Chapter 148: To defeat Voldemort, you just need it in your hands

When he got home, Andy went straight into his study, took out a piece of parchment, and wrote on it:

Dumbledore, Ministry of Magic search, magical items left behind by Voldemort, Death Eaters who escaped the trial, Chamber of Secrets, suspected house elf from Malfoy's house, preventing Harry Potter from returning to Hogwarts.

If you tie it all together ...

Andy felt like the plot of the next school year was already unfolding in front of him.

Lucius Malfoy, the Death Eater who had escaped the trial.

The purpose of Dumbledore was to force Lucius Malfoy to dispose of the magical items left behind by Voldemort.

As long as Lucius Malfoy made a move, Dumbledore would be able to check the clues.

"Well ...," Andy mused for a moment.

Dobby!

If Dobby was the Malfoys' house elf, then why was it trying to stop Harry from returning to Hogwarts?

A Draco Malfoy prank?

If it was a prank, then Dobby would never have shown up in front of Harry, much less spill the beans on his master's plans.

It couldn't be that Dobby had betrayed his master out of his own will, could it?

That wasn't possible either!

A house elf's loyalty to its master was engraved into its genes, it was an ancient enslavement magic, and under the effect of the magic, a house elf would never betray its master.

From this point of view, Andy again had to overturn his previous guess.

Andy frowned slightly.

"When you eliminate all the impossibilities, what remains, no matter how unbelievable it is, is the truth."

"So ... house elf could, of his own will, break the ancient slavery magic contract?"

Andy pondered for a moment, it wasn't impossible.

Speculating on this line of thought, Lucius Malfoy did not privately dispose of the magical item left behind by Voldemort but chose to send it to Hogwarts.

So Hogwarts will be dangerous next semester!

That is, the Chamber of Secrets will be opened.

Dobby, on the other hand, chose to prevent Harry Potter from returning to Hogwarts out of his own will.

"Makes sense!"

It seemed that in this round, it was Lucius Malfoy who had the best hand.

Andy's expression suddenly became a little odd.

'Would Dumbledore not be able to outplay Senior Malfoy?'

'Well...it's not that strange. After all, Dumbledore's lack of information and the leak of the Ministry of Magic's search info being earlier than expected.'

'As long as Lucius Malfoy is careful, he won't reveal the flaws.'

"Tsk!"

Andy skimmed his mouth, really wanting to see Dumbledore's expression of defeat.

***

Meanwhile, the Hogwarts Headmaster's office.

Snape's face was slightly pale, he had already seen the remnants of Voldemort's soul.

"He's in bad shape."

Snape reported, "Over the years, the Dark Lord has been roaming the forests of Albania, absorbing the life force of wild animals to restore his power."

"This operation has almost exhausted all of his accumulation."

Seeing Voldemort this time, Snape almost couldn't resist.

Even if he couldn't beat Voldemort in his heyday, couldn't he still deal with the remnants of his soul?

It was good that Snape finally held back.

Voldemort's current state was very special.   

He was now on the border between life and death; he was neither a living being nor able to die at the same time.

He wasn't even a ghost.

Snape frowned and asked, "The Dark Lord is in a very special state right now, how did he do it?"

Dumbledore's eyes were heavy, "That night, Voldemort's killing curse was bounced off of Harry ... A lot of people said that Harry was the one who survived the killing curse."

"But Harry only bounced the killing curse, the person who really survived the killing curse ... was actually Voldemort!"

Snape looked at Dumbledore, he too understood what had happened that night. But he was now more interested in knowing what was going on with Voldemort's state.

Dumbledore continued to explain, "If it was normal, Voldemort would have been dead. But he escaped death by utilizing some sort of evil dark magic."

"Voldemort is now between life and death, and we have no means of harming Voldemort in this state."

Snape was a little puzzled, "Then what exactly is he afraid of?"

"A lot!"

Dumbledore's wise eyes appeared as if he had seen Voldemort hiding in the forest of a distant land, "One fears many things when one is at one's weakest."

Without dwelling on the issue, Dumbledore looked at Snape and asked, "How did things progress in your dealings with Voldemort?"

Snape said lightly, "The Dark Lord is indeed eager to be resurrected. When I first met him, he tried to get me to help him prepare for the resurrection, but he quickly discarded the idea."

"Much as I initially expected, he doesn't trust me now. And ..."

When speaking of this, Snape suddenly looked at Dumbledore, "The Dark Lord feels that you have aged, and he was more interested in having me determine your current state."

To be honest, Snape was also very curious about whether the current Dumbledore still could fight Voldemort in his peak state or not.

After all, Dumbledore was already over a hundred years old this year.

His magic attainments might be growing more and more potent, but his physical state, reflexes, judgment, and other qualities would decrease year by year as he got older.

Dumbledore did not explain.

Heh! Do you know what it means to have an Elder Wand?

To defeat Voldemort, that's all you need in your hands!

Snape continued, "The Dark Lord gave me a task, he asked me to find a way to get into Azkaban and set free an imprisoned Death Eater."

Dumbledore nodded, this was pretty much what he had expected.

Dumbledore had thought of this in the beginning when he had asked Snape to meet with the remnants of Voldemort's soul.

Voldemort wasn't going to trust Snape, and he needed Snape to remain undercover beside Dumbledore. Instead of having Snape help him resurrect, Snape could find a way to set free a Death Eater who was loyal to him.

Dumbledore pondered for a moment, "If you get the chance, you should go over to Azkaban and make a little noise."

Snape nodded, he was thinking the same thing.

If Snape still wanted to go back undercover beside Voldemort, he would have to do something to help.

"What do you intend to do?"

Snape asked in a hushed voice, "There's no way to actually release a Death Eater, right? I can drag this out for a year or two at most."

"Also, I won't be able to keep tabs on Lucius."

Dumbledore nodded slightly at that, he also understood Snape's difficulties and wouldn't leave everything to him.

"A year or two ..."

Dumbledore had some dilemma, in a year or two could Harry Potter grow up?

"One or two years is enough!"

Dumbledore said in a deep voice, "As soon as I find out the secret of Voldemort's immortality, I will personally step in ..."

Snape: got it.

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