“They retreated.”
Truman, who had been following the movements of the dark wizards through the map, suddenly shouted, "I mean, those damn dark wizards have retreated!"
In fact, even without Truman's reminder, everyone would have noticed the latest changes.
In their sight, the Dementors that were originally wandering around and harassing and causing trouble to everyone suddenly stopped, turned their heads to look in a certain direction, and then rushed towards the gap in the school gate like a receding tide, leaving behind only a group of irrational Inferi, who were abandoned by the dark wizards as cannon fodder to delay them.
"Look in the direction of the Forbidden Forest!"
Cedric looked in the direction the Dementors turned their heads, and was surprised to find green sparks appearing in the sky above the Forbidden Forest. That was undoubtedly the reason why the dark wizards and Dementors retreated.
"The guy who fired the green sparks and caused the group of dark wizards to retreat is obviously a Death Eater." George looked at the green sparks in the sky and frowned slightly. "How did they know that the assassination mission failed?"
After Professor McGonagall and her group came to reinforce, everyone already knew that the Death Eaters went to such great lengths to murder Dumbledore, but the whole plan had already been predicted by Albert in advance, and it had just completely failed. The dozen or so Death Eaters who invaded the school had been subdued.
"Where do you think Albert went? I thought he went to deal with those who slipped through the net." Fred turned his head to look at Sana, who shook her head to indicate that she didn't know.
“You did a great job.”
Professor McGonagall looked at the Weisley brothers and the group of people around them with satisfaction. If they had not received reinforcement in time, even they would have had a hard time dealing with that group of troublesome Dementors.
Even professors in school, not everyone can summon a patronus.
"You're welcome, we'll play too... I mean I'm glad I could help." George smiled and changed the subject, "By the way, have you seen Albert?"
"No."
Professor McGonagall raised her eyebrows slightly. She was actually very curious about how Albert had managed to get them all to master the physical Patronus. More importantly, most of them had only graduated for less than a year, yet they looked so well-trained. It was incredible.
"It will be very troublesome to clean up the mess later." Cedric said, looking at the corpses scattered all over the ground, "But I think everyone must be happy that they can help."
They must conduct a thorough investigation and eliminate all the Inferi that have invaded Hogwarts.
"Hagrid, please find an open space and gather those Inferi first." Professor McGonagall turned her head to Hagrid and said.
Without Dumbledore, she would have to take on the duties of deputy headmistress.
"Should we bury them?" Hagrid asked with a raised eyebrow. He didn't think this was a good idea. There were too many Inferi. If they were buried directly, Hogwarts would become a cemetery.
"Of course not. I'm afraid we'll have to set them on fire when the time comes." Professor McGonagall shook her head. Most of the Inferi were created by dark wizards using the corpses of Muggles. Usually, only fire can be used to completely destroy them.
Cleaning up the mess after the battle was undoubtedly a troublesome task, but Professor McGonagall did not let the deans get involved. Instead, she asked them to go back and appease the students of their own colleges to prevent the students of each college from being awakened from causing even greater chaos.
The task of cleaning up the Inferi was handed over to members of the Order of the Phoenix and the Defense Society.
Everything was arranged in an orderly manner. Even Filch was assigned the task of guarding the gate to prevent other students from running out and causing trouble.
The members of the Defense Association were happy to accept the "hard job" of cleaning up the Inferi, as they finally had the chance to enjoy the fun of fighting. Although the target did look a bit hideous, it did not prevent them from having fun fighting monsters.
This is a practical opportunity that I have never had in the Defense Against the Dark Arts class before.
To ensure safety, Shanna thinks that they should go together to deal with the corpse.
No one objected, after all, it was for safety.
Everyone is happy to use the spells they learned in the Defense Society on these hideous dark creatures, which looks really joyful.
"It seems that other spells can't kill them completely." Lee Jordan pointed at the headless corpse and excitedly told his friends around him about his new discovery.
It's incredible that he can still move even though his brain has been blown to pieces by the Shattering Curse.
