The Emerald at Hogwarts

Chapter 683
The headmaster's office at Hogwarts is a large, beautiful circular room.

Even though the owner of the office has changed from Albus Dumbledore to Minerva McGonagall, the furnishings here have not changed in any way.The room remained the same as it had been before Dumbledore was alive, as if he had never left.

The silver instruments were still humming and whirling on the slender-legged table, emitting puffs of smoke, and the tattered, crumpled Sorting Hat was still in its usual place, on the shelf behind the table.

The walls are covered with portraits of old headmasters, men and women, snoring softly in their respective frames.

Dexter Fusco...Doris Devonte...Eupracia Moore...Phineas Nigellus Black...and Albus Dumbledore .

In the golden picture frame, half-moon glasses rest on Dumbledore's hooked nose, and he is looking kindly at Harry Potter lying on the ground.

The floor of the office was covered with a soft carpet, but Harry lying on it felt extremely cold and hard, and fear surrounded and entangled him like a tide.

Harry once learned about Voldemort's past here, and he thought he was here to learn the secret of victory.Today, still here, Harry has a clear vision of his fate, and finally understands that he is not going to survive.

As Voldemort's Horcrux, there is only destruction waiting for Harry, and the only thing he can do is to walk peacefully into the open arms of Death.

He was about to die, at the hands of Voldemort, and only his own death could end this terrible thing.Harry thought, with a great fear in his heart, the fear of death.

Does death hurt?

Random thoughts filled Harry's mind.

He slowly raised his trembling hand and placed it on his chest, feeling his heart beating violently in his chest.He felt alive more than ever before.

Harry knew that when he stood up and left this office, walked out of the school, and walked to Hogsmeade to face Voldemort, this beating heart would stop, stop forever.

Hearing the sound of the curse constantly exploding, Harry knew that the Death Eaters were attacking the school again.

Slowly, very slowly, Harry sat up from the hard and cold carpet, and he turned his head stiffly to look out of the window—at this time, the night sky should have been dark, but it was illuminated by successive spells. It was colorful, like a grand firework show.

This fireworks display is to celebrate the demise of Voldemort, but also to see himself off.

Harry stood up, heart pounding against his ribs like a crazy bird.He withdrew his gaze from the window and turned to look at Dumbledore in the portrait.

"Will it hurt?"

He had seen Dumbledore get hit by the Killing Curse, had seen the life drain from Dumbledore's body, and then fell down the tower like a big tattered doll.

"It doesn't hurt. Or it's too late to feel the pain."

The Killing Curse is brutal, mercilessly depriving the life of the caster.

But in contrast, the Killing Curse is also a kind of kindness. Life disappears in an instant, and you will not feel the pain of death at all.

Harry didn't express anything, neither resented Dumbledore, nor resented the injustice of fate.

Harry turned around silently and walked out of the principal's office step by step, without seeing the complicated eyes of Dumbledore in the portrait behind him.

Compassion, pity, reluctance...

Dumbledore just watched Harry's back quietly, he didn't know if he could see this brave and kind child again.

Walking slowly along the spiral staircase, Harry walked very slowly, every step felt like he was stepping on soft cotton.Harry felt like a ghost, as if he had died, the moment the truth came out.

Will there be someone waiting for you outside?

Harry was rambling again, wondering who he would see when the stone statue jumped away.

Is it my godfather Sirius, or Lupine... is it Mr. Weasley, or Mrs. Weasley... is it Ron, or Hermione, or Ginny...

No matter how slow you go, the stairs will eventually end.

Harry stopped on the third step and took off the donkey skin bag hanging around his neck. It was a birthday present from Hagrid. The leather bag that had been cast with the Untraceable Stretching Charm could hold a lot of things.

Stretching open the leather bag, Harry groped inside with weak fingers for a while, then pulled out the Invisibility Cloak.Putting the cloak on, Harry descended the last three steps.

The stone statue jumped away, leaving the corridor empty in front of it.

Putting on the invisibility cloak was to avoid the people waiting for him, but when Harry saw the empty corridor, he couldn't help feeling a sense of loss in his heart.

The corridor on the eighth floor of the castle was eerily dead silent, and Harry seemed to be the only one there.

Until he saw Ada standing in front of the window, with her long blond hair tied behind her head and coiled into a delicate bun, her slender neck made even whiter by the dark robe.

Harry slowed his steps slower and lighter, conflicted.

I hope that Ada can leave the window and bump into myself who is also leaving, and I hope that Ada just looks out of the window and doesn't find herself.

Suddenly, Ada moved away from the window, as Harry had wished.

It's just that Ada didn't walk down the stairs to the eighth floor, but walked towards Harry.

Harry stopped again, and the cloak was as perfect and impeccable as ever, covering himself.Harry simply thought that Ada would not discover himself under the cloak.

Getting closer, closer, and as Ida walked towards Harry step by step, the distance between the two kept shortening.Harry held his breath, half wishing now that Ada would hit him.

As if hearing Harry's inner prayer, Ada stood still about two steps away from him.

"I'm waiting for you."

Hearing this, Harry took off the invisibility cloak, knowing that Ada had seen through his ancestral invisibility cloak.Harry didn't ask Ada how she did it, Dumbledore had done something similar before.

"Have you made a decision?"

Familiar people, familiar voices are crisper than wind chimes.

Before he knew that he was a wizard, Harry knew the woman in front of him, and it was she who showed him the wonders of this world.

But Harry didn't speak. He avoided Ida and walked quickly towards the stairs leading downstairs.

"Wait, I have something to tell you."

"I won't run away, Dumbledore knows I won't run away!"

Harry turned and growled the words, his breathing heavy and his chest heaving violently.

No one would be bored enough to count how many steps and how long it would take to get from the headmaster's office to Hogsmeade, but this was the last stretch of Harry's journey, the only one left in his life. time.

"I know, Dumbledore knows," Ada said, walking towards Harry, "even Voldemort knows."

The three top wizards in the wizarding world know that once Harry finds out that he has the power to stop Voldemort, he will not allow others to die for him, even if the price of this power is himself.

Harry wanted to laugh, but he didn't know why he was laughing, he didn't know what he was trying to say.

Eventually, the smile turned into a twitching of the corners of the mouth, like a cramp in the face, uglier than crying.

"If you all overestimate me and misjudge me...if I choose to run away after knowing all this, what should you do?"

Ada spoke the most murderous words in the most gentle tone, she said: "If you choose to escape and succeed, then I can only kill Voldemort first, and then dig three feet to find you. Repeat the process."

Harry's heart was cold, and he thought he would hear Ida's comfort, and hear her stop him from going to death.

But Harry was wrong, he only heard soft but cold words.

"...Dig three feet to find you, repeat the process..." Harry repeated these words unconsciously, that was really an extremely troublesome result!
Suddenly, Harry felt a warm embrace.

Feel someone gently stroking your back, feel another heartbeat, a warm and powerful heartbeat.

"Harry, death is just another great adventure. I, we, will always be by your side."

Suddenly, the warm embrace disappeared, and the heartbeat that gave him strength also disappeared. All Harry saw was the corner of his mouth, which was brighter than the sun.

……

"Where do you live?"

"No. 4 Privet Drive, not far from here."

(End of this chapter)