if i am not me

The heat of summer gradually faded with the afterglow of the setting sun, and the Hogwarts train finally entered the terminal with the last trace of golden at dusk.After hurriedly getting off the train, the five of Harry found a carriage and drove towards the castle.

In the carriage, Hermione kept chanting, and from time to time sketched in a small notebook. This action made a small vacuum around her magically appear—you can’t blame the boys, you know who keeps nagging in your ears You can't stand it when it seems to include a consistent seventh-grade curriculum for the entire school.

Ron and Neville were discussing in low voices what new dishes would appear at this year's school-opening banquet. The overly sweet and greasy snacks in the afternoon made them pin their last hopes on the dinner in the near future.Ron planned that he was going to eat half a roast chicken, while Neville hovered between pudding and cheese.

Luckily, Harry and Draco looked pretty normal, though Hermione still looked sideways at their overly agitated discussions about who would be the new Defense Against the Dark Arts professor.

All in all, at the moment, everyone wishes these wagons were faster.No matter what the expectation is, after a day of hunger, they are in urgent need of a big meal to fill the empty stomach.

Therefore, when the carriage stopped, there was almost no nostalgia, and they walked straight to the auditorium with the bustling crowd around them.Of course, apart from the food, the reason why Harry participated in the school-opening banquet so actively was also because of his curiosity about the boy named Leo, he did not deny.

Which college will he go to?Harry's selfish wish was that he was a Slytherin, but reason told him that would be a brave and forthright Gryffindor again.

Familiar auditorium, familiar decoration, familiar crowd, still the sea of ​​black pointed hats, the light from thousands of candles still make the whole auditorium look brilliant.

The friends divided into two groups and walked towards the long tables of their respective colleges. When Harry and Drake finally sat down in their seats, they saw Crabbe and Goyle staring at the almost empty table. dining table, with a sultry gleam in his eyes.Blaise was delighted with Draco's arrival, and before they were seated, he began to pull Draco and tell a few others about the summer vacation, while Harry, when his eyes scanned the teacher's table as he entered the auditorium, his mind was his own. It was too complicated, because he saw... Lupine, Remus Lupine.

Although he had been prepared for a long time, or even expected that there would be no difference in the direction of history, Harry still felt mixed feelings when he saw this person who once occupied an important position in his life again.At this moment, Harry didn't think about history or future, he just looked at the man who was talking to Hagrid without blinking.

Light-colored brown hair flows down softly, and a pair of gold-rimmed rimless glasses lined his young and handsome face. He is very elegant, and a well-fitting light gray robe makes him full of affinity - this dress Is the neat and elegant man really the down-and-out but still extremely strong man he once knew?Although they are all so gentle.

Harry stared at him blankly, regardless of whether his gaze seemed a little presumptuous, until Professor McGonagall took out the Sorting Hat, and when he came to his senses, he let his eyes leave that direction.However, even though his eyes turned to the black and dirty hat, his thoughts remained in his own memories and thinking.

Judging by Lupine's appearance, he must be doing well now. What kind of experience prevented him from becoming the Lupine he once knew?Based on Lupine, could he boldly speculate that Sirius and... and Mom and Dad are still alive...and, still alive and well?

Maybe, they didn't die as I guessed... Maybe, they are still alive, they...

"Next, Leonard Potter!"

Porter...

Hearing the sound, Harry's pupils suddenly constricted.Quickly regaining his sanity, he raised his gaze and saw clearly the boy wearing the hat - messy black hair, brown eyes...

It was him, the boy named Leo, originally, his surname was Potter.

The red-haired back, that voice that made him feel so intimate...could it be...?

"Gryffindor!"

In an instant, a violent emotion caused Harry's nails to sink into the palm of his hand without realizing it. He just looked at the place where the Sorting Hat was placed in the center of the auditorium, even though the figure had changed there long ago.

At this moment, a pair of hands suddenly caressed his cheeks, and suddenly, Harry's eyes drifted away from there.

Draco had long noticed that Harry was preoccupied today, which made him carefully observe Harry's every move even when he was chatting with Blaise.Because of this, when he found that Harry's mood was unstable or even faintly erupted, he could turn his head to himself without hesitation.

"Harry!" Draco, who was anxious but still cautious, shook Harry's shoulders slightly, trying to shake the unfocused chaos in Harry's eyes.Fortunately, the people around them have long been accustomed to the two people's frequent behaviors that are different from ordinary people, so not many people paid attention to this weird situation.

After a long while, Harry realized that he had been embraced by Draco at some point.The moment he woke up, Harry's mind was overwhelmed by endless annoyance, damn it!

Although the previous speculation was indeed enough to shake his emotions, Harry still blamed himself for being out of control, actually in front of so many people... He should be glad that almost everyone's attention has been attracted by the sorting house now, and he only hopes that no one pays attention Seeing his gaffe, especially those few...