"That's why we need to use fire to burn them all to death." Sana came over and used the Full Body Binding Spell to knock the Inferi down. She glanced at Lee Jordan with disdain and complained, "Can you please not be so disgusting?"
"They're disgusting enough in their own right." Lee Jordan waved his wand and dragged several spell-bound Inferi to Hagrid's side.
“This number is really astonishing.”
Hagrid threw the corpse brought by Lee Jordan onto the hill of Inferi in front of him. "There are at least hundreds, maybe even thousands, of Inferi that have invaded Hogwarts. Those guys are really crazy!"
"Those guys are crazy. The Ministry of Magic should have hanged them all long ago." The cruelty and cold-bloodedness of the Death Eaters made Shanna feel inexplicably chilled.
"The Ministry of Magic doesn't have hangings, or rather, the death penalty, unless the soul is sucked away by the Dementors. But now the Dementors have sided with the You-Know-Who!" Lee Jordan muttered, "If the other junior students saw this, they would be traumatized."
"They are not as fragile as you think." Angelina dragged a few Inferi over and reminded them, "Don't be lazy. We have already dealt with eleven Inferi."
"We have more than you, thirteen."
"You guys are so boring."
"Who is there!"
When Hagrid threw the Inferi into the pile of corpses, he seemed to realize something, turned his head suddenly and looked in the direction of the Forbidden Forest and shouted.
Hagrid's shout immediately made everyone alert, and they raised their wands to point at the strange figure appearing from the Forbidden Forest.
"It's me."
"Harry? Why are you here, and what's that behind you?"
After Hagrid saw clearly that the person walking towards him from the Forbidden Forest was Harry, he was slightly stunned, because he saw that Harry seemed to be dragging several Inferi behind him.
No, that thing doesn't look like an Inferi, but a Death Eater.
That's right, Death Eaters.
They were tightly entangled by vines and were dragged along by Harry like dead dogs.
"Death Eaters..." Harry seemed to take a long time to react, and said softly: "Albert just caught the Death Eaters... Let me bring them back on the way."
"See, I told you that Albert would definitely wipe out all the Death Eaters." Lee Jordan said to the others with a smile, "Now the Ministry of Magic has a few more Death Eaters to execute. This is really cause for celebration."
"According to your calculation, there are dozens of Death Eaters who have been captured. Have we poked the You-Know-Who's lair and captured all of their Death Eaters?" Angelina couldn't help but complain. She felt that among the captured people, there must be some who were not Death Eaters. Those guys were not cabbages, how could they be captured in large handfuls
"Very likely." Shanna was not surprised. This incident was originally intended to strike down the mysterious man's minions, and it was not the first time that Albert had done this.
Hagrid had never seen Harry so lonely before, and asked worriedly, "Are you okay, Harry."
“Not very good.”
Harry dragged the Death Eaters towards the oak door, where there was a small commotion for some unknown reason.
"What's going on over there?" Hagrid asked confused.
"They probably know that Dumbledore is dead," Harry said hoarsely. She saw Mrs. Weisley. If she had followed them earlier, she would definitely have seen Dumbledore's body.
"Dumbledore is dead?" Hagrid glared down at Harry and shouted back, "What are you talking about, Harry? Didn't Professor McGonagall say..."
"Hagrid, Dumbledore is dead."
Harry trembled his dry lips and said in a hoarse voice: "Snape killed Dumbledore. Not long after Professor McGonagall and the others left, Snape sneaked up and killed Dumbledore."
Harry ignored the surprised looks of others and said slowly, "When I rushed over, they had already jumped directly from the Astronomy Tower and tried to leave from the Forbidden Forest, but they were still blocked by Albert in the Forbidden Forest."
Not only Hagrid, but everyone else was completely stunned by the information Harry provided.
"This is impossible, impossible, how could Dumbledore die!" Hagrid muttered. "Where's Snape? Where is that beast? I must break every bone of his with my own hands."
"He ran away!" said Harry.
"How could Albert let that beast get away!" Hagrid stared in disbelief.
Harry didn't intend to tell Hagrid that it was Albert who let Snape go, and he didn't know how to tell them that all this was arranged by Dumbledore.
