"Uhh!"
Voldemort swung his wand violently, and a murky green beam of magic shot straight at Dumbledore.
Dumbledore raised his wand in response, and the two beams of magic – red and green – clashed spectacularly midair, sending magical sparks flying in all directions.
Again!
Voldemort's scarlet eyes were fixed on Dumbledore.
He knew exactly why Dumbledore was holding back.
Harry Potter!
Once the last Horcrux is destroyed, Voldemort will become a mere mortal once again. At that time, any spell could easily kill him.
"Uhh..."
Voldemort let out a growl and forcibly severed the magical link with Dumbledore.
Fighting head-on with Dumbledore simply wasn't an option.
His only way out now lay in removing the Anti-Apparition spell from the manor and getting away from this place.
As long as he manages to escape, he can go anywhere.
Voldemort's eyes glowed with a darker shade of red as this thought flashed through his mind.
Because the Anti-Apparition charm had been tampered with!
Did Dumbledore do it?
Or was there a traitor among the Death Eaters?
If it was the former, it would be fine, but if it was the latter... Was it Snape?
Voldemort looked around.
At this point, it no longer mattered who had modified the Anti-Apparition spell. What mattered was that he had to remove it.
"Dumbledore..."
Voldemort said hoarsely, "You can't Apparate here, and no one can get in. So, how do you think...Collins is going to get Potter here?"
He felt that this was his chance.
He had personally arranged the concealment spells on the manor, and no one knew better than him how impenetrable they were.
In a sense, the manor had already disappeared from the world.
"If Collins can manage to enter here, perhaps it will be my chance to escape," Voldemort reasoned.
Dumbledore looked at Voldemort as if he were looking at an idiot.
From what I remember… Wasn't Tom quite clever before?
Why has he become such a mess now?
"Tom, how do you think I got in here?" Dumbledore asked calmly.
Voldemort: "..."
I really want to know the answer to this question as well.
Pop—
A cluster of crimson flames spontaneously ignited in the hall, and the figures of Andy, Harry, and Snape emerged from the flames.
Screech—
The phoenix made a soft chime, circled once overhead, and then disappeared again amidst a swirl of flames.
"Professor Dumbledore!" Harry exclaimed, quickly running over to Dumbledore.
"Harry!" Dumbledore grasped Harry's arm.
The two of them looked at each other intently for a moment...
"?" A question mark slowly formed on Dumbledore's face.
Harry looked...as if he knew nothing.
"Professor, what should we do next?" Andy asked.
Dumbledore: "..."
What a surprise, Andy has managed to keep a secret.
In Dumbledore's opinion, given Andy's tendency to blabber, he must have already told Harry the secret that he is the Horcrux.
This way, when Andy brings Harry over, Dumbledore can avoid a lot of unnecessary chatter and just directly extract the remnants of Voldemort's soul from Harry.
This will save some time.
But Andy didn't say anything!
When you should say something, you don't, and when you shouldn't, you blabber on and on.
Dumbledore sighed slightly.
"Collins, could you please hold back Voldemort for a while?"
Dumbledore said, "I need to explain a few things to Harry, and I won't act until I have his permission."
"Even if I'm completely sure, Harry will still be taking a risk."
"No problem!" Andy gave an 'OK' thumb signal.
"Professor, what do you want to tell me?" Harry asked anxiously.
Dumbledore lowered his gaze and looked at Harry. "Harry, what I am about to say is very serious..."
***
On the other end, since Snape appeared, Voldemort's gaze had been fixed on Snape.
"Severus, I never thought you would turn against me!" Voldemort said in a frosty tone.
Snape remained silent.
To be fair, back when he was a student, Snape genuinely wanted to join Voldemort's ranks and achieve great things.
Unlike other Death Eaters who followed Voldemort for the sake of profit or the Pureblood Supremacy Theory, Snape, being a half-blood, didn't care about bloodlines. He simply yearned to be part of a powerful organisation.
Snape was fascinated by dark magic and was also very ambitious.
When he joined the Death Eaters, he really considered it a lifelong career.
Justice and evil?
The young Snape never cared about these things.
After a long silence, Snape blurted out, "You shouldn't have killed Lily!"
Andy rolled his eyes.
Typical love-struck brain!
Voldemort's forehead veins started to throb. "Just because of a woman, a woman who never loved you, you turned against me?"
"Severus, I trusted you so much."
Andy rolled his eyes again.
You're actually trying to reason with a love-struck fool?
Snape looked at Voldemort and said indifferently, "Now...it's not just about Lily anymore."
His teaching career at Hogwarts had completely changed Snape's views.
He had become a 'good person'!
Voldemort's eyes turned completely cold.
He looked at the people in the hall...Andy, Harry, Snape, and Dumbledore.
Everyone here wanted to kill him!
His only way out was to break the Anti-Apparition spell before Dumbledore could eliminate Harry's 'problem'.
Voldemort gave Dumbledore a jealous look at this thought.
What a wonderful phoenix!
"Severus..."
Voldemort asked with a cold gaze, "Did you modify the enchantments here?"
"Er...that...let me interrupt for a moment."
Before Snape could reply, Andy stepped forward and said, "Tom, I want to ask you a question. What is it like to split your soul?"
"I mean...the feeling at the soul level."
At this stage, there was no point in continuing the fight.
Before this, Voldemort had fought Andy and Dumbledore successively. In both battles, Voldemort was the loser.
Unless he could escape, Voldemort would surely die.
For Voldemort, before facing a certain death, he would do everything in his power to find a way out.
He is a person who fears death.
"Oh?"
Voldemort asked with interest. "Collins, do you want to create a Horcrux as well? I can help you with that."
If Andy switched sides, Voldemort felt he still had a chance of winning.
"Hmm..."
Andy pondered for a moment, before speaking with a hidden meaning: "We can talk about it… Until it's over on Dumbledore's side, there's no telling how things will turn out."
"Who knows what I might choose!"
"Don't you agree, Mr Riddle?"
Snape turned his head sharply to look at Andy.
You want to switch sides?
Voldemort's eyes lit up with hope. He grinned widely and once again invited, "Collins, as long as we kill Dumbledore, no one in the wizarding world can stop us."
----
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