Chapter 422 420 One Must Be Left

Chapter 422 420. One must be left behind

The scene was completely quiet again.

The students in front of the castle stared blankly at the headmaster who they had high hopes for, and they didn't figure out what he was talking about for a while.

Why did they say they wanted to exchange prisoners?

Let's not talk about the question of who the prisoners were, first of all, why they wanted to exchange was a big question.

Hasn't Dumbledore always been defeated by their headmaster?

Even if he admitted the final result of the Triwizard Tournament, the other party had already declared war at their own doorstep!

Shouldn't they give a strong counterattack at this time?

While the students couldn't see the problem, other adult wizards could hear a lot from Voldemort's words.

The reporters who were still here took a meaningful look at Voldemort, who looked no different from before, but always gave people the feeling that he was a different person.

This sentence itself was a sign of weakness.

The enemy has declared war, and you are still talking about exchanging prisoners. Who are these so-called prisoners? Those students can't see clearly, but can't they, outsiders, see it?

Obviously, these students surrounded by the Order of the Phoenix have been regarded as Dumbledore's prisoners by Voldemort.

In other words, Voldemort himself believes that if he uses force, he has no way to safely rescue these people under Dumbledore's care from the current situation.

Not only them, but also professors such as Barty and Snape have discovered this situation.

But compared with the ignorant students, many of these adult Death Eaters seem much more nervous, and only Snape's face is still so cold, but Barty turned his eyes to Voldemort when he spoke.

That expression and look, as if he was doubting something.

No one in the wizarding line said anything, but Jon could clearly feel that the gap between the Voldemort in front of him and the Voldemort who had just killed him in the castle was so big.

No wonder Voldemort in the castle has been scolding his other self as a fool. The current Voldemort No. 1 obviously seems to be quite afraid of Dumbledore, but he also looks like he wants to preserve his power and prevent him from suffering too much loss.

But think about it carefully, the Voldemort No. 2 who fought with him in the castle was clearly the one who took back the soul in the Horcrux, so he would appear more rational and powerful.

And the one in front of him is a broken soul, just like the madman in the original book who was addicted to killing and wanted to kill Harry Potter regardless of other things!

Now he has regained control of his body and suddenly obtained a high position that he has never had since being excluded by his other self. In addition, there is no danger of prophecy. Now there is only a Dumbledore who is working hard and in his twilight years who is a threat.

Bringing in the thoughts of the Voldemort in the original book, the other one has laid a solid foundation. In the eyes of the current Voldemort, as long as he becomes himself again, it is equivalent to realizing more than half of his ideals.

Gain the power of the whole UK!

Compared with the other Voldemort No. 2, it can be said to be an ideal without great ambition.

Of course, what Jon didn't know was that this Voldemort No. 1 actually wanted to keep France. After all, the blood oath was signed by another Voldemort No. 2 with his own soul, and it had nothing to do with him. So the current Voldemort No. 1 had no intention of complying with it.

It was just that in the French Ministry of Magic, Dumbledore's strength woke up Voldemort No. 1 a little, making him realize that he was able to crush Dumbledore in terms of strength before, which was the result of the two of them working together, and now there was only one person left, so he couldn't take much advantage in a single fight.

So Voldemort No. 1, who was originally full of greed and also thought that the previous self was a waste, and France alone had been planned for so long but had not yet been taken, chose to slow down his pace.

He planned to adjust the mess left by the other self first, and then slowly deal with Dumbledore who had regained his momentum.

Now that the situation in France is definitely irreversible, the biggest problem left is the Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry.

Since he decided to slow down, Voldemort No. 1 has temporarily given up the idea of ​​fighting Dumbledore to the death. He just wants to preserve his greatest strength for the time being, and then restore himself to his peak state little by little, and finally fight Dumbledore.

It is precisely because of this idea that he has come to Hogwarts Castle now, even with so many people behind him, and he actually doesn't want to have a face-to-face conflict, but wants to rescue the professors and students who are now surrounded.

Of course, Voldemort is a little crazy now, but he is not really stupid.

If Dumbledore is tough and unwilling to talk about the conditions, and wants to have a decisive battle with him here, Voldemort will not just give in.

Now he can't guarantee a sure win over Dumbledore, but the two of them had a tie in the French Ministry of Magic before, so he is not sure to lose.

Dumbledore also looked at Voldemort, and he seemed to have seen the people surrounded by the Death Eaters.

"So where are your captives?"

Voldemort waved his hand coldly at his men behind him, and the Death Eaters wearing black robes and iron masks on their faces dispersed, revealing the middlemen who had been held captive by them from the beginning.

It was a group of young male and female students wearing tattered linen robes. They seemed to have been cast a petrification spell, looking around with horror, with fear and uneasiness on their faces.

These were the Muggle students in the castle. After the start of the Triwizard Tournament, they were directly transferred out of the school. It was Voldemort No. 2 who wanted to prevent Dumbledore and his men from contacting these students privately, and then replicated John's previous actions to rescue these students.

And now this just gave Voldemort No. 1 the right hostages. In addition to these students, there were also some wizards from the Witcher Horizon who were captured by Voldemort's side in the French war.

It's just that there are not many of them, because many people died directly in the war at that time, and only less than ten people were caught and still had a life.

The bargaining chips that Voldemort wanted to exchange with Dumbledore at this time were them.

