[HP] Similar but different

The next morning, Harry was woken up by Hermione slapping him with a newspaper.Without any suspense, the arrest of a Death Eater at Malfoy Manor hit the front page of the "Daily Prophet"——

"...the fact that Peter Pedrew, who was presumed dead, is still alive means that the Ministry of Magic went horribly wrong 16 years ago. Minister Scrimgeour is extremely shocked and concerned by this matter and has asked the Department of Magical Law Enforcement to To fully restart the investigation of the case of the year, we must make it clear.

"According to preliminary findings, Peter Pedro is an Animagus that has not been registered by the Ministry of Magic. Its form is a mouse. People only found a piece of his little finger at the scene of the explosion. Now it seems that it is more likely that the golden cicada escaped its shell." plan.

"...Bedwell, the director of the Auror Office, said that the Aurors were not the first to discover the traces of Peter Pedro. But he also revealed that he was on the scene when Pedro was arrested. The owner of the manor, Lucius Malfoy, told Ben He was completely ignorant of the matter, and he was very grateful to the Aurors for their timely action to ensure the personal safety of him and his family, and to help him strengthen the defense of the manor afterwards.

"...Although the Ministry of Magic claims that they will not release too many details before the case is formally tried, according to people present who did not want to be named that day, the person who captured Peter Pedro was none other than Harry Potter. special.

"It is worth noting that both Peter Pedro and Sirius Black are friends of the Potters. Black was accused of betraying the Potters to a mysterious person, murdering Pedro and a dozen Muggles. He was sentenced to life for a crime; but he escaped from prison four and five months ago, and his whereabouts are still unknown. How Harry Potter learned of Pedro's whereabouts is unknown, but it may be related to Black's escape from prison..."

The rest were all the reporters' guesses, so Harry didn't read any further. "It seems to be okay," he said researchingly, the previous drowsiness had disappeared, "Scremgeour's efficiency is much higher than that of Fudge."

But Hermione's focus was elsewhere. "Did you notice?" she asked quickly. "It doesn't say a word about how you slipped out of the school, or how you caught Wormtail."

Hearing this, Harry quickly scanned the parts he had ignored before. "Not really," he wondered a little, "you mean the Daily Prophet avoided those two questions?" Honestly, they didn't do it perfectly; whether it was sneaking out of the school through a secret passage , or use the non-stunning spell to stun Wormtail, there are flaws in it. "Does that count among the plethora of details that the Ministry of Magic doesn't want to disclose?"

"I've also noticed that Malfoy has completely shirked his responsibility," Ron interjected disapprovingly.

Hermione ignored Ron. "I don't know," she said to Harry, "but it's good news for us—we still have time to think of good reasons and close any loopholes that might exist before the trial begins."

That makes sense, Harry nodded. "Although I don't know when they will start, I will start preparing in a while." He thought for a while, and added: "I may borrow Crookshanks by then."

"Of course." Hermione nodded immediately. "Your father's friend you mentioned is Lupine, right? He's a werewolf, and he may not be very favorable in testifying." She bit her lower lip, "Should we remind him?"

Discrimination against werewolves in the wizarding world is not a day or two, but Harry guessed he couldn't find a better candidate. "Lupine will help Sirius," he said with certainty, not quite so sure, "I suppose Dumbledore should know how to solve the fluffy problem?"

Ron was a little annoyed at being ignored by the two, but at this moment he also frowned. "Speaking of Dumbledore," he asked, "was he the one who told McGonagall yesterday? He hasn't come back yet?"

"It should be..." Hermione hesitated, "If not, I can't think of any reason for her not to get angry at us... I guess, even if Professor Dumbledore hasn't come back, he must have made a proper decision." arrange."

Harry basically agreed with this guess.He should be concentrating on his testimony at the moment, but suddenly he remembered the conversation he had had with Dumbledore in the hallway before the winter break.Dumbledore hasn't shown up at school since that day, could it be...

As if to test Harry's bad guess, he hadn't heard from Voldemort during the first week of winter vacation.Although Professor McGonagall asked them to stay in the castle honestly and not contact any suspicious people, he had no doubt that Voldemort could hide it from her-as long as the Dark Lord wanted to.And, wouldn't it be Voldemort himself who wanted him to continue his Occlumency lessons over winter break?

Harry was upset that the Dark Lord hadn't heard from him, but that wasn't to say that nothing good happened to him.Since the news of him catching Wormtail came to light, strangers have sent him letters one after another, praising him for doing a good job and they will support him.This was a stark difference from how he was treated in fifth grade, which slightly diluted his regret that he could neither meet Sirius nor take the risk of writing letters.As Professor McGonagall hinted, he just had to hang on a little longer and he'd have a legitimate godfather.

Soon, the new year is here.From Ron's evasive words, Harry realized that his two best friends wanted to spend a memorable New Year's Eve.Of course he didn't want to be a light bulb, so he found an excuse after dinner and went back to the tower alone.

