What Was It Like to Summon the God of Death on Halloween?

No one knows whether Snape knew Sirius was imitating him, but we can get a glimpse of that from his subsequent furious deduction of points from Harry's score.

After all, Harry was the first to get extra points, and he was also Sirius's godson.

From any perspective, Snape would vent his anger on Harry.

"He's in a hurry," Sirius commented.

But Harry wasn't very happy, since Snape was targeting him.

Every time Snape sprayed venom at him, Harry wanted to throw a Levicorpus and Clean-up, so that the Old Bat would spit out some pink soap bubbles.

But he ultimately held back.

Never mind, it's a holiday...

Yes, Halloween is here again.

The Great Hall was once again decorated with a festive atmosphere. There were no shadows this year—compared to the Troll incident of the first Halloween and the Basilisk attack of the second, Sirius's prison break was resolved perfectly and quickly this year.

Before anyone could even get a sense of tension or excitement, Sirius had already been exonerated—and the Dementor surrounding Hogwarts were burned to ashes by Harry's flames.

Everyone was very satisfied with the result.

The students at Hogwarts were pleased that the danger had been averted so quickly, while the professors were pleased that Sirius had been exonerated—although one Slytherin professor, who wished to remain anonymous, was not so happy.

The Ministry of Magic was even happier. The Auror no longer needed to work overtime to capture Sirius, Fudge also gained political achievements. This was a win-win-win situation for all four parties.

Win four times.

This year's Halloween theme is different from previous years. Dumbledore has decided to hold a Halloween costume party at the school on this festive day.

The proposal received overwhelming support; having a costume party during the intense and exciting academic year at school is simply wonderful.

"What kind of costume are you planning to wear? I mean, for tomorrow's Halloween Feast?"

In the Gryffindor dormitory, Ron asked Harry this question.

Harry scratched his head. He had been researching god of death and how to break the Dark Magic Curse lately, and hadn't thought about this at all.

"I don't know either, I don't have any good ideas for the time being," he replied.

"Why don't we ask Sirius? He's bound to have a good idea," Ron suggested.

Harry thought for a moment, then shook his head and said, "Forget it—it's fine to ask someone else, but Sirius ... God, man, do you want to be targeted by the Old Bat? I bet Sirius will disguise himself as Snape —or someone connected to him."

"Why not?"

Ron has always been good at trash talk.

"Or you could ask Hermione. I think Hermione must have a character she'd like to dress up as with you," Harry said, patting Ron on the shoulder with great tact.

"Good idea." Ron smiled and stood up. "I'll go ask him right now..."

"Remember not to tell your two brothers, I mean the replicants," Harry instructed him.

"No problem." Ron gave an OK sign.

He knew exactly how much his two older brothers loved playing pranks, and if they fed him anything, he would probably become the laughingstock of the whole school in no time.

Just as awful as that Canary Cream Biscuit from before.

Ron even filtered out the fact that Harry had actually given him the biscuit; his focus was on the fact that it was given to him by his two older brothers.

After Ron left, Harry continued reading his book until Sebastian suddenly appeared in front of him.

"Hey, Harry." Sebastian waved his hand in front of Harry.

"Seber?" Harry looked up and smiled at Sebastian. "Is there something you need?"

"Nothing much, just checking to see what you're up to." Sebastian sat down next to Harry and said, "I feel like I've forgotten a lot of things, but at the same time, I feel like I'm almost able to remember them..."

"Don't doubt it, everyone does that." Harry put down his book and said to Sebastian, "Sometimes I do too, especially the more I think about it, the less I can remember—but if I just put it aside and don't think about it, I might remember it after a while."

"Really?" Sebastian nodded hesitantly. "Alright, then I'll put it off for now. Thinking about it lately is giving me a headache..."

"A headache?" Harry asked with interest. "Do ghosts get headaches?"

"I don't know, maybe," Sebastian shrugged. "Besides, I've heard you guys seem to be preparing to summon god of death?"

"Yes." Harry didn't hide anything from his old friend. "This was my suggestion. After all, news from the New World says that Voldemort seems to have sided with god of death, but Professor Trelawney's Prophecy says that he has actually sided with the Demon King. So I think it would be better to summon god of death and ask him."

