In the Hogwarts, the walls of the auditorium were covered with Sparkle of Silver Frost. The ceiling was a starry night sky with hundreds of wreaths of mistletoe and ivy hanging from it. The four college tables were gone and were replaced by a hundred small tables with lanterns. Each table had about ten people sitting at it.
The men and women of the three major European colleges were gathered together. The girls wore colorful dresses and were in groups. Some were shy, some were bold, and some were flamboyant. The boys were also clustered together on the left and right. They raised their cups and spoke in a refined manner, while their eyes roamed over the girls.
After a while, the four warriors led their dance partners into the auditorium. The people in the auditorium applauded.
In Miller's eyes, such a joyous atmosphere was like a small cup of boiling water dripping onto an iceberg, unable to cause even the slightest ripple. He sat in a corner, watching the four warriors and their dance partners pass by. Some kind of great pressure hovered above his head, making him unable to blend in with the environment at all. It was as if he could see Huo Fa's aging and dying body as soon as he closed his eyes.
Resisting the discomfort, he sat in his seat. The people next to him made way for him. Not far from his seat, the warriors were chatting. After winning two events. Harry, the young man who was tricked by him and Hoffa, could now easily adapt to his identity as a warrior. At the moment, he was talking to Bossie Weasley.
Bossie Weasley said, "I was promoted. I am now Mr. Crouch's personal assistant. I am here on his behalf."
Harry asked, "Why didn't he come?"
Bossie Weasley said, "I am sorry. Mr. Crouch's condition is not good. Very bad. Ever since the World Cup, he has not been well … "
"What a busybody."
Mille thought.
Once again.
He took out the parchment with the sacrificial circle and glanced at it. "It has nothing to do with me."
He muttered to himself.
Putting away the goatskin parchment, he raised his head and downed three glasses of strong brandy. A slight dizziness came over Alastor Moody's body, but it didn't alleviate his anxiety.
The warriors beside him were still chatting. Vikeldo Krum, who was dressed like a bear, was chatting with his female companion. "Ah, we have a castle too. I don't think it's as big as this one, and it's not as comfortable as this one. Our house is only four stories high, and it can only be lit when enchanted. But our field is more spacious than this one — but the days are short in winter, so we can't play on the field. In the summer, we fly around outside every day, over the lake, over the mountains — "
"Alright, alright, Wickidor!" Kakarov said. "Don't reveal any more secrets, or your charming friend will know where we are!"
Dumbledore smiled. Sparkle sparkled in his eyes. "Igor, keeping secrets like this … People will think that you don't welcome visitors."
"Oh, Dumbledore," Kakarov said. He opened his mouth wide, revealing his yellow teeth. "We all want to protect our private territory, don't we? Don't we need to carefully guard the school hall that we're entrusted with? Only we know the school's secrets. Shouldn't we be proud of it? Shouldn't we keep these secrets? "
The conversation about the secrets of the few people drilled into Mille's mind. He was a little uneasy. An invisible pressure pressed in from all directions, as if this scene was familiar. It made him want to escape.
"Oh, I wouldn't dare to say that I know all the secrets of the Hogwarts, Igor."
Mille whispered.
"Oh, I wouldn't dare to say that I know all the secrets of the Hogwarts, Igor," Dumbledore said happily. "For example, just this morning …"
Ding ding dang dang …
The glass on the table shook.
Everyone's eyes were attracted. Mille stood up with a pale face and walked out unsteadily.
Dumbledore asked him kindly, "Where are you going, Alastor?"
Mille said perfunctorily, "Just walking around."
Kakarov said contemptuously, "Calm down, old man. There are no Black Wizards tonight."
Mille looked at Kakarov coldly. Kakarov looked like he wanted to say something, but after a glare, he swallowed his words.
Mille controlled Alastor Moody's body to walk out of the hall. The more he walked, the more flustered he became. The panic came from the bottom of his heart. After leaving his seat, in this colorful and gorgeous hall, he felt as unfamiliar as if he had entered a primitive swamp.
"Wait a minute, Professor Moody."
Someone stopped him again. This time it was a woman.
A dark-skinned middle-aged woman, wearing a tall wizard's hat and a long black dress, rubbed her hands and looked a little uneasy.
It was Professor Aurora Sinister.
Mille recognized her. She was the astronomy professor at Hogwarts. She lived in the tower all year round and almost never showed her face. She did not have many social activities. It was rare that she could look away from the stars at this Christmas ball.
"What's wrong?"
For some reason, after seeing her, the unfamiliarity of falling into a primitive swamp disappeared. It was like a drowning person finding land.
"Uh …"
Aurora Sinister looked very uneasy. She looked at the blue magic eye on Moody's face uneasily and stopped talking.
