Chapter 372: Chosen by the Dark Lord

It was now the end of the semester, and the young wizards had just finished their exams for the school year. After giving them their grades, Hogwarts would have a long summer vacation.

From Dumbledore's words, it seemed that he hoped Ivan could follow him to get these two clues.

They were going away for a long time, which meant they would have fantastic new adventures during the vacations.

Ivan thrilled at the thought of Azkaban, the unknown hideout of the fallen centaurs, and the evil spirit of the void terror.

This time there would be a Dumbledore on his side, and he should have no more accidents.

"I want to go, too. It's my responsibility." Sirius stood up and said excitedly, "I must help Ivan free himself from this curse."

"I can allow it, but you must promise to obey my orders in case of danger. Can you do that?" Dumbledore looked at Sirius.

"Of course!" Sirius nodded hastily, without hesitation.

"Very well, we'll leave tomorrow morning. First we'll go to the Ministry of Magic to see Fudge." Dumbledore turned to look at Professor McGonagall and Snape, "Minerva, Severus, I will not be here. Everything at Hogwarts will be handled by both of you. If you find something you can't figure out, you know how to contact me!"

"Don't worry, Albus!" Professor McGonagall said, her mouth thin. She stepped forward and hugged Ivan tightly, sent him a blessing and stroked his hair.

"I have no objection." said Snape, looking at Sirius in a vicious manner. "But what I just said, about the responsibility for the whole incident, I hope..."

"Don't bother, I'm going to submit a resignation request." Sirius looked Snape in the eye. "If it'll make you feel any better, Snivellus."

Snape's grim face was flushed, and his right hand rested on his wand, seemingly hesitant to draw it, then he snorted heavily. "That's what I've been dreaming about. Now that you've made up your mind, I have no time or need to argue with a reckless fool any longer. It's midnight now. If nothing else, I hope I can go back to sleep."

Snape nodded to Dumbledore and turned to leave the room.

"Professor, you really won't let Sirius leave?" As Snape disappeared, Harry was quick to ask, "He's the best Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher we've ever had!"

"Don't worry about me, Harry!" Dumbledore still hadn't spoken, and Sirius answered for him. "Snape's right. I have to take responsibility and pay for my mistakes. I hope you can understand."

Harry didn't seem to understand, but he nodded. He seemed to want to say something. His face was full of worry.

"Sirius, now that you have made up your mind, I will accept your application. The position of Professor of Defense Against the Dark Arts is always prone to becoming vacant. It looks like we're going to be worrying about new candidates again!" said Dumbledore calmly, turning to Ivan. "You need to take this Philosopher's Stone with you so that you can absorb magic at any time. I noticed you had the Slytherin locket. Maybe you can put it in there."

Ivan nodded and took out the locket that hung around his neck.

He gently opened the lid with the Slytherin family crest, which had a large letter S on it, and put the Philosopher's Stone in it. He didn't know if it was a coincidence or not, this irregularly shaped fragment could fit and take up half the space.

Looking at the size, it seemed that this locket was originally used to hold the Philosopher's Stone.

"Well, very good!" exclaimed Dumbledore, as if he had already thought of it. His eyes turned to Harry, Ron and Hermione. "Children, if there are no further questions, I hope you can go back to bed and sleep."

"Professor, can we go with you to look for those two clues?" Hermione plucked up the courage to ask, and looked at Ivan with concern.

"Yes, I want to go too!" Harry continued, "We all want to do something for Ivan to help him break the Voldemort Curse."

"I'm sorry, but I don't think the three of you can participate in this." Dumbledore shook his head and said, "I have no right to take you all through the summer vacations to face some dangers beyond your capabilities. You should go home, or your parents and families will worry."

"But Sirius is my godfather - he's my guardian!" Harry said, "He's my only relative. I'll follow him wherever he goes."

"Harry, I'm glad you said that!" Sirius said cheerfully, "But I think Dumbledore is right. You can't take any chances with us."

"But...," Harry said.

"Harry, you have to go back to your aunt and uncle's house for the summer vacations. From a kinship point of view, they are your only relatives." Dumbledore said in an unchallenged tone, apparently unwilling to discuss the matter. "Well, you three should go back to bed now. I hope to talk to our friends, the centaurs, and write a letter to Ivan's parents to explain the story in a way that Muggles can understand."

Dumbledore walked toward Firenze, who was waiting at the door. She seemed to be returning with him to the centaur colony to take a closer look at the whole incident.

Soon, there were only four people left in the ward: Ivan, Harry, Ron, and Hermione.

Madam Pomfrey blew out the candlelight and the place became quite dark.

Ivan lay awake in bed, staring at the snake mark on his wrist.

Beside him, Harry, Ron and Hermione also faced their own confused thoughts.

They talked for a long time, starting with the centaurs' adventure tonight.

Finally, Ivan comforted Hermione for a long time before she calmed down.

Unconsciously, the four of them fell asleep.

The dark clouds gradually disappeared into the sky, and the shadowy moonlight came through the window to find the room, shining beside a bed by the window. If someone came at that moment, they could clearly see a dark mark forming behind the neck of the child in the hospital bed.

The python that emerged from the mouth of the skull seemed to have life. Its eyes flashed with malicious light and disappeared in an instant.

The entire mark slowly disappeared into the skin as if it had never existed.

Professor Trelawney's prophecy was fulfilled, and Voldemort marked the chosen one with his magic, and he would gain unimaginable powers from it.

These powers would come from the horrible evil spirit?!