Dracula, Dumbledore and Grindelwald walked out of the Hog's Head and onto the streets of Hogsmeade.
In the distance, a dense crowd of people appeared at the end of Hogsmeade village, which had already flooded the tracks of Hogsmeade Station and were moving eastward towards Hogwarts like zombies.
Not only that, the originally clear sky seemed to have been filled with dark clouds. The atmosphere was extremely depressing, and endless negative emotions fell from the sky, wiping out the smiles on everyone's faces.
"Look, who just said that Voldemort has been dealt with?" Aberforth said in a sarcastic tone, "The number of Inferi and Dementors this time is far greater than any previous time. Could it be that a dark lord more powerful than Voldemort suddenly appears out of nowhere?"
"That's hard to say." Dracula smiled with interest and turned to look at Dumbledore: "Well, Albus, how do the Inferi and Dementors on these two sides divide their work?"
Dumbledore looked at the Hogwarts Castle in the east with a smile on his face, and he seemed to be in a good mood.
"It seems like there's no need for us to take action over there, right?"
Dracula and Grindelwald also looked over the uneven roofs of Hogsmeade and towards the tall main tower of Hogwarts.
Originally under the influence of the Dementors, in the eerie, dark sky, a faint beam of silver light penetrated the dense group of Dementors, dispelling a circle of negative emotions such as fear and sadness.
Immediately afterwards, two more beams of silver light shone out.
The silver light became more and more, gradually converging into a dazzling torrent like the Milky Way.
A bright stag rushed to the front of the torrent, followed by an otter and a Jack Russell terrier, and then a horse, a hare, a swan, and foxes, wild boars, cats and other animals running in the torrent...
In addition to these physical guardian gods, there are also countless half-solid and half-illusory silver lights and endless silver mist accompanying them.
Faced with such a large number of Dementors, a single patronus might seem powerless.
But when half of the students in the castle have learned the Patronus Charm, the Patronus will be no less powerful than the Dementors.
"Unconsciously, the children have grown up, and it is time for them to stand on their own." Dumbledore looked at the silver torrent, wiped his eyes, and said with emotion.
"Sometimes I really thought they were just freshmen, each one more naughty than the other. Minerva kept nagging me to manage them well..."
"Why are you suddenly nostalgic for the past?" Grindelwald interrupted him with a smile, "Then I would like to tell you how I spent those fifty years in the tower."
Seeing that Dumbledore and Grindelwald were about to start reminiscing about the past, and Dracula looked like he was ready to listen to the story with great interest, Aberforth beside them could not bear it any longer.
"What's wrong with you three?" Aberforth said impatiently. "The Inferi and Dementors are here, and instead of trying to solve the problem, you three are reminiscing about the past? Is this the time for you to reminisce about the past?"
Dumbledore woke up as if from a dream, and seemed to have just remembered the important matter.
"When I get old, I always like to reminisce about the past." He shook his head ashamedly and said softly, "Don't worry, Aberforth, this matter will be resolved soon."
Then Dumbledore looked at Grindelwald, hesitated, and handed him the Resurrection Stone ring on his finger.
Grindelwald looked at the ring that Dumbledore handed over, his expression dazed for a moment.
"Gellert, take the Resurrection Stone first. I'll leave the Inferi to you." Dumbledore reminded Grindelwald when he saw that he didn't move. "I remember that you were good at necromancy."
"Well... I used necromancy to resurrect a little unicorn, but you and Newt destroyed it." Grindelwald came back to his senses, gently took the ring, and replied casually, "No problem, they are just some low-level corpses."
"Professor Dracula..." Dumbledore turned and looked at Dracula again.
"Go and do what you need to do." Dracula nodded, "I'll watch from the dark, don't worry."
Dumbledore finally relaxed and raised his arms to his sides.
A fiery red phoenix landed on his arm, and with it Dumbledore turned into a golden red flame and dissipated on the spot.
Grindelwald watched Dumbledore leave, holding the Resurrection Stone Ring tightly in his hand.
Then he chuckled, turned around, and faced the group of Inferi that had entered the confines of Hogsmeade village and caused a commotion.
Now, Aberforth and Dracula were the only ones left at the door of the Hog's Head Inn.
"Why do both of them have missions, but you don't?" Aberforth looked at Dracula who was still standing there, and asked puzzledly.
"Who said that?" Dracula glanced at him, "My mission is the most important, understand?"
"So what is your mission?" asked Aberforth.
"My mission..." Dracula laughed happily, and turned back to the Hog's Head Bar. "First, have a glass of your best drink to calm down!"
Aberforth: "..."
…
When Dumbledore arrived at Hogwarts Castle, the Dementors in the sky had been dispersed.
