Chapter 358: Failed Experiment

"Av, Av, Avada..." Harry adjusted his breathing. "Ava—Aba..."

"It's not working, I'm a bit nervous; why don't you try first." He felt as if he had forgotten the syllables of the Killing Curse entirely; this spell was much harder than he had imagined.

"I..." Neville was rarely showing signs of cowardice. "I, okay."

Luo En shrank back; he clearly didn't intend to participate.

"Avada Kedavra!" Neville shouted. Perhaps because he was too nervous and shouted the wrong syllables, there was no reaction, and the wand didn't shoot out green light.

"Perhaps you didn't brew up murderous intent?" Harry looked around nervously. "How about we forget it for now; let's try with the sword first."

"You say that, and I'm a bit worried; if I really face Nagini, will I even hesitate to swing the sword?" Neville breathed heavily. "But indeed, this spell is really too difficult."

"Swinging the sword to cut off its head is cutting off an item to me; perhaps this will cause Nagini to die, but ultimately it's not directly killing it." Neville defended himself. "But the requirements for the Killing Curse are too high; I feel I must clearly know that I am prepared to kill it, and I must be without hesitation, and I must clearly say that I just don't want it to live."

"Moody demonstrated it." Harry said. "Did he also harbor murderous intent toward the spider at that time?"

"A spider's vitality can't compare to a person's; perhaps he was at that time, he didn't care, right? I mean, we rarely care whether a spider lives or dies; if it dies, better, then whatever; perhaps another way to use the Killing Curse is," Neville explained, "to treat human life like grass; Voldemort usually doesn't care whether others live or die."

"Would you not care whether Voldemort lives or dies?" Neville asked softly. At this moment, Harry was trying to aim his wand at the statue.

"Once, I dreamed of him dropping dead." Harry said. "But watching an execution and acting as the executioner are two different things; I mean, if I really had to face him, I might at most cast a Disarming Charm."

"What are you doing?" Snape barked.

"We... uh." Harry swallowed; he didn't know when Snape had come over.

"Idiots, do you think I would be unprepared for Horcruxes?" Snape said coldly. "I don't care what you want to do; get out now, and twenty points from Gryffindor!"

Harry looked at Snape somewhat aggrievedly; if it weren't for their plan to kill Nagini and use its remains, why would he have run here to experiment with the Killing Curse.

"Now, go back to the dormitory," Snape waved his wand, and the male wizard statue with the diadem returned to the cabinet. "Your childishness and recklessness surprise me, Potter; you are not to participate in this operation. You and your partners just stay in school honestly."

Neville showed an expression of disbelief, but he didn't dare to contradict the Headmaster to his face. The three of them returned to the dormitory dejectedly, without saying a word. Luo En threw a broken book onto the table as if in a fit of pique.

"What's that?" Harry asked.

"An old Potions textbook I found in that cabinet." Luo En said. "Forgot to put it back."

"Better not go back; we'll lose another twenty points later." Harry sighed.

"Who was the first of us to think of this lousy idea?" Neville said somewhat dissatisfied.

"But we have no other way." Harry spread his hands. "Although this isn't a way either."

"What now?" Luo En looked at the two of them. "Snape forbade us from participating in this operation."

"If he forbade us from going, and we still want to go, in case something goes wrong, it might disrupt his plan, so it's best not to act on our own." Harry said dejectedly. "I'll go talk to him again tomorrow."

He said tomorrow, but by evening, Harry went to knock on the Headmaster's office door somewhat uneasily.

"That's right, Potter; I admit you did well in the layout, to the point where I even treated you as Deng Buliduo." Snape said calmly. "But I forgot that your current magical level is still far from Deng Buliduo's... Yes, I regret it; I shouldn't have handed the task of killing Nagini to you. I think you will be safer staying in school, and I can worry a little less."

"But Professor, I..." Harry was just about to retort when he suddenly fell silent. In fact, he had no reason that he must kill Nagini himself, and neither did Neville. At most, it involved a bit of fate and divination; indeed, having Snape do this himself would be more reliable.

"You want to have some sense of participation, is that it?" Snape looked at Harry's wide-eyed, speechless expression and suddenly relented. "Then you can do another thing; you are responsible for attracting the attention of the Ministry of Magic officials. You organize another parade in school, just say... just say that there is a suspicion of leaked questions in this O. W. L. exam."

"Leaked questions? This is too ridiculous; the Ministry of Magic wouldn't care about this kind of thing, would they?" Harry couldn't help but show a surprised expression.

"They will, because they really did leak the questions." Snape raised his eyebrows.

Harry suddenly remembered Luo En shouting "I knew they would test this," and perhaps he was one of the main beneficiaries of the leaked question incident.