"What's the matter?"
Mille narrowed his eyes. "If there's nothing else, I'll leave first."
"No! Wait a minute, Professor Moody. May I ask, may I ask, may I dance with you at the ball? "
Aurora Sinister said this very quickly. As if all her strength had been sucked out, she turned her head and did not dare to look at him.
This …
Mille did not expect her to make such a request. But after thinking about it carefully, it was normal. This astronomy professor spent every day in the Astral Tower looking at the stars and did not interact with others. No one would ask her to dance.
Usually, he would agree to this woman's request because there was no better pair than them. A crippled man and an autistic woman. It was more realistic than a bitch and a dog.
They were simply a match made in heaven.
However, the frustration in Miller's heart suddenly increased at this moment. It was the frustration of being bound by various rules, promises, and disguises, as well as a vague sense of deja vu. He felt like he was about to vomit from looking at Aurora Sinista's face.
"Okay …"
Mille suddenly covered his head.
"What's wrong with you?"
Aurora Sinister hurried forward and asked with concern.
Mille swallowed the words that were about to come out of his mouth. He suddenly raised his hand, pushed the astronomy professor away, and scolded angrily. "Go away, old woman. I'm not going to dance with you."
The astronomy professor was stunned. She looked at Moody's scarred face in a daze. Suddenly, she covered her face and burst into tears. She turned around and ran. When she ran around the corner, she even stepped on her skirt and almost fell to the ground.
After scolding an irrelevant woman, Mille suddenly felt inexplicably refreshed. It was as if the sky was high and the sea was wide, and all the beautiful things were at his fingertips.
He adjusted the bow tie on his neck and looked around. Then, he walked to a senior girl from Boothbottom who was ten meters away from him. He bent down and asked, "Excuse me, can you dance with me?"
The beautiful blonde girl was chatting and drinking with her friends. When she turned her head and saw Alastor Moody's battered face, she couldn't help but let out a short scream. She subconsciously splashed the glass of fruit wine in her hand onto his face.
The people next to him couldn't help but burst into laughter. Even Miller laughed. The wine rolled down his face. He raised his hand and slapped the pretty girl's face with the back of his hand.
Slap!
The slap stunned all the surrounding Boothbottom students. They stared at Mille as if they were looking at a rare ancient beast. They couldn't understand what kind of person could do such a thing.
Mille put his arm around the beautiful girl's shoulder without any explanation. He tilted his head and smiled. "What, have you never seen anyone hit a woman?"
The extremely provocative words were like ice water splashed into a hot pot of oil, causing a violent riot on the spot. Almost all the Boothbottom students put down the cups in their hands. Chaos was on the verge of breaking out.
"Come on, come on!"
Mille's breathing was rapid. He held the girl's shoulder tightly.
But before the chaotic emotions could spread, the eyes of all the Boothbottom students around him slackened. They were quiet for a few seconds as if they were sleepwalking. Then they picked up their cups mechanically again as if they hadn't seen anything. Those who were chatting continued, those who were drinking continued, and those who were dancing continued.
Mille's abnormal action was like a small stone thrown into a deep pool. After a small splash, it disappeared.
Cold sweat dripped down Mille's pale face.
He realized that something was wrong with this place.
Everything was controlled.
"Okay, okay!"
Mille gritted his teeth and unceremoniously put his arm around the young beauty's waist. His palm pinched her butt hard.
But the girl looked at him with an unusually calm gaze.
.....
.....
Hörheim, on the sand of the arena. Avada asked Hoffa with a smile, "Since you're here, do you want to continue playing?"
"Play what?" Hoffa asked Avada coldly.
"Death's game."
"What?" Buddy Jr threw the stone away and asked in confusion, "Didn't we just win? Why do we have to continue?"
"How can that be counted?"
Avada explained patiently, "That's a game made by Death and Davis Sawyer, not with Hoffa and Mr. Bach. Mr. Bach was just acting as a friendly opponent. If you really participate in the game, Mr. Bach must defeat his opponent."
"No."
Hoffa thought of the souls hanging on the path of thorns. He thought of what Aglaia said to him. He couldn't help but blurt out, "I don't participate in Death's game."
"I see. What a pity."
Avada sighed slightly. "It's okay, but I'll kindly remind you. Death is about to forget you. If you don't participate now, I'm afraid you won't have another chance in the future. "
"What will happen if I'm forgotten by Death?"
"Nothing will happen. You'll end up like them."
