Section I

Along the marble staircase, Sauron walked alone to the third floor, where the students were all having lunch in the Great Hall Hall, and there was no one in the hallway, except for a stone monster statue standing alone in the middle of the hallway.

Sauron walked over and pressed his hand on the statue, and there was a muffled sound of stones rubbing against each other, and a hidden staircase entrance was revealed on the wall behind the statue, and Sauron went straight up the stairs and knocked on the thick wooden door at the end of the staircase.

"Please come in." A deep voice came from behind the door, and then the door opened automatically, revealing a beautiful circular office, and Dumbledore was sitting in a chair behind a large wooden desk. Phoenix Fawkes landed on the back of his chair, his long golden tail hanging down to Dumbledore's shoulders, and had been staring at Sauron vigilantly from the moment he entered the room.

Dumbledore reached out and made a gesture of please, and a chair landed lightly from the wall to the desk, while a teacup appeared on the table, steaming black tea.

Sauron stepped into his chair, pulled a letter from his bosom, handed it to Dumbledore, and then picked up his tea and drank it slowly.

Dumbledore looked at the letter silently, and only then did he raise his head until the teacup in Sauron's hand bottomed out, and behind the half-moon-shaped glasses, deep ice blue eyes stared at Sauron calmly.

"So, they're going to put pressure on the British Ministry of Magic at the Joint Ministers' meeting?" Dumbledore said slowly, he placed the letter on the table, his slender fingers tapping on the table through the thin letter paper, making a soft noise, "Is this what the Ministry of Magic meant, or yours?" ”

"Both." Sauron held the teacup in his hand and fiddled with it as he said, "The Americans planned this incident, the Germans and Italians also had a share, and as for the group of people who died in the World Cup, they were nothing more than a group of cannon fodder driven by people." International public opinion is now very unfavorable to us, and half of the members of the Council are blaming the British Ministry of Magic, claiming that it was the Ministry of Magic's persecution of domestic democrats that ultimately led to the terrorist attacks at the World Cup. ”

"So someone from the Ministry of Magic came to you, hoping for your help?"

"Exactly, the Ministry of Magic wants the help of both of us. Fudge has sent you a dozen owls in a row over the past few days, but there has been no response, so he asked me to come to you myself. Sauron put down his cup and leaned back in his chair, "The meeting has a huge stake, and it makes Fudge's group anxious like ants on a hot pan, and they promise that if we are willing to help, the rewards will be absolutely heartwarming." ”

"Oh, that sounds good. So what do they want us to do? Dumbledore looked at Sauron, his calm face without the slightest emotion, "Assassinate hostile dignitaries, or slaughter innocent civilians?" ”

Sauron's eyes narrowed, his dark golden pupils revealing a hint of anger, but soon, his expression softened and he smiled coldly.

"None of us are so noble, sir. The demigods were able to achieve the transcendent status they have today, relying on their unrivaled strength, not on high morals. Sauron and Dumbledore looked at each other, "We all know that the politicians in the Council of Wizards are getting carried away and want to take more power out of us, and this joint meeting of ministers is their test - if they find that they can defeat Britain under the noses of the two of us, then next time they will directly hit us with their ideas." ”

Speaking of this, Sauron's face turned gloomy, and he said word by word, "They are challenging us and trying to drive us off the altar. ”

"We were never supposed to stand on the altar." Dumbledore said solemnly, "It is your duty to maintain order in this world, not to trample on it, and the power of the demigods is not a reason for us to be above all beings." ”

"Stop deceiving yourself, Dumbledore, you can't even convince yourself, oppression and exploitation will never disappear from this world, this is an instinct flowing in the blood of human beings, and it is also a fate that cannot be escaped." Sauron sneered, he stood up, his hands pressed against the table, leaning forward slightly to look like a poisonous snake about to attack, "Let's face it, we are all animals, and the law of the jungle is the eternal rule of this cruel world. As for the so-called love and justice, it does not allow us to live longer. ”

"But that can make us live with more dignity!"

Dumbledore also stood up, the golden pupils in his eyes like flaming blades, and looked at Sauron condescendingly, "Think about your parents, think about what they sacrificed for?" ”

Sauron didn't speak, and in the oppressive silence, the two stared firmly at each other with their golden pupils, and Fawkes lay on the back of his chair, staring at them uneasily.

After a long time, Sauron shook his head slightly, "But they are dead, their bodies rotting in coffins, leaving their helpless young sons, growing up in loneliness and hatred. ”

After Sauron finished speaking, he turned and walked towards the door, Dumbledore seemed to want to say something, but did not speak.

Sauron walked to the door and stopped.

"Do you want to share my life insights over the years" He turned back slightly and said calmly: "If people don't do it for themselves, the heavens and the earth will be destroyed!" Order may be faith to you, but to me it is just a tool to grab power. ”

Sauron pushed the door open, the wooden door closed with a dull sound, and Dumbledore looked at his back as he left, and sighed deeply, his expression complicated......

