[SSHP] End of life

There was silence in the house.Kingsley had left, he had to go back to Auror headquarters.Tonks was sitting on a chair with his head bowed. Fred's wound had been bandaged. He and Arthur were sitting side by side on the sofa. The father and son looked very similar.

"I'm leaving. I can't stay here," said Harry.He stood alone in the middle of the hall, facing the crowd who were still digesting the sad news of Mad-Eye's death.He lowered his head, not wanting to see their shocked expressions.

"Harry—"

"Goodbye, then. . . take care," Harry whispered, heading for the door.

"Harry!" Ginny let out an almost terrifying scream before anyone else could speak.

Startled, Harry turned to look at her.Ginny's face was flushed, and she pointed at the people in the room, staring at his face: "You can't go anywhere! I know you are afraid of bringing us danger, but if you leave now, everyone—including Mad-Eye! Tonight's efforts will be meaningless!"

"I killed Mad-Eye, I killed Mr Weasley and Fred - I can't kill everyone in this room again!!"

"You coward!" Ginny screamed, "You just don't want to admit it, you're just avoiding—"

"Harry, there are always casualties in war, and it's not your fault," said Lupine gently. "Don't be burdened. Everything we do is to win, and if we can't keep you, there will be many more to come." More people will be killed or injured in the year. Far more than tonight."

"Yes. If you run out now, I will lose more than just this ear." Fred turned his head and pointed to the gauze wrapped around his head.

"You're just going to be here right now," said Molly, wiping her tears with a horrified look on her face, "we've all been through so much tonight, I think I'll get everyone a firewhiskey . . . " she said, running quickly into the kitchen without using her wand.

"Harry, you are our most precious hope." Arthur said seriously, his face extremely pale, "No matter what the cost, we must keep you. We did not do all this to make you feel guilty, and then Rush into danger by yourself. You have us, countless wizards who support you, and the Order of the Phoenix. Now you need a glass of wine and a good night's rest...Of course, you won't be so idle tomorrow. You must help Bill and Fleur's wedding, and they will feel very sorry without your efforts."

Fleur leaned forward, smiling and winking at Harry.

Under the gaze of a dozen pairs of eyes, Harry nodded stiffly.People's expressions seemed to relax in an instant, and the atmosphere began to slowly ease.

Harry had been pulled aside by Ron to sit down, after he had done nothing, had injured Arthur and Fred, and killed Moody - and he had no doubt that Moody had seen his situation. Desperately drawing fire—they treated him so softly, still believing he could bring down Voldemort...

Two live one.Just because he escaped a catastrophe, they all regarded him as their last hope, and they all believed in his power inexplicably.But he didn't know even the simplest spells back then, he was only one year old, and his mother did everything.Under the eyes of so many people looking forward to it, he could only believe that he could win, but he could hardly control himself from thinking about the possible death situations that might occur to him.

Harry looked down at the liquid in the glass.The familiar oppression from Dumbledore's funeral was back, and he wished they wouldn't believe him, after he'd screwed up everything.They all acted as if they were saying that he wasn't in a good state today, and that as long as he rested for a night, he would recover and suddenly become extremely powerful.If someone could blame him now, or slap him, or say coldly, "I don't care how many times your picture is in the papers. To me, Potter, you're nothing more than a nuisance." little boy"……

When Harry thought of this sentence, the familiar voice that had said this sentence immediately rang in his mind.

"Master..." said the voice.His voice was hoarse and panting, as if someone had pinched his throat.

"Crap! A bunch of trash!" Another clear, high-pitched voice screamed in his head, "We only killed one—I did it with my own hands! What are you all doing? Aiming at the air? The spell hit?"

Harry was suddenly plunged into darkness.He felt himself lying on the ground, and then his eyes suddenly raised.In front of him was the lounge that he had seen a few weeks ago. He saw his own tail and the letter he had spit out.

Harry realized that he was now a snake, the snake that Voldemort always followed.He bobbed his head back and forth, hissing menacingly from his mouth.Voldemort's profile was turned to him, his wand raised in a pale, bony hand.