Avada pointed at the ghosts reveling in the stands and said, "The ghosts who just came to Hörheim have passion, warmth, memories, and hope. But those are the only things they have. When they forget everything, they have no value. The remaining souls will stay here, neither entering the cycle of reincarnation nor having a goal. This is the real underworld, repetitive and monotonous. I hope you can enjoy it, Mr. Hoffa and Bach. "
With that, Avada turned and left. His figure quickly blurred in the fog of the Kingdom of the Dead.
"How many days has it been? Can you let me think about it!? "Hoffa shouted behind him.
"How many people do you think die every day? Although not many can cross the bridge of the past, you're definitely not the only one." Avada's ethereal voice came from afar.
Buddy Jr said anxiously, "Mr. Bach, he's leaving. What should we do? "
"Wait!"
Hoffa shouted to stop Avada.
Avada stood still and looked back at Hoffa.
Hoffa clenched his teeth. "What if I win against Death? Can I bring people out? "
"If you win against Death, you can even become Death. Naturally, you can do whatever you want. "
Avada's words were shocking. It was unknown whether he was extremely confident or just spouting nonsense, but he said those words so casually.
Hoffa's heart thumped. If he had a heart now, it would have jumped to 200. The answer to choose was self-evident.
In the underworld where time didn't pass, the only visible change was the worms that kept turning into flesh. He had nothing to do. He didn't want to be like those meaningless ghosts, throwing himself into endless revelry. He also didn't want to sit in the same place, pointlessly sitting there forever.
He wanted to take Aglaia back to the real world, walk on the soft and delicate beach, taste the different flavors of ice cream, the scenery and food of various countries, and experience the change of seasons like a normal person.
"What is the game?" he asked Avada with difficulty.
Avada clapped his hands, and two huge konjac flowers bloomed on the blood-red sand. The konjac spun and opened, and a naked human body lay in each flower.
The human body had no special features, no hair, and like Avada, no genitals. Apart from that, it was a standard male.
"This is the body that Death prepared for you. Of course, you can also prepare your own body. You know who wants it. In short, there is no need to die twice in Hörheim, but as long as the body is destroyed, the game will be considered a failure. Understand? "
"If you fail, you will be sent to the Path of Thorns."
"Correct."
Avada said.
"Are the rules the same for everyone?"
"Ah, of course."
Avada smiled, and a bubble appeared under his feet. The bubble grew bigger and bigger, and finally became a happy clown head.
Hoffa secretly clenched his fists. Only then did he realize that when he was fighting with Davis, he did not have a physical body at all. This meant that Davis could not kill him at all, but he had a physical body that he could destroy at will. His defeat was destined. Death had never intended for him to win from the beginning.
He wanted to question Avada, but he had already stepped on the balloon and flew up into the sky again. The sound in the arena was like a volume knob that was constantly turned. The cries of countless ghosts surged like a torrent at the top of the arena.
Hoffa and Buddy Jr got into the bodies that Death had prepared for them. It felt like wearing a rubber suit. There was not much discomfort, nor was it very sensitive. It was like controlling an unfamiliar game character. You could use it to see and do things, but you could not use it to feel much.
Amidst the cries of countless fanatical ghosts, the door of the arena slowly opened. Buddy Jr's expression was tense. He leaned close to Hoffa. "What kind of opponent will Death arrange for you?"
"I don't know." Hoffa was also very nervous.
"Your opponents should be very scary."
"Yes," Hoffa said dryly.
Avada flew up into the sky on the balloon and raised the microphone. "Next challenger, let us welcome Wizard Ravenclaw, Mr. Hoffa Bach, from the world of magic. Quiet yet fanatical, smart yet stupid, simple yet complex, young yet old!"
Boo!!
The ghosts who did not know what was going on also booed. Like Davis, they expressed their disdain for the challenger.
Hoffa listened to Avada's introduction and thought that he might as well just say that he was a schizophrenic. Even he himself didn't know that he had so many strange characteristics.
Avada continued, "In his short but unrestrained life, he has faced countless opponents and defeated countless enemies, but he seems to have never really taken external enemies seriously. Rumor has it that every proud Ravenclaw will always have one opponent, the only opponent. That opponent is like a shadow, faintly discernible. The person who uses it will find it difficult to peek at its true appearance.
But in the Kingdom of the Dead, in the Eternal Arena. Death has prepared a special gift for him, allowing him to peek into the mysteries of life. Now, let us welcome Hoffa Bach's first opponent, his past self — the Transformation Master! "
Creak.
The door on the other side of the arena slowly opened.
Hoffa kept retreating while protecting Buddy Jr. Then, he saw on the other side of the arena a boy with black hair, black eyes, and two or three years younger than him walk out. The boy was wearing the black Hogwarts uniform with the blue eagle pattern of Ravenclaw Academy.
He was stunned.
That was the younger version of himself.
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