Chapter 114 — I Ruined Her!

Chapter 114: Chapter 114 — I Ruined Her!

Chapter 114 — I Ruined Her!

Of course, all of this was a lie.

After all, these people were under Vesey’s control. How could she possibly let them say anything that might harm her?

As for the photo ball, there really was one. Vesey had planned for this beforehand.

Before Dumbledore and the others arrived that day, she had arranged for the vampires to record everything on the photo ball, make numerous copies, and wait for the right moment to spread them.

Originally, she had planned to release the recordings only if Dumbledore didn’t believe her story.

But now that things had developed this far, of course the recordings would be released immediately.

As for what they contained, it was simply footage of these people taking her to Riddle Manor.

There had been an old man there—the elderly caretaker of Riddle Manor.

The old man had accidentally witnessed the vampires and was captured by them.

Vesey had already resigned herself to her fate at that point.

But when she saw the old man, she suddenly released a tremendous burst of energy.

The blast killed several vampire wizards around him on the spot, but Vesey herself was exhausted.

She dragged her exhausted body over and picked up her wand.

Instead of leaving immediately, she erased the old man’s memories and sent him away.

Afterward, she briefly lost consciousness and was eventually captured by the others.

There was also the footage O’Neill and the others had mentioned.

It only showed them beginning to undo Vesey’s clothes before they started fighting among themselves, each wanting to take revenge on her in their own way.

The next footage was the scene Dumbledore and the others had witnessed when they arrived.

This situation would certainly have no impact on Vesey.

But she wasn’t supposed to know that yet.

So she immediately put a look of horror on her face.

At the same time—

The door to the courtroom was suddenly forced open.

The Aurors outside tried their best to hold back the crowd, but it was obvious they could no longer stop them.

The reporters were especially relentless.

Almost every one of them had a photo ball in hand.

As soon as they saw the door open, they began shouting excitedly.

"Vesey Potter, what was that burst of energy you released?"

"Vesey Potter, you were almost violated because you tried to protect an old man. Do you regret it?"

"Vesey Potter, you secretly used the Obliviate Charm on that old man. Aren’t you worried about being expelled?"

"Vesey Potter..."

Vesey hugged herself and pretended to be terrified.

"Get out of the way!"

Dumbledore shouted angrily.

He pulled Vesey away from the crowd and pushed through the countless reporters until they finally reached the outside of the Ministry of Magic.

"Go back to school first. I’ll take care of everything else!"

Dumbledore took out his wand, tapped it against his hat, and then placed the hat into Vesey’s hands.

The next second, Vesey appeared in Dumbledore’s office.

She stood in the middle of the room with a helpless expression on her face.

"Why, you’re the little daughter of the Potter family. What are you doing here?"

A wizard in one of the portraits asked curiously.

Vesey pretended to be nervous.

"The Headmaster gave me this hat, and then I came here. He was being surrounded by reporters. I wonder if he’s all right?"

She thought she might gain some Energy Points from the portraits.

But she was disappointed.

Nothing.

Not a single point.

There were so many portraits staring at her with curiosity and concern, yet none of them gave her any Energy Points.

It seemed that portraits didn’t provide Energy Points.

She immediately lost interest in talking to them.

But to prevent her carefully constructed persona from falling apart, she continued pretending to be dazed and stood silently in the middle of the office.

Then she turned on the television and started watching.

She remembered that she’d happened to watch a certain television drama on the day she left for the holidays.

Most of its viewers were girls, but that hadn’t stopped her from watching it.

After all, she was a girl now.

Back then, she’d only watched the beginning.

Now she decided to continue from where she’d left off.

But she soon regretted it.

Why was the story getting sadder and sadder?

And somehow, it was strangely compelling.

She had told herself several times that she shouldn’t keep watching, yet she couldn’t stop.

Eventually, she became so absorbed in it that tears began streaming down her face.

The more she watched, the harder it became to hold herself together.

Sure enough, girls’ television dramas really were designed to make people cry.

I won’t watch this again next time.

Vesey was so absorbed in crying that she didn’t notice that Dumbledore and Snape had already entered the office.

The two men watched her for a long time.

Both of their eyes had turned red.

Snape was nearly beside himself.

Even Dumbledore quietly wiped the tears from his blue eyes.

But when Vesey began crying so hard that she could barely catch her breath, Snape finally intervened.

He stepped forward, took out a bottle of potion, and poured it into Vesey’s mouth.

Vesey was still crying and hiccupping when Snape suddenly gave her the potion.

She stared at him in confusion.

What?

What was going on?

Had he discovered that she’d been pretending earlier and decided to punish her now?

"Have a good sleep."

Just as Vesey was about to drop the act and run away, she heard Snape’s gentle voice.

She immediately relaxed.

All right.

Her disguise was still holding.

But...

Snape, are you all right?

I only woke up yesterday, and now you’re putting me to sleep again today.

Are you losing your mind?

Can’t you have a little life of your own?

Why are you getting so worked up over someone else’s tragedy?

Unfortunately, none of that mattered.

The very next second, Vesey became drowsy.

Her eyelids grew heavier and heavier until she gradually fell asleep.

Snape carried her to the hospital wing before following Dumbledore heavily back to the Headmaster’s office.

Dumbledore sat behind his desk, fingers clasped together, and looked at Snape sympathetically.

"Severus, I understand how you feel. Why don’t we take a look at the photo ball together?"

He took out a photo ball.

With a forced smile, he said,

"I managed to take three hundred and twenty of these from those people. I only hope their families don’t come looking for them and cause trouble.

"But probably not. I heard they obtained quite a lot of photo balls themselves. They seemed determined to make sure everyone could see what happened to Vesey..."

Snape covered his face in despair.

"That child is going to be ruined.

"I’m an idiot. I should have known.

"That child was going to risk her life.

"I should have been more vigilant. If I had stopped her, she wouldn’t have been hurt like this. If..."

Dumbledore shook his head sympathetically.

"There are some things we cannot change.

"I believe a child like Vesey would never stand by and allow innocent people to be harmed because of her."

Snape remained devastated.

"I ruined her. I know I did..."

"Severus, I think you need to calm down. Why don’t I finish looking through the photo balls first, and then I’ll give them to you..."

Dumbledore sighed softly.

Snape’s hands trembled.

Finally, he said,

"Let it out.

"Release it now.

"If... I’ll make those people pay with blood!"

Dumbledore rarely said that anyone deserved to die.

This time, however, he simply looked at Snape with sympathy.

He felt terrible enough himself.

For Snape, who treated Vesey like his own daughter, it must have been even worse.

The diary had stated that the families of those vampire wizards had been secretly poisoning Vesey ever since she indirectly caused the deaths of their children.

If that was truly the reason they had targeted her, Dumbledore thought...

Then perhaps they really did deserve to die.