Several hooded and cloaked figures huddled on the ground in front of Voldemort.One was a very familiar figure to Harry. He was kneeling on the ground, his body tense, his black hair hanging down his cheeks, and he clenched his fists and said nothing.He was the straightest of the men who were being punished before Voldemort.The other one was lying on his side. He had long pale golden hair. He probably struggled and convulsed on the ground because he couldn't resist the severe pain. His formerly neat long hair was in a mess.His hand clenched into a fist hard on the ground, opened it again, and slowly clenched into a fist again.One fingernail on his right hand was split and bleeding.There was another person huddled in a cloak, also lying on his side on the ground.Harry couldn't see the face.The man kept screaming, and the surrounding chairs were thrown into a mess by him.

"Lucius," said Voldemort, "you don't want to work because I took your wand?"

"No! Master! Please, please..." Lucius raised his head tremblingly from the ground, and Harry saw his face clearly, the golden hair sticking to his forehead and cheeks with sweat On the ground, mixed with dust, he looked in a state of distress, "I know my master's loyal master very well--master--"

Harry's head hurt like it was going to explode.He struggled desperately, trying to get out of the snake's body.But the snake didn't even turn its head. Harry could only stay in this body, staring at the men in black cloaks kneeling on the ground, gasping weakly.

"Severus..." said Voldemort.The figure lying on the ground visibly trembled, and Harry heard a groan.

"Harry!" someone yelled, and the voice seemed to come from far away.All gone, his eyes fixed on the ground beneath his feet.Harry looked up, the light was so bright that the corners of his eyes twitched.Molly was standing in front of him, watching him worriedly, holding a large tray in her hand.

Harry wiped the cold sweat from his brow.Although the thoughts seemed to be connected briefly again, the scar did not continue to ache after this separation, and everything was so good that he felt as if he had been reborn.Hermione had already turned sideways, looking at him worriedly.Harry glanced around, not only Hermione, everyone was staring at him. "Sorry... I just feel a little stressed." He forced a smile and picked up a glass of wine from the tray in Molly's hand.

Everyone looked at Harry knowingly.

Harry took a deep breath.He thought that this kind of self-righteous understanding would arouse the deepest anger in his heart, but now he feels nothing.He didn't have the energy to think about anything, he just felt flustered.He tried to reconnect the snake's mind, but he couldn't.The muffled groan echoed in his ears, that man was trying to save him...was it really trying to save him?After he killed Dumbledore without mercy...

He then realized what a dramatic shift in the way he thought had taken place.In the past, although he felt a little suffocated by the close concern, he still enjoyed it more.He really longed for this kind of affection and care.Since when did he think that such pure concern contained self-righteousness and became impatient with it?Or just because his mind connection was interrupted?

Harry squeezed his glass tightly.

The last glass of wine was taken from the tray in Molly's hand by Bill. "To Mad-Eye," he said, pouring down another glass of wine in his hand, and lifting the glass with the pale blue flame.

"To Mad-Eye." Everyone said in unison.Harry took a sip of Firewhiskey, and shivered as the hot liquid ran down his throat.

"He'll like it," whispered Fred.

No one spoke.Tonks' hair had turned black.Harry took sips from his glass, the first time he'd had anything like this.He doesn't understand what's so good about wine. His stomach and esophagus have turned from burning pain to numbness under the strong stimulation. It will paralyze his senses and make him lose consciousness in chaos.Luckily, conscious awareness was the last thing he wanted right now.

"If I give Mad-Eye good luck before I finally leave..." Tonks murmured after a long time.

"Every one of us owes him something," replied Lupine, his face twisted a little, as if Moody's death was due to everyone present taking away his share of luck.

There was another silence.Harry silently shook the wine glass in his hand, only a thin bottom remained, and the light blue flame on the surface was still burning.He felt that this kind of situation where only he was safe was extremely unbearable. Everyone was working hard for him and suffering all kinds of torture, but he sat here steadfastly, enjoying food, wine and life...

