Harry Potter and the Burnt Badger

PS: The content of the previous chapter has been adjusted to make the reading experience more comfortable. The essence of the content has not changed much. Interested book friends can read it again [23.07.30].

…………

If possible, Harry really wanted to say "he'd better drop out of school". After all, although most people in Hogwarts are very friendly, in such an environment, they are still trying hard to give Harry Malfoy, who was looking for trouble, not only did not make people feel better, but in Harry's eyes, he was made to look a bit "outstanding".

Of course, Harry could only think about such things in his mind at most.In any case, Malfoy didn't really cause him any trouble, and he didn't need to directly curse them for not learning.

"Hmph, if you think about it, Lucius Malfoy has already been arrested. Of course, he can't be arrogant anymore." The person who really commented on Blaise's statement was Cormac McCra Well, when he said this, his expression was still the same as when he commented on the Weasley family before, with a bit of humor. It seemed that in his eyes, these could only be regarded as a kind of...joking?

"Staying in the dormitory every day is considered for his own safety. With his family in such a situation, obviously he can only live in Hogwarts with his tail between his legs, right?"

As he spoke, he showed what he thought was a charming smile towards Violet. Violet was stunned and couldn't help but start to murmur in her heart.

Is there something wrong with this guy who likes to attack other people's families indiscriminately and thinks it's a funny joke... There's something wrong with his brain?

With Violet's always kind, gentle, non-competitive character, she would naturally not say this speculation out loud, but this does not mean that she intends to let Cormac continue to misunderstand his behavior - even if it is for the same reason. As students at Hogwarts help each other, Violet feels that she also needs to make Cormac realize that her behavior is not flattering.

Therefore, before Cormac could restrain his smile, Violet said softly: "Mr. McClane, it is not a good behavior to openly joke about humiliation in public. If you even want to use If you attract a girl's attention in this way, then I think you may have drunk too much mead and become a little dizzy."

Cormac's face turned red all of a sudden, and Ron and Harry beside him were instantly happy. These two people had long been dissatisfied with Cormac's arrogant and funny face.

Professor Slughorn was also in trouble for a while. If Cormac only offended Ron and Percy, then he could still make peace.But now that Violet was added to the other side of the scale, it would be difficult for him to say anything.

What's more, it looks like one to three, but in fact... this is actually one to eight?After all, these two children are not the only ones in the Weasley family.

Of course, the next moment, both sides of the scale were immediately out of balance, because he saw the smile on Harry's face and the thumbs up he secretly gave Violet.

Well, a pair of nine.

Just when Professor Slughorn was about to speak and ask Cormac to take back what he was about to say, Hesper suddenly added, "It seems that MacLaine's drinking capacity is not very good. Why don't you talk to us next time?" First and second graders, let’s drink butterbeer together.”

Then, Quaid grinned and patted Hesper on the shoulder, "Don't talk nonsense. There is no degree of mead."

A pair of...Eleven?Or twelve?Or... more?

Professor Slughorn raised his brows and quickly said before more people spoke: "Okay, Cormac, just say a few words."

Cormac's face was already the color of pig liver from suppressing his emotions. When Professor Slughorn said these words, he suddenly felt like a deflated ball. He leaned back on the chair and lowered his head to pick up the ball. Cup, it took a long time to get the sweet mead in it into my mouth.

Blaise couldn't help laughing. Look, he is much smarter. When he came in today, he noticed something was wrong - there were only about ten people in the room, and about half of them were from the school newspaper office. Susan Bones, Harry Potter, Hermione Granger, and the Weasley brothers also had close relationships with the people in the school newspaper office.

To put it bluntly, Professor Slughorn still has to find a way to develop relationships with these people, but what about these people?They are just a small group.

So he immediately made up his mind to establish a good relationship with these people quickly.

As for Malfoy... although he had some interactions with those people in the past, he really couldn't say that he had any relationship. It was just a friendship that he could talk to for a few words.If it were a cyclic relationship, just among these people here, his relationship with Malfoy was far different from Theodore Nott's relationship with Malfoy.