This undoubtedly held Dumbledore's side in his hands. They were originally fighting to liberate the Mugglebloods and restore equality. Now they would never sit idly by in public.

There were only captives, but after recognizing that the captives in Dumbledore's hands were themselves, the former students of Hogwarts saw that the captives used by their headmaster to exchange were the "mudbloods" that they had previously ignored and despised, and everyone's face showed a humiliated expression.

According to the principles they learned, purebloods and half-bloods have always been praised above Mugglebloods, but now that this theory has been proposed, their headmaster actually used such a group of lowly "mudbloods" to exchange with them one-on-one, which of course made them feel ashamed.

But even if they all felt humiliated, seeing the captives shown by Voldemort, Dumbledore's men, Sirius, Lupin and Kingsley, all disagreed with this exchange.

"If we let these people go back, we will definitely have to sacrifice more people in the future war." Moody looked at Dumbledore seriously. "We can't give up more lives because of some womanly kindness." Kingsley, who has always been known for his gentleness and kindness, also disagreed, "These pure-blood students don't matter, but Barty Crouch Jr. and Severus Snape must stay!" Their voices were not loud, but Voldemort in the distance could still guess what they were talking about now, and he just said in a cold voice. "I hope you will think carefully, Dumbledore, if you are unwilling to accept my proposal, then these people will certainly be useless. For me, the greatest value of useless mudbloods is death. And will you kill these students of mine? And kill them all?" This kind of extremely despicable speech was said by him, which formed a great contrast with the glorious and upright personality that Voldemort No. 2 had always shown in Britain. Such words not only made the castle students, who were already extremely humiliated, even more embarrassed, but even the group of Death Eaters behind Voldemort were slightly agitated. They all wore iron masks on their faces, and could not see what kind of expressions were underneath the masks, but it was obvious that Voldemort's words had caused some problems among them.

Jon saw the performance of Voldemort No. 1, and then looked at Barty Crouch Jr., whose expression was vaguely wrong since Voldemort started talking, and suddenly turned to Dumbledore and whispered.

"Professor, how sure are you to beat this Voldemort?"

Dumbledore had just fought with Voldemort an hour ago, so he knew the gap in strength between the two now.

"If we really fight, I am 60% sure I can kill him, but I remember you also said that there is still one of his Horcruxes left in Hogwarts Castle?"

Of course, Jon had communicated with Dumbledore about the resurrection stone ring.

"Yes, if we leave one thing behind, we can't guarantee that he won't leave the second one behind, which means that we can't end the chaos tonight anyway?"

"It seems so."

"Then agree to his request, Professor." Jon said decisively, but he obviously hadn't finished his words yet, "But we can only agree to exchange some people. It's obvious that the captives in their hands are not worth the same as ours, so of course we can't release all of them."

Kingsley and Moody also heard Jon's words, and Moody asked.

"We only agree to exchange students for students? Do we insist on leaving Death Eaters like Crouch and Snape behind?"

Jon just shook his head.

"Voldemort is not stupid, he will definitely not agree to such conditions. What I want to say is that, on the contrary, we have to keep these students and only use these Death Eaters like Crouch, Malfoy, and Snape to exchange with them."

Hearing his words, Kingsley and others, including Lupin and Sirius, all frowned.

"What's the point? Letting all these Death Eaters go and leaving only the students is no different from letting them all go?"

Jon leaned to the side, using Sirius's tall figure to hide the smile that was gradually rising on his face.

"The current Voldemort is so different from the previous one. Do you think these Death Eaters won't notice it?"

Of course it's impossible that they won't notice it at all. The changes between the two Voldemorts are too great. Not to mention the major strategic decisions, there is a huge contrast in personal style alone. These Death Eaters are not fools. It would be strange if they can't find anything.

"So if they find out, what kind of changes will happen in Britain? Let's not talk about fence-sitters like Malfoy. What about those diehards who were loyal to Voldemort because of his policies? When they find out that their masters actually have two, how should they choose? Or how will the current Voldemort force them to choose?"

Jon's question made Lupin think.

"You mean, we don't need to do anything later, the Dark Lord will be in chaos. But the Dark Lord himself is still very powerful. Even if these people are dissatisfied, will they really dare to resist?"

"Then we will send him a former Voldemort loyalist who has the courage to resist and is also influential."

Jon said softly, and at the same time looked at Barty Crouch, who had been staring at his master since Voldemort appeared.

The people around, including Dumbledore, also noticed Jon's gaze, and they all saw Crouch's abnormal reaction at this time.

"Moreover, in my opinion, these students are much more useful than these Death Eaters." Jon continued, "All the pure-blood and half-blood wizards in the prime of life in the entire British magic world at this time, their children are here, if they know that their master has abandoned them and taken them away by us, will they have any thoughts in their hearts?"

The consequences of this are actually easy to see. After Jon said this, Kingsley and others also saw the value of these former castle students.

Let Voldemort release adult Death Eaters as destabilizing factors, and leave these pure-blood and half-blood offspring to continue to expand this destabilizing factor. As long as Britain is in chaos first, it will undoubtedly be much easier for them to counterattack later.

Finally, Jon continued.

"And we have to add one last condition. Other Death Eaters can be released, but one of Barty Crouch Jr. and Severus Snape must be left behind!"