"A very simple and straightforward suggestion, Harry." Sebastian smiled. "I've also learned about god of death, and god of death's not as terrifying as the rumors suggest."

"Maybe so. After all, if god of death really needed soul energy, you ghosts wouldn't exist in the world," Harry said with a shrug.

"I agree with you," Sebastian said, then asked, "By the way, what do you know about the Dark Magic Curse?"

"There's not a good way to dispel the curse of Dark Arts for now. After all, as you know, the Defense Against the Dark Arts is currently cursed by Voldemort's Dark Magic Curse," Harry said helplessly. "If there really were such a way, the curse in this class would have been dispelled long ago."

"Sigh." Sebastian sighed. "Let's not rush to rescue Anne for now. Let's wait until we have a suitable method before we try to rescue her."

Sebastian lingered in the Gryffindor Common Room for a while before leaving.

The ghosts are not bound by the academy and can go wherever they want. After all, ghosts are also part of the castle, and some ghosts are even faculty and staff of the school, although they are unpaid.

That evening, after dinner, Harry also received the news that Hagrid's three-headed dog pelt had been found.

Now that all three materials have been gathered, it means that summoning the god of death can be put on the agenda.

The group sat in Mr. LeMay's Alchemy Room, staring at each other, exchanging glances.

"I still don't recommend summoning god of death on Halloween," Cassandra suggested. "Legend has it that god of death appears at midnight on Halloween to Awakening the dead in their graves to dance for him—I don't want to summon god of death to the human world only to have us dance for her."

"But you're still alive, you don't need to dance for her," Veratia said casually from the side. "If you insist on dancing, I can reluctantly join Harry in watching your dance."

"If you'd be my backup dancer." Cassandra never lost a verbal battle.

"I think Cassandra has a point," Harry quickly interrupted their bickering. "After all, it's Halloween, and summoning the god of death isn't a good idea. But we won't be in a hurry."

"Perhaps you are right," Dumbledore nodded and said, "We certainly won't be in a hurry for a couple of days—no one knows what particularly serious consequences would result from summoning god of death on Halloween, and we can't possibly prepare the legendary sacrifice for her—perhaps the Dark Wizard would be happy to do so, but we are, after all, just professors at Hogwarts."

"A sacrifice?" Harry looked at Dumbledore suspiciously.

"That doesn't need me to explain in detail, Harry."

Professor Dumbledore glanced at him, and the latter immediately understood.

"But we will not neglect the proper etiquette," Dumbledore said again. "Even if we do not prepare the traditional offerings for Lady Death, we will still prepare a sumptuous dinner for her instead."

"But I suggest," Mr. LeMay raised his hand and looked at Dumbledore, "That sometimes personal preferences don't mean others will like them, and if you offer her your favorite...desserts, I'm afraid she might just take you away."

"Oh, then Hogwarts is saved," Newt said in a low voice.

As the Headmaster, how to deal with god of death was something Dumbledore had to consider.

Harry was pulled away by Veratia, who wanted to ask him what kind of costume he wanted for Halloween.

"I think just participating is enough; there's no need to dress up as anything," Harry replied honestly.

"How about..." Veratia whispered in Harry's ear, coaxingly suggesting, "We could switch roles—I'll be Gryffindor, and you can go to Slytherin, what do you say?"

"I'm going to Slytherin?"

Harry actually thought about it for a moment, but then he said to Veratia, "The idea is good, but I don't have Slytherin clothes."

"Oh, why do we have to prepare Slytherin clothes?" Veratia said with a smile. "How about... we can swap clothes? I'll wear yours, and you can wear mine. If the sizes don't fit, we can use Transfiguration to modify them."

"Good suggestion." Harry readily accepted Veratia's suggestion.

Veratia glanced at Harry up and down again, and said with some regret, "Actually, I had another pretty good idea, but I'll pass."

Her words, however, piqued Harry's curiosity.

Harry quickly asked, "What are your thoughts? Tell me!"

Veratia tilted her head back slightly, a glint of light flashing in her eyes.

"I won't tell," she said deliberately.

"Hurry up and tell us, you're keeping us in suspense," Harry urged.

