The judge wiped the cold sweat from his forehead.
He glanced at the Minister, nodded, and said, "No, no problem at all... Then I leave it to you, Miss Rosier."
Why is everyone so rebellious these days?
I might as well resign early and go back to my hometown to herd Minotaurs.
Receiving the affirmative reply, Connie let out a soft hum.
In Ethan's memory, her eyes usually held a somewhat foolish, innocent look. He didn't know what kind of stimulation she had received recently, but those eyes now revealed a sharp, piercing edge.
She tightly gripped the thick black whip binding Ethan's wrists.
It was as if she were holding onto a kite that would vanish into the sky the moment she blinked.
Is she feeling unwell?
Ethan pondered this, feeling like he understood the situation.
He tilted his head and smiled with considerate warmth. "Drink plenty of hot water, Miss Rosier."
Connie: ?
It was as if she were looking at a rigid steel beam that was bobbing its head and attempting to speak human language.
A vein popped on Connie's forehead.
Yet, her cheeks couldn't help but heat up slightly.
... The great Savior of the Wizarding World still remembers my name~
"Heh, hehe... Ugh!"
Connie suddenly snapped back to reality.
Meeting the strange gazes of those around her, she quickly suppressed the silly grin that had unconsciously crept onto her face.
In her heart, she spat on herself:
Clearly, Ethan is no longer the "Hero Ethan"...
He attacked Gringotts and destroyed social stability.
He is already a heinous villain!
How can you still worship and admire him like before?
"... You are sick, Mr. Vincent."
Connie spoke softly.
Her magnificent eyes stared straight at Ethan.
Her breathing was slightly rapid, and a strange, eerie flush rose on her cheeks.
She tightened her grip on the long whip and murmured, "But don't you worry, I will help you! Azkaban is a quiet place, suitable for treatment... Yes, I will exorcise the dark curse from your body, Ethan!"
Ethan: ?
He looked at the stubborn expression on Miss Rosier's face.
He felt the black whip tightening around his wrist.
He secretly thought to himself:
Miss Rosier... and Luna, they might actually become good friends.
Sigh, attracting so many outstanding talents... it really is a sin of mine~
"I look forward to spending time with you~ Miss Rosier."
"Hoh, oh oh oh hoh!"
The North Sea.
Dark clouds rolled tumultuously overhead.
The ink-black waves were like an insurmountable barrier.
They surged across the surface of the sea, devouring every living thing that fell into them.
The most heavily fortified prison in the magical world, Azkaban, was situated right here.
Like a pitch-black triangular prism, it stood erect in the center of the turbulent waters.
Dementors roamed the perimeter, and the interior was layered with various binding curses.
It was, in every sense of the word, an isolated "Island of the Dead"!
Tonight, the deathly silence was broken.
A carriage transporting a high-priority prisoner came speeding from the horizon.
"We have guests."
The Death Eater Antonin Dolohov grinned, revealing a mouth full of yellow, rotting teeth.
Clinging to the bars, his eyes—bloodthirsty and crazy like a beast's—stared fixedly at the carriage growing larger in the distance.
During the First Wizarding War, he had been imprisoned for the murder of the Prewett brothers, members of the Order of the Phoenix.
Like the other most loyal Death Eaters, he relied solely on his devotion to Voldemort to linger on, barely maintaining his sanity.
In a sense, his willpower was formidable.
"Just as well. Since Bella left, I've been bored enough to explode..."
"Tsk, I don't know what the hell Yaxley is doing! He said he'd come back soon to get me out, but there's still no sign of him!"
Dolohov grumbled and complained.
Then, he looked at the approaching carriage with a gaze full of interest and malice.
"... However, now there's a bit of fun to be had."
[Wooo—————]
The Dementors also sensed the arrival of a fresh soul and swarmed over in a hive.
It was as if they had drawn a pitch-black curtain across the sky.
The death and cold silence radiating from them caused the prisoners in most of the cells to tremble in fear, not daring to make a sound.
[Screech... Wooo]
Fresh criminal... let us eat...
Let us feast on his soul... Hmm?
Suddenly.
The Dementors' feeding motions came to an abrupt halt.
It was as if they had tasted a familiar flavor; an ancient memory was awakened.
It was a taboo legend deeply buried within the Dementor race (not really).
It was said that on a certain train that could never be escaped, a Food-Eating Demon wielding a heavy silver hammer would roll them into meatballs and eat them.
———It was enough to scare a monster to death!
Under the watchful eyes of the crowd, the Dementors looked as if they had been physically smashed away by the speeding carriage!
Whoosh!
They scattered in all directions!
In the blink of an eye, they vanished without a trace!!
The prisoners: ???
Death Eater Dolohov: ???
Hmm?
Something seems wrong?
The very next second.
Golden light erupted!
It was as if the sun itself had fallen from the heavens into the mortal realm.
Blinding brilliance pierced through the dark clouds, illuminating this prison that had always been devoid of daylight!
