Trust

She disappeared?!

Amosta stared in stunned disbelief at the spot where the Dark Witch had stood moments ago, his expression a mixture of shock and confusion.

Apparition or a Portkey?

The thought flashed through Amosta's mind, only for him to dismiss it immediately.

Everyone knew that Hogwarts was protected by countless powerful enchantments. The methods of instantaneous travel commonly used by wizards did not work here. The magical core sustaining the school's defenses came from the vast power accumulated by Hogwarts Castle over centuries and millennia—a force on an entirely different level. Even if the four founders were reborn, they likely would not be able to breach the defensive system they themselves had established.

Yet the reality was that, at the instant Sectumsempra struck, the mysterious Dark Witch shot Amosta a venomous glare before vanishing unwillingly into thin air.

Still stunned, Amosta swept his gaze over the surroundings, hoping to find some trace of her. But the Dark Witch truly was no longer there; she had not merely gone back into hiding.

How was that possible? They were in the Forbidden Forest, but they had not crossed the walls Hogwarts had erected around it. In theory, they were still within the school grounds.

Amosta no longer had the attention to spare for suppressing the Fiendfyre that had not yet gone out. He stepped forward, cautiously approaching the spot where the Dark Witch had last stood.

Sectumsempra had not been entirely fruitless. A pool of vivid red blood remained on the ground, apparently left behind by the Dark Witch.

Chaotic footsteps were already approaching in the distance. It seemed the school's professors had finally arrived. Amosta stared at the blood that had yet to fully seep into the soil, his face filled with frustration.

A witch of such power, one who harbored such hatred for him, was lurking in the shadows and watching him, yet he knew absolutely nothing of her identity. The thought filled Amosta with intense resentment.

"You left a flaw behind."

Amosta murmured to himself. Before Professor McGonagall and Professor Snape arrived, he took out a small vial and drew the blood from the ground into it, then cast a Freezing Charm on the bottle.

"I'll find you."

Snape and McGonagall were not the first to reach the scene. Dumbledore had arrived before them.

A blaze of brilliant crimson fire suddenly appeared in the air, filling the scorched, acrid atmosphere. Albus Dumbledore materialized without warning, clutching the talons of his Phoenix. Once he appeared, he dropped steadily to the ground from midair. His agile, nimble movements gave no hint that he was a man over a hundred years old.

After landing, Dumbledore swiftly surveyed the area. When he saw Amosta standing amid the charred earth, stunned by his manner of arrival, along with the unconscious Gryffindor team members and Bill still hanging upside down in midair, his bright blue eyes behind his half-moon spectacles flashed with terrifying fury.

In the unseen world, the enraged Dumbledore was like a black hole with immense gravitational pull. The moment he appeared, the ocean of magic seemed to be affected by the powerful tidal forces of a full moon, surging and roaring so fiercely that it was almost audible!

The first thing Dumbledore did was extinguish the Fiendfyre Amosta had failed to fully suppress. He merely gave his wand a casual wave, and the pale Fiendfyre, along with the golden flames Amosta had summoned, vanished completely in an instant.

"Hand over your wand, Mr. Breen."

Dumbledore's tone was calm, yet filled with an unyielding resolve that allowed no refusal.

Amosta did not want to surrender his wand. Everything that had happened tonight could be explained clearly, so he hesitated for a moment—but that brief hesitation nearly brought disaster upon him.

Tonight, Amosta finally witnessed the unknown side of Albus Dumbledore, the man who had always been kind and friendly to young wizards from every House.

At that moment, Dumbledore was the legend who had once defeated the first Dark Lord, Grindelwald, head-on. He was the most powerful wizard of the age, who had kept the second Dark Lord suppressed for nearly thirty years and prevented him from running rampant. He was the chairman of the International Confederation of Wizards, a man whose reputation alone could rival the entire Ministry of Magic.

To the Dumbledore of this moment, failing to obey an order was resistance!

There was no feint, no prelude. Dumbledore simply raised his wand and cast a Disarming Charm.

Yet bolstered by incomparable magical power, the space through which the spell-light passed was directly ionized into hundreds of thin streaks of lightning. Amosta's scalp tingled, and his face abruptly turned pale.

The silver-black vortex of magic that had so effortlessly dealt with Charlie and the others' attacks earlier could not withstand the impact of the Disarming Charm for even an instant before collapsing outright!

But that did not mean Amosta would submit without resistance. He had his own pride as well.

In that split second, he swung his wand in a wide arc and pulled a massive metal shield from the void, its gleaming silver surface engraved with a golden monstrous serpent, placing it directly in the spell's path.

Boom!

The deep impact rang out like muffled thunder shaking the earth on a winter night, spreading across mountains and rivers in an instant.

Amosta saw countless golden stars flash before his eyes. His legs went weak, and he staggered several steps backward.

Dumbledore seemed not to have expected Amosta Breen to block his spell. A flicker of surprise passed through his bright blue eyes, but it was only a flicker.

"Stop, Headmaster Dumbledore!"

Professor McGonagall and Professor Snape finally arrived. The moment Professor McGonagall saw the Forbidden Forest before her, ravaged into a devastated ruin, her body swayed abruptly. She covered her mouth with both hands, her face full of disbelief.

Snape was tougher than she was. He rushed straight at Dumbledore, who was preparing to raise his wand again, and shouted,

"Wait, Dumbledore! There must be some misunderstanding here!"

Severus Snape strode forward and, with remarkable boldness and disrespect, grabbed Dumbledore's hand to stop him from attacking again.

Then, dripping with sweat, Snape looked around. When he saw Bill Weasley suspended upside down in midair by Petrificus Totalus, his breathing abruptly grew more rapid.

"Liberacorpus."

He lowered Bill, but the moment the dizzy Bill Weasley touched the ground, he lurched comically to one side, his handsome face filled with terror.

Only after Professor McGonagall stepped past Snape and Dumbledore and gently comforted him for quite a while did he finally come back to himself and see the situation clearly.

"Professor McGonagall, I saw it—someone used the Killing Curse, just now! I swear I saw it clearly!"

The moment Bill's shaken words left his mouth, it was as though a cold wind had swept through. Everything fell silent.

Snape, gripping Dumbledore, could feel the aged wrist in his palm suddenly tense as it tried to break free of his hold.

"Hand over your wand first, Amosta!"

With his face taut, Snape looked toward Amosta Breen, who stood alone nearby, before Dumbledore could. His tone was utterly resolute.

"Trust me, Amosta. The misunderstanding can be cleared up. I believe you too!"

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