Harriet Potter

At noon on Christmas Day, we Apparated to our intended location.Ron used a lamp to light up the cave. It was not much different from my impression, except that the chicken bones and noodles scattered on the ground were completely dried out, the newspapers in the corner were old and yellow, and the air was full of moldy and rotten smells. .Sirius hid here when I was forced to participate in the Triwizard Tournament, apparently he left without cleaning it.A chicken leg bone was lying at my feet, and there was a deep tooth mark on the slightly flat end. For a moment, I couldn't tell whether it came from a human or a dog, and I couldn't help laughing.Then I kicked it away and helped Hermione and Ron get ready for action.

Since the remaining compound decoction is definitely not enough for three people to go back and forth, we simply keep it in case there is a more important use in the future.Ron and Hermione pretended to be the two sides of a deal, transformed their facial features with spells, and put on heavy clothes that could not be seen clearly. However, after learning the previous lesson, Hermione gave up the idea of ​​using heels to conceal her height.Then Hermione wrapped Ron's face in bandages and put a heavy veil on herself so that no one could see who they really were unless they were checked against a specific target - which is why I could only talk to Enter the village wearing the Invisibility Cloak behind Hermione.She insisted that the Death Eaters would focus on people of my stature.

The steep and rocky path outside the cave was as difficult to climb as before, and I thought of Sirius as a black dog walking on the ground in front of us, and then warned myself that distraction would not help the situation.We were all out of breath when we got to the foot of the hill, and the bandages on Ron's face were loosened by his scratching. sweat.

As previously discussed, Ron went first to the village. If there is no news after half an hour of his departure, or if something unexpected happens, Hermione and I will leave immediately.We watched him walk across the bushy grounds, toward the nearest entrance, and waited anxiously, taking out the shattered lenses of his two-way mirror. Fifteen minutes later, a hand blurred and deformed due to being too close suddenly appeared in the lens, and it tapped twice, which was a signal for Ron to be safely in place.I put on the Invisibility Cloak and followed Hermione, and took a different path from Ron's to the entrance of the village.The person in charge of the investigation looked impatient, perhaps thinking about going home for the holidays.He just gave Hermione a few quick pokes with his wand before letting her in, and I slid in sideways before the door closed completely.Although Hogsmeade is much deserted, it is easy to feel the festive atmosphere when walking on the street. Most of the shops along the street are hung with sparkling Christmas decorations, and I even saw Christmas trees from the living room windows of several shops.We turned into a deserted alley, walked a little further, and saw the dirty sign of the Hog's Head.

The light in the bar was as dim as ever, with only a few candles flickering faintly, and the whole space seemed to be completely insulated from the word "festival".Ron sat in the corner to the right of the bar, and we walked up to him while Aberforth blew out a candle on the bar.After receiving this signal, the other two guests left one after another, but the remaining one stopped between us and Ron intentionally or unintentionally.I recognized Travers immediately, staring unabashedly at Hermione's veil, and Hermione stopped, lifting her chin as haughtily as Aberforth had taught her.I had my wand in hand, but a few seconds later Travers snorted, glanced at Ron, and walked around us out of the bar.

Aberforth immediately came out from the sawdust-covered broken bar and bolted the bar door. Ron almost jumped up to us, pulling the bandages on his face. Hermione grumbled and helped him. I opened the door invisibility cloak.

"Who is Hermione impersonating?" I asked. "Even Travers is afraid of her."

"Leticia Escapa, she's well-known among the potion and drug dealers, no one wants to mess with her." Aberforth said, through the door behind the counter, the three of us followed.

"If she's connected to the Death Eaters, don't we immediately expose it?" Hermione asked.

"She owes me a favor," Aberforth said simply.

Hermione stopped Ron from asking, and we climbed the wooden stairs to the living room.There was a threadbare carpet, a small fireplace, and above it hung a large oil painting, from behind which I fell twice, but this was the first time I had looked at it from the front.The blond girl in the painting looks blankly and tenderly into the room, and somehow she looks familiar.

"Okay, whatever you want to do, you have two hours before curfew begins." Aberforth said, and I came back to see Ron and Hermione taking off their overly heavy clothes.

"Can't we just Apparate from the bar?" Ron asked.

"There are anti-apparition spells all over the village, to ensure that those who enter illegally cannot get out," Aberforth said.

Hermione folded the clothes and put them in the beaded pouch, pursing her lips and nodding at me, and I called out Kreacher's name, and we stared at the painting above the fireplace together.I was surprised to see the blond girl turn away, and then return to the frame a moment later with a small figure just above her knees, and then the portrait opened like a small door, and a pair of long ears came from behind. lean out.

"Master." Kreacher jumped off the fireplace and bowed to each of us in turn, "Mr. Weasley, ma'am." His bow to Hermione was still unsuccessful, but enough to move her.

"Is anyone else in the Room of Requirement?" I asked, resisting the urge to ask what was going on at Hogwarts.

"No, master." The elf replied hoarsely, and I noticed that he was much tidier than when he appeared in front of me last time, the hair in his ears became white and fluffy, and a clean towel was neatly wrapped around his waist .

