Chapter 653

In the circular room of the principal's office.

Dumbledore sat in a chair behind a long-legged table, looking down at a wand.He looked tired, especially from Harry's angle, his face as wrinkled as the brown shell left on a hard-boiled egg.

"Good evening, sir." Harry broke the silence.

"Ah, good evening, Harry." Dumbledore raised his head from under his half-moon spectacles - which made the wrinkles on his forehead more visible, and said with a smile: "Please sit down, Poppy told me you were discharged from the hospital today , I thought it would be okay to move the course to next week."

Harry didn't know how to answer, he said "um", moved a chair and sat opposite Dumbledore.

"Poppy said you're all right, but I wanted to check for myself—you don't feel any more discomfort, do you?"

"No," said Harry hastily. He brushed away the hair covering his forehead, where the scar was covered with a thin layer of blood scab. Madam Pomfrey carefully recorded it for two days, until later I found the dwarf puff grass that Ginny had dropped under the bed... I think it is because of the resurrection stone." He took off the black gemstone ring from his hand and put it on the table .

"I don't need it now, sir."

Dumbledore smiled and listened with interest.

"The time in the school hospital is really difficult... That's why your friend gave you a travel book? I read two pages, and it seems that the records are from a long time ago."

"Well," Harry said cautiously, "I found it in the library during the Christmas break... Ron knew I'd been reading this book recently, so he brought it here to pass the time."

Dumbledore nodded understandingly.

"Sir, whose wand is this?" Harry couldn't help asking, he looked at the white wand on the table, which seemed to be made of the bones of some kind of creature as a whole, and the end of the handle was carved into a beast's claw shape with irregular spikes.

"This is yew wood, and its core is made of phoenix feathers—" Dumbledore turned his gaze to one side, and Harry followed his gaze. Fox was taking a nap on the perch, and Harry's mind flashed In a flash, he blurted out:
"Is this Voldemort's wand?"

His voice was so loud that even Fawkes was startled awake, casting a reproachful glance at Harry and hiding its head under its wings.The portrait of the principal hanging on the wall of the circular office secretly looked up at them.

"This is Voldemort's wand." Dumbledore repeated: "On Christmas in your fourth year, Felix and I raided Voldemort's hiding place. It's one of the trophies."

Harry stared unwillingly at the yew wand that Voldemort held to kill his parents and left himself with an incurable scar...

"Harry, Harry!"

Harry came back to see Dumbledore putting his wand away in the drawer.

"I'm sorry, sir," Harry whispered.

"Don't say I'm sorry, Harry." Dumbledore paused slightly, and then said in a formal tone: "I think you already know why we sit together on weekend nights, although if you want to chat with me to amuse me That's welcome too, but obviously we have a more important mission."

"Yes, I know," said Harry, "for the soul fragments in my brain, you said you had a way."

"Yes, that's it." Dumbledore said: "You will find that my method is slightly different from Felix's. I need you to participate more deeply and know what you are going to do. For this we need-- "

He stretched out his hand, and the cupboard door behind Harry popped open, and a shallow stone basin flew out of it, and landed firmly on the table between the two of them.

"—the Pensieve," he finished.

Harry stared blankly at the Pensieve, not understanding the relationship between them. He tentatively asked, "Do you want me to learn something?" For example, some kind of advanced magic, Harry guessed in his heart.

"To be precise, I'm witnessing something." Dumbledore said, shaking his finger at him, and a small crystal bottle as thick as a thumb appeared in the upright hand. He unscrewed the cork and put the bottle inside The silver memory that swirled and floated like cotton wool was poured into the stone basin.

"Whose memory is this, sir?" Harry asked curiously.

"Mine." Dumbledore said briefly, "We'll talk when we go in. I have to allow enough time for discussion. You come first."

Harry took a deep breath and plunged into the memory of the Pensieve. As he continued to fall, he felt a solid touch under his feet. He opened his eyes and kept searching.Because according to past experience, the owner of the memory must be nearby.

Then he saw it.

In front of him was a small gray village with low, dilapidated houses with a sense of age, surrounded by patches of green and brown.But that's not the point, he found a little boy with auburn hair under a big tree, about eight or nine years old, and he was staring at his palm very intently.

Harry took a few steps closer before realizing that he had misread, a leaf floating in the boy's hand.Harry was pretty sure the boy hadn't said any spells, but the leaves kept changing colors.

"That's me." At this moment, Dumbledore appeared next to Harry and introduced.

They watched silently for a few minutes, and the scene remained unchanged, which made Harry feel a little impatient. From this, he also discovered the first advantage of the boy—or Dumbledore in his childhood. patience.

The boy had clearly been here for a long time, as evidenced by the pile of leaves of various colors at his side.But he has never shown any impatience, and now he has fixed the leaves between red and brown, constantly adjusting for subtle changes in color.

Harry suddenly realized that the boy was going to change the leaves to match his own hair.

"Albus! Albus — dinner."

