"Are you Bathilda?"

Harry's voice echoed through the snowy night reflecting the silver light, like a hint, and the loud shouts inadvertently amplified the emptiness of the surroundings.

The heavily dressed man nodded and waved his hand again.

"Remember what I said...... Van Lin looked up at Harry, then then retracted into Hermione's arms like a real cat all along, "I'll protect you." ”

Harry and Hermione glanced at each other under the cloak, then Harry raised an eyebrow, and Hermione nodded nervously.

As if they had made up their minds, the two of them walked towards the woman.

Seeing this, Bathilda did not speak, and she immediately staggered back along the path from which she came, leading them past several houses and into a gate.

They followed Bathilda down the path ahead, through a garden of branches similar to the ruins they had just seen.

She stood in front of the door and fumbled for a moment, then pulled out the key to the house, opened it, and stepped back to let them in.

Bathilda's smell was terrible, but maybe it was the smell of the house.

Harry wrinkled his nose as he passed her, then took off his cloak.

Harry realized how small she was when he stood next to her.

Due to his old hunchback, Bathilda was almost as tall as Harry's chest.

She closed the door behind her, her knuckles were blue and her skin was spotted like peeling paint, and she squinted at Harry's face. Her eyes were cloudy from cataracts, sinking deep into wrinkled, almost transparent skin, and her entire face was showing veins and yellow-brown age spots beneath the skin.

In fact, Harry suspected she didn't recognize herself, and even if she could, she would see the bald Muggle Harry disguised as him.

So, how did she find out?

Harry's heart pounded, and it was clear that even as a wizard, there was no way to avoid the sickness of aging.

Even if he is as powerful as Dumbledore, without using some extraordinary means, a wizard can only become weak like an ordinary person.

Maybe Bathilda is strong?

Harry frowned, quickly rejecting his idea, he had come into contact with many powerful wizards, and none of them, like Bathilda, exuded an aura of corruption.

She's too old.

Harry quietly took a small step back in Hermione's way, silently watching Bathilda's movements.

Bathilda didn't do anything, she just took off her moth-eaten shawl, revealing the top of her head with sparse white hair, and suddenly the smell of old age, dust, dirty clothes, and spoiled food became more intense.

"Bathilda?" Harry asked again, nervous, as the old man in front of him looked like a corpse crawling out of a tomb...... The smell of death was everywhere.

Van Lin didn't move, just squinted at Bathilda.

Harry's decision naturally has to be made up for by Harry, but Van Lin has already killed Nagini, so what is the person in front of him?

Confused, Van Lin twisted his body, trying to find a comfortable position in Hermione's arms.

She nodded again, confirming Harry's suspicion.

But the uneasiness didn't fade from Harry's body.

Bathilda shuffled past the two of them, shoved her aside as if she hadn't seen Hermione, and into what appeared to be a living room.

"Harry, I'm not sure what I'm doing. Hermione whispered.

"Look at the way she looks, and if something happens, I think we can beat her too. Harry said.

"I'm telling you, she's not supposed to be like this, Muriel says she's fanatical......" Hermione said worriedly, one hand uncomfortably retracted in the crook of her arm, which gave Van Lin the urge to tickle someone.

Immediately, however, Hermione realized that she was holding something else, and let go apologetically, but her other hand reflexively tried to hold her wand.

"Come here!" Bathilda yelled in the next room.

Hermione jumped to her feet and grabbed Harry's arm.

"It's alright," Harry reassured her, glancing down at the white cat in Hermione's arms, then took a deep breath.

Harry led her into the common room.

Bathilda staggered in the candlelit room, the light still dim, and the room was filthy. Heavy dust rattled beneath their feet, and underneath the damp, musty smell, Harry smelled something worse, like rotten and spoiled meat.

He didn't know how long it had been since anyone had been to Bathilda's house to see if she was still here.

