[HP] Similar but different

That night and into the weekend, Harry didn't think much of anything.The fact that Voldemort was able to attack people through his eyes was already worrying him a lot, plus the speculation that a part of the Dark Lord might actually be inside his head... the pressure was just too much.

But Harry still came up with what he thought was the best solution.

First, he had to keep his distance from everyone else until he actually learned Occlumency.This is not only to protect him, but also to protect them.Even if the dormant Dark Lord wasn't going to make a lot of shots, he should consider the fact that his eyes gave away too much information.

Then, he had to verify that conjecture, whether it was true or not.False would be best, but if it was real...he had to take effective measures, because just thinking about it was unbearable for him—he was dirty, unclean, polluted—

Enough is enough!Voldemort really better not want to be in his head, so that they can barely reach a consensus and completely disconnect the two-way link in his head!

Harry decided to start with the library.Given that Snape had said that the link had come about because of the failed Kedavra Curse, he was already prepared to explore the restricted sections of the library at night.Of course, bring an invisibility cloak.Although Hermione was obviously better at looking up information, but he had made up his mind to do it himself.

On Saturday morning, Harry was the first to wake up in the dormitory.Thinking of Quidditch practice at ten o'clock, he got out of bed, planning to send Sirius a letter before then.

Because it was so early, the owl shack was empty.Harry watched his snow-white Hedwig fly away, and when he turned around, he saw Choya climbing up.The impatience on the Hogwarts Express and Hermione's words came to mind immediately, and he was embarrassed. "...Hey, Qiu, good morning."

This greeting seemed to save Qiu from the same embarrassment.She breathed a sigh of relief and said, "Hello, Harry."

"Are you here to post letters too?" Harry racked his brains to think of words - dealing with girls is not his forte, let alone girls he likes.

Qiu waved the envelope in his hand. "Yes, for my mother."

There was an awkward silence for a while, as if everyone wanted to say something, but they didn't dare to say it, or didn't know how to say it.

Harry worked up his courage several times, and finally he was able to speak. "Sorry," he stumbles, secretly glad it's just the two of them. "I mean...well, on the train, I'm not targeting you."

Qiu looked at him, more relieved. "It's okay," she smiled, "I think I may have picked the wrong time."

Harry felt like he was going to blush at that smile.His heart raced as he realized that now was a good time to draw them closer; but the thrill of pleasure was soon doused by the thought of who was watching all this from behind his eyes.

If Umbridge had been replaced by Cho... Harry's stomach twitched uncomfortably.He definitely doesn't want to see Cho because he gets hurt, by any means.The thought made his mood take a turn for the worse, and the easy smile on his face disappeared irrevocably. "...Then I'll go down first."

Cho was clearly aware of the change, for she was puzzled and seemed a little unhappy. "Okay. See you next time, Harry."

Although Harry was sorry, but thinking of the unexpected Imperius Curse last time, he didn't dare to look at the black-haired girl any more, so he could only vaguely agree, and hurried down the stairs without looking back.

This poor start by any means casts a pall over the rest of Saturday.

Quidditch practice was okay, because everyone else's attention was on Ron, who had just become goalkeeper, and Harry's low spirits were less conspicuous.As for the after-lunch Occlumency tutorial...

Harry was flustered.Although he thought that Voldemort would probably not easily let others know about their secret transaction, but what if Snape saw something?

Snape did see something, too.After Harry got up from the floor for the third time, he narrowed his dark eyes and asked, "What are you doing in an empty classroom, Potter?"

Harry had just tried to resist Snape seeing something deeper - Umbridge stared at him absently, he had hidden the fake locket in the mysterious room on the eighth floor - and was taken aback. "Wha..." He had barely uttered a sound before realizing that the Potions professor had seen him hear Voldemort's voice for the first time. "Nothing," he quickly denied.

Snape obviously didn't believe it at all. "So you told me that when you were walking on the road, you suddenly froze for a moment, and you just wanted to be alone and talk to yourself in the air?" He added the emphasis at the end.