"You wouldn't agree even if I told you, so I won't," Veratia said with a sly smile, while smoothing Harry's bangs to the side.

"How do you know if I'll agree if you don't tell me?" Harry retorted.

"Alright then." Veratia cleared her throat and said, "Actually, I suggest you—well, wear women's clothes..."

"No way." Harry rolled his eyes and refused righteously, "Anything else is fine, just this one..."

"Snort."

Veratia snorted, but in her mind she was planning how to trick Harry into wearing women's clothing.

Today, Veratia, for the first time ever, didn't go to the Muggle world but stayed at Hogwarts.

Judging from her expression, it seems she doesn't plan to go to Muggle world for classes for the next few days.

The next morning, Harry woke up yawning and watched as Ron placed a bat on his bedside table.

"Trick or treat!" Ron said, then roared like a lion.

He wore a lion-shaped hood that revealed his face, and his head was covered with a mane.

"I didn't bring any candy, but it seems I have some left over from what Dumbledore gave me yesterday."

Harry yawned, reached into his pocket, and pulled out two flat candies.

"This should count as candy, right?" Harry didn't take the candy back. "Or should I use Transfiguration to restore it to its original state?"

"Thank you." Ron waved his hand politely, "You should keep this good stuff for yourself—look, you've even sat through the candy's filling, goodness, your butt is really heavy."

Harry looked at the candy in his hand and then put it on the desk next to him.

"But that doesn't affect the flavor of the candy. Maybe I should put them back as they are; I can't just waste them, can I?"

"Are you going to eat it yourself?" Ron the Lion asked in shock.

"Perhaps Draco would like it, what do you think?" Harry asked with a chuckle.

Upon hearing Harry's words, Ron leaned back in shock, staring at Harry before looking up and thinking carefully. Draco realized the candy had been flattened by sitting on it...

A wicked smile spread across his face.

"Let's do it this way!" Ron said happily.

As the two walked out together, Ron suddenly realized that Harry hadn't changed into any Halloween costume.

"Dude, it's a costume party tonight," Ron reminded him. "Are you really going to wear something like this to the party?"

"I have my own way," Harry said to Ron with a smile.

When I got to the Common Room, it was like... a circus.

Just as they reached the door, a man with a clown-like head walked towards them. He was the school's commentator, the natural-born rapper Lee Jordan.

On a bench not far away sat a ghostly young lady. If you looked closely, you would probably recognize her as Angelina Jansen of the Quidditch team.

The Weasley twins dressed up as two-headed Troll; no one knows how they got it, but they had two heads on one body.

Seeing Harry and Ron approaching, the two of them started acting silly together.

"Are we alright?" Fred asked.

"Of course!" George replied.

After they finished speaking, the two of them burst into laughter.

"How did you manage to do that?" Harry asked curiously, as he also couldn't understand how the twins managed to attach two heads to one body.

Are you guys some kind of street tyrants?

"This is our trade secret, Lion King's friend," the twins said with a chuckle.

Well, now you've gone from being the Lion King to being Lion King friend, right?

"Isn't the Lion King Harry?" Ron asked innocently.

"It's obvious, Ronnie little darling," Fred said. "You're more like a lion now."

A short while later, Seamus, dressed as a scarecrow, and Neville, dressed as Mandrake, walked in from outside.

"Look at you guys, you're really cool." Ron greeted them. "This is the first time I've ever seen such a strange combination."

"But I think those two are the champions," Neville said, pointing to the Weasley family Twins.

This statement was accepted by the vast majority of people, after all, the Twins cosplaying the two-headed Troll were just too similar - they really looked like one body.

"You guys really should learn from those two," Hermione, dressed as a vampire, said to Harry and the others, pointing at the Weasley twins. "That's real Halloween costume work, isn't it?"

"I don't think you'd want to share a body with me," Ron muttered.

No sooner had he finished speaking than Hermione punched him hard twice in the back.

It really hurt, as evidenced by the loud sound and Ron's grimacing.

"What did I say?" Fred asked with a chuckle.

"Gryffindor girls hit hard, Fred," George chimed in.

Hermione glared at the two of them, annoyed.

After leaving the Common Room, Harry went to the Room of Requirement —the place he and Veratia had arranged to meet.

