[HP] Similar but different

Later in the day, 12 Grimmauld Place.

"...Bedwell left, and I left the Shrieking Shack not long after." Sirius finished his statement, his throat still tightening.

The wooden tables in the kitchen on the first floor were full of members of the Order of the Phoenix.Hearing this, their expressions were complex, ranging from shock to suspicion.

"First of all, we need to make sure that he really saw you." Mr. Weasley spoke first, a little fluke, "You were under Harry's invisibility cloak, weren't you?"

As Aurors, Kingsley Shacklebolt and Nymphadora Tonks immediately attracted attention.The two exchanged glances, Tonks nodded slightly, and Kingsley said, "The focus is on Bedivere's glasses, but none of us have really touched them."

"You don't know if he can see through the Invisibility Cloak?" Lupine was a little curious and a little surprised.

Kingsley shook his head. "He said that would help him see traces of the dark arts, and more would not."

Lupine turned to Moody next to him for confirmation. "What do you think, Mad-Eye?"

"Well, those glasses are either a complete display, or he can see through most camouflages with them, one or the other," said Moody gruffly, "and I personally think the latter possibility Much bigger."

"You mean, Bedivere saw Sirius, but still let him go?" Mr. Weasley was quite shocked. "Why would he do that? Since he is probably a loyal Death Eater inside?"

Kingsley shot him a quick glance. "You hit the point, Arthur—faithfulness."

"What?" Sirius, who was regretting his carelessness, couldn't help it anymore after hearing this. "V...the mysterious person can't order his subordinates to let go of the opportunity to catch members of the Order of the Phoenix! Not to mention that I'm still a fugitive in name!" At the end, he almost laughed at himself.

Lupine looked at Sirius immediately; and, unexpectedly, Moody agreed with Kingsley's guess. "Bedwell is not one of us, nor Scrimgeour's. Considering the timing of his appearance at the Ministry, he is almost certainly a Death Eater. In that case, his orders are the most plausible reason for the matter. .”

Everyone looked at each other in blank dismay, and many shook their heads slightly.Sirius Ben was also among them; but he suddenly thought of something, and his face changed slightly.

"In contrast, I would like to know, what kind of transfiguration did they use? No Polyjuice Potion, and no Animagus?" Tonks asked, she didn't notice Sirius' expression, "Why did we Can't find Bedivere's disguise after all the methods?"

Of course, you have to prove that someone is a Death Eater on the loose before you can bring him back, Moody nodded approvingly. "This is the key. If we can master the magic of it, our work will take a huge step forward."

Just when everyone was secretly guessing, Dumbledore, who was standing in front of the table with his hands behind his back, said, "If he can evade all known detection methods, it means a new transformation method;" His voice was low Going down, with obvious thoughts, "Or, it's not Transfiguration."

"...not Transfiguration?" Kingsley was astonished. "What do you mean, Dumbledore? New black magic?"

"I have a guess." Dumbledore said softly, the flames dancing in his eyes, "but I still need time to verify it. Speaking of which," he asked back, "how is Kay doing recently?"

Palo Kay is the name of the new staff member of the Department of Magical Accidents and Disasters Amnestics Command. "As timid as a mouse, timid and timid." Kingsley replied, the previous astonishment was quickly replaced by confusion, "To be honest, I don't see anything worth noting about him except that he is better at using memory spells than anyone else. .”

Dumbledore nodded. "You can't expect all Death Eaters to fool everyone else. If that's the case, it's much easier to create a character that's less alarming."

Kingsley frowned deeply, evidently not fully convinced.But Dumbledore didn't seem to expect to convince everyone all at once.They continued to discuss some business, until finally Dumbledore let Sirius stay.

When the others filed out, Sirius was still sitting there.He didn't say a word, and he didn't look at Dumbledore, but his face gradually turned livid.

"You figured it out, didn't you?" Dumbledore walked around the table, "About why Bedivere let you go on purpose?"

"Harry." Sirius' voice sounded forced, he especially didn't want to say his godson's name.

Dumbledore stopped a few paces away from Sirius. "I think so too," he said quietly. "Harry will be affected somewhat if he tries to catch you."

"He doesn't want his men to meddle in Harry's business," said Sirius again, still grimacing.

"Exactly." Dumbledore agreed. "This is a good thing in a way, after all you..."

