Chapter 775: Voldemort's (Dumbledore's) Plan is Progressing Smoothly (Edited)

"Fish, aren't you going to the final again this year?" Dean and Seamus asked as they approached Fish, who was sunbathing on the windowsill.

Fish lifted his head slightly, opened one eye to look at the duo, then quickly closed it again and returned his head to his intertwined front paws, wagging his tail.

"Nya~" (=ω=)

Fish had a mission today, and Dumbledore had told him to keep an eye on what was happening outside the castle.

Fish didn't usually enjoy watching Quidditch, and now that there was a fight to be had, he wouldn't go to such a boring match!

Dean and Seamus, unable to invite Fish, sighed helplessly and caught up with the rest of the Gryffindors, discussing the day's match as they headed to the Quidditch field.

"Harry! What are you staring at?" Ron's call caught Harry's attention again. "The match is about to start, isn't the captain going to give a pep talk before the game?"

"Maybe he's thinking about how he's going to talk to Cho Chang when the match starts?" Ginny, who had joined the team this year, grumbled jealously.

"Ahem..." Harry didn't dare speak to Ginny at this moment, he coughed twice, then raised his voice and shouted, "Let's go, everyone! Let's finalize our tactics for the day..."

He skillfully repeated to each member of his team what they had said they would do during today's match, then clapped his hands and, following Wood and Angelina's example back then, growled, "Let's go! We have to win!"

"Ooooh!" ×6

The rest of the team roared in unison, raising their brooms in a low cheer.

Before Harry finished his post-battle rally, he led the team onto the field.

To Harry, who occasionally enjoyed Quidditch, winning or losing didn't matter today because, like Fish, he had received a mission from Dumbledore.

To avoid alerting Voldemort, Dumbledore had only informed Fish and Harry of the incident, and had told both of them to keep it a secret, even though all the other professors, except Snape, knew about it.

This risk was taken because Fish and Harry trusted the Order of the Cat, and if they could react in time, the members of the Order of the Cat could stop the attackers.

So Harry's main task today was not to find the Golden Snitch but to alert the students on the field at the first sign of Greyback's presence, to prevent irreparable casualties.

The secondary task was also to win, but by delaying the match as much as possible, because if the match had started too soon, Harry would have been able to explore the entire field, and the young students would not have been able to gather, making it more difficult for them to defeat Greyback.

It was also thanks to Malfoy because, to win the championship this year, the match had to be very intense, so Harry could reasonably establish delaying tactics for the players, and all Harry had to do was keep an eye on Cho Chang, making it harder for her to catch the Golden Snitch.

With a whistle from Madam Hooch, seventeen brooms soared into the air, and Harry maneuvered his Nimbus 2000, quickly getting closer to Cho Chang, but his eyes scanned the field at every opportunity.

...

"Draco, are you really going to do this?" Goyle looked at Draco as he and Crabbe carefully carried the Vanishing Cabinet.

"Shut up! Don't draw attention," Draco scolded heatedly. "How can you back out now?"

At that moment, Goyle and Crabbe, under the Vanishing Cabinet, were covered with the invisibility cloaks that the Death Eaters had brought to support them, so it appeared that only Draco was wandering alone in the castle.

Goyle frowned, not saying another word, and silently joined Crabbe in carrying the Vanishing Cabinet into the castle.

"Haha! Look who's here. A Slytherin student!"

Peeves appeared out of nowhere, flying upside down over Draco.

Although Dumbledore had mobilized the professors for various reasons, and the students had gone to watch the match, he had no control over the ghosts in the school.

Upon seeing Peeves appear, Goyle and Crabbe came to an abrupt halt, not daring to even breathe loudly, fearing that Peeves would discover them.

"What are you doing in such a dark place?"

Although Peeves wouldn't normally dare to cause trouble in the dungeons because of the Bloody Baron, if a student went downstairs, it would be easier for me to let them pass.

Draco looked at Peeves, with his lips slightly raised, as if he were a bigger Snape.

"Oh, really? A dark place? I think the Bloody Baron would be interested in your comment."

"You, you're a devil! What's wrong with hating dark places?!" Peeves blurted out in defense.

Draco laughed sinisterly and continued swiftly and languidly, "Yes, I'm sure the Bloody Baron will appreciate that reason, and I'll make sure to relay it word for word."

"Wait, wait! No need for that, right?" Peeves conceded.

In all of Hogwarts, the only person who could scare Peeves besides the Bloody Baron was Fish. It had been a long time since Fish had come to bother him in recent years, so Peeves just had to avoid the Bloody Baron as much as he could.

"Of course," Draco nodded. "So, can I leave now?"

"Yes, yes, yes!" Peeves shook his head like a rattle. "Have a good life!" Before anyone could say anything, Peeves quickly went through the wall.

"Let's go."

Draco said aloud after scaring off Peeves and continued to lead Goyle and Crabbe towards the outskirts of the castle.

The rest of the journey went without incident as the group carried the Vanishing Cabinet to a large wooded area between Hogwarts Castle and the Quidditch pitch.

"They will return to the dormitory and not come out until something happens inside," Draco explained to Goyle and Crabbe. "And try to prevent the Slytherin students from leaving... you can go and get Pansy, Daphne, and Blaise to help."

Goyle and Crabbe nodded gruffly.

"Draco..." Goyle suddenly spoke as he was leaving. "You should be careful."

"Hmm." Draco nodded heavily.

With a fading creak, Goyle and Crabbe, covered with the invisibility cloak, left first.

Draco took the invisibility cloak from under the Vanishing Cabinet, opened the door, and threw a chocolate frog before closing it again.

It only took a few moments before there was movement from inside the cabinet. Lucius was the first to emerge, followed by Umbridge and Greyback, and Voldemort's prisoners and Greyback's werewolves were the next to come out.

"Father." Draco handed Lucius the invisibility cloak he held in his hand, then pointed towards the field and told Greyback and the others, "The Quidditch field is this way, through the forest, along the great stone path, and you can make your way there very slowly."

Then he pointed to the path on the other side. "If Dumbledore is missing and we have to run to the stadium, this path is the slowest. You just need to run and you'll make it in time... you should be familiar with this path."

Before he could finish, Draco nodded to his father and headed back to the castle the way he had come.

Lucius, on the other hand, stopped Greyback, who wanted to move immediately.

"Wait for the Gryffindors to return! We don't want our children ending up dead!"

Greyback sneered, not taking Lucius's warning seriously.

Although he wasn't qualified to attend the Death Eaters' meetings, he knew that Lucius's position within the Death Eaters had fallen.

Luckily, Umbridge did the same. "The Dark Lord wants Gryffindor to serve as an example for those outside the school, so we must wait a while."

She wasn't actually speaking on behalf of Lucius and his son; she was just trying to delay the "death" as much as possible.

Greyback growled but didn't insist.

"Can we start now?"

After waiting for about seven or eight minutes, Greyback urged impatiently, and the werewolves began to grow restless.

Lucius didn't say another word to stop them but silently covered himself with his invisibility cloak. It was his job to report the situation to Voldemort, so he had to be part of the retreat.

Umbridge cast an envious glance before speaking directly, "Greyback, you may move."

"Excellent!" Greyback smirked, bloodlust evident in his smile. "Too bad it's not a full moon; we could have added more company," he said regretfully, deliberately licking his sharp teeth.

And then, with a small gesture of his hand, "Let's go!"

"Aooo!"

"Great! Finally, we can taste some blood!"

"A Hogwarts student, how tender must their flesh be?"

The werewolves howled with excitement and slowly ran towards the Quidditch field.