allendalepharm Chapter 282 The Little Match Girl
Chapter 282 The Little Match Girl
Chapter 282 The Little Match Girl
With a clear cry, flames surged and transformed into a blazing inferno that swept forward, finally landing on Dumbledore's shoulder. The phoenix affectionately nuzzled Dumbledore's cheek and then preened its feathers.
But at that moment, another burst of phoenix flames surged forth.
A figure, aided by the powerful spatial teleportation ability of the phoenix, pierced through Hogwarts' defensive magic and appeared directly in this corner of the Forbidden Forest.
"Where?"
Old Deng's younger brother, Abu Fors, was somewhat anxious, looking around but seeing only an empty Forbidden Forest.
Dumbledore looked up at Lockhart, who was standing in the corner in a daze, and said, "Giddro, could you please ask my brother to come over here?"
Lockhart looked up somewhat blankly, snapping out of his reverie. He glanced at the mirrored world and then realized what was happening. He quickly waved his wand, pulling Aberforth into the mirrored world as well.
"Ariana!" Aberforth muttered, suddenly feeling the scene before him shift.
Right in front of me, I saw Voldemort kneeling on the ground calling for his mother.
What's going on?
Is Tom Ariana's son?
Aberforth suddenly remembered that Ariana had been bullied by those Muggle boys, and felt a bit absurd. Could it be that the damned Albus was hiding this from him?
He wasn't a conspiracy theorist; he had actually done such things himself. His brother Albus only found out that his younger brother had a son after meeting the adult Credence.
Fortunately, it was just a momentary illusion and misjudgment.
He turned his head and finally saw his sister, whom he had missed day and night, and Gellert, who was talking to her and laughing happily.
His face fell again in an instant.
He strode forward, shoved Grindelwald aside, and when he looked at Ariana, her eyes were already brimming with tears.
"It's all my fault, I failed to protect you." Aberforth felt very guilty.
Nearly a hundred years have passed in the blink of an eye. He is now white-haired and bearded, but Ariana before him seems to have remained frozen at the moment of her death, still looking like a young girl.
Death is the complete cessation of life; everything in the world, the rhythm of life, and the breath of life are frozen in time, never to change again.
The younger sister is still the same younger sister, but the older brother is no longer the same older brother.
Aberforth wept bitterly, just as he had in the past, unchanged.
"Look at you, how old are you, still crying?" Ariana comforted him, her hands, radiating a unique silver light, helping Aberforth to his feet.
"Ariana..." Aberforth let her wipe away his tears, staring blankly at his sister, murmuring, "How can I save you..."
Ariana gently shook her head. "I live with my mom and dad."
Aberforth was stunned, then excitedly grabbed Ariana's shoulders, "Dad, Mom?"
Ariana looked up at her brother, then at Albus and Gellert beside her, "I was the one who killed Mom and Dad..."
"It's not your fault!" Aberforth shouted. "It's all this damned fate's fault!"
Yes, fate.
Years ago, Ariana was bullied by some Muggle boys. Her father was sent to Azkaban to teach them a lesson and eventually died there. Her mother raised them with great difficulty, but she also died during one of Ariana's Obscurus outbursts.
"They've all forgiven me because there's love between us." Ariana raised her hand and patted Aberforth's head to soothe him. "I know Albus loves you, and you care about Albus too. Mom, Dad, and I all hope you can be alright."
Her face was full of happy smiles, her smile as bright as crescent moons. "I also took care of Credence for a long time. He was very confused when he first died."
Aberforth fell silent.
seem……
The question of resurrecting the sister has become a false proposition. Was the world before her death more beautiful for her, or the world of the dead?
There is my father, my mother, my nephew, and so many other family members there.
"Life is a great journey, brother." Ariana is no longer the little girl her brother saw her as. Although she still looks like the girl she died in, she has the same wise eyes as her brother Albus.
In fact, if she hadn't died, she would be over a hundred years old by now.
She looked at Aberforth so earnestly, "Brother, your life has been stagnant for far too long. You can't keep living in the past."
Compared to his two friends, Aberforth and Albus, Gellert was actually the one who took it all in stride.
This wasn't because they weren't family. In fact, during those wonderful times in Godric's Hollow, Gellert was more like an older brother than Albus. He knew better how to be an older brother, caring for her and understanding her pain, and guiding her out of her self-imposed limitations.