"You're doing well, Kreacher," I said, "now go back to the kitchen and get on with the other elves, and don't tell anyone about it."

"Yes, master." The elf said hoarsely, and finally bowed, Regulus' locket on his chest touched the carpet.Then he disappeared with a bang.

I climbed onto the mantelpiece and down the tunnel, helping Ron pull Hermione up, followed by Ron, and the portrait closed.We crawled through the hole behind the portrait and up the smooth stone steps.Brass lamps hung on the passage walls, and our shadows were cast on the walls, swinging like fans.

"Tell me, what's going on in school now?" Ron asked after walking for a while.

"No one, it's like that at the holidays," I replied, knowing Ron was definitely not talking about that.

We continued walking in silence, the slope at our feet gradually became steeper, the passage turned a corner, and there was another short stone step leading to another door.

"Oops," I whispered, and they both jumped.

"What's the matter?" Ron had already pulled out half of his wand.

"How do we find it?" I asked.

"what--"

Then they all understood, I pushed the door open, and the city, made up of prohibited items hidden by countless students and teachers for thousands of years, unfolded in front of us.

"I have a..." Ron looked at the horcruxes in front of him - the height was piled up from his feet to the point where he had to look up, dumbfounded, "How can the mysterious man look at these and believe that there is no one in the place where he hides the Horcrux? Can you find it?"

"Let's not talk about two hours, we can't go through all these things in two months!" Hermione sounded a little hysterical, "Not to mention that we don't even know what they look like! Why don't you tell us that there are So many things?"

"I know what a gold Hufflepuff cup looks like. It's small, it's gold, it has a badger carved on it, and it has two handles." I said, a little embarrassed, I couldn't believe I had forgotten that before, "A Ravenclaw relic...no matter what it looks like, it must have an eagle on it..."

"Ravenclaw's diadem." Hermione snorted. "Xenophilius Lovegood wants to copy it, but the thing he made will never touch."

"Shall we find each other?" Ron asked uncertainly.

"We don't have that much time," said Hermione anxiously. "Don't you see how many things there are?"

"Then it's up to me to find it, isn't it?" I said.

"How do you...?"

"There is a connection between me and You-Know-Who." I told them, "I can feel him—or a part of him—nearby. I could feel the locket before, and I know you without looking." who carried it."

"But the locket was only a few feet away from you back then!" said Hermione. "There could be, I don't know, several churches in this place?"

"I gotta try," I said. "There's no other way, is there?"

That's never as easy as saying it.I closed my eyes under the intense gaze of Ron and Hermione. At first I didn't know what I was looking for, but soon, as if guided by something, I felt some small, ominous voices.I head toward the sound sources in my head until I'm just a wall away from them, and then the wall becomes a door, blood rushes in my ear, and I push it through a crack.

Every step I take is like wading through a swamp of swirling darkness.All senses were a blur and Hermione's and Ron's hands on my arm felt sometimes like fire and sometimes like slimy snakes.Every time they force me to change direction so I don't fall or hit something, I have to do the positioning again.Slowly, another beating sound was close at hand, cold and mechanical, but the rhythm was in line with my heartbeat, and the scar on my forehead throbbed violently as if echoing.

I tried to pull away from it, and Ron and Hermione, who had been prepared, supported me from both sides, so that I would not lose my strength and fall to the ground.

"It's very close...it's nearby..." My ears were buzzing, and cold sweat rolled down my neck, "but I can't..."

"It's okay, let's leave it to us." Hermione said, and they helped me to sit on a soft thing.

It took me a long time to calm the pain of the scar, to feel it dormant again under the skin, before I opened my eyes.Beneath me was an overturned sofa with obvious smoke marks on one side. There must have been a fire nearby, and then I realized that this was the place where I hid the Half-Blood Prince's textbooks and clashed with Malfoy last year. The bloody suit of armor was not far to my left.There was something crumbling like a pegboard near my foot, the long spikes were stained with old blood, part of it might be mine, and I kicked it away.Not far away, Ron and Hermione searched separately in the charred utility room, picking up some things to make sure they were not thrown away again.I wanted to get up and join them, but immediately my legs and my head told me it wasn't a good idea.

"Is this it?" Ron called, holding up something. "It looks like a crown."

Hermione trudged up to him and took what was in his hand.

"It's too clean to get dirty, it must be made by goblins...wait..." She lifted the thing up suddenly, "Superhuman intelligence is the greatest wealth of human beings! This is Ravenc Law's words!"

"We found it!" cried Ron.

They excitedly jumped over a few piles of debris and rushed to me. Both of them were covered in black ash, and Ron had a piece on his face.I managed to get up, convinced before I touched it that this was what we were looking for, the diadem's brilliance dimmed, but untainted by the smudge from Hermione's hand.When I put my hand on it, I immediately felt the familiar throbbing.

"It is." I said with certainty.

Hermione gasped, somehow we managed to make eye contact when there were three of us, and we've been doing that for years.

"Um, shouldn't we celebrate something?" Ron asked.

The author has something to say: I am still alive...well...