Chapter 423 It chose you, and you saved it (2 in 1)

The Triwizard Tournament this time ended up with a bleak ending.

Of course, it was rather disastrous for the students and faculty of the original Hogwarts Castle.

For the faculty, the school was lost outright, and they lost their original privileged status as professors, but luckily it didn't affect their normal lives behind it yet.

For the students it was very different, not only did they lose their school, but they all had to go along with the whole thing and be taken away by Dumbledore, something that they never thought would happen before tonight.

Voldemort eventually took his men and left.

There had been no sneak attack from behind, no intention to start a war today, just as Jon had guessed, he thought he had just regained control of his body, his strength had not yet been fully restored and planned to wait until it was all recovered before he could have another showdown with Dumbledore.

And all he had done today was to solidify the power he already had as a way to gain time to grow.

Once he recovered enough, he could resume the unfinished plans of the fool who had tried to devour him and show him who the real Tom Riddle truly is!

Voldemort led his men away from the premises of Hogwarts Castle, leaving the students, whose faces were filled with apprehension and unease, to turn and look at Dumbledore.

Dumbledore said nothing to them, nor did he say anything else, but simply had Kingsley and his men take the purebloods and half-bloods back to Lyon in groups.

This included the mud-blood students who had been exchanged as well as the Witching Horizon captives too, except for Snape, who was left in front of the castle.

After Snape had been selected, he had been bound by Sirius with a Binding spell, his wand had been seized, and everything he carried that had anything to do with magic had been confiscated.

Throughout all of this, he did not resist or ask for mercy but accepted everything calmly and indifferently.

It was only when Dumbledore, Jon and he were the only ones left in the entrance hall of the castle that Snape looked at Dumbledore.

"At last the day has come when I have fallen into your hands."

His voice was quiet, but it could clearly reach the ears of everyone present.

Dumbledore's face didn't show much of a smile, instead, he looked at Snape with a complicated look.

"When you came to plead to me that night, do you remember what you promised me?"

Hearing this question from Dumbledore, Snape suddenly laughed.

"So that's what you wanted to ask me all along? I thought you had it all figured out a long time ago Dumbledore."

Facing his smile, Dumbledore simply said seriously.

"And can I get an answer now? Why did you turn your back on what we had agreed upon in the beginning?"

The smile on Snape's face narrowed to an expression that appeared to be a bit sarcastic.

"Because the Dark Lord at that time was just like the Great Sir right now, a fool who never thinks of anything but himself and has no regard for other incorrigible fools! His promises were simply not believable, and that's why I reached out to you, Dumbledore, I needed you to help me."

"But later on he surpassed your expectations?"

"Not only did he surpass my expectations, he surpassed yours as well didn't he?" Snape said calmly, "Would you have thought at the time that he might have achieved what he did later? No, because at that time he didn't show that kind of brilliance at all. Besides, he truly did what he promised me he would do, so why would such a man not be worthy of my allegiance?"

Dumbledore was non-committal about this, no one could deny the various decisions Voldemort had made and the feats he had achieved over the past decade or so.

"What about now, he has changed hasn't he, you should be able to feel it."

Hearing Dumbledore say this, Snape's gaze turned to Jon instead.

"The reason for his change must have stemmed from you!"

It wasn't a question, but an affirmative sentence, and Jon didn't deny it, he just shrugged having no intention of interjecting himself into the conversation.

Dumbledore's expression turned serious at this point.

"There's no point in talking about this anymore, so Severus, are you ready to face the person who is most hurt by what you've done back then?"

Snape didn't make another sound, he just looked up at the castle.

Dumbledore had no intention to communicate with him as well, there could be no second end to Snape after he was in their hands, he waved his hand and Lupin came forward with a cold look on his face, ready to take Snape away from here.

Thus, Dumbledore and Jon were the only two people left in front of the castle.

Dumbledore led Jon inside Hogwarts Castle as he turned around and walked inside, the place was brightly lit, but it was deserted, Dumbledore strolled inside with Jon as if he just wanted to come in and wander around with no clear objective.

"Now we can talk about what happened to you, Jon. How did he target you?"

Jon didn't hide anything as he told him all the plots that Voldemort Two had planned in the library, including what he had to do to prepare for the success of his plans.

After hearing all this, even Dumbledore couldn't help but be impressed by it.

"If he did succeed, indeed, I wouldn't necessarily be able to spot your change, and that would be the worst possible thing. I'm sure that since he's ready to replace you, he must already have a good understanding of everything about you, otherwise, he wouldn't have the confidence to be able to fool even me."

Jon nodded.

"Actually he has succeeded, I'm not kidding you, Professor, I really have died once, but that different Animagus I've spent all my time at school to cast before has worked. You were right, at the time after I drank that potion it just produced some insignificant changes, it wasn't that my magic failed, but it only half worked, to complete it completely it needed some specific conditions, I don't know whether to feel unfortunate or to feel lucky that my Animagus is a phoenix."

Jon said while reaching out to touch the bright, smooth feathers on Fawkes' body.

Dumbledore blinked, of course catching Jon's implication beyond his words.

"That is to say, without the experience of Riddle killing you in the library today, it is likely that you would not have been able to complete the transformation of Animagus until you died of old age; no one would have ventured to die without knowing for sure that they wouldn't die, and this act of Riddle's, in disguise, still helped you."

Jon looked with some annoyance at his hands, which looked exactly like those of a little boy.

