the Gambler

Harry didn't know what propped him up to Sirius' office, and he felt that his entire worldview collapsed in an instant.He tried to find a reason to convince his father that there was nothing wrong with Snape being a prejudiced bastard, but he still couldn't accept that James bullied his classmates just because he was bored.It was as if the story of Harry's childhood repeated itself again and again. He understood the loneliness and helplessness, which made him feel more and more cold about his father's actions.

"I want to see Sirius!" Harry slapped the portrait frantically, trying to vent all his frustration.It was Lupine who opened the door for the boy, still equally haggard and obviously taken aback by Harry's mixed emotions.Harry allowed himself to be drawn into the room by the wizard, Lupine and Sirius flanking the boy in the blink of an eye, Sirius staring nervously at Harry.

"I want to talk about my father." Harry took a deep breath, his hands and feet were still cold, "I saw Snape's memory."

After Harry intermittently recounted the stories he saw in the Pensieve, Sirius and Lupine did not speak for a long time. This silence was very difficult, and Harry felt that he was getting colder and colder. And out of ideas.Then Lupine gently grabbed Harry's arm, and the werewolf's body temperature warmed the boy's arm through the touching skin. He heard Lupine whisper: "I don't want you to misunderstand us. I know it's cruel. At that time we They are all unworldly children, well, even as a 15-year-old, that kind of behavior should not be easily forgiven—”

Lupine sighed: "James has never liked the Dark Arts and Slytherin, especially after Snape took possession of these two, he got very close to Lily. James has liked Lily for a long time, he is a show-off Fool, I believe you are also aware of it?"

Harry nodded.

"As long as Lily's around, his IQ drops to troll levels, and he'll double down on Snape, which I guess makes James feel superior to him. In fact, James didn't just go out of simple boredom. provoking Snape."

"Moonface is telling the truth," Sirius interjected, with sincere shame on his face, "I'm not proud of what I've done, Harry, nor is your father. For Winning Lily's favor, James stopped making fun of the snot sluts, er, well, although behind Lily's back we still have a little trick with the snot snots - hey, after all we've hated each other for so many years, snot sluts Absolutely not innocent! Find the Pensieve and I will show you my memory!"

"I'm sorry I'm not interested," said Harry dryly.

Sirius pursed his lips.

"I can't understand why Lily likes James." Harry frowned, "Lily hated James at that time—"

Lupine hastened to add: "Although it makes me uncomfortable to say this, I hope you believe Lily's eyes, Harry. James hasn't always been like this, he started to mature and stable after the sixth year-no one Expected, the two of them actually dated in seventh grade."

"Harry, I want you to understand that we are definitely good people, and all Hogwarts students can vouch for-well, except for those Slytherins. In fact, your father is the bravest and kindest person I have ever met, He didn't grow up like that anymore," said Sirius excitedly.

Harry was still a little skeptical, much to the chagrin of the dark-haired wizard, who tugged at his long hair.

"It was a real shock," Harry admitted. "I didn't expect the day I felt sorry for Snape, and besides, he refused to teach me Occlumency."

Sirius jumped up from the sofa, growling to talk to Snape, but Lupine stopped him.Harry looked puzzled at the exaggerated performance of the two. He didn't understand the importance of learning Occlumency, and receiving those visions seemed to be beneficial and harmless, and he had saved Mr. Weasley's life in time last time.

"Harry, I'll talk to Snape about this, and promise me not to give up practice no matter what." Lupine said calmly.

"You two can't teach me?"

"Actually, this is not our field of expertise. Snape is the most powerful Occlumency master I know, otherwise how do you think he is alive under the eyes of the Dark Lord? The Dark Lord is a master of insanity, but he Still can't read Snape's mind."

"You haven't seen him, I don't think he will agree to teach me." Harry wrinkled his nose, he had lost the courage to face the Potions Master now, he couldn't imagine that the other party was watching him every time It was almost a copy of James's own mood.The mere presence of Harry was Snape's nightmare.

"But this is very important, you can't give up." Sirius said hastily, his emotions were still very high.

"Why? It's not like Voldemort would use insanity on me in a duel, I think he would prefer Avada Kedavra."

Both Sirius and Lupine looked away uncomfortably, which made Harry very angry. The anger that had been soothed just now seemed to surge back. He stood up straight and faced the two older wizards with an aggressive tone: " You ask me what and what and never tell me why! I'm sick of being kept in the dark!"

"Harry—" Sirius grabbed his godson's hand, his face was struggling, as if hesitating to reveal the truth, Harry narrowed his eyes.The wizard opened his mouth for a long time but still didn't utter a single syllable.

"Then I won't learn Occlumency." Harry turned and walked away angrily, forgetting their calls.

Today couldn't have been worse.

"Harry, I think you should go back to the suite."

Harry turned his head sharply to look at Hermione, suspecting that he was hallucinating.It wasn't long before they witnessed Tom's crazy behavior, and now Hermione wanted him back, with that capricious bastard?Obviously not, he had only moved back to Gryffindor for a week, and for Merlin's sake, he didn't want to see that sinister face at all!

"What?" Harry asked uncertainly.