"Okay, okay." Molly broke the silence, wiping the corners of her eyes with her hand, "I think we all need a rest now. Come on, everyone go upstairs now."

Everyone stood up in silence.Ginny took Harry's hand, and Harry jerked it away, but couldn't.He drank the Firewhiskey in his glass and followed Ginny up the stairs.Ron and Hermione followed behind him, as if escorting him.Harry hated the feeling, but he said nothing.

Four people entered Ron's room.The camp bed Harry used to sleep in every time he came to the Burrow had been raised and Harry was sitting on it.Ginny looked at the three of them and smiled awkwardly: "Hermione, I'm a little tired, I'm going back to bed first. You know where you sleep." Hermione nodded with a smile.

Watching Ginny walk out the door, Ron kicked off his shoes with a sigh and sat cross-legged on his own bed.Hermione sat down at the end of Ron's bed and looked at Harry carefully: "Harry, what did you see just now?"

Startled, Ron sat up straight from the bed.

Harry was a little taken aback, too, but Hermione looked pretty sure.

"How do you know?" said Ron, who had given Harry a look, apparently finally deciding to defend him. "Harry is so tired, I suggest we better not make him talk tonight."

"I knew it when I saw it," said Hermione. She tossed her hair and said softly. "Harry, I'm a little worried about your condition. You'd better not hide what you saw."

Harry hesitated, and decided to tell them everything.He now desperately needs someone to help him clear his mind: "I saw Voldemort punishing the Death Eaters for not killing me and not killing more of us. It looks like he has taken the I took Lucius Malfoy's wand and planned to use his wand against me, but I didn't get the chance today. I heard Voldemort ask Malfoy if it was because he took his wand that Malfoy didn't want to take care of me. He's at work. There's one more, I didn't get to see the face, but that doesn't matter, we've got the list. Another, it's... Snape."

At the mention of the name, Harry felt a pain no less than the Cruciatus Curse he had endured that night in the castle grounds.He kicked off his shoes too, put his legs on the bed, and hugged his knees.

"Snape deserved it," said Ron, his face contorted with loathing and contempt. "He must have gone and informed Voldemort immediately when he saw Harry coming out of Privet Drive. He has guarded Privet Drive for many days, otherwise how would he know that Harry will leave on this day? They Death Eaters have their own contact information... He looks stupider than a troll on a broom! The first time I saw him sitting on a broom, I felt that a part of me agreed with Voldemort's pure blood theory... His father was a Muggle, wasn't he? A man like him can be considered a wizard..." His voice was slow Slowly, he muttered a few obscenities that Harry couldn't understand.

Harry said nothing.It seemed he didn't have to say any more, he couldn't get what he really wanted.He tried to forget what happened when Snape was chasing him, but he couldn't.The black figure and deep voice reappeared in his mind repeatedly, together with Hedwig, who was his first friend in the wizarding world.She left so hastily that she didn't even leave her bones.

Harry moved his body slightly.His trouser pockets, which had zippers and still protected his stuff well in the chaos, were bulging now.That's all he has left now, after the backpack was blown up.

He remembered that the left pocket was stuffed with newspapers, the Marauder's Map, fragments of a two-way mirror, and a fake Horcrux box, but there was something sticking out of him in the right pocket.Harry recalled it for a while, before he remembered that it was the Half-Blood Prince's Potions Book that he took out from the Room of Requirement before he left Hogwarts.Before leaving the school, he took it out by mistake, shrunk it quickly and stuffed it into his pocket.

His clothes were soaked in muddy water, and then washed clean by clear water like a spring, and everything in his trouser pockets went through all these together.Now he had to wait, until everyone was asleep and he could use his wand freely, before he could figure out how to dry and flatten the book.

Hermione was keenly aware of Harry's absent-mindedness.She glared at Ron, and Ron was taken aback: "I'm not talking about you! Everyone knows you're the smartest of us, but that old jerk is really..."

"Harry." Hermione sighed, seemingly fed up with Ron's lack of understanding, "I rode a Thestral, in the opposite direction from yours. Snape has been following your side, and he has been following you. What have you done?"

