Chapter 119: Voldemort
He, the genius of Ravenclaw, was actually toyed with by a bratty kid in battle!
Before he could retaliate in embarrassment and anger, Hermione shouted again: “Expelliarmus!”
Quirrell, having learned a lesson, how could he pay attention? He firmly swung his wand, and a beam of red light shot from its tip. But to his shock, at the same time, a beam of red light also spewed from Hermione’s wand, rapidly approaching!
This time, it was real!
The Disarming Charm is the fastest spell among all evil curses. If caught unprepared, wizards often only realize what has happened to them after being hit by it.
Therefore, many dueling clubs worldwide list the Disarming Charm as a required spell. On one hand, its destructive power is not that great; on the other hand, it greatly tests a wizard’s combat proficiency and adaptability.
Clearly, Quirrell’s adaptability was not high.
The two red beams met in the air. The same spell, the same disarming effect, miraculously formed a stalemate. They connected like lightning, forming arcs of sparks, with dots of red light falling like welding sparks.
Quirrell’s eyes widened. In the intense flashing light, his face reflected the same crimson hue, making it impossible to distinguish whether it was the illumination or blood rushing to his face.
He hadn’t expected that a mere little girl could create such a stalemate with him!
His hand, gripping his wand, trembled with inner rage and humiliation. The confidence and composure that had been on his face moments before had vanished.
It transformed into a grimace at this moment!
“Damn it!” he roared, malevolent thoughts surging with wild magic within him. The red light intensified, and then—
“You, you’ve truly disappointed me…”
It was a faint, yet incredibly clear whisper.
So clear that even though Hermione was exerting all her energy to maintain the spell and had no capacity to pay attention to the outside world, her mind clearly received it.
So clear that Harry, who was struggling to fend off the stone statue’s counterattack and whose ears were filled with the sounds of “bang bang bang bang” of stone hitting and scraping, also heard it with absolute clarity!
It was a sound difficult to describe.
Weak, hoarse, slippery… just listening to it made one recall the rustling of bushes in the Forbidden Forest at night, or the sinister shadow of a viper slithering through dark corners.
Hermione’s pupils trembled with terror, reflecting the scene opposite her.
There, the air was distorted, corrupted, much like what she had seen on Halloween night last year. The scene surrounding Quirrell’s black robe seemed to be manipulated by some power, twisting bizarrely.
A hazy gray color spread from the black robe and from beneath Quirrell’s feet, like spreading frost on a bridge.
The stalemate spell in the air stopped at some point.
It stopped silently, as if it had never existed. What was reflected in Hermione’s eyes was only Quirrell holding his head and weeping profusely:
“I’m sorry, Master… I’m sorry, I’m sorry…”
He cried out loudly, apologizing. The pain contorted his face to the point where its original features were barely recognizable. He desperately slammed his head against the ground, as if hoping that by shattering his skull, he could expel what was tormenting him inside!
That voice did not restrain his self-harming actions, but continued, unhurriedly, with a hoarse gasp: “Stupid, useless, not even as good as those filthy mice in the forest, Quirinus… Quirrell… you are as laughable as your name!”
“I’m tired of always hearing your apologies, and then when I mercifully give you another chance, you always do worse than before… holding your own against a little girl, ha…”
With that slippery chuckle, Hermione saw Quirrell suddenly clutch his head and fall to the ground, writhing.
“No, Master, spare me, please spare me…”
However, his only response was hoarse hisses.
Gradually, gradually, Quirrell’s voice lowered until there was no sound left. This was such a good opportunity, Hermione thought about moving, about escaping with Harry.
But she found she couldn’t move.
A cold sensation invaded her body, making her limbs stiff.
Her thoughts seemed frozen, unable to muster any emotion.
She felt as if she had fallen into a deep, bottomless abyss, wanting only to sink down in despair.
On the other side, “Quirrell” got back up.
The moment he stood up, the distortion in his vision became more severe. Everything elongated and warped, as if swaying water plants at the bottom of a lake, dancing bizarrely.
