Harriet Potter

At that moment, I felt as if I too flew out.Memories of the rest of the night are hazy, of the Full Body Binding Curse being lifted immediately after Dumbledore disappeared, and me dropping the Invisibility Cloak and chasing the fast-moving Death Eaters, probably knocking out a couple of them in the process.I raced past groups of still fighting Order members and Death Eaters in pursuit of the black-robed figure ahead, as if I could undo what he had done if I caught him.A grim voice reminded me that killing Dumbledore was a task Dumbledore himself had left for him, and that when Dumbledore was going to die he would die with no room for change, but I didn't stop.

We had a duel in front of the oak gates down the same driveway that Dumbledore and I had walked down earlier - I was no match for Snape, obviously.He took his time breaking my spell, laughing at me, mocking my resemblance to my father.I threw all the offensive words and curses at him when I was helpless, feeling absurdly that this was the only thing that hadn't been subverted all night.

"No, Potter!" Snape screamed as he blew me away with some sort of spell. "How dare you hit me with my spells, Potter? I invented them - I, Half-Blood Prince! You're going to attack me with my inventions, like your filthy father, aren't you? I say no... no!"

I didn't realize I was using the Prince's spell, but the words hit me hard in the head.I snarled and threw myself at Snape, who knocked me down again.When I was able to get up, Snape and Malfoy were gone. I staggered to find the wand from the grass, and found that Hagrid's hut was burning not far away, and ran over staggeringly.A huge figure came out of the flames carrying a big dog tooth. I let out a cry of relief and knelt down.My limbs were shaking, my body was aching, and every breath was a stabbing pain.

"Are you all right, Harry? Are you all right? Talk, Harry..."

Hagrid's big, hairy face dangled above my head, obscuring the stars.I could smell the burnt wood and dog fur, and I reached out and touched Fang Fang's warm, trembling body next to me, knowing it was still alive.

"I'm fine, how about you?"

"Of course I... that would kill me."

We put out the fire in the hut, and the night became dark and silent again, still burning.I know I have to admit it, even though I really don't want it to be Hagrid.

"Dumbledore," I said, "Snape killed... Dumbledore."

We came down to the tower, where a shocked circle had gathered.When Dumbledore's body-binding spell was lifted, I knew there was no hope. The spell would not undo naturally unless the caster died.But I was still not mentally prepared to see this scene: the best wizard I have ever met in this life, and maybe I will never meet again, lying sprawled before my eyes with broken arms and legs.

The locket flew out of his arms in the fall, and I picked it up, realizing at once that it wasn't the one I'd seen in the Pensieve, but pocketing it anyway.I should check it out somewhere where no one is around, but that could have waited, and I continued to kneel beside Dumbledore until the familiar warmth of the still-drenched fabric came to me, and a pair of hands supported me. up.

Inaudible words came from all sides, sobbing and shouting and wailing cut through the night, but Alvin and I kept going, up the steps and into the foyer.Faces flickered at the edge of my vision, people stared at me, whispered, stunned and bewildered.We headed up the marble staircase, where the Gryffindor rubies in the scoreboard were scattered on the floor, glowing red like drops of blood.

"Let's go to the school hospital," Alvin said.

"I'm not hurt," I said.

"It was McGonagall's order," said Alvin. "Everyone is there, Ron, Hermione, and some people I don't know—"

Fear rose in me again, and I remembered Malfoy saying he had stepped on someone's body.

"Alvin, who else is dead?"

"Probably not, don't be afraid..." Alvin said, and I noticed that his hands and robe were stained with blood, and he almost trembled more than me.

"What's wrong with you, Alvin?" I asked, stopping in my tracks. "Are you hurt?"

"No, I..." Alvin clenched his hands on my shoulders, "Several junior students were frightened by the movement nearby and ran out of the common room... I was reviewing in the common room, I chased it out... We met a werewolf near the hall, he rushed towards me, and was stopped by a man, he told me to run with the students, and then he..."

"Who is it?" I squeezed his hand tightly.

"I don't know." Alvin closed his eyes tightly and trembled even more. "He has red hair."

We hugged in the hallway, he kissed my forehead and I stroked his back, and we went on like this for a long time until we both warmed up, stopped shaking, and walked towards the campus hospital with our fingers interlocked.

The man attacked by the werewolf was Bill, Ron's eldest brother, whose once handsome face had become unrecognizable at the moment.Watching Madam Pomfrey apply ointment to those bruised wounds, Hermione put her arm around Ron's shoulders, Lupine and Tonks stood wearily aside, I squeezed Alvin's hand, let him go, and went up He hugged Ginny who was standing beside Madam Pomfrey with her back straight.Her body was stiff, her hands clenched into fists.