"Snape??" Ron made a puzzled voice, "Harry, he wouldn't attack you too!" His face flushed rapidly, "He also injured Fred!"

Harry was momentarily speechless.

He never expected to see this man again so soon.It was too hasty at the time, but now that he's calmed down, he recalled how he felt when he saw Snape. It was a strange mixture of hatred and inquiry, and he obviously wanted to start with Snape rather than rushing to take revenge directly. He pried out some of the past.

Harry couldn't be sure whether the source of this unusual emotion was seeing a side of Snape he didn't know, or because he no longer had to heed Dumbledore's warnings and had the opportunity to fight Snape completely and without scruples, So he got peace instead.If he had the chance to meet Snape face to face undisturbed now, he wasn't sure whether he would cast a jinx or ask him a question first.No one must have seen Snape like that in Grimmauld Place.At the time when his hatred for Snape was at its peak, he just glanced at him, and he actually changed his whole mind about Snape.Had Snape cast some spell on him?Should he tell his friends about it?If there were such a spell, Hermione would know about it.Maybe it's just adding unnecessary confusion?

He pinched his eyebrows.Now, they have finally escaped at great cost, finally, under the warm light, with the people they trusted.And Snape might still be in that dark, cold room, kneeling at Voldemort's feet with the other Death Eaters.Several Death Eaters were screaming, and several Death Eaters were begging for mercy.Snape just lowered his head the whole time and didn't say a word.

In the night sky just now, Snape had kept his back to him, and he couldn't see Snape's face.The man on the broom looked stiff, and because he had to fly instead of just staying in the air like he had been as a referee, he was even more inflexible.But Harry didn't think poor flying skills would deflect Snape's spells so wildly against such a large and obvious target.

After thinking about it, he decided to tell his friends what he saw.Perhaps the combined views of the three could confirm something - although he knew that perhaps he was the only one in the room who had a slightly shaken view of Snape's identity.Ron's reaction was crystal clear; Hermione, though seemingly neutral, only asked because she spotted his emotions.She just cares about him.

"I... I think he's trying to save me," said Harry vaguely, determined not to tell his friends about Snape's actions at 12 Grimmauld Place.As he spoke, slightly embarrassed, he personally proved that it was he who Snape had betrayed the Order of the Phoenix. "I was -- I was thrown out, hanging over the side of the motorcycle with one hand on the frame and the other on my backpack and Hedwig's cage."

Hermione covered her mouth, looking terrified by the thrilling situation Harry had experienced: "Harry, you didn't just say—"

"I just don't think it's a big deal, after all, I didn't miss anything, and I came back safely." Harry said, thinking of Mad-Eye and the injured Weasleys, his face was covered with haze uncontrollably, "Hedwig was hit by the Killing Curse, but I couldn't bear to leave her and my backpack. It was a bit of an emergency at that time. The motorcycle was broken and bumped so badly that I couldn't hold on to it. Snape I was following George and Fred, and he came right up to me and knocked my packs off the side and blew them up. Then I climbed in the car and came back."

"You don't think he did it just to make you decide to drop your backpack and climb into the car!" Ron said sharply, this kind of evaluation and tone was reserved only for Snape, a boy with a very good nature. "He just couldn't sit still on the broom, and the spell wasn't right!"

"He blew up my backpack and left and didn't follow. I hit him once and he just dodged," Harry murmured.Ron's reaction was expected, and he couldn't be angry about it.Ron's family had lost a lot for him.

Maybe he just wanted to get the words out there.They'd been holding him back, and it seemed to have had a bad effect on him - he really didn't want to dream about Snape's face again.

"Maybe he just thinks he can't catch up." Hermione said compromised, without any obvious support or evaluation of a party's statement, and then subtly changed the subject, "Harry, no matter what you see What, you can no longer let your mind connect with Voldemort. Think Dumbledore! He asked you to learn Occlumency, it must be for your own good! Voldemort has infiltrated the newspapers and the Ministry of Magic, and has controlled Azka Ben - please, Harry. Please, stop letting him control your mind!"