And now Bathilda seems to have forgotten that she can also cast magic. Because she lit the candle awkwardly with her hands, the straps on her cuffs could be accidentally lit at any time.

"Let me do it. Harry hesitated, and then he took the match from her hand.

Bathilda watched as Harry lit the candles that had been placed in the shallow plates of the room, which were wobbly on the edge of a table littered with piles of books and broken moldy cups.

When Harry lit the last candle, he saw that it was on top of a box with a curved surface, and there were many pictures inside. When the candlelight flickered, its light flickered on the dusty glass and silverware.

Harry saw the scenes in the pictures shaking.

As Bathilda groped his way through the firelight, Harry whispered a whirlwind sweep away, and the dust on the photographs disappeared instantly, and he saw that the photographs in six of the largest and most ornate frames were no longer there, and he wondered if Bathilda or someone else had taken them.

The bottom one of the pictures caught Harry's eye, and he picked it up and looked at it: it was the thief with blond hair and a cheerful face sitting on Grigovich's windowsill, and he was looking at Harry lazily from the silver frame, and Harry immediately remembered that he had seen the boy before—on the picture in Rita's book The Life and Lies of Albus Dumbledore!

He was the young man holding hands with Dumbledore!

"Basshat...... Madam...... Miss?" said Harry, his voice trembling slightly, "who is this?"

Bathilda was standing in the middle of the room watching Hermione light a torch for her.

"Miss Batha," Harry shouted again, he walked over to Bathilda's side with the picture, the fire in the fireplace burning, Bathilda looked up at his voice, and an inexplicable emotion pounded more violently on Harry's chest.

"Who is this?" Harry asked, holding up the picture.

She stared solemnly at the picture and then at Harry.

"Do you know who this man is?" said Harry, repeating in a slower, louder voice than usual. "That's this guy, do you know who he is, what's his name?"

Bathilda looked dazed, much to Harry's frustration.

How did Rita Skeeter open Bathilda's memories?

"Who is this man?" said Harry exclaimed, impatiently.

"Harry, what are you doing?" asked Hermione.

"Hermione, this picture is the thief who stole Grigovich's stuff! please," he said to Bathilda again, "who the hell is he?"

But Bathilda just stared at him.

"Why did you let us come here with you, Madame Basshat...... Miss?" Hermione asked, raising her voice, "Do you want to tell us something?"

But Bathilda didn't seem to hear Hermione, shuffling closer to Harry, then jerked her head back down the hall.

"You want us to leave?" asked Harry, uncertain.

Bathilda repeated the action again, but this time at Harry, then at herself, and finally at the ceiling.

"Okay...... Hermione, Van ...... I mean, I think she wants us to go upstairs with her. ”

"Alright," Hermione replied, "let's go." ”

But as soon as Hermione took a step, Bathilda shook her head desperately, pointing at Harry again, and then at herself.

"You want me to go with you alone. Harry's expression changed slightly.

"Why?" Hermione asked aloud at once, her voice sharp and clear in the candlelit room, and Bathilda shook her head slightly.

"Maybe Dumbledore told her to give me the sword, and only to me?" said Harry, uncertain, his eyes involuntarily looking at Van Lin.

At this moment, Van Lin was completely conscious, jumped from Hermione's arms to Harry's shoulder, and then rubbed Harry's face.

"Come with him!" Van Lin's voice came to Harry's mind.

"Do you think she really knows who you are?"

"Yes," Harry said without hesitation, meeting Bathilda's cloudy eyes.

"That's good, but quick, Harry. ”

"Lead the way," Harry said to Bathilda.

Bathilda seemed to understand, as she staggered as she led Harry towards the door, and she didn't care if Harry had something else on his shoulder.

This made Harry feel strange, but he smiled back at Hermione to reassure her, but he didn't know if she saw it.

Hermione stood in the dirty room by candlelight with her arms crossed, looking at the bookcase.

Harry walked out of the room and pocketed the thief's silver-framed photo while neither Hermione nor Bathilda were looking.

