Struggling to survive at Hogwarts

Chapter 316 Incident

"Thea, you've finally—"

Seeing the familiar figure push open the door, Gella immediately went to greet her, but before she could finish speaking, the bloodstain on Thea's fair neck came straight to her eyes.

"That group—"

Gella's expression changed abruptly. She pulled out her wand and was about to rush into the conference room when Thea stopped her in time.

"It was just a scratch; compared to the benefits I gained, it's nothing at all."

Hearing this, Gella was taken aback.

She instinctively wanted to ask, "Would you pay the price without batting an eye if the benefit was high enough to outweigh the cost?"

But in the end, she didn't ask. She lowered her eyes and remained silent as always.

There are some things she doesn't need to ask, because she already knows the answer to the question.

“Thea…”

"Ok?"

Thea looked up in confusion, holding a handkerchief in her hand, ready to wipe away the bloodstains.

"...Let me help you."

"Okay!"

Thea smiled, but the smile was particularly jarring when paired with the horrifying bloodstains.

"Thea, friends... are people to rely on."

No one, except Gella herself, knew how much effort she had to muster to stop the sobs from rising in her throat.

Sensing something amiss in Gella's tone, Thea would normally have agreed without hesitation, though the truthfulness of that promise would have been uncertain.

But things are different now—Gella is about to cry.

Thea averted her gaze from Gella, her eyes sweeping unfocusedly over the men in black who exuded a strong presence around her. After a long pause, she spoke softly and slowly.

"...But this is the simplest and most effective method I can think of."

There's no need to endlessly weigh the trade-offs with those old foxes, nor to fret over Voldemort's suspicions. As long as she acts quickly enough and can intimidate these goblins with the bloodiest methods, she'll have succeeded.

As for Voldemort... she had already figured out the reason for "paying tribute" to her father with this money.

Some might be surprised that Voldemort would be associated with the name Galleon.

But if you think about it carefully, you'll know why.

Voldemort was the leader of the Death Eaters, which meant that apart from those bloody methods, the only thing he could use to control his subordinates was money and benefits.

Even if he is extremely harsh on his subordinates, he has not yet cultivated himself to the point of being detached from worldly affairs.

Three meals a day cost money.

Repairing and maintaining a villa costs money.

They chased Porter for money.

The Death Eaters need money for logistics.

Even if he could cut back on these things, there was one thing he couldn't cut back on—experiments, potions, and research into immortality.

In any case, Thea had never heard of anyone being able to conduct research simply by mental simulation.

Despite their expenses, the Death Eaters still had income – the spoils of their robberies.

But not all of them could be controlled by Voldemort.

If you're asking someone to do a job, you can't expect them to get nothing in return, right?

Voldemort's intelligence may have declined, but he was not an idiot.

Therefore, he will definitely accept Thea's "filial piety," as for the methods Thea uses...

Ha, it's just that they "borrowed" some money from Gringotts.

It didn't say it wouldn't be returned, did it?

------

In the few minutes it took to sit down and bandage her "wound," Thea had already reviewed the entire plan in her mind.

Gella was also helpless. She was very sad after Thea said those words. As the person closest to Thea, she knew very well how Thea had managed to get to where she was today.

Before she could think of anything to comfort Thea, she looked up and saw that the other woman was already lost in her own world.

Gella: "..."

Oh well, let her be.

"Is it bandaged up?"

When Thea sensed that Gella had stopped moving, she finally came to her senses.

"All right."

Gella examined her "masterpiece" and felt quite pleased with herself. The bloodstains were neatly wrapped in a white handkerchief, and the bow at the end made it impossible to tell that it was "gauze." She just thought that this "silk scarf" was rather unique.

"Go back? Or wander around some more?"

"go back!"

Gella was now truly frightened. She had only been out for a few hours and had already "robbed" Gringotts. She feared that if she continued to wander around, the Ministry of Magic would also "suffer a terrible fate."

Thea naturally wouldn't object to Gella's answer.

Seeing this, the Death Eaters around them gradually followed, eventually forming a semi-circular encirclement, and the group left the gate in a grand procession.

"Something feels off..."

Although the sky outside was clear and blue, just as it had been when she arrived, Thea felt a strange unease.

This unease finally reached its peak when they saw Barty rushing over with a serious expression.

Barty Jr. wouldn't make that expression unless it was something serious.

Suppressing the sudden dizziness, Thea steadied herself and asked in a cold voice, "Who's in trouble?"

"News has come from St. Mungo's: Malfoy and his gang of lads have all been infected..."

Thea's vision went black, and a feeling of suffocation almost made her collapse—thankfully, Gella caught her.

Barty Jr. continued, "Six are seriously injured, and the rest aren't in much better shape... St. Mungo is doing everything they can to save them..."

It's strange, even though Little Barty is less than a meter away from Thea, Thea feels as if the other person's voice is coming from the sky, extremely ethereal.

"Are there any dead people among them so far?"

"...Not yet."

"……temporary?"

Thea muttered to herself, the two short words easily conjuring up some kind of hellish image.

"hiss………"

In her dizziness, Thea bit her tongue hard, and her palms were dug white by her nails.

The pain finally brought reason back to its senses.

The increasing number of questions led Thea to re-examine the clues.

Q: Where did Barty get the information?

A: Voldemort's location.

Therefore, Voldemort received the news first.

So what did he do?

He did nothing but have Little Barty deliver the message to Thea.

What is he going to do?

What does he want to see himself doing?

The next question is: Who is the murderer?

Barty the Younger: "It must be those dark wizards who were trying to take advantage of the situation. They were planning to double-cross Malfoy and his crew, but they ended up running into them."

"A dark wizard taking advantage of the chaos?"

Thea ignored the word "should" that Little Barty said, because when Little Barty mentioned this candidate, all the preceding modifiers became irrelevant.

There were clearly hundreds of people present, but after Little Barty brought the news, the place became as silent as a graveyard, and no one dared to make a sound.

"Shh!"

Thea broke the peace. Perhaps her turn was too abrupt, because even Gella, who was closest to her, only caught up with her after she had taken a few steps away, let alone the other Death Eaters.

A large group of men in black robes swept past again, but before they could even enter, Thea's words resonated deeply.

"Ten thousand Galleons, I want to buy the lives of those dark wizards!"