A few minutes ago, Cyrus closed the diary and brought Draco and his own thoughts back from the memory space.

"That's enough for today, Draco."

Draco Malfoy breathed heavily and looked very tired.

"You have made great progress. I think even your father Lucius can't do better than you in the field of brain occlusion." Cyrus praised him sincerely.

"Better than my dad?" This seemed to please Draco very much. He was surprised, happy and full of disbelief.

"Much better than Lucius." Cyrus smiled. "He's just a little older than you, but you do better than him."

Perhaps it was because Draco had never thought that one day he would be better than his father. You know, although he was loved in the Malfoy family, he actually had no say.

All along, Lucius has been trying his best to maintain his father's image.

He looked dignified, serious, tall and straight, and everything he did was a big deal in Draco's eyes. As for him, he could only play small tricks with that saint in school - pretending to be a Dementor to scare that boy, pretending to be a fangirl to write love letters to him to embarrass him, pretending to be injured and not recovered to deal with a beast...

Thinking about it now, Draco found his former naivety and stupidity ridiculous.

But now, everything is different!

Cyrus said that he surpassed Lucius, and the Dark Lord gave him an extremely difficult task!

'He trusts me!'

These words kept echoing in Draco's mind. He could still remember that not long ago, the terrible Dark Lord actually found him and wanted him to work for him.

Although he was afraid, of course he wanted it more than anything!

——To achieve great things, this is what every ambitious Slytherin aspires to.

At this moment, Draco lowered his head to accept Cyrus' praise, but his eyes were shining.

After the excitement, Draco was of course nervous and scared. It was not an easy task for him to take action against Cyrus. Fortunately, the Dark Lord personally modified his memory so that he did not have to worry about being discovered by Cyrus.

Facts also proved that this memory was flawless. During the long period of practicing brain occlusion, Cyrus did not find anything wrong.

Of course, Draco didn't find any opportunity to attack Cyrus.

And today is probably the last chance.

Thinking of this, Draco's breathing became even heavier. He held the wand in his hand, and his eyes swept over Cyrus' body every few seconds, looking for Cyrus's flaws.

Fate seemed to be favoring him.

Just when Draco was struggling to find a flaw, Cyrus actually suggested going for a walk outside with him.

"Would you like to go for a walk by the Black Lake together? I just happened to have an appointment with Harry." Cyrus placed his wand on the table. Draco noticed this immediately. Sweat broke out on his palms, and he realized that his chance had finally come!

"certainly……"

Draco nodded vigorously.

So the two of them walked side by side. Along the way, Draco did not do anything special, because the Ilvermorny students who passed by in the carriage from time to time would come over to greet Cyrus from a distance after seeing him. Even after leaving the carriage, there were still many Hogwarts students wandering around the Black Lake.

But today was not a day off, and Draco could afford to wait.

And the two fire dragons are not here today.

"By the way, Principal Cyrus, where is my aunt?" Draco seemed to want to prolong the time a little longer, so he took the initiative to find a topic and asked about Bella.

In fact, Bella had disappeared for a long time.

"She has her own things to do." Cyrus said casually, "Beauxbatons and Durmstrang seem to want to stop the game, but Dumbledore is very persistent. As one of the referees of the game, she has to negotiate with the International Confederation of Wizards on behalf of Ilvermorny during this period of time."

In fact, the International Confederation of Wizards also has complaints about continuing the competition.

The British Ministry of Magic collapsed, and people all over London saw two black dragons fighting in the sky. This was already a very serious magical accident.

If Uncle Newt had not been paying attention to the competition from the beginning, and immediately led the Winged Demon and Thunderbird to cast a large-scale forgetfulness spell at the end of the second event, who knows how things would have developed!

Fortunately, the British don’t like to use umbrellas.

"Beauxbatons and Durmstrang are planning to end the competition?" Draco asked in confusion.

