In front of Riddle House, Voldemort and Nagini disappeared at the same time, and the heart that had been lodged in Eda's throat finally settled back into her chest.
After repeatedly stepping in and out of the gates of hell, dancing back and forth right under the Grim Reaper's nose, this night had truly been heart-pounding.
Now that the danger had passed and Voldemort had fled, Eda finally relaxed completely. Then Eda plopped down on the ground, gently pounding her legs while staring blankly at the flickering flames down the hillside.
Finally, the towering Fiendfyre went out. The tall yew tree and the small chapel were completely destroyed, and the entire cemetery had been reduced to scorched earth.
Eda stood up from the ground and walked toward the scorched earth below the hillside. Her legs were somewhat weak, and her footsteps looked a little unsteady.
Down the hillside, Eda saw Dumbledore, who had arrived very late, but not particularly late. She saw Sirius, who had escaped with his life. She also saw the astonished Minister of Magic, Cornelius Fudge, along with several Aurors.
There were also Vinda and Laura. There was not much worry on Vinda's face, but the usually strong-willed woman had actually allowed Laura to support her tonight. This simple change was enough to show that Vinda's emotions were far from calm at this moment.
Eda called softly from behind everyone. Vinda immediately turned around, moving with remarkable agility.
"A beautiful night, in'it?"
Upon hearing her granddaughter's voice, Vinda immediately shook off Laura and rushed toward Eda in three quick strides.
Vinda's eyes were filled with concern. She cupped Eda's cheeks with both hands, then grabbed Eda's hands and thoroughly examined her from head to toe.
After confirming that her granddaughter was unharmed, Vinda pulled Eda into her arms. Her worried scolding was impossible to stop.
It seemed that words were not enough to express her emotions, so Vinda even pinched Eda's arm hard twice.
The deeper the love, the harsher the reproach. Those two expressions of love made Eda yelp loudly.
Fortunately, Laura was still reasonably sensible and rescued Eda from Vinda's "clutches." Vinda also realized that she had used too much strength and symbolically rubbed Eda's arm twice.
At this moment, Dumbledore and Sirius also walked over, both of them wearing expressions of concern and guilt.
The towering flames in the cemetery could be seen even from Little Hangleton. When Sirius saw those flames, his heart sank, and a deep sense of guilt surged up inside him. He felt that Eda's death had been caused by his own incompetence.
Unfortunately, this guilt caused Sirius to lose focus, and he nearly got killed by the Death Eaters pursuing him. If Dumbledore had not arrived in time, Sirius might have been dead already.
Actually, Sirius had no need to feel guilty, because leaving the cemetery had been the correct decision. It was not an act of cowardice or a cowardly retreat. It was a difficult but correct choice.
If Sirius had chosen to remain in the cemetery, it might have looked loyal and heroic, but it would actually have been the stupidest thing he could do.
Not only would Eda not have thanked Sirius for his loyalty, she would have stayed as far away from him as possible, because Vinda would not let Eda associate with idiots.
No matter how powerful the enemy was, that was not what was truly frightening. What was frightening was having teammates who were as stupid as pigs.
Sirius's individual strength was quite good, but that depended on who he was being compared with. Compared to people like Voldemort and Eda, Mr. Black really was not enough.
If he had stubbornly stayed behind and fought Voldemort to the death, he and Eda would only have died faster.
On the surface, it would have been two against one, but if Voldemort decided to target the weaker link and relentlessly attacked Sirius's balls, sooner or later one of them would have been dragged to death.
Forget one plus one being greater than two. They could not even make it equal two.
Besides, if you chose to ignore dueling ethics and gang up on someone, did you think that group of Death Eaters were VIP spectators who would just kneel down and watch?
At that point, it would become Voldemort and his followers ganging up on Eda and Sirius. Then the two of them would get a GG amid the Death Eaters' cheers and laughter, joining hands as they headed together to the underworld.
After all, Sirius and Eda were surnamed Black and Twist respectively. They were not Uchiha, and certainly were not called One Against Seven. Even if they could fight seven people at once, did that "seven" include Voldemort?