A figure was standing at the gate leading to the Great Hall of Hogwarts, pacing back and forth anxiously.
"Tom? Why are you not going to Minerva's office? What are you doing here?" Dumbledore asked in surprise when he saw this figure. "Aren't you here to compete with Severus for the position of Defense Against the Dark Arts professor?"
"That's how it should be, but aren't there a large number of Dementors invading?" Riddle's face looked very worried. "I think this Dementor invasion is by no means accidental. There must be someone behind this secretly doing bad things."
"I feel it is necessary to demonstrate my ability in front of you and Headmaster Minerva through this incident. In order to investigate the person behind the Dementors, I searched carefully around the castle and finally found a suspicious trace!"
"Have you found the suspicious person?" Dumbledore's face became serious. "Where is he!"
"I just found it in the depths of the Forbidden Forest." Riddle said in a deep voice, "But even though I have absorbed the fragments of Voldemort's soul, I haven't digested it completely. My strength is still a step away from being a great wizard..."
"Therefore, I am not sure I can handle that suspicious person alone, so I have to come here and wait for you and Professor Dracula to come!"
"Tom, you have done a great job!" Dumbledore said seriously, "Wait for me here for a moment. I will go and explain this to Minerva, and then we will go together to look for the suspicious trace."
After saying this, Dumbledore was about to walk towards the marble staircase leading to the second floor next to the entrance courtyard when Riddle called him from behind again.
"Principal, is Professor Dracula nearby?" Riddle asked, "Should we wait for him to go together? It would be safer..."
"Professor Dracula has his own things to do and doesn't have time to return to Hogwarts." Dumbledore shook his head, "Don't worry, with the two of us together, we can handle most situations. There's no need to trouble Professor Dracula."
Riddle nodded slightly.
"I understand," he said.
…
A few minutes later, Dumbledore hurried downstairs and came straight to Riddle.
"Are you ready, Tom?" he asked quietly.
"I'm ready here, Headmaster Dumbledore," Riddle nodded.
He didn't know if it was an illusion, but he felt that Dumbledore's temperament seemed to have changed in just a few minutes. The mysterious and vicissitudes of life seemed to disappear, and instead he became... a lot younger.
'Maybe he's relaxed a lot after talking to Professor McGonagall about school matters.' That's all he could think.
Then, Riddle led the way, and Dumbledore followed him quietly, and together they walked into a gloomy cypress tree deep in the Forbidden Forest.
"That's it, Mr. Principal." Riddle pointed to a dark symbol carved on the cypress tree in front of him and said slowly, "Look at that runic symbol. Isn't it very strange..."
Dumbledore frowned, walked towards the thick cypress tree in front, and looked at the black runic characters that seemed to be constantly jumping.
"This is… "
His gaze seemed to be sucked into the runic characters, and a trace of confusion appeared in his eyes.
At the same moment, Dumbledore didn't see that Riddle behind him suddenly raised his wand -
"Avada Kedavra!"
A blinding green light pierced through the darkness of the Forbidden Forest and struck Dumbledore squarely on the back...
The old man fell weakly and heavily on the pine needle-covered ground like a big doll. The glasses on his face broke into two pieces and his eyes were wide open. It seemed that he could never have imagined that the attack would come from behind.
Riddle was breathing heavily and looking at the fallen old principal. He couldn't believe that he had succeeded so easily.
For some reason, even though he had achieved his goal, he had the illusion that something had left him...
"Tom, you are still bewildered."
In the silent forbidden forest, a voice suddenly broke the silent air.
Riddle turned his head suddenly, his eyes full of disbelief.
"How is that possible! You are not..."
"Tom, do you really think you are hiding well?" Dumbledore, with a head full of silver hair, walked out from the other side of the Forbidden Forest and said with a heavy expression.
The phoenix Fawkes stood on his shoulder, combing his golden and red feathers leisurely.
"When Professor Dracula told me that you had learned to repent, I realized that you had returned to your old ways." Dumbledore looked deeply into Riddle's eyes. "The Tom Riddle I know may change his position, but he will never repent for what he has done..."
"Not to mention, many of the things Voldemort did were not done by him in your eyes... Why do you want to confess for him?"
"At that time, Professor Dracula already understood that you were able to piece your soul together with the help of the power of the god of death. The price might be that you would have to give some of your soul fragments to the god of death after the success."
Riddle's child's hole was contracting violently, and it was obvious that he had not yet recovered from the shock.
He looked at Dumbledore, who had been hit by the Killing Curse and fell to the ground, in disbelief. He saw that old face twitched a few times, and his wrinkled skin gradually became smooth, his white hair became black and messy, and a lightning-shaped scar appeared on his forehead...
"Harry Potter?!" Riddle was horrified as he watched Dumbledore's face transform into Harry's. He couldn't believe his eyes at all. "How is this possible..."