If he hadn't thought about this carefully, he wouldn't have spoken to Terrence Higgs just now when he talked about Malfoy.

It seems that McClane himself has not inherited any of the political skills of his fathers.

After laughing twice in schadenfreude, Blaise also knew very well that the atmosphere was once again at a deadlock. If he could raise the topic again, Professor Slughorn would also give him a high look.So, he quickly said: "By the way, I heard that Professor Slughorn also has a close relationship with the famous broomstick maker. Is it true?"

The topic of the party changed again, and Professor Slughorn found his direction and immediately started talking about his wonderful past events.Moon finally ended his thinking and couldn't help but look at Blaise a few more times.

He finally matched this guy with his memory.

Blaise Zabini... This guy himself is not interesting, but his mother is a very... powerful person.There have been many husbands, and the similarities are very obvious: they all died, all died under suspicious circumstances, and they all left Zabini's mother a large and generous inheritance.

Judging from his behavior at the party organized by Slughorn in the original book, this guy is more like a pure-bloodist who has contempt for non-pure-bloods.Although he couldn't remember clearly, in Moon's mind, this guy had made some not-so-nice remarks.In addition, his relationship with Draco Malfoy is not very good, and he can even openly question and ridicule Malfoy.

But at the moment, it seems that Mr. Zabini is obviously not a pure "purist". On the contrary, this guy should have inherited some flexible and smart brains from his mother - he can see clearly the form, There is no sloppiness in standing in line, and I know when to say what to say and what to do.

Rather than being a pure-blooded person, he is more of a utilitarian, and a utilitarian with certain abilities.He can be anyone if necessary, as long as it doesn't go against his chosen side.For example, in the original book, he was a Slytherin himself, and Voldemort was causing trouble every year and finally gained power. Slytherin was in a good situation. At this time, he would make himself a pure-blood supreme. [Note 1]

But now, Voldemort has suffered successive blows and Hogwarts is becoming more and more united. Naturally, he can no longer allow himself to become a pure-blood minority with no future.

After that, there was almost no drama at the party, Theodore Nott maintained his melancholy persona, and Cormac MacLaine fell into complete silence.Others echoed Professor Slughorn's words or answered some questions from time to time.Cedric would often cue Munn when he had nothing to do. Munn, who was not thinking about anything, was no longer silent, but he still didn't talk as much as usual.

By the end of the party, the Greengrass sisters, who had never spoken much and whose presence was even lower than Susan who only answered when asked, also joined the chat, especially the younger ones. Astoria, unlike her sister Daphne who is very close to Pansy Parkinson, Astoria is relatively more innocent and has more open ideas, so she speaks even more often than her sister. A lot more.

It wasn't until the time came to 08:30 in the evening that Professor Slughorn looked at his watch, then stood up and greeted quickly: "Ah, happy time is always quite short, let's go, children, it's time to come back to you." dormitory. Otherwise, if you are caught later and don’t go back at the specified time, someone will come to trouble me, haha.”

Of course, no one had any objections to this. After all, they themselves did not want to risk being caught by Mr. Filch and go back.Therefore, in response to the professor's words, everyone got up and left their seats, said goodbye to the professor, and walked out of the office door.

"Oh, by the way, after a while, several of my former students want to come back to see me. I think you may be interested in two of them - one is Gwenog Jones and the other is Bana. Bas Guffey, if you want, how about we have another small gathering like today?"

Most of the little wizards obviously had no objections to this. Ron even asked Professor Slughorn excitedly: "Gwenog? Professor, you are talking about Gwenog from the Holyhead Harpies." ·Jones?”

"Yes, Ron, that's her. What? Are you a fan of theirs too?" Professor Slughorn remembered Ron's name accurately. [Note 2]

"Of course, Professor, I like them very much. They play great." Ron nodded vigorously, and then said a little embarrassedly: "Then can I bring my sister Ginny with me next time?"

