Chapter 289 - 289 First Embrace
Chapter 289: First Embrace
"Are you telling the truth?!"
Hearing Dracula's voice, Mrs. Diggory seemed to have grabbed a life-saving straw and grabbed his sleeve tightly.
"Yes, I can make him wake up." Dracula said slowly, "But I need to tell you in advance that this kind of 'waking up' may not be what you think..."
"Anyway, it's okay to make Ced alive!" Mrs. Diggory sobbed emotionally, "Ced is just seventeen years old, he is so outstanding and makes us so proud..."
Amos Diggory also wiped tears secretly.
Since Cedric was born, he has been proud of his son. Cedric lived up to his expectations and became a "child of other people's families", allowing Amos Diggory to show off in front of other colleagues and friends.
Just now, he was still showing off to people near the audience, and he was sure that Cedric would win the trophy of the semi-finals and win the championship of this game.
Cedric did get the trophy...
However, the way he came back was unimaginable.
"Professor Dracula, please help Cedric..." Amos Diggory pleaded with a gloomy look.
"You get up first." Dracula looked at Cedric's unfocused eyes and said to the couple indifferently, "Don't worry, he will be fine."
Dumbledore, who was also standing aside, seemed to realize something and looked at Dracula with a very strange look.
"His body has indeed lost its vitality, Professor Dracula." He said word by word, "People who have been hit by the killing curse are irreversible."
"I know." Dracula said slowly, "But... can't a dead body regain vitality?"
Dumbledore was silent for a moment.
"Professor Dracula, are you sure you want to do this?" His tone suddenly seemed a little erratic.
"I have decided." Dracula nodded gently, "Help me keep an eye on the others and don't let them disturb me."
Dumbledore sighed, said nothing more, and just waved his wand silently.
A circle of invisible barriers suddenly appeared, surrounding Dracula and Cedric, and blocking all others outside the barrier.
Under the burning gaze of the crowd, Dracula raised one arm and stretched it forward.
Cedric's body floated up from the ground, his eyelids slightly closed, covering his eyes that had lost focus.
At this time, someone suddenly exclaimed.
"Look, Professor Dracula..."
Without his reminder, everyone's eyes were already focused on Dracula.
Dracula seemed to be too lazy to hide anymore, and completely removed all disguises-
His skin became paler, a hint of blood appeared on his wine-red eyes, and his ears became pointed, all of which reminded everyone present of his true identity!
Dracula's style as a professor gradually faded, and his temperament became colder, but his handsome face and dangerous aura were as tempting as poppies. He smiled perfectly and lazily, revealing a pair of sharp side teeth.
"You are a vampire?!" Fudge was the first to scream, and then he looked at Dumbledore: "Dumbledore, how dare you recruit a vampire as a professor?"
Dumbledore ignored Fudge and just looked at Dracula worriedly.
If Dracula's identity was exposed, even if the students of Hogwarts were still willing to accept him, those conservative and rigid-minded parents would definitely not agree to let a vampire be their children's professor.
Not only that, although the situation has improved a lot in recent years, due to the infectiousness and aggressiveness of vampires, wizards in the magic world still stay away from this group, just like treating werewolves.
Therefore, Dracula could not take advantage of the public opinion in the magic world.
If this goes on, given Dracula's lazy character, I'm afraid he won't be able to continue to be the professor of Defense Against the Dark Arts...
Dumbledore looked at Dracula with a confused mind, and saw him take two steps towards Cedric, pull up one of Cedric's arms, lower his head slightly, and pierce Cedric's wrist with two sharp side teeth.
The Diggory couple exclaimed, and subconsciously wanted to rush to their son.
But Dumbledore stopped them.
"Amos, this is the only way." He persuaded softly, "If you still want your child to come back, don't disturb Professor Dracula."
Mrs. Diggory's lips opened and closed, and Amos Diggory's eyes kept flickering.
They struggled for a long time in their hearts, and finally realized that Cedric could not come back exactly as before, and he could only come back to them in another way.
"Just do what Professor Dracula did." Amos Diggory sighed deeply, "No matter what Cedric becomes, we will love him as before."
Mrs. Diggory nodded with tears in her eyes.
No matter what he becomes, it is better than never coming back.
...
At the same time, Cedric's body gradually shrank, as if too much blood had been sucked out.
First Embrace.
This is a ritual unique to the vampires, which is different from the literal meaning of "The Embrace". The First Embrace actually represents the human blood and vampire blood of the person who is about to become a vampire in the ritual.
When ordinary vampires perform the First Embrace ritual for others, it will bring extremely strong feelings to the participants, including fear, heartache, death from excessive blood loss, and other dangers. It is even more impossible to restore the vitality of a body that has lost its vitality out of thin air.
But Dracula, as the leader of the vampires, is naturally different from them.
He can turn a human into a high-level vampire without any side effects, and can also directly use his own blood to awaken an inactive body.
In a moment, Cedric's shrunken body returned to its original state.
His skin color became paler, but his lips were bright red, and his ears and fingers also quietly showed the characteristics of the vampires.
Dracula let go of Cedric's hand and took two steps back.
Although he hadn't opened his eyes yet, Cedric's body stood firmly in place, without any sign of falling.
"You can wake up, Cedric." Dracula took out a handkerchief and wiped the corners of his lips, saying softly.
The next moment, Cedric suddenly opened his eyes.
"Run, Harry!" He blurted out as soon as he opened his eyes.
Hearing his words, Harry almost couldn't control the tears in his eyes again.
"Cedric, we are back..." he said with a sob, "I escaped from Voldemort."
"No... I remember I was under the killing curse?" Cedric was stunned for a moment, then frowned, "Why am I still alive?"
He looked around blankly, "Father, mother, Principal Dumbledore, Professor Dracula... Why are you all here?"