Veratia was already waiting there. When she saw Harry come over, she grabbed Harry, pinned him against the wall, and said, "Quick, take off your clothes!"

"You're making it easy for people to misunderstand, Veratia." Harry looked up and met Veratia's gaze without any shyness.

Unexpectedly, patches of pink suddenly appeared on Veratia's fair cheeks.

"What are you thinking about?" She lightly patted Harry on the shoulder and scolded, "Take your clothes off first—"

The two quietly took off their coats and exchanged their school decorations. Veratia hesitated for a moment, clearly unsure of what to do.

"What's wrong?" Harry asked with a smile.

"It's nothing," Veratia said, shaking her head, still feeling a pang of regret. This was such a good opportunity for Harry to wear women's clothing.

But she was afraid Harry wouldn't like it, so she didn't play the prank.

After changing his clothes, Veratia patted Harry on the back of the head, telling him to go back to the Great Hall first.

As Harry walked up to the third floor, he ran into Ron and his friends who were walking towards them.

"Good heavens, Harry," Ron said, pointing at Harry, "There's a traitor among us!"

"It's just a Halloween costume," Harry said to Ron. "Don't worry, how could I be a traitor?"

"But we don't think so," the Weasley twins said in unison. "Look at you, not only dressed in Slytherin clothes, but also wearing Slytherin girl's hair clip... Good heavens!"

Harry then belatedly realized that he had actually put on Veratia's Basilisk clip.

He quickly took off the hair clip, held it in his hand and looked at it. The Basilisk's eyes Winky like emeralds.

"It looks just like the real thing, doesn't it?" the Twins said cheerfully. "I bet the Basilisk's eyes are real emeralds."

Harry didn't say anything; he put the hair clip in his pocket.

I was relieved when I put it in; thankfully I wasn't wearing Veratia's dress, otherwise it would have been so embarrassing.

To his surprise, Veratia's first stop was not the Great Hall, but her dormitory, seemingly to find Cassandra.

Of course, this was not something Harry could interfere with; he could only walk into the Great Hall with his classmates.

The Great Hall had a wonderful festive atmosphere. The entire Great Hall was decorated by Professor Flitwick and his team. You could see thousands of bats fluttering around, divided into two groups—one group gathered on the ceiling and weaved among the Winky jack-o'-lanterns; the other group flew back and forth on the dining tables like moving clouds.

The professors were all dressed up for Halloween. Dumbledore was dressed in a women's outfit, a very retro style that made people want to S.P.E.W. (that's what Draco said); while Professor McGonagall wasn't dressed up in any special way, but had a note on her pointed wizard hat that read "CAT".

This fits the stereotype of Professor McGonagall perfectly; the old lady's ability to do this much is already the limit.

Two people in the Faculty Table were particularly noticeable, because everyone discovered that there were two Professor Snape.

Yes, two Professor Snape.

Snape himself was still wearing his black robe today, as if it were a family heirloom that he never took off; while Sirius had somehow bought a robe just like Snape's, and was wearing a wig on his head, looking just as much like Snape as Snape.

The two were sitting in the Faculty Table area, right next to each other...

Snape wasn't supposed to sit next to Sirius, but Sirius wasn't about to let any opportunity to persecute Snape slip by...

Wearing a wolf head mask, Lupin sat to the side, Lupin face contorted with disbelief under the cover of the wolf head.

I had advised Sirius not to do this before. Once was fine, but twice was a bit too much.

But Sirius was not one to listen to advice. He had already decided that Snivellus was Gryffindor's enemy, so he absolutely could not let him go.

As the two sat in silence, Sirius suddenly stood up.

He walked up to Harry, Ron, and their group as they entered the Snape Great Hall, drawing the attention of everyone in the Great Hall.

"Potter!" Sirius mimicked Snape's tone perfectly.

"Professor," Harry greeted him, suppressing a laugh.

Sirius lowered his head, glanced at Harry's Slytherin clothes, and couldn't help but sigh inwardly again.

Prongs!

I'm so sorry!

Look at our precious son, look what he's become!

He's even wearing a Slytherin uniform!

"Why are you wearing Slytherin clothes?" Sirius glanced again at the Slytherin badge in Harry's hand.

