Chapter 12 [Where Voldemort Went]

After the dinner, students from each college followed their prefects back to their dormitories.

Rock also said goodbye to Harry and others, and followed the Ravenclaw army towards the tower.

The teachers also dispersed and returned to their lounges.

Only Snape quietly made a detour and moved towards the principal's office on the eighth floor of the castle like a big bat.

…

The eighth floor of the castle, the principal's office.

The spiral staircase moved slowly, and Snape, dressed in black robes, opened the door to the principal's office and walked in.

He said with anger on his face: "You never told me that Harry spent the last month in the Leaky Cauldron."

"You told me that Lily's spell is protecting him and he must live at his uncle's house..."

"You also know very well that the man is not dead. If anything happens..." Snape babbled and launched an attack on Dumbledore.

"Severus!"

Dumbledore sighed, "For an old man of my age, please forgive me."

"One kid was right. For an old man like me, it's good to know that I can go home when it rains."

Severus Snape's expression suddenly calmed down after hearing Dumbledore's words.

"Dumbledore, you should know what I want to hear." There was some resentment and anger hidden in Snape's words.

He didn't come here to listen to the greatest white wizard talk about his old age.

Snape knew very well that Dumbledore would not do something without a reason.

There must be a reason why Harry can live in the Leaky Cauldron.

And the best news Snape wanted to hear was - like the man was dead for good, so Harry was free.

Dumbledore was also helpless. He didn't know where to start.

He trusted Snape very much, but there were some things that he had not told Snape, or not yet.

"It's because of Quirrell."

All the portraits in the principal's office became silent, and only Dumbledore's voice echoed here.

Quirrell?

That Quirinus Quirrell?

Of course Snape knew that he was a professor of Muggle Studies and could be considered his colleague, although he was not familiar with him on weekdays.

However, I heard that he seemed to have traveled during the holidays and did not return to school this semester.

Snape said nothing, but waited for Dumbledore's next words.

"Quirrell went to Albania, where he met Voldemort."

"What?!" Snape couldn't hold his breath for a moment.

He and Dumbledore had always known that Voldemort would be resurrected.

And Dumbledore also guessed that Voldemort was in a very weak state.

But when Voldemort will appear, in what form, and what kind of black magic the other party's resurrection method will be, both of them need to carefully confirm.

Even for this reason, Dumbledore asked Nico Flamel for the Philosopher's Stone, which he used as bait to lure Voldemort.

Dumbledore also created the Savior's Basket Plan.

There are mechanisms arranged in advance in the corridor on the fourth floor.

The first is to cultivate the courage of Harry, the savior, to face Voldemort.

The second was to test whether the curse on Harry would have any effect on Voldemort after being separated from his blood relatives.

Only by confirming that Harry indeed possesses the "power unknown to the Dark Lord" mentioned in the prophecy can Dumbledore feel completely at ease.

"Don't worry, Voldemort is indeed very weak. He can only rely on parasitism to maintain his life. He is parasitic on Quirrell."

Snape quickly grasped the point: "In other words, all we need to do is find Quirrell."

"No, that's what I want to say next." Even Dumbledore himself was troubled by what he was going to say next.

"Quirrell, he's dead."

"What?!" Snape was shocked again.

He didn't expect so many things to happen during one holiday.

Immediately afterwards, Snape became happy:

"Did you kill him? Along with the Dark Lord?"

Dumbledore's eyes became complicated. To be honest, if the Dark Lord was parasitic on Quirrell, he only discovered it after he lurked into the school.

Then he will never take action, because the Dark Lord at this time cannot be killed and his strength is not strong.

Just in time to test Harry's protective charm.

He would keep Quirrell nearby to keep an eye on him.

A controllable lion was more acceptable to Dumbledore than an invisible snake.

But unfortunately...

Why is Voldemort's luck so bad? !

It started about two months ago. Dumbledore had to postpone all his schedule because he went to pick up a young wizard from an orphanage.

And fate probably happened in a coincidence.

Dumbledore meets Quirrell by chance.

Voldemort was dumbfounded. He had just become a parasite and had not yet established trust with Quirrell. He even thought that Quirrell had informed Dumbledore without his knowledge.

So he made a prompt decision and immediately forcibly absorbed all of Quirrell's life and magic power, and fled far away.

Naturally, Dumbledore couldn't just let him go.

But it is a pity that Dumbledore was unable to completely keep Voldemort after paying a heavy price.

Just like that, the Dark Lord completely disappeared from their sight.

…

Snape calmly listened to Dumbledore's story.

"I think you are really too old. You let the other party run away."

"Wait!" Snape's face suddenly changed, as if he thought of something: "Could it be that... you let Harry stay in the Leaky Cauldron to use Harry as bait..."

"Dumbledore! You..."

"You are wrong, Severus! Harry has never been a bait." Dumbledore did not avoid Snape's question: "In Tom's eyes, Harry is far less important than the Philosopher's Stone."

Voldemort had not really suffered a setback at Harry's hands at this time, so now he valued Lily's power more.

That was a power he did not understand, and it even rebounded the Killing Curse.

He understood that it was Lily who stopped him, not a baby.

Although Harry was said to be a god in the outside world, in Voldemort's eyes, he was just an ordinary little wizard who could be killed at will.

"Harry lives in the Leaky Cauldron. That's not Tom's chance, but Harry's chance."

Dumbledore put one hand on the table and said calmly: "Tom is at his weakest moment in his life, and it's also the best chance to verify the curse on Harry."

"Once Harry succeeds, Voldemort will be truly trapped in the prophecy."

Just as the antonym of love is not hate, but ignore.

The same is true for prophecy. There are countless stories in the world that resist prophecy like Ragnarok, but they all failed.

Just like you are to a thing or a person, whether you are circling around it forward or backward, you are actually circling around it.

So the real way to avoid prophecy is not to resist, but to ignore.

Voldemort is not as powerful as Dumbledore, but he is very cunning, never confronts Dumbledore head-on, and can be resurrected all the time, so Dumbledore couldn't do anything to him more than a decade ago.

But one day, Voldemort believed, or rebelled against the prophecy.

That time, Dumbledore found a way to completely destroy Voldemort, as long as he deepened the connection between Voldemort and the prophecy step by step.

In the end, Voldemort himself would go to the destruction predicted.

"But Voldemort did not attack Harry." Dumbledore stood up and said, "Fawkes has been here all this time, protecting Harry in the Leaky Cauldron."

Snape turned his head and looked at the phoenix on the shelf.

This stupid-looking phoenix is ​​named Fawkes.

Dumbledore's expression was a little solemn, because he knew that such a good opportunity might not come again.

If he didn't verify his strength while Voldemort was weak...

Then next time, Harry would have to face a powerful Voldemort himself.

"After this blow, Voldemort has become more careful and cautious!"

"He's completely hidden."

Dumbledore's eyes flickered, and he looked up at the night sky outside the window.

Tom Riddle, you have to go home on rainy days.

Now that you are down and out, where is the safest home in your mind?