HP: Embrace the Darkness

There were two empty seats, and Merlin took one. Aces sat next to him, raised his empty and silent eyes, looked around politely, and greeted with a smile:

"Everyone, long time no see."

"Merlin on top!"

Helga covered her mouth, and a tiny sob was stuck in her throat, sounding dull and bitter.

"Aces, your eyes..."

"It's a trivial price. If you count the time, it will be restored soon."

Aces comforted Helga considerately.

In order to prove that what he said was true, he turned his head and looked at Helga.

He was looking in the right direction, and Helga hesitated, "About when, do you need me to check for you?"

"That would be troublesome."

Aces lowered his head and let Helga's warm fingers fiddle with his eyes.

After a moment, Helga looked serious.

Seeing this, Salazar pushed Godric aside and asked in a low voice: "Helga, what did you find?"

Helga!?

Hufflepuff?

When Snape heard Salazar's words, he looked at the four wizards with obvious characteristics in disbelief.

So these wizards are... the founders?

There is a crack in my worldview now.

Snape closed his eyes and opened them again.

All six wizards are present.

Good, it’s not an illusion.

So the four founders are still alive today, but no one knows about it.

Then who are these two?

Snape turned his attention to Hercule and Merlin, quickly sorted out his thoughts, and sneered, "It can't be Merlin and Hercule."

In "Hogwarts: A History", in addition to the four founders, two people are mentioned, one is Merlin from Slytherin House, and the other is Slytherin's mortal enemy - Herper.

Snape was laughing and suddenly froze

He recalled the records and descriptions in the book, compared the records with the two people in front of him, and came to an incredible conclusion.

If what is written in the school history is true, then these two people might, perhaps, seem, possibly, and most likely are really the evil Hercules and the legendary Merlin.

Snape's worldview was shattered.

At this moment, he didn't care that Merlin might see him, and he squatted in a corner thinking about life.

To be more precise, it was about where Ases met the founder and Merlin.

After all, ever since he met Ases, Ases had basically been by his side. During the few times he left, he would write to him every day to inform him of his itinerary and share his life.

It can be said that Ases' life trajectory after the age of eleven is clear to him.

Soon, Snape listed several suspicious time points. He was not in a hurry to eliminate them. He just eavesdropped on Helga and Salazar's private conversation openly.

After he became a soul, eavesdropping became a breeze for him.

But this time it's a little special.

Snape looked at Merlin, who was smiling at him, with unconscious fear.

For some reason, when he saw the smiling Merlin, he felt like he was seeing an enhanced version of Dumbledore in every aspect, and he felt uncomfortable all over.

Helga's low voice was filled with uneasiness, "His eyes... it seems that it's not entirely a backlash, there are external factors at work."

Merlin was the leader of Helga and the other three. After years of getting along, they had already become real relatives, so Merlin had more or less revealed some things to them.

Helga was a careful and observant witch. Based on Merlin's words and her daily observations of Athis's character, she guessed that Athis might try to peek into his own future again.

Therefore, she was mentally prepared before the examination, but she did not expect that her mental preparation was far from enough.

"External force? Apart from us, who else can hurt Athis?" Salazar's gloomy face became even uglier. Without saying a word, he pointed his spearhead at Helbo, who has been having a hard time recently. "Helbo, are you seeking revenge?"

Hailbo was dozing with his eyes half closed when he was suddenly called by Salazar. He was startled and subconsciously launched a few attacks.

"Helpo, what are you crazy about!"

Salazar was too close to dodge and was hit hard, his face turning pale instantly.

But he did not let Hailbo go. He hit back the next second when he felt the pain.

It just so happened that Hailbo was still in a daze because he hit the wrong person, and he also failed to react, so he took Salazar's attack.

Then, Hailbo's face turned pale.

The two pale-faced men looked at each other.

I always feel like something is not right.

The incident happened suddenly, and the others' attention was not on Helbo and Salazar, so no one had time to stop them.

