[SSHP] End of life

For Harry, no matter how many exams he took, they were a nightmare.For half a year, he used various excuses to avoid all classes that required a wand, but he couldn't avoid the written test.When the exam was finally over, he was so exhausted that he slept through the next day until 07:30.

He woke Ron, and the two of them went downstairs for breakfast.As soon as he walked to the common room, he saw Hermione rushing in through the portrait hole, panting and waving the "Daily Prophet", followed by panicked noises.The sight reminded Harry of the night of Dumbledore's funeral.Ron stopped rubbing his eyes, and straightened up vigilantly. For some reason, he touched the prefect badge on his chest.

"The Ministry of Magic has been captured! Scrimgeour is missing - what's his name - Nott - made Minister!" Hermione screamed incoherently. "Professor McGonagall has been dismissed by the Ministry, there's no way The interim headmaster—they will send someone over to take over Hogwarts! Today!" Behind her, the chaotic Gryffindor students swarmed in, and owls spread their wings from the distant sky like raindrops, frantically knocking on the tower windows.No one relaxes that the exam is over, and everyone's face is pale with fear.

Ron looked around the crowded common room, grabbed Harry and Hermione, and dragged them out of the portrait hole.Three people passed the crowd, not a single student was calm, they were looking for parchment and ink, some were crying, some were answering letters, some were staring at Harry.Fortunately, none of them tried to hold him back.

"So, it's time to start again?" said Ron, as they sat by the Black Lake with their bread.He looked very calm, as if he had already escaped once and gained a lot of experience. "Are we leaving school again and starting to flee?"

"Perhaps," said Harry.He took a bite of the bread, full of worry, "Maybe I have to find a way to leave early, Hogwarts is no longer safe. If the Ministry of Magic sends Death Eaters to Hogwarts today to arrest people..."

His eyes were on Dumbledore's grave in the distance.The tomb was white, dazzlingly bright in the sun.

"Potter!" Lupine's voice called after him.He turned to see Snape striding this way, his eyes looking straight at him sternly.

"I have to go, Remus has something to do with me," said Harry, nodding at Ron and Hermione, "Hermione, you're a Muggle-born, you'd better pack your things and hide in the Room of Requirement first... …Fortunately, during this time we have figured out how to perfect the order, go in, use it.”

He got up and followed Snape to the castle.The auditorium was messy, and many students gathered in groups of threes and twos, chatting together.The atmosphere at the long Slytherin table was very oppressive. Some Slytherins were eating breakfast in silence with expressionless faces, while some Slytherins looked coldly at the other three tables.Other Slytherins didn't speak, but looked excited, with a twinkle in their eye.Draco was not on the table.

Snape silently led Harry up the tower.The students were mostly gathered in the common room or the auditorium, and the corridors were empty.Portraits flitted about in their frames, some looking at Harry worriedly.When Harry found out that Snape's destination was the headmaster's office, he couldn't help but glance at him.

Since Dumbledore's funeral, the gargoyle has closed the principal's office, and no one can enter.The Vice-Chancellor, Professor McGonagall, is still working in her own office even though she is acting as the Head-Chancellor.Dumbledore's phoenix is ​​in his prime, and the school's rule of not being able to apparate is useless on him, so he can continue to be active in the principal's office.It's just that if Harry, Draco, Snape and a few people need to go to the principal's office to meet Dumbledore, they can only choose to wear the invisibility cloak at night or use the Disillusionment Charm to pass through a fireplace in the tomb.

"The Key to Time," Snape whispered the command, and Harry followed him up the winding staircase, with the door closing behind him.He walked into the office and was surprised to find Lucius and Draco already inside, Lucius sitting in an armchair with a haggard face.

"Severus, Harry." He turned to greet them, but didn't stand up.Snape walked over, took some medicine bottles from his jacket, and handed them over.Lucius opened a bottle and drank it. The taste was obviously terrible, and the corners of his mouth twitched uncontrollably.

