As darkness finally fell, the invisible Harry on the screen successfully left the Gryffindor Common Room, escorted by Harley and Roan.
The castle was pitch black. Harry listened to his own heartbeat and inexplicably recalled the scene of his first nighttime stroll when he first got the Invisibility Cloak.
He looked down at his legs, but could only see moonlight and shadows.
'Yes, that's the feeling.'
The only difference is that he has now completely transformed into the form of the Demiguise, becoming shorter and now possessing feet with hard pads and thick, curly hair.
This structure allows him to jump around without making any noise.
At the same time, his fur can also contain the leakage of scent, body temperature, and Magic Field.
He has now become the opposite of a ghost.
Ghosts have outlines, but cannot be truly touched.
He can be touched, but everything else remains undetected.
He can now go anywhere without being detected.
This was not arrogance; he ran boldly down the corridor without causing any disturbance or attracting anyone's attention.
He walked right past Professor McGonagall, who was on patrol, without his heartbeat changing.
Soon, the hideously ugly, enormous stone monster appeared before him.
The first time I truly faced the Dripping Stone Beast was in my second year of high school, when Justin and Nearly Headless Nick, were Basilisk. Because he was the first to arrive at the scene, Professor McGonagall sent him here.
He still vividly remembers everything behind the stone monster: the spiral staircase that slowly ascended like an escalator, the Winky oak door, and the brass door knocker in the shape of a griffin.
But today, he will get there in a different way.
He suppressed the urge to rattle off a long list of candy names (Dumbledore loved sweets, and his passwords were mostly names of sweets and candies, such as: Iced Lemonade, Cockroach Cluster, Toffee Fingers, and Fizzing Whizzbees), and began to focus his attention on the Magic Immortal Artifact to sense the coordinates left by his mother in the Headmaster's Office that only they could sense.
He closed his eyes, and in the pitch-black world, a point of light appeared.
The fluorescent light spread and enveloped him, and after a moment of dizziness, he opened his eyes.
The dripping stone beast in front of them disappeared.
(Basil once again praised Lily's ingenuity. The fluctuations caused by the spatial transfer were absorbed and transformed into magic that concealed her aura. To use a culinary analogy, it was like cutting meat on tofu, while the tofu remained unharmed.)
'Excellent, Dumbledore isn't in his office after all.' Harry thought with a smug grin.
Before him lay a round room that looked very familiar, and the various comical noises that filled it were also familiar to him.
Even in a different world, with Dumbledore gender and even married, the layout of the room remained largely unchanged.
'Could it be that Dumbledore was actually quite effeminate?' Harry thought to himself.
On the table with its long, slender legs, there were still many strange and unusual silver objects, spinning and emitting small puffs of smoke.
The walls are still covered with portraits of the former male and female principals, all of them gently snoring in their respective frames.
The table with claw-shaped legs, which he found out of place, still exists.
Even Fawkes, which now has some golden-red down, is dozing on the golden branches behind the door.
The only difference was that the tattered, wrinkled wizard's hat on the shelf behind the table— the Sorting Hat— was gone, and the Winky silver sword with a large ruby on its hilt— the Sword of Gryffindor— that should have been in the glass box next to the shelf was also missing.
There was also a photo of the three of them on the desk. They looked like a loving family. The blond young man was embracing a beautiful, almost inhuman silver-haired woman. The woman's azure eyes were fixed on the baby in her arms. The baby was struggling, and the two of them had doting smiles on their faces.
(Dumbledore and Grindelwald, though in two different countries, simultaneously wore the same smiles as in the photograph, saying, "Is this our child?")
(Their hearts melted, and they all used their own methods to record this memory.)
'Is this what their child, Credence Dumbledore?'
What has caused this loving couple to now live apart, separated by vast distances?
Harry didn't continue thinking about it.
He simply turned around; his target for the day was in the black cabinet behind him.
He opened the cabinet door without disturbing Fawkes.
