[HP] Similar but different

As if to make up Harry's mind, Voldemort did not appear once for the next three weeks.He had become adept at resisting Snape's prying eyes on his communication with the Dark Lord, as no new details had been added.He also tried to open the locket again, but there was no phantom of Voldemort inside - the Dark Lord was, as he said, not a house-elf always on call.

In this way, Harry could not firmly refuse Hermione's proposal.Not to mention that he can now get an "O" in every paper, and if he can't do it himself, he looks very weak, and he is suspected of showing off in disguise.

Actually Harry didn't want that.But when he still forced himself to stay alone as much as possible and couldn't change Crown's will, it was inevitable that this kind of thing would happen.Then again, although he always has a guilty conscience of cheating, he is still very happy to give Gryffindor points.

This is not to say that Harry no longer cares about the Dark Lord who has not been heard from.

Voldemort's first week of inactivity had been a great relief, because he finally no longer had that awful feeling of a viper stalking behind his eyes.In the second week, the ease turned into happiness: if Voldemort hadn't been online, he wouldn't have dared to agree to Hermione's defense team or something.By the third week, he had to start wondering if Voldemort might have found some new way to solve the problem—

Even if he was hooked, it would have been too long, right?Does the Dark Lord no longer need him?

Of course, Harry is far from the only one who wants to know what Voldemort is doing.

"...The operation to obtain the prophecy ball ended without a problem? Now, even the Death Eaters, no one knows where Voldemort is, let alone what he is doing?"

When Moody asked, the long table in the living room of No. 12 Grimmauld Place was full of people.The flames in the fireplace danced, reflecting faces with different expressions.

Another Phoenix meeting, but no progress was made, including Snape, who had just finished his report. "The Dark Lord has not held a single meeting of Death Eaters since Potter was attacked in Little Whinging," he stated deadpan.It had been nearly two months since his last presentation, when the subject was that Malfoy Manor was no longer Death Eater headquarters.

"Didn't he summon anyone to do something?" Kingsley Shacklebolt leaned forward slightly, staring at Snape intently. "Is there any Death Eater who is particularly favored? The red man in front of Voldemort?"

Hearing "favored" and "red man", Sirius, who had been holding his arms all the time, let out a disdainful air from his nose.

Snape didn't seem to hear.He glanced at Kingsley, speaking in a straightforward tone. "Of course. Barty Crouch Jr. He's the only one who's seen the Dark Lord lately. Lucius tried asking him, but his mouth is as tight as a clamshell."

Sirius' snort grew louder, drawing sideways glances from Lupine and Tonks beside him.

Kingsley nodded thoughtfully. "It's impossible for Little Crouch to have a good impression of Malfoy, and it is indeed much more difficult to deal with than Malfoy."

"Little Crouch is a Death Eater who has been imprisoned by his father for more than ten years and can't be reformed. His favor will only cause us more trouble." Moody's blue eyes stared at Sirius, but his normal eyes In the direction of Snape. "You mean, Voldemort only let Crouch do things?"

Snape pursed his lips in thought. "I'm afraid it's only half right," he said softly. "Lucius and I believe that the Dark Lord only lets Crouch Jr. do things that are really important to the Dark Lord."

Dumbledore was half bent over, holding his long white beard in one hand, and holding long iron tongs in the other, fiddled with the flames in the fireplace.Hearing this, he turned his face sideways, and a look of interest flashed under the half-moon glasses: "What's really important?"

"As I've just said, no one knows, except the one who actually does it," Snape replied dryly.His role with Voldemort was to be a secret agent lurking in Hogwarts; if Voldemort's plan had nothing to do with the capture of Hogwarts, he would naturally know nothing. "I guess it wasn't murder and arson, otherwise we would have known." He added.

There was silence at the long table.There is only the occasional crackling sound when the firewood is burning, and anyone who breathes heavily can hear it.