The Dementors who hadn't managed to escape in time screamed as they were annihilated!
Dolohov: ????
The ferocious expression on his face froze, and his eyes widened in shock!
He couldn't believe what he had just seen!
————————The Dementors died?
No, wait... can those things actually be killed??
Is the person arriving not a prisoner, but a lunatic here to execute some "Azkaban Cleansing Plan"??!
Amidst countless stunned gazes, a clean, upright figure—completely out of place in this dilapidated environment—stepped out of the carriage.
A gray-white arm, resembling that of a corpse, emerged from the void.
Like the most loyal servant, it offered itself as a foothold, allowing the figure to step onto its palm.
"Huu."
Ethan took a deep, comfortable breath of the fresh sea air.
He raised his eyes and swept his gaze over the prison he had been longing for.
Meeting those bewildered, ignorant stares, he raised the corners of his mouth and declared:
"You no longer need to be lost! Because your faith has arrived!"
As he spoke, magic surged in his hand.
A black-covered notebook appeared——————
It was none other than Tom Riddle's diary!
As a Horcrux, it was intrinsically an exquisite piece of dark magic... cough, a "magical item."
Previously, Ethan had always used it as an infinite scratchpad.
But now...
It had a better use~
For example, during this quiet time in Azkaban, he could use all this abundant material to write an interesting memoir or something similar.
Thinking of this, the smile on Ethan's lips deepened.
Inside the cell.
For some reason, the Death Eater Dolohov suddenly shuddered violently.
It felt as if a basin of water from the River Styx had been poured over his head.
The cruel excitement he felt earlier vanished into smoke.
He stared in astonishment at the eerie young man standing in mid-air.
A strong premonition of misfortune filled the air.
... Uh, this new guy seems a little different from what I imagined?
Yaxley, when the hell are you coming to break me out?!
Waiting here in the world of the living is urgent!!!
While Ethan was planning how to let the criminals of Azkaban continue to shine and provide heat, back at Hogwarts...
Whether intentional or unintentional on the part of the professors, the students who participated in the Gringotts operation had been gathered together for detention.
It was the perfect opportunity for an open and honest nighttime discussion.
"We have to go save Ethan!" Hermione said urgently, lowering her voice. "Ethan hasn't come back all day. The Ministry of Magic might be doing something to him!"
Ron: "Uh——————like kneeling in front of Ethan, begging him not to kill them?"
Hermione gave him a massive eye-roll.
She turned her head to look at Harry, who had been silent, and urged him, "Harry, what do you think? Say something!"
"Ah, this—————————"
Harry's brows were furrowed tight.
He hemmed and hawed for a long time but couldn't come up with a coherent thought.
This disappointed Hermione greatly.
... Actually, Harry had been having a strange dream lately.
It was a dim, long, narrow corridor.
At the end, there was a tightly closed door.
His perspective was very low, as if he were gliding close to the ground.
Every time, he was just a little bit away from touching that door.
And every time, just before he could touch it, he would wake up abruptly.
Aside from that, a raspy, strangely-intoned voice kept ringing out:
[Open it... touch it... get that glass sphere! Then, use the power of fate to tamper with it...!]
[Let life fall into the veil...!]
It was a female voice.
However, it sounded like a monster mimicking a human.
Every time he heard it, Harry would break out in goosebumps. It made his hair stand on end!
Harry didn't know what "it" referred to.
But he instinctively felt that he absolutely could not let this weird female voice get what it wanted!
... Could it be related to [Mr. Lamp]?
Is that female voice his subordinate?
The eeriness was comparable, but Harry always had a nagging feeling that something wasn't quite right.
Besides, [Mr. Lamp] was very likely Ethan...
Full of doubts, Harry felt his head was about to explode. He was incredibly irritable!
He even briefly entertained the thought that maybe it was good Ethan was being watched by the Ministry right now.
Just as Harry was caught in a tangled sense of guilt, Hermione's voice suddenly rang out:
"——————I think we should tell Professor Norn about rescuing Ethan."
Harry: ?
He looked up in astonishment at his friends who had started discussing this.
He suddenly felt like he had zoned out for a minute in math class.
Suddenly I don't understand anything.jpg
Save who?
Tell who?
"No!" Harry blurted out. "That is the one thing we absolutely cannot do!!"
Facing his friends' surprised looks, Harry paused.
Bracing himself, he continued, " ... What I mean is, the person we should least inform is the Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher, Professor Norn."
"In fact, we should be guarding against him!"
Hermione's eyes widened. "Why? Professor Norn is actually quite responsible!"
He said everyone had to learn wandless magic, and we're actually close to achieving that goal.
Don't worry about how we achieved it, just look at the results.
Harry pressed his lips together, his mind in chaos, and said in a deep voice:
"Be-because... I suspect that Professor Norn is [Mr. Lamp]!"
"We should—————————organize a secret society and take secret action!"
Click.
A silent, soft sound.
Like gears locking into place.
Fate, quietly and unknowingly, returned to the "correct track."
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