Dumbledore, You're So Underhanded; Life-and-Death Friendship!

The flames swept forward before Rhine, carried by the gale and forming a blazing path.

Rhine strode through the fire, the flames clustering around him to clear the way. The blazing white fire was unstoppable, incinerating every Inferius blocking the path ahead into ash.

All obstacles ahead were swept away!

Then Rhine strode up to the shop entrance and kicked the door.

Boom.

With a deafening crash, the door and its frame tore free entirely, spinning through the air.

Florin Fortescue had been bewildered by the raging flames outside the window when he saw the door flying closer and closer.

The next second, he was sent flying by it.

Hermione, who had already fallen into despair, saw Rhine standing in the doorway through tear-filled eyes.

"Rhine?"

For a moment, Hermione thought he might be an illusion brought on by the scorching heat.

It was not until Rhine helped her up that she realized he was real.

"That's wonderful, Rhine! You came to save me! I thought I was going to die!"

After her initial joy, Hermione looked at the flames outside and fell into despair again.

"With such a huge fire, what do we do now?"

"Rhine, you should go! There are still lots of people behind us. I'll see if I can control the fire."

"Clear Water Like a Spring!"

Hermione futilely tried to use her spell to put out the raging fire.

Rhine merely sighed.

This girl had just been terrified out of her wits, yet now she had found the courage to stay behind and cover his retreat.

If the Sorting Hat were here, Hermione would probably pull out the Sword of Gryffindor on the spot.

No wonder Hermione had not been sorted into Ravenclaw in the original story, but into Gryffindor instead.

Extraordinary courage and a brilliant mind were Hermione Granger's finest qualities, and the former was even more outstanding and precious than the latter.

Rhine then patted Hermione's head reassuringly.

"All right. With me here, there's no need to be so nervous."

Rhine snapped his fingers.

The flames still raging outside immediately gathered before Rhine like subjects worshipping the King of Fire, converging into one fireball after another.

With another wave of Rhine's wand, the fireballs howled out through the windows and struck the remaining Inferi.

In mere moments, the Inferi that had densely filled the area were burned away completely!

Rhine smiled. "See? Isn't everything fine now?"

Hermione stared blankly at Rhine's profile, unable to put the shock in her heart into words.

So this was Rhine's full strength?

Strong. He was truly far too strong.

And strength aside, the key was that he looked so cool.

Only then did Hermione realize that Rhine was still holding her in one arm. Her cheeks immediately flushed crimson.

Then a pained groan came from beneath the fallen door.

Florin Fortescue struggled out from under it. After suffering such a heavy blow, even the cloudiness in his eyes from the Imperius Curse had cleared.

"I..."

"What happened?!"

Rhine frowned, his expression darkening as he prepared to give Florin Fortescue another hit.

Hermione sharply noticed Rhine's intentions and hurriedly said, "Don't, Rhine. He was controlled by the Imperius Curse. He doesn't know what he's doing."

Her eyes filled with sympathy.

"Poor Mr. Fortescue. He's already so old. I don't know whether he can even endure the aftereffects of an Unforgivable Curse."

"He's usually very generous. The first time I came to Diagon Alley, he gave me a butterbeer ice cream and a cup of honey lemon water for free."

"He's a respected wizard. This is just terrible for him."

Hearing the surname Fortescue, Rhine thought for a moment before remembering.

In the original story, this old man, Florin Fortescue, was specifically kidnapped and murdered by the Death Eaters after Voldemort returned.

The reason was never mentioned in the books, but J.K. Rowling later revealed that it was because Florin Fortescue knew too much about Ancient Magic, the Elder Wand, and other such matters.

After all, Ancient Magic had appeared at Hogwarts a century ago. Headmaster Dexter Fortescue had taken office not long after that time, so it was not strange for Florin, as his descendant, to know some secrets of ancient magic.

An idea surfaced in Rhine's mind.

This Ancient Staff of his was best suited for Ancient Magic, but after searching through historical books for an entire month, he had found no clues whatsoever. Perhaps Florin could provide him with some leads.

Since Florin was still useful, Rhine did not make things difficult for the old man.

