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Recommended BGM: "HurtsLikeHell"-Fleurie

Voldemort's voice echoed from the walls and the floor, as if he were standing behind everyone, the tip of his wand slicing across their backs and onto their defenseless necks.His voice was so clear that it was strange that I didn't catch a word of it, or that they simply echoed in my ears, and I temporarily lost the ability to understand the words.I stared blankly at what was beginning to become clear in the fading rain, but couldn't perceive the meaning of these sights, the familiar buzz once again entrenched in my ears, blocking my brain from the outside world perception.

"Alice."

I don't know how long it took before I finally heard Harry's voice calling my name.Then, like waking up from a nightmare, I saw the stone beast outside the principal's office.There seemed to be no one in the castle, even the portrait frames in the corridors were empty.

"Password?" The stone beast asked with a small piece of its head missing.

"Uh... Dumbledore?" Harry must have guessed offhand, because his eyes widened as the stone beast slid aside, revealing the spiral staircase behind it.

"What are we doing here?" I let him hold my hand and walked up the stairs together, and finally gradually remembered what we were doing, "Where did Hermione go?"

The portrait frame in the circular office was still empty, and Harry looked disappointed at the empty portrait labeled Dumbledore below.He strode around the office in circles, his wet robes left obvious marks on the carpet, and I subconsciously reached out and steamed both of our clothes with my wand.On the fifth lap he stopped, pulled me to an empty bench and knelt in front of me and met my eyes.

"You stay here." He spoke to me in a soft tone that comforts small animals, "Do you understand?"

"Why?" Even with only about a fifth of my brain functioning right now, I feel the strangeness of the line, "We should go find the snake and—"

We've already gone to the snake, and suddenly a voice in my head said, and then what, then what happened?Why don't you want to keep thinking about it?Where are the others?

"—they're all in the Great Hall, and Voldemort gave us time to take care of the casualties." Harry continued in a gentle tone, "Look, Alice, you're not in a very good condition. , Professor Snape asked me to bring you here to rest for a while, it's very quiet and you won't be disturbed."

"Oh." After hearing my father's name, I nodded, put my hands on my knees and sat down, "Okay."

"I went to help those people in the Great Hall, too many people were injured." Harry reached out and put my drooping head against his messy forehead, our faces were covered with muddy water that we didn't bother to clean up, " You just stay here and rest for a while, don't leave here unless Hermione comes and tells you - I mean, I'll let Hermione come over with you, don't worry about us, okay?"

"Okay." I didn't realize at that time how weird Voldemort's sudden mercy and left us to arrange the casualties. When Harry stood up and bent over to kiss the corner of my mouth, he gave me a funny smile. I smiled at him too.I sat there watching him straighten up and stare into my eyes for a few seconds, then turned around quickly as if he had made up his mind, and left with a sigh as the door of the circular office closed behind him With the sound of the sound, the whole office regained the tranquility that seemed to be isolated from the world.

There was something cold in my pocket, and I sat there for a while before I realized it, then reached out and pulled it out.Silvery, strangely shaped clouds were whirling around in glass jars, and I'd seen something like it—I recalled this first before remembering where it came from, and then, as if someone had directed me, I saw In one of the cabinets was a stone Pensieve that looked identical to the one I had seen in my dad's office in fifth grade because of the exact same rune symbols carved into the mouth.Before my brain could react, I had let the stone basin levitate from the cabinet onto the empty desk, and it landed on the desk with a heavy sound, like a jackhammer hitting my head. On the heart.

The memory that was poured into the basin rotated faster, and gradually an opening appeared in the center that seemed to be able to peek down. I sat there silently watching it for a few seconds, then stood up and slowly sank my head go in.

Of course I know whose memory it is and how it came about, I just...don't want to think about it.I've cursed Draco Malfoy's death through gnashing of teeth many times before, and even after witnessing him cast the Death Curse at Dumbledore, I summoned Fiercefire that would set the entire Astronomy Tower on fire in revenge for his attack on Dumbledore. my deceit.At Malfoy Manor and in the dungeons of the manor, I also used harsh words to imagine what price he would pay for his actions in the future—but when all this really happened in front of my eyes, I found that apart from Numbly refusing all thinking, I couldn't find any way to relieve this uncontrollable pain gushing from my heart.