Rowena, who reacted the fastest, calmly retracted her raised hand and asked in confusion, "Why did you do that so suddenly?"

Salazar and Herbo didn't know how to explain, so they both remained silent.

Deathly silence spread quickly.

Seeing the awkward atmosphere, Helga spoke up to smooth things over, "Where were we talking about just now?"

Salazar came down the steps Helga had given him, "Speaking of deliberate revenge."

Haierbo finally understood what had happened, and his face immediately darkened and he slammed the table.

"Who do you think is seeking revenge? I travel all over the world all day long, so I don't have the time to seek revenge. Besides, my relationship with Ases is so strong, so why should I seek revenge on him? If I have to seek revenge, it should be on you, a fool who can't tell right from wrong or good from bad!"

"Who are you calling an idiot?" Salazar slammed the table, not to be outdone. "Who else here would harm Ases except you?"

"fart--"

Hailbo was in pain and angry, his lips moved as he tried to think of words.

"How about you two have a fight?"

Godric was giving some bad advice.

Rowena slapped Godric, who was giving blind advice, and pushed him aside.

"Be quiet. No one will think you are dumb if you don't speak."

Godric was powerless to resist, so he could only shut his mouth and continue watching the show.

Merlin suddenly said, "Okay, stop making trouble. Now is not the time to make trouble."

"Aces, what are you going to do now? Or what did you see?"

Salazar and Herbo dared not disobey Merlin's words. They glared at each other and looked at Athis obediently.

Ases pondered for a moment, "I didn't see much, but I saw everything I should have seen."

Salazar's mouth twitched. What difference does it make whether it is said or not? There are still things to see. How do they know what they should see?

It was rare for Helbo to have the same idea as Salazar. How could they know what they should know and what they shouldn't know? Wasn't this just playing with them? At least they should be given some hints and scope.

Ases obviously had no such intention, and after saying this he started drinking the tea on the table.

He didn't get the direction right the first time, but Helga, who was always paying attention to him, handed him the cup of tea and carefully reminded him to be careful about the heat.

"Thank you."

Aces smiled and thanked Helga.

Haierbo took the opportunity to say: "Don't thank me yet, come here and explain to us what you should know. What should you know and what should you not know?"

Salazar agreed: "Also, how do you know what you are supposed to know? Explain that, too."

Seeing that Herbo and Salazar were still arguing about what Athis meant by "should know", Merlin shook his head helplessly and interrupted him before Athis could speak.

"No need to explain so much, this is your privacy,"

After a pause, Merlin continued, "Since you said you have seen everything you need to know, then go ahead and do it. But I want to remind you of one thing. This is also a verified guess by a friend and I."

Suddenly, seven gazes shone on Merlin like searchlights.

Merlin ignored the others and only looked at Athis and Snape behind Athis.

"Asses, the future itself is unpredictable because it has countless possibilities and is evolving at any time. Maybe in the last second, this person will die in the future, but in the next second he suddenly does something, and then he survives because of his sudden inspiration, and it is another person who dies. My friend and I named this characteristic of fate: the uncertainty of fate."

Merlin said, picking up the steaming tea, taking a sip, and continuing.

"However, when the person who is supposed to die observes his own fate in advance, then the future becomes a foregone conclusion. When he tries to escape it, his fate will automatically correct itself until it becomes the same as the future he observed. We call this characteristic of fate: the self-healing property of fate."

"This story seems a little familiar!" Godric scratched his head and looked at Rowena inquiringly, "Rowena, do you feel that way?"

Aces closed his eyes and suddenly said, "It's Schrödinger's cat."

Everyone looked at him.

"To put it simply, as long as we don't observe the future, the direction of the future is unknown, and fate will continue to evolve in an uncertain way. But as long as someone observes, the future becomes a foregone conclusion."

"In other words, from the moment I saw the future, Xifu's fate was doomed. You can also understand it as being me... who put him in danger."

