Chapter 139: Three Americans

Harry walked out of his hiding place draped in the Invisibility Cloak, and he walked quietly up the stairs.

Sure enough, a small silver-gray cat was walking back and forth in the corridor on the eighth floor. It looked like he was just taking a walk, but judging from the results, Pei Xu should have used the cat form to secretly set up a trap.

After leaving marks on the stairs with the cat's paws, Pei Xu jumped nimbly downstairs and disappeared in a short while.

Harry walked up and squatted down to touch the trap that had just been buried. The stairs looked no different from usual; the Professor said that this was an exquisite magic rune array, but Harry couldn't feel the flow of magic power at all, as if this were just an ordinary flight of stairs.

Pei Xu was, after all, from the White House, and it was reasonable to master some profound means. Harry sighed softly and stood up to leave. At this moment, he suddenly saw the Fat Lady, and Harry understood; it turned out that Pei Xu had deliberately set up a trap on the stairs because this place happened to be able to avoid the Fat Lady's sight.

"Let's go, Professor." Harry returned to the TARDIS. "Let's go back to a little earlier and see what Colin actually photographed."

"I originally intended to do the same." The Professor said while looking at the control panel. "Because Neville also chose to return here."

"Yes, I discussed the Colin case with him." Harry recalled those deductions from his second year. "We indeed both agreed that Colin was attacked because he photographed something."

Amidst a whistling braking sound, Harry walked quietly out of the cabinet where the broomsticks were kept in the players' locker room. He could hear the noise in the stadium; the match was about to begin.

Harry and the Professor saw Neville; they knew this should be the third-year Neville, because the second-year Neville had said that he didn't come to watch the match.

The second-year Harry, who was galloping on the field, had his mind full of tactics and the match, and didn't notice Neville in the stands.

The three time travelers sat quietly near Colin, paying attention to his movements and the direction he was looking.

"Perhaps this is what he photographed." The Professor reminded.

Harry saw that not far away, Pei Xu, who had transformed into a human form, was talking to someone.

He was wearing a Hufflepuff school uniform, which was very smart, because Hufflepuff had the most people, and they couldn't even recognize all their own classmates, let alone students from other houses.

The person who was talking to Pei Xu was Professor Haipu, who taught Ancient Runes. He had provided Harry with considerable help in his second year. But now it seemed that he might also be inseparable from the White House.

With the convenience of the Invisibility Cloak, Harry approached them quietly, trying to hear some of the conversation clearly.

"Harry's side is still going according to plan; Tang Nade's appearance has accelerated Deng Buliduo's plan." Professor Haipu stated calmly. "At present, the Red side's thinking is still stuck on traditional dueling, lacking awareness of the current situation."

"The Black side is already ahead; they have a plan, but we haven't found out what the plan is yet." Pei Xu said softly. "Can we find a way to hint to Deng Buliduo, at least Hogwarts cannot be involved; if all the children are sent to the battlefield, the situation will be completely out of control."

"Tang Nade actually provided a pretty good idea; let's try to see if we can get the Chinese to enter the game." Haipu touched his chin and said. "The Chinese have always been good at muddling through; as long as the war can be limited between the Order of the Phoenix and the Death Eaters..."

"But the problem is that Yanayev's layout point is not here; on the Black side, we can at most insert one William, and he told me that Azkaban is full of Soviets." Pei Xu's tone began to get anxious. "The foundation of the Death Eaters is basically in the Wizarding World; they don't care about the life or death of Muggles at all."

"But this also means that they are few in number; if they cannot command Muggles, it is difficult for the Death Eaters to organize an effective attack, and Hogwarts is as solid as a rock." Professor Haipu said dismissively.

"I don't think they will necessarily choose to attack Hogwarts." Pei Xu shook his head. "Yanayev's vision is broader; the Death Eaters can completely attack the Ministry of Magic—even if they feel that the Department of Mysteries is difficult to deal with, they can attack Downing Street or even Buckingham Palace; the Minister for Magic is, after all, a member of the Cabinet."

"By the way, speaking of this, has the composition of the Ministry of Magic been checked clearly?" Haipu said with some worry.

"With my authority, I cannot access such files." Pei Xu shook his head.

"Deng Buliduo is aging much faster than we imagined; it might be within a year or two, at most no more than five years."

When Haipu said this, Harry's heart beat wildly; he thought that the respected Professor Deng Buliduo was not long for this world.

"At most five years, he won't be able to suppress the Dark Lord." Haipu continued, and Harry breathed a sigh of relief. "We'd better find a way while he still has the power to suppress..."

The Professor moved suddenly, and Harry was startled. He looked back, only to find that Tang Nade was walking over in a hurry.

