I am the last of the Horcruxes, and after Voldemort kills me, you and Harry will deal with the snake and Voldemort himself—”

"Neville," I interrupted him softly, "because of the second prophecy, Voldemort decided that we must kill all three of us at the same time."

"Then tell him, tell him it's all lies! He's been lied to!" Neville suddenly became agitated. "This—from the very beginning was just a matter between me and him! Innocent people are being involved—my granny, my parents, Harry, you, those lying on the floor of the Great Hall right now! How many more people are going to die because of me—”

"It's not like that." I took a deep breath, "Mrs. Weasley is right... everyone here is not fighting for someone, we don't accept Voldemort's rule, so we choose to resist, for ourselves and for our families , for the ideal world... Now there is finally a way to completely end all of this. Neville, after we die, Voldemort will only have a broken soul, or the snake, it doesn't matter, by then Luo Grace and Hermione know what to do."

"I guess the hour he left us is running out," I looked at Neville's red eyes from self-blame and anger. die."

"How did we leave?" After a few seconds of silence, he asked hoarsely, "Mrs. Weasley is still looking this way."

"I hope she doesn't blame herself for what happened to us..." I conjured a flying pigeon with my magic wand and threw it into the auditorium, taking advantage of the moment when the crowd was chaotic, I cast the Disillusionment spell on the two of us, "If only I could say goodbye and say I'm sorry - stick to the wall."

"I want... to go home." We walked lightly through the auditorium, and a girl who was placed on a long table said in a weak voice, "Mom... I want to see..."

"You'll see Mom." Luna sat on the chair next to her and held the girl's hand, comforting her softly in a singing tone. I felt Neville's footsteps pause, and then continued to walk forward, "You Look, it's going to be dawn, and when it's dawn, you can go home."

Mrs. Weasley was yelling at Neville and I for disappearing, and many people who were still able to move rushed into the foyer, and we were able to walk smoothly to the gate of the Great Hall near the playground.

"No—" Before I ran down the stairs, I saw the flash of the spell illuminating the dark playground, and I could only see a few black figures moving fast on the lawn while fighting fiercely, "The hour is up ?"

There was my father in those dark shadows surrounded by green lights shooting from all directions, and I suddenly thought of Mrs Weasley's words, and felt fear grip my heart.Others in the auditorium also noticed the movement on the playground. Screams and shouts continued to come from behind us, but we had no time to care about other things and just ran towards the place where the fighting was most intense.

To end it all - with no plan, no idea of ​​what has happened or what is going to happen, and the mind just keeps repeating that phrase in desperation at that moment, no matter how.The screams behind us suddenly increased in volume, and with the earth shaking and roaring like an earthquake, Neville and I had to lie on the ground to maintain our balance.At this time, I turned around and took a look. It was probably one of the most hopeless scenes I have ever seen in my life: the land we just passed through seemed to be awakened by ancient evil magic. At this moment, there are countless Sharp black thorns are growing rapidly from the ground to stop the crowd trying to run to the playground for support. The ruins of the castle that were crushed by giants before are suspended in the air and then fall with a heavy sound. With a crisp sound, the people who were resting in the auditorium just now were instantly trapped in a crumbling iron cage.Flashes of spells continued to shoot from the crowd, but the thorn bushes that were struck grew faster and denser, as if the plants had absorbed their nourishment.There was another loud noise, and a skeleton with a long snake spitting out of its mouth slowly appeared in the night sky. The fluorescent green light illuminated the entire playground, making those thorns glow with a strange metallic luster.

"You have failed me." Voldemort's voice echoed through the playground again, and I realized with horror that the fight seemed to be over on that side of the playground, "I have shown you respect and kindness, but you have failed Voldemort completely. My lord. We have won. My servants far outnumber your remaining resisters. Just now, I have captured your current headmaster—if anyone resists, no matter male or female, regardless of age, they will be killed. The family members were also put to death."

Angry shouts came from the cage of black thorns on the other side of the auditorium, and because they were not far away, I could make out the voices of the Weasley twins.

"I have captured Harry Potter," continued Voldemort, throwing what appeared to be a thin stick of a wand to his feet contemptuously. "He was easily captured by my servants when he tried to escape. See Well, when you are still trying to resist me, what is the hope that Dumbledore left you doing? Where is Neville Longbottom? He hides behind you, making you die for him but dare not come out to face me —and Lord Voldemort is constantly giving in, constantly forgiving... Hand over Neville Longbottom and Alice Snape, I will forgive your sins tonight, forgive your parents, children, brothers and sisters, allow You join me in the new world we will build together."