“Heh—”
“He” let out a long exhale and turned around to “look”…
No!
“He” wasn’t looking at her, but behind her, looking at… Harry!
“Harry… Potter… what an impressive name!” “He” said softly, waving a hand.
With the wave of his hand, Hermione’s stiff limbs suddenly relaxed.
She stumbled back a few steps, then bumped into something hard.
Turning her head, she realized the hard object was Harry!
Harry’s controlled “Queen,” her once-cold face now showed a hint of pain. He struggled to move, shielding Hermione, who had retreated next to him, and then looked at Quirrell… no, should be said, at the Dark Lord!
“Voldemort!”
Harry gritted his teeth and uttered “his” name.
“Ah, you still remember me?” Voldemort stood lazily in place, a wand held loosely between his fingers. He seemed pleased that Harry remembered him: “Yes, it is I, Harry… May I call you Harry?”
“Don’t speak to me through a shell, it’s impolite, Harry,” Voldemort chuckled, still maintaining a relaxed posture. “Especially since this shell was given to you by Dumbledore. He loves these flashy things, like the Transfiguration you’re using, and… this space!”
He slowly drew the wand held between his fingers, which looked like it could fall at any moment, across his front. Then, the void in front of him split open!
Although the crack immediately sealed, he still expressed his disdain:
“Showing off, yet useless!”
He commented, and as he spoke, he pointed his wand remotely.
Hermione felt no trace of magic, but she clearly saw that as he pointed, the “Queen’s” body began to disintegrate.
Large pieces of stone debris, like sand, crumbled away.
“Yes, face me with your true self, Harry. You don’t know how much I thought of you every day for the past 11 years… what long and painful days those were. I was left with only a shadow, wandering like smoke in that dirty, savage forest.”
“Only by attaching myself to other lives could I briefly embrace this world. For that, I had to endure disgust and associate with mice and vipers all day, relying on them to absorb life and regain human reason and thoughts… Harry, every time I chewed on foul carrion and swallowed disgusting cockroaches, I was chanting your name!”
“Harry—Potter!”
The “Queen” form completely disintegrated. Harry, gasping heavily, returned to his original form. Hermione helped him up. He instinctively raised his head, wanting to see the text introducing the “Queen” that had been floating in his vision.
However, even that had disappeared at this moment.
The “Queen’s” promotion itself was a power he couldn’t comprehend, and now, Voldemort had effortlessly erased the power he relied on.
For the first time, he felt the other party’s power so directly.
Listening to Voldemort’s final words, Harry’s heart chilled!
From afar, Voldemort, having finally spoken the words he had been brewing for a long time, seemed to have released his pent-up frustration. He still stood in place, urging: “Stop daydreaming, Harry. Stand up, take out your wand, and let’s toast our reunion after 11 years in the wizarding way!”
“Harry!”
Hermione, supporting Harry, repeatedly shook her head at him.
In Hermione’s eyes, if Quirrell’s power was like a lake, somewhat murky and hard to see clearly, yet still allowing him some advantage through cunning.
Then Voldemort’s power was utter darkness, as deep as an abyss, unfathomable, incomprehensible!
There was no hope of winning at all!
Harry looked at Voldemort, then at Hermione, and took a deep breath.
Just as he was about to say something, a narration sounded from the sky:
“The hero is about to reach his end, the awakened demon king…”
“Noisy!” Voldemort raised his hand, and a powerful beam of light shot into the sky. The narration, under the magic that Harry and Hermione couldn’t comprehend, abruptly stopped, leaving only intermittent echoes like a poorly tuned radio:
“…Fire Dragon… appears…”
Roar—
In the distance, the castle shook, and a sharp dragon roar emanated from within.
The next moment, a huge shadow flew into the sky and swooped down.
Harry and Hermione stared blankly at the massive figure that carried boundless might, a figure that only existed in legends and a few pictures—
A Fire Dragon!
It swooped down ferociously, the air becoming scorching hot due to its appearance. Its enormous body, its ferocious form, every scale, every contour, embodied the savagery and terror of this legendary creature!
