HP: Embrace the Darkness

Harry seemed to understand. His hands were faster than his master's thoughts. He grasped the wand first and held it in front of his chest.

"You can relax a little more, Harry." Dumbledore smiled and pressed Harry's wand down. "Just make sure that when you encounter danger, the wand is in your hand or within your reach."

While talking, the two walked onto a small road with dilapidated houses on both sides. At the end of the road was an even dilapidated church.

The church bells rang shrilly.

"Clang-"

The silence was broken. Harry subconsciously raised his wand and pointed it at the church. When he realized what a stupid thing he had done, he put it down in embarrassment.

"I thought there was someone."

"This is nothing to be ashamed of. There is no shame in protecting yourself at any time, even if it is just a misunderstanding." Dumbledore patted Harry on the shoulder and winked mischievously at him.

Harry felt a little relaxed.

Indeed, in order to survive, no one will blame you no matter how embarrassed you are.

Because this is the human instinct to survive.

Harry really couldn't think of any kind of person who could be completely indifferent when facing death. Even Voldemort was afraid of death.

No, that's not right, there is one person who might be able to.

Thinking of this, he glanced at Dumbledore.

But so far, he can't be as calm as the old man.

The two reached the end of the road, and Dumbledore identified the direction and walked to another road.

Harry looked at Dumbledore's back, hesitating whether to satisfy his long-standing curiosity.

There were some questions that he had been hiding in his heart for a long time, but he never had the chance to be alone with Dumbledore and couldn't ask them.

As he was thinking about it, Harry was in a trance, with heaven and man at war in his mind, and he didn't notice that the road around him got darker and darker as he went down.

They followed the dark road and entered a narrower, winding path.

There were low houses on both sides of the path. There were so many houses, none of them had complete doors and windows, and the night wind was howling inside.

When Harry heard the news, he raised his wand to encourage himself. Such a scene gave him no reason to think about the cemetery where Voldemort was resurrected.

It was so dark and quiet, there wasn't even the sound of insects around.

Wait, the sound of bugs?

Harry listened intently, and a coldness emanating from deep within his bones suddenly filled his back.

There aren't even any normal insect cries here.

"Sir, where exactly is this place?" Harry couldn't help calling Dumbledore and asked the question.

Dumbledore raised his wand and used the fluorescent spell to look at the houses on both sides. He sighed quietly, "This is a lost village. Legend has it that a powerful wizard lives in seclusion. If nothing unexpected happens, we are here to find his help." .”

Harry frowned, hearing a bit of a teasing smile in Dumbledore's words, and said displeased: "I thought I could only see stories like this in books."

"It's not surprising, we may be living in the story, we just don't know it."

Dumbledore teased Harry in a coaxing tone like he would a child.

In fact, his attention has been looking for a suitable path everywhere. It is not difficult for a powerful wizard to do two things.

Harry didn't get the answer, was still amused, and had no interest in asking further. He followed Dumbledore down the narrow and dark roads.

Dumbledore's wand emits the only light in the dark night. The areas where the light cannot reach are incredibly dark. At least Harry has not found such a dark environment and night elsewhere.

He couldn't help but ask again.

"Who is that reclusive wizard?"

Dumbledore's voice followed the wind and broke into Harry's ears. He said: "Horace Slughorn."

Harry rubbed his frozen ears.

The evening breeze here seemed to be particularly cold. After walking for a while, he felt chilled all over.

Sniffing, he asked curiously: "Horace Slughorn? Who is he?"

"My old colleague, your father and mother's Potions Professor, has retired, but I have to trouble him to become Potions Professor again."

Dumbledore looked at the surrounding houses carefully and concentrated on answering Harry's question.

Harry was confused, "But... why do we need him to be the Potions Professor? Don't we have a Potions Professor anymore?"

While Harry was still struggling, Dumbledore found the disguised house. He stopped suddenly. Harry behind him didn't pay attention and bumped into him.

"Sorry, sir, I didn't mean to."

Dumbledore supported Harry, "This is a small matter, no need to apologize, stand still, Harry, it's time for us to visit the new Potions Professor."

Harry looked up at the house in front of him. It was similar to other houses in shabby condition. Even the garden outside was filled with the putrid smell of dead flowers and plants.

"Sir, are you sure?"

Dumbledore easily raised his wand and threw a detection spell, "Of course, this is just a small disguise. We only need to walk in and find the person who cast the spell, and then we can see the true face of the house."

Harry raised his wand imitatively.

Dumbledore quietly walked along the garden path, came to the door leading to the house, and tapped lightly with his wand.

Circles like water ripples spread out on the tip of the wand.

Harry stretched out his wand in surprise and tapped lightly on the door.

Exactly the same water ripples spread out.

"Did you see it? This is used to deceive visitors that the master does not want to see." Dumbledore explained to Harry and recited a spell at the same time.

Harry didn't understand, but he saw the change in the doorway - the unreachable doorway began to change color from the place where Dumbledore's wand was lit, and the dark color turned into a bright and warm yellow.

Dumbledore reached out and pushed open the door.

This time it went smoothly, and the door opened silently, revealing the broken furniture inside that was completely different from the clean and bright wooden door.

"Harry, whenever possible, pay attention to things that look obviously wrong, because you don't know where the traps left by wizards are hidden."

Dumbledore said as he walked inside, the fluorescent spell of the wand lighting up most of the house.

Harry nodded, and then asked: "Are there also traps here? The master does not welcome us."

Dumbledore casually removed some inconspicuous spells and said with a smile: "These are my old colleagues, how could they not welcome us? Especially you, Harry, your mother is his favorite student, He will welcome us, these traps are just measures he takes to protect himself."

Harry looked at the clip popping out of nowhere and the bottomless hole, and he deeply doubted the moisture in Dumbledore's words.

So far, he hadn't seen any sign of welcoming them from the owner of the house.

So aren't they breaking into private houses?

Dumbledore didn't know that Harry had already thought about the legal aspect and was still carefully clearing the road ahead.

Ever since Voldemort's high-profile resurrection, Slughorn had been particularly afraid of Voldemort's coming. Not only did he spend a lot of time looking for a safe place to stay, he also arranged a trap at each foothold that could temporarily block the Death Eaters and provide him with time to escape. trap.

The trap was not life-threatening, it was just a hindrance, but Dumbledore still had Harry with him, so he couldn't afford to embarrass himself in front of Harry.