"Harry is there!" Neville and I approached the crowd on the other side of the playground in the dark under the effect of the Disillusionment Charm, Neville said to me in a low voice.

Harry is still alive, he is locked in a larger protective ball like Nagini just now, his glasses have gone somewhere, and his wand seems to be disarmed-because he keeps tapping the levitating ball with his bare hands The ball in the air caused laughter from the Death Eaters below.

The snake was still alive, and Neville and I crawled on the grass and saw it perched on Voldemort's shoulder, and Voldemort was stroking its head with a pale finger.I saw Hagrid who was tied up behind the Death Eaters. He let out a beast-like scream because of his struggle. Nagini raised his head vigilantly but looked to the side. After a few seconds, he turned to the correct one. direction.Dad—the anger made me almost unable to control myself to shout, he was pinned to the ground by five or six Death Eaters, his wand was kicked far away, and there were several hooded men lying around him Dead body, Bellatrix was laughing loudly, I couldn't see how badly he was hurt.

"I will wait for the last 10 minutes," Voldemort declared cruelly. "In 10 minutes, if I have not seen Neville Longbottom and Alice Snape, the stone above your head will be the top of your coffin. The ground under your feet is your grave, and all—all students who come to Hogwarts to study in the future will think of what it will be like to resist Lord Voldemort when they pass by."

I felt Neville beside me stand up, but almost at the same time a huge black figure sprang out from the depths of the darkness. At first I thought it was a frightened magical creature in the Forbidden Forest, but under the light of the skull, I was very surprised. Quickly see that it is a huge but skinny black dog, its curly hair is covered with mud and fallen leaves, but its eyes are blazing like a wild wolf.It pointed straight at the cage where Harry was, deftly avoiding several green lights that were hastily fired by Death Eaters. Voldemort let out an angry roar, and he roughly pushed away several food eaters who were in the way. The Dead Apostle, like kicking away the uneven stones under his feet, threw Harry heavily to the ground when the big dog was about to touch Harry floating in the air.

"Look..." Seeing the big dog falling to the ground and transforming into a human form and standing up, Voldemort's snake-shaped red pupils narrowed into a long slit, and the Elder Wand twirled gracefully at his fingertips, repelling him. The spell that hit his eyes, "The ancient and noble Black family, only one dog is left in the end! Bellatrix, what do you think about this?"

"Master, he and his cub are just traitors of our noble blood." Bellatrix laughed loudly, "If you are willing to bestow this honor on me, Master, I will definitely repair his son finish him off."

"Oh ho - don't anyone else come to help!" Facing Sirius Black's uproar, Bellatrix shouted excitedly, "Let me do it - I'll deal with him!"

I had to fumble and grab Neville's robes to make him lie down again to avoid being hit. Various spells shuttled over our heads at an extremely fast speed, and even the early morning air began to become hot. In addition to howling, Bellatrix's ridicule and Sirius' roar were heard in his ears.The Death Eaters fanned out in a circle with Voldemort's tacit approval, and we were getting close enough that I could try to aim at Bellatrix's wildly flailing wrists - no, that's a good chance, ha Leigh's cage is now beside Hagrid, who is watching the two in the center of the duel with all his attention. As long as he doesn't move, I can try to smash the upper half of the cage with the Shadowless Curse.

Neville and I started to move almost at the same time, a red light hit Bellatrix's leg accurately, and the Avada Kedavra curse she aimed at Sirius' chest flew to the feet of the pile of Death Eaters There was a commotion; I didn't expect the glass-like crisp sound when the cage was shattered. Harry rolled forward in full view and stood up again. Run a few steps where Sirius is.

"Enough! Don't touch that boy - he and the other two must be finished by me!" Voldemort yelled angrily, shouting back the Death Eaters who surrounded Harry.Bellatrix stood up and was about to attack. He stretched out a hand, "I don't have time to watch these boring family grievances here. Today I have much more important things to do than this."

But Sirius charged at Voldemort again, this time Voldemort directly raised the Elder Wand.

"Enough." Neville stood up and shouted to everyone with his loudest voice, "Enough! Your goal has been achieved, don't hurt others anymore, we are here."