In fact, Harry is also confused now. Perhaps the only one who knows all the truth now is Albert or Dumbledore.
So, Harry prepared to go to the headmaster's office to find Dumbledore's portrait. He wanted to ask him in person and find out everything.
As he passed the oak door, he saw Professor McGonagall, who had just received the news of Dumbledore's death from Mrs. Weasley, wiping her tearful eyes with a plaid handkerchief.
"Snape ran away!"
Harry walked up the stone steps, threw the dragged Death Eaters aside casually, and said to Professor McGonagall: "Snape abandoned the other Death Eaters and ran away with Malfoy. Albert didn't stop him."
After saying that, Harry ignored the surprised looks of others and walked straight through the oak door and headed towards the headmaster's office on the eighth floor of the castle.
There, a new portrait has joined the ranks of deceased headmasters of Hogwarts House.
Harry took a deep breath, closed the door of the headmaster's office, looked at Dumbledore's portrait, and said hoarsely: "Sir, I have something to ask you!"
Several other headmasters around pricked up their ears to listen, they knew that Dumbledore would die tonight.
However, Dumbledore seemed to be in a deep sleep and did not respond to Harry's question.
"Albert told me everything. Why did you let Snape kill you?" Harry asked again, "Even if you don't tell me, I can get the answer from Albert, but I hope you can tell me in person."
"Harry, everyone has to die eventually. It is better to make the most of your last bit of value before dying than to die meaninglessly under the curse of a spell."
The man in the golden frame opened his eyes again and stopped pretending to be asleep. He looked into Harry's eyes calmly and said with a smile, "Remember to keep this a secret for now. This is very important."
"Is it really just like that?" Harry didn't want to believe the truth. "But if that's the case, why does Albert reject Snape so much?"
"Snape doesn't like you either, does he?"
"Definitely not, at least not completely." Harry continued to ask his doubts, "He also said that there were obviously better options, but you still insisted on choosing the worst script. Albert seemed to be disgusted with you sacrificing yourself to save Snape and Malfoy."
"I just made the right choice, Harry." Dumbledore's half-moon glasses shone with a kind light. "My death can maximize the benefits. I have to brag about myself here. I died a great death."
Harry was suddenly silent.
"Voldemort wants me to die. Only when I die will Voldemort relax his vigilance and become unscrupulous. Then he will be finished. And your chance will come. As for Severus, I think it is more valuable for him to be alive. He can gain Voldemort's trust and act as a spy. When necessary, he can help protect the students of Hogwarts."
"Are you sure Snape is reliable?" Harry frowned and said hoarsely, "But Albert said Snape is not reliable."
"That's just a little prejudice." Dumbledore comforted, "Severus is still reliable in some things."
"What about Draco Malfoy?" Harry asked back, "That guy wanted to assassinate you from the beginning, and you still sided with him."
"Mr. Malfoy is just a side effect. You can think of this as a little selfishness of a headmaster. No one wants to see their students go astray." Dumbledore explained.
"But he almost killed Katie." Harry reminded, "If Katie died innocently, would you still side with Malfoy?"
"But Katie is not dead, Harry," said Dumbledore quietly.
"Yeah, luckily Katie is not dead." Harry slowed down his voice and suddenly said, "I actually think you should accept Albert's advice."
"His inappropriateness could lead to the death of many people."
Dumbledore was not optimistic about Albert's method. After all, Voldemort was crazy. Even if his power was gradually suppressed through the Ministry of Magic and the entire British wizarding community stood up against him, it was still likely to drag more wizards in the British wizarding community into this huge vortex of war, and then it would become out of control.
Dumbledore, who had been hostile to Voldemort for many years, knew better than anyone that it was extremely difficult to defeat him head-on.
What's more, Dumbledore wasn't sure how long he could hold on, and he didn't know what crazy things would happen if he pushed a guy like that into a desperate situation.
Instead of that, it is better to exchange one's last life for another possible victory.
Dumbledore believed that Harry would be able to complete his mission under his arrangement, and even if Harry failed in the end, Albert would come out to clean up the mess.