Seeing that Ron didn't finish his sentence, perhaps because he was worried about being rude, or because he also wanted Ginny to get this opportunity, Percy quickly added: "My sister is a loyal fan of this team."

There was no doubt that Professor Slughorn nodded happily.

Chapter 44 Rise and Fall

After leaving Professor Slughorn's office, except for Theodore Nott who walked out and Cormac McLaggen who was completely embarrassed to stay and communicate with others, the others were walking and chatting in the corridor. , spoke for a short while.

In fact, Daphne Greengrass also wanted to pull her sister away directly.But seeing that Moon and others did not seem to have any excessive resistance to her, and Astoria really liked chatting with Violet and Terrence, Daphne could only slow down her pace. , it’s up to her little sister.

Of course, now that only the little wizards are left, the content of everyone's chat will naturally not be the same as at the party before, where Professor Slughorn always talked about those "famous" and "influential" people. On "interesting" things.On the contrary, everyone obviously still prefers to talk about things in the school, such as dueling clubs, school newspapers, and their courses and professors.

Astoria was the first to express her regret. She had just entered school this year and had not yet had the opportunity to join the Duel Club.But soon she said with great interest that at least she could participate in the school's semifinals - that would be fun.

In this regard, everyone sent their blessings and encouragement.Except for Percy, as soon as this guy left the party, he immediately started to act like the President of the Boy's Student Council, and told Astoria seriously that first-year wizards tend to lag behind in the Four-wizard tournament. .

Really, Ron wanted to shove his brother directly back into Professor Slughorn's office - if he could.

Fortunately, Harry saw that the situation was not good and immediately promoted Hagrid's Care of Magical Creatures class to Astoria.In their first class, Hagrid told them about "Hedgehogs", which are little guys that look almost the same as hedgehogs. The only difference is that they are more vigilant and have sharp points on their bodies. The thorns are magical.

Percy immediately cleared his throat, preparing to sweep away everyone's interest again, and then he was stood in the middle by Oliver and Terrence, who were in the same grade as him, and even Hermione, Violet and Cedric They all looked at him to shut up, and Moon quietly stood behind him.Under this unanimous offensive, Percy finally calmed down for a while and did not speak again.

Otherwise, judging from Ron's flushed face, he might have to sever his brotherhood with Percy on the spot.

Orsino Slaston, who had no sense of existence throughout the whole process (actually suppressing his own nature), also became active after leaving the professor's sight. After everyone chatted a few times about elective courses, he Suddenly and mysteriously, they promoted the new song of their weird sister band to everyone.After everyone's curiosity was almost aroused, he grinned and laughed, refusing to reveal when he would release a record or appear on Wizard Radio.

So, Oliver and Terrence immediately changed their goals.

Facts have proved that Percy was not "touched" by the two men entirely because his title of President of the Boys' Student Union was somewhat of a deterrent.And Orsino... the name of the Weird Sisters' Drummer is of no use in the corridors of Hogwarts. It is not even as intimidating as Peeves' name; and the leather jacket he wears under his robes does not add much. Defense value.

Ten seconds later, Orsino couldn't stand the siege of the two people and the unbridled laughter of others, not to mention that the surrounding portraits even started to watch him.In desperation, he had to explain more details one by one.

Anyway, the new record will be announced in a few days, and he didn't leak the information a few days in advance - just treat it as an exclusive benefit for Hogwarts.

In this way, a group of young wizards laughed and made noise, and walked for ten minutes on a short stretch of road.It wasn't until it was really too late that they finally separated and headed towards the common room of their own college.

After arriving in the Hufflepuff common room, for the first time, under Cedric's nervous gaze, Moon did not go directly back to the dormitory as usual, but just like in previous semesters, he went to the dormitory. Violet sat together in front of the fireplace and quietly opened a book.

Gal and Arlin gathered around Cedric and quietly gave him a thumbs up.Cedric chuckled and pointed to the corner next to him, completely leaving this short period of time before going to bed to Moon.

…………

In the next few days, life fell into calm again.What disappoints Cedric and others is that it seems that interesting social interactions may allow Moon to find some temporary peace, but he still cannot resist the invasion of nightmares and bad emotions.

