Harry Potter and the Way of Reason

Author's note: For those who haven't read the original: The imprint on the wood has been slightly changed, but the quote here is exactly the same as J.K. Rowling's original text.

---

Fourth meeting:

(April 38, [-], [-]:[-] pm)

The man wore a tattered, warm coat, with three shallow permanent scars etched into his cheek; he watched Harry Potter as closely as he could, while the boy was politely looking around at a Rows of huts.For someone whose best friend died yesterday, Harry Potter was strangely calm - though not in the sort of calm that would suggest ruthlessness or normality.I don't wish to talk about it, whether with you or anyone else; the boy said so.Saying "hope" instead of "want" seems to be emphasizing that he already has the ability to use adult vocabulary and make adult decisions.After receiving owls from Professor McGonagall and that strange man named Quirinus Quirrell, Remus Lupine only thought of one thing that might help.

"There are a lot of empty houses here," the boy said, looking around again.

Remus Lupine hadn't been here much in over ten years.Godric's Hollow has changed in the past decade or so.Many of the old, eaves cottages are deserted, with thick, verdant vines covering the windows and doors.Britain shrank a lot from the trauma of the Wizarding Wars.The reason for losing population is not just death, but also escape.Godric's Hollow had been hit hard.And then more families moved elsewhere, to Hogsmeade or London wizarding circles; the memories of the dilapidated house were uncomfortable.

Others stayed.Godric's Hollow is older than Hogwarts, older than Godric Gryffindor for whom it is named; and some families will remain here until the end of the world and its magic.

Potter had been one of these families; Potter would return to one of these families again if descendants of the Potter family chose to do the same.

Remus Lupine tried to explain it all, making it as simple as possible for the young boy.The Ravenclaw nodded thoughtfully and said nothing, as if he understood everything without asking.Perhaps it was; the children of James Potter and Lily Evans, the prefects of Hogwarts, were unlikely to be dull.For the brief time they had talked in January, the kid did seem to be brilliant, even though Remus was doing most of the talking.

(Remus had also heard the rumors about the Wizengamot thing, but he didn't believe a word of it, and they were no more credible to him than "James got his son engaged to Molly's youngest child. Marriage" is higher.)

"The monument is there," Remus said, pointing ahead.

--------------

Harry followed Mr. Lupine to the black marble obelisk, thinking silently.From Harry's point of view, this venture was fundamentally going in the wrong direction; grief counseling was of no use to him, and it wasn't the path Harry had chosen.As far as Harry was concerned, the five stages of mourning were anger, remorse, resolution, research, and resurrection. (Not that there was any experimental evidence that Harry had heard of what was commonly called the "five stages of mourning"[1].) But Mr. Lupine seemed too sincere to refuse; and Harry felt that a visit James and Lily's home was something he shouldn't say no to.So Harry walked over, feeling a strange alienation; silently walking past a play he had no interest in reading the script for.

Harry had been told not to wear the Invisibility Cloak on this trip so that Mr. Lupine could keep track of him.

It couldn't be proven, but Harry was sure that Dumbledore - or both Dumbledore and Mad-Eye Moody - must have followed them in stealth, to see if anyone was biting.There was no way Harry would be released from Hogwarts with only Remus Lupine guarding him.Harry wasn't counting on that to happen, though.All dangers centered on Hogwarts, and only Hogwarts: he hadn't found anything against that assumption yet.

As the two of them approached the center of town, the marble monument became—

Harry took a breath.He had expected to see James Potter, wand raised, in a heroic pose against Voldemort, and Lily Potter with her hand outstretched in front of the crib.

In its place was a man with tousled hair and glasses, and a woman with her hair down, with a baby in her arms, and that was all.

"It looks... ordinary," said Harry, a strange lump in his throat.

"Ms. Longbottom and Professor Dumbledore were very adamant," said Mr. Lupine, looking more at Harry than at the monument, "and they said the Potters should be remembered alive, not dead." when."