"Stop talking." Tang Nade said with dissatisfaction. "Someone saw you."

"What?" Pei Xu was a bit nervous.

"Don't worry, I'm a professor, finding a student to chat with, what will happen?" Haipu said dismissively.

"Colin just took a photo in this direction." Tang Nade said meaningfully. "And he is Harry's number one fan; the main composition of this photo should be Harry."

"That is to say, it is very likely that he will show it to Harry after it is washed out, and Harry might still remember me!" Pei Xu panicked a bit.

"Uh, what will happen then?" Haipu asked.

"Regardless of whether Pei Xu was exposed last year, it is definitely unfavorable for your undercover work." Tang Nade patted him on the shoulder. "We have to find a way to destroy the evidence before he speaks."

"I don't really want to attack students." Haipu frowned and said.

"We can disguise it as a Chamber of Secrets case; we just need to petrify Colin and then burn his camera." Tang Nade paused, and then, he accurately stated the conclusion that Harry had obtained with great effort, just like a prophet.

"The monster in the Chamber of Secrets is a Basilisk; they will only think that Colin saw the Basilisk through the camera."

"If that's the case, it's barely acceptable." Haipu scratched his head. "I can set up a magic field..."

"This is not too bad; we can use their own strategy against them." Pei Xu said. "While the Red side's attention is all on the Chamber of Secrets, we can talk to the Black side again, let them see the opportunity, a rare opportunity."

"Yes, induce them to attack Hogwarts in advance." Haipu continued. "Hogwarts can definitely be defended; not even a student will be injured; the Death Eaters' small force cannot beat the school's stone statues."

"I'm afraid it's not that simple." Pei Xu shook his head. "Let the people above handle it; I don't have any good ideas either."

Harry looked at the three of them leaving separately with some helplessness; originally they were all people he liked very much, but he didn't expect that the facts proved that they were all related to the White House.

The Professor held Harry's hand and walked toward the TARDIS without saying a word. In a low shrubbery, they saw Neville returning; he probably heard the conversation of the three Americans.

"I roughly understand a bit; this was a decision made last year..." As soon as he returned to the TARDIS, the Professor said with some melancholy. "So the price to be paid for the whole plan, the whole plan, might exceed our imagination."

"What do you mean?" Harry felt a bit worried.

"Next year, we will lead Voldemort and Deng Buliduo out of the UK together, and then use the Time-Moment to defeat him." The Professor said. "This is the general idea of the plan, but obviously the Death Eaters might use their own strategy against us, taking advantage of Deng Buliduo's absence to plot an attack on Hogwarts."

"That's okay, didn't Professor Haipu say that the Death Eaters' force can't even beat the stone statues?"

"The Death Eaters also went to school at Hogwarts, Harry." The Professor said. "Of course they know that this school has ancient and powerful protective magic, but once they choose to attack by force."

"Oh, that means they have the certainty of victory." After Harry thought of this level, he was also a bit disappointed.

"Now it seems that our plan is not necessarily perfect, but as that child said, this is a rare opportunity." The Professor sighed. "Whether it is for us or for Voldemort, neither wants to miss this opportunity."

"Then we can only see who is better prepared and who is more aware." The Professor stood up all of a sudden. "Let's go, the Neville of March has just seen it, now let's see where the Neville of April went."

Harry looked at the Professor fiddling with the joystick up and down there, while he himself gently stroked the small sleeve given to him by Ollivander.

With the help of this small device, is there really a chance to defeat Voldemort? Last time, what defeated Voldemort was his mother's sacrifice; this time, who will sacrifice?

What does the Soviet layout mean, what is Yanayev's purpose, and how does the White House intend to use their own strategy against them—these questions gave Harry a huge headache; he felt that between his fateful duel with Voldemort, many strange things had been mixed in.

"Can I... eh?" Harry suddenly discovered that during time travel, the restriction of the Inspiration Charm was eliminated.

"Wit beyond measure is man's greatest treasure!" He recited the spell without hesitation.

The Professor said to lead Voldemort out of the UK—the Soviet Union has layouts on both sides—Cui Ge analyzed that the Soviet Union wants the right to speak at Hogwarts—NATO and the EU are checking and balancing the Soviet Union—the British are already dissatisfied with the EU...

Yanayev wants to start a war in the Wizarding World and use the Statute of Secrecy to split off a pro-Soviet UK.

A conclusion popped out of his mind; he wants to start from Brexit to disintegrate NATO.

When Harry was still immersed in the conclusion he had just obtained, the TARDIS made a braking sound. Through the big screen on the console, he was not surprised to see Neville standing in the lavatory, struggling to make a hissing sound at the faucet. ===== CHAPTER 140 =====