Another little boy appeared.He looked two or three years younger than Albus who was sitting under the tree, and the two wore similar clothes, but the later one got himself dirty, and although his hair was also reddish brown, he just looked the same. Very messy and awkward.

"That's my brother, Aberforth," said Dumbledore duly.

Aberforth ran all the way over, panting and flushed, "Albus, dinner!" he shouted at the top of his voice. "Wait a minute—it will be ready soon." Albus said, and after more than ten seconds, he finally stopped, with a satisfied smile on his face.

Now the leaf finally matched the color of his hair exactly.

"Let's go," he said briskly.

"Ah, you are secretly practicing magic again!" Aberforth seemed to have just realized it, and shouted: "I want to tell my parents, you wait to be taught a lesson!"

"Then you can't get colored leaves."

"This is for me?"

Aberforth asked in surprise, and was about to reach for it, but Albus dodged it.

"I've prepared several solid ones, but—let Ariana choose first." Albus stood up as he spoke, and they walked along a dirt road to the village together.

"Let's follow, Harry." Dumbledore said softly, and Harry noticed that his voice was trembling abnormally, "Let me introduce you to my family..."

As they passed the signpost, Harry saw the name of the village written on a rough piece of wood: The Fertile Fields.

He couldn't help but wonder: Don't the Dumbledore family live in Godric's Hollow?He had seen it in the letter his mother wrote to Sirius, and there was absolutely no mistake. Could it be that the Dumbledore family moved there later?

He was about to ask a question, but saw that Dumbledore's eyes were moist, so Harry fell silent.They silently followed behind the pair of young brothers in front, and Harry couldn't help guessing where they lived. He looked far and wide, and from all kinds of gray, tiger-headed and tiger-headed small houses, he chose the one that best suited his aesthetics. Yes, and he swears that the outside of the house bears the hallmarks of wizarding life in many details.

He moved forward firmly, but the brothers made a detour, and just when Harry suspected that he had guessed wrong, he saw a beautiful back garden, blocked by a tight hedge.

"Arianna! We're back!" Aberforth yelled.

Harry heard a rush of footsteps, he couldn't help speeding up his pace, and was about to be side by side with the two brothers in his memory. There was a "rustling" sound, and the tall and thick hedge was separated by a narrow gap, revealing a pair of timid eyes.

"Sir, this is—"

Harry turned his head to find Dumbledore stopped in the distance, with an unfamiliar look of wince and longing on his face.Harry suddenly had a strange idea, maybe Dumbledore was afraid of facing the scene alone, so he called him over.

……

Felix is ​​sitting in the Three Broomsticks with a glass of iced lemonade on the table.

He had been staying for a while, and Mrs. Rosmerta, the proprietress of the bar, came over and said through gritted teeth: "Mr. Hype, you can't bring those guys here, I still have business!"

"But I paid, Ms. Rosmerta."

"That's right...but they scared my other guests away, and what if they try to bite me tonight? I haven't slept well in the past few days, I'm not complaining...but today is so special, in case When they suddenly go crazy, I'm not as good as you."

"It's really embarrassing for you. Why don't you pay double for the consumption during this period, and - I'll take them away later. As you said, they are indeed a little dangerous today."

"Really?" Mrs. Rosmerta's eyes lit up, and she seemed relieved. "You should have done this a long time ago, but the double reward will be exempted. As long as you can come here a few more times, many people expect to see you here." She covered her mouth and said with a smile.

"I don't know when I became so popular." Felix said quietly.

"Recently," said Mrs. Rosmerta seriously, "like Carlotta Pinkstone—yes, I know this woman, she lived with me for a while, but now I don't know Where did you go..."

"I like the female Auror with color-changing hair better than her, she's telling jokes about witches, healers, and meebo, sorry I didn't get it, she seems to be sulking for half an hour , if you meet her, tell me, her jokes are very funny..."

Felix blinked and said, "I will."

Mrs. Rosmerta turned and left. After a while, she offered a free glass of Flame Whiskey, but before Felix could take a few sips, people came down from upstairs one after another. These people seemed to be carved out of the same mold:

Wearing tattered and patched clothes, he looked haggard, sullen, and looked around nervously.They were the ones Felix had invited, the werewolves.But when Felix waved at them, instead of relaxing, they became more vigilant.

"Okay, everyone." Felix snapped his fingers, and a dozen heavy money bags slammed on the table, "For the sake of King Gallon, I ask you to line up and follow me. I'm A temporary shelter has been built for you on the outskirts of Hogsmeade, and you will spend the next week there."

Felix headed out.

A group of werewolves looked at each other, and the man didn't give them a chance to speak at all.After a stalemate for a while, a tall and burly man came out, grabbed a money bag and looked inside, others found that his face seemed to be illuminated by a ball of bright light.

Gudong!

The man swallowed, put the bag in his arms, and walked out.The other werewolves followed silently.

……

Just before the lights were turned off, Harry came back with a distraught, even panicked look on his face. He read the password twice as if he was sleepwalking. The portrait of the Fat Lady unscrewed, and he burrowed in, only to be held back by a hand. up.