Section II

Professor Trelawney lives on top of the North Tower, which also serves as a classroom for divination classes, and in the late summer and early autumn afternoons, the students sit in the tightly curtained classrooms, the dim light and the sweet scent of the fire making people drowsy. Harry and Ron sat at a small round table, surrounded by a mess of printed chairs and futons.

"Hello." Harry's ethereal, ethereal voice suddenly sounded behind him, startling him.

Professor Trelawney was a very thin woman, wearing a pair of huge glasses that made the two eyes frighteningly large on her skinny face. She was staring down at Harry with a tragic expression on her face — the kind of expression she had every time she saw Harry. The strings of rosaries, necklaces, and bracelets on her body glistened in the firelight as usual.

"You have a heart, my dear," she said to Harry mournfully, "and the gaze of my heart pierces through your brave face and sees the restless soul within you. I regret to tell you that your fears are not unfounded. I see that the days ahead of you are full of hardships...... It's tough...... I'm worried that what you're afraid of will really come...... Maybe sooner than you think......"

Her voice grew lower, and finally became a whisper. Ron rolled his eyes at Harry, who looked at him with a blank expression. Professor Trelawney fluttered past them, sitting in a large winged armchair in front of the fire, facing the class. Lavender Brown and Parvati Patil were particularly admirers of Professor Trelawney, both sitting on a futon very close to her.

Professor Trelawney muttered about fortune-telling over and over again, but Harry's mind drifted away, and he stared boredly at the crystal ball in front of him, remembering what she had just said to him: "I'm afraid that what you're afraid of will really come......"

Was he really scared of something, or was there that at the end of last semester, in this very room, Professor Trelawney prophesied that Voldemort would make a comeback, and that a more brutal catastrophe was coming...... When Harry described the scene to Dumbledore, even Dumbledore himself said that he did not think that Professor Trelawney's hypnotic state of Nelly was not a fake......

Yes, it was indeed worrying, and in a drowsy state, Harry seemed to see in the crystal ball the terrible night fourteen years ago when Voldemort had killed his parents, only to accidentally lose his hand on him, and his body and strength had been destroyed. Now that he was about to make a comeback, he had no reason to back down, whether out of justice and conscience, or simply for revenge. Now, he is no longer the weak and helpless child of the past, but a wizard who wants to fight with his own strength to protect the innocent.

"But is it really only Voldemort that I'm going to face? If someone else was standing in front of me, could I still be so determined? ”

Harry shook his head at the thought of a sudden birth, and he felt a deeper sleepiness at the sound of Professor Trelawney's fluttering voice coming from far away, enveloping the warm wind. He stared out of focus at the crystal ball, the fire refracted in the ball, drifting, conjuring up all sorts of plausible lights and shadows that overlapped with the images in Harry's mind - black dragons, mysterious Lilith, and people who had died helplessly and tragically in their nightmares or memories wandered around Harry's eyes like a marquee.

"What are you afraid of?" A voice rang out in Harry's head, strange yet familiar, with an unpleasant but irrefutable contempt, "You know the answer, you just don't dare face it." ”

The chaos of light and shadow in front of him vanished, and they melted together into a golden eye, embedded in the raging black fire, staring at Harry silently.

"Are you really, ready?"

The cold voice seemed to come from all directions, making Harry feel like he was in cold stagnant water, and he couldn't help but shiver, and suddenly looked up, and saw that the whole class was staring at him. It was so embarrassing that Harry sat up straight, apparently almost asleep due to the heat in the room and the crankiness of his head.

"My dear, I was just saying that when you were born, you were clearly under the ominous influence of Saturn." Professor Trelawney said, with a hint of displeasure in his tone, as it was clear that Harry was not paying attention to her lecture.

"I'm sorry for what ——?" Harry asked.

"Saturn, dear, Saturn!" Professor Trelawney said, seeing that Harry was indifferent to hearing the news, her tone was visibly annoyed, "I just said that at the moment of your birth, Saturn must have reigned in the sky...... Your brunette ...... Your skinny body shape...... And you lost your parents in your infancy...... I can assert, my dear, that you were born in winter, right? ”

"No," said Harry, "my birthday is in July. ”

Ron couldn't help but laugh, but quickly turned the laughter into a dry cough.

An hour later, Professor Trelawney ended the class with a lot of homework, and when Harry and Ron blended in with the crowd downstairs and returned to the auditorium for dinner, Ron said hatefully, "Nasty old bat, it's going to be in for the whole weekend......

"A whole bunch of homework?" Hermione caught up with them from behind and gleefully asked, "Professor Victor didn't have any homework left!" ”

"Alas, Professor Victor is so good." Ron said with a heavy heart.

They made their way to the foyer on the first floor, and as he passed the eighth floor, he saw Sauron and Isabella, both of whom were standing in front of the portrait of the "troll stick beating the stupid Barnabas", not knowing what they were saying.

