[HP] Flower of Eternal Life

As the afterglow of the setting sun filtered through the stained-glass windows into the auditorium and enveloped each survivor, they realized that the final battle was near.

In the previous operation to snatch the Horcruxes, Minerva McGonagall, Arthur Weasley, and Remus Lupine who went to Gringotts all escaped unharmed, but the team going to Malfoy Manor The losses were heavy, the Order of the Phoenix lost Frank Longbottom and James Potter, who were killed by the Killing Curse of Bellatrix Lestrange and Antonin Dolohov respectively.Alastor Moody lost an eye, and Kados Meadows was badly wounded.

For Lily Potter, Harry's return to her may be the only consolation.

When Esther walked up to the old principal and tried to return the sorting hat and Gryffindor's sword to the old man, she noticed that the old man's right hand was scorched and necrotic as if he had experienced a terrible experience.The aged Albus Dumbledore realized her gaze, showed a calm smile, and said softly: "Thank you, Miss Snape, now I can believe that you are a real Gryffindor .”

"I killed the big snake, I don't think it has been made into a horcrux yet." Esther nodded to the old man after saying the last sentence, and then returned to his partner at the long table in Gryffindor Beside them, Albus took her hand lightly as soon as she took a seat.

"I think we are about to usher in the final battle." Albus said softly, his expression was calm and serene, as if what he was about to face was not a terrible battle but a sweet dreamland.

Rose nodded. She still had thick dark circles under her eyes, but she looked very relaxed, and her tone was as calm as when they were discussing homework under the beeches by the lake: "We have done everything we can, regardless of the result. I won’t regret anything.” Her slender palm on the long table was interlocking with Will’s broad palm next to her.

Even Will seemed to be infected by his companions, and said with a smile: "I have a good feeling about this battle. I think we can go back after this last battle. Help the Phoenix of this world The club won, and that's probably why we came into this world."

Almost as soon as he finished speaking, the auditorium went dark.The twilight rays that entered the auditorium were obscured by ominous clouds, and in an instant the sky full of fiery clouds was covered by pitch-black stratocumulus clouds.

"Albus Dumbledore!" The Dark Lord's angry growl seemed to come from far away, and it seemed that he hadn't even managed to crack the protective barrier erected by the school teachers.

The people in the auditorium looked at each other, and finally turned their eyes to Dumbledore silently.The old man stood up calmly from his armchair and walked towards the gate of Hogwarts.People—members of the Order of the Phoenix stood up one after another and followed behind him wordlessly. This team gradually grew stronger, and every wizard who was about to step onto the battlefield looked calm, powerful, and determined.

Voldemort and his servants had obviously been waiting for a long time.The Dark Lord's face was contorted with rage, and he no longer looked as handsome and charming as the last time he was seen.His face seemed to have been burned by some kind of flame, his facial features became blurred, and his eyes turned scarlet.

"Very good." Voldemort stared coldly at Dumbledore and the people behind him. He tapped his wand in the palm of the other hand, seemingly impatient, and sparks shot from the tip of the yew wand from time to time. burst out.

"It was foolish to come here today, Tom," said the old man calmly, and he took a step forward, over the transparent and shining golden barrier.

"Dumbledore, your arrogance will lead to failure." Voldemort said viciously, he swung his wand violently, a green light flew out of the wand and hit the old man, but Dumbledore's robes suddenly spun and disappeared, The Killing Curse splashed sparks on the barrier and vanished.

Voldemort let out a disappointed scream. He searched for the figure of the old man, but before he found his target, the stone sculptures on Hogwarts Castle suddenly jumped down as if they had gained life, and rushed towards Voldemort and his servants .The Death Eaters drew out their wands to fight back one after another, and the members of the Order of the Phoenix inside the barrier could no longer hold back, and rushed out of the barrier to join the battle.

All of a sudden, screams, growls, and the crackling of the cursed air broke the silence of the shadowed school.

Voldemort finally spotted the figure of the old man behind him. He roared and uttered another Killing Curse, but it missed, and the beam disappeared over the old man's shoulder.In contrast, Dumbledore waved his wand lightly, some invisible force stirred the air between the two, Voldemort had to summon a huge silver shield to resist the power of the spell, the shield issued The low roar, like a giant gong being hit, disappeared.

