war and peace

"You mean, Kreacher said, it was waiting for you on purpose?" Harry analyzed for him.

Sirius scratched his hair in annoyance. "He doesn't say that explicitly, but he does it... I never give me a positive answer when I ask him if he's been told to do that! It's unusual, a house-elf can't disobey his master's orders, Unless another order prevents it from doing so!"

"Then are you worried about some Death Eaters controlling Kreacher?" Harry continued to ask.

"I thought so too," Sirius spread his hands, "If I die, the property of the Black family will belong to Bellatrix-she is a fanatical follower of Voldemort, but since he disappeared, she seems She doesn't like to go out anymore. And she has always looked down on house-elves, and she can't think of a way to do anything with them-it's not to take care of my daily life!" Sirius gave a short dry laugh.

"That is, there is someone who asked Kreacher to take care of you, and you don't know who he is?" Harry finally got a general idea.Sirius nodded distressed.

Neither of them figured out why until the cream of potato soup on the table was no longer steaming.It was a bit weird that someone was quietly taking care of Sirius, but it was better than the Dark Lord watching from the shadows, Harry thought.

So when Sirius suggested that they go out for a snowball fight in the afternoon, Harry agreed without hesitation.And under his hard work, Sirius promised him that he could fly a few laps over the square wearing the cloak, but he asked Harry to promise that he would never stick any part of him and the broom outside the cloak—even if Not even a broomstick.Harry happily agreed, and after wandering in the sky for a long time, he reluctantly landed on the ground, thinking about the shiny golden light of the Snitch even more in his heart.

Although some unexpected things happened, it didn't stop Harry from thinking that this was the best Christmas he had ever had.He could justifiably go back to Grimmauld Place, spend time with his godfather, God knows how much he regretted letting Peter slip away the last time.Sirius was probably the only person in the world who treated him unconditionally, after his parents were killed.

Harry returned to Hogwarts a few days before the end of the holiday.He didn't bring any books back, because he hoped to seize every moment he spent with his godfather, and the next time we meet would probably be summer vacation, so now he had to hurry up and finish the homework assigned by the professors.The diary that Voldemort gave him was wrapped tightly by him and hidden at the bottom of the box.

There are very few people in Gryffindor Tower.Strictly speaking, there is only one person at all.Harry figured it out on his first night back at Hogwarts, and his classmates seemed eager to stay home until the last second before returning to school.So as he scribbled away in front of the fire in the Gryffindor common room, he said hello without looking up as the portrait unfurled: "Are you in the library again, Tom?"

"Yeah." Hearing the unsalty voice, Harry glanced at him and noticed that his new friend seemed a little gloomy.He automatically understood that it was caused by the boredom of living alone for the entire holiday, and continued to say enthusiastically: "Thank you for your Christmas gift, this is probably the book I need most." Tom reluctantly held the corner of his mouth: "It is also Thank you for the Honeydukes Squeaky Toffee... I was taken aback when I opened it." A bit of an exaggeration, but it was a surprise to see a nest of moving cheese white mice.Fortunately, he didn't send Zizi honey candy. It would be unbearable to have the same taste as that old guy Dumbledore.

Harry was amused. "You're kidding," he said, "that's pretty common, like a chocolate frog—"

Tom frowned slightly, looking a little confused.

Harry's eyes widened in surprise: "Hey... no, you really haven't eaten?"

Tom didn't nod or shake his head, but Harry knew he was acquiescing.It occurred to Harry that on the first train to Hogwarts, he himself was very surprised to see those magical snacks.There was someone like him...Harry had never been more aware that he and Tom were orphans.

"Dude," Harry asked tentatively, "doesn't Professor Roald buy you candy?"

Tom flushed slightly. "We met the year before," he said dryly, "and he's always been picky." A year and everything is a lie, the question is, can you ask the Dark Lord to buy you candy?Um?Can you ask the Death Eaters to bring candy to the Dark Lord?Um?

Of course Harry didn't know any of this.He immediately thought of Professor Roald's robe that made Malfoy jealous, and he probably understood how picky it was.He patted Tom on the shoulder with infinite sympathy, "Then how much fun you have lost..."

Tom's eyelids twitched violently.The savior's sympathy really has no lower limit... Before he could finish his slander, the savior who had no lower limit of sympathy had already promised: "I will pay attention to it in the future!" Tom could only press the corners of his eyes to prevent being seen Twitching: unbearable enthusiasm for a mindless lion...

They stayed in the common room for a long time, until midnight, and Harry felt that Tom still had no intention of going to sleep.It seemed that when he saw Tom, he was either reading a book or preparing to read a book or came back from reading a book. The sleep time was so short that Harry didn't understand why he hadn't dozed off before class.He looked at Tom and then at the portrait hole. Could he swagger past Tom in the cloak without being noticed?

It seems... unlikely?Harry didn't know why he thought so, he was still thinking about the Mirror of Erised he had seen in the first grade, and wanted to see it again.Just one look, he said to himself in his heart, he still remembered what the headmaster said to him last time.Harry glanced again at Tom, who was concentrating on the thick tome in his hand, completely oblivious to his fidgeting.

"I said Tom, are you interested in going out for a walk?" Harry also felt that his proposal was scary, but if he didn't do it, he wouldn't even think about going out.