But Voldemort clearly didn’t see it that way.
The two heard his hoarse whisper: “This is your trump card? Dumbledore, trying to guard your Philosopher’s Stone with a lizard? Heh heh…”
…
“Quirrell is gone…”
As Quirrell collapsed and struggled on the ground, then stood up again, Vaughn heard Dumbledore’s wistful sigh from amidst the clouds.
Vaughn naturally understood why Old Dumbledore said that.
With his magical vision shimmering with magical light, he could clearly see that on the black-robed figure who had stood up below, Quirrell’s precarious flame of life had completely extinguished.
In magical vision, the spiritual light of any living being should be colorful, with brilliant hues.
Even upon sudden death, there should be a lingering glow.
But at this moment, Quirrell’s life light had been replaced by a grayish-white hue.
It occupied Quirrell’s body, devouring all of Quirrell’s remaining life colors.
“Tom…”
Dumbledore whispered softly, “This is his true form now. A gray-white void, a shadow rejected by the world, who has regained a temporary presence in this world by taking Quirrell’s life.”
“But essentially, he still doesn’t exist, not a living person, nor a dead one!”
Vaughn knew that Old Dumbledore’s words were a warning to him. He had always worried that Vaughn would follow in Voldemort’s footsteps, greedily researching forbidden knowledge and turning himself into something neither human nor ghost.
He did not respond to Old Dumbledore’s hidden intentions, but only watched Voldemort below, watching him effortlessly remove the effects of Transfiguration from Harry.
The aura of the Dark Lord’s living days was faintly visible!
But Vaughn watched calmly and asked, “How long can he maintain this state?”
“I don’t know,” Dumbledore replied honestly. “I have never made a Horcrux. This kind of evil magic is difficult to understand in detail without mastering it personally… But I guess it won’t be long. If Quirrell’s life could support him for a long time, he absolutely wouldn’t have waited until now.”
He sighed, “Tom was never a patient person. To be honest, I’m quite surprised he could tolerate Quirrell until now before making his move.”
Vaughn was not familiar with the former Dark Lord’s style, but he had seen what happened below clearly: “If Quirrell hadn’t been enraged and harbored murderous intent towards Hermione and Harry, he would have continued to endure.”
“Yes… Tom didn’t want Quirrell to kill Harry!”
Dumbledore murmured.
As he spoke, Vaughn, standing far away in the clouds and controlling the smoke screen, once again erupted with powerful magical fluctuations.
The air vibrated, countless symbols appeared like stars, and the originally calm smoke also began to churn violently.
Then, Vaughn noticed that the world behind the smoke screen had changed.
Or rather, the smoke screen revealed the scene below, which was previously unobservable—
It was countless dense threads, piercing through the air, soil, and everything in existence, connecting and linking together to form a giant, shimmering “net” that enveloped everything!
“The Net of Fate!”
Vaughn couldn’t help but take a few steps forward, standing at the edge of the magic carpet, looking through the smoke at the giant “net” slowly emerging between the sky and the earth below.
Of course, Vaughn knew that the so-called “net” did not mean that fate’s objective entity was in the shape of a net.
This net was drawn by Dumbledore based on his plans, by completely controlling everything within the small world, monitoring changes in matter and energy, and indirectly “depicting” this appearance.
Wherever it passes, it leaves a trace.
Just like when Dumbledore showed Vaughn the “variables” of fate in the Forbidden Forest, nothing in the world could be completely separated from everything and yet exert influence on everything.
The power that influences things inevitably leaves traces due to “exerting influence.” These traces are difficult to observe in the external real world because the variables are too many and too complex, and no one can truly control reality.
Only in this “world” constructed entirely by alchemy and alchemical symbols can the creator leave a “backdoor” to monitor changes in matter, anomalies in symbol operation, and disturbances in the entire world system in real-time.
By aggregating this information, the direction of fate can be indirectly mapped!