After patting Draco's back a few times to indicate that he was fine, Harry clearly heard Draco's breath of relief.But then pulled away from that warm embrace, Harry met Draco's eyes mixed with concern and accusation.Looking into Draco's blue eyes, Harry suddenly felt that the oppression caused by the mess of emotions in his heart was slightly loosened.Giving Draco a ok smile, Harry comforted him with his eyes, you know, this is not the place to talk.The doubt in Drake's eyes didn't dissipate, but seeing that Harry didn't want to say anything, he could only nod, ignoring Blaise's teasing eyes to signal him to continue the topic just now.

Glancing nonchalantly at Gryffin's dining table, Harry's eyes wandered between Draco and Leo.Just now he realized again that he is Harry Johnson, not Harry Potter... Even if they are still alive, they have nothing to do with him, like that boy named Leo, Whether he is a child of the Potter family has nothing to do with him, from the beginning to the end, they will only be strangers...

Even before that moment, he had thought about whether he would have such a lovely younger brother if the original James and Lily hadn't died.However, the fact is that he and them really no longer have any relationship...

But apart from being sad, Harry also succeeded in arousing his curiosity about the past history again because of the appearance of Leo. He wanted to know what happened in the past.

Whoever said that possession will lead to happiness, his happiness is just watching them live well from a distance, that's enough.

When the last freshman was assigned to Ravenclaw, the buzzing sound like a bee flapping its wings disappeared with the sound of Dumbledore hitting the goblet with a silver spoon. An energetic old man wearing half-moon glasses, his serene smile can always make people feel at ease.

"Welcome -" said Dumbledore, the light from the candle casting a silvery glimmer on his silver beard. "Welcome to Hogwarts in the new school year!"

The stereotyped opening speech, under the gaze of a group of starving children, turned into a few hasty new regulations made by Filch.Dumbledore nodded understandingly, and directly brought the topic to the highlight of tonight.

"Finally, I am very happy to tell you that there will be two new teachers joining our team. The first one is Professor Lupine, who kindly agreed to fill in the vacancy of the Defense Against the Dark Arts course."

After finishing speaking, Lupine stood up slightly and showed a smile to the children below. He immediately received warm applause—of course, most of them were from the girls.Harry clearly heard the two Hufflepuff girls excitedly say: "Although he is not as handsome as Lockhart, I really like his elegance—"

"Ah—my heart—"

This discovery made Harry, even at this moment, still can't help but feel that women are such magical creatures - even when they are all girls, they still have the kind of qualities that men can't understand at all.

Compared with the girls, the boys' reactions were much more normal. In fact, many boys doubted whether this overly gentle teacher could really teach them anything useful in the Defense Against the Dark Arts class. After all, the previous sessions in this class In class, they really failed to learn anything useful.Chino, who seems to be submissive but actually harbors evil intentions, and Lockhart, who can only put on airs, not to mention the teachers in front of them who almost can't even remember their names.

Satisfied with the students' reactions, Dumbledore waited for the last sporadic applause to end before saying, "As for the second teacher we appointed, I have to tell you with regret that our Protection of Magical Creatures class Professor Keitel Byrne retired at the end of last year in order to spend more time with his remaining rascals. Of course, I'm sure you'll be glad none other than Rubeus Hagrid agreed to fill him Professor Hagrid will serve as a teacher in addition to being a hunting ground guard." Then, it seemed unexpected and expected, except for the teachers who had already heard the news, all the students in the audience They all looked dumbfounded.After a long while, warm applause erupted from the Gryffindor table, and Draco, who had reacted, joined the applause with Harry, who had already clapped happily. Finally, driven by the two of them, Slytherin applauded sparsely Instead, it became a passion second only to Gryffindor.

Hagrid stared flushed at his large hands, and Harry seemed to see a hidden smile behind his shaggy beard.

Draco didn't speak for a long time, and of course Harry knew what he was thinking, but the deal was done, and they could only silently accept that this would not be changed by their objections.Well, he admitted that he actually liked Hagrid's class quite a bit. Although there were always many surprises, it couldn't be denied that it was really exciting.He's sure Draco will like it...cough...maybe...

At least he was sure that Drake would not be kicked by Buckbeak again.

After the children's emotions were all stabilized, Dumbledore stood up smiling again. "Okay, I think the important things have been said. Now, let's eat." After clapping their hands, the golden plates and goblets in front of them were filled with delicious food and drinks.Amidst the cheers, Harry, who was already starving, took some for himself and Draco, and then patted Draco, who was still in a daze, to enjoy the late dinner.

"I should have thought of it... a book that bites people..." Harry bit the lamb chops in his mouth, watching Draco unconsciously chop the food on the plate into pieces with the knife and fork in his hand things, whispering softly.Vaguely, Harry seemed to hear some words that he didn't want to think of. "Norbert... the dragon... the three-headed dog..."

"Oh—why did I think of that acromantula..." Harry sadly put down the fork and snatched the fork from Draco's hand, and stuffed a sliced ​​potato into Draco's mouth.

"Just accept it, buddy."