"Forget it; everyone did quite well. In case the Ministry of Magic announces a retake, they won't be happy." Harry said with his head down.

"Then you just stay in the dormitory honestly, do you understand? Pot—ter?" Snape stared at Harry and said.

For students in other years, they still needed to prepare for final exams and were all working hard to memorize books. But the fifth-year students were mostly idle; they gathered together in clubs, looking for various excuses to celebrate.

Harry, Luo En, and Neville also participated in celebrations everywhere, but after each celebration, there was always a regret about not being able to do big things lingering in their hearts. By Friday, this feeling made them feel especially sad. They turned down the party in the evening, and the three of them sat in the dormitory, looking at each other.

"At this time, Snape should have already sneaked into the Ministry of Magic." Neville said. "He casts a Disillusionment Charm and walks silently in front of Nagini's exhibition hall—the old bat never makes a sound when he walks; no one knows he appeared there."

"Yeah, and the Order of the Phoenix is fighting a big battle with the Inferi." Luo En looked at the ceiling. "I really can't imagine how wonderful that is."

"Not really." Harry shook his head. "Their actions should be very cautious, step by step, because everyone doesn't know how many Inferi are there."

"The Order of the Phoenix and the Hit Wizards worked together to seal the lake surface with Barrier Charms. Then they sent a three-person team; one person is responsible for lighting, and the other two are responsible for stunning or binding the Inferi. Once they succeed, they immediately retreat behind the crowd." Harry described, having received many letters from Order of the Phoenix members urging him to 'grieve' (of course, the high-level members all knew this was just a strategy). "They drag an Inferius out of the lake, then eliminate the Dark Magic on the body, then if they can identify the identity, they put it aside first and write a letter to the family to claim it. If they can't identify the identity, they will bury it on the spot, and finally pack the photos of the nameless dead and send them to the Muggle police."

"Today is their third day of work; the magic left by Voldemort is still very powerful, but with them constantly wearing it down like this, perhaps sooner or later they will break all that magic." Harry said somewhat boredly. "Even if they can't break it, just dragging the bodies out one by one like this, it's estimated they'll be done in ten days or half a month."

"Fine, I don't envy that place either." Luo En hammered his pillow. "But can the old bat handle it..."

"Snape is very powerful." Harry recalled the Death Eaters' evaluation of him. "Except for Deng Buliduo and Voldemort, he should be the most powerful."

"Perhaps not as powerful as McGonagall." Luo En said lazily. "And Flitwick; they just don't make a move."

No one picked up the conversation. Harry looked at the ceiling, thinking about his godfather.

He imagined Sirius wearing a black suit and trench coat, followed by thugs in black clothes and black pants. They stood coldly in the wind, dozens of men in black raised their wands, slowly surrounding the old Lestrange house.

They must have also prepared an Anti-Apparition Ward to suppress the people in the house; an Anti-Apparition Ward also needed a lot of manpower, perhaps they hired some werewolf wizards to help.

The Lestrange family also lived with many Death Eaters; they were still putting up a desperate fight at this moment, while Sirius had already broken through the front door, and his men worked together to support a barrier, blocking the various spells shooting out from the house.

The noise from the common room came through the dormitory door; Harry ignored it, still fantasizing about how majestic his godfather was.

Sirius had long ago won over a large number of low-level Death Eaters; they only needed to know how to cast a Stunning Spell to form firepower suppression. From the windows, from the front door, from the back door, from the holes in the walls, overwhelming red spells shot into the house; the people in the house might occasionally return a Killing Curse, but they didn't have time to aim at all, and the people outside could easily dodge them.

Sirius held his wand, standing at the door with time to spare, waiting for his men to clear the Death Eaters in the hall, his trench coat flapping beside his slender suit pants; he was standing right in the middle of the battlefield, surrounded by spells flying everywhere.

"You should come out, cousin." He would say that; Sirius was always cool and handsome in front of his men. "Dying at my hands is your best ending."

Bellatrix should be hiding behind the bedroom door at this moment, gnashing her teeth, furious in her incompetence. Finally, anger clouded her mind; she rushed down the stairs, wanting to cast a spell at Sirius.

But several spells hit her in advance; her body was knocked against the wall, and then she fell down the stairs over the railing like a broken sack, while Sirius only showed a slight expression of regret...

Thinking of this, Harry suddenly came back to his senses and shook his head; Sirius wouldn't do that. He believed that at least Delphini was innocent; he would deliberately employ a mole, allowing Bellatrix to take the child and escape.

Harry lost interest instantly; he turned over, and regardless of the fact that it was only past seven, he closed his eyes and prepared to sleep. ===== CHAPTER 359 =====