He put the remaining bottles of medicine into his arms and looked at Dumbledore opposite him: "I only have 10 minutes. After a while, I will be stationed here as the headmaster with the Minister of Magic. You have to open the headmaster's office." defense."

Dumbledore looked pretty good.He nodded.

"I'm afraid the Dark Lord will come to see your portrait. I have hidden it in the tomb and told him that the portrait has been destroyed..."

"How long has he punished you, Lucius?" asked Dumbledore sharply.

Lucius shook his head wearily: "It's all trivial." He pursed his lower lip, and a line of blood appeared on his pale lower lip.

"Why?" interrupted Harry suddenly. "Why does he want a portrait when he's so afraid of Professor Dumbledore?"

"Because he wanted Dumbledore to see his victory." Draco replied, his voice full of hostility. "Dumbledore was not needed in his time, but he would not miss an opportunity to show off his victory."

Harry was taken aback by his tone, and when he looked at Draco, Draco had already lowered his head again.

"Tell your Muggle-born kid to hide. I will try my best to ensure the safety of Hogwarts students, but I can't guarantee the Muggle-born." Lucius said, pressing his eyebrows, "Don't say the name of the Dark Lord .The Dark Lord has put a curse on his own name to identify the resisters. Let the Aurors also pay attention..."

As he spoke, he stood up and shook slightly. "I've got to go..." He looked at Draco, adjusting to an energetic smirk, but his voice was a little harsher, "Don't forget to play your part, Draco."

After a while, Draco raised his head and returned a haughty smile.

Everyone in the principal's office watched as Lucius walked into the fireplace.When the green flames turned red, Dumbledore said, "Let all Muggle-born and half-race students except Slytherin go to the Room of Requirement, stay there for one night, and the house-elf will send them food." .Tomorrow it will be connected to the Pig's Head Bar, and Aurors will help them get back home. Harry, you go and inform Minerva about this, and then come back here. Draco, you go too, don't show your weakness .Severus, you wait here. When Harry comes back, I have something to discuss with you."

Harry nodded and walked out.Draco walked past him, walking fast.Harry called him from behind.

"Draco, what's wrong with you?" he asked hesitantly.

"I hate Dumbledore, I hate Professor Snape, and I hate you even more." Draco stopped abruptly and stared at Harry beside a stone gargoyle. Bright things slowly came out from the corners of his eyes, "If it wasn't for you, my dad wouldn't have attracted all the firepower, and he left because you fucking cared about him, leaving my dad alone..." He didn't put After finishing speaking, he walked quickly.

"Draco!" Harry yelled.

"Don't follow me!" Draco said hoarsely, and walked down the corridor without looking back.

Harry glanced at his back with complicated emotions, put on the invisibility cloak, and quickly ran to the other end of the corridor.Professor McGonagall was not in her own office, and he found her in the teachers' common room, looking through the Marauder's Map.The heads of the other three houses were also there, and upon hearing Harry's reminder, they jumped up and ran out of the teachers' common room.

Harry ran up to the eighth floor, but fortunately no one had entered the Room of Requirement yet.He took out the crown and ran back to the headmaster's office with it.The principal's office was located on a very high floor, and when he was about to run to the stone gargoyle, he saw a few dark shadows walking towards the school gate from a distance from the window.There was a brief glare in the sun, something that seemed to be Lucius' snake-headed staff.

He didn't look out again, opened the door with that very un-Dumbledore-style password, and was surprised to find that Dumbledore and Snape were facing each other wordlessly.When Dumbledore saw Harry walk in, he smiled and waved to him.Harry placed the diadem on the table in front of him.

Dumbledore unfolded the black cloth covering the diadem, but without paying much attention to it, he put it aside.His gaze turned to Harry, as calm as ever.

"Harry, for the next period of time, you need to cooperate with Severus to do a very important job. You did a good job last time, eliminating seven Death Eaters. The Dark Lord's manpower It's getting tighter. So he took all the Death Eaters from the werewolves and giants back to him, which just gave us a chance. You have until March next year to convince the werewolves and giants to switch to ours. camp."

