Chapter 158 Revenge and Murder Wandering in a deserted castle for more than a hundred years? Snape's words were hard for everyone to believe. Their first thought was that their Potions professor had gone mad. "Snape, are you serious?" Sirius touched Snape's forehead. Given their relationship, Snape should have slapped Sirius' hand away with a look of disgust. But he didn't. On the contrary, Snape's reaction at this moment was extremely slow, as if he was in a trance. "All right!" Ares interrupted Sirius from further questioning. "Professor Snape, I have returned you alive, and the banquet will continue.
"If anyone tries to break the rules again, don't blame me for being ruthless. I'm especially talking about you, Sirius." Ares said calmly, "If you want to find the murderer of Harry, just sit still." These words were indeed very convincing to Sirius. His heart was still filled with hatred. But after seeing Ares's strange method and Snape's weird reaction, Sirius calmed down temporarily. He snorted coldly and sat down. "Okay, now I'll announce what happened after the last banquet." Ares said calmly, "Two members have left us forever. One is Harry, and the other is Peter Pettigrew." Peter? As soon as the name came out, the others naturally looked at Sirius. And Sirius admitted it frankly, not avoiding other people's looks at all. "I killed him." He said, "I would have killed him regardless of whether there was a banquet or not, but I wanted Harry to do it himself and avenge his parents, but Harry refused." At this moment, Hermione thought of the scene when Sirius called Harry away at the end of the last banquet. Was it because of this? "How did you kill him?" Cedric suddenly asked, "Apart from the banquet itself, can members kill each other?" "I certainly would like to break his neck myself." Sirius sneered, “But when I caught him and tried to attack him, my wand suddenly disappeared from my hand, and I strangled him, and something inexplicable happened. “He just appeared a few meters away from me, just like Apparating.
"In the end, I had no choice but to use the power of the patronus to poison him to death." poison-- This is an ability that only the Guardian of the Snake can use. But Sirius clearly said that he was the protector of the Eagle. "Isn't this normal?" Sirius shook his head. "Anyway, I don't want to kill anyone except Peter. I can say I am a protector if I want." When Katum heard this explanation, he thought to himself, "It makes sense." Although Sirius might not have agreed with the rules of the party before, nor did he make the decision after careful consideration. But deep down, he did have a thought in his mind, wanting to push himself to the forefront and protect other protectors. This is not the first time he has done this. This was what Sirius did when he was the Secret-Keeper of the Fidelius Charm for the Potter family. Put yourself in the foreground to attract attention, and then replace the real secret-keeper with Peter. Although that time became a tragedy. After listening to Sirius' explanation, Cedric nodded: "So the poison really works?" "It wasn't really poisonous, it was just the guardian angel of snakes that flew out and bit him." Sirius said, "At least I saw how Peter died, and the pain he suffered made me satisfied." “There’s no need to elaborate on this.” Cedric raised his hand, quelling Sirius's desire to describe further. Then he further analyzed: "So now, the identity of Sirius's protector can be confirmed. We can rest assured that he will be the leader." As mentioned before, the leader can have a majority of votes. Sirius didn't refuse the offer. Anyway, the only person he believes in now is himself. Cedric continued: “And the real eagle is still hiding in the background, which is a good thing. "But we can't be sure that the dead Peter was a bad guy, so based on the worst-case scenario—" Cedric looked around the table. "Among the seven of us, there may be three bad guys!" This analysis seems reasonable.
But after listening to it, Hermione didn't feel convinced at all. On the contrary, she had a strange idea. "Cedric is so calm." Hermione wondered, "How come he can get into the mood so quickly? Doesn't he feel sad about Harry's death at all?" This isn't a game, someone really died! The real reaction should be like that of Malfoy and Neville! Hermione turned her head and looked at the pair of brothers in distress. The two of them sat together, hugging each other tightly to cheer each other up, and Hermione swore that this was the best relationship she had ever seen between the two of them. But Cedric's calmness is not an isolated case. Fred, who was sitting on the other side, also began to analyze, but judging from his appearance, he seemed unwilling to be so calm. But at this time, as a senior, he had to bear the pressure on himself so that it would not spread downward to Hermione and the others. "So our problem now is to find out who would want to kill Harry?" Fred's eyes lingered on everyone's face, as if considering each person's suspicion. But in the end, he sighed: "I think Peter is the bad guy. Sirius was not wrong to poison Harry. He was the one who killed Harry." "wrong!" Fred had just finished speaking when someone suddenly raised an objection. And it was none other than Sirius. "Peter didn't stand a chance of killing Harry." He gritted his teeth and said, "Because I killed him before Harry died!" How could a dead man kill someone? "It was one of your people who killed Harry!" Sirius's angry accusations still echoed in his ears. At this point, Fred was speechless. There was a long silence at the banquet. Finally, Cedric spoke up: "Then we can only let the Eagle's Protector come out and see who he is investigating, whether he is a good guy or a bad guy." It seems that this is the only way. But unfortunately, after Cedric finished speaking, no one responded to him. The Eagle's protector seemed unwilling to come forward. At this point in the banquet, there was no need to discuss anything further. Ares clapped his hands. "It looks like you've finished your discussion."