"She can't see me, or doesn't notice at all......" Van Lin silently communicated with Harry.

"But ......"

"I don't know how, but you have to be careful. Van Lin sat on Harry's shoulder, his little head fixed on the hunched figure and moving with it.

The narrow staircase was steep, and Harry half-reached forward to prevent Bathilda from falling over him, which did seem very likely.

Breathless, she slowly walked upstairs, turned left, and led Harry into a room with a low ceiling.

The room was dark and smelled terrible.

As soon as Harry saw a nightpot sticking out from under the bed, Bathilda closed the door, and they were plunged into darkness.

"Fluorescent flickering. Harry said, the moment his wand lit up, Harry was startled by Bathilda in front of him, and in the dark seconds, Bathilda walked up to him, and Harry didn't hear her coming.

"Are you Potter?" she whispered.

"Yes, I am. Harry hesitated for a moment, then continued,

Bathilda's voice was hoarse, not like a human at all, as if something had learned to speak, perhaps Bathilda hadn't spoken for a long time, and Harry smelled a fishy smell, mixed with the smell of corruption......

However, Bathilda didn't care, and nodded slowly, looking very solemn.

Harry felt his nerves beating constantly, as if he were keeping up with the accelerating heartbeat, which was definitely not a pleasant thing.

"Do you have anything for me?" Harry asked, but she seemed distracted by Harry's glowing wand.

"Do you have anything for me?" Harry asked again. Bathilda closed his eyes, and at that moment, several things happened at the same time: Harry's scar hurt like pins and needles, and at the same time, an uneasy emotion took over his brain, as if every time he connected with Voldemort, the dark, smelly room suddenly disappeared from view.

Harry felt intensely excited, and said in a high-pitched and cold voice: Catch him!

Harry staggered to his place, the dark and smelly room reappearing beside him, unaware of what had just happened.

"Do you have anything for me?" Harry asked, his voice raising a little more.

What Harry didn't notice, though, was that Van Lin had jumped onto the cabinet to the side, staring coldly at what was happening in front of him.

In fact, Van Lin's vision was a little blurry just now, and a strong mental disturbance was spreading out from Harry and Bathilda's bodies.

The owner of the will was very familiar to Van Lin, but it was certain that he was not here.

"Over there," Bathilda ignored Van Lin, as if she couldn't see him, and whispered to Harry, gesturing around the corner.

Harry raised his wand and saw a table cluttered with clothes under the curtained window.

This time she didn't take him with her.

Harry held his wand and walked sideways between Bathilda and the bed. He didn't want Bathilda out of his sight.

"Where?" Harry asked, seemingly completely convinced Bathilda at the moment, trying to touch the table, which was piled up with what looked like dirty laundry.

"There," she said, pointing to the mess of rags.

Just as Harry was about to turn his head and find a ruby sword in the pile of rublishes, Harry saw a strange change in Bathilda's peripheral vision, and he turned in panic, fear almost paralyzing him: he saw the old body slumped on the ground, and an unknown black figure was gradually breaking free from Bathilda's body.

"Don't move, Harry!" Van Lin's voice suddenly rang out, "Wait a minute, something isn't quite right!"

It was definitely Voldemort who had controlled Harry just now, otherwise Harry would not have been able to open the door under his repeated reminders.

However, Bathilda's changes ......

From the moment he entered the door, Van Lin could be sure that the person in front of him was already a corpse.

But the question is, what will Voldemort use to replace Bathilda after Nagini's death?

As an author of the history of magic, and as he is known, someone who is close to Dumbledore, and even has contact with and is familiar with the Deathly Hallows, it is impossible for Bathilda not to be approached by Voldemort in any way.

However, there is always a hint of luck, and they try to be one step ahead of Voldemort.

This is Harry's choice, and Van Lin must respect it, but at the moment, Bathilda's change makes Vanlin a little uncertain, this black thing looks like Bathilda's soul, but it is very weird......