"Madame Maxime seems to be quite dissatisfied with the current state of the competition. In addition, the final champion Fleur Delacour intends to give up. Even if the cup competition continues, Beauxbatons will not be eligible to participate. For this reason, she proposed to add an extra champion for Beauxbatons, otherwise she would withdraw and announced on behalf of Beauxbatons that it would never join the championship again."

Cyrus explained for Draco.

On the other hand, Grindelwald of Durmstrang's motives are actually quite clear.

All Grindelwald wanted was to change the prophecy.

If Voldemort fails to kill Cyrus in the Department of Mysteries, then the prophecy will definitely come true. But if the game is stopped, then the future he saw will not become a reality.

"Will the game be terminated?"

"Of course not." Cyrus laughed coldly, "Dumbledore and I both believe that Voldemort will personally participate in the third game. Otherwise, where do you think the extra warrior of Beauxbatons came from?"

"You mean... the You-Know-Who?" Draco asked cautiously, "But why is Beauxbatons related to the You-Know-Who?"

"That's because the mysterious man has taken control of Beauxbatons. Do you think Ms. Maxime is the real Maxime?" Cyrus said, "His disguise is indeed very good. At the beginning, neither Dumbledore nor I realized that something was wrong, but the longer time goes by, the more flaws there will be."

When Cyrus said this, he seemed to glance at Draco intentionally or unintentionally.

Draco's mind was filled with a lot of thoughts at this moment.

He wondered if he had been exposed long ago. But no matter what, this was the best and last chance. He had successfully practiced the brain block technique, and Cyrus didn't have a wand. If he missed this opportunity, his mission would probably fail.

Looking at the Black Lake sparkling in the setting sun, Draco knew he should give it a try now.

'It's easy, just cast a spell...'

He took a deep breath and kept telling himself in his head that this was not difficult, so that his hands would not shake so badly...

'He doesn't have a wand, I'll do it!'

'No matter how powerful he is, he can't help without a wand, not to mention that I only need to cast one spell...'

'No, maybe I can kill him!'

Draco's eyes turned fierce.

'Do it now, and then use the Portkey to escape immediately. This is the Black Lake, and the Hogwarts Anti-Apparition Charm will not affect this place.'

Draco looked at Cyrus' back and raised his wand...

However, at this moment, Cyrus suddenly turned his head, scaring Draco so much that he trembled all over and almost dropped the wand in his hand.

"No, it's nothing, it's a little cold." Draco tried his best to hide his panic.

Perhaps the brain-blocking technique helped him, as Draco could hardly see any flaws at the moment. Cyrus stared at him, seemingly not noticing anything wrong.

"Harry is a little late," Cyrus relaxed his guard again, "You don't have to wait with me any longer. If you are hungry, you can go to the hall first. I think dinner is about to start."

Cyrus said, and prepared to return to the carriage.

Now, his back was facing Draco, and one hand was already holding the edge of the carriage. This was a golden opportunity! Draco didn't dare to hesitate any more this time. He was still afraid, but his brain was blank at the moment. He couldn't think too much and could only do it! At the same time.

Harry saw this scene from a distance.

“Shattered into pieces!”

Draco's voice sounded behind Cyrus. At that moment, the invisible tearing blade cut open Cyrus' back, and blood bloomed in front of Draco like a flower! His eyes reflected the huge rose and Cyrus' surprised and painful expression.

"It's done!"

He thought excitedly, but Draco didn't seem satisfied with this. Since he had done it, why not do it more thoroughly?

If he really killed Cyrus, Draco couldn't even imagine how much praise he would receive from the Dark Lord!

At this moment, the madness in his heart had completely overwhelmed his fear. Amid Cyrus' puzzled expression, Draco raised his wand once again - this time, his wand was glowing green!

"Avada Kedavra!"

Draco yelled.

But there was another spell that was faster than his! "Expelliarmus!"

The red spell struck Draco's right hand like a flashlight, knocking the wand out of his hand.

He turned around in horror and found Harry swooping towards him like a ferocious lion, as if he wanted to tear him to pieces alive!

