Archaeologists at Hogwarts

Chapter 257 If Harry Was a Slytherin

In the brief silence, Dumbledore could tell at a glance that Harry was preoccupied tonight.

"It seems that today's lesson will not be so simple." Dumbledore said with a smile: "Come and sit, Harry. Is there anything I should know?"

If it was before, Harry might have buried this matter in his heart. After all, the matter between Dumbledore and Professor Highmore is beyond his control, and he also knows that he doesn't know them well. En and Hermione might be wrong.

But now Harry was different.

During Professor Higher's repeated education process, Harry understands the importance of not telling lies.

And in any case, this matter is actually related to himself-more precisely, Voldemort's soul left in him.

Under Dumbledore's gentle gaze, Harry finally asked: "Principal, why do you want to study devils with me? Instead of going to Professor Highmore? Is there any conflict between you?"

What Harry didn't expect was that Dumbledore actually laughed after hearing these words.

"You really look like a professor now." He praised: "It is indeed important to care about the state of the students. But, Harry, the facts are completely different from what you imagined. There is not much conflict between Toby and me. Even if Yes, but only limited to the relationship between professors and students."

"Like me and Snape?" Harry asked absurdly.

"It's Professor Snape." Dumbledore corrected, "But the example you gave is really appropriate. I had some academic disputes with Toby, and it was very unpleasant many years ago, but it's much better now. Yes. As for the devil, I think it's totally new to any professor. But Toby is busy, and getting busier lately, and you haven't seen Minerva. Are you discussing ancient magic with Miss Granger instead of looking for Toby?"

Harry finally felt at ease—yes, Hermione said that Dean McGonagall was also interested in ancient magic and discussed a lot with her, but the dean also didn't go to Toby.

It turned out that they were too worried.

Speaking carefully, it was all because of the sequelae left by the Animagus of Sirius who appeared in Hogwarts. Since then, they have suspected that the relationship between Professor Highmore and Dumbledore is not harmonious, Now it seems that they were completely wrong.

"I see, Headmaster." Harry said excitedly, "Then what are we going to do today? Should we continue to study the devil?"

"There's no rush." ​​Dumbledore said out of Harry's expectation: "First allow me to ask you a question - although Toby did say that the rune snake you summoned is likely to be Voldemort's influence. But what if that's not accurate?"

"In other words, did it ever occur to you that it might already be your own devil?"

Harry's mind exploded with a buzz.

The words that the Sorting Hat had said in his head seemed to be ringing in his ears again——

"Not going to Slytherin, eh? Made up your mind? You're going to be great, you know, and at the first thought of it, Slytherin is going to help you to greatness, there's no doubt about that - no? Well, now that you've made up your mind - you'd better go to Gryffindor!"

Originally, Harry had already found a good reason for this, and this must also be influenced by Voldemort, after all, he is now assigned to Gryffindor.

But what if what the principal said is true?
What if, this whole thing has nothing to do with Voldemort, but only because of him?

Did he soon become like Voldemort?
"It's impossible!" Harry's tone suddenly became agitated: "No, it won't!"

"Calm down, Harry." The soothing power of Dumbledore's voice made Harry's breathing less rapid, but his eyes remained wide open.

"This is just a guess." Dumbledore continued in a comforting tone: "After all, even Toby has never seen one. A wizard can summon two completely different devils. This kind of magic has long been lost. That's why I want to make you mentally prepare in advance, in case—I mean in case, if the Rune snake is already your devil, then how should we deal with it in order to put Voldemort's Even if the soul is removed, it can't hurt you."

Out of nowhere, Harry saw real concern in Dumbledore's eyes like he had never felt before.

Maybe there was one time, when Professor Haimer was very unskilled in wiping his tears when he was studying the devil, and that time he almost broke the legs of his glasses.

"But, how could it be?"

Harry still couldn't believe what Dumbledore said, even if it was only speculation: "How could I become that kind of person?"

"What kind of person?" Dumbledore asked calmly, "Are you referring to a bad guy like Voldemort, or a guy like Toby? You should know that both of them graduated from Slytherin House, but they are The impression in your mind is obviously completely different, you trust Toby and hate Voldemort, of course, I believe you also don't like Severus, he is also a Slytherin."

"But, Harry." Dumbledore's tone was still so gentle: "Where is Peter Pettigrew? He is a Gryffindor, but he has shamelessly failed the trust given by your parents-sometimes, the academy cannot decide Some people are good and bad. Even before Voldemort got his way, the two houses at Hogwarts were less conflicted and the students were able to play together."

"What I want to tell you is, don't let prejudice cover your eyes. Only we can decide good or bad, and it has never had anything to do with the academy."

Harry calmed down a little.

He remembered that it was probably in his second year, and he thought maybe Slytherin wasn't that bad, thanks to Professor Highmore.

Even though Professor Highmore was more terrifying than Snape at times, he also clearly commanded more respect from students than outright fear - and that made a huge difference.

Just like Voldemort, all he brought to wizards was fear, and even his name became a taboo, and no one dared to say it.

"Okay." Harry clenched his fists and said, "Okay, principal. Even if your guess is true, what should I do next? In this way, Professor Highmore's method will be completely useless. "

Of course it didn't work, because then Harry wouldn't be able to replace Voldemort's soul with his own devil - they wouldn't even know what Voldemort's soul was, and the devil's trick suddenly wouldn't work.

Dumbledore watched Harry's transformation with satisfaction, and said, "Actually, this is why I asked you to teach me. I'm afraid that in the next few classes, our identities will have to be switched from time to time. That's all right, I also need to give you a lesson once in a while."