"Yeah, I don't think Bill will turn into a real werewolf," Lupine answered Ron's question, "but that's not to say nothing has changed. These are wounds of the spell. They can't heal completely, and— And Bill might have some werewolf traits in the future."

"Dumbledore will probably know what to do," said Ron. "Where is he? Bill was on his orders to take on those lunatics, and Dumbledore is responsible for him, and he can't just let it go—"

"Ron, Dumbledore's dead," I said, feeling Ginny take a sharp breath.

"Impossible!" Lupine turned his gaze to me frantically, as if expecting me to deny it, which I didn't.Lupine slumped in the chair beside Bill's bed, his face in his hands.I've never seen Lupine out of control, it was like seeing some unseemly privacy, and I looked away, exchanging silent glances with Ron and Hermione as they tightened their arms around each other.

"How did he die?" Tonks whispered. "How did it happen?"

"Snape killed him," I said, "I was there, I saw it with my own eyes. We went back to the Astronomy Tower, because the Dark Mark is there... Dumbledore was sick, he was weak, but I Guess he already knew it was a trap when we heard someone running upstairs. Dumbledore put a spell on me and I couldn't do anything, I was wearing an invisibility cloak - and then Malfoy came in through the door , disarmed him—"

Hermione slammed her mouth shut, Ron sighed, and I felt Alvin's hand on my shoulder again.

"—more Death Eaters came—and then Snape—Snape did it, Avada Kedavra."

Madam Pomfrey burst into tears, and Ginny suddenly whispered, "Hush! Listen!"

Somewhere in the darkness outside, the phoenix was singing a moving, pathetic dirge in a way Harry had never heard it before.Like listening to the song of the phoenix before, the song of this elegy seems to be in my head, not in reality, as if my own sorrow turned into an elegy, echoing in the campus and the windows of the castle.

I don't know how long we stood there listening, and I don't know why listening to this mourning song gave me some comfort, but it felt like a long time before Professor McGonagall opened the door and walked into the ward.Like the others, she has battle marks on her body, with a few scrapes on her face and torn robes.

"Molly and Arthur are coming this way," she said, and the magic of the music was interrupted, and everyone turned to look at Bill, or rub their eyes, or shake their heads, as if out of a trance. "Harry, what's going on? I heard from Hagrid that you were with Professor Dumbledore when he - when that happened. Hagrid also said that Professor Snape seemed to be involved in something - "

"Snape killed Dumbledore," I said again.

McGonagall stared at him for a moment, then shook heart-wrenchingly.Madam Pomfrey ran forward a few steps, conjured a chair with magic, and placed it behind McGonagall.

"Snape was a master of Occlumency," said Lupine, his voice harsh and different from usual. "That's a fact we all know."

"But Dumbledore swears that he's from our side!" Tonks said softly, "I always thought that Dumbledore must know something about Snape, which we don't know..."

I couldn't listen anymore, pushed Alvin's hand away, turned and left the ward.I turned to a deserted corridor, remembering that Dumbledore had passed by here the last time he escorted me back from the Hog's Head, so I had to stop for a while to hold back the sudden tears.I pulled out the locket I had picked up. It was much cruder than the real thing, and it opened easily, revealing a folded piece of parchment.I took it out mechanically, opened it and read it.

To the Dark Lord

I'll be dead before you read this

But I want you to know that I discovered your secret.

I stole the real Horcrux and intend to destroy it as soon as possible.

I am willing to die, I hope that when you meet your opponent

can be killed.

RAB

I neither understand nor care what it means, the only important thing is that this is not Voldemort's Horcrux.Did Dumbledore know this when he drank that terrible potion?Maybe he doesn't care, since he's already ready...I think about the stinging words I said to him earlier tonight when he opened up to me without realizing it was the last chance .I think of him watching the campus immersed in the afterglow of the sunset. He had expected it at that time, but he didn't say anything.He will never tell me what to do again.Albus Dumbledore will never tell me anything again.

As always, everyone has a ton of questions for me.I refused to disclose to Professor McGonagall the reason why I went out with Dumbledore tonight, avoided the Minister of Magic and his delegation, walked straight through the crowd in the common room, and gave the locket to Herr who went back to the dormitory first sensitive.She read the note, understood without further ado, and gave me a hug so tight it hurt.

I drew the curtains, lay on the bed, and suddenly felt that the place was extremely silent.Fox stopped singing.

And then somehow I knew that the Phoenix was gone, away from Hogwarts forever, like Dumbledore from the school forever, from the world... away from me.

The author has something to say: Two chapters in a row have finally passed this paragraph, so Xiao Deng can leave.