Hogwarts in the shadows

"Headmaster, where exactly is this? Am I dead?" Harry couldn't help but speak first.

"Oh," Dumbledore's smile grew even brighter.

"I'm so glad you can continue to call me Principal.

But it is a question, and on the whole, my dear child, I do not think you are dead."

They looked at each other, and the old man still smiled gently.

"No?" Harry asked with a hint of disbelief in his voice.

"No."

"But……"

Harry instinctively reached for the lightning-shaped scar, only to find that it seemed gone.

"But I should be dead. I was hit by the killing curse."

"Did Voldemort do it himself? I think that's why," Dumbledore said, still smiling.

“That’s when the whole thing took a turn for the better.”

Harry didn't quite understand what Dumbledore was talking about.

But when he heard Dumbledore say that he was not dead, he thought of Draco who was being tortured.

He said anxiously, "Principal, since I'm still alive, can you help me return to my original world?"

"Well, don't you want to know the reason for all this?" Dumbledore asked gently.

"We'll talk about the reasons later. The most important thing now is for me to go back." Harry's tone revealed urgency.

"Then can you tell me the reason?" Dumbledore asked again.

"Draco and I are fighting Voldemort. He is being tortured by Voldemort now. I have to go back and help him."

Harry explained quickly, and stood up involuntarily, as if he was about to leave.

Dumbledore looked at Harry gently, "Okay, Harry, don't worry. It's just that I don't know how you are going to get back."

"You don't know either?" Harry's face was full of anxiety.

Dumbledore glanced at the child still lying on the ground, "But I can assure you that Voldemort cannot harm Mr. Malfoy now."

"Really?" Harry asked in surprise.

Dumbledore nodded, "I don't have much time either. I owe you some explanations. Now is the time for me to tell you."

Harry took a deep breath and sat down again. Since he couldn't leave immediately, he decided to listen to what Dumbledore wanted to say.

"Harry, first of all, I want to apologize to you," said Dumbledore, bowing slightly.

"Apologize?" Harry dodged to the side a little at a loss.

"I'm sorry, Harry, I didn't give you enough trust and left you confused about many things." Dumbledore said sincerely.

Harry shook his head quickly, "With my current strength, it's only natural that I don't have your trust.

Draco once told me that status is earned through strength, and so is trust.

Without strength, the more you know, the more troubles you may have. "

Dumbledore's eyes flickered, although he did not completely agree with this point of view.

But Draco was already quite mature to say such things at his age.

"Now there are some things that can indeed be explained to you clearly."

Dumbledore begins with the prophecy made fifteen years ago.

The story of the Horcruxes, and how a fragment of Voldemort's soul was in Harry's mind.

He explained to Harry some of his guesses.

Harry's brain was also a little dizzy because of these things.

He subconsciously glanced at the child lying on the ground.

"So, by killing me, he destroyed the part of his soul that was in me?"

Harry suddenly felt why this world was so outrageous.

Dumbledore nodded, his smile growing more pronounced.

"Yes, Voldemort destroyed it himself. Now, your soul is whole and entirely your own, Harry."

Harry felt for a moment that he had received too much information and his thoughts kept jumping around.

Somehow he remembered his encounter with the centaur in his first year, the one who had predicted that he should be killed by Voldemort.

When he returned to school, he was scolded.

Thinking back on it now, he felt his face burning.

It turned out that the centaur had pointed him to the most correct path from the very beginning.

"So have all the Horcruxes you mentioned been destroyed?"

"Except for you, the one he accidentally created, he should have created six Horcruxes." Dumbledore counted slowly.

"Marvolo's ring, Riddle's diary, Ravenclaw's crown of wisdom,

Slytherin's locket, and Hufflepuff's cup, have been destroyed."

Then he shook his head helplessly, "Now there is one left, but we don't know what it is."

Harry looked at the child lying on the ground again and spread his hands helplessly.

"Now I have no chance to know what the final Horcrux is."

"Harry, don't worry, Hephis will find a way." Dumbledore comforted.

"By the way, you should be dueling with Hephis, right?" Harry suddenly remembered, "Who won?"

"Me and Hephaestus duel?" Dumbledore looked a little confused.

Harry stood up suddenly, took a few steps back, and looked at Dumbledore in front of him with some caution.

"I don't know what time it is now, but judging from your appearance, not much time has passed."

Dumbledore sighed and continued explaining.

"I cast this spell on you after I decided to leave Hogwarts.

In case you get lost, I can guide you. As for the duel with Hephes you mentioned..."

He paused. “That’s definitely something I might do.”

Harry breathed a sigh of relief after hearing Dumbledore's explanation.

Right.

If you wanted to hurt him, there was no need to tell him so much.

"Well, can I ask why you went to kill those people?"

"What do you think?" Dumbledore did not answer directly, but instead prompted Harry to guess with an encouraging smile.

Harry thought back to what Draco had told him, especially the idea of ​​the Shadow.

He said affirmatively, "For the wizard."

Dumbledore was stunned at first, then he smiled happily, "Thank you, Harry."

They stared at each other for a long time.

Harry felt that the figure of the old man in front of him seemed even taller.

"I think I should go back."

Harry stood up, and Dumbledore followed suit.

"Of course," Dumbledore added. "Harry, you are braver than I thought."

Harry glanced again at the trembling, sobbing red thing in the shadow far away under the chair.

"Tell me one last thing," Harry pointed to his head.

“Is this really happening, or is this just something that’s happening in my head?”

Dumbledore smiled at him, and although the bright mist fell again, obscuring his figure, his voice reached Harry's ears clearly.

"Of course it's happening in your head, Harry, but why does that mean it's not real?"