[HP] Dearest Enemy

Harry woke up from the dream, and blinked several times before realizing that the place he was sleeping in was the new house where he had just lived in for a week, and he couldn't help being dumbfounded.

I have lived here for a month, and I am still not used to the strange ceiling.

It was still early, and Harry put on his dressing gown and went to the kitchen to make breakfast.By the time the owl delivered the daily Prophet at six o'clock, Harry had already picked up his coffee mug.

Everything seemed to be the same as every year's holiday, except that the black-eyed boy with a wake-up look and a slightly disheveled black hair bowed his head to eat breakfast on the opposite side of the dining table.

No, he is no longer a teenager, and the kid who is already taller than himself is more properly called a youth.Harry turned his thoughts back to the newspaper.Half a year ago, the fact that Dumbledore challenged Grindelwald caused a stir in the entire wizarding world. Grindelwald finally accepted the challenge two weeks later and sent his cronies to send a letter back to Dumbledore.The duel time is next week, and Dumbledore will go to Germany to accept each other's fate and end the darkness of this era.

Harry glanced at the front page of the paper, which was full of stories about Dumbledore, and then turned to other pages.Nothing worth seeing, Harry decided to go to the market to buy something and come back.Tom is coming to dinner today, and he has to make preparations in advance.

Then another owl flew in from the window.

Harry recognized it as the Hogwarts owl, and with a little surprise unwound the pale yellow parchment envelope from its lap.The familiar dark green circles on the envelope indicated the owner of the letter. Harry opened the envelope a little unexpectedly and found that it was Dumbledore who planned to visit him and have a cup of afternoon tea together.

Harry raised his eyebrows, went to the desk by the window, pulled a piece of parchment, and began to write a reply.From what he knew of his headmaster, the old bee would never miss an opportunity to stay at his house for dinner, but Tom didn't like seeing Dumbledore come and eat, so it was a little bit of a pushover. Better.Harry hadn't seen Tom in a month, and he didn't like watching Tom spoof Dumbledore with a masked Slytherin smirk.

The owl flew out happily, Harry changed his clothes, hid his wand, walked out the door, locked the door with a key, and walked to the outer edge of the valley.

It's not just wizards who live in Godric's Hollow, there are a lot of Muggles too.A small number of Muggles lived near the outer edge of the valley, completely unaware that their eccentric neighbors who lived within a mile of them were wizards.Harry quickly became acquainted with them.He was not worried that he would have no money to spend after leaving Hogwarts. Although his research on time magic failed, some of the gadgets born from the research had applied for patents, and he could receive enough money for his own living every month.

After purchasing the ingredients for dinner, Harry walked back with a pile of paper bags in his arms.Although a little unaccustomed, living apart from Tom is undoubtedly the right decision.Tom still went to Borgin-Bock according to his own wishes, and his decision surprised many people.Dumbledore came to visit himself when he knew about it, and Harry didn't know how to explain Tom's thoughts.He didn't tell Dumbledore that Tom had guessed his origins, and Tom never mentioned it after that.If the argument hadn't happened, Harry thought he probably wouldn't have wanted to move out, two people were always more interesting than one.

After becoming an official clerk, Tom's life undoubtedly lacked a lot of fun.Borgin was not an easy man to deal with. Fortunately, Tom had dealt with him long enough to know the temper of this employer, so he got along well under the shopkeeper who was called a vampire by the whole street.Bo Jin didn't treat Tom badly, but he had to do a lot more than before.In the first month of formal work, Tom went back to the house and fell asleep almost every day. There were too many things he needed to learn and master.

Tom visited Harry's home in Godric's Hollow only once, the day Harry officially moved.He slept that night in the bedroom Harry had left for himself, but for some reason the whole night was filled with chaotic dreams.It was already dawn when he woke up, but he had no memory of what he had dreamed at all, only remembering the inexplicable and confused mood when he was in a dream.

At seven o'clock Tom knocked on Harry's door.Harry was cooking the last course and opened the door with his apron on.

"Wash your hands before eating." Harry said and hurried back to the kitchen.Tom couldn't help laughing, hung his coat on the coat rack by the door, washed his hands obediently before going into the kitchen.Harry, who was setting soup on the table, pointed to a chair and motioned Tom to sit there.

Tom sat down, and seemed to return to his childhood in a trance.When Harry was in a good mood, he would pat his head, put his favorite food on the plate, and sit across from him with a gentle smile.

There will be fewer and fewer such opportunities in the future, Tom thought a little sadly.

The two chatted while eating.Tom talked about his work at Harry's request, and then the two discussed what everyone was concerned about: the upcoming peak duel between Dumbledore and Grindelwald.

"I heard that Grindelwald chose a very hidden venue," Tom said. "He doesn't seem to want people to watch it publicly."

"I think he'll probably invite a few people to watch the fight," said Harry, "just to be fair."

"I don't know what kind of confrontation it will be." Tom said, his eyes couldn't help revealing a trace of fascination. "If possible, I really want to see it with my own eyes."

Harry smiled and poked the peas into Tom's plate.

"Dumbledore will probably invite a few more people," said Harry. "There are still a large number of reporters waiting to cover this matter."

"Who's going to win?" Tom asked casually, then shut his mouth shut when he realized he'd asked something he shouldn't have asked.

Harry didn't seem to notice his strangeness. He cut a piece of steak and swallowed it before answering: "I don't know who will win until the duel is over."

"Sorry," Tom whispered.Harry shook his head and said nothing more.