I fell headfirst into the darkness, and when I stepped on the ground again, I realized that it was the school hospital at midnight, and the bell was ringing slowly in the distance.A cold wind blew the white bed curtains through the window that was opened by someone, and they danced silently as if controlled by a spell.

"Don't kill me!" I saw a tear-stained, pale face through the dancing crack of the bed curtain, and the wand was flying backwards from Draco's hand, and landed on the ground with a soft sound.

After a few seconds, a tall voice slowly stepped out of the shadows, and the Elder Wand hung from Dumbledore's fingertips, and he put it into his robes, sighing: "Child, isn't that my intention."

As soon as the scene changed, I went back to the circular office, which was different from the office in reality. The long table was still full of buzzing silver instruments, and the old man with white hair was still sitting behind the desk. .Dumbledore was crossing his right hand and blackened left hand over his chest, looking at Draco sitting across from him through half-moon glasses.The corners of the latter's eyes were still red, but he was already staring at the smoking cup of hot cocoa floating in front of him with obvious disgust: "You treat me like a ten-year-old child?"

"Ah, please excuse the common fault of an old man - but hot cocoa has always been my favorite drink." Having said that, Dumbledore did not let the cup of hot cocoa disappear, and the cup was always in front of Draco Dangling, not stopping to tap his brow bone forward until he took it very reluctantly.

"I didn't do it, if you're doubting me." Draco leaned back in his chair, "It has nothing to do with me, I went to see her just... just out of a— "

"Of course I don't think you want Miss Alice Snape to drink that bottle of poisoned wine, Mr. Malfoy." Dumbledore tapped the back of his charred left hand slowly with his right hand, "Similarly, I don't think you have anything to do with it."

Draco's eyebrows twitched comically, and the knuckles of his fingers clutching the beautifully patterned porcelain cup began to turn white from too much force. At that moment, he seemed to want to say a lot of words, but swallowed them all , only a mocking smile remained on the corner of his mouth: "Do you have evidence? Or do you want to tell me that you just heard Potter's unreasonable speculations and couldn't wait to come and convict me?"

"As I said tonight, that's not my intention. On the contrary, I want to help you a little bit." Dumbledore's right index finger silently stroked the huge jewel on his left hand with an obvious crack in the center. Ring, "I feel that if I don't talk to you again, Mr. Malfoy, there will be more accidents happening to the students of Hogwarts-something I don't want to see anyway."

Draco bounced like he'd been stung by a needle popping out of nowhere, spilling more than half of the hot cocoa in the cup onto the thick carpet beneath his feet, his face flushed with anger from being poked. He distorted angrily: "Snape has already interrogated me once under your order. If he told you the whole conversation we had, old man, you should know that I have nothing to do with Katie Bell! I It has nothing to do with what happened today! If my parents knew that I was being slandered for no reason at school—"

"Your father and mother." Dumbledore nodded, as if he didn't hear Draco call him "old man" at all, and said in a relieved tone, "I'm very glad that you can still be at this moment Thinking of them, boy, it seems Voldemort hasn't punished them for his earlier blunder, in other words - they're still safe, aren't they?"

"What are you implying, old man?" Draco kicked Dumbledore viciously, "Why don't my parents need you to pretend to worry about it!"

"Unknowingly, it's already so late." Dumbledore didn't answer his question, he stood up, and Draco took a few steps back vigilantly, but Dumbledore just put a piece of paper on the edge of the long table. The wizard chess set was put back into the cabinet. He did not store the chess pieces properly, but closed the cabinet door while maintaining the black and white layout on the board, "I used to mistakenly think that the older you get, the slower time will pass, but in fact I can’t keep up with it gradually. I think even a prefect, it would take a while to be met by Filch at this time, so try not to disturb other people on the way back—you should understand that if you are It would be dangerous for you to find out that the two of us had met in private. I hope your Occlumency is as good as Professor Snape has described it to me, my boy."

"By the way, my office password is 'toffee finger cake', if you need my help - I am always here." Dumbledore added without haste, watching Draco turn and leave, using The wand dealt with the hot cocoa stains on the carpet and the mug Draco had just slammed down on the table. "Good night."