Albus and Aberforth were unable to do this because they themselves were limiting themselves.
So in the ensuing casual conversation, the two bewildered brothers looked more like clueless fools, while Grindelwald and Ariana chatted happily on the other hand.
What is the world like after death?
Grindelwald was incredibly curious.
Ariana tilted her head and thought for a moment before replying, "Without a body, there is only communication between hearts. It's unique, and I can't explain it clearly."
She smiled at her three brothers, "But we are all watching you. As long as we miss you and there is still love in our hearts, we can see you."
This is not the perspective of a human looking at small animals in a zoo cage; it lacks the voyeuristic or higher-dimensional overhead view. Rather, it is an inspiration between hearts.
She had a hard time explaining the feeling and went on and on to give a long explanation.
Old Deng suddenly realized, "The mirror at Hogwarts, the Mirror of Erised, can do that, but it has lost its true spiritual inspiration and can only see the surface."
and so……
He had looked at Ariana in the mirror before, and it really was Ariana.
Just thinking about this made him suddenly feel that he was no longer alone.
"I'm going to find you, I'm going to find you all!" Aberforth seemed a bit stubborn as he muttered.
Grindelwald rolled his eyes, but Dumbledore snapped, "Are you crazy? Thinking about dying?"
"Am I afraid?" Aberforth sneered. "This world is too boring and terrible. I've had enough of living. I'm going to find my sister, my parents, and my son!"
Grindelwald sneered, "Very well, now you can make Ariana feel guilty, eternally guilty, because her appearance caused her brother's death!"
Aberforth's expression froze, and he looked at Ariana with some panic, saying anxiously, "That's not what I meant, I..."
Ariana gently shook her head. "If you can't live well, you won't find peace after death, Aberforth. You must truly live your life to the fullest so that you won't have regrets or suffer pain when you die."
She sighed. "There are too many suffering people in the Land of the Dead. Their sins in life will continue to torment them after death. Not everything is good."
"Without the vitality of the body, without life force, everything is irreversible, everything has stopped there, forever and completely, becoming an eternal regret and pain in the heart."
As long as you're alive, there's hope for changing everything.
After death is a unique state of enjoying all the wonderful gifts created while alive, and enduring the torment of all the sins committed while alive.
The Land of the Dead is truly unique.
It has both beauty and horror.
All of this can be changed, and all of this can be chosen, as long as you live well while you are alive.
Ariana tried her best to persuade her three brothers.
Yes, that also includes Albus and Gellert, both of whom also came to a standstill in their lives.
Albus, in particular, had a mind so dark it seemed he was like a ghost.
However, there have been some changes.
Ariana looked gratefully at Gilderoy Lockhart, who was squatting on the ground drawing circles out of boredom in the distance. This young man had released Gellert, saved Albus from his self-imposed limitations, and put everything back on track.
When the conversation turned to Gilderoy, everyone looked at the young man.
But at that moment, Voldemort charged toward Gilderoy like a madman.
"Gidero! Gidero!"
Voldemort's expression was incredibly complex as he stared intently at the man before him. "I may not care about this sudden, damned feeling of friendship, but I imagine it's definitely affecting you, isn't it?"
Lockhart looked up at Old Voldemort and shrugged.
There's a tiny bit, but not much.
But saying it out loud would be too hurtful, I'm really embarrassed.
"Resurrect my mother, and I will repay you!" Voldemort promised.
Lockhart looked up at Voldemort's anxious expression, then at the witch behind him tugging at Voldemort's sleeve, sighed, clapped his hands, and stood up.
"Tom, have you considered whether your mother would want to be resurrected?"
Voldemort paused for a moment, then said, "Who doesn't want to live?"
In the eyes of this madman seeking immortality, death was absolutely the worst option; why die when you can live?
“That’s true, but she’s been in the Land of the Dead for decades, hasn’t she?” Lockhart said. “Remember when you gave me that magic notebook, ‘The Unquenchable Flame of Life,’ saying it had a major side effect? I don’t know what your answer was, but I want to say…”
"Time can have its backlashes. There are far too many cases in the history of magic where time has had its backlashes. Tom, I'm sure you know more about this than I do."