This sounds more normal, and Harry really can't bear the pressure of teaching Dumbledore. He doesn't know much magic, and there is nothing he can do except the devil.

Is it possible to teach the headmaster to play Quidditch?
It is better not to treat an old man so excessively.

"So what am I going to learn?" Harry asked curiously.

What else can be used to completely defeat Voldemort?

"It's love, Harry." Dumbledore said, "It's love."

There was silence in the room for a while.

Harry stared straight at Dumbledore, expecting him to go on and make the magic against Voldemort less abstract.

But Dumbledore was also staring at him, without saying a word.

"And then?" Harry asked hopefully.

"That's all." Dumbledore said: "If Toby's method fails, then the only way to deal with Voldemort is love. This is an equally ancient magic that appeared a long time ago, and it is also the same magic that Voldemort has always An incomprehensible force."

Harry was confused.

"Then what should I do?" he asked. "Should I practice some special magic? It's like learning to summon the devil."

He really hoped that Dumbledore could give an affirmative answer, because that would make the method more clear.

but.

"It's hard to teach others." Dumbledore shook his head and said, "You have to understand it yourself, but you must remember this, Harry, love, remember love."

"Okay, it's time to switch identities back—where did we go last time, can you still summon your own devil now?"

"...I'm afraid it's difficult, principal, I can't think of more things now."

"Then let this class end here and rest early."
-
Like last time, Ron and Hermione had been waiting for Harry in the common room early on, and the two of them kept asking him as soon as he showed up.

"What's the matter?" Ron asked nervously, "Did the headmaster say anything?"

"We all guessed wrong." Harry sat on the sofa chair in a daze, repeating what happened before to the two of them.

In the end, the night became darker, and everyone in the common room went back to the dormitory to sleep early, and there were only three of them left around the fire.

"Love?"

Although Hermione was grateful for the wrong guess, she still couldn't understand Dumbledore's instructions to Harry. She thought that the headmaster would teach Harry some powerful magic or something, at least not worse than the devil.

It's not that love sounds bad, it's just that it's too general to study properly.

"Yeah." Harry said in a trance: "How do you think about the other thing? If the mysterious man is nothing, it's all because I'm too bad?"

When hearing this, Ron and Hermione comforted Harry for a while.

"If you want me to say, you just leave it alone, the professors say what they say." Ron waved his hand, as if to drive away the invisible cloud over Harry's head: "Even if it's all caused by you, you can How about it, we still don’t know if the mysterious man can make a comeback.”

Harry knew that what Ron said made sense. He was really scared at first, but he was not so shocked when he saw the calm Professor Highmore and Headmaster Dumbledore-is it also because of the devil?

The thought came to Harry inexplicably—was he so bad that he didn't even care about his own life?
Hermione saw that there was something wrong with the expression on Harry's face, and she quickly persuaded: "Don't think about it, go back to sleep quickly. And Ron and I, the Patronus Charm should be able to help you to some extent then. "

Even Ron could hear the lack of confidence in Hermione's tone. Judging from the current progress, it is estimated that this will take a long time, and I don't know if it will be too late.

"I—not—" Harry said, his eyes widening suddenly, "Did you see that?"

"See what?" Ron yawned and said, "Anyone bring us supper? I'm really hungry, Harry, can you ask Dobby for help?"

"Dobby is Harry's friend." Hermione frowned and said, "How can you instruct others like that."

"It's okay." Ron grinned and said, "House elves like to serve others, it's their nature."

This actually made Hermione's frown deepen.

Just when she was about to continue to refute, Harry suddenly jumped off the sofa and walked towards the fireplace in two or three steps-this scared Ron to hug him quickly, and shouted anxiously: "Don't think too hard, That'll burn you alive, there's no floo powder in it - and even if it was there it wouldn't let you in, and it'd be bad if you went the wrong way again!"

"No—" Harry broke free: "Look, there is a face inside—" He suddenly lowered his voice and said, "Why do I feel a little like Sirius?"

Both Ron and Hermione were stunned. They turned their heads to look into the fireplace, and found that there seemed to be something wriggling behind the flames - then, the thing opened a hole and spoke.

Still using the voice of Sirius.

"Sorry, I didn't intend to scare you, I planned to take a look at it from a distance and leave, but I'm really worried about you, Harry—are they your friends?"

All three of them were stunned, unable to speak a word.

"It seems that I appeared at the wrong time." Sirius said in a sad tone: "I'm leaving now, just pretend nothing happened."

"Wait a moment!"

The one who made the sound was Hermione who came back to her senses the fastest. She quickly stopped her and said, "It's against the rules for you to do this. You can't let other people know that you're still alive—you, your corpse is still in the Ministry of Magic!"

"Oh?" The face made of flames stopped shrinking back: "It seems that you really know something—did Dumbledore tell you?"

"And Professor Haimer." Ron said from the side, his eyes full of curiosity.

But no one expected that Sirius' reaction would change immediately, as if the name had violated some of his taboos.

"Toby Highmore." He stared at Harry and said, "Remember to stay away from him, that guy is not a good person, don't be fooled by his disguise."

"I know." Harry said suddenly, "Professor Highmore told me that you used to be sworn enemies—"

"Oh." Sirius said as if he had expected it a long time ago: "What else? The active disclosure is to hide deeper secrets. This is Toby Highmore's usual tactic—by the way—"

He asked as if he suddenly remembered something: "Did you receive my gift? Where is the Firebolt?"

Harry stared at him blankly for a few seconds.

Firebolt?
Why another Firebolt?

But why is his broom still a Nimbus 2000?

(End of this chapter)