Harry looked at the sculpture, thinking.It was strange to see myself as a baby made of stone, without a scar on the forehead.It's a glimpse into a parallel universe, one in which Harry James Potter (without Evans-Verys in his name) becomes a bright, but average wizarding student, perhaps chosen as a parent Gryffindor.A universe in which Harry Potter grows up to be a thoroughly young wizard who, despite his mother being Muggle-born, knows next to nothing about science.Eventually that will change...and not by much.James and Lily would not have raised their son with what Professor Quirrell called ambition, what Professor Vrys-Evans called universal striving.His biological parents would love him dearly, and that wouldn't help anyone in the world except Harry.If anyone undoes their death—

"You've been their friend," said Harry, looking over at Lupine, "for a long time, since you were all kids."

Mr. Lupine nodded silently.

Professor Quirrell's voice echoed in Harry's rough memory: The most likely difference is that it's not that you care more.It would be more accurate to say that as a more logical creature than they are, only if you realize that the role of friend should require you to...

"When Lily and James died," said Harry, "did it ever occur to you that there was some magic that would bring them back? Like Orpheus and Eurydice? Or, what , Brother Eric?"

"No magic can reverse death," said Lupine softly. "There are some mysteries that cannot be touched by magic."

"Have you checked in your mind what you think you know, how do you think you know it, and how likely is that conclusion to be true?"

"What?" said Lupine. "Can you repeat that, Harry?"

"I mean, have you ever stopped to think about it?"

Lupine shook his head.

"why not?"

"Because it's happened, it's over," said Remus Lupine mildly, "because wherever James and Lily are now, they'll want me to work for the living, not the dead. .”

Harry nodded silently.He was pretty sure what the answer was before he asked.He has read the script.But he asked anyway, just in case Mr. Lupine had been wrestling with it for a week, because Harry could have been wrong.

The defense professor's soft voice rang in Harry's head.Of course, if Lupine really cared, he wouldn't need special instruction to learn something as simple as "think 5 minutes before giving up"...

No, he does, Harry said to himself.Humans don't suddenly learn tricks just because they care.I know this because I read the books in the library, created by a vast scientific system-

Then another part of Harry said in that soft voice: But there's another hypothesis, Mr. Potter, and it's possible to fit the data in a far less sophisticated way.

No, it's not!How are people going to know what they're pretending to be if no one ever cares?

they do not know.This is what you observe.

The two continued toward a particular house, past a long row of wizarding huts and others covered in vines.

At last they reached the house: half the roof blown off, greenery growing in; the house stood behind a shoulder-high wild hedge that grew along the road, and behind a narrow metal gate (Mr. If he stepped over, he couldn't get in).The gap in the roof was as if a huge mouth had taken a bite out of the house in a ring, protruding from what might have been supporting beams.On the right, a solitary chimney still stood upright, not bitten off by the gigantic jaws, but precariously without its former support.The glass shattered.Where the front door should have been was a few splinters of wood.

Voldemort had been here before, quietly, less than a dead leaf sliding across the road...

Remus Lupine put a hand on Harry's shoulder. "Touch the door," urged Mr. Lupine.

Harry reached out and did so.

Like a fast-blooming flower, an imprint exploded from the tangled weeds in front of the gate, a wooden imprint with golden characters that read:

Here, on the night of October 31, [-],

Lily and James Potter lost their lives

bequeathed their son, Harry Potter,

The only wizard who survived the death curse,

The Boy Who Lived broke the power of the Mysterious Man.

The house will remain in a state of ruin,

As a monument to Potter,

as a memory of their sacrifice.

In the margins of the gold letters were written additional messages, dozens of them, and the magic ink rose to the surface, glowing brightly enough to be read, and then disappeared to make room for other messages.

My vengeance on Gideon has been avenged.

Thanks, Harry Potter.Wherever you are, please take care.

We will always accept the kindness of Potters.

Oh James, oh Lily, I'm so sorry.

I hope you're still alive, Harry Potter.

There will always be a price.

I hope our last conversation was gentle, James.I'm very sorry.

After night, there will always be dawn.

Rest in peace, Lily.

Bless you, Boy Who Lived.You are our miracle.

"I guess—" said Harry, "I guess that's what people do—instead of trying to do better—" Harry stopped.The idea seemed out of place with the place.He looked up and saw Remus Lupine watching him, his expression so tender that Harry turned his eyes away sharply to the blasted roof.

