great-warnovel Chapter 122 Approaching Darkness
Chapter 122 Approaching Darkness
Chapter 122 Approaching Darkness
"There shouldn't be many people here." Draco wiped the sweat from his brow; he had deliberately chosen a narrow crevice in the rocks.
This place is far from other teachers and students, so even if students come to this area, they won't choose to climb down the difficult and thankless path.
"Dobby!" he called out.
According to the contract between the sprites and their masters, upon hearing a call, the sprites must quickly drop what they are doing and rush to their masters' side as soon as possible.
But for some reason, Draco's calls went unanswered; he stood like a fool in the dark crevice.
The howling wind seemed to mock him as it swept past.
"Dobby!" he called out again, somewhat annoyed, but only the incessant sound of the wind answered him.
"Is this guy dead?" Draco was worried for the first time about a little elf, or rather, he was worried about his own path to becoming stronger, which was about to end before it even began.
Just as he was about to give up and return to the field class to earn some more points, a familiar crisp sound made him overjoyed.
"Snapped!"
"Dobby!" Draco immediately suppressed his smile, turning fierce as he said, "What were you doing just now! Why didn't you respond to my call immediately!"
But it wasn't just Dobby who emerged from the shadows, or rather, Dobby didn't actually emerge from them.
Two cloaked figures emerged from the darkness, one of them carrying a battered and dying Dobby.
"Look who this is. Isn't this the eldest son of the Malfoy family? I didn't expect him to be in contact with a wanted criminal." The tall figure said in a mocking voice.
"I told you not to kill this little elf, we'd have gained more." The short figure beside him turned out to be a woman, and she said in a shrill voice.
"I saw it at the Malfoys' house, and Lucius even wanted to release it from prison, so it must have some other use."
"Who would have thought that following Hogwarts would lead to catching a house-elf?"
17
Draco took a step back in horror. He saw the disgusting pustules on the two men's bodies, and the skull and snake markings on their pale arms.
"You are the Green Flame Party!"
"Ha, I didn't expect that young master Draco would recognize us. But you probably don't remember, we visited your house when you were a child." The two men took off their hoods, revealing their festering, pus-filled faces.
It's the Carol siblings! Draco was shocked. The Carol family was one of the Twenty-Eight Pureblood Houses, but the two siblings in this generation had both sided with Voldemort, which effectively removed them from the Malfoy Castle. However, Draco had indeed seen them when he was young.
This family is a breeding ground for villains, and one of their elders is on the side of the UMNO party.
The brother and sister, Amicus Carlo and Alecto Carlo respectively, had a beauty that resembled that of incestuous marriage. It was precisely because they were so ugly that they could stop a child from crying that Draco had such a strong impression of their faces.
"You...you release Dobby right now! Or I'll call the professor right now!" Draco tried to remain calm, raising his wand high. If he fired the signal, Lockhart the Hippogriff would arrive in just one minute.
"Oh? If I remember correctly, this little elf named Dobby is a wanted criminal in Malfoy Castle, isn't he?" Amicus tilted his head, a half-smile on his face.
"What was the charge again? Oh! Attacking a little wizard."
He glanced at the half-dead Dobby in his hand, then looked at Draco: "So why is it connected to you? Did you give it orders? You know, the creed of not harming wizards is imprinted in the blood of elves."
Alexios chuckled. "These pathetic little beasts, unless a wizard commands them to do so! What ruthless bastards, no wonder they're old Malfoy's offspring. If you were to grow up, the Malfoy family might actually rise again."
Amicus said slowly, "Of course you can signal to lure the professor here, but I guarantee we'll leave before he gets here. But what about you? You and this poor little elf will be caught red-handed!"
Draco looked at Dobby in his hand. Heaven knows how much suffering this little guy had endured. The wounds that had finally healed had split open again, and blood mixed with pus was flowing out. If it weren't for the fact that its chest was still rising and falling, he would have suspected that it was already dead.