Then he turned sharply and asked Dumbledore, "Did you feed Harry Polyjuice Potion?"
"Is this your responsibility as the headmaster of Hogwarts? Letting your students take the Killing Curse for you!"
"Tom, don't you realize it yet?" Dumbledore said calmly, "After Voldemort cast the Killing Curse on Harry seventeen years ago, he accidentally left a piece of his soul in Harry's body, and Harry became a special Horcrux at that time..."
"Ha, I get it!" Riddle smiled sarcastically, "Just because of this, in order to kill me, you must let your students be buried with me, right? The great wizard who protects the magic world is indeed worthy of his reputation!"
"You're overthinking it, Tom. Harry will be fine." Dumbledore said softly.
"He was hit by a killing curse from me, and you tell me he will be fine?!" Riddle sneered.
"There is no need for me to lie to you." Dumbledore shook his head.
…
At this moment, Harry stood up in the silent space.
It was a huge round glass roof that gleamed in the sunlight high above him; all was quiet except for a strange thumping and groaning noise that came from the mist nearby...
Harry stood still and slowly turned around, and the surrounding scenery seemed to appear before his eyes.
A large, bright, clean space, a hall much larger than the Great Hall, with a clear glass dome above it. The hall was empty, with only him, except for—
He saw the thing that made the strange noise.
The thing was shaped like a naked child, curled up on the ground, its skin was red and rough, and looked like it had been peeled off. It was lying shivering under a seat, having been crammed there randomly, and was struggling to breathe.
Harry felt a little scared and took two steps back.
Although that thing was small and weak, a familiar, evil, and terrifying aura could be heard from its body from time to time...
"You came at the wrong time."
A voice suddenly rang out in the silent space.
Harry turned around suddenly and saw the silver-haired Professor Dracula walking towards him with brisk steps and an interested look on his face.
"Professor Dracula?" Harry asked in surprise, "Where am I... and why did you say I came at the wrong time?"
"Because I just cheated a miser into giving you a bottle of good red wine, and you were cursed at this very moment." Dracula moved a chair from somewhere and sat down, motioning to Harry, "Sit down."
"Yes, I seem to have been hit by Tom's killing curse..." Harry said with a complicated expression, "When Dumbledore told me that he wanted me to cooperate with him to do something, I thought he was joking."
Then, Harry's eyes suddenly widened.
"So, professor, you are dead too?" he asked in surprise.
"What nonsense are you talking about?" Dracula glanced at him, "I wish I could die, but I can't do it at all, unfortunately..."
"But... then why are you here? Isn't this heaven?" Harry asked.
"Heaven?" Dracula curled his lips. "I feel like the place I went to before was more like hell... Well, to be precise, this place should be called the Lost Realm, a narrow space between life and death."
"Lost Realm?" Harry looked around in confusion.
"Yes, Lost Realm." Dracula nodded. "Riddle has your blood in his body, and absorbed a small part of the spell left by your mother when she died for you. When Voldemort created this body, he believed that this would make him fearless of the powerful protective magic..."
"But in reality, this will only form a cycle between you, a cycle where no one can kill anyone else."
"Riddle inherited this body created by Voldemort, so he is also trapped in this cycle - he can't really kill you, he can only drive your soul into this narrow space between life and death."
"But... I always feel like this is like King's Cross Station," said Harry, "but much cleaner and emptier, and I can't see any trains."
"King's Cross Station?" Dracula looked around with interest, then nodded affirmatively, "Yes, everyone sees different things when they come here. Maybe King's Cross Station has left a deep impression on you."
"After all, that station is the gateway that leads you into the real wizarding world, right?"
Harry nodded slightly.
"So, how did you get here, Professor?" he asked. "Are you also under the curse?"
"That won't happen." Dracula shrugged. "I collected the three Deathly Hallows, defeated the previous Grim Reaper, and became the current one."
Harry's eyes widened, his mouth agape.
"You...you're not kidding?" he stammered.
"Do you think I'm joking?" Dracula asked with a chuckle, "If you hadn't come to this place, I would definitely not tell you this."
Harry suddenly became excited.
"I can't believe that the legendary god of death has become my professor!" he shouted excitedly, "Then even if another Voldemort appears in the future, I don't have to worry about it, right?"
"I am the God of Death now, how come you are not afraid of me?" Dracula asked in surprise.
"Why should I be afraid of you, Professor?" Harry said with a smile, "You are the most popular Defense Against the Dark Arts professor at Hogwarts!"
Dracula was stunned for a moment, then he also laughed softly.
"Yeah, you're right." He chuckled and his mood became extremely good.
"Professor, tell me what it feels like to be the god of death?" Harry asked curiously, leaning close to Dracula. "It must be very powerful."
