Chapter 368

"How on earth did Dumbledore..."

In the Gryffindor common room, the students who had just been driven back by the professors gathered in groups, lowered their voices and whispered.

"Who knows? That's headmaster Dumbledore! He died without warning..."

"Come on, McLean 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 to the noise around them silently and looked at each other. The heaviness of their hearts made it difficult for them to speak.

Maka's soothing speech must have some effect. At least under the magic he showed, everyone had some confidence in his heart.

But anyway, Dumbledore's death is a fact in front of us, and no one can accept it at once.

"Hermione, you got the news before us. What do you want to say?" Harry couldn't stand the dignified atmosphere and took the lead in breaking the silence among the three.

Hermione's eyes were still red. She closed her mouth, shook her head and sucked her nose.

"Dumbledore's... Situation was discovered by Snape first," whispered Hermione. "I know that more than you do."

"... Snape." Harry felt a habitual suspicion.

"Harry, I know what you're thinking. Come on," Hermione said, looking at him with red eyes. "Marca has said that Snape has no problem."

"Yes, Harry." Ron patted his good friend on the shoulder and nodded. "Although I don't like Snape - potion class is really enough! But he doesn't seem to have done anything bad except never giving us a good face, has he?"

"Well," Harry nodded reluctantly.

To say Snape, although he is not friendly to Gryffindors... No, he is harsh on students outside Slytherin college. But he's definitely targeting Harry.

After all this, Harry's impression of Snape naturally didn't get better.

The three men hung their heads and remained silent for a while. Hermione perked up a little. Only then did she suppress the sadness in her heart and put her spirit on thinking.

Since talking with Maka in black's old house, she has always insisted on thinking actively when things happen, and she is more and more diligent in learning magic at ordinary times.

When this happened now, Hermione almost habitually turned her mind when she calmed down.

After a while, she suddenly raised her head and looked at Harry and Ron.

"By the way, I just recalled and seemed to find something -" Hermione said seriously. "At that time, I saw Professor Snape and Professor McGonagall in the lobby. Professor McGonagall looked very shaken, so I followed..."

"You know, Dumbledore was lying on the lawn under the astronomy tower, not far from the lobby... I panicked when I saw it and didn't care about anything else..."

"But when I think about it now, I really don't think it's right -"

"What's wrong?" Harry and Ron asked hurriedly.

"It's Snape's look," Hermione recalled. "He looks so calm. It's absolutely abnormal!"

"Isn't Snape always like that?" said Ron. "In my opinion, even if Hogwarts Castle collapses in front of him, his face won't turn white."

"His face is white enough," muttered Harry. "And don't you doubt him?"

"No," Hermione waved her hand, "I don't doubt him. If he were really Voldemort, he wouldn't be so calm... Snape's appearance at that time made me feel that he didn't care whether Dumbledore was dead or not!"

"His conversation with Professor McGonagall was the same. He just pointed to the lawn and said 'right here', and then went back to the castle like a walk."

"No matter which side he is on, as long as he is still interested in Dumbledore's death, he won't perfunctory with that routine attitude!"

"It seems that's true..." Harry said thoughtfully. "Anyway, he wouldn't have left like that. I remember he didn't show up when everyone got there later."

Hearing this, Hermione nodded and agreed, "yes! So there must be something strange in it. Maybe -"

"Ah!"

Halfway through Hermione's speech, Ron suddenly interrupted her with a low cry.

"What's the matter, a surprise!" Hermione glared at him angrily.

"No, I just remembered one thing," Ron smiled apologetically, and then went on. "I was on the lawn before. Didn't I go back to the castle after Maka finished? I seemed to catch a glimpse of who he was talking to at the gate..."

"Later, Professor McGonagall began to urge us to come back. I forgot. Now think about it... The one standing on the doorstep seems to be Snape!"

"Really?" said Harry strangely. "I didn't find out when Marca left at that time -"

"You were all looking up at the sky with your necks up!" Ron explained.

"So, you mean... Snape is waiting for Marca on the steps at the gate?" Hermione hesitated after looking down. "Do you think... Dumbledore is pretending to be dead?"

"Fake death?" Harry wondered. "Why?"

"Maybe Dumbledore wanted to lure him to the ground with the news of his death -" half way through, Hermione shook her head again. "No, that's not right."

Harry and Ron just understood, but when they saw that Hermione had denied the speculation, they couldn't help but get a big head.

"No? Why?" they asked at the same time.

"You think!" Hermione frowned. "If Voldemort heard the news of Dumbledore's death, would he believe it? Even if he did, he would have to go through a lot of investigation to believe it. Because Marca had suffered losses several times for his disorderly tricks, how could he believe Dumbledore would die so easily?"

"So? Is Dumbledore really dead or pretending to be dead?" Ron was almost stunned.

"I don't know," Hermione said frankly. "It's absolutely unwise to make a conclusion without evidence - Maka has said this before."

"But..." when she said this, she thought again, and then continued, "if Dumbledore is indeed dead this time, it may be a blessing or a curse; but if Dumbledore is not dead in fact... Something bad will happen next!"

"Why do you say that?"

Seeing Hermione's cautious face, Harry and Ron couldn't help getting nervous.

"Because Dumbledore is likely to..." Hermione said solemnly. "He wants to exchange the news of his own death for 'time'!"

"In other words, does he want to delay Voldemort's action first..." Harry blinked his dry eyes. "Speaking of the prophecy Professor Trelawney made in class..."

"Prophecy?" Ron stood up. "Wait, I'll get the notebook --"

"No," Hermione waved her hand. "I still remember the prophecy. I don't have to take it specially."

"Did you recite it?" Ron hesitated and sat down again.

"Just a few words," sighed Hermione. "You copied that note. Don't tell me you've forgotten it all?"

"So the prophecy said, 'sin is recovering'..." Harry recalled. "It sounds ominous! It's much more terrible than the pattern I saw in the tea residue!"

"It's really ominous, but when you mention the prophecy, I'm more concerned about another sentence -" Hermione frowned. "Remember? I mean, 'when the old light goes off the stage, the old enemy will make a comeback'."

"The 'old light' must mean Dumbledore... So the 'old enemy' means Voldemort?" said Ron Dang. "Will Voldemort not be suspicious of Dumbledore's death and want to attack directly?"

"If it's Voldemort, it's not 'sin is recovering'," Hermione shook her head and thought carefully. "" old enemy... "

She thought for a moment and suddenly showed an expression of surprise and uncertainty.

"Does Dumbledore's' old enemy 'mean... Garrett greenward?"

"Who?"

Although the name sounds familiar, at this time, Harry's mind is full of Voldemort and there is no room for others.

"Greenward! The first Dark Lord!" Hermione glared at Harry. "You should read more books! Although the history of magic only records things before the 19th century, we live after the 19th century!"

Harry was reprimanded by Hermione and couldn't help scratching his head.

He has really worked hard recently, but his energy has been spent on self-study of magic spells, defense against the dark arts, flight technology and so on. He is not interested in the boring history of the magic world.

In fact, he hardly turned over the textbook "history of magic".

"Yes! It's time to read more, man!"

Ron patted Harry on the arm again, and then Harry got a white eye - Ron himself was not interested in the history of magic. Naturally, Harry knew better.

"In short, when it comes to Dumbledore's old enemy, it should really be Garrett greenward, who was once called 'one of the most dangerous black 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 himself, perhaps the whole European magic world would have been completely lost in the dark!"