Voldemort fell silent, then turned back to look at his mother with a touch of sadness.
His mother, Merop Gaunt, seemed somewhat timid and cautious in the face of a son like Voldemort, yet she couldn't help but say, "I've met Tom, your father." (Tom Riddle the Elder, father and son share the same name)
Voldemort became smug. "Yes, I killed him and sent him to you to atone for my sins."
Merope Gaunt lowered her head and remained silent for a long while, clutching the hem of her dress tightly with both hands. She murmured, "I'm the one who should atone. I deceived him; he's innocent. I hope I have the courage to face all of this..."
As she spoke, she looked up at Voldemort, "I also wish I had had the courage to survive back then, to take care of you as you grew up, to let you feel love, and maybe then I wouldn't have hurt him again."
Voldemort was enraged. "He deserves to die!"
Merope Gunter, filled with sorrow, finally raised her hand and gently stroked the child's cheek. "I can feel it. He loves you. He only hates me."
"Ha, love me?" Voldemort felt that life was a joke.
His emotions were fluctuating rapidly, like a boiler about to explode. But at that moment, perhaps it was Dumbledore's intervention, or perhaps it was the mechanism of the magic that imprisoned him, that sensed that the emotions surging within him had exceeded a certain threshold, and chains appeared.
Chains emerged from the silver mist, their ends tightly binding his body.
The more you struggle, the more you are pulled back.
Finally, Voldemort roared in anger and was pulled out of the mirror world, back into the stone house.
"No, no, no!!!"
Shouting, he disappeared completely into the mist.
Merope Gaunt chased after her child, eventually stumbling and falling to the ground. Looking up at Dumbledore and the others, who were staring at her with pursed lips, she pleaded, "Give him another chance!"
Unfortunately, Dumbledore was so resolute.
He shook his head, a deeply apologetic one, and said, "I'm sorry, if I give him a chance, who will give the world a chance? He has already caused far too much irreparable damage."
"It's all my fault, it's all my fault..." Meloop Gaunt cried, her figure gradually fading until she finally disappeared completely from this mirror world.
All that was left was for everyone to look at each other in bewilderment.
Ariana also had many feelings about this, saying, "There are too many people like this in the Land of the Dead, leaving only endless suffering."
The appearance of the dead makes the living understand better how to live a good life.
Perhaps this is the greatest significance of this gathering.
Lockhart observed from the sidelines, vaguely sensing the subtle changes in Dumbledore, Grindelwald, and Aberforth.
seem……
Everything is about to start to be different.
He thought for a moment, then drew his wand and tapped it against the Deluminator in his hand. Streams of red threads surged and quickly outlined and floated on it, finally disappearing after a flash of light.
He then handed the Deluminator to Dumbledore, saying, "Perhaps you'll need it more."
Dumbledore seemed to understand something. "You made a change to it? Yes..."
"Communicating with the deceased whom you deeply miss—of course, this is limited to the scope of bloodline magic, but it's enough for you."
Lockhart had read a fairy tale in his previous life.
The poor little girl was selling matches late at night in winter. She lit the matches and seemed to see her grandmother in the light.
I've actually encountered similar abilities before.
While Lockhart couldn't perform the Soul Fire spell to that level, his apprentice Vincent Crabbe could, and he said he could see his parents in the firelight.
Of course, the lighter in front of us is more intuitive; it can truly achieve the most direct form of verbal communication.
Dumbledore was very interested. Although he had the idea of the "King's Cross Platform" spell, he had not yet actually tried it out.
Then a hand suddenly reached out and took the light switch from the other hand.
It is Aberforth.
He clutched the deluminator tightly, glaring warily at Albus and Grindelwald, before finally looking at Lockhart. "Gidden, I owe you a huge favor, and I'll find a way to repay you."
As he spoke, he looked down at the light switch again, making sure it was still in his hand, and was as happy as a child. "Great, great, Gilderoy, thank you so much."
A burst of flames erupted as the phoenix unleashed its fire, carrying him through the mirrored space and Hogwarts' defensive magic, and he vanished in a flash.
Lockhart was left looking at Old Deng and Old Guy with a somewhat innocent expression.
Grindelwald sighed, "Hopefully, after he talks to his sister more, he won't resent Albus so much anymore."
(End of this chapter)