The surrounding scene was blurred for a moment and then became clear again. It was still this round office. I stood in the center of the room, and the other me stood by the door and looked at Dumbledore with a nervous expression. Draco sat with a gloomy face. On the chair opposite the office, he rubbed the ring on his finger with the little silver snake entangled in it.

It is a strange experience to watch another self turn away. Before I turned around, Dumbledore had already started talking with the cup in his hand: "You haven't answered the question I just asked, child."

"I don't remember you ever suggesting anything to me." Draco replied stiffly, raising the cup in his hand and taking a sip of hot cocoa.As soon as he finished speaking, Phoenix Fox uttered a pleasant bird song, and it waved its beautiful and gorgeous wings on the shelf a few times.

"Of course, I can understand that you have too many things to worry about recently." Dumbledore also sat down, looking at the porcelain cup with childish patterns in his hand with interest, "Many things are not It's all right, isn't it?"

"That's why you came to me, to tell me what to say?" Draco put the cup in his hand back on the table again.

"Well, please allow me to correct your mistakes. I have such bad habits as a teacher for a long time-today you came to my office by yourself." Dumbledore smiled gently, "I think Miss Snape I don't know what the password is here."

Draco took a deep breath, but he couldn't find anything to refute, so he lowered his head and took another sip from the cup with a gloomy face: "I was dragged here by her, I'm leaving now."

"It's your freedom, Mister Malfoy." Dumbledore didn't look surprised, his blue eyes watched calmly as Draco rose to his feet, then watched him freeze there for a while and finally looked like a cockroach again. He sat back in the chair like a furious ball, and said in a happy tone: "Now can we continue to say 'that suggestion'?"

"As I said before, I am willing to provide you with some help to solve the predicament you are facing now." In Draco's endless silence, Dumbledore said first, "Of course, correspondingly, I also hope that you can Offer me some guarantees in exchange."

Draco opened his eyes slightly, as if he had heard some joke: "A deal? You, Dumbledore, the headmaster of Hogwarts, want to make a deal with a sixth-year student like me?"

"If time permits, I would like to start with a more dignified way, such as, as you expect, first give a touching speech about right and wrong, justice and evil, how to choose-you I also know that I am very good at speeches. I was not very good at the beginning. Fortunately, someone pointed me out a long time ago." Dumbledore replied easily, "But unfortunately, as I said before, I don't have much time to spend. Wasted on pointless persuasion, you should be quite tired of what Miss Snape said to you, let's just skip this step and use Slytherin's favorite way to discuss interests, what do you think?"

After a moment of silence, Draco said dryly, "You can't help me."

"The Order of the Phoenix can transfer your parents from Malfoy Manor," said Dumbledore, "I can assure you that we have the ability."

"And then?" Draco laughed mockingly, "You can't win, or if we accept your suggestion, my parents and I will not have a good life whether the Dark Lord succeeds or not. The Dark Lord If it succeeded, our family would be traitors, if the Dark Lord failed, our family would be nothing more than death eaters trying to survive, and now everyone knows that my father has been imprisoned in Azkaban for breaking into the Ministry of Magic—do you think I don't know how those once glorious pure-blood families fell because of the Wizengamot trial?"

"You're right." To my surprise, Dumbledore nodded approvingly. "I'm glad you could veto this much easier proposal yourself."

"So you can't help me at all, you can only sit here and say some hypocritical things." Draco's face flushed, "I feel very proud, don't you? Seeing us who have always opposed you become like this— "

"Although what I'm about to say will make you angry, Mr. Malfoy." Dumbledore raised his porcelain cup to Draco, "If you can clearly understand that my first proposal does more harm than good, you should be able to, too." To be clear, we are not the ones who are causing this situation - of course I said that I don't want to give any speeches about 'choices' tonight, I just want to solve my problems and you want to solve yours, that's it We are in common."

"You can't solve my problems," Draco said dryly, "You don't even know—"

"Voldemort has given you a task. If you fail to complete it, he will kill you and punish your family." Dumbledore interrupted him, "Don't show such an expression, Mr. Malfoy, I understand the news The channel is obviously not just through the random guesswork of my own students, people will always be exposed unconsciously, and I am good at discovering and summarizing-like you have been holding your arm since the beginning, I know what is there."

"Oh?" Draco sneered, "Are you trying to tell me that you want to help me complete the task that the Dark Lord gave me?"