This was a plan Vaughn had envisioned years ago when he first learned of fate’s existence, but due to his insufficient power over the years, he had not put it into action!
“Yes, the Net of Fate, Vaughn, your design has succeeded…”
Dumbledore’s murmurs came from all directions.
At this moment, he had become part of the operation of this “world,” and could be said to be everywhere.
However, with human intelligence, forcibly controlling a “world,” even if this world was only about 50 miles in diameter, it was minuscule compared to a real planet, but the complex feedback information involved was still beyond what a human brain could process.
Vaughn could hear the weariness in Dumbledore’s voice.
“Albus, are you alright?”
“Still holding on… Vaughn, pay attention to Harry and Tom!”
Vaughn looked where he was directed.
Even though the space between heaven and earth was filled with shimmering threads at this moment, Harry and Voldemort’s fates were still reflected in Vaughn’s eyes in the most conspicuous way.
It was a giant vortex formed by countless threads!
Standing on the gallery bridge, the two figures facing each other, like everything else around them, were wrapped in faint threads. Unlike others, these threads wriggled, moved, and intertwined, driven by some invisible force, like an ocean driven by undercurrents, forming a distinct vortex whose boundaries were unseen, seemingly extending to the void.
The threads of everything around them were within the vortex.
The closer to the two, the more tangled it became!
Vaughn heard Dumbledore’s voice become grave: “Do you see? What an intense clash. Their destinies are almost merged. Once they meet, everything around them is uncontrollably drawn into their vortex of fate.”
“Including themselves… Tom was influenced by fate, so when Quirrell genuinely harbored killing intent towards Harry, Tom immediately killed him. Because in Tom’s mind at this moment, no one but himself had the right to kill Harry. This is not about Tom’s personality, but fate’s decision!”
Vaughn remained silent, listening quietly.
For a moment, he had the thought of casting Fiendfyre down below, to see how fate would save the Dark Lord and the Boy Who Lived!
However, it was just a thought. Hermione was still there!
Moreover, Vaughn was unsure what consequences his crude interference with fate would lead to. Before he had sufficient certainty, he preferred to wait and see!
Thinking this, he withdrew his gaze:
“Albus, let Nobeta out. Harry is no match for Tom, and it’s time for the next experiment!”
The next experiment was called Time!
The appearance of the Fire Dragon caused no ripple in Voldemort’s heart.
Even though he was in a sorry state now, having lost his physical form and clinging to existence like a lowly shadow, as the former Dark Lord, a legendary wizard equal to Dumbledore.
A small Fire Dragon was no different from a lizard in his eyes!
The Fire Dragon swooped down, its massive membranous wings beating the wind, dust swirling like a sandstorm across the gallery bridge, blinding people.
But Voldemort simply watched, watching it dive rapidly to about sixty feet away, watching it swing its long neck and open its mouth.
Suck—
Visible air currents flew into the dragon’s mouth.
Its enormous, originally emaciated body seemed to swell by a circumference.
At the neck, the scales bulged, revealing a translucent skin underneath, with circles of red light rapidly gathering towards its throat. The next moment—
Whoosh—
A concentrated stream of plasma erupted, soaring over the stunned Hermione and Harry, and spewing towards Voldemort, engulfing him and everything around him!
The broken limbs of the stone statues on the ground were scattered by the flame stream almost instantly. The stone surface of the gallery bridge turned crimson, shattered, and peeled away at a visible rate.
Countless scorched fragments were carried aloft by the impact force of the flame stream, leaving a trail of fiery red behind.
Terrifying supernatural power unleashed its might in the most violent way.
It took Harry and Hermione a few seconds to belatedly cast a Shield Charm, not to counter the Fire Dragon, but to protect themselves from the splashed magma from its breath.
Yes, the gallery bridge was directly melted!
After an unknown duration, the Fire Dragon finally stopped.
Harry’s eyes widened. Looking at the bridge surface, thick with smoke and faintly glowing red, he couldn’t help but show a look of surprise:
“After burning like this, Voldemort must be dead, right?”