"Oh, this is Veratia's suggestion."

As soon as Harry finished speaking, Veratia, dressed in Gryffindor school uniform, walked in from outside.

"Professor Snape." Veratia greeted Sirius on purpose, then suppressed a laugh and apologized, "Sorry, it's you, Black... Black Teaching Assistant, I really didn't recognize you."

Sirius forced a smile, took a deep breath, and patted Harry on the shoulder.

"Your old Godfather has a heart condition..." he said, clutching his chest.

After saying that, he turned around and returned to his seat at the Faculty Table.

Sirius was initially happy because he could make Snape unhappy, was deeply disturbed when he saw his godson wearing Slytherin uniform.

He never expected that his eldest son, that Scarhead, green-eyed fellow, would betray Gryffindor!

However, he didn't know that Harry was wearing Veratia's clothes, otherwise he would have been even more on edge.

In the long bench of Gryffindor, Ginny was writing furiously.

Once the Weasley family had all arrived, Ginny quietly nudged her two brothers and, amidst their puzzled looks, handed them a small note.

"I'll take a look first," Fred said.

"No, I was first!" George immediately retorted.

They punched each other a couple of times, and finally decided to let Fred see it first.

"His eyes were as black as a black beetle that had fallen into an ink bottle; he was as black and dashing as a blackboard; his hair flowed in the wind like seaweed..."

Fred's eyes grew brighter and brighter, and finally, their heads started singing in unison.

Sirius had appeared behind them at some point, holding his wand and clapping along to the beat.

As they sang the very last line, Sirius wiped his eyes and exclaimed, "Music is far more captivating than anything we've done here!"

Upon hearing Sirius's words, everyone wore complex expressions.

Good heavens, you were Snape just now, how did you jump to Dumbledore now?

Professor Sprout's outfit was the most delightful; she was dressed as the Whomping Willow, with all sorts of candy baskets hanging from its branches, and she was moving between the long tables, distributing candy to everyone.

Whether it was Hufflepuff, Gryffindor, Ravenclaw, or even Slytherin, they all received their own Halloween candy from Professor Sprout.

These candies appear to be custom-made, as the coatings often feature various tidbits of Herbology.

The candy Harry received had Dittany printed on it.

"What's yours?" Ron asked, leaning closer.

Harry took the candy coating and read the text on it to Ron.

"Dittany is a plant with magical properties. It can be used to make Potions and also has strong healing effects."

"In addition to using Essence of Dittany, directly using this plant can also help heal superficial wounds. A mixture of Dittany and silver powder can be used to treat Werewolf bites."

"Cool, looks like I should carry one with me at all times, just in case I get hurt while playing Quidditch." Ron said with a grin, "You know, Slytherin always use any means necessary when playing Quidditch, they even take pride in it, I can't let them bully me."

"Hey, Weasley!" Draco said indignantly from behind, "Quidditch is all about winning!"

"Oh, right, right, right." Ron waved his hand impatiently, "That's why you guys are so ruthless."

When Harry turned around, he noticed that Cassandra was sitting quietly to the side, wearing a pumpkin lantern on her head.

Sitting next to her Veratia, who was also wearing a pumpkin lantern headgear.

Sometime later, Veratia had changed back into her Slytherin uniform. She sat with Cassandra, and Harry recognized them almost instantly.

It's easy to guess. Cassandra and Veratia were hardly familiar with any other girls in Slytherin. Veratia was only somewhat familiar with Miss Farley, but even then, they wouldn't sit together so intimately.

And between these two, who is Cassandra and who is Veratia...?

Hi, it's easy to guess, don't look at the appearance—look at the model number.

Hmm... Veratia is clearly much bigger than Cassandra.

Noticing Harry's gaze, Veratia playfully waved at Harry and bumped Cassandra with the pumpkin lantern on her head, causing her head to tilt to the side.

Harry shook his head helplessly. He really hadn't expected the two girls to be so in sync. He wondered what secret agreement they had reached.

After a while, the students arrived one after another, and with Professor Dumbledore's loud announcement, a dazzling array of delicious food appeared on the long table in front of them.

"I bet," Draco turned and reached out to grab Harry, "Harry that Dumbledore is a...!"