You are our miracle.Harry had always heard the word "miracle" before, in the context of how there was no such thing in the natural universe.But looking at the ruins of the house, he suddenly understood with unerring precision the meaning of the word, a sign of a utterly inexplicable grace, a blessed mystery.The Dark Lord had almost won, and then, overnight, all darkness and fear ended, redemption without just cause, a sudden dawn from beyond the darkness, and even now no one knows why—

If Lily Potter had survived the fight against Voldemort, she would have felt that way later, after she found out that her baby had survived.

"Let's go," whispered the baby boy, ten years later.

They left.

The entrance to the cemetery is an unlocked gate, the kind used to keep animals out, and when you stand on one side and move the gate, you follow it from one side to the other.Remus took out his wand (Harry had already grasped his own), and there was a momentary blur as they stepped in.

Steles stood on the ground, some of which looked as old as the walls of Oxford—the walls, his father had said, were probably a thousand years old or so.

Hayley Fleming, the first stone Harry saw wrote that the scratches were eroded by time without leaving a trace, and disappeared.Vienna Wood, another stone wrote.

It had been a long time since Harry had last visited the cemetery.On his last visit to the cemetery, his mind was still that of a child's, a long time before he could see beyond the shadow of death.It feels kind of... weird to be here now, and sad, and bewildered, and how it's been going on for so long, why haven't wizards tried to stop it, why haven't they pooled all their powers like Muggles do medical research , especially wizards have more reason to hope...

"The Dumbledores also lived in Godric's Hollow?" Harry said as they passed a relatively new pair of stones with Kedra Dumbledore and Arianna Dumbledore on them.

"Long, long time," said Mr. Lupine.

They walked farther in the graveyard, farther to the end, through many remembered deaths.

Then Mr. Lupine pointed to an interconnected tombstone, the marble still white and untouched.

"Is there any information here, too?" said Harry.He didn't want to have anything to do with anyone else's way of dealing with death anymore.

Mr. Lupine shook his head.

They walked towards the interconnected white stones.

and then stand-

"What's this?" Harry whispered. "Who...who wrote this?"

james potter

Born March 1960, 27

Died October 31, [-]

"Who wrote it?" said Mr. Lupine, puzzled.

lily potter

Born on January 1960, [-]

Died October 31, [-]

"This!" cried Harry, "the inscription!" Tears began to well up in Harry's eyes at the light of this place, this unexplained puzzle, this touch of a gift that shouldn't have existed. Touch, this mysterious blessing, tears welled up in his eyes—

Death is the last enemy to be destroyed.

"That?" said Mr. Lupine. "That's... the family motto, I suppose you could call it the Potter motto. I don't think it's such a formal thing, though. It's just from a long, long time ago all the way." Inherited..."

"This—that is—" Harry hurriedly knelt in front of the grave, touching the inscription with trembling hands. "What's going on? Something like this can't be just, just genes—"

Then Harry saw through his tear-blurred vision, the faint notch, a circle inside a triangle, and a line inside the circle.

Deathly Hallows logo.

Then Harry understood.

"They tried," Harry whispered.

Three Peverell brothers.

Did they also lose someone important and that's how it all started?

"Throughout their lives, they've been trying and making some progress—"

An invisibility cloak that blocks the vision of dementors.

"—but their research wasn't done—"

Escaping the shadow of death is not defeating death itself.The Resurrection Stone can't actually bring anyone back.The Elder Wand cannot protect you in old age.

"—so they passed the task on to their children, their children's children."

Generation after generation.

until it lands on my head.

Can time rhyme like this, echoing between the distant future and the distant past?It can't be by chance, can it?Impossible in this message, impossible in this place.

my family.

You really are, my parents.

"It doesn't mean bringing the dead back, Harry," said Mr. Lupine, "it means accepting death so that you can rise above it and master it."

"Did James tell you that?" Harry said, his voice strange.

"No," said Mr. Lupine, "but—"

"very good."

Harry rose slowly from where he was kneeling, and it felt as if he was carrying the sun on his shoulders, pulling dawn over the horizon.

Of course other wizards have tried.I am not unique.I was never alone.This feeling in my heart, they are not that special, neither in the wizarding world nor the Muggle world.

"Harry, your wand!" Mr. Lupine's voice suddenly tinged with excitement, and when Harry raised his wand to examine it carefully, he saw a silvery-white light gleaming on it, trickling from the wood.