But faced with his question, Hermione shook her head. She didn’t say anything but pointed to the Fire Dragon that had suddenly appeared and attacked Voldemort.
Harry followed her gaze and saw the Fire Dragon, which had just unleashed a powerful breath, its sharp dragon eyes still fixed on the area that had become a lava pool.
As if… on guard?
Soon, Harry saw who it was guarding against—
As the swirling dense smoke began to thin, a humanoid figure kneeling on one knee in the lava reappeared in their sight.
The humanoid figure, like the ground beneath its feet, had been burned into lava. The air around it, warped by the high temperature, was filled with the crackling sounds of rapid cooling after the flame stream receded.
The figure moved.
In that hellish scene, it slowly raised its head. Countless crimson fragments peeled off its body, revealing a flowing, dim magical glow beneath its outer shell.
“Boring little trick…”
Voldemort’s hoarse voice echoed again.
He stood up, and at the same time, Harry heard the sound of inhalation again.
From the corner of his eye, he saw the Fire Dragon’s body swell again, with red patterns flowing beneath its scales, gathering towards its throat.
Just as Harry stared expectantly at Voldemort, anticipating the Fire Dragon’s breath to engulf him again.
He saw Voldemort lazily raise his wand.
No!
I can’t let him cast!
Harry told himself.
He suddenly drew his wand, pointed it at Voldemort, and shouted: “Expelli—”
Bang!
Harry didn’t even see what happened. His vision blurred, and he was sent flying.
“Harry! Harry, Accio!”
Hermione screamed the spell. Harry’s perspective suddenly flipped and inverted. He saw that Voldemort had done something, and the Fire Dragon, which was brewing its breath, suddenly exploded at the neck, scales and flesh flipping outwards, hot, lava-like blood gushing out.
The next moment, he fell to the ground, breaking out in a cold sweat. It was then he noticed that he had landed almost at the edge of the gallery bridge. He could imagine that if Hermione hadn’t pulled him back with the Accio spell, he would have fallen.
Harry turned back with a look of residual fear.
On the other side, Voldemort slowly emerged from the lava encirclement. The hem of his robe was ignited by the lava, and his shoes were completely burned.
But he walked out barefoot, stepping on the red-hot ground.
Through the heat-induced distortion of light and shadow, Harry heard his praise: “A beautiful Accio, little girl. I once heard Quirrell mention your name, Hermione Granger? A mudblood with a bit of cunning, and a student from the Weasley family named Vaughn… Quirrell, that incompetent fellow, was deeply impressed by you and always tried to make me remember you.”
“What a shame…”
Stepping through the flowing flames, he came before Harry and Hermione, looking down at the stunned Harry, and at Hermione, who stood guard protectively in front of Harry with a wary expression. “I wish I could play with you a little longer, Harry, and Granger. If only I had more time, if I were no longer just a shadow…”
“Now, please wait a moment. Let me get the Philosopher’s Stone first. I need to use it to brew the Elixir of Life. When I revive, Harry, I’ll have a proper chat with you.”
The next second, amidst the rolling heatwaves, his figure distorted and disappeared. In the blink of an eye, he appeared before the wailing Fire Dragon.
“Let me see where Dumbledore hid the Philosopher’s Stone?”
He casually raised his wand:
“Imperio! （Soul Evacuation）”
The moment he heard the spell, Harry’s eyes widened, and he instinctively raised his wand, intending to cast a spell to stop him.
Beside him, Hermione’s wand tip was already spewing red light.
Ever since Halloween night, when they witnessed the Killing Curse, Harry and Hermione had learned about such terrifying spells through various means.
Soul Evacuation, the incantation for the Imperius Curse!
This dark magic, which had no counter-spell, was widely abused during Voldemort’s active years over a decade ago, leading many Death Eaters after the war to claim they were under the Imperius Curse to escape trial.
《History of Magic》 clearly recorded this history, and the incantation was something they had seen in 《History of Magic》, although it didn’t teach how to learn it.
But they both knew its effects clearly.
