Chapter 701: Chapter 701: The Price of Balance (Edited)
Placing the system wasn't something Tom wanted to do, but in fact, he had no choice. Because as he was about to put the tokens on the scale, he realized that he was actually completely penniless, even the ring that always accompanied him wasn't in his hands at this moment.
Avada could be bribed, but what could Tom offer to bribe him? Even if gold could bribe Death, Tom had to have it first. Right now, his pockets were as empty as his face; where would he get gold?
Looking at the scale in front of him, Tom's expression changed drastically. According to what Avada had hinted at before, it seemed he would have to cut pieces of flesh and offer them to pass the test. But he didn't know he had the system.
The system was intangible, but it definitely existed. After placing it on the scale, it trembled slightly, the side with the heart slowly rising, and the seemingly empty side with the system slowly falling, which looked extremely strange.
Tom seemed a little reluctant. The reason was simple; the system still had many unused magic gems... Originally, he wanted to accumulate them for a good draw, but now it seemed there wouldn't be time.
But that was okay too. At least, the magic gems within him could balance the scale, so Tom consoled himself that way.
Hermione looked at the suddenly rising scale with a curious expression. She didn't know what had happened, but she was sure that Tom had paid an unknown price.
But the two trays were not balanced; the tray with the heart was still slightly lower than the one with the system.
That small difference was the difference between the two.
At this moment, Tom really had nothing to use as tokens.
"They're not balanced," Avada said, looking at Tom's operation. He was a bit surprised at first, but quickly realized. Anyway, no matter what Tom put on the scale, it wouldn't be balanced if it wasn't balanced.
Tom and Hermione fell silent.
"Tom..." Hermione hugged him from behind and tried to feel his warmth, as if she wanted to engrave that feeling into her soul.
"Survive well, carry my share too." Hermione pressed her little nose against Tom's back, smelling his scent while holding back tears. She knew she was probably going to say goodbye to her lover.
She hoped he could find his own happiness. If there was another life after this, she hoped she could walk with him again.
"Why are you rushing? The scale is balanced now," Tom said with a trembling voice, turning his back to Hermione.
Hermione suddenly raised her head and was surprised to see that Death's scale, Avada, was now balanced. Even the tokens that Tom offered exceeded the weight of the heart.
Only...
She saw that in the originally "empty" tray, a red, irregularly shaped ball had appeared.
"Ah!" After seeing the true appearance of that ball, Hermione couldn't help but scream.
There was an eye in the tray.
"Good girl..." Tom said as he hugged Hermione, telling her not to look at the bloody thing, while a stream of blood dripped from his left eye, leaving only a black hole where the eye had been.
"Now you have nothing to say, do you?" Tom asked Avada.
"A fair deal." Avada looked at the unbalanced scale, smiling slightly. He waved his hand, and the blood on the eye began to float in the air, the blood becoming more and more abundant, even forming a small blood sphere in the air.
Until the scale was truly balanced, Avada stopped his action.
Then, he placed that blood sphere back into Tom's eye socket.
"I'm not taking advantage of you; you two can return at any time. There's no problem if you want to stay here a little longer," Avada seemed somewhat disinterested, and after uttering those words, he hurried away.
That's understandable; no one likes to be emotionally hit hard.
The mass of blood that Avada had put back in place stopped the flow of blood from Tom's eye and covered the gruesome hole with a layer of tender, pink flesh, making it less terrifying.
"Do you want to go back, or do you prefer to stroll around here a bit more? Opportunities to come here are not many," Tom said gently, patting Hermione on the back.
"I..." Hermione was still in shock. She didn't expect Tom to do something like that to save her.
"It's not a big deal; the vision in that eye wasn't that great anyway," Tom reassured her.
What he said was true; the difference in vision between his two eyes was noticeable, his left eye had poorer vision, which was why he chose to give up his left eye.
"With just one eye, I can still appreciate your beauty, right?"
Upon hearing this, Hermione couldn't hold back any longer and passionately kissed Tom.
...
After a while, Tom and Hermione started walking around the place that looked very similar to King's Cross station. As Tom had said, opportunities to come here were scarce, so why not take advantage of this opportunity for a walk?
Then, they encountered a familiar face.
"Lord Voldemort? What a coincidence!" Tom greeted the solitary figure in the distance as if meeting an old friend, waving his hand in greeting.
They encountered Voldemort here.
But unlike meeting Voldemort in the real world, Tom and Hermione had absolutely no feelings of nervousness at seeing the Dark Lord here.
The reason was simple, given that he appeared on this threshold between life and death, it meant that in the real world, he must already be dead.
Joy!
That was Tom's mood.
Apparently, Professor Dumbledore also managed to achieve his goal and fulfill his mission.
Unlike Tom, Voldemort's mood was quite bad. The Dark Lord, who sought immortality, finally faced death... How miserable! He made so many Horcruxes for nothing!
If he were in the real world, Voldemort would definitely make this ignorant couple understand the power of the Dark Lord, but since he was dead, he didn't feel like dealing with these two young people. He was more concerned about his own future.
He approached the train carriage door and looked coldly at Tom.
"Death is not the end," he said coldly.
Voldemort had already decided to board the train; he knew inside that the end of this train ride also meant something. But he was confident in himself; he believed he could carry his memories from this life to the next. For him, death was not the end.
When Voldemort tried to enter the train carriage, something unexpected happened.
Chapter 702: Chapter 702: Tomb (Edited)
Voldemort was rejected, and an invisible wall of air kept him separated from the gap between the train carriage door and the platform.
This invisible, intangible yet extremely powerful wall prevented Voldemort from advancing and indicated to him that the area in front of him was inaccessible.
