"Okay, okay, I'll do it!"

Dumbledore turned to Slavhorn, who was panting as he stood in the doorway of the living room. Pen | fun | pavilion www. ｂｉｑｕｇｅ。 ｉｎｆｏ

"Would you like to go back to the mountain?"

"yes, yes," Slavhorn said impatiently. "I must be crazy, but, I promised."

"Wonderful," Dumbledore said pleasantly. "Well, Horace, we'll meet on the first day of September."

"yes, I think you will," Slavhorn muttered.

As they walked towards the garden path, Slavhorn's voice drifted from behind.

"I want a raise, Dumbledore!"

Dumbledore chuckled at this.

The garden door swayed and closed behind them, and they set out to walk down the hill through the darkness and whirlpool mist.

"Well done, Harry," Dumbledore said as he spoke.

"I didn't do anything," Harry said in surprise.

"In fact, you did. You told Horace how much he would get if he returned to Hogwarts. Do you like him? ”

"Uh......" Harry didn't know if he liked Slahhorn or not.

He also had his cuteness, though he seemed a little conceited, and despite Slahhorn's own rebuttals, he was too surprised that someone from a Muggle family could be a good wizard.

"Horace," Dumbledore said, so that Harry didn't have to think about what to say, "he likes to live comfortably. He also enjoys working with well-known, successful, and powerful people. He enjoyed the feeling of being able to influence these people. He never thought of ascending to the throne himself; He prefers to be behind the scenes – there's more room to use his talents, you know. He used to be at Hogwarts always cherry-picking the students he liked, sometimes because of their ambition and brains, sometimes because of their charisma and talent, and he had a mysterious knack for picking out students who would later excel in a variety of fields.

Horace has built a him-centered club for his favorite students, introducing them to each other, making all sorts of useful connections between members, and always getting some benefit in return, whether it's a box of his favorite free pineapple compote or an opportunity to refer his little member to the Elven Liaison Office. ”

Harry's mind suddenly conjured up a vivid image of a large, bloated spider with a dense web around it, tugging at the silk from time to time to draw the big, juicy flies closer to him.

"I'm telling you all this," Dumbledore continued, "not to turn you against Horace—perhaps, we must call him Professor Slahhorn now—but to keep you on your toes. He'll undoubtedly want you to join his society, Harry. You'll be the jewel of his collection: the boy who never died...... Or, as they call it these days, the real man. ”

Hearing these words, a coolness unrelated to the surrounding fog spread over Harry.

He remembered the words he had heard a few weeks ago, those words that had a special meaning and were terrifying to him: two people could not all live, only one would survive...... As he walked to the church they had passed earlier, Dumbledore stopped.

"That's it, Harry, grab my arm. So Du Teng, thank you so much for what you just did. ”

"It's okay, Professor, I'm glad I could help you." Du Ten shook his head, then looked at Harry, "Harry, I still have something to do, so I can only go first, see you at school." ”

"Huh? Ah, good, good......"

Before Harry could finish speaking, and before he could even muster himself up, Dumbledore had already apparitioned with him. Although he had already had an energy, he still felt uncomfortable. When the oppression wore off, he found himself breathing again, standing on a country road next to Dumbledore, looking ahead at a curved silhouette that was his second favorite building: the Burrow.

Even though the feeling of fear had just swept through his body, his emotions immediately rose to the top of his body at the sight of this sight. Ron was there...... And Mrs. Weasley, who cooked better food than anyone else Harry knew......

"If you don't mind, Harry," Dumbledore said as they walked through the gate, "I have something to say to you before we part, privately, right here!" ”

Dumbledore pointed to a dilapidated stone outhouse, where the Weasleys kept their broomsticks. Confused, Harry followed Dumbledore through a creaky door to a room that was slightly smaller than a regular cupboard. Dumbledore lit the tip of his wand, which glowed like a torch, and he looked at Harry with a smile.

"I hope you'll forgive me for bringing this up, Harry, I'm very happy and a little proud that you've handled the things that happened to the Ministry of Magic so well."

"It's cruel," Dumbledore said gently, "that you and Sirius have only been together for so long, and a cruel result has almost ended what should have been a long and happy relationship. ”

Harry nodded, staring hard at a spider climbing onto Dumbledore's hat.

He knew that Dumbledore must have understood his feelings, and he must have guessed that before Harry received his letter, he spent almost all of his time in the Dursley's house, lying in bed, not eating or drinking, staring at the fog-shrouded window, a cold emptiness in his heart, as if he were facing the Dementors again.

"It's just difficult," Harry said in a deep voice at last, "he's alive, but he's still going to be away from me, and I don't know if I'll ever see him again." His eyes suddenly turned red, and he blinked. He felt a little silly to admit it, but the fact that there was someone outside of Hogwarts who cared about everything about him like a parent was one of the best things he felt about finding his godfather...... But now the owl mail doesn't know how long it will take to bring him this warmth again.

"Sirius plays a role in your life like you've never met," Dumbledore said softly. "Naturally, there are some losses that are irreparable......"

"When I was at Dursley," Harry interrupted, his voice getting stronger, "I realized I couldn't shut myself off or break myself. Sirius wouldn't want that, would he? In short, life is so short...... Look at Mrs. Bones, look at Emmeline Vance...... I could be next, right? But if that's the case," he said ferociously, looking directly into Dumbledore's blue eyes glistening in the light of his wand, "I'll pull as many Death Eaters as I can, and add Voldemort if I can." ”

"It's like the son of your parents and the true godson of Sirius!" Dumbledore said, patting him on the back with satisfaction. "I'd better take my hat off - I don't want spiders to end up all over you. And now, Harry, for a more recent question...... I know the Daily Prophet has been mentioning you for the past two weeks. ”

"Yes," Harry said, his heart beating a little faster.