"But to make sure the Imperius Curse has truly worn off, he should sleep for a while."

"Stupefy."

A red flash streaked past, and Florin lost consciousness once more.

Hermione sighed.

"What a terrible day."

"I don't know who could be so deranged as to do something like this. He'll definitely be locked in Azkaban for life."

Rhine shook his head slightly.

Could Azkaban really hold Voldemort?

That was far from certain.

The Dementors would probably bow to Voldemort the moment they saw him, then follow him off to accomplish some great cause.

It had to be said that Voldemort had delayed his attack on Gringotts by a month compared to the original story, and that extra month had clearly not been spent in vain.

Even with Gringotts' security raised to its limit, it was still crushed with devastating force before Voldemort.

As Rhine pondered this, black flames transformed into a giant dragon and blasted through Gringotts' dome.

Then a mass of black smoke drifted out from within.

But at that very moment, explosions rang out one after another outside Gringotts.

The Ministry of Magic's Aurors had finally arrived, continuously firing spells at the black smoke and flames.

The goblins inside Gringotts had gone red-eyed as well. Even their fear of that power could not suppress their greed for wealth.

"Thief!"

"Robber!"

"No one gets away unscathed after robbing Gringotts!"

The goblins also unleashed spell after spell.

The Aurors and goblins joining forces had clearly caught Voldemort off guard.

He had expended considerable power and gone to great lengths to obtain more than a hundred Inferi. He had even specifically cast the Imperius Curse on Florin Fortescue, making him gather as many young wizards as possible that day.

Wasn't that all meant to hold back the Ministry of Magic's Aurors?

So where were all those Inferi now?

Realizing something had gone wrong with his plan, Voldemort let out an irritated roar from within the black smoke and casually flung out a green beam that struck an Auror directly.

Then he raised a hand. Black Fiendfyre surged up in an instant, while the rubble around them transformed into all kinds of venomous snakes that swarmed toward the Aurors.

While the Aurors descended into chaos, the rolling black smoke howled down the street.

Yet Voldemort, possessing Quirrell, was already in an exceedingly foul mood.

"The Sorcerer's Stone has been moved. That old fool Dumbledore must have transferred it to Hogwarts."

"Damn it, how did that old bastard know my plan?"

"And the Inferi—what happened to all the Inferi? I shouldn't have expended so much power. They should have been able to hold those Aurors back!"

As the black smoke swept past, Voldemort saw the traces left behind when Rhine had destroyed the Inferi.

His gaze fell from within the smoke, and he immediately spotted Florin Fortescue lying stunned inside the shop, along with Rhine holding a wand.

"Was it this young wizard?"

The next moment, Voldemort pulled a mocking smile.

"Foolish Dumbledore, do you think I'll fall for that?"

"The traces from before were clearly from the Fire God Paves the Way spell you used!"

"You think I won't recognize it just because you deliberately cast it so poorly and weakened its power? You must have arranged for that young wizard to draw my attention while you hide in the room behind him, haven't you?"

"That old bastard is truly underhanded. I won't fall for it."

In an instant, Voldemort steered the black smoke in another direction and vanished at incredible speed.

Rhine had already been on guard after sensing Voldemort's gaze upon him.

Voldemort in this state was far from his peak, but he seemed to be much stronger than the nearly spent, two-faced man from the original story who could not even deal with Harry Potter.

It seemed Voldemort's pathetic performance during the first school year in the original story had a great deal to do with how much power he had expended.

Rhine had thought he would have to fight Voldemort ahead of schedule, but Voldemort had unexpectedly left.

Rhine frowned. He felt somewhat relieved, but also somewhat regretful.

However, Rhine's attention was soon drawn away from the devastated Diagon Alley.

A flood of information began refreshing across the system interface.

The most conspicuous entries were—

While playing in Zhaoge with Young Deng Chanyu, you encountered a blood sacrifice of the Demonic Path. You and Young Deng Chanyu narrowly escaped death. Having endured peril together, your relationship has deepened further.

Your relationship with Young Deng Chanyu has reached—Life-and-Death Friendship

You have obtained a reward—Five-Colored Stone Cultivation Method

Claim now?