"Both the giant and the werewolf have been pulled to the other side," Moody resumed, his brow furrowed to make his mutilated face even more terrifying, "and we can't judge Voldemort's next move; we're falling into a passive position."

Another little moment of silence. "Speaking of giants..." Snape said thoughtfully, "McNeil came back after finishing his business yesterday. But I heard that he didn't see the Dark Lord himself either. This is very strange in the past ;you know, the Dark Lord is always willing to show that he pays and punishes—in public."

The people on the long table looked at each other.Lupine lowered his eyes, twisted his chin, and said softly: "You mean, the reason why McNeil didn't see Voldemort is because Voldemort might not be in Britain at all?"

A slight commotion echoed through the room immediately, and Snape readily acknowledged it. "We were all skeptical."

"Do you doubt?" Sirius couldn't hold back the cold snort in his throat anymore, "I've endured it since just now—there isn't a single credible piece of news, it's all speculation, speculation, and suspicion! Can we really rely on this Unreliable source action?"

"As if it would be more useful to hide at home." Snape's black eyes were plucked back unceremoniously.

This blow was precise and ruthless, and it hit Sirius' sore foot.If Lupine hadn't caught him hastily, he would have jumped up already. "You think I want to stay in this kind of place?" He growled in a low voice with a grim expression.

"Sirius," Moody said sternly, restraining his words, and gave Snape another look when he was still about to say something.

Sirius turned his head away, looking angry.Snape also turned his eyes away, and his expression returned to indifference.

"If Voldemort isn't here, where is he?" Tonks asked matter-of-factly, deliberately avoiding a stiff atmosphere. "Has something like this happened the last time?"

This is to ask Moody, there are not many members left in the old Order of the Phoenix. "No," replied the retired Auror gruffly. "Isn't Voldemort content to be at home now? That's really bad news."

The silence this time is like a black lake descending, no matter what you put in, there will be no ripples.

Dumbledore finally straightened up from the fireplace. "Even if he is really not in the country," he said briefly, hung up the tongs, and walked back to the long table, "I'm afraid what he did is far from what you guessed, Alastor."

All eyes were on the tall and thin elder. "Tell me your reasons, Dumbledore." Moody demanded immediately.

"Now, I can only say that based on what I know about him, I don't think he has any ambitions to expand outward." Seeing disapproval on the faces of several people, Dumbledore continued unhurriedly: "Accurate To put it bluntly, his greatest ambition is not to dominate the world, at least not yet."

The words were so vague that no one understood. "You mean, you know why Voldemort left?" Kingsley asked, leaning forward, more focused.

"I do have a little guess." Dumbledore admitted, his expression and tone were calm enough, "and I will verify it as soon as possible." He paused for a while, "That's all for today, Severus and so on."

Seeing his calm appearance, everyone breathed a sigh of relief and filed out.Sirius stared at Snape closely, as if he wanted to say something more, but Lupine dragged him away, closing the door behind his back.

Snape stayed as promised, but Dumbledore didn't speak immediately.He stared at the roaring fire again, before asking, "How was Harry's Occlumency class?"

"It's not great," Snape pursed his lips, as if he didn't want to say anything later, "but it's not particularly bad. I'm sure Potter is hiding something that he considers absolutely private."

"Did anything unusual happen?" Dumbledore asked again.

Before answering no, Snape caught the hidden meaning of the words. "When you say unusual, what do you mean?"

Dumbledore turned to Snape, his eyes flat.

But Snape understood right away. "Potter didn't dream anymore. Although he had already discovered that the Dark Lord wanted to go to the Department of Mysteries, the Dark Lord kept erecting the barrier of consciousness as soon as he knew the link existed. Potter didn't know that the Dark Lord wanted the Divination Ball yet."

"Prophecy..." Dumbledore murmured, turning his eyes again.He didn't say anything more, and seemed to have completely fallen into his own thinking world.

**

On a Saturday night three weeks ago, the moon and the stars were dark.