Harry was taken aback.He was talking to the voice in his head at that time, and it seemed to others that he was talking to himself.But if Snape heard the soliloquy, then he should know who the other object was? "Did talking to yourself violate any school rules?" He retorted, trying to maintain his expression, not wanting to show his flaws.

Snape puckered his lips in disgust. "Very well, you refreshed my understanding of your troll head again, Potter." He said, in a bad tone, "I found that your performance this time is no better than last time. You did as I said Did you practice?"

Although he was ridiculed again, the topic was successfully changed, and Harry secretly heaved a sigh of relief. "Of course." He met Snape's distrustful eyes, and added, "Clear your brain before going to bed."

"Be serious, Potter, I'll know if you're telling the truth." Snape raised his eyebrows dangerously. "Same time tomorrow, continue."

Snape might have actually given him a threat to insinuate Veritaserum, but Harry didn't take it seriously.He quickly left the cellar, full of doubts—

Why didn't Snape know who he was talking to?

It couldn't have been fake, because the purpose of tutoring was to keep Voldemort from prying into his mind.Snape would be furious if he found out that his link with Voldemort had been active - the Potions Professor had never been able to contain his distaste for him.

So, because Snape didn't catch it?Or was it because Snape hadn't heard... got it?

Harry stopped abruptly, his heart pounding.Both hypotheses were possible, and he found himself leaning towards the former—

If Voldemort really wanted secrecy, of course he would have chosen Parseltongue.Even in the unlikely event that he was insane, say, a meaningless hiss would be the most likely to be captured.It seems that Snape's insanity has obviously not reached that depth...

Why had he only now discovered that Voldemort had been speaking to him in Parseltongue?

Harry had thought of going to the library before dinner, but he had changed his mind.He rushed up to the eighth floor through the remote corridor, and he needed to test his conjecture on the fake locket immediately.

Say "I need a place to hide things" silently in my heart, and walk back and forth three times at the same time...

The door appeared again on the empty wall.Harry unscrewed it, swept in like a whirlwind, and slammed the door behind him.

The room was as large as a cathedral, with beams of light cast from high windows.Dust was everywhere, and the things that Hogwarts people had hidden here for hundreds of thousands of years were piled up into hills reaching the ceiling.He nimbly walked through the crumbling furniture and the huge pile of books with unknown records, turned right, passed the troll specimen, turned left again, and finally stopped in front of a large cabinet with corroded surfaces.

Harry opened the creaking cabinet door and moved aside the cage containing the five-legged corpse, revealing the locket.He grabbed it, and just about to say the code word, he looked to the side as if he had noticed something.

The shabby black cloth picture frame was still hanging there, and like everything else around it, a thick layer of dust had accumulated.It seemed like a blank frame, but he always felt that there were malicious eyes watching him from behind the canvas...

Harry shook his head vigorously.He must have been hallucinated by Voldemort.The Dark Lord might hang a portrait in the home of a die-hard Death Eater, and he might peek inside his head whenever he got the chance, but why would the Dark Lord stare at a room full of rubbish?

With that in mind, Harry turned his attention to the locket in his palm.It lay quietly, not moving.But he didn't know what would happen when it was opened, so he removed the wizard's head on one side of the crate, along with the rusty diadem on his head, put the locket back on, and pointed his wand at it.

Everything was ready, he tried to remember the hissing feeling——

"Open."

The locket moved slightly, but did not open.Harry thought he heard a low hum, and wondered if Parseltongue might be resonating with the contents of the box.

"Open!" he said a little louder.

With a snap, the locket bounced open, and a puff of black smoke came out from inside.Harry jerked back, his wand raised even higher.The smoke spiraled up in his vigilant stare, and finally condensed into a transparent human shape——

Voldemort!

"I've been waiting for you for almost a whole week..." the figure began, very softly, and seemed to be full of regret, "So slow, my boy."

The author has something to say:

Spoof Little Theater:

Lao Fu: You still want to fall in love with others under the eyes of several people? Big guts!

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