"This is not a good thing!" Sirius interrupted Dumbledore abruptly, anger was written on every line on his face, "This means that Harry is still his Horcrux!"

The eyes of the two met in mid-air.After a while, Sirius turned his head first. "I want to solve this," he lowered his face, his voice was low, "I want to dream..." He paused, and began to speak in a suspicious voice: "It doesn't matter if I die... I am willing to die for this."

Looking at the black-haired man who seemed to be stooping instantly, Dumbledore sighed silently.He raised a hand. "I assure you, I share your hope that Harry survives as long as possible."

"But neither you nor I can really help?" said Sirius, full of pathos and despair.

Dumbledore was silent.

**

As Harry expected, after Dumbledore's apparently failed conversation with Voldemort, there was a good chance that something he wasn't expecting would happen.But for the next week, both Hogwarts and the Daily Prophet were calm, as if nothing they saw that day happened.His Occlumency lessons were still going on, and the Dark Lord gave no sign of the way he'd seen Harry on the Three Broomsticks.

This made Harry very puzzled.Dumbledore hadn't looked for him, and he wasn't sure if it was a good idea to go to Dumbledore for this - after all, he did have an amazingly big secret.On the other hand, he didn't really want to ask Voldemort: whether the Dark Lord wanted to cooperate or not, he always felt that speaking up would not help their relationship on the tip of the needle, nor would it help improve the current situation.

Speaking of the relationship between the two... Maybe because of what happened in Hogsmeade, Harry always felt constrained when facing Voldemort alone.But fortunately, Voldemort seems to have no willingness to take the initiative.Harry couldn't imagine whether his reluctance to make out was worse than what he read in Voldemort's head that made him angry.

This delicate situation lasted until the penultimate week of October.On Friday, after the bell for Defense Against the Dark Arts rang, Harry was packing his schoolbag when he heard Voldemort say, "Wait a minute, Harry."

Hearing this, Ron and Hermione got up immediately, not forgetting to give Harry a careful look before leaving.A few students dawdled curiously, but they were all pushed back by Voldemort's calm gaze.

When there were only two people left in the classroom, Harry was the first to ask, "Will the tutoring time be changed tonight?" His tone was very certain, because he couldn't think of any other reason why the other party wanted him.

But to Harry's surprise, Voldemort shook his head. "Cancel."

"What?" Harry's eyes widened. "Why?"

Voldemort opened his mouth as if to say something, but gave up.He nodded noncommittally, and walked towards the door.

Staring at the tall and thin figure of the other party, Harry suddenly felt irritable. "Why didn't you tell me?" he asked aloud, almost aggressively.

Harry's worst guess was that the Dark Lord ignored him at all, but Voldemort did stop. "It's not what you think."

"Oh? You know what I'm thinking?" Harry's tone was still very angry.

Voldemort grew impatient. "With all due respect, the things in your head have basically not changed. For example, now, you must be thinking that if I want to cancel the tutoring, there must be some bad things to do, right?"

Harry, who was poked right, was speechless for a moment.He couldn't deny that his suspicions hadn't subsided after meeting the Auror named Bedivere at the Shrieking Shack. "...Then why?" He asked again, already starting to faint.

But Voldemort only sneered back.He started walking toward the door again, with quick, long steps, as if eager to get out of the place.

Seeing that the other party was about to touch the doorknob, Harry blurted out subconsciously: "Don't you regret it?"

Before the words fell to the ground, the air was almost frozen.Harry had an intuition that something was wrong, and he panickedly wanted to remedy it: "I don't mean what you think, I just..."

"You're right." Voldemort interrupted Harry coldly. "I've done more than a little bit of bad things. I've been and always will be; and I never felt like we were together—" He tilted his head. , seems to think that the combination of "we are together" is extremely ridiculous, "——Correct."

Harry's eyes had never widened before, and he couldn't believe what he was hearing. "you……"

"Finally, if you regret it as I expected, you can say it directly." Voldemort twisted open the door with a mocking tone, "I swear by Voldemort's name, I will respect your decision."

The door closed and the man disappeared behind.Harry slumped limply on the seat, covering his face with his hands.He screwed everything up...

The author has something to say:

Well, don't hit me when you hit anyone, just put the lid on the pot and slip away