Voldemort was rejected, and an invisible wall of air kept him separated from the gap between the train carriage door and the platform.
"Ha!" Seeing Voldemort stagger in his indecision, Tom couldn't help but laugh. "Lord Voldemort, didn't you know that wizards who have created Horcruxes cannot be reincarnated? You can only stay here... Until the end of time!"
That's why wizards are reluctant to use Horcruxes to prolong their lives: the negative effects are too severe!
Once a Horcrux is created, the soul is no longer whole, and after death, it cannot be reincarnated. For wizards, this is undoubtedly the most severe curse.
Faced with death, most wizards choose to "move on," meaning they reincarnate. A small number of wizards who are attached to the world of the living can become ghosts. Who would want to be trapped at the reincarnation station without moving forward or backward?
Voldemort, discovered by Tom, felt humiliated and furious, planning to teach him a lesson, but his spell dissipated before reaching Tom.
"Here, a damaged soul can't threaten a whole one." A lazy voice echoed from the carriage. Avada was dressed as a ticket vendor, reclining lazily next to the carriage door, watching the confrontation between Tom and Voldemort.
Voldemort clearly didn't believe in such a thing, but after several attempts, he had to admit that he really couldn't do anything to Tom in this place.
"Mr. Riddle, I advise you not to try any harder," Avada said with a mocking attitude. It was the first time he had seen such a damaged soul.
There really wasn't any wizard who dared to split their soul into seven pieces.
"Perhaps we can use him as a target for practice," Tom said as he looked at the feeble Voldemort in the station, and an idea sparkled in his mind.
Hermione also noticed that, but to treat this famous Dark Lord like a punching bag, she still needed to adjust her mindset.
They both took turns facing Voldemort. After Hermione adjusted her mindset, Voldemort became a simple punching bag.
Soon, realizing Tom and Hermione's intentions, Voldemort stopped using complex spells to confront them; after all, he couldn't be killed here.
Tom made several sarcastic remarks, and Voldemort didn't respond at all.
Seeing Voldemort so "boring," Tom couldn't do anything. The fun of staying here had disappeared, so it was better to return to the world of the living.
"Hey, take me with you! I can fulfill all your wishes!" Seeing that Tom was really leaving, Voldemort became anxious, and a variety of promises flowed like water from his mouth, but all were ignored by Tom.
He tried to run towards the tail of the phoenix, get on the last train, but was stopped by the invisible wall. Apparently, after death, the punishment was not only the inability to reincarnate but also futile attempts to come back to life.
Tom ignored Voldemort's "dying" struggles and, without further ado, called the phoenix and, along with Hermione, grabbed the phoenix's tail.
"Goodbye, Riddle! By the way, what do you think other wizards will do when they find out how weak you are?" Before leaving, Tom didn't forget to utter some cutting words, which made Voldemort's face even worse.
Then, he and Hermione rode on the phoenix and left the station.
...
"Lead the way obediently," a voice with a strange tone impatiently urged, "You haven't paid your debt yet, have you? So why beat around the bush?"
"Yes, yes..." Ludo Bagman was sweating profusely, with a flattery-filled expression. The one who had spoken to him was a goblin, sent by his creditors to collect the debts.
Paying debts was a matter of principle, even the Minister of the Ministry of Magic couldn't deny it. These days, Bagman had been practically squeezed dry by these relentless goblins. Originally, he had hoped for the last event of the Triwizard Tournament to turn the situation around and recover, but due to the invasion of Hogwarts, the third event of the tournament was canceled. Naturally, he couldn't do it anymore.
With no alternatives, Bagman fixed his gaze on one place. He knew there was a lot of money there that could solve his urgent problem.
That place was the tomb of Tom Yodel and Hermione Granger.
In the shocking Battle of Hogwarts, Tom and Hermione perished together, and Professor Dumbledore buried them together near the dark lake of the school, said to be due to the deep guilt he felt towards them, he had placed many funerary items in their coffins.
Bagman, with no other options, conceived a sinister plan. He thought that instead of burying all that wealth in the ground, it would be better to dig it out and use it to pay his debts.
Tom Yodel was a kind person, and if he were alive, he surely wouldn't object. Bagman comforted himself and encouraged himself in that way.
So, under the cover of darkness, Bagman and the goblin crossed the Hogwarts campus. In the distance, only the silhouette of Hogwarts Castle could be seen in the dark of night, as all the lights were off.
Bagman and the goblin circled the lake and soon arrived at the tomb. The tomb was under a large willow tree, and in front of the gravestone were some fresh flowers.
Bagman raised his wand, and a white marble sarcophagus emerged from the ground, appearing before them.
Bagman's heart was beating rapidly; he was extremely nervous.
"Open!" The lid of the white marble sarcophagus opened, revealing everything inside it in the moonlight.
Bagman took a look and couldn't take his eyes off.
What he saw were countless golden Galleons, surrounding the occupants of the tomb, forming a sea of gold.
They were dressed in luxurious robes, closely bound together in a deep sleep.
"This... this money can pay my debts ten times over..." Bagman murmured to himself, extremely amazed. He didn't realize that Tom and Hermione's bodies were incredibly well-preserved, as if they were asleep.
"If you can settle your debts, it'll depend on me counting them first," said the goblin greedily. He eagerly stuck his claw-like hand into the coffin and pulled out handfuls of gold coins.
The Galleons piled up into a small mountain at his feet, but he still wasn't satisfied. His gaze turned to the tomb's owner.
"What truly has value must be in her possession..." The clawed hand suddenly reached out and grabbed Hermione's wrist.
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