On the second day alone, Moon returned to the situation where he immediately wanted to return to the dormitory as soon as he entered the common room.

Apparently, their first attempt failed.

Moon was actually very sorry about this.However, most of the time, he must be alone, and only alone.

Perhaps in the eyes of Cedric and others, his mood was similar to that of Uncle Edgar in the third grade when he was in crisis, but only Moon knew that there was a big difference between the two.

As one nightmare after another continued to come late at night, his physical and mental fatigue increased day by day. Not only that, he could feel that his mentality was also changing.Anger, violence, and even some crazily spreading desire for destruction.Only when he was alone could he suppress these things as much as possible.

Socializing with others certainly helps him feel positive emotions, but at the same time, it actually increases the risk.The more he socializes, the easier it is for him to lose control.

As for losing control, once it happens for the first time, it is like a flood that has broken through the dam, and it can no longer be restrained.

He knew very well that he had to talk to Professor Dumbledore.

Therefore, on Friday night, just after dinner, he said goodbye to Cedric and others, and went straight to the principal's office - by noon, he had asked the house elf to send a message to Professor Dumbledore, and also received responded.

The gargoyle was still standing quietly outside the door of Professor Dumbledore's office. When Moon walked here, the gargoyle suddenly opened its eyes, and the stone-carved pupils were filled with a rich glow. Bloody red.

This made its extremely ugly appearance suddenly more terrifying.

"Your mood... is not quite right." Rarely, the gargoyle spoke again, and the topic was not related to itself or Professor Dumbledore, but about Moon, "Your The condition is not very good either.”

Moon's expression froze, and then he whispered in a tired voice: "Is it so obvious already?"

The gargoyle was silent for a moment, then suddenly jumped aside and gave way to the stairs behind him. "Sometimes, there is no difference between humans and monsters like us. You can't always block your mouth, you have to let the water flow out. Otherwise, , no matter how solid the stone is, it will be damaged by swelling.”

"You're almost fucked up."

"...Thank you." Moon bowed, shuffled up the spiral staircase, and then gently opened the door.

Professor Dumbledore was still sitting behind the desk. What was unusual was that he was wearing a simple dark gray robe with no decorations on it.Moreover, he looked equally tired. Even compared to Moon, he was just a little less bored and restrained.

But after seeing Moon's expression, he immediately stood up from behind the table, his eyes showing deep uneasiness and guilt.

The one who had the same reaction as him was Fox, who was originally drowsy on the shelf.

"Moon, are you...is that ring still with you?"

Moon nodded lightly, took out the box containing the Horcrux from the buckle bag, and placed it on the old man's desk.Professor Dumbledore glanced down at the box, suddenly picked it up, and threw it to Fawkes on the shelf.

Fox fluttered his wings, grabbed the box with his claws, and then glanced back at Munn. He turned around and disappeared into the flames.

"I think that before we decide to get rid of that ring, it's best that we don't wear it anymore, even if this time may not be very long." Professor Dumbledore looked at Moon with concern, "You look like... …”

"It's bad, I know, Professor." Moon pulled out the chair, sat on it, and then sighed slowly, "Sorry, I know you must be very busy recently, things at the Ministry of Magic, and other Horcruxes. Things, maybe... things about Professor Snape?"

"Yes." The old man stared at Moon, "But I suddenly realized that I seemed to be careless. Perhaps the person who needs my help most is right next to me - was it the influence of the Horcrux? Or was it the exploration of Bellatrix at that time? Is it caused by Si’s memory?”

"None of them... but they may all have contributed to it."

Moon pursed his lips and suddenly said: "Professor, is there any way to verify whether a person's memory is missing?"

Professor Dumbledore's brows suddenly furrowed. "You suspect that your memory is incomplete? But you probably haven't encountered any attacks..."

