What happened next was almost like a trance dream – and a nightmare.

Sitting in the stands, Willow Springs, after waiting in fear for a long time, watched as Harry suddenly appeared on the edge of the labyrinth, holding one handle of the Goblet of Fire in one hand and Cedric Diggory's arm in the other.

He fell face down to the ground, his face buried in the grass, and for a few long minutes he and Cedric remained motionless.

The arena, which had been filled with a majestic song celebrating victory the moment Harry and Cedric appeared, blew up the camp with a bang.

Willow Springs, who rose from the stands with a flick of relief, was already running straight behind Dumbledore and into the arena before Professor McGonagall and Snape could react.

Before she could rush to Harry and Cedric, Dumbledore had grabbed Harry's arm and flipped him over. Then he crouched down next to Harry, calling Harry's name.

Harry slowly opened his eyes. Willow Springs' face was heard as if everyone was relieved, and Dumbledore's expression was still tense.

Siris didn't happen to be there tonight - Willow Springs' suspicion that Dumbledore had just given him some other important mission to do, and since it seemed that the Triwizard Tournament had come to an end and nothing bad was happening, Dumbledore certainly needed his trusted men to investigate some of the matters he thought was important - otherwise he would have been so angry and angry that his eyes were red, Willow Spring thought blankly.

Harry let go of the trophy, but clutched Cedric tighter. He grabbed Dumbledore's wrist with his free hand and said intermittently, "...... He's back...... Voldemort he's back......"

Dumbledore's expression seemed to freeze for a moment. Professor McGonagall, who had just arrived, looked shocked. Liu Quan subconsciously turned his head and glanced at Snape, who had also just appeared behind her-

The latter's face was hollow and pale, expressionless.

Is Occlumency...... Liu Quan thought.

Sure enough, because his worst speculation was confirmed, he subconsciously used Occlumency to hide his true thoughts, right?

Then she turned her gaze back to Cedric, who was also lying face down on the ground, and had remained motionless until now. She slowly moved two steps to Cedric's side, hesitated, and gently flipped his body over.

Cedric's eyes were wide open, and his face was a bluish-gray. The wings of his nose no longer moved. Ryuquan reached out and probed the side of his neck - there was no arterial pulsation.

She let out a long sigh, and weak tears suddenly welled up in her eyes.

"I'm sorry—" she muttered, shaking her head slightly, looking at the boy with tears in her eyes.

Suddenly, she felt someone squeeze up behind her. She looked back and saw that it was Cornelius Fudge. His face was pale and frightened, and he shook his head and took two steps back.

"Oh God...... Diggory!" he looked back hastily, "Dumbledore...... He's dead!"

He didn't use this low volume, so the people around him almost heard it. In an instant, there were exclamations and discussions from the crowd, spreading the news of this misfortune—

Fudge seemed to be about to break Harry's tight grip on Cedric's hand away, but Willow Spring, who was crouching beside Cedric, happened to get in his way, so he said to her in a panicked and confused voice, "Professor Evans...... We can't let Diggory just lie there, his ...... His father will be there soon...... He's still in the stands, but of course he'll be there soon...... There are so many people here......"

Probably because the brutal truth was so impactful that Fudge sounded a little incoherent. He stammered and repeated the same words several times until Dumbledore bent down and approached Harry's face.

"Harry, you can't help him, it's over. Let it go. ”

Dumbledore had a look of distress on his face, as well as concern for Harry, regret for Cedric, and anger at Voldemort and the Death Eaters. But his voice was still calm, powerful, and reassuring. Harry seemed to have softened a little, less stubbornly insisting than he had just been.

"He wants me to bring him back," Harry whispered, as if it was important to him to make it clear, "to his parents." ”

"Okay, Harry...... Let it go...... It's all right, you're home, both of you are home......" Dumbledore replied in a low voice, leaning down and helping Harry to his feet with extraordinary strength for a thin old man.

By this time, Willow Spring had carefully wiped Cedric's face and dirt off with a handkerchief, rather than simply a spell like the Cleansing Charm, and smoothed out his clothes, so that he lay on his back on the ground as if he were fully asleep.

Then a man staggered over, as if he hadn't stopped his steps—or perhaps he had lost his footing—and stumbled into Willow Spring from behind. His foot hit her back, sending her jerking forward.

A hand reached over and grabbed her shoulder in time.

Willow Spring steadied himself and looked up, only to find that the person holding him was Snape. I didn't expect him to notice himself at such an unexpected, bad and chaotic moment, Liu Quan was stunned for a moment.

Snape's face was pale and stiff, as if he had a mask on his face. He stood there, the corners of his black robe blown up by the wind, and there seemed to be a hint of gloom in his expression.