"Dumbledore, do you want to kill me? I thought the noblest and greatest wizard of this century would not bother to do such a thing." The whip lashed at the old man, but the old wizard did not sit still, he disappeared in place again, and then appeared in mid-air behind Voldemort, throwing a large golden net, Voldemort tried to summon the silver shield to defend again, but the large net overwhelmed him. He swallowed it with his shield.

The old man's voice reached him through the din of battle: "We all know there are other ways to destroy a man than taking his life, Tom, and your fear of death blinds your eyes to the real Useful stuff."

Voldemort let out a scream, and the huge net was lifted by an invisible force and turned into a huge fire snake to attack the wizard hanging in the air, but the latter disappeared again as if playing tricks on the Dark Lord.The fire snake crossed Dumbledore's original position and hit the barrier protecting the castle. The barrier had absorbed too many spells before, and finally broke as if it was overwhelmed.

"Dumbledore, you coward, come out and meet me!" Voldemort roared and swung his wand wildly. Wherever the wand's trajectory touched, there were continuous explosions of air, and invisible blades flew in all directions, not only the phoenix Members of the club, even his Death Eaters, were targeted by the spell, and several were knocked to the ground by the wind of the knife, while fierce fighting continued.

"Tom, you will never understand what the real power is, because you have never tried to face it." Dumbledore appeared again, he stood a little far away and flicked his wand, the ground under Voldemort's feet quickly The huge vines that spewed out from the cracks tightly wrapped around his body, but were immediately burned up by the previous fire snake.

"Love! That ridiculous 'love' statement of yours again." Voldemort laughed, as if he had heard an utterly comical joke, "If you dare not really kill me like this, you never will." Really beat me!" His fire snake rolled up from the ground and rushed towards Dumbledore, but before it could touch the old man, it was engulfed by the flames falling from the sky.The arrival of Fawkes the phoenix obviously roused all members of the Order, and with shouts they went on to fight valiantly.

The Death Eaters were retreating steadily, and Voldemort obviously noticed this too. He scanned the audience with a gloomy and frantic face, and then the figures of four children who were standing in the foyer watching the battle suddenly appeared in his vision——

Will Dursley put his arm around Rose Weasley's shoulders, while Albus Potter and Esther Snape were standing side by side with their fingers intertwined, and the four children cuddled together, looking so intimate.

A black undercurrent of emotion engulfed him. He no longer paid attention to Dumbledore's whereabouts, nor cared about the battle between the Order of the Phoenix and the Death Eaters. He raised his wand and pointed in the direction of the four children, and threw a fierce Then a green light--

The entire battlefield suddenly fell into a dead silence, all sounds were absorbed by some kind of force, and the scene turned into a silent film, slowly turning and moving forward under the reflection of mottled light and shadow.

A huge silver-white barrier suddenly appeared in front of the four children. It absorbed four Killing Curses and reflected four silver-white light beams, all of which sank into Voldemort's chest.

As if he had lost all his magic power, he suddenly fell to his knees.

A girl in a white gown embellished with sequins appeared in the middle of the battlefield, walking slowly towards the reduced mortal Voldemort, and finally stopped a few steps away from him.

The girl stretched out her hands towards him, a dark gemstone in her left hand, and a dim crystal flower in her right hand.She stared at him with mottled and clean light silver eyes like a frozen lake in winter, and asked softly: "The left hand holds the possibility of rebirth, and the right hand is the past you buried in your heart. Which one would you choose?" one?"

Voldemort stared at the girl who asked the question and the things in her hands, suddenly laughed out loud, and then replied in a proud tone: "Voldemort will not accept the choice imposed by others!"

The girl nodded calmly, and both disappeared from her hands, replaced by a broken yew wand in her left hand and a wand identical to the one Albus Dumbledore owned in her right. Wand - the Elder Wand.

For the first time, Voldemort's distorted face, which had been distorted by splitting his soul many times, showed extreme fear. He turned his head to look at the wand in his hand, and found that it had really been broken at some point.

The girl's soft and peaceful voice reached his ears: "I'm sorry, Tom, I'm really, really sorry."

Voldemort - Tom Riddle looked up just in time to meet Esther Snape's pale silver eyes gazing into him, filled with regret, sorrow, and a depth he'd never had from anyone. Deep love and sympathy.

Then he fell, dead like a mortal.At the last moment, his scarlet eyes returned to the dim blackness of the night, and there was nothing there, nothing left.

☆、Chapter 19