Tom didn't linger long after dinner, and he hoped to have dinner at Harry's again next week at the end of the week, and be back soon afterwards.Harry lit his pipe and paced in his garden, wondering if he could meet Alex in Germany.As soon as Grindelwald's duel is over, it's almost time for him to return.

There have been only a few letters from Alex in the past six months.He was regarded as Dumbledore's confidant, and his activities in Germany were very restricted.Alex is still tracking down the source of the curse on Harry's back, but there are too few clues and there has been little progress.Harry wanted him to come back after he was done with Dumbledore, but Alex said he swore to Merlin to find a way to lift the curse.

If it weren't for the restrictions on using magic, Harry would like to find clues by himself.But the mainland is not as stable as the UK after all. Although the life of wizards is not much better because of the Muggle War, the level of security is definitely much higher than that of the Straits.

At three o'clock in the afternoon the next day, Dumbledore arrived as scheduled.Harry served the tea and refreshments that he had prepared earlier, and Dumbledore took the cup with a smile.

"Is Tom all right?" he asked.

"He looked all right when he came in yesterday," Harry replied. "You didn't come to me just to find out how Tom was doing, did you, Albus?"

Dumbledore sipped his tea leisurely and laughed a few times.

"It's been a whole week, and the front pages of the newspapers have been talking about your duel next week." Harry picked up his glass too. "When are you going to leave?"

"Ah, I should be leaving tomorrow." Dumbledore replied, "There are still some details that need to be confirmed in advance. Harry, would you like to go to Germany with me?"

"To Germany?" Harry looked at him suspiciously, "You mean..."

"Be my guest, to witness the duel," said Dumbledore. "Grindelwald would like as few people as possible to see this duel, but I don't think he will refuse to have you there."

"I'm surprised, Albus." Harry put down his glass. "It's such an honor!"

"No, Harry, it is my honor that you agree to be present." Dumbledore sighed, "You have the right to ask me anything you want."

Harry smiled slightly, knowing what Dumbledore was referring to: "You didn't do those things, Albus."

"But knowing this, I cannot remain indifferent," said Dumbledore. "There is one more thing."

"What is it?"

"Alex has found some clues." Dumbledore took out a piece of paper from his pocket, "This is the method of making the potion he got to prevent the curse from sucking life force. This potion is safer than the refreshing potion , will not harm your body."

Harry quickly took it over and looked at it, frowning involuntarily.This pair of potions is very difficult to make, and two of them are rare materials that are extremely difficult to obtain.Harry couldn't guarantee that he could brew the potion accurately, and his potion making could only be regarded as an upper-middle level after years of experience.

"It's not that easy to make this medicine." Harry said and put away the list. "I'm not sure if I can do it."

"Maybe it's not that difficult." Dumbledore said, "A girl in Horace's academy can make it, but the production cycle of this medicine is a bit long, and the amount of each time it is made is not much. You might as well try it."

A girl who is good at potions?Harry's heart skipped a beat, and he turned around and asked, "Is that kid's name Irene Prince?"

Dumbledore nodded: "It's her."

Harry shook his head.He had heard of the name of the Potion Family for a long time, and he had also heard Tom mention Irene's name.It seemed that Snape had inherited his sensitivity and focus on potions from his mother, but Harry was not Snape, and such potions were still somewhat difficult for him.

Dumbledore saw Harry's hesitation: "If there is any difficulty, I can go to Miss Prince for help. She will be happy to help you solve this small problem."

Harry thought for a while, and accepted Dumbledore's kindness: "Thank you, Albus, I think I may need Erin to help me with this after we return from Germany."

"Miss Prince will be very glad to have the opportunity to help you." Dumbledore said kindly, "Alex said he would come back with you after meeting up with you in Germany, but the exact time has not yet been determined. From this Judging by the potion, he probably found a solution to that curse."

This was inspiring good news, and Harry couldn't help but smile: "It would be great if that's the case."

Dumbledore smiled: "It's rare that I have nothing important to do today, can I take the liberty to have dinner with you before leaving?"

The corner of Harry's mouth twitched, Dumbledore's purpose really included eating.But he's already prepared for it: "Of course. In fact, I'd be surprised if you didn't ask for it."

Dumbledore laughed a few times and patted Harry on the shoulder.

After Dumbledore left, Harry contacted Tom with the double-sided mirror, but no one responded.The kid must have left the mirror somewhere again, Harry sighed, and left a note for Tom, which he sent to London by Hedwig.

Tom didn't say everything when he mentioned his work, and at the time he was searching the shop for a very rare material with which to mend an item of dark magic, hiding all his breath for it.Hedwig failed to find him, so she had to go home by herself.It wasn't until Tom returned to London three days later that he found out that Harry had gone to Munich at Dumbledore's invitation, and this week's dinner had to be wasted.

Tom was a little gloomy, but he didn't have any objection to Dumbledore's invitation to Harry, he just felt a little strange.The relationship between Harry and Dumbledore doesn't seem to be that good in the impression, but this doesn't explain anything.Harry mentioned in the note that he might stay in Germany for a while, and then come back with Alex. Tom couldn't help but think of the arrogant hedgehog who wanted to challenge himself to get Harry, so he rubbed the note hard. into a ball.

Harry obviously didn't know what Alex was trying to do to him, and Tom wouldn't just watch Harry walk towards that bastard without knowing it.He simply packed up a few things, then went back to Knockturn Alley and asked Borgin for leave.He wanted to find Harry before Alex, and he must not let that guy take the lead!