Both the common room and the boys' dormitory were empty.Harry didn't want to do his homework, so he moved a chair and sat by the window, gazing at the snowy scenery outside.Obviously, this does not drive away the contradictions and emptiness in his heart.About half an hour later, he got up abruptly, and rushed to the bed to get the invisibility cloak.

When Harry reached the swamp, he found that it was also snowing.Because it was late and it was dark everywhere, he hurriedly entered the stone house that he was already familiar with.He was mentally prepared to run into the air or run into a Death Eater, but the tall, thin black-robed wizard was inside, and there was no one else, even the picture frame was empty.

With the other's back turned to him, Harry hesitated for a moment before speaking. "……Hi?"

Voldemort didn't look back. "What's wrong?" His tone was flat.

Harry was even more apprehensive.Although they analyzed that Voldemort threw Wormtail on purpose, that was their analysis for now. "A little?" He hesitated. "About Wormtail..."

Voldemort didn't wait for him to finish before asking, "Are you hurt?"

"No." Harry was a little puzzled.

"Or can't find a good reason to pick yourself out?" Voldemort asked again.

What?Harry immediately denied: "Of course not!" Could it be that the hard work of the three of them on the testimony these days was in vain?

"Then I don't see what else needs to be said," concluded Voldemort neatly.

Harry was tongue-tied for a moment.This attitude... "You really did it on purpose..." he said, and finally noticed that Voldemort's hand seemed to be moving. "What are you doing?"

Before Voldemort could answer, Harry walked around.There was a cauldron on the table that had been blocked before, and the bright flames licked the bottom of the cauldron happily, but the potion in it was motionless and there was no steam. "What is this?"

"As you can see." Voldemort replied, still stirring the potions in the air, with complicated gestures.

It was easy for Harry to notice that the other party was not using utensils such as silver spoons and knives, and it was also easy to notice that Voldemort did not intend to satisfy his curiosity.He pursed his lips and raised his eyes to look at the other person's face, but was immediately startled by the bloodshot eyes: "Have you not slept for a few days?"

Voldemort had finally glanced at Harry since he had entered the door. "This potion needs to be brewed continuously for seven days," he glanced at the side again, "it will be ready in one night."

It was only then that Harry noticed a silver hourglass near the cauldron, green fine sand was spitting out grain by grain from the mouth of the snake hanging upside down, at a very slow speed. "Are you saying you haven't slept in six days?!"

Voldemort looked down at his potion again, disapprovingly. "If you have nothing else to do."

Although this sentence sounded endless, Harry knew it was an order to evict guests in disguise.Don't talk about moving, he just crossed his arms. "Of course there is something else." He asked loudly, "Has Dumbledore been here?"

"So you did tell him," muttered Voldemort, changing his posture again, as if he was twisting something in his hand, "I'm not surprised at all."

Harry suddenly felt a little inexplicably guilty. "Didn't you propose to do things independently? As long as I have the strength, I can do what I want to do?" Although he said so, he didn't have enough confidence.

In Harry's guess, Voldemort would definitely find a tricky angle to refute him, but the reality is that the Dark Lord didn't even shrug his shoulders. "That's right." Voldemort said casually, "Didn't I just say that? I'm not surprised."

Harry decided again in his heart that there was never a good time to mention Dumbledore to Voldemort.However... "You..."

"No fight, if that's what you're asking." Again, Voldemort didn't wait for Harry to finish his question before answering, glancing at Harry again.

For some reason, Harry felt that there was scrutiny and vague suspicion in this look.He didn't think Voldemort was lying, because it was impossible for these two people to fight without any movement; but if everything was expected by Voldemort, then what was the other party looking at him with such eyes?

...Maybe he should ask Dumbledore?But then again, Dumbledore hasn't looked for him since he came back...

These thoughts flashed through Harry's mind.Before he could think deeply, he heard Voldemort say again, "Excuse me, last night?"

It's really a eviction order.Harry couldn't pretend he didn't understand, so he moved reluctantly.But before moving to the door, he stopped - he didn't want to just go back.

Voldemort, still with his back turned to him, seemed to sense the hesitation. "I have my own arrangements with Wormtail," he explained simply. "It has nothing to do with you."

This undoubtedly meant that Sirius had not been considered, and Harry felt that it would be better not to make up the sentence.He was almost sure that Voldemort was angry, and it was an obvious signal to distance himself; but he couldn't tell if it was because of him or because of Dumbledore... No, it seemed to be him?

Asking directly that they were bound to quarrel, Harry carefully chose another topic: "I have one last thing."

"what?"

"I think..." Harry hesitated a little, but said it anyway: "I'm thinking about how to tell Sirius about us."

Voldemort's spine seemed to stiffen. "Blake doesn't need to know." He paused, then added, "No one needs to know."

The author has something to say:

In fact, lv is not angry with Harry, but Harry is going to be angry with lv soon ╮(￣▽￣")╭