great-warnovel Chapter 293 It's Not Too Late
Chapter 293 It's Not Too Late
Chapter 293 It's Not Too Late
High in the sky, Dumbledore's fiery cloud transformed into a towering fire giant, while Voldemort's green flames turned into a ferocious, dark serpent.
Like a god in mythology fighting a black dragon alone, the long-bearded fire giant's body was entangled by the poisonous dragon, but he also grabbed the evil serpent's throat. His flaming spear and the venom he sprayed everywhere dyed the sky a murky oil painting.
The roars of giants, the hisses of serpents, and the deafening crashes and collisions echoed from the sky to the ground, making everyone's hearts pound.
"What terrifying power."
Standing at the hidden entrance of a cave on the lakeshore, Little Barty looked up and watched the duel between the great wizards, which was truly dazzling and mesmerizing.
This is a lake cliff that juts outwards. At the bottom of the cliff, there is an unusual crack. The lake water obscures the way in. Only by wading through the water and continuing forward can one see the cave hidden under the cliff.
The area around here is enchanted with a hidden spell. From the outside, it looks like just an ordinary rocky outcrop. The combined efforts of the Defense and Potions professors have made it impossible for werewolves and biphasic monsters to see through it.
At this moment, Lily is deep inside the cave, standing in front of a stone basin sculpted from rock, from which a shallow stream extends and connects to the Black Lake.
"Everything is ready. As soon as the ceremony is completed, we can go back to provide support immediately," Lily thought to herself.
It would be a lie to say she wasn't nervous. The deafening noise outside and the clusters of glowing guardian spirits made her feel quite pressured.
Little Barty would also faithfully relay the outside situation to her, and with his speculations, it seemed as if he was intentionally increasing her psychological burden.
"The existence of the giant squid has kept the merfolk busy, and they don't have time to deal with Hogwarts." Barty the Younger walked over.
"Even if we abandon the ceremony now, it's not too late to go back and provide support." He was saying discouraging things again.
Lily shook her head: "What's the point of us going back? How much difference will two more professors make to the situation?"
She ignored the man and instead used her wand to circle the stone basin in front of her, chanting the spell in a low voice, section by section.
"I'll stake my glory on the Potions Master," she thought to herself.
Little Barty stopped talking, stepped aside, and quietly watched her do it.
"Pure frankincense, purifying the air." Lily waved her wand, and the spices beside her were automatically lit.
"Pure silver, purifying the earth." She picked up the silver knife from the edge of the stone basin, and with a swift movement, the knife plunged vertically into the soil at her feet.
"Cleansing alkali, purifying the water." She poured some white powder into the stone basin, and boiling water immediately splashed up from the basin.
Although alkali would not normally react in water, this is magic; through a wondrous ritual, alkali seems to have truly become a symbol of purifying water.
In the misty cave, she overturned the stone basin, splashing the bubbling water into the stream inside the cave.
"Clean! Clean!"
"Using the circular ring as the boundary, extract everything from the pot!"
The Potions Master spread her arms, and with a wave of her wand, water splashed up from the stream beneath her feet and began to spread out of the cave.
"The guardian pear wood, the resistant black root grass, the sprouting daisy, the mandrake that dissolves all things—"
She recited the names of various medicinal herbs as she trod on the ground.
"Blazing Fire Dragon Blood, Healing Phoenix Tears, Soothing Motra Rat Tumor, Powerful Reem Ox Blood"
As she chanted, the stream throbbed more and more, and some muffled sounds began to come from the deeper waters.
"Clean! Clean!"
"The cauldron is beating! Heed my command!" She chanted more and more loudly, like a wicked witch in a fairy tale brewing poison, her voice echoing through the cave.
But contrary to her high-pitched voice, the water surface became quiet, and the bubbles and splashes stopped instantly.
"Failed?" Little Barty asked, his tone carrying an unreadable meaning.
Lily shook her head: "The cauldron is too big. Let the order spread for a while."
An eerie silence descended upon the cave once more. The sounds of explosions, wolf howls, monster screams, and the hissing of the two-faced monsters outside could be clearly heard, making one quite irritable.
Waiting is the most agonizing state.
Sudden.
"If you turn back now, it's not too late." Lily's sudden words made Barty instinctively tighten his grip on his wand.
But the next moment, he relaxed, turned his head, and said calmly, "You noticed?"
Instead of choosing to deny it or continue to pretend, this woman chose to confront the issue at this moment, which certainly wasn't just a simple suspicion.
Lily made no move, still staring at the gurgling stream that stretched all the way to the dark lake.
"I have a feeling that Dumbledore and Granger may have discovered something," Barty Jr. continued.
"But they will definitely continue to play along with me, and they won't tell you that they are protecting you." This man was never unintelligent; even though there were no flaws on Hogwarts' side, he sensed something was amiss based solely on his intuition.
Although neither side made any move, he also took on the heavy responsibility of protecting Lily, running between the castle and the outside world all day long. However, he always felt inexplicably that Dumbledore's eyes seemed to be able to see through him, which made him dare not stay in the castle for too long, preferring to suffer in the wind on the high ground.
"Regardless of Dumbledore, we all have our own purposes, and as long as you don't expose me, you won't be in danger."
Barty Jr. needs to obtain the Death Magic, and Dumbledore needs Barty Jr.'s identity to eliminate the Pied Piper's threat. In this process, Lily only needs to do her own thing. As long as she doesn't know Barty Jr.'s identity, this spy will have to do everything he can to protect her life.
Conversely, if the two were to confront each other in the outside world, Barty, for the sake of his mission, would at least severely injure her to the point of long-term coma, even if he didn't kill her. Hogwarts has a partnership with goblins, and he has to be wary of things like the Thief Falls that can wash away the Imperius Curse, so he cannot use the Imperius Curse to control Lily.
"If you were truly a smart man, you wouldn't have brought this up now." He gripped his wand tighter.
"To be honest, I don't want to lay a hand on you, especially not at this time."
"There's no way around it, you'll probably have to sleep until after Christmas."
But Lily still didn't say anything. She stared at him with her deep blue eyes, causing Barty's wand, which was pointing at her, to tremble.
"How much longer will this charade last?"
Lily's nonchalance made Barty inexplicably nervous. He began to wonder if he had missed any important information.
Did this potion master secretly plant the potion somewhere he didn't notice?
"When did you realize something was wrong?" He thought he had hidden it very well.
"From the first day you came to Hogwarts," Lily said calmly.
"But I didn't expose you; I just wanted to see what you were up to." If we count from that point on, the Potions Professor even discovered it earlier than Dumbledore and Hermione!
The witch's command spread through the lake's cauldron, and tiny bubbles rose from the depths, but it seemed it would take some more time.