Harry's mind flickered, he knew the secret hidden here—the Room of Requirement, and it was here last year that he had learned the Patronus Charm. Harry wasn't very curious about what Sauron was doing, thinking he was probably here to practice spellcasting or something.

Harry looked back at Ron and Hermione, only to find that they had already walked downstairs in the rush of people, albeit for a moment. By the time Harry reached the foyer, it was already crowded with people waiting in line to eat. Just as he had given up on finding them from the crowd, there was a commotion on the other side of the hall.

In the middle of the crowd, Draco Malfoy held a newspaper in his hand and looked mockingly at an angry Ron, who was desperately pulling him to prevent him from pounced on Malfoy.

"Oh, by the way, little girl, you lived with them this summer, didn't you?" Draco said sarcastically, "Can you tell me, then, is his mother really that fat, or is the picture a little distorted?" ”

"And what about your mother, Malfoy?" Hermione shot back sharply, grabbing Ron's robe with Neville, "Look at the look on her face, it's like there's under her nose!" Does she always have that look, or is it because she's with you? ”

Malfoy's pale face flushed slightly.

"How dare you insult my mother!"

"Then shut your fat mouth." Hermione said, turning away.

Although there were many people watching the excitement, Harry still saw Draco's movements, which caused his pupils to shrink sharply - Draco stared viciously at Hermione's back, and drew his wand from his arms with his right hand.

Bang! A few men screamed - a bright red spell shot from the tip of Draco's staff towards the unsuspecting Hermione, only to be stopped before it could hit her—a flash of white flames flashed away, and Harry appeared behind Hermione, waving his hand to block Draco's spell, and the flicking spell slammed into the wall, blasting a cloud of debris.

Harry looked at Draco in exasperation, his wand was clenched in his hand, and just as he was about to fly Draco's wand, another spell flew over and hit Draco in a dazzling light.

Harry jerked around and saw Professor Moody limping down the marble staircase. He had wand in his hand and pointed to where Draco had been standing - the light had cleared and Draco was gone, replaced by a snow-white ferret shivering on the stone floor.

There was a terrible silence in the foyer. Except for Moody's, no one moved. Moody turned his face to look at Harry—at least, his normal eye was looking at Harry, and the other was burrowing into his head.

"Are you alright?" said Moody, looking at Hermione, in a gruff voice, his voice low and hoarse.

"No," Hermione said with some trepidation, "it didn't hit. ”

"Yes, that's good!" Moody nodded, then nodded to Harry, "This hand is beautiful, kid." ”

"Don't touch him!" Moody yelled again, much to Harry's surprise, but soon realized that Moody was talking about someone else - Moody turned to look at Crabbe, who was about to pick up the stoat, but was too frightened to move. Moody's whirling eyes seemed to have magical powers, allowing him to see what was behind his head.

Moody began limping towards Crabbe, Goyle, and the stoat, who screamed in terror, dodged, and ran in the direction of the basement.

"I don't believe in this evil!" Moody roared, and pointed his wand at the ferret, which suddenly rose ten feet into the air, slammed to the ground, and then suddenly rose again.

"I don't like people attacking people behind their backs," Moody said gruffly, as the ferret jumped higher and higher, screaming in pain, "and this is the dirtiest, meanest, and most cowardly behavior......

The stoat leaped into the air, its four legs and tail wagging in despair.

"Enough!" An icy voice sounded suddenly, like a cold wind sweeping through the hall, and at the same time, the ferret, which had been hanging in the air, flew backwards violently.

Everyone present looked in the direction of the sound—Sauron appeared in the crowd at some point, looking at the Mad-Eye Man with a grim face, and Malfoy, who had been turned into a stoat, was being carried in his hands. The next moment, as if brushed by an invisible hand, the students stepped back, and the Slytherins mostly stood behind Sauron.

"I don't need you to discipline my people, Mad-Eye." Sauron said, his calm voice with an undisguised hideousness, "Don't stretch your hand too far."

"Is this a threat?" Moody said in a deep voice, and he stared at Sauron without flinching, the scars on his tense face looking as hard as the ravines in the stone.

"It's just advice," Sauron said with a sneer, "Or do you want to gamble your luck and see if you can survive again?" ”

An oppressive silence enveloped the hall, and people watched the two men in the confrontation uneasily, and for a moment it seemed as if they would raise their wands and shoot spells at each other at any moment.

"Put your wand away, Aratos, and you, Sauron." An old, heavy voice came from the door of the hall, with a reassuring power.

Hearing the words of the visitor, the two who were originally tense hesitated for a moment, and both slowly withdrew their wands, and at the door of the hall, Dumbledore stood there, looking at them with a grim expression.

Sauron snorted coldly and waved the ferret out of his hand, and with a thud, the ferret turned back into Draco in mid-air, knocking Crabbe and Goyle into each other.

"Let's go." Sauron turned and walked towards the Slytherin table, Isabella following closely behind him, and the three of Draco looked at each other and followed with trepidation.