"Well, Professor, will I ever be able to change back to my old self? Or will I just have to wait another eight or nine years before I can grow back again?"

At Jon's question, Dumbledore suddenly laughed.

"I can't believe you're bothered by this, do you know how much effort Riddle went through and how many ways he searched for to achieve immortality on his own? The phoenix is a magical creature that is almost impossible to die, whenever they get old or in danger of dying, they can simply perform a nirvana and start a new cycle of life, which is truly immortality."

Perhaps he was still young enough not to have experienced the panic of growing old and having all his bodily functions age to the end of his life, he was not particularly attracted to the word immortality.

"I can't go on meeting people with this appearance in the future at any rate, now can I?" He rubbed his head with a headache.

Dumbledore thought the question over seriously for him.

"From what I've been able to gauge from Fawkes' many nirvana, you won't always continue to be in such a young state, it will only take about a week for your body to quickly return to the state it was in when you experienced nirvana. But all the same, the first Nirvana is actually the Phoenix's flames forming a permanent memory of your body once, meaning that no matter what you have become in the future when you experience Nirvana you will revert to that previous 15-year-old state."

Compared to the image of a child, Jon could still barely accept the image of the 15-year-old teenager from before.

Besides, he wasn't someone who liked to die, so if he didn't die once in the future, he wouldn't have such troubles.

After the questions about Jon himself were spoken, Dumbledore asked about the state of Voldemort Two.

"How did he escape?"

"The Phoenix's fire apparently had a strong restraining effect on that black mist magic of his, and there was no way he could have broken free and got away, but it seems he gave up on maintaining his souls, which had already been crumbled by the means left behind by Mr Slytherin and split into three to escape from this place, I think."

Dumbledore's eyes became deep.

"He wouldn't simply let his souls split up, unlike this Voldemort who compromised with us today, he surely would retrieve what he had lost. But in any case, without having a body anymore, there is no way he can still pose any threat to us for the time being, and now what we have to deal with is the Riddle of today."

Jon was actually a little curious about Dumbledore's plans for Britain behind the scenes.

"So Professor, how do you plan to reclaim Britain back later on?"

A smile appeared on Dumbledore's face.

"What I know for sure from today's encounter is that the Riddle I have met now is the same Riddle from fifteen years ago, the one who hadn't yet brought forth the change. He is mad and cruel, but this whole thing has both bad and good effects on us."

"The bad is obvious, a madman is as destructive as he can be, and he is willing to compromise today because he thinks he can control what the other he has left behind and wants to prove that he is not worse than the other himself. But if at the end of the day, he finds out that the situation within Britain is not as easy to control as he thought it was, from what I know of him, he's bound to flip the tables on everyone."

"Including the purebloods?" Jon asked.

Dumbledore nodded affirmatively.

"Including the purebloods, whichever Riddle it is, he doesn't really care if the purebloods are noble or not, he just wants to use the conflict between bloodlines to stabilise his power. So when he found out that even purebloods had the potential to disobey his authority, he will destroy all the original order and proceeded to use his terror to rule."

"That won't last long, will it?"

"A normal person would know that it wouldn't last, but a madman wouldn't think so, and he would even enjoy the fear that others have of him, thinking that it is his greatest masterpiece. That way in a short time everyone in the whole of Britain will be on their own, and it will be hard for us to infiltrate, especially if I can't guarantee myself a sure victory over him."

"And the advantages?"

"The advantage stems from the same, precisely because he will initiate a reign of terror, and although it will be difficult for us to infiltrate at first, with a little time, even if we don't take the initiative, we will be contacted by wizards from within Britain. Do you know why this Riddle, who also showed unprecedented power at the beginning, failed to succeed in his plan to annex Britain even after nearly ten years?"

"Because his theory was not perfect at that time?"

"Because everyone at that time, including many portions of the pureblood wizards, knew that he was a lunatic. Under the leadership of a madman, no matter how many tempting benefits he gave verbally, the purebloods would consider whether they would live to enjoy the benefits in the future or not. It wasn't until after that night fifteen years ago that Riddle suddenly told everyone he wasn't crazy anymore, that he wouldn't just kill and break the order, but that he would establish a new order that would safeguard only the purebloods, and that even he himself would not go against it, and it was only at that point that more people joined him and Britain changed hands within a mere two years."

Dumbledore looked to the high platform at the front of the great hall, the chair that lay right in the centre.

"That tension of being on the edge of your seat is terrible, it's not pleasant to be mentally stretched every moment, and as soon as the wizards of Britain realize again that their great sir is no longer great, but has gone back to being that madman, at that point, it will be the perfect time for us to counterattack."

Jon also looked at the chair, in this castle no one would dare to put their arse on it even if Voldemort himself wasn't here, it was like a throne in the castle, showing off the authority of the king.

But at that moment the king was gone, abandoned his soldiers, and discarded his castle and the only two men standing were Jon and Dumbledore.

"You went to the Headmaster's office and said the words I asked you to say in that room as well didn't you?" Dumbledore suddenly asked.

It was only then that Jon remembered that he still had a Sorting Hat on him.

"It was a talking hat that answered me, it said that Hogwarts had chosen me?"

Dumbledore looked up with emotion towards the starry sky enchanted ceiling of the great hall.

"That's right Jon, it's not me or Riddle who owns this castle now, it's you, it chose you, and you saved it."

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