"You don't need to tell me that, Malfoy," Ron said, wrinkling his nose. "I discovered that back in freshman year!"

"You really found out?" Draco frowned.

"Of course," Ron said proudly, but no one knew what he was so proud of. "You can ask Harry; I've already mentioned it to him."

"Then I'll admit that you have a keen eye."

Draco never misses an opportunity to Dumbledore, and given this premise, he might even acknowledge that the Weasley have keen insight.

The Halloween dinner was quite lavish, but it wasn't what everyone expected, with steamed pumpkin, boiled pumpkin, stir-fried pumpkin, and pumpkin soup. Instead, pumpkins were used as containers to hold all sorts of delicious food.

It seems that Dumbledore also put effort into this aspect for the House Elf, as dinners were no longer the same old Britain food, but even included France and Eastern Europe flavors.

This can be seen from the pairing of sour cream with gourash.

Gulas, Hungary's "national dish," is essentially stewed beef, potatoes, carrots, or onions in a clay pot until tender, then sprinkled with a little spice... It's usually served with a little sour cream.

Harry really enjoyed the taste of beef with sour cream; it was slightly spicy and sour, with a subtle milky flavor—it was absolutely delicious.

Veratia was clearly surprised that the Hogwarts dining halls served dishes from her hometown; she even took off her pumpkin lantern headgear.

Then Cassandra grabbed him back from the side.

"You're not allowed to eat it," Cassandra said succinctly.

"Fine, I won't eat then." Veratia sat there with her arms crossed, seemingly really not planning to take off her headgear and eat anything.

The same was true of the "two Snape" at the Faculty Table. The two sat there, looking at the food in front of them with gloomy expressions, neither of them touching their knives or forks.

Snape himself was so disgusted by Sirius that he had no appetite at all.

Sirius, on the other hand, was preoccupied with his godson wearing the Slytherin uniform. All he wanted to do was find the legendary Resurrection Stone, summon James, and apologize to him properly.

Prongs! I'm so sorry!

Lupin, however, was quite relaxed. It was just wearing a Slytherin uniform; it wasn't a big deal.

In his view, Harry's happiness was more important than anything else.

"No, this is a matter of principle!" Sirius said to Lupin during the meal.

Lupin simply shrugged casually and said nothing.

After the dinner, the exciting voting session began.

The Weasley twins ' two-headed Troll won first place by an overwhelming margin; unless you vote for a friend or family member, everyone would definitely vote for the Weasley twins.

To avoid the situation where people concentrate their votes on relatives and friends, Dumbledore set five votes for each person, so that they could vote for their favorite person while also considering the needs of their relatives and friends.

The effect was significant; Gemini received the vast majority of votes.

Second place went to Sirius, who cosplayed as Professor Snape Black.

To protect students who did not wish to reveal their names and thus avoid severe retaliation from Professor Snape, Dumbledore announced the implementation of a secret ballot system, so even if Snape wanted revenge, he would have no energy to do so.

This outcome made Sirius feel a little better.

He stood up, bowed to everyone, and sang a song that the Weasley twins had made up—the one with lyrics by Ginny.

As you can imagine, Snape's actions caused Sirius to lose even more points.

The very next morning, Gryffindor student was penalized twenty points for secretly cricketing Professor Snape.

"He's really insane," Lavender Brown said to his classmates, still shaken. "Did you see that? He looked like a bat that had been salted."

Of course, this was said in the dormitory. Everyone knows that Snape has a habit of acting as a ghost, so if you try to sneak up on Snape outside, he will definitely find you behind him and deduct points from your score.

But nobody knew what a "salted bat" was. However, when Lavender Brown asked everyone to think of Snape standing on the podium, the image instantly came to mind.

That noon, Snape and Sirius, who met by chance in the Great Hall, finally drew their wands because of the word "Snivellus."

"You want to duel me?" Sirius also drew his wand. "Fine, Snivellus! When it comes to defense against Dark Arts, I'm not afraid of you! And when it comes to Transfiguration, I'm far superior!"

Fortunately, Professor McGonagall reacted quickly, grabbed Snape, and gave Sirius a stern scolding before the matter was dropped.