"MALFoy!" Harry roared, every hair standing on end!

"How dare you hurt Cyrus!"

Anger seemed to make Harry lose his mind, his eyes were bloodshot, and he shot spells at Draco like a beast. Draco, who lost his wand, calmed down all of a sudden, and he took out the key without hesitation.

“Snap!” — “Snap!”

Voldemort reached out and crushed the phantom of this memory.

"So, this is what happened?" Voldemort asked emotionlessly.

Draco knelt weakly on the ground. His brain had just been forcefully pried open by Voldemort, and all his memories from a few minutes ago were revealed, without leaving any details.

This feeling was not pleasant. He felt that his brain was like a sticky paste...

"I almost succeeded, Lord Dark Lord..."

But no matter what, Draco knew that he had failed.

He lowered his head, tears of fear flowed from his eyes, his weak body was shaking and twitching, and when he looked at Voldemort, he felt as if a hand was pinching his heart, and every beat was a dance in death.

"No, you are wrong, Draco." Voldemort changed his tone to a friendly one this time. "You will never succeed from the beginning. Do you think I really expect you to - attack Cyrus?"

There was sarcasm in his tone, and it was unclear whose stupidity he was mocking.

"Master, I don't understand what you mean?" Lucius still had tears on his face and looked confused.

Voldemort just smiled and didn't answer, but it was Little Barty who started to explain.

“The memory is certainly very real, but it’s not without its holes,” Barty Jr. said with a laugh.

Every detail of the memory in Draco's mind can be said to be flawless. The only loophole, and the biggest loophole, is that Draco actually succeeded. Even at the end of the memory, Draco was defeated by Harry again.

"You wouldn't have been able to pull it off even if Cyrus hadn't been holding the wand."

Apart from Voldemort, Barty Jr. can be said to be the person who knows best how powerful Cyrus is.

That night, he saw with his own eyes that Cyrus broke Voldemort's wrist. With such a terrible body, ordinary spells could not hurt Cyrus at all, but Draco actually injured him by sneak attack. It was too unbelievable.

"From beginning to end, your memory is false." Voldemort sneered coldly.

His words instantly made Draco and Lucius' hearts hit the bottom. At this moment, their limbs were cold, and every pore in their bodies felt stinging as if it was cut by a knife.

"This... I didn't, I didn't lie to you..." Draco begged, kissing the back of Voldemort's feet.

But Voldemort's voice at this moment was colder than ice.

"Look up, Draco!" he ordered.

Before Draco could make any move, Voldemort had already forcefully controlled his body with magic. At this moment, Draco seemed to be lifted up by an invisible hand, and his face full of fear looked like a disorganized essay with every letter twisted.

Now, Voldemort's magic was invading Draco's mind.

"You and Cyrus were deceiving me, weren't you, Draco?" he asked coldly.

Draco could no longer make any sound.

His heart was already broken, and he could only shake his head desperately, his face, which was covered with tears, looked dirty.

He probably stared at Voldemort for several seconds. This short moment seemed like a year to Draco. With every breath, he felt like he was experiencing a thousand years of torment.

Fortunately, Voldemort finally let him go, and the skinny ferret fell to the ground as if all the bones had been pulled out of his body. Lucius quickly crawled over and held him in his arms.

“Master, Master…”

At this moment, Lucius no longer had any dignity. He was like a white-haired dog, lying on the ground whimpering and begging his master.

"Master, please, spare Draco... It's not his fault, it's Harry Potter... If it weren't for him, Draco would have succeeded..."

"Don't worry," Voldemort said easily, sitting high on a chair with his fingers crossed and his eyes half closed, "I won't do anything to Draco."

"You should be proud of Draco, Lucius." Voldemort seemed to get the answer he wanted from this moment of eye contact. "He is as loyal to me as you are."

"It's not his fault that his memory was modified. Or rather, I expected it."

Voldemort smirked.

"I never thought this stupid plan would succeed. Rather, the current situation is what I want to see."

(End of this chapter)