The cabinet door wasn't locked, because there was something safer than a lock—a labyrinth of memories from past principals.
Inside the cabinet was a shallow stone basin with strangely shaped carvings on its rim: letters and symbols he would never have recognized before becoming Champion —Saxon runes.
This is also a kind of Magic Script, the Gru- Saxon Magic Script.
The stone basin is the Pensieve, and it was the first time he had ever seen one (the fourth-year Harry in the movie version had not yet seen the Pensieve).
The silver light within, indistinguishable as a bright piece of silver, was constantly flowing; like ripples on water in a breeze, or like clouds drifting and gently swirling; like light transformed into liquid, or like wind solidified into solid—that was memory.
The real Sorting Hat is hidden inside.
("What is this?" Ron asked.)
("The Pensieve." Hermione's pupils dilated, and she slumped completely against Basil. "A precious magical artifact containing powerful and complex magic, usually made of metal and stone. It is very rare because only the most powerful wizards use it, and because most wizards are afraid to use it.")
("What are you saying?" Ron indicated he didn't understand.)
(Hermione was already used to Ron's ignorance, and began to ramble on with knowledge, "Because the Pensieve's magic vividly presents memories, taking every detail buried in the subconscious to faithfully reproduce them, thus allowing the memory owner or a second party to enter the memory and move around inside it.")
("This is also what most wizards fear.")
("Anyone who has something to hide, feels ashamed of the past, desires to keep a secret, or wants to protect their privacy will be more wary of the Pensieve.")
("Therefore, like their wands, wizards' Pensieve are considered very personal items and are buried with their owners. Unless otherwise requested, any thoughts or memories stored in the Pensieve will be buried with its owner.")
("Moreover, using the Pensieve to examine and organize thoughts is more difficult than reproducing memories, and only a few wizards possess this ability.")
("I see," Ron felt the knowledge flow through his brain without leaving a trace, "If that's all there is to it, why are you so excited?")
("That's it?" Hermione was incredulous. "This Pensieve isn't Dumbledore's personal property; it belongs to the school. That means successive headmasters have used it for a long time, and they've left behind their life experiences in the form of memories!")
("What does this mean?" Ron's eyes gleamed with an innocent naiveté untouched by knowledge.)
("What does that mean?" Hermione nearly gasped for breath. "It means that it is itself a precious book that records the most direct history—no, it's a precious library for the current headmasters!")
("Oh." Ron shrugged. "So that's it.")
Harry had no idea that Ron and Hermione were arguing because of the Pensieve in front of him.
He bent down and stuck his head completely into the cabinet.
In the Wizarding World, it is extremely foolish to put your hand into a basin filled with unknown objects, let alone put your face directly into it.
But he already knew what it was beforehand.
'The Demiguise's invisibility is truly thorough.'
The silver object in the basin remained exactly as it was.
Having been taught everything about the Pensieve by Lily, Harry knew that when magic was inputted or an intelligent being approached, the silver object, which was the Pensieve itself, would begin to spin rapidly, starting with the surface and eventually becoming a transparent, glass-like substance.
Then, a memory will appear.
The memories hidden within the Sorting Hat are concealed in the vast sea of memories left behind by successive headmasters.
But now, he is so completely invisible that even memories and the Pensieve cannot detect his presence at such close range.
How do I get it to respond?
'Disengage from stealth mode? Won't that alert Fawkes?'
'Just take the Pensieve?'
How am I supposed to find the right one among so many memories?
The audience couldn't perceive Harry's thoughts, but Lily was different. With Harry making no attempt to hide them, these inner thoughts seemed more like questions directed at her.
"Thoughts, unwavering thoughts," Lily said, "Knowing that the Sorting Hat is inside already means success."
"Admittedly, it may contain hundreds of memories related to the Sorting Hat, but if you just want to get it, it will be difficult for other wizards in this world, but Harry, you are different."
"You are a fairy, a fairy transformed from a magical spirit."