"Well, you've seen that those reports don't reveal much about your adventures in the Hall of Prophecy."

"Yes," Harry said again. "Now everybody knows I'm the one—"

"No, they don't know," Dumbledore interrupted. "There are only two people in this world who know the full contents of the prophecy about you and Voldemort, and they are both standing in this stinking, spider-infested broomstick shed. But many people do know that Voldemort once sent his Death Eaters to steal a prophecy orb, and that prophecy was related to you. ”

"Now, I think I can say with certainty that you didn't tell anyone what the prophecy said?"

"Yes," Harry said.

"Overall, a wise decision," Dumbledore said. "Although I think you should tell your friends to come and relax, Mr. Ron Weasley and Miss Hermione Granger. Yes," he continued, and Harry looked taken aback, "I think they should know, or go straight to Duten." You didn't confide in them about something so important, and it hurts them. ”

"I don't want to—"

"- Frightened them?" Dumbledore said, looking at Harry from above his half-moon glasses. Or maybe you don't want to admit that you're scared? You need your friend, Harry. As you say, Sirius doesn't want you to close yourself off from your friends. ”

Harry didn't say anything, but it didn't look like Dumbledore wanted an answer.

He continued, "There is one more thing, but related to what I just said, that I hope to teach you separately during this year. ”

"Alone - with you?" Harry broke the silence in surprise.

"yes, I think it's time for me to help you with your studies."

"And what will you teach me, Professor?"

"Oh, some here, some there," Dumbledore said merrily.

Harry waited hopefully, but Dumbledore didn't elaborate, so he asked something else that bothered him a little.

"If I take a class with you, I won't have to follow Snape to Occlumency, will I?"

"It's Professor Snape, Harry—yes, you don't."

"Great," Harry breathed a sigh of relief, "because that's—"

He stopped, holding back from saying what he wanted to say.

"I think it's a good word for 'fiasco' here," Dumbledore nodded.

Harry smiled.

"Well, then, I won't have much of a chance to see Professor Snape from now on," he said, "because he won't let me continue with Potions unless I'm in O." W。 L。 I got a good grade in the exam, but I knew it wasn't going to be possible. ”

"Don't think about your results until they come in," Dumbledore said solemnly. "I think it'll be delivered later today. So now, Harry, there are two more things before we break up. First of all, I want you to keep the Invisibility Cloak with you from now on. It's the same even at Hogwarts. Just in case, you know what I mean? ”

Harry nodded.

"In the end, because you're here, the Ministry of Magic has given the Burrow the highest level of security. These measures did cause some inconvenience to Arthur and Molly - for example, all of their mail had to be sent to the Ministry of Magic for inspection before it was sent. They don't care about that at all, because the only thing they care about is your safety. But if you take risks and get into trouble again, it will be a terrible reward for caring for them. ”

"I know," Harry said immediately.

"Very good, then," said Dumbledore, pushing open the door of the broomroom shed and stepping out into the courtyard. "I see a light in the kitchen, let's not deprive Molly of the chance to sigh how thin you are."

Harry and Dumbledore walked through the back door of the Burrow, where the old boots and rusty old cauldrons he was familiar with; Harry could hear the sleepy chirping of the sleepy chicks in the coop in the distance.

Dumbledore knocked on the door three times, and Harry saw a sudden movement behind the kitchen window.

"Who is it?" A nervous voice asked, and Harry could tell it was Mrs. Weasley. "Name it!"

"It's me, Dumbledore, with Harry."

The door opened immediately.

The stocky Mrs. Weasley stood there in an old green dressing gown.

"Harry, dear! Oh my God, Albus, you scared me, didn't you say you wouldn't come back until dawn broke? ”

"We're lucky," Dumbledore led Harry across the threshold. "Slavhorn was easier to convince than I thought. Harry certainly helped. Ah, hello, Nymphadora! Harry looked around the room and realized that although it was late, Mrs. Weasley was not alone. Next to the table sat a young witch with a heart-shaped face, her face pale and clutching a large cup in her hand.

"Hello, Professor," she said. "Hello, Harry."

"Hi, Tonks." Harry thought she looked a little haggard, even sickly, and smiled reluctantly. Without her usual bubblegum-like pink hair, she doesn't look as radiant as she used to be.

"It's time for me to go," she said quickly, standing up and draping her cloak over her shoulders. "Thank you for your tea and sympathy, Molly."

"For my sake, please don't go yet," Dumbledore said politely. "I won't be around long, I have urgent matters to discuss with Rufus Scrimgeour."

"No, no, I'm really leaving," Tonks avoided Dumbledore's eyes. "Good night—"

"Honey, come over for dinner on the weekend, Remus and Mad-Eye are coming-?"

"No, really, Molly...... Anyway, thank you...... Good night, everyone. Tonks walked briskly past Dumbledore and Harry into the courtyard; After a few steps outside, he disappeared into the thin air.

"Alright, we'll see you at Hogwarts, Harry," Dumbledore said, "take care of yourself. Molly, I'm at your beckon. He bowed to Mrs. Weasley, and then, like Tonks, vanished in almost the same place.