The Diggory couple burst into tears.
"Get used to your current body." Dracula turned his back and waved his hand, "You can let Potter and your parents tell you the cause and effect. When you are almost adapted, you can go to Bran Castle in Romania to find me."
He looked at the Hogwarts Castle standing under the stars behind him again and smiled softly.
After staying here for four years, the fun that should be found is actually almost found. It's time to put an end to it...
Dracula chuckled and took a step forward, ready to say goodbye to this place with four years of memories.
However, at this moment, a voice suddenly interrupted his rare thoughts of emotion.
"Stay where you are, don't move!" Minister of Magic Fudge frowned and shouted fiercely, "Auror, stop him!"
Dracula turned his head and looked at Fudge in surprise.
He suddenly felt that there was still fun to be found here, so he temporarily put away the idea of ??leaving.
"Harry, I want to ask you...what did you just say?" Fudge forced a smile and asked Harry, "I hope you can organize your words well."
"What did I say just now?" Harry was a little stunned, "Didn't I just tell Cedric that we are back?"
"No, it's another sentence." Fudge said nervously.
"I said...I escaped from Voldemort." Harry also remembered what he said before.
He suddenly thought that he should tell the situation at that time so that the Ministry of Magic can be prepared to deal with Voldemort.
So Harry continued, "Minister Fudge, Voldemort has resurrected and has summoned a large number of Death Eaters... I was lucky enough to escape from Voldemort..."
Harry recounted what happened in Riddle's graveyard as quickly as possible, and then looked nervously at Fudge and Dumbledore in front of him.
"Impossible!" Fudge suddenly yelled, "Harry, think about it again, you must have a memory error, right?"
"No, I know I didn't say anything wrong." Harry said seriously, "Voldemort is back, and the Ministry of Magic must be prepared to fight the enemy, Minister Fudge!"
"Enough!" Fudge said angrily, "Where are the nurses here? There is a warrior here who is not only injured, but also has some problems with his brain and needs immediate treatment."
"There's nothing wrong with my brain!" Fudge's performance made Harry a little angry, and he retorted loudly, "I know very well "I don't know what you are talking about!"
"Cornelly, I believe what Harry said." Dumbledore also said seriously, "You'd better be ready in time..."
"Wait a minute, Dumbledore!" Fudge waved his hand and interrupted Dumbledore, "You...well, you are ready to accept everything Harry said, right?"
"Of course I believe Harry," Dumbledore said, his eyes shining at this time, "What Harry said about what happened after he touched the Four Finals Cup is completely reasonable and explains everything that has happened since Bertha Jorkins disappeared last summer."
"You really You are so stupid, Dumbledore..." Fudge suddenly had a weird smile on his face, "How could you believe the nonsense made up by a child? He must have been stimulated by something during the game and had hallucinations."
"Fudge, Cedric was cursed!" Amos Diggory suddenly turned around and looked at Fudge angrily, "Can you deny this? My son almost died in the hands of the mysterious man!"
"You are too impulsive, Amos." Fudge still had that weird smile on his face, and glanced at Dracula on the other side, "I It is completely believable that your precious son was framed by Professor Dracula, just to transform this good seedling into a vampire. "
"We all know that most vampires are insidious and cunning, and they will do anything to achieve their goals. You two must not be fooled by him!"
"You must be reading Rita Skeeter's article, Mr. Fudge." Dracula sneered, "Why didn't I realize that the Minister of Magic was so imaginative before?"
Seeing that Dracula was about to walk over here, Fudge panicked and waved to the Aurors around him.
"Aurors, stop this vampire, he is very likely the culprit of this incident!" Fudge said loudly.
Dracula's mouth grinned even more exaggeratedly.
"Interesting." He smiled coldly, "I want to see what interesting things you can say."
"In addition, I found that," Fudge really had something to say, looking at Dumbledore, "I found that you have been hiding some of the child's conditions from reporting? He is a snake, right? His behavior is weird everywhere-"
"I think you are probably referring to the pain in Harry's scar that he has been feeling?" Dumbledore said coldly.
"So, you admit that he has been having headaches?" Fudge quickly found a new entry point, "Headache? Nightmares? Maybe...hallucinations?"
"Listen to me, Cornelius," Dumbledore said, taking a step towards Fudge, with an indescribable power in his eyes, "Harry is as clear and rational as you and me. The scar on his forehead has not confused his mind."
"I believe that Harry's scar will only hurt when Voldemort is lurking nearby or feels particularly eager to kill."
Fudge took a half step back from Dumbledore, but his expression was still so stubborn.
"Forgive me, Dumbledore, I have never heard that a curse scar would be like an alarm..."
"I saw Voldemort come back with my own eyes!" Harry shouted, "I saw the Death Eaters with my own eyes, I can tell their names! Lucius Malfoy--"
Snape suddenly moved, but when Harry looked at him, Snape's eyes turned to Fudge again.
"Malfoy has been acquitted!" Fudge was obviously offended and said, "A very old family that generously donated to the good cause of the Ministry of Magic-"
"McNeill!" Harry continued to list those names.
"Also acquitted! Currently working in the Ministry of Magic!"
"Avery, Nott, Crabbe, Goyle..."
"You are just repeating the list of wizards who were judged not to be Death Eaters thirteen years ago!" Fudge said angrily, "You can find those names in the past trial reports!"
Harry opened his mouth again angrily and wanted to refute, but Fudge did not give him the opportunity.
"Enough, this child needs to rest, take him away quickly." Fudge said sternly, "Also, all Aurors concentrate their efforts to catch that vampire!"
Dracula folded his arms and leaned against a street lamp beside him.
When Dracula saw that Fudge and many Aurors turned their eyes to his direction, he curled the corners of his mouth happily.
"It's fun again."