But before Willow could see the subtle expression on Snape's face, the man who had bumped into her earlier pounced on Cedric. The man reached out as if to hold Cedric's head, and cried out in a heart-rending voice:

"My son! my child—"

Someone took Harry away. Dumbledore came over and grabbed Amos Diggory by the shoulder, who was crying bitterly.

Amos Diggory kept crying and crying, "No! No!......"

Liu Quan turned his gaze away sadly, feeling his nose sour, and tears welled up. Not daring to think about whether she ought to be a professor and a thirty-year-old adult in front of her students, she felt a pang of guilt, and half fell to her knees, her head hung deeply, and tears fell silently onto Cedric's clothes, which were still lying on her back with her eyes wide open.

At this moment, in the final confusion of her mind due to anger, amazement, grief, self-blame, etc., it was actually the voice of Hijikata. The voice was firmly saying something she had thought of the night before.

[We Shinsengumi will unite no matter what difficulties lie ahead, I am so convinced. 】

But that voice didn't end there. Unlike last night, he said what was going on with that line.

【…… Shannan-kun. 】

Ah, it turns out that this sentence was said to Mr. Yamanan in a certain picture she had seen.

Mr. Shannan......

He once said that every goodbye is a farewell.

Then, he really said goodbye to her like that, holding her hand, his body reduced to ashes, leaving nothing behind - except the wakicha.

And then...... Who else?!

She couldn't help but think of the three days after the end of the last world, watching the projection in the Endless Hall with nothing to do. In the images that the system allowed to be shown to her, Heisuke was reduced to ashes, the head secretary was reduced to ashes, and the small one rushed towards the enemy army hundreds of times his size, and Hijikata slowly closed his eyes under the cherry blossom tree......

There is also Zhou Fangzun, who spread his arms in the wind and snow, smiled calmly, and waited for the sword of the Zongxiang Reiji to penetrate his chest; the end of the long bridge in the wind and snow walked over firmly, stretched out his blood-stained right hand and pressed his glasses back to the bridge of his nose; and his expression when he stood under the dazzling clear sky, looking up at the huge pillar of magic light rising somewhere in the city, and whispered, "Although I don't know how long I can last, let me run to the moment I fall", with a hint of the sentence- It's like a determination to die?!

All of this...... In order to benefit the vast majority of people, it is necessary to maintain the operation of this world, so when necessary, even if it is painful, it is necessary to sacrifice the lives of some people?!

But she didn't think about it anymore. For Mr. Amos Diggory, who had been crying bitterly for a while, suddenly raised his head from his hands. On his tear-drenched face, his tear-filled eyes happened to meet Professor Lily Evans, who was crouching beside Cedric with a very sad expression, and as if he had suddenly found an outlet for his emotions—perhaps because he felt that saying to a Hogwarts professor the chaotic words that were now about to burst through his chest would have some effect on alleviating this extreme sorrow a little—he burst out:

"What the hell is all this, Professor Evans?!, my Seid...... He's such a good boy! He's—he's done nothing wrong—"

The well-watering tears choked him. He paused for a second, then suddenly looked furious.

“…… Isn't it because of Harry Potter?!everybody...... Everyone only looks at Harry Potter, is it because only the boy who doesn't die counts...... But what's wrong with my Seid...... He's still so young...... He shouldn't have died now, no matter what happened......"

Willow Springs: She felt that she could not meet Mr. Diggory's tear-soaked eyes. Although she knew that as a Hogwarts professor, she should be calmer to calm down and calm down the grieving parents, and work with others to deal with the aftermath of this matter, and put on a more convincing and powerful aura and position...... But now she could only lower her gaze and whispered, "...... I'm sorry. ”

She didn't finish her sentence, though, as Dumbledore suddenly stood up.

"I remembered that there was something to do. He said with a calm expression, then turned to Professors Flitwick and Sprout, who had already arrived.

"Philius, Pomona, it's up to you to pacify the students. Take them all back to the dorm and don't stay here anymore......"

He hesitated, then turned to Fudge.

"Connelly, I'll leave it to you first. Minerva, Severus, and Lily...... Come with me. Gotta do something about this......"

He muttered, turned and strode towards an exit in the arena. Fudge seemed pleased with the fact that the situation was in his hands, and he immediately began to dictate to some of them.

Willow Springs, stunned for a moment, then realized that they might be settling accounts with the fake Moody—of course, the others didn't know that the person pretending to be Moody was Barty Crouch Jr., a Death Eater who had escaped from Azkaban—and quickly stood up and followed Dumbledore.

…… It's only been a day, but she seems to be about to change her mind.

It's all infuriating but powerless...... There's got to be a villain to take some responsibility for it! Even if she's bound by some kind of law and can't behave as she pleases, at least she can do something within her means!

Because, she's an excellent player chosen by the system to save the world, not some pale and numb marionette.