The black-haired boy was not surprised at all, he tilted his head slightly to look at Harry, "You want to be caught by the night watch teacher?"

This is agreed?Harry didn't bother to answer either, he rushed up the stairs like a gust of wind, and then hurried down again, holding his invisibility cloak in his hand. "It was a Christmas present I got from my dad," Harry explained to Tom, who raised one eyebrow. "An invisibility cloak..."

Tom sat still: "It's very rare, an invisibility cloak that never wears out." His eyes swept over the silver-gray liquid-like cloth, "I'll open the door for you inside."

"...you're not going?" Harry was genuinely surprised.

Tom was noncommittal: "It's very late now, and it will be dawn if you don't leave."

Until Harry walked through the dark corridors of Hogwarts wearing the Invisibility Cloak, he couldn't believe that he got out so easily, Tom didn't care what he wanted to do, and the Invisibility Cloak didn't interest him at all like.

Tom, under the Disillusionment Charm, followed, grinning mockingly at the thought.The invisibility cloak is great, but the Dark Lord has always only believed in himself.He quietly followed Harry through the corridors. In order to quickly see the mirror, Potter did not hesitate to reveal the secret of the invisibility cloak to a person he did not fully trust. He wanted to know the magic of the mirror. , or the savior himself is too gullible.As for the Deathly Hallows three-piece suit, he raised the corner of his mouth, so we have to deal with that old bee first, right?

Harry remembered that there was a tall suit of armor near that classroom.This feature was relatively obvious, and he found the right place without much effort.Harry's heart beat so fast when he caught a glimpse of the mirror's ornate gold frame through the crack of the door, and he dodged in almost immediately, not even noticing that the door was about to close.

There was a whole bunch of people standing behind him.A woman was smiling and beckoning at him, she was beautiful, with dark red hair, emerald green eyes - just like his.Then he saw her smiling and crying at the same time.The tall, thin, dark-haired man standing beside her put his arms around her. "Mum?" Harry whispered, "Dad?"

Harry slowly looked at the other faces in the mirror, one by one, and saw that they all had the same green eyes, the same nose, and one little old man even had the same bumpy knees as Harry.The Potter family smiled and waved to Harry in the mirror.Harry pressed his hands to the glass of the mirror, feeling that familiar feeling overwhelm him again, a pang that was half joy and half sorrow.

Tom watched grimly as Harry took off the Invisibility Cloak and sat down in front of the mirror with his hands on his knees.He took a few steps closer, and saw the expression on Harry's face that was exactly the same as his heart, longing and sad.A very strange emotion, he thought, too weak... Maybe this is the weakness of human nature?He never believed it.But inappropriately he had an image of a bearded old man, his blue eyes fixed on him, "You don't know how to love, Tom . . . "

Enough is enough!He quickly put aside Dumbledore's look and words, he didn't need to know that stuff!He was just too careless!Too many mistakes made on the same person!

Tom looked away just in time to see Harry put his finger on the mirror and paint the family he saw.This boy had failed him three times in his previous life, and no one had ever made the Dark Lord try such a defeat... Including the Avada Kedavra when he just came back, it was a total of four times!He wanted to know what went wrong, it was impossible... A simple and trusting boy, who didn't know any advanced magic, just stopped him time and time again...

So he hibernated and took back all the horcruxes that he worked so hard to make before—this was a long and painful process, he believed, just like making horcruxes, no one could endure such suffering, no one knew His sacrifice for it.Since immortality through Horcruxes was unattainable, he had to give them up.He must now deal with Harry Potter, the biggest failure in his life. If he kills him, any immortality will be meaningless.But unexpectedly, he also got a Death Eater who wanted him to be killed. Tom glanced at Harry who was still immersed in the mirror, maybe it would be useful to save that person's life ...

He successfully entered Hogwarts and got the last Horcrux besides this boy - Ravenclaw's diadem.He's on the same starting line as Harry now, and the boy still doesn't know, does he?Of course, he won't take it lightly this time, even if he hasn't discovered anything special about the boy.

Tom pursed his lips, and Harry still sat motionless on the ground and stared at the magic mirror.It looked like Potter wanted to stay here all night, so he wouldn't do it.As he turned around, he glanced inadvertently at the mirror, but this one shocked him enough to freeze him in place.He stared blankly at the mirror, trying to make sure that he was not dazzled... Merlin's beard!Tom - Voldemort, actually - growled internally that he didn't even know what he wanted more than anything else!

He reacted quickly, and rushed out the door with a icy face like a whirlwind.There was a loud bang, and the sound of the door being slammed shut by the draft woke Harry awake.Filch was sure to come check it out later, Harry thought, standing up, and reluctantly touching his mother's face in the mirror one last time, trying to wipe away the tears.Then he put on the cloak and left the room without looking back.

It was almost dawn when Harry returned to Gryffindor Tower.Tom left the door open for him, ignoring the Fat Lady yelling, "Why don't you let me close it!" Harry saw the long tears on the candlestick and the books spread out beside him, and then looked at Tom who seemed to be asleep with his eyes closed, He took the robe that was draped over the other armchair, covered him, and tiptoed upstairs.