"Your magic is both your immortal raft and a manifestation of yourself."
"You just need to infuse your magic, and it will respond accordingly."
'Infuse magic,' Harry thought in surprise, 'is it really that simple?'
So, Harry, still in his Demiguise form, placed his 'hand' on the rim of the basin, and his elf-like magic began to flow in.
As Lily had instructed, the memories in the Pensieve began to spin and transform into a transparent substance.
'Success!'
Harry bent down again, and a beautiful circular room appeared beneath the transparent substance.
He was looking into the room as if he were looking through a round skylight.
The room was brightly lit, making him look very familiar.
Finally, the portraits of the principals on the wall made him recognize that this was the Headmaster's Office.
The silverware that emitted all sorts of strange sounds and smoke was no longer there, nor was Phoenix Fawkes.
The interior decor also leans towards the Slytherin style, and it's clear that the current headmaster is from Slytherin House.
The feminine style further suggests that this is very likely the work of Phineas Black, a woman in this world who created the Mother-Child River.
'Is this the memory?'
Before Harry could think it through, Lily's voice rang out, "Now, bury your head in it."
"Yes, Mother." Harry didn't have time to think, following the command—his nose touched the surface of the memory.
Dumbledore's office seemed to have suddenly tilted over, turning upside down.
Harry felt as if he had fallen headfirst into a basin, but his hair didn't hit the bottom.
He fell into a cold, dark substance, as if he had been sucked into a black vortex—but he could still breathe.
Suddenly, Harry found himself back in his original form, sitting in the luxurious green and silver high-backed chair that belonged to Phineas Black's office.
He instinctively looked up at the original dome, trying to find the circular skylight, but all he saw was a portrait of the former principal and a silver serpent sculpture.
The door slammed open.
Harry's body stiffened instantly as he remembered that he was not invisible.
A dark-haired witch dressed in Slytherin- style robe with silver and green stripes walked briskly toward him.
("Is that the old man?" Sirius couldn't help but rub his eyes several times.)
She was a witch with flawless, almost luminous white skin that seemed to glow in the sunlight, exuding a captivating beauty with a touch of Evil Qi, and sporting black curly hair.
The silhouette of Sirius can be vaguely seen.
He could almost smell the faint Sirius scent that emanated from the witch.
Her beauty was so breathtaking and so aggressive that he could only watch helplessly as she sat on him.
(A large group of audience members started to heckle.)
(Ginny, already numb, clenched her fists again.)
Then her body passed through him, and they overlapped.
A flicker of disappointment crossed Harry's face.
Then I was instantly alert.
'The witches in this world are incredibly alluring; no wonder the male witches can't resist them.'
"What a bunch of idiots! Haven't they noticed there are fewer and fewer male wizards?" A melodious voice, completely different from her aggressive appearance, rang out. "Saying the 'Mother-Child River' doesn't need to exist, are these bitches in the Ministry of Magic's brains inside their wombs?"
Sorting Hat!
Harry then remembered, 'I came here to find the Sorting Hat!'
He then rose from the high-backed chair, from Phineas Black's lap.
Start searching for the Sorting Hat in every corner of the room.
But even after searching high and low, he still found nothing.
("Where exactly is the Sorting Hat?" Professor McGonagall frowned. "Could Harry have misremembered something?")
("Perhaps the Sorting Hat in my memory isn't what it looks like," Dumbledore speculated.)
"Harry, the Sorting Hat in your memory might not look like the Sorting Hat!" Lily finally spoke up, having been thinking the whole time Harry was searching. "You shouldn't have been unable to reach Phineas Black!"
(In the memories of the Pensieve, in the ocean of concentrated thoughts, Lily's voice could no longer be hidden.)
"Just as you can touch the tables and chairs and step on the floor, you should be able to touch Phineas Black's body too!"
The only reason you can't touch it is because you're touching it incorrectly!
"The uterus!" Harry and Lily exclaimed in unison.