"Yes." Dumbledore crossed his hands, looking sharply at the changes in Draco's expression following what he said, "Although for students of your age, it is possible to initially grasp the work of the disappearing cabinet The principle is excellent, but the time and effort required to fix it is still far beyond your imagination, am I right?"

The red part of Draco's face from the hot cocoa had completely disappeared, and his eyes were full of fear and panic at the moment, and tears were oozing from the corners of his reddened eyes, and he wiped away Putting his face to hide the gaffe, and seeing it was of no avail, he lowered his head and buried his face completely in his palms, I thought he was crying - but a few seconds later I heard weird laughter.

"So you only know that I'm fixing the disappearing cabinet." This kind of laughter is like a kind of crazy struggle, "Why, old man, this is your suggestion, help me fix the disappearing cabinet?"

"Of course your plan needs to be carried out, otherwise it will be bad to attract unnecessary attention." Dumbledore raised his scorched hand and stroked Focus's bright feathers, "Necklace, mead, and the disappearing cabinet, in order to complete The task of killing me took a lot of thought, and I have to say, none of these plans were very clever."

"I allow you to kill me according to your plan and complete the tasks Voldemort gave you. I think he will give you some rewards accordingly, such as rescuing your father." I was shocked to hear Dumbledore say these Then, I almost couldn't understand what this meant, "Accordingly, you need to make some assurances to me. What does this exchange look like to you, Mr. Malfoy?"

"You're crazy." Draco bounced again, he took a few steps back and even pinched himself to make sure it wasn't an absurd dream, but Dumbledore kept sitting in his office looked at him from behind the desk.

"This is not something you need to care about." Dumbledore raised his right index finger, and Draco stared at his every move with trembling pupils, "If you don't accept it, you can leave here and hide it with Occlumency With everything that happened today, I hope you can come up with a brand new plan as soon as possible."

There was a suffocating silence, I felt that I even forgot to breathe, and looked back and forth between the two of them like a mechanical puppet.I don't know how long it took, Draco sat back on the chair, and asked as if all his strength had been drained, "You...what do you want me to promise?"

"You can continue to stay by Voldemort's side and enjoy the glory he rewarded you and your family for completing the task. Correspondingly, I need you to stay in the dark and work with Professor Snape to ensure the safety of Hogwarts teachers and students , to keep Neville Longbottom, Harry Potter and Alice Snape safe. After defeating the Dark Lord, Professor Snape will be a witness of your outstanding contribution during this period, or my portrait That's fine too, I think they'll accept it."

"Neville Longbottom? Harry Potter?" Draco showed an expression of extreme disgust as if he saw a fly, "You want me to protect the two of them?"

"What if I told you that protecting them both is the same thing as protecting Miss Snape?" Dumbledore asked gently. "You wouldn't resist protecting her, would you?"

"She—she...why should I protect her?" Draco said, staring at the glass of cocoa that was no longer hot in front of him, "I have nothing to do with her—no relationship at all, if you want Bring out that ridiculous rhetoric, what love-"

"I will not give any speeches tonight, my child." Dumbledore showed a tired expression, and he pointed to his heart with his intact right hand, "The answer is always in our hearts. Of course, if You refuse to think about the problem from this angle, I can only ask you to assume two possibilities in the future from the perspective of interests: complete the task, save yourself and your parents, fail to complete the task, you will be killed, your parents I will continue to bear Voldemort's wrath, and then you can think about whether my request is so unacceptable."

"I don't know how to protect them." After a while, Draco lowered his head and drank half a cup of cocoa that had started to cool. "They won't accept my protection either—we hate each other."

"Actually, I don't know what specific actions you need to take - if you agree to this suggestion, these will all happen after my death." Dumbledore looked thoughtfully at the plate on the long table Wizard Chess, the chessboard looks no different from the previous scene, "I just hope you are stuck in Voldemort's organization like a needle, we have always lacked such people who can gain his trust."

"That is to say, you need me to spy on you." Draco twitched his lips, "Why can't you just say it?"

"To spy on intelligence is the means, but to protect them is the purpose." Dumbledore shrugged, "I just adjusted the order subtly. Maybe I overestimated the relationship between you and Miss Snape."

"I don't have any feelings for her, old man," Draco said viciously. "Don't tell me that the thing about her and Potter was missing from your vast intelligence network."