"No—no!" I thought the scream came from the crowd behind the black bush like the others, and then I realized that the scream, so sharp that it almost pierced the night sky, came from my father when he saw After I stood up with Neville, he broke down and struggled.

"We're already here, and you should keep your promise not to hurt anyone else." Neville and I raised our wands, pointing at the Death Eaters who had cast a spell on my dad to silence him.The other Death Eaters also raised their wands and pointed to where Neville and I were, silently waiting for Voldemort's instructions.

Voldemort bound Sirius and my dad with a silver rope and let the Death Eaters heap them roughly around Hagrid, then turned and looked slowly at Neville and me in the center.

"Oh, I think it's better to be closer to them and let them watch everything happen." Voldemort's voice was higher than ever, and as he waved his wand, the skull above his head seemed to illuminate the night into In the daytime, "Let that old thing lying rotting in the ground take a good look at how these marionettes of his are going to destruction like him!"

"Neville is the last of the Horcruxes." Harry was bound by Voldemort and thrown between Neville and me, the three of us now surrounded by a larger prison, Death Eaters shrieking triumphantly around us. Laughter, and that's why no one paid any attention to the conversation of the three of us dying, "Here we are, and the others will survive to deal with him and the snake."

"Are you sure?" Harry asked, turning to Neville, as if he understood my words in a blink of an eye.

"It should be. This can explain why I speak Parseltongue, and why I can see what he is thinking." Neville touched the scar on his forehead, showing a guilty expression, "I'm sorry, Harry, last Or let Alice get involved—”

Harry shook his head, and the three of us sat at the bottom of the ball and looked at the Hogwarts castle that was getting closer: "I just missed one of the snake's eyes—"

I squeezed Harry's hand tightly.The procession began to stop, and the Death Eaters spread out to the sides. Voldemort seemed to be satisfied with the distance. With a wave of his wand, he pulled out a few thorns that stood in front of everyone, while ensuring that no one could escape through the gap. , because of the lack of stones to support the crowd's heads, they swayed dangerously again, but everyone seemed to have not seen it—they stared at the three of us falling on the lawn with wide eyes, and the green light of the skull made their faces look pale. As hopeless as death.

"I will never allow—never allow you to hurt any student again!"

I couldn't help but look back, Meg's hair was messed up and her lips were blue. She was swinging her arms as if she had temporarily forgotten that she was a wizard, trying to get out of the narrow slit, and the sharp black thorns went deep into her. The arm sucked her blood greedily, growing more oblique branches to hold her back.Several Death Eaters laughed gleefully, and even imitated her staggering movements.

"Okay." McGonagall's yell and the crowd's screams undoubtedly pleased Voldemort. I heard Mrs. Weasley's cry, and Hermione and Ron called our names mournfully.Although Voldemort made a gesture to shut up, he was enjoying the desperation spreading from the opposite crowd.He squinted as the three of us stood up, our lipless mouth writhing in an odd, somber grin.

"The boy who lived, the remaining candle." His voice was as soft as a hissing flame, but it could clearly penetrate everyone's ears, "The savior, the son of prophecy...at last... ..."

None of the Death Eaters moved, they were all waiting, and all the voices behind them gradually faded away.I'm even a little thankful that they just cast a stun spell on Dad who nearly broke free so he didn't have to watch it happen.

Could Avada Kedavra kill all three of us at the same time?I thought about it inappropriately when Voldemort raised his wand, could the Elder Wand do this?His head was still on one side, and he had the expression on his face like a kid wondering what the next drama would play out—he didn't know what was going to happen, and was hesitating and frightened by it, and I felt like my brain and The senses are more sensitive than ever.With the Elder Wand in Voldemort's fingertips and the snake perched on his shoulder, I clutched my wand in a cold sweat - would it be successful to aim at Nagini at this moment?But I found that my arm was as heavy as lead, and although I forced myself to stand here, I was never a hero who could see death at home. I can't appreciate their beauty and feel sad and wronged.

The moment that mouth moved, Harry took my hand, strange spells, strange lights - yeah, why do I ridiculously think that Voldemort has only mastered one killing spell?

In a flash of light, everything is gone.

[Editor's note] At the request of the author, the magazine reminds all readers that the serialized content of this column only represents the author's account rather than the complete and authoritative historical facts. To avoid unnecessary troubles, readers (especially young wizards) are requested to refer to the corresponding content of "Modern History of Magic" when taking the exam.