"Severus, let it go!" She and Professor Dumbledore persuaded Snape together, thus averting a professorial brawl in the Great Hall.

It's easy to imagine where Snape would vent his frustrations after being humiliated by Sirius.

The Gryffindor students didn't think much of it. After all, even if Snape wasn't angry, they would still lose points, so they might as well let him get angry.

That way, at least everyone can have some fun.

Just as the god of death was about to be summoned, Harry also went to Professor Lupin's side.

Professor Lupin looks to be in good spirits today, unlike the sickly state he was in the previous two days.

He didn't think Professor Lupin was away on a business trip, but rather because he wasn't feeling well—but he wouldn't delve into the professor's secrets, after all, everyone has their own little secrets.

"It's Harry." Lupin greeted him with a smile and invited him to sit down. He took a frog-shaped chocolate bar from a drawer and handed it to Harry. "Here, have some chocolate. It's so cold, you should have something to keep warm."

Harry didn't refuse. He thanked Lupin first, then tore open the frog chocolate wrapper and took a bite of the frog's head.

It wasn't Chocolate Frog, just a high-quality imitation frog-shaped chocolate, but it tasted much better than Chocolate Frog. Harry could even feel a warm current spreading through his limbs, as if the chocolate had some special effect.

"So," Lupin asked, seeing Harry eat the chocolate frog, "What brings you here, Harry?"

"Well, Professor," Harry said to Lupin after a moment's thought, "I... well, I know you and my father are good friends, so I thought I'd ask you about my father."

Lupin didn't answer. He first beckoned, and some teaware flew over from the side. Then he poured Harry a cup of hot tea and said, "You're right. We were good friends when we were at Hogwarts —as you know, we had a little group called ' The Marauders.' How about that? Doesn't that sound a bit rebellious? But Sirius and James liked the name, so it became our group's code name."

"That doesn't sound good." Harry nodded hesitantly, then said, "I—I remember seeing the scene at the Black Lake in my mother's memories—my father hung Professor Snape up, my mother went to rescue him, but Professor Snape called my mother a dirty little—"

"Oh, you mean this..."

A look of reminiscence flashed in Professor Lupin's eyes. "That was when we were in fifth grade, right after we took the OWLs, the common wizarding exams... So, what's your question about this?"

"Professor Snape said my father was arrogant and conceited, and a pathetic bully who enjoyed taking advantage of the weak." Harry shrugged and said to Professor Lupin, "I didn't believe it at first, but after seeing my mother's memories, I... well, I had some doubts. But I felt it wasn't a wise choice to only listen to Professor Snape's side of the story, so I thought I'd come and ask you, Sirius, and see what you two, as friends, think of my father."

"So that's how it is..."

Professor Lupin's gaze softened further. He shook his head and smiled at Harry, saying, "Just as I expected, you're more like your mother than your father... But Sirius isn't very happy about it. In his eyes, you should be the second James."

"But Professor McGonagall might be very unhappy about that," Harry laughed.

"Not necessarily. Don't be fooled by Professor McGonagall's apparent dislike for your father; he's actually her favorite student," Professor Lupin said with a chuckle.

Harry thought to himself, "Thank goodness my dad wasn't Dumbledore's favorite student, otherwise he might have fallen victim to Gellert's clutches."

"However, Harry," Professor Lupin hesitated, as if he were wavering.

He could see that Harry had doubts about his father's image, and as James's friend, Lupin felt it was necessary to clear his old friend's name in the boy's heart.

While James can be a bit of a jerk at times, he's not a completely useless guy—at least on the positive side, he's just as outstanding as, or even more so than, his negative traits.

Most importantly, James made a change; he not only reformed his ways but also died as a hero who fought against Voldemort.

Noticing Lupin's hesitation, Harry asked with concern, "What's wrong, Professor Lupin?"

"It's nothing," Professor Lupin sighed. "I just wanted to tell you that most people aren't simply black and white, and often can't be categorized as just good or bad."

"I know that, thank you, Professor," Harry nodded.

"I know you have one misunderstanding or another about your father," Lupin said softly. "But what you need to know is that your father made changes, and he even sacrificed his life to fight Voldemort."