"I'm glad you finished your hot cocoa, it helps you sleep - to be honest, you look like you haven't slept in a whole month." Dumbledore touched Dumbledore with his china cup. The empty cup in Laco's hand, "Can I think so? You have accepted my suggestion."

"But have you ever thought about it?" Draco narrowed his eyes, "I can repent, I can kill you, and then don't do what you asked me to do, no one can control me, Snape There is no way."

"Of course, child." Dumbledore's expression was normal, and he even showed a slight smile. "This is your freedom... how to choose—ah, it seems that it is inevitable to return here in the end. I don't want to use anything about the oath Spells to force you to do things, it's no different from what Voldemort did. When you rejected me because you worried about your parents, I think my judgment was right. You were never a hopeless person. You Just a child who is confused and wandering at the intersection without knowing what to do. So I can only ask you to make a right choice that you will not regret later, you only need to be responsible to yourself, not to me, to me It makes no difference at all.”

"Is that what you do?" Draco laughed comically, "'Trust in other people's choices'? You relied on this kind of belief to fight against the Dark Lord to this day?"

"Yeah, the strange thing is... the people I trust, they will all make the choices I expected in the end." Dumbledore laughed, "I don't think this is my unique ability, and I don't think I have fought Voldemort alone to this day - I think, you will understand later."

Everything was blurred again, and as the spin slowly stopped I heard Draco talking, and the object of his conversation became the portrait on the wall.

"...she hates me and wants me to die. The Dark Lord doesn't trust me, he wants me to come back and finish my studies - I can only give her to my mother." The seat behind the headmaster's desk was empty, Della Coe was still sitting on the armchair made by the guest, "They broke into the Ministry of Magic, and the Dark Lord knew from her memory about the son of the goddamn prophecy—that's what you said before, the three of them All alive or all dead? So we have to keep all three of them safe at the same time? How do you know that and get her captured!"

"I will imagine the worst situations and design some plans for them, although I sincerely hope that these plans will never be used." Dumbledore in the portrait tilted his head, "You are the one I designed for this situation." I'm glad you kept your promise."

"I'm not happy!" Draco stood up and kicked the chair violently. "I can't do these things! I'm going crazy! He made me kill people, kill the teachers in the school, and let me spy on Hogwarts Everyone here. I want to lie to the Dark Lord, I want to lie to my parents, and I want to lie to her. Everyone here wants me to die, and she wants me to die too... I even feel like I can't tell who I am Which one of the words is a lie and which is the truth - if I hesitate a little bit, he will use Alice Snape's safety to test me!"

"How touching," said Dumbledore seriously. "I remember you telling me that you had no feelings for that girl."

"No more!" Draco yelled, scratching his hair. "There was no more! I only agreed to do these things because I was worried about myself! Don't use those nasty words to describe me!"

"I... I don't know." He slumped on the chair, looked at the empty long table and the wizard chessboard without a single piece of chess with his dull eyes, when I thought he was exhausted and fell asleep, his voice was hoarse He asked, "Hey, you... have you ever loved anyone?"

"Why, do you still have time to read The Life and Lies of Albus Dumbledore?" Dumbledore in the portrait asked with a smile, "I wish someone could read it to me, but unfortunately whether it is Neither you nor Severus have time, and I really don't want to ask your father, who almost took my portrait down."

"What's that? I haven't read a newspaper for a long time." Draco tilted his head, his eyes showed that he really didn't know what Dumbledore was talking about, "I...don't dare to read it, don't want to read it. "

"So have you ever loved anyone?" he asked again.

"Of course." Dumbledore replied calmly.

"and then?"

"There is no such thing as 'then'." Dumbledore said gently, "It's just the simplest, simple love of someone."

"Then there is no result? Think about it, otherwise you wouldn't be alone." The portraits of other principals around were protesting because Draco rashly inquired about Dumbledore's privacy, and Draco acted as if he didn't hear it , continued to ask selfishly, "Then do you regret it?"

"I don't know." Dumbledore said softly, "I thought I would never think about that time, but in fact I do think about it occasionally."

"I... often think about it." Draco looked at his hands, "but I don't think it's because I still love her, I just feel that the past was much better than the present, and I want to go back to the past without so many troubles , don’t have to think about so many things.”