"Harry, what's wrong with you?" Hermione looked at him suspiciously.

"Hermione? I'm fine," Harry muttered.

"How can it be okay, we have been standing at the door just now, but you completely ignored us, Ron called you twice." Hermione said softly, and Ron nodded aside, indicating that what she said was true.

"What did Dumbledore teach you?" Ron asked anxiously. "But whatever it is, I guess it's going to be really hard, you look a little like Luna," he said, staring at the look on Harry's face.

Harry still shook his head, "He showed me some memories, um, I'm not sure... Anyway, I'll talk about it tomorrow, good night." He wanted to go in again, he just wanted to lie on the bed, alone People are quiet.

But he was pulled back again, this time by Ron—the fat lady looked unhappy: "Are you going in or not!"—"Don't go, we're going to the courtyard." Ron looked a little Harry, puzzled, winked at him, "Today is a full moon."

"Full moon?" Harry said blankly, taking a moment to understand what he meant.

"Yeah, I don't think you're going to give up Animagus, are you? You can also get a Mandrake leaf for free," Ron said, frowning, "but I can't, both When it runs out, I'll have to do a month's work for Sprout... or pay for it myself, but I figured since there's some at school... Hermione because—"

"I feel the throbbing of the Animagus," said Hermione curtly.

"Great!" Harry gave a thumbs up.

"Are you laughing at me? I know all about it." Hermione glared at Harry fiercely.Harry noticed Ron fiddling with his nails quietly, and muttered under his breath, "Well—a funny thing happened while you were in class. Hermione showed it off to me, and I couldn't resist— "

"I'm not showing off!" Hermione squealed, leading the way downstairs.

Ron and Harry exchanged a meaningful look.

"Maybe Hermione should get your insight into character flaws too, Harry," said Ron.

"I don't want to ask for trouble," said Harry quickly.

They came to the courtyard, where Professor McGonagall and some students were already waiting.But Harry keenly noticed that the number of people who came today was a few fewer than the first time, "A few gave up." Hermione whispered, she turned her head and looked around, "Why didn't you see Professor Haip?"

Professor McGonagall told them this question when he distributed the Mandrake leaves.

"Your Professor Haipu is on leave. He has important things to deal with."

"At this time?" whispered Ernie Macmillan. "That doesn't sound very plausible."

"But it's true," said Professor McGonagall sternly. "If I were you, I'd put more thought into practice, MacMillan."

After distributing the new Mandrake leaves and listening to the notes, the students dispersed. Hermione reported their latest progress to Professor McGonagall, and then they returned to the castle.

On the way, Hermione mentioned Dumbledore's class again, and Harry was very grateful that he had a mandrake leaf stuffed in his mouth, which gave him an excuse to talk less, although the leaf in his mouth had little effect on him. It's up to me.

He briefly chatted with Ron and Hermione, and then went back to the dormitory.Leaving Ron and Hermione staring at each other.

"Is his class not going well?" Ron asked worriedly.

"Maybe Dumbledore showed Harry some shocking memory, and he couldn't accept it for a while..." Hermione whispered: "Although I can't guess what it will do to Harry's scar, it must be that Dumbledore He has his reasons. Let's ask more carefully tomorrow."

In the dormitory, Harry lay on the bed, feeling like something inside him was collapsing.

Everything was good at the beginning. He and Dumbledore spent half an hour in reality, watching the former Dumbledore family having dinner and exchanging gifts. The atmosphere was generally pleasant and enviable. A memory, their situation took a turn for the worse, not only moved, but also lost the smile on their faces, the youngest Ariana was nervous, Aberforth always clenched his fists when no one was around, and his eyes were burning with angry flames; Albus was quieter, except for a gleam of grief in his eyes as he looked at his sister...

And most importantly, the male master is gone.

"... when Ariana was six years old, she performed magic in the garden, and three Muggle boys saw it through the hedge, when the stupid witch-hunt idea was still spreading in the backcountry, they were terrified, but they also gave birth to Brutal courage struck her. Since then, Ariana has been severely traumatized and can no longer control her magic power. My father was so angry that he went to the Muggles and gave them a hard lesson. Then...he was imprisoned in Azkaban, and we, alas, we chose to leave that sad place, and no one could have predicted that a greater tragedy awaited us..."

The first class ended when young Albus received his acceptance letter to Hogwarts.

Dumbledore didn't ask Harry to keep it a secret, which seemed to mean he could tell Ron and Hermione, but he just said something innocuous, and he felt it was his duty to keep Dumbledore's headmaster's past a secret, as if Letting people know his tragic experience is a kind of desecration of his great personality.

He didn't know why he thought so, and he didn't understand why Dumbledore let himself see this. From Harry's point of view, Dumbledore seemed to use a cruel way to show his experience in front of his students. .

He stared at the full moon outside the window, and seemed to hear the howling of wolves.Of course, Harry would not know that a dozen werewolves were undergoing a collective transformation far away on the outskirts of Hogsmeade.

(End of this chapter)

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