"How did Dumbledore..."
In the Gryffindor common room, the students who had just been rushed back by the professors gathered together in small groups, whispering in low voices.
"Who knows? That was Principal Dumbledore! He died without warning..."
"Don't be like this. McClane is right. We are all Hogwarts students! Dumbledore must have died to protect us. Thanks to him, we can still talk here!"
Harry and the other three were also sitting in a corner of the lounge. They listened silently to the noise around them and looked at each other. The heaviness in their hearts made it difficult for them to speak.
Maka's comforting speech must have had some effect. At least with the magic he showed, everyone felt a little more confident.
But no matter what, Dumbledore's death is a fact before our eyes, and no one can accept it all at once.
"Hermione, you got the news before us. Do you have anything to say?" Harry couldn't stand the solemn atmosphere and was the first to break the silence between the three of them.
Hermione's eyes were still red, she pursed her lips, shook her head, and sniffed.
"Dumbledore's... situation was discovered by Snape first," Hermione said softly, "I just know more about it than you do."
"...Snape." When Harry heard this, he felt a burst of habitual suspicion in his heart.
"Harry, I know what you are thinking, don't do this." Hermione looked at him with red eyes and said, "Maka has already said that there is nothing wrong with Snape."
"Yes, Harry." Ron also patted his good friend's shoulder and nodded, "Although I don't like Snape either - I'm really fed up with Potions class! But he never treats us well. Apart from the look on his face, it seems like he hasn’t done anything bad, right?”
"Yeah." Harry reluctantly nodded.
Speaking of Snape, although he was not friendly to Gryffindors... no, he was very harsh to students outside of Slytherin House. But the one he targeted most was undoubtedly Harry.
If this continues, Harry's impression of Snape will naturally not improve.
The three of them hung their heads in silence for a while. Hermione, who had cheered up a little, suppressed the sadness in her heart and focused on thinking.
Ever since she talked to Maka in Black's old house, she has been insisting on thinking positively when encountering problems, and she is even more diligent in studying magic.
Now that this happened, after Hermione calmed down, she turned around almost out of habit.
After a while, she suddenly raised her head and looked at Harry and Ron.
"By the way, I just recalled it, and I seem to have discovered something -" Hermione said seriously, "I saw Snape and Professor McGonagall in the foyer. Professor McGonagall looked very shaken, so I just followed..."
"As you know, the place where Dumbledore was lying was on the lawn under the Astronomy Tower, not far from the foyer... At that time, I was so panicked when I saw it that I couldn't care about anything else... "
"But now that I think about it carefully, I feel that something is not quite right—"
"What's wrong?" Harry and Ron asked hurriedly.
"It was the look on Snape's face," Hermione recalled. "He looked so calm. This was definitely not normal!"
"Isn't Snape always like that?" Ron curled his lips and said, "In my opinion, even if Hogwarts Castle collapsed in front of him, his face would not turn pale."
"His face is already pale enough." Harry muttered quietly, "Besides, don't you doubt him?"
"No," Hermione waved her hand and said, "I'm not doubting him. If he was really Voldemort's man, he would definitely not be so calm... Snape's look at that time made me feel that he didn't seem to care about Dumbledore at all. Dead or not!"
"The conversation between him and Professor McGonagall was the same. He just pointed to the lawn and said 'right here', and then returned to the castle as leisurely as if he were taking a walk."
"No matter which side he is on, as long as he is still interested in Dumbledore's death, he will not perfunctoryly deal with it in a routine manner!"
"Listening to what you said, it seems that this is indeed the case..." Harry said thoughtfully, "No matter what, he wouldn't just leave like that. I remember when everyone gathered there later, he Didn’t show up either.”
Hermione heard this and immediately nodded in agreement: "Yes! So, there must be something fishy here, maybe -"
"ah!"
Just as Hermione was mid-sentence, Ron suddenly interrupted her with a low voice.
"What's the matter? You're so surprised!" Hermione glared at him angrily.
"No, I just remembered something," Ron smiled a little apologetically, and then continued, "We were on the lawn before. Didn't Maka go back to the castle after he finished speaking? I seemed to have caught a glimpse of him at that time. Who are you talking to at the gate..."
"Then Professor McGonagall started urging us to come back, so I forgot about it. Now that I think about it... the one standing on the doorstep seems to be Snape!"