However, Dobby was very loyal. Even after being tortured like this, he did not reveal a single secret about Draco and Malfoy. It was clear that the two of them did not bring Veritaserum when they went out, and their magical level was not high enough to use Legilimency on the house-elf.
"Relax, kid. In a way, we're on the same side," Alexo reassured Draco.
"Your father was captured because of our shared cause. Although he is a good-for-nothing, that doesn't stop us from giving his children a break."
"However, you have to tell us what you want by contacting this little elf named Dobby?" She looked at Draco, smiling, but her eyes betrayed her malice.
"And what's Lockhart doing, always running around with you students? What are you doing?" she continued.
Dracommer remained silent. His intuition told him not to believe a word the Green Flame Party said, and he had no intention of getting involved with them. All he wanted was to find a way to rescue Dobby.
But he was so distracted that he didn't notice that Alectus was using Legilimency on him!
The elves were very resistant, but the 12-year-old wizard, just as Lockhart said, had a mind so simple that it was almost defenseless. Even when Alexios easily browsed through his memories, he didn't notice, thinking he was just imagining things.
"Damn it, this little bastard knows nothing." Alexios's expression suddenly changed. She hadn't found any useful information in Draco's memories. He knew very little about Lockhart or old Malfoy, and the only thing he did know was common knowledge and of little use.
"Aside from knowing that this was Lockhart's field practice class, we had absolutely no other information!"
"Then let's just kill him?" Amicus asked nonchalantly, his wand beginning to glow green.
Draco retreated in terror, but even if he sent out a signal now, he probably wouldn't be able to hold out for a minute against these two elite Death Eaters.
"Wait!" Alecto's eyes darted around, stopping his brother.
She thought for a moment, then, with an ugly smile on her face, said to the child before her, "You really want power, you really want to surpass those who bully you and look down on you, right?"
She saw Draco's memories, tasted his repression and anger, that desire for revenge, that desire for power—he was quite like a Death Eater.
"Yes, yes," Draco stammered, trying to bolster his courage. He feigned anger, knowing he had to find a way to survive, or the man would kill him at any moment.
Alecto continued with a smile, "Instead of relying on this useless little sprite, why not choose to join us?"
"The Killing Curse, the Cruciatus Curse, and countless other dark magic spells—we can teach you all of them."
"You will become incredibly powerful, and even that little girl named Hermione will be trampled under your feet and submit to you."
Draco knew these Death Eaters had no good intentions, but he had to play along with them now, or he would never get out of this crevice.
He pretended to be interested, but fortunately, after Alecto discovered that there was no valuable information in his mind, he stopped trying to read his mind.
"So what is the price?" he asked hesitantly. "As expected of a Malfoy child, you understand at such a young age that there are gains and losses," Alecto said with a smile.
"I don't need you to do anything immoral." She took out two dirty rag dolls, which could only be vaguely identified as two little girls. They were sewn together and wore the same dress, but the stitching was terrible. Some unsightly lint was oozing out from the corners.
Draco looked at the two dolls and felt as if he could hear children crying in his ear; a great sadness welled up from the bottom of his heart.
"Take them and hide them in the school, as close as possible to the defense class classroom." Alex's smile terrified him; her face was practically pressed against Draco's head.
"That's brilliant!" Amicus exclaimed. "Every time Lockhart brings his students out, there are always a few professors patrolling around, making it difficult for us to make a move. And the curses are too weak in the Hogwarts barrier. If we let this kid bring the cursed object in, we might be able to complete our master's task a little faster."
"We can't let him die too easily!"
Draco immediately realized that Voldemort was about to attack Professor Lockhart.
But he couldn't refuse; if he didn't accept it now, he would die here first.
"If I take you back, will you teach me dark magic?" Draco asked deliberately.
"Of course!" Alexo laughed, "but Dobby will stay with us as a guarantee that you will keep your promise."
Draco hesitated for a moment, then grabbed the rag doll that horrified and disgusted him.