Besides, when Sirius left the cemetery, he also took several Death Eaters with him. That left only Crabbe, Goyle, and Fowley in the cemetery, greatly reducing the pressure Eda had to face.
Crabbe and Goyle were able to join the Death Eaters entirely because of their "noble" pure-blood status. It had nothing to do with their abilities. As for Fowley, he could simply be ignored. His brain did not work properly.
If Voldemort needed to call for backup just to fight a seventeen or eighteen-year-old girl one-on-one, he might as well quit the game and go home to take care of the children!
As it turned out, Sirius's decision had been perfectly sound. His departure allowed Eda to fight without restraint and unleash her full strength, without having to worry about accidentally injuring her teammate.
Eda had a very obvious rabbit-like trait, namely a fear of insufficient firepower. Compared with single-target instant-kill spells like the Killing Curse and Gift of Liberation, Eda preferred setting things on fire. What she wanted was a large area of effect and high damage.
There was another, most important point. Sirius was actually the key to tonight's operation. He was responsible for providing Dumbledore with a landing point, a set of coordinates, so that the Headmaster could descend like a divine angel from the Garden of Eden.
If Dumbledore had not arrived at the last moment, Voldemort would not have been able to simply retreat from the hillside just now. No one could say for sure how things would have turned out.
Therefore, Sirius had absolutely no need to feel guilty. He had made the correct decision, and none of what happened tonight was his fault.
Then whose fault was it? Who had caused tonight's failure?
Did that even need to be asked?
Of course it was all Dumbledore's fault! It was all because of Dumbledore. He had proposed the entire plan, and he had failed to keep an eye on Barty Crouch Jr. while he was at school. That was what allowed tonight's unexpected twists and turns to happen.
Eda hugged Sirius. After tonight, the two of them could be said to have a bond forged through life and death. Sirius scratched his head awkwardly, not knowing what he should say. Instead, Eda manfully patted him on the shoulder.
Then Eda looked toward the "culprit," Dumbledore. At this moment, she only wanted to say one thing to him: Pay me more!
However, before Eda could say to Dumbledore, "With this little money, it's really hard for me to work for you," Minister of Magic Cornelius Fudge jumped in and displayed his clownish nature.
"Can someone tell me what on earth happened tonight!" Fudge shouted. He pointed at the scorched earth. "You could see those flames from several miles away. Albus, what kind of stunt are you pulling?"
Only then did everyone remember Fudge's existence, and that Fudge was technically the number one figure in the British wizarding world. Everyone turned to look at Fudge, only to see the Minister standing with his hands on his hips, his face filled with despair.
"Cornelius, just as I told you at the school, Barty Crouch is dead, and his son, Barty Crouch Jr., escaped from Azkaban," Dumbledore said patiently. "With Barty's help, Voldemort has returned."
Upon hearing the name Voldemort, Fudge and the Aurors he had brought with him all shuddered. That name had instilled far too much fear in them, and even now they had not forgotten it.
"Ridiculous!" Fudge impatiently waved his arm, apparently trying to cover up his embarrassment from moments ago. His movement was quite exaggerated. Fudge continued, "Apart from this fire, I haven't seen anyone tonight. And now you're telling me that You-Know... that he's back?"
The Minister was actually telling the truth. He really had not seen a single Death Eater tonight.
After receiving the signal Sirius sent through a magical device, Dumbledore had hurried over. The Death Eaters pursuing Sirius Apparated the instant they saw Dumbledore, not staying even one second longer.
Fudge and his Aurors had arrived afterward using a Portkey created by Dumbledore. By the time they got here, the Death Eaters had long since disappeared, and all they saw was the raging fire that had engulfed the cemetery.
By the time Fudge brought the Aurors to the cemetery, Voldemort had already appeared at Riddle House on the hillside. Fudge had not seen even a single hair on Voldemort's head.
No, Eda had not seen a single hair on Voldemort either. The Dark Lord, newly reborn, not only had no nose, he had no hair either.
Fudge had seen nothing, and on top of that, he already harbored reservations about Dumbledore. Naturally, he would not believe Dumbledore's claim that Voldemort had returned tonight.
Dumbledore had no evidence, and unless he could produce some proof...
...
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