"Really?" Harry asked strangely, "Speaking of which, I didn't even realize when Maka left at that time—"
"At that time, you were all looking up at the sky with your neck raised!" Ron explained.
"So, you mean... Snape was waiting for Maka on the steps at the door?" Hermione lowered her head and thought about it for a moment before hesitating, "Do you think... could Dumbledore fake his death? "
"Fake death?" Harry asked doubtfully, "Why?"
"Maybe Dumbledore wanted to use the news of his death to lure Voldemort—" Halfway through, Hermione shook her head again, "No, that's not right either."
Harry and Ron had just understood this, but when they saw Hermione denying this speculation, they couldn't help but feel dizzy.
"Wrong? Why is this?" The two asked at the same time.
"Think about it!" Hermione frowned, "If Voldemort heard about Dumbledore's death, would he believe it? Even if he wanted to believe it, it would definitely take a lot of investigation before he would believe it. Because Mary He had suffered losses several times with Ka's very random tricks, so how could he believe that Dumbledore would die so easily?"
"So? Is Dumbledore really dead or fake?" Ron was almost stunned.
"I don't know." Hermione said frankly, "It is absolutely unwise to draw conclusions without evidence - Maka has said this before."
"But..." At this point, she thought for a while before continuing, "If Dumbledore is indeed dead this time, it may be a blessing or a curse; but if Dumbledore is not actually dead, … Something bad will definitely happen next!”
"Why do you say that?"
Seeing Hermione's cautious expression, Harry and Ron couldn't help but become nervous.
"Because Dumbledore is very likely..." Hermione said solemnly, "he wants to use the news of his own death in exchange for 'time'!"
"In other words, does he want to delay Voldemort's actions first...?" Harry blinked his dry eyes, "Speaking of which, Professor Trelawney made the prophecy in class..."
"Prophecy?" Ron stood up suddenly, "Wait a minute, I'll get that notebook—"
"No need," Hermione waved her hand immediately, "I still remember the content of the prophecy, there is no need to go out of my way to get it."
"Did you memorize it?" Ron sat down again hesitantly.
"It's just a few sentences," Hermione sighed, "You copied that note, don't tell me you've forgotten it all?"
"So the prophecy said, 'Evil is resurrecting'..." Harry recalled, "It sounds very ominous! This is much scarier than the patterns I saw in the tea leaves!"
"It's indeed ominous, but when you mention the prophecy, I'm more concerned about another sentence -" Hermione frowned, "Do you remember? I mean, 'When the light of the past fades away from the stage, the old enemy will come back. 'That sentence."
"'The Light of the Old' must refer to Dumbledore... So, does 'Old Enemy' refer to Voldemort?" Ron immediately guessed, "Could it be that Voldemort was not actually suspicious of Dumbledore's death? Attack directly?"
"If it's Voldemort, it's not 'Evil is Resurrecting'," Hermione shook her head, thinking carefully, "'Old Enemy'..."
She thought for a while, then suddenly showed a look of surprise and uncertainty.
"Dumbledore's 'old enemy', does he mean... Gellert Greenwald?"
"who?"
Although the name sounded familiar, at this moment, Harry's mind was filled with Voldemort and there was no room for anyone else.
"Grindelwald! The first Dark Lord!" Hermione glared at Harry. "You should read more books! Although "History of Magic" only records things before the 19th century, we are living in the 19th century. After!"
Harry couldn't help scratching his head after being scolded by Hermione.
He has indeed been working very hard recently, but all his energy has been spent on self-study of Charms, Defense Against the Dark Arts, flying skills, etc. He cannot even mention the boring history of the wizarding world. Interested.
In fact, he had barely even turned through the textbook "History of Magic."
"Yeah! Time to read more, man!"
Ron patted Harry's arm again, and was immediately rewarded with an eye roll from Harry - Ron himself was not interested in the history of magic, and Harry knew that very well.
"In short, when it comes to Dumbledore's old enemy, it should really be Gellert Greenwald, who was once known as 'one of the most dangerous dark wizards in ancient and modern times'..."
"If Dumbledore hadn't thought of a way to force him to have a life-and-death duel with him, maybe the entire European wizarding world would have been completely lost in the darkness!"