Hermione glanced at Ron awkwardly under Harry's unbelievable expression, well, it's really useless, Ron's expression was even more shocked than Harry's.Hermione sighed, finding the courage to meet Harry's eyes. "I think you should stay with Marvolo."

"No!" Harry and Ron yelled at the same time, so loud that Hermione's ears ached.

"You have to go back, Harry, no one can control Marvolo's crazy behavior, if you haven't noticed, I can remind you that Slytherin is not feeling well recently." Hermione frowned, feeling bad is definitely an understatement To put it bluntly, Purgatory might be more suitable, they have never been so cautious, and everyone knows that Slytherin is the most arrogant type.

"The group of poisonous snakes has nothing to do with us." Ron complained dissatisfiedly, "I think this is very good, they have settled down a lot."

"Yeah, Ron is right, Slytherins are Slytherins, I have no obligation to protect them," Harry said after a short silence, he felt a little guilty, but this was quickly replaced by anger , "No, it's enough for me to protect Gryffindor."

"Harry, don't you realize that Marvolo's mood swings have a lot to do with you? He has never been so cautious. I can assure you that everyone in the house except Slytherin thinks he is a gentle and kind man. , humble and friendly transfer student. Let me admit it hurts, you know even Gryffindor has a lot of people who treat him like a special Slytherin!"

"So what, you told me before term started that we can't change other people's opinions. I'm a grandstanding liar, and that's what they still insist on," Harry clenched his fists, the fact that It hurts to beat hard on the heart, this is too ridiculous, those stupid wizards worship the young Dark Lord as an idol, and treat themselves who tell the truth as crazy?This made Harry smile bitterly, "I even wondered why I brought Tom's hostility towards Gryffindor to myself. I should just stay out of it."

"What? Did you do it on purpose?" Ron opened his mouth wide and looked at Harry. He didn't realize it. He thought it was his friend's heroism. Others might not understand Riddle's terror, but he was very Clearly, hell he also suspected that Harry was confused by the pressure, scrambling to provoke the young Dark Lord.

"Harry, I didn't know you thought so," Hermione bear hugged Harry and rubbed him into her arms, "You are very powerful, if it wasn't for you, I don't know how Marvolo would have done to other people What to do, it's really terrible!"

"But it's not strong enough." Harry said helplessly. Every time he confronted Tom directly, Harry could only rely on his agility to avoid the spell.Tom knew far more spells than he did, and would drag Harry to the point of exhaustion like a guinea pig before casting the last jinx.It hurt, and Harry flinched at the memory, unable to shake the feeling of his blood simmering beneath the surface of his skin.At that time, he really suspected that his blood would cook the whole body.this is too scary.

"But it means you have the ability to fight him," Hermione said cautiously, her eyes had been secretly watching Harry's expression, the astonishment and anger made the witch couldn't help trembling, "but Harry, now Dumbledore The principal is not here, only you can restrain Marvolo, he is too dangerous!"

"No, Hermione." Harry denied.

"Harry, you need to monitor Marvolo! You have been slacking off on your mission for a whole week. During the war, any gap is easy to be exploited, let alone him?" Hermione tried hard to convince Harry, the other party A brave lion and a natural leader, she couldn't imagine anyone but Harry capable of fighting the young Dark Lord, "I'd love to help you too, but we both know I'm not capable, and Ron and I—" Hermione glanced at the pale red-haired wizard, and quickly turned her attention back to Harry, "We will not let you face him alone, whenever and wherever you need us, we will Come to you."

"That's not the problem, Hermione, I can't—" Harry sighed. "It's not that I doubt your loyalty. It's no use fighting Tom."

"Harry—"

"No, Hermione, this is completely non-negotiable." Harry quickly interrupted the witch, "I won't go back to Tom's place, honestly, don't you think it's pointless?" He sighed , "Haven't you ever wondered why Tom suddenly changed his attitude so much? He really wanted to kill me, Hermione, not kidding."

Hearing Harry's statement, both Hermione and Ron froze and stared at the boy dumbfounded. They could see Harry's seriousness, which only made things worse, perhaps worse than imagined, if Harry's face The words on the self-destructive look mean something.Obviously this is not the topic they expected.Hermione held Harry's hand tightly, her heart in her throat, and what Harry said next was no less than a small bomb.

"He knows that he is Voldemort—" Harry's words were interrupted by Hermione's suddenly raised voice, and Ron grabbed the trembling witch, his face was not much better, despair filled the faces of the two of them .He didn't want to tell them the fact that Tom only thought he was Voldemort's deputy, but he had a feeling that the day when the truth would be revealed would come soon.Harry took a deep breath, and perhaps the following supplement would make them feel better.

"No, he has no plans to join Voldemort at the moment, he can't sneak out of the castle."

"It's too bad!" Hermione's shrill voice was cut off by the sudden appearance of a Slytherin, and she watched Malfoy slowly approaching them with a neutral expression on his face.Harry stopped talking immediately, he could see the well-disguised pleading in the other's eyes.

Something went wrong.

Malfoy glanced at Hermione and Ron, and said firmly, "Potter, I need to speak to you alone."

Harry turned his head to signal his hesitant friend to leave, and they disappeared at the end of the aisle after several assurances that nothing would go wrong.Harry turned to Slytherin and nodded, "Malfoy."