At night on Privet Drive, only a few streetlights were lit.
Other than Number 4, which seemed to be hosting some kind of party, with an eerie green light flashing from inside, there was nothing unusual.
Wait…
Number 4 Privet Drive?
"Isn't that Harry's aunt's house?!" Kasenhis stared at the glowing building in confusion. At this point, whether it was some Muggle dragged here by Death Eaters from who knew where, or whether they had actually hauled the Dursleys back from Australia, it was no small matter anymore.
Kasenhis kicked the door open and rushed into the living room. Sure enough, the Dursley family of three were huddled together in the middle of the room. Two or three Death Eaters with grotesque appearances were sprawled across the combined sofas in all sorts of positions, looking like they had just finished some kind of wild party. Meanwhile, one deranged, filthy-looking Death Eater had just stopped casting the Cruciatus Curse and turned to stare blankly at the three people at the door.
Kasenhis, Dumbledore, Grindelwald.
And inside the room were three Death Eaters who didn't even deserve to have names.
What kind of absurd matchmaking was this?
That was the final thought those three Death Eaters had before Kasenhis tore their heads off.
Kasenhis crouched beside the Dursleys and confirmed that the poor family of three had already been driven mad by the Cruciatus Curse.
"Get them to St Mungo's! I'll go find Lockhart!" Dumbledore said before Disapparating immediately. Kasenhis quickly used Ender teleportation to take the family and Grindelwald to St Mungo's, arriving almost at the same time as Lockhart, who showed up in a daze wearing his pajamas.
"Why didn't we just take them straight to Lockhart's house?" Kasenhis asked, still a bit confused.
"Because even after the effects of the Cruciatus Curse are removed, they'll probably still need to lie here for about a week before they fully recover," Lockhart answered in place of Dumbledore.
"After all, they're Muggles. Their souls aren't as resilient as a wizard's," he added, worried Kasenhis might not understand.
...
Meanwhile…
With Hogwarts' three main combat forces lured away, Voldemort finally revealed his true objective. Along with three elite Death Eaters, the reluctantly conscripted insider Snape, and Voldemort himself keeping a close watch on Snape to prevent him from passing any messages or warnings, the five of them quietly infiltrated the school.
Using silent spells, they slipped into the Great Hall.
Almost instantly, the sky on the Great Hall's enchanted ceiling crackled with dazzling lightning. As bolts struck down onto the Iron Golems standing guard in the hall, their eyes flickered to life with a red glow, and they all turned in unison toward Voldemort.
"What's going on?" Bellatrix raised her wand, only to have Voldemort stop her. "Don't use any spells that make noise." Then he turned to Snape. "Explain."
"Alchemy constructs created by Professor Kasenhis… they follow his commands and those of Hogwarts Castle," Snape replied quickly.
"Oh…" Voldemort nodded. "If we're talking about the most magnificent and visually impressive magic in Hogwarts, it would probably be the Great Hall's ceiling. And this ceiling has a special trait. When it detects hostility toward Hogwarts, it flashes lightning to warn the headmaster and the staff…"
At this point, Voldemort curled his lips into an unpleasant smile.
"Unfortunately, when the four founders created this magic, communication spells were still limited to floating text. So it can't send warnings remotely to the headmaster or the professors. In other words, at this very moment, this ceiling is completely useless… along with these laughable alchemical puppets made by our dear Professor Kasenhis."
As Voldemort cast a Killing Curse straight at an Iron Golem's chest… nothing happened.
"…?" Voldemort quickly switched spells in slight embarrassment, immediately replacing it with Fiendfyre to melt the golem, as if that ineffective Killing Curse hadn't come from him at all.
But as the first Iron Golem melted, it was as if every Iron Golem in Hogwarts had been activated, like zombies drawn in by the sound of a gunshot.
In an instant, Voldemort and the others were faced with a dense swarm of Iron Golems. They didn't dare use large-scale Fiendfyre, only precise, single-target flames.
After all, this was Hogwarts. If Fiendfyre got out of control and devoured too many magic-infused golems, it could very well wipe out the entire castle. But if all the students were gone, then even if Voldemort became the ruler of the wizarding world, an immortal god, there would be no one left for him to rule over.
Burn all the students at Hogwarts today, and by tomorrow morning, the rest of the wizarding population in England would flee. At that point, he wouldn't just be a dark lord, he'd be some kind of eldritch disaster.
And more importantly…
They themselves could easily die in Fiendfyre. They had neither the authority of Hogwarts' headmaster nor a phoenix. If the flames got out of control, they wouldn't even know how to escape.
"How many of these damned constructs did that alchemy professor make?" Voldemort asked hoarsely.
"He takes about five seconds to make one Iron Golem. On average, he placed one every ten meters along the corridors. His walking speed is roughly one meter per second. The school has about one hundred and sixty corridors, plus ten in the Great Hall. He worked for a full eight hours that day," Snape said flatly.
"Are you showing off that you took math classes, Severus?" Bellatrix snapped irritably.
"No. Just answering the Master's question," Severus replied coldly.
Seeing this, Voldemort had no time to calculate a problem that, while involving large numbers, was still basically elementary-level arithmetic. Instead, he continued using Fiendfyre to clear out the Iron Golems.
And so, after nearly an hour of effort, the five of them finally melted the last Iron Golem down into iron ingots.
As they headed toward the staircase, preparing to abduct Harry, a flashy figure with a jaunty swagger blocked their path.
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