After saying that, Lupin continued without waiting for Harry to say anything, "Of course, I hope you can go and see for yourself."

He stood up, walked to the Pensieve, picked out a strand of silver thread from his temple, and put it into the black basin to dissolve.

"This is part of your father's memory," Professor Lupin sighed. "Of course, before that, I also... well, there's something I need to tell you."

"Professor, please speak," Harry said, nodding.

Lupin frowned and paced back and forth a couple of times.

Should he tell Harry or not? He wondered.

But the desire to clear his old friend's name ultimately prevailed. So what if his identity was exposed?

Harry also saw Lupin's expression change from hesitation to confusion, then to anxiety, and finally to calm.

He knew that Professor Lupin had probably made a great decision.

"There's no point in hiding it, Harry," Lupin sighed. "As you can see, I disappear for a few days every month and have someone else cover my classes..."

Harry had already guessed something, but seeing Lupin's serious and anxious expression, he decided to play a little joke.

"So you're actually a woman?" he asked, feigning disbelief.

Lupin was clearly taken aback by Harry's answer.

He laughed, a relieved laugh.

"Alright, Harry." Professor Lupin pointed at Harry. "If this were in class, I would deduct points from Gryffindor for your lack of sharpness."

"But we're not in a classroom now, are we?" Harry asked with a smile.

Lupin nodded. "Yes, let me explain—as you can see, I am actually a Werewolf."

"Oh." Harry nodded casually. "So you're Werewolf. That's nothing."

"Don't you think... Werewolf..." Lupin asked hesitantly, a glint seemingly in his eyes.

"More important than that, you're my dad's friend, one of his best friends." Harry waved his hand dismissively. "Besides, it's just a tiny little problem—"

The sun peeked out from behind the clouds in the distance, and sunlight streamed through the window onto Harry's face.

The boy seemed very uncomfortable with the sudden direct sunlight; he stretched out his hand to shield his eyes from the glaring light.

At that moment, through that ray of sunlight, Lupin seemed to see the first ray of sunlight that had shone into his heart.

"Harry..."

Lupin smiled.

"What's wrong, Professor?" Harry asked, shielding his forehead with one hand.

"It's nothing," Lupin smiled and said to Harry, "Thank you for your trust, Harry."

"It's nothing, Professor." Harry grinned, showing his teeth. "You're not just my dad's friend, you're our best Defense Against the Dark Arts Professor."

Lupin patted Harry hard on the shoulder, and after a moment, said to him, "Go and see, see my memories of James."

"Okay, Professor."

Harry walked to the Pensieve, took a deep breath, and submerged his head in Pensieve.

After a dizzying sensation, Harry found himself in his Gryffindor dormitory.

That was the same dormitory room he and Ron shared, only it was from a different era and had different inhabitants. Harry saw his father lying on the bed, legs crossed, looking very nonchalant.

James doesn't look very old; he seems to be in his second year, not much different from Harry now.

It should be said that James and Harry are almost identical, except for the color of their eyes and the lightning bolt-shaped scar. They are practically the same – the same messy hair, the same glasses, and the same appearance.

"James, hey bro?"

A clear, childlike voice rang out, and a black-haired boy walked in from outside.

The boy looked very elegant and handsome. Although his face still looked childish, you could tell at a glance that he would definitely grow up to be a great handsome man.

It's Sirius Black, a second-grader.

It seems that at this time, they had not yet formed the Marauders, nor did they have their later nicknames.

"Sirius?" James seemed too lazy to even look up, simply asking in a languid manner.

"Hey buddy, don't be so down," Sirius sat down next to James, patting him on the chest with a grin. "So what if Evans turned down your invitation to hang out? Don't be so dejected—listen to me, buddy, I've found something unusual."

"Unusual?"

James wasn't intrigued by Sirius's exaggerated tone. He simply rolled over like a salted fish, turning his back to Sirius, and said, "Oh, nothing that interests me. Of course—it would be best if you could help me deal with that Slytherin little Snivellus."

"No, this is unusual, it concerns our best friend!" Sirius said mysteriously, "Lupin —our roommate, don't you want to hear his little secret?"

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(It's Chinese New Year, starting tomorrow the basic update will be changed to 4000)

(End of this chapter)