He said, "Now, you can start voting. Who do you want to be hanged tonight? Make your decision!" After the words fell, everyone looked at each other in shock. What a joke, are you going to just decide someone's life or death? “I don’t vote.” Sirius spoke first, "What I want is to find the real murderer, which requires investigation and evidence, not just a few words at a banquet to decide a person's life or death! "Besides, if a group of people can vote to execute a person, how is this different from murder?" Sirius wanted to be an avenger, not a murderer. He still retained a trace of rationality and did not make the decision to kill the wrong person rather than let him go for the sake of revenge. After saying this, Sirius looked at Ares calmly. "Isn't this against the rules? If I have to vote for one, I'll vote for myself." "Of course you can abstain." Ares took a deep look at everyone at the banquet and said, "Anyone can abstain. It doesn't matter." As soon as these words were spoken, everyone could see with their own eyes that they breathed a sigh of relief. "Then I give up!" Hermione said immediately. “I abstain too!”, “I abstain too!” Malfoy and Neville quickly followed behind to express their opinions. It is cruel for them to decide a person's life or death by voting. Seeing this scene, Fred made a surrender gesture: "Although I think this is wrong, I can't vote if I really have to. I will abstain." Of the seven people at the table, only Cedric and Snape were left undecided. Snape still sat in his seat in a daze. "More than a hundred years? No, maybe more than two hundred years..." He repeated this, occasionally looking up at Sirius, "How long do you think I've been away?" "You were gone for just a minute!" Sirius responded impatiently. Seeing Snape's expression, he no longer had any intention of voting. Only Cedric was left. When everyone looked at the only person who could still vote, Cedric finally compromised. "In fact, I really suggest that you think about it carefully. Voting is the only means for good people to exclude bad people." He said, "But now that things have come to this, I can't insist any longer. I will give up." The result of the vote is determined at this moment. No one voted and all abstained.
"so be it!" Ares had no objection to this result. "As long as you can accept it." He announced calmly, "Then I also congratulate you all for surviving. See you at the next banquet. From now on, the interval between banquets will no longer be one month. I may notify you at any time." After saying that, Ares left. Immediately afterwards, Neville and Malfoy fled away, as if they were unwilling to wait even a moment longer. The others stood up one after another, and Cedric was the last one. He looked very uneasy at this time. Hermione heard him mumbling to himself as he passed by. It seems like he is muttering something about the number of votes. Hermione actually vaguely felt that good people should vote. But who can I vote for? Hermione couldn't imagine anyone she could point her finger at without feeling forever guilty. "Katum, let's go!" Hermione picked up the owl and left the hall. She had just walked out when Bruce appeared in front of her. "Have you been waiting outside the door?" Hermione wrinkled her nose, "Never mind, I forgive you." "Forgive what?" Bruce was puzzled at first, then quickly asked, "Let's not talk about anything else for now, what's the situation with this banquet?" What could be going on. Hermione told Bruce that no one voted, and then roughly repeated the others' opinions. After listening, Bruce said nothing. The look in his eyes when he looked at Hermione suddenly seemed a little empty. "yes……" Bruce muttered, "How could the little wizard have the heart to vote to kill someone else? It's over..." "What are you talking about?" Hermione asked, "Why not just say what you think? Why make it so vague?" "It's too late to say anything now." Bruce shook his head. The performance at the banquet further confirmed his thoughts.
“It is completely impossible to win by following the rules. "Hermione, I was just thinking - He raised his head and looked Hermione in the eyes. "Even if everything can be reversed, I never want to see you die in front of me." (End of this chapter)