"Okay, Professor," said Harry, "just the two of us?"

"I would have sent Kingsley with you, but the Ministry has fallen too soon. He needs to stay there. Forgive me."

"You're crazy!" Snape snarled. "You tell a man who can't use a wand and a savior who has lost all magic to go to a werewolf and a giant! You might as well tell him to die!"

"I'm glad you care so much about Harry's safety, Severus. But I think Harry has to go in person, and only he can convince them. He's always had a magical power... Now there's only so much I can do, Jinbei, you still need to convince other magical creatures. Go, you will protect Harry."

Snape's eyes sparkled, and he drew his wand.

"I thought I was at my limit with what I was doing. Now you're calling me a babysitter?"

"Relax, Severus. Your mission is important, and Harry won't let you worry about it. There will be some danger, but nothing more than what you've been through over the years. You've promised, Isn't it?"

Harry looked at Snape.He accused dissatisfiedly: "It's not a day or two for you to be a nanny, because you always ignore my growth."

"I won't babysit for Potter anymore, Dumbledore! You can call that dog or that werewolf to convince them that canines are the same kind!"

"Remus has failed. He needs to do something else," said Dumbledore patiently.

"I refuse!" Snape growled under his breath.Without even looking at Harry, he turned and walked over to the fireplace, throwing a handful of floo into it.

Dumbledore didn't stop.He sat behind his desk, chin resting, watching Harry and Snape silently.

"Do you think that if you ask Professor Dumbledore not to disclose it, your sense of responsibility will disappear!" Harry roared at his back, "A bottle of potion every three months, did Professor Dumbledore ask you to do this? Is it that hard to admit what you've done! Always pull others out as a shield, you coward!"

Snape turned back sharply, the sullenness in his eyes suppressed into a storm about to explode, and Harry almost took a step back with such a terrifying pressure.But Harry controlled his fear and insisted on looking Snape directly in the eye.

"Should I be glad no one sent a vial of poison to the Savior? What an easy way the Dark Lord missed. He didn't know that Harry Potter could put anything in his mouth!"

"I'm not blind! Do you think I can't recognize it if I change the font! Only you can write the letter p in that way!" Harry growled, "If it wasn't for me to drink, why did you send Give it to me! If I drink it, I just stuff everything into my mouth. If you don’t drink it, you have to find a way to make me drink it! I damn trust you, and it’s also my fault! Because I care about you, you ignore me for half a year! You stay here! I will go by myself! I will go even if I die! This is my job!"

Snape's expression at that moment was without a doubt the scariest rage Harry had ever seen in his life.There was a fire in the brown eyes, and the brilliance of the fire was almost as bright as the memory of the sneak peek that he will never forget in his life.The irascible wizard looks like he's about to bombard his head with a nonstop jar of a hundred dead cockroaches, or turn him irreversibly into a cockroach.An invisible pressure swept the entire principal's office—the former Harry Potter couldn't feel the pressure, and all his perception of danger was based on intuition. He would only think that this strong sense of oppression was caused by Snape himself. gloomy.But he can feel it now.That kind of power was as vast as the sea, and he even felt that he could hear the tower in the principal's office shaking slightly due to the impact of magic power.His hand finally succumbed to overwhelming fear, and he held his wand in his sleeve.

But Snape did nothing.He stared hard at Harry, turned around sharply, strode into the fireplace without saying no or yes.

Harry watched the green flames rise high and turn red again, trembling with anger.He tried his best to suppress the urge to follow up with Snape and quarrel with Snape again, until Dumbledore coughed softly behind him, and he came back to his senses, and at the same time found that his underwear was drenched in cold sweat.

"Why is he angry?" Harry muttered angrily, his right hand shaking slightly with anger and fear, "I don't even know why he is angry! Because I said trust him? Merlin! As if my trust was insult!"

Dumbledore handed Harry a cup of steaming black tea, but he didn't seem to notice Harry's trembling.He lightly rubbed the edge of his robe sleeves, the eyes behind the half-moon lenses were not playful, only serious.