Voldemort finished reading another thick tome, then tossed it aside.The things inside were similar to the ones he had seen before, and there was no breakthrough that could solve the predicament—except for the impossible path, he still didn't know how to kill the savior while ensuring his own safety.He has to say he's disappointed and irritated by this, and maybe more frustrated than he wants to admit.

Even if he didn't have emotions written on his face, the portrait could tell.He suggested softly: "Maybe you should take a break."

"I've had enough rest, in the forests of Albania!" Voldemort growled dissatisfiedly, but fortunately he still remembered Occlumency, "I have to deal with this!"

The portrait can understand this feeling, but at the same time, he also believes that anger is not helpful in finding a solution.Just as he was about to persuade him a few more words, he saw that the slight emotions overflowing from Voldemort disappeared in an instant, as if they had never existed. "What's wrong?"

"Someone is coming." Voldemort was a little suspicious, got up and walked to the window, "but I didn't summon anyone."

"Who has something to report?" The portrait guessed.But there was no need to guess, because very few Death Eaters had ever been summoned to the Riddle House.

"It's Barty," said Voldemort softly. "I heard him come into the drawing room. But he wasn't so rash before."

Not long after, Barty Crouch Jr., who was identified as reckless, rushed to the second floor. "Master!" He was panting, his nose was sweating, and his cheeks were flushed.

This look of obvious eagerness to offer the treasure kept Voldemort's prepared question in his throat for a while. "May I assume that you came here in the middle of the night because you had something important to disturb the Dark Lord?"

"Yes, master!" Little Crouch's eyes were shining with excitement, "I think I've found—" he said quickly, offering two books at the same time.

found it……?

Voldemort cast a cursory glance.One is the genealogy of Gaunt, and the other is—"History of the Founding of the Ilvermorny School of Magic and Witchcraft"?

Voldemort had vaguely heard of the only wizarding school in North America.In his mind, it was a poor replica of Hogwarts.

As if reading the Dark Lord's invisible disapproval, Little Crouch hastily added: "You asked me to search for everything about the twin wands, and it just occurred to me today that my father's study might have what you want."

Old Barty Crouch was the director of the Department of International Cooperation of the Ministry of Magic during his lifetime. He was indeed able to frequently contact the magic world in various places, with more information and more extensive coverage.Voldemort nodded, motioning for his subordinates to continue.

"Then I found this," Crouch Jr. pushed the school's founding book higher. "It records that a pair of underage brothers relied on twin wands to resist an extremely powerful witch from black magic."

Voldemort's eyes froze for a moment.He was immediately sure that the implications of this fact were astonishing. "What else?" He asked in a deep voice, taking the book at the same time.

Crouch Jr. took a deep breath for what he said next. "That witch, and the founder of Ivemoney," he said solemnly, with fanaticism in his eyes, "are all your ancestors."

Before Crouch had to say it a second time, Voldemort was flipping through it as fast as he could.The length of the history of the founding of Yvemoney was almost the same as that of "Hogwarts, A School History". He finished it very quickly, and at the same time his face became more and more ashen.

Neither Crouch nor the portrait knew the reason, and it would be very unwise to ask at such a time.They could only watch as Voldemort kept pacing back and forth, before stopping abruptly. "I've changed my mind," he announced aloud, almost gnashing his teeth, "I'm going to know what that damned prophecy said right now, at any risk—all of it!"

The next day, the Daily Prophet reported that Sturgis Podmore had been arrested for attempting to break through a Ministry of Magic Class [-] security door.At that time, as the real culprit, Voldemort was thousands of miles away.

The author has something to say:

Those who have seen the JKR patch should know why LV is about to go crazy ╮(￣▽￣")╭

Note: The North American part involved in this article comes from pottermore, IlvermornySchoolofWitchcraftandWizardryByJ.K.Rowling, and the Chinese translation is the author's self-translation.