Snape had a bad feeling when he heard the first half of Athis's words and was mentally prepared. But when he heard the second half of Athis's words with his own ears, his heart was still strangled by Wuxin's big hand.

"Damn it! What the hell are you talking about? What does this have to do with you? Did you leave your brain at home? You should--according to you, you shouldn't have seen the future, shouldn't have come to Hogwarts, and shouldn't have met me?!"

Snape angrily yelled at Athis, not caring whether he could hear him or not.

Merlin, who was standing by, was watching the fun and didn't mind making things worse. He slightly changed his way of expression and exaggerated the meaning of Snape's words to Aces.

Aces looked up blankly, and said with a strong desire to survive: "Regret meeting Sifu? How is that possible? This is the only thing I have never regretted."

Hearing this, Snape's anger subsided a little.

"Then you said you harmed him?" Herbo asked Snape's question. "If I understand correctly, you mean you regret putting him in danger. If you didn't know him, there would be no danger. To put it in perspective, you regret knowing him."

"How can you round off like that?" Salazar rolled his eyes at Helbo in annoyance.

Godric stroked his chin, "I think Helbo's rounding makes sense, what do you think? Helga, Rowena."

Helga and Rowena just want to kick all these idiots out.

"That's not what Aces meant."

Rowena couldn't bear it any longer and took the initiative to explain for Ases.

"In my opinion, Schrödinger's cat is actually a paradox. The cat in the box can only be in two states, 'dead' and 'alive'. But according to the theory of Schrödinger's cat, the cat in the box should be in a superposition of 'dead' and 'alive'. However, whether you open the box or not, the cat inside will not live if it should die, and will not die if it should live. In other words, it is already in a certain state, but you only discover it when you open the box."

This series of confusing words almost confused Godric. He took a while to sort it out before saying thoughtfully: "You mean, this theory is self-deception, and the fact has already become the fact?"

Rowena glanced at the smiling Merlin. No, she didn't say such a thing. Don't slander her.

Merlin felt Rowena's gaze, but he was not angry. It was normal for everyone to see different things and have different opinions and ideas. He looked at Ases to see what he thought of this theory.

Aces pondered for a few seconds, then nodded in agreement with Rowena's words, "Royena is right. I do know that the future is not entirely my fault, but sometimes, right and wrong are not divided according to right and wrong, and the same goes for winning and losing."

After falling in love with Snape, he had already lost, and this time was no exception. No matter whether it had anything to do with him or not, he couldn't help but feel sad, and he couldn't help but think it was his fault.

Snape was silent for a moment, and the others didn't necessarily know what to say, as if saying anything at this moment would be redundant. Merlin broke the silence.

"Do you feel like you owe him?"

Although it was a question, Merlin said it with absolute certainty. Athis lowered his eyes, and his already dim eyes were completely covered by shadows.

"Yes."

"Have you ever thought that maybe he feels the same way?"

Snape, who was anxiously standing by, was startled and turned his head suddenly. He met Merlin's eyes that seemed to see through everything and avoided them unconsciously.

"Don't worry." Merlin didn't know whether he was talking to Athis or Snape. "You've done well enough. He doesn't owe you anything, and likewise, you don't owe him anything."

Snape thought about it and felt that Merlin should be talking to him, so he nodded hesitantly and then shook his head.

Almost at the same time, Ases did the same thing.

Merlin, the only one who could see the two of them, smiled helplessly. These two people seemed to have a tacit understanding and valued each other more than themselves. It seemed that they, the outsiders, were talking too much.

Merlin smiled and brought the topic back to where it had strayed. "I'm afraid your eyes will need some time to recover. I'll teach you a spell later. It'll take a few days."

"it is good."

Athis accepted Merlin's kindness with extraordinary calmness, without even being polite.

This slightly intimate and weird attitude made Snape look at him a few more times, wondering when Merlin had offended him.