Chapter 1558: Departure

"Hear me out. Dumbledore waited for Harry to finish shouting, then continued, "I can understand your anger, Harry, but things are not what you imagined. Professor Snape made a grave mistake by still being employed by Voldemort when he heard the first half of Professor Trelawney's prophecy. Since his master was very concerned about this, he hastened to tell his master what he had heard, but he did not know at the time, and he could not possibly know, which boy Voldemort would hunt after that, nor that the parents who were slaughtered would be people known to Professor Snape, namely your mother and father......"

"He doesn't know?!" Harry sneered loudly, "how could he not know, he hates my father as much as Sirius, and he wishes my parents were killed by Voldemort, haven't you noticed, Professor?"

"No, things are not what you think, he never wanted your parents to be killed, never. Dumbledore shook his head and said, "Harry, don't you know how much remorse Professor Snape felt when he realized that Voldemort would have understood the prophecy that way......?

"He only came back because Voldemort had failed, or that Voldemort needed to have an undercover agent at Hogwarts. Harry said, trying his best to keep his composure, but his voice was still a little shaky, "Snape deceived you with a false story, he's a very good occlusion-minded man, and he can fool anyone if he wants to, isn't he? Even now, Voldemort believes that Snape is on his side, Professor...... How can you be sure that Snape is on our side?"

Silence reverted to the atmosphere, and Dumbledore didn't speak for a moment, as if he was making up his mind.

Finally, he said slowly, "I'm sure I trust Severus Snape completely. ā€

Harry stared at Dumbledore with wide eyes and shock, trying to stabilize his emotions, but to no avail.

"Professor, why do you want to believe him, do you believe that Professor Snape is genuinely on our side, and did he do something?" Evan interjected, thinking that it might be better to talk things out at this point, "You just mentioned that Professor Snape was very remorseful for Voldemort to understand the prophecy the way he did, and thought it was the greatest regret of his life, why?"

"Because he didn't expect Harry's parents to die, never in the first place, and he felt more pain than anyone else for it to happen, and I can attest to that. Dumbledore said, looking at Evan thoughtfully, "As for why, I promised Severus to keep it a secret for him. Maybe one day, he will be willing to tell you himself......"

If there was a day, it would probably be time for Snape to prepare for his sacrifice.

"Snape is distressed by the death of my parents?!" Harry took a few deep breaths, as if trying to understand Dumbledore's words, but the thought of Snape going to Voldemort that night made him feel surprisingly angry, and he exclaimed, "I don't believe it, Professor, you believe him too much, he's not like that at all, not in the past, not now, he's hooking up with Draco Malfoy on something, right under your nose, you're still ......"

"We've talked about that, Harry!" Dumbledore said, his voice stern again, "During that conversation over the Christmas holidays, I believe I told you my point of view unmistakably. ā€

"Hmph, you're leaving school tonight, I bet you didn't think about Snape and Malfoy might ......"

"What?" Dumbledore asked, raising an eyebrow, "what do you doubt they would do?" ā€

"I—...... them," Harry said, his hands clenched into fists, "they have a conspiracy! Aven and I had just passed by the Room of Requirement and met Professor Trelawney, where she was about to hide her sherry bottle, only to hear Malfoy's shouts and congratulations! He was trying to fix something dangerous in there, and it seemed to me that he had finally fixed it. And you're leaving school, not going to ......"

"Enough. Dumbledore said sternly again, though he spoke extremely calmly, but his voice was unmistakably majestic and the end of the matter, "Do you think there has been a time this year when I left school without protection? Tonight, when we leave, there will be additional defenses everywhere. Please don't think I'm not taking my students' safety seriously, Harry, and I don't want to go into any further discussion about this!"

"But, I ......" Harry looked back uncertainly, a little ashamed of his accusations, and he was afraid that he would talk too much and lose the opportunity to accompany Dumbledore to Azkaban.

Evan was there, didn't he think it was suspicious? wasn't he worried about Malfoy's intentions?

In fact, Evan did communicate with Dumbledore about it.

But that time, the conversation didn't go deeper, and Dumbledore was very taboo about Malfoy.

Maybe it was to protect Draco Malfoy, even if it wasn't pure, Dumbledore was still a good teacher.

"He's sure he's got that thing fixed!" Evan could only say at last, "Maybe something will happen tonight!"

"There's going to be a lot going on tonight. Dumbledore said, "If you two are ready, we'll set off for Azkaban, where we may meet the most influential Dark wizard of all time." Would you like to come with me?"

"Yes!" replied Harry at once.

"That's what we're here for, Professor. Evan said.

"Very well, then listen!" Dumbledore straightened, "As before, there is only one condition for me to take you there, and you two must obey any of my orders at once, without question. Especially you, Harry, if I say an order like run, hide, or go back, you must do what I say right away, can you say yes?"

"Of course, I—I promise!" Harry said, and he and Dumbledore looked at each other for a moment.

"Very well, then I want you to go get your invisibility cloak, and we'll meet in the foyer in five minutes. Dumbledore said, "Aven, you don't have to go back, when I'm ready, we can go down together." ā€

Harry glanced at Dumbledore, who was standing by the window, and then turned his head to look at Evan in front of him, who had a calm expression.

He walked quickly out of the office and down the spiral staircase.

His mind strangely suddenly became clear, and he knew what to do......