If that Fire Dragon was indeed meant to guard the Philosopher’s Stone by Dumbledore, then it must know where the Philosopher’s Stone was. Once it was controlled by the Imperius Curse…
They had to stop Voldemort!
But their actions could not change the fact that Voldemort had used an Unforgivable Curse. Time seemed to slow down at this moment. Harry watched, his eyes wide, as a spell shot from Voldemort’s wand, while their own spells had not even taken shape.
His eyes were bloodshot, his expression of terror frozen.
Then he saw the Fire Dragon, which Voldemort had casually injured, strain to reach its front claw to its neck.
Only then did Harry notice that the Fire Dragon was wearing a golden necklace, which shimmered with a golden luster against its black scales.
It was just very small, and the Fire Dragon’s previous grand entrance had been so overwhelming that no one had paid attention.
Harry saw the Fire Dragon’s giant claw clumsily adjust the hourglass-shaped pendant of the necklace.
Shock, surprise, bewilderment!
As the Fire Dragon adjusted the pendant, these emotions overwhelmed Harry’s consciousness.
He stared blankly at what was in front of him, at his surroundings.
Everything around him, as the pendant was adjusted, began to rewind like a VCR playing in reverse, moving back towards the past.
Voldemort, who had walked out of the lava barefoot, retreated back into the lava. His burned shoes and robe reappeared on him, until he was encased in stone and flames rained down.
The Fire Dragon’s ferocious breath also presented a strange scene. It first appeared on the gallery bridge, and then slowly retreated back into the dragon’s open mouth.
The smoke and erupting flames from the burning, like a swarm of bees, densely surrounded the scorched area, quickly returning to the gallery bridge.
Immediately after, the flame stream was inhaled by the dragon, and Voldemort resumed his appearance in a neat black robe. The Fire Dragon flew back into the sky, letting out a deafening roar.
Harry, completely unable to control himself during the entire process, blinked and tentatively extended his hand. Beside him, Hermione made a similar movement.
“Hermione, you…”
“Harry…”
The two looked at each other, their minds still immersed in shock, not knowing how to react for a moment.
What happened?
What had occurred?
“It’s time, time has reversed!” Hermione suddenly said. Her wide, round eyes fixed on the Fire Dragon, which was circling in the air, not swooping down again, nor breathing fire. “That dragon, it reversed time back a few minutes…”
“Uh…”
…
At the same moment, Vaughn in the air also extended his hand and flexed his fingers.
He had never used a Time-Turner in the real world, nor had he truly experienced time travel – not counting the actual travel – in every sense, this was his first experience with time!
“It’s wonderful…”
He turned to look around.
As far as he knew, real-world time travel involved encountering one’s past self, but he hadn’t seen anyone here.
He looked thoughtfully at Dumbledore: “Did you modify the mechanism of the Time-Turner?”
“Yes, child,”
Dumbledore, still controlling the smoke screen and monitoring Harry and Voldemort’s fates, replied softly. “The original Time-Turner used the range enclosed by the gold chain as a temporal barrier. Its principle of operation is like what you once described time and space as, an independent spacetime bubble.”
“It doesn’t have the ability to reverse real-world time. It can only use the spacetime bubble to travel through the cracks of time, sending people back to the past. But in this ‘world,’ with my help, time can be reversed…”
Vaughn pondered for a moment and asked, “What would happen if it kept reversing?”
Knowing his intention in asking, Dumbledore humorously replied, “It would return to the beginning of ‘creation,’ my dear.”
Vaughn nodded, looking down at the Fire Dragon Nobeta flying back and forth within the grand vortex of Harry and Voldemort’s fates.
After a moment, he chuckled softly, “My guess was right. In a small world independent of reality, the past can be changed. It seems that real-world time and fate were not always in their current state from the beginning.”
“…Yes, although I’m reluctant to accept it, your theory seems to be correct…”
Dumbledore paused hesitantly, “Then, did a certain observer truly exist in the real world? Did he establish the rules of our spacetime and change the past, present, and future?”