"The answer is in your own heart, my child." Dumbledore pointed to his chest, "I answered your similar question a long time ago."

The scene changed again, I looked around and found that I was actually in the school hospital again, my father's voice came from behind the still white cloth: "—your father watched me very closely, this matter may only be done by you Yes. Dumbledore said they'd know what to do with the sword, but you need to be careful, Longbottom can still peer into the Dark Lord's mind, and once he sees you it means the Dark Lord will—"

"I have a solution, you just need to make other people think that I'm going to lie in the school hospital for a few days because of Ginny Weasley's bat spirit curse." I couldn't tell which one was covered by the white bed curtain. On the covered bed, only the sound of chanting a spell was heard, and a silver-white fox, exactly the same as my patron saint, nimbly got out from the gap in the white cloth, wandering around me as if seeing me In a circle, it gradually disappeared into the darkness.

"You know, in my fourth year, at Hogsmeade, she said to me that if I laughed, she wouldn't give me any more Christmas presents."

Before I came back to my senses, I stood in the principal's office again. This time, there was a cauldron emitting heat on the long table, and it seemed like countless stars were boiling inside.

"I don't know why I'm talking to you about this, I still don't like you, old man." Draco said as he stirred the liquid in the cauldron, "But I have no one else to talk to, I used to not like to talk about this people."

"And then?" asked a female principal I didn't know, wiping her tears with a handkerchief.

"Aren't you asleep!" Draco yelled angrily.

"Ah, fell asleep, sorry, fell asleep," said another portrait, "it was boring at first, but it's been a long time since we heard stories from young people."

"Nothing after that," Draco said angrily, "I laughed, so I really never got a Christmas present from her again, satisfied?"

"So you're making her a Christmas present?" the headmistress leaned out of her chair curiously to look at the cauldron on the long table, "but Christmas is long past, and if I remember correctly, Easter About to arrive."

"You don't need to remind me." Draco replied bluntly, pouring the contents of the cauldron into a bottle, "She won't take my things either...I blame me for her face like that, I can only Give this to Astoria and let her pass it on."

The light dimmed suddenly, and Draco, who was running down the stairs in a hurry, was chanting something to a gold Galleon with his wand, when the shadow of a black dog slipped past him, he paused, and shouted to stop in the most arrogant tone Other members of the search team who were about to go downstairs.I ran after him in Malfoy Manor, talked to Bellatrix and my parents, and watched him finally put Gallon in his pocket and walk down the dungeon—Talus appeared He raised his wand behind him.After we all left the dungeon, he leaned against the damp dungeon wall. He let out a slow breath and closed his eyes until my father's reply gradually appeared on the Jin Gallon.

"I can't escape. My mother is still with Aunt Bella. Since Easter, she has basically been under house arrest by Aunt Bella. We tried many methods but almost made her suspicious." Another flash, wearing a traveling cloak Draco turned pale, "I'm not sure I can explain these things to Dad, whether he accepts it or not, Mom is still in danger, and if we escape, she will die."

"As I told you before, it is very dangerous for you to go back now." Dumbledore in the portrait had a serious expression, "Even so, do you still insist?"

"Isn't the choice I made what you expected?" Draco twitched the corner of his mouth, "'The people I trust, they will all make the choice I expected', this is also in your plan, yes No? You thought of it from the beginning."

"I'm not going to die." In Dumbledore's silence, Draco stuffed the bottle that seemed to be full of starlight that he had just taken out of his pocket back into his pocket, "Let's find Mom and run away immediately, The Dark Lord is in a rage, and he won't mind us - I've done everything you asked me to do, the rest is their own business, and Potter and Snape won't let anything happen to her."

"She'll be fine, and I'll be fine." He repeated as if trying to convince himself, "When it's all over, I'll give her this bottle of medicine and watch her cry in front of me with no expression Runny apologize to me - let Potter and Longbottom thank me too, and I'll appreciate their contorted expressions -"

"They'll thank you," said the former headmistress. "Boy, you're a hero."

The corner of Draco's mouth twitched, as if hearing a very nasty word: "Don't use such disgusting, Gryffindor-sounding words to describe me, Slytherins only do things for themselves."

"I sometimes think about whether it is right or wrong for us to continue this sorting method." A small male headmaster said, "Students want to