"Cast the Patronus Charm!" urged Mr. Lupine. "Try it again, Harry!"

Oh, yes, as far as Mr. Lupine knows, I can't—

Harry smiled, even a little out loud. "Better not," said Harry, "if I cast this spell in this state of mind, it might kill me."

"What?" said Mr. Lupine. "The Patronus Charm has no such effect!"

Harry James Potter-Evans-Verys raised his left hand, still laughing, and wiped away some more tears.

"You know, Mr. Lupine," Harry said, "thinking about someone walking around, musing over how death is just something we all need to accept, and saying 'death is the last thing to be destroyed' 'enemies' to express their state of mind, an understanding that really needs a touch of baroque[2]. Perhaps someone else finds this phrase sounding poetic, picks up the phrasing, and tries to interpret it as another meaning, but the first person who said it didn't like death very much." Harry sometimes wondered how most people do when they twist something 180 degrees from its original, perfectly obvious meaning, to mean the opposite. Will not notice at all.It can't be purely mental, people can understand most of the other sentences in the most obvious sense, "Besides, 'will be destroyed' represents a change in future circumstances, so it certainly doesn't refer to things as they are now."

Remus Lupine stared at him with wide eyes. "You are indeed James and Lily's child," the man said, sounding shocked.

"Yes, I am," said Harry.But that wasn't enough, he had to do something more, so Harry raised his wand into the air and said as smoothly as he could, "I'm Harry James Potter-Evans-Verys, Lily And Jaime's son, of House Potter, I accept my family's calling. Death is my enemy, and I will defeat it."

Thrayenbeyn PeverlassoonaahndthrihheeratoalthissoomDathbeyyewoonen.

"What?" Harry said aloud.The words rushed into his consciousness as if they had come from his own mind, without explanation.

"What's this?" said Remus Lupine at the same time.

Harry turned and searched the graveyard, but he saw nothing.Beside him, Mr. Lupine is doing the same.

Neither of them noticed that on the tall old stone that seemed to have passed through a thousand years, there was a circle in the upper triangle, and a thread in the circle was shining with a dim silver light, as if from Harry's wand. The light gushed out of it; the silver light was lost at this distance in the still bright sun.

-----------

Some time has passed:

"Thank you again, Mr. Lupine," said Harry, as the tall, slightly scarred man was leaving again, "although I do hope you haven't—"

"Professor Dumbledore said that if anything unusual happens, I'll use the Portkey to teleport us both back to Hogwarts, whether it looks like an attack or not," said Mr. Lupine firmly." That's very sensible."

Harry nodded.Then, carefully saving the question for last, "Do you have any idea of ​​what these words mean?"

"I wouldn't have told you if I had," said Mr. Lupine, looking more serious, "certainly not without Professor Dumbledore's permission. I can understand your enthusiasm, But you shouldn't try to uncover any of the ancient Potter family secrets until you're an adult. That means not until after you've passed your Higher Wizarding Ranks, Harry, or at least after you've passed your Ordinary Wizarding Ranks. And I still think you've completely misunderstood what your family motto is trying to say!"

Harry nodded, sighed inwardly, and said goodbye to Mr. Lupine.

-----------

Harry went back to Hogwarts and went to Ravenclaw Tower, feeling a little strange and a little inspired.All this was beyond his expectations, but these are good things.

He walked across the Ravenclaw common room, on his way back to his dormitories.

Just then, the shimmering creature approached him, flickering soft white in the candlelight of the Ravenclaw common room, as if gliding out of nowhere, a silvery snake.

-----------

Tregenbéon PeefearlessunaandtriehiratóltissumDéaebéogewunen.

The number of three is the son of Peverell, the number of three is also his creation, and death will bear it.

——Speaking of the three Peverell brothers, in a small inn on the outskirts of the city, which was later called Godric's Hollow.

-------------------------

1 The five stages of mourning: originally "denial, anger, bargaining, depression, acceptance".For details, see: zh.wikipedia/wiki/Kübler-Ross model

2 Baroque (Baroque): an architectural style, which means "strange, weird, deformed" in Italian, see: baike.baidu/subview/19875/7765527.htm