The moonlight falling from above seemed to have been stained with an ominous, sickly green.
A cold voice.
A figure revered by the Death Eaters.
Strictly speaking, this should have been the first time Voldemort had appeared before the world since his resurrection.
And the moment anyone saw Voldemort, whether for the first time or not, they could recognize him at a glance.
Because on Voldemort, one could find every negative description imaginable.
His body was tall and gaunt, like a skeleton that could walk beneath the sun.
His body seemed to be covered in strange scales. His skin was so pale it gave off a pearly sheen, and his limbs were like pale spider legs.
As for that face, impossible to look at for long, there was no hair, no lips where his mouth should have been, and only two long, narrow slits for nostrils.
If not for the immense, icy, terrifying magic surrounding Voldemort, one might have mistaken him for a patient who had slipped out of the intensive care ward at St. Mungo's to bask in the moonlight, rather than the Dark Lord who terrified the entire wizarding world!
...
Fear.
Revulsion.
Ill omen.
Just by standing there, he brought the battlefield, which had only moments ago been in utter chaos, to a halt.
Even the Centaurs, who cared about nothing but the stars, stopped shooting on guard and retreated to a position not far behind Draco.
It seemed these Centaurs believed that, in their eyes, the only one present who could stand against the Dark Lord was Draco.
But only the Centaurs themselves knew what kind of future they had seen in the starry sky above.
...
Compared with most people, who were gripped by fear and unable to think clearly, a small number of people immediately noticed the first words Voldemort had spoken.
More precisely, they were puzzled by what those words meant.
Lucius Malfoy, who had returned to his own side, glanced anxiously in Draco's direction while muttering in confusion, "What's going on? Is Severus nearby too?"
Lucius could hardly be blamed for thinking of himself first.
He had assumed that once Voldemort appeared, his gaze would immediately fall on him, the traitor.
And even if not, Harry Potter, whom Voldemort had always wanted to catch, was here. So was Draco, who possessed the talent of a Dragontongue.
No matter how one looked at it, Voldemort's attention should not have fallen on Severus Snape, who was still nominally a Death Eater.
But judging from Voldemort's reaction, Severus Snape, wherever he was, seemed to be the one who had drawn more of his attention.
"Did Severus... do something?" Just as Lucius frowned in thought, Minerva McGonagall approached from the other side.
Although the relationship between the Order of the Phoenix and Lucius was extremely complicated, when facing the same powerful enemy, they could still temporarily set aside their grievances and cooperate.
That was also why Minerva McGonagall could approach him so easily.
Unfortunately, even Lucius, with his own intelligence network, had no way to answer that question.
"Who knows? After all, our Dark Lord has always been unpredictable."
"Even you don't..."
"But I think we'll know the answer soon enough."
As if sensing something, Lucius suddenly turned his gaze toward the gates of Hogwarts.
What entered his sight was a black robe that never left him, even after he became Headmaster, and that unmistakable hooked nose.
Beyond that, on his exposed left forearm, the glowing Dark Mark.
It was the very person Voldemort had named.
Severus Snape!!