"I don't feel anything. It's not much different from before." Dracula sighed and said depressedly, "I thought it would be fun to be the god of death, but I was so disappointed..."
"Besides, as a vampire, I might have found a chance to die if I looked carefully. But now I have become the god of death. I can't die at all!"
"I can't even imagine how bored I'll be in the years ahead..."
Dracula slumped in his chair, suddenly feeling that the future was bleak.
Looking at this scene, Harry wanted to laugh, but felt it was inappropriate, so he could only purse his lips tightly, his face turning red.
"Forget it. The more I talk, the more depressed I am. I won't chat with you anymore." Dracula stood up from the chair with a stern face and snapped his fingers.
Harry saw that the strange thing under the chair was instantly burned to ashes.
"The fragment of Voldemort's soul in your body has been dealt with." Dracula clapped his hands, as if he had slapped a mosquito to death. "Now you can go back. Don't stay in the Lost Realm for too long."
"But... how do I get back?" Harry asked.
"Well, let me think..." Dracula thought and said softly, "Since you said we are at King's Cross Station, I thought you could... for example... board a train?"
Harry turned his head and saw that there seemed to be a real train appearing in the fog nearby, exactly the same as the Hogwarts Express.
…
Harry woke up, face down on the ground, the smell of the Forbidden Forest overwhelming his nostrils.
He felt the cold, hard earth and the thick pine needles beneath his cheek, and the corner of his glasses, which had been knocked askew when he landed, stabbing his temple. There was no part of his body that didn't hurt, and where the Killing Curse had struck him it was like being struck by an iron fist.
He struggled to move, barely climbed half of his body off the ground, and vaguely saw two people confronting each other.
"Harry, are you back?" Dumbledore's voice reached Harry's ears.
The glasses on his face were suddenly fixed by a silent repair spell. Harry put on the glasses and saw Dumbledore's kind smile and Riddle's stunned face.
"Why... why did you not die after being hit by the Killing Curse?" Riddle asked in astonishment. "This is not fair. Last time you had your mother's protective magic, but what's the reason this time?!"
"It doesn't matter." Dumbledore said softly, "Tom, it's over. You have to admit that you have no chance of becoming the next Dark Lord."
"No! This is not over yet!" Riddle shouted unconvinced. "There is one thing I haven't told anyone. After absorbing Voldemort's soul, I have already reached the magical strength of a great wizard. Now I am definitely stronger than you!"
"What if I'm included?" Another white-haired old man appeared in the Forbidden Forest and stood side by side with Dumbledore.
With the help of the Resurrection Stone, it wouldn't take him much time to deal with those corpses.
"Grindelwald." Riddle's face darkened. "Do you think two great wizards can stop me? At worst, I can only keep two soul fragments and sacrifice the rest to the god of death... He will be happy to lend me power!"
“Puff—”
A shrill laugh reached Riddle's ears.
He turned his head and saw Harry covering his mouth, trying very hard to hold back his laughter.
"What are you laughing at?!" Riddle asked angrily.
Harry waved his hands quickly, but his body was still shaking, and it was obvious that he couldn't stop laughing.
He turned around to look at Dumbledore and Grindelwald again, only to find that they both had teasing smiles on their faces.
"How dare you laugh at me?" Riddle growled angrily, "I think you don't understand how powerful the power of the God of Death is!"
"Then go and borrow it quickly. We'll be waiting for you here." Grindelwald sneered maliciously.
"You wait!" said Riddle grimly.
Dark flames appeared in his eyes as he tried to connect with the realm of death.
However, the next moment, the black flames in his eyes suddenly went out.
Riddle was confused. He wanted to connect again in disbelief, but this time the black flame didn't even burn.
"What's going on? Can't you borrow any more power?" Grindelwald sneered. "You don't think about improving your own strength, but always want to rely on external things. People like you will suffer sooner or later."
Dumbledore took two steps forward and sighed.
"It's over, Tom." He raised his wand.
…
Without the power of Death, how could Riddle be a match for the well-prepared Dumbledore and Grindelwald
He didn't struggle for more than a few minutes before he was tied to the thick trunk of a cypress tree by Dumbledore's Transfiguration.
Dumbledore held his wand and looked deeply at Riddle in front of him, with a hint of hesitation in his eyes.
"Albus, you've been a good guy for too long. Maybe you've forgotten how to kill people?" Grindelwald laughed wildly and patted Dumbledore on the shoulder. "Leave this to me."
He raised his wand sharply—
"Avada Kedavra!"
…
…
(End of text)
PS: The subsequent branch plots will be supplemented in the extra chapters, and the final remarks will be posted tomorrow. Thank you all for your support along the way. All extra chapters will be published in the form of free chapters.