"I don't know the reason, but I do suspect that my memory is incomplete. I have been having nightmares recently, and these nightmares keep making me feel like I have forgotten something very important." Moon tried his best to keep his voice steady. "And, there are some very negative things that are constantly affecting me. It may come from Azkaban and Bellatrix, it may come from Horcruxes, it may also be... …There are all these things, even Voldemort’s diary.”

"But they...are not the main cause."

Chapter 45 The Fall

"Do you know why Sirius can stay in Azkaban for so many years without ever falling into madness? Even though he is not like those Death Eaters, his mind is filled with Voldemort and their illusory ideas."

Before Moon left, Professor Dumbledore said this to him.

"Because Sirius has always had a belief in his mind. He has always known that he was not the one who betrayed his friend's family - I hope you can go and talk to him, okay, Moon, maybe his Experience will help you a little bit.”

Moon did not answer immediately because, to be honest, he didn't really want to involve more people in his matter.More importantly, he didn't think Sirius could bring much help to his current situation.

If nothing else, at least Sirius, who was in Azkaban, knew exactly what was affecting his emotions, but for Moon, this matter was the biggest crux at the moment.

But the next day, he still came to Sirius's office door and found Sirius for a walk together.On the one hand, it was to prevent Professor Dumbledore from worrying, and on the other hand, he himself had the desire to be a doctor on a dead horse.After all, no matter how bad things are, they can't be much worse.

maybe...

Naturally, Sirius had no reason to refuse Moon's invitation.Especially this weekend, he didn't have anything important to do, and he originally planned to just play cards with Remus in the faculty lounge.

After leaving the castle, the two began to walk slowly along the edge of a forest. After walking for a while, Sirius suddenly said: "Professor Dumbledore told me roughly about your situation - don't worry, He didn’t go into great detail, he just said that you haven’t been in a good mood lately, and I hope I can tell you about what I experienced in Azkaban in the past few years.”

He took out a piece of mint candy bought at Honeydukes from his pocket, handed one to Moon, and stuffed one into his mouth. "If you ask me, I think Professor Dumbledore is probably a little sick and has to go to the hospital." Yeah, I don't think all that shit in Azkaban will help you. Instead of talking to me, you should probably talk to Remus. But anyway, now that we're both out, I’ll just tell you about it.”

Sirius shrugged nonchalantly, then burped and exhaled a burst of cold air from his mouth, "Actually, there's nothing worth saying. Those damn dementors will only seize those beautiful, happy, and happy memories." , other than those things, monsters like them can't take them away. This is also the biggest reason why I can always maintain my sanity - it's not accurate to say that, it's more like I can maintain a certain self at that time - .”

"Perhaps you have heard that when I was arrested, I stood on the street laughing."

As he spoke, Sirius straightened his short hair, and his face showed a bit of sadness and recollection. "At that time, I thought Peter Pedro was dead, so I didn't resist at all. I was arrested by the Aurors. Because I felt that I deserved it."

"But even so, I know very well that I was never the one who betrayed James. And this, Moon, even in the eyes of the dementors, this is not a good memory. Of course, this is not It’s not a crazy, sad memory, in short, you just need to know that the dementors will not take this memory away from me.”

"It's because of this that I can still firmly remember who I am and what I have experienced under the influence of so many Dementors. Therefore, I have never become like other prisoners. Stupid, crazy."

"Well..." Moon nodded slightly, forcing a smile on his face.

Sure enough, just as he thought, this had no reference value to him.

He has never forgotten any good memories. Even if you ask him to release a Patronus Charm now, he can force himself to release it.To put it bluntly, it's more like he is hiding a monster in his heart that is completely opposite to the real Dementor——

The dementor will keep taking away your good memories, but the monster in his heart is constantly releasing a lot of negative emotions.

It seems that the final result is the same, but... there is only so much happiness that can be sucked away from a person, but how much despair and madness can be contained in a person's heart?

Moon didn't really want to know the answer.

At this moment, Sirius suddenly stopped and gently put his left hand on Moon's shoulder. "Hey, Moon, do you want to hear my thoughts?"

Moon nodded slightly, then paused and turned to Sirius.