"Severus' temper is not very good, but it's rare to be this violent... In fact, I haven't seen him really angry in ten years."

"I've never seen him not angry," said Harry.He is also still angry.He also held the teacup in his cold left hand, trying to stop the trembling of his hands.But after the two hands were held together, the teacup shook even more, almost spilling all the tea in the cup.He could only find a seat to sit down temporarily, put the teacup on his lap, and kept taking deep breaths.Then he noticed that his legs were shaking too.

"He was often disgruntled and complained a lot, but seldom really angry. Don't forget, Harry, he's the greatest Occlumency master alive, not even me. And for a spy, anger and fear These are factors that affect his composure. He always tries to avoid them out of a sense of duty."

Harry took a sip of his tea.He was still panting.

"Harry, you can refuse to go with him, but I want you to consider my suggestion. Judging from his reaction just now, he cares about you more than you, or even he knows. Maybe your journey will not be so pleasant, But he will keep you safe."

I don't want him sacrificing everything to keep me safe, I just want him to care more about himself - Harry almost blurted out at that moment.He suddenly remembered that every time he received the potion, Snape's face turned paler than usual in the days before and after he received the potion.He has been silently giving so much, maybe more, but he didn't notice.

Harry's thoughts were interrupted by the slight clang of silverware.Biting his lower lip, he looked up at Dumbledore.The old wizard's blue eyes were looking at him through the lens, as if he knew what he was thinking. Some thoughts and disapproval in those eyes flashed away, and after a while, they finally settled on gentleness.It was a serious gentleness, without calculation and judgment, just with honesty.

"Harry, I think you're right. The other one I chose was not just because of trust, but because he has no feelings for you. Only someone who doesn't care about your personal safety can accurately carry out all my plans-except him. No one can do it - but I was wrong, Harry. I'm sorry. Feelings, that's not a mistake, and it's not a variable in the plan that needs to be killed. Maybe you came back to this time and place to remind me of the mistakes I made , love conquers all, that's not empty talk. I taught you so, but I myself forgot."

Harry's hands slowly stopped shaking, and gradually a deep sadness rose from his chest, burning his eye sockets. "He does have no feelings for me, he still hates me. But I'm not... I just don't want to put him in danger, make him unhappy. He doesn't owe me, I owe him. He did that for me Well, I shouldn't repay him by draining him to the last drop of blood—if he doesn't want to see me, I don't think I should keep running around in front of him—"

"Few people really understand themselves, Harry. And few people really understand the meaning of love--love is the most powerful and wonderful thing in the world that can change everything. About Severus' thoughts, I still Reserve my opinion, he cares a lot about you, Harry, it's just that neither of you realize it. Trust me one more time if you want, I'll go and convince him you two should go together. I believe it's good for you Both are good."

Harry didn't speak.Dumbledore took a sip of his tea and looked out at the sky.His eyes, through the lenses, were blue and blue.

"Don't worry too much, Harry. We'll win," he said quietly. "No matter how many times we've passed over the years, I'm glad to know that every time there's tragedy, we see bravery. Whenever there's something ordinary People need help, and there are always some extraordinary people who come to help-such as you, Harry. In fact, your most valuable quality is that you have always shown heroism in a quiet way. You are willing to give your life. Your friends, even some you've never met. Love is all around you, and it's around Severus—around all of us. Good will prevail. In fact, I'm more than sure of it."

Harry looked at Dumbledore in disbelief.At this moment, the elder looked as if he had suddenly let go of a lot of things, relaxed and exhausted at the same time.

"Go now, Harry. Go with yourself," he said. "It's a cliché...but in the end I want to remind you again that pain and fear are as natural to humans as breathing, accept it, it's not courage Enemies. No one will blame you for your pain or fear... Always remember to be honest with those you love."

"Thank you, Professor," said Harry, "I think I get it this time."

He smiled at Dumbledore, who smiled back.He drank his last sip of tea and stood up.

The author has something to say: A tribute to Love Actually.