Harry's Godfather Is Sitting in Prison / Everyday Life Is a Rare Gift

Phineas Nigellus Black, a graduate of Slytherin House, truly deserves his reputation as the most unpopular headmaster in Hogwarts history. He was full of sarcastic remarks and even went so far as to accuse Harry of something completely unfounded.

"Phineas, can you stop talking nonsense?" Headmaster Dippet frowned and reprimanded. "There's a reason Harry is Parseltongue. How could he possibly be the Heir of Slytherin?!"

"Um... I'm wondering, are you guys always this lively?"

Watching the former headmasters chattering away, almost arguing, Harry couldn't help but marvel at the peculiar atmosphere of the Hogwarts Headmaster's office, which resembled nothing more than a bustling market.

"Most of the time we're asleep, only occasionally offering Albus some advice," Dippet explained somewhat awkwardly. "Of course, everyone's more interested in you, after all, you're the boy who defeated the Dark Lord and the Boy Who Lived!"

"I see..." Harry responded casually, seemingly quite dismissive.

Harry never thought there was anything to brag about about surviving such a close call; it was just thanks to his mother Lily's protection.

"Oh, right, Albus said something before he left: if you actually get into the Headmaster's Office, you should check the Sorting Hat carefully." At this moment, Dippet remembered Dumbledore's parting words and quickly reminded Harry.

"The Sorting Hat... Besides being used for the unscientific sorting process, what else is so special about this lousy hat?"

Harry stepped forward curiously, picked up the Sorting Hat, and examined it closely, but couldn't make heads or tails of it.

"Let go! Let go of me right now, do you hear me?!"

The Sorting Hat struggled violently in Harry's hands, as if it didn't want Harry to touch it for even a second.

"Why are you twisting like that? Can't you behave yourself... Hey, what's this?"

Harry intended to use his free hand to pull at the brim of the Sorting Hat, but as the hat dodged, he accidentally slipped his hand inside.

Then, Harry felt as if he had grasped something.

He instinctively pulled outwards and pulled out a beautifully crafted sword from the Sorting Hat!

This is a long, slender silver sword with a double-edged blade that gleams with a sharp light. The hilt and guard are also engraved with intricate patterns, and a dazzling ruby the size of an egg is set at the bottom of the hilt. The overall design can be described as exquisite and luxurious to the extreme!

"The Sword of Gryffindor?!" *N

When the sword appeared, the former headmasters, who had been chattering incessantly, all fell into a shocked silence. Even the Sorting Hat, which had been screaming in Harry's hand, froze in shock, forgetting to struggle.

"The Sword of Gryffindor?" Harry glanced instinctively at the weapon he had just received and, sure enough, saw a line of small, branded words on the blade.

'Godric Gryffindor'

Even the name of one of the Four Founders is printed on it, so it seems that this must indeed be a treasure left behind by Gryffindor.

"I think this must be Albus's real reason for having you examine the Sorting Hat," Dippet said, his voice filled with deep emotion. "Who would have thought that a child already sorted into Ravenclaw House would actually be a true Gryffindor?"

"Hmph, to be recognized by the Sword of Gryffindor, it's utterly disgraceful!" The obnoxious old headmaster Phineas, angrily berated him, "You remind me of my useless great-great-grandson, who, despite being born into the noble and ancient Black family, has defied convention by joining Gryffindor. He's just like those Mudblood..."

"Phineas Nigellus Black, even if you were the former headmaster of Hogwarts, you absolutely cannot utter that despicable word in front of me!" As he spoke, Harry simultaneously raised his sword and wand, pointing them at the picture frame high above Phineas!

"Hmph, a mere brat dares to threaten me?" Phineas in the portrait feigned disdain. "I'll say it to your face, what can you do about it? You know, my great-great-grandson Sirius Black, that good-for-nothing, is your godfather. Do you really think you can lay a hand on your ancestor just because of a 'Mudblood'?"

Sizzle!

Before Phineas could finish speaking, Harry used the Levitation Charm to control his sword and delivered a swift horizontal slash, cleanly and decisively cutting Phineas, who could be considered his great-great-great-grandfather, from a half-length portrait into a headshot!

"I said no, and that's final! Since I was able to get my hands on this sword, it means there's nothing I wouldn't dare to do!"

Harry glared at Phineas with a sharp gaze, his cold, hard tone as unyielding as a rock!

"Don't tell me you're just a portrait. Even if you were alive, even if you were truly my ancestor, your utterly flawed perception, just like Salazar Slytherin's, must be completely corrected!!"

(P. S. My darling artist was sick before, so I had to add the pictures later~)

Chapter 162 Harry's Godfather is in Prison

The moment the sword struck, everyone in the Hogwarts Headmaster's office was stunned.

All the headmasters in the portraits stared blankly at Harry holding the sword, completely at a loss for words to describe the scene before them; Peeves, who was stirring the Cauldron, trembled in surprise and almost dropped his hat into Cauldron.

"Oh... no! How dare you treat the former principal of this school like this, especially since I am your ancestor?!"

At this moment, Phineas was both shocked and angry. He kept shaking his remaining head, wishing he could jump out of the painting and bite Harry hard.

"Good heavens... now I understand why Peeves obeys him."

Headmistress Euprasia Moore was nearly speechless with shock. This kid had not only burned the Sorting Hat, but now he had even cut up a painting by the former headmistress. Compared to his actions, Peeves' pranks were truly child's play.

"What you should really be surprised about is that Harry just casually insulted Salazar Slytherin, didn't he?"

Dippet covered his face, both amused and exasperated. Last year in the Headmaster's Office, he'd heard Harry's thousand-gun salute explode more than once, and this year the kid had upgraded to two-stage firecrackers...

Although Dippet didn't know what a firecracker was either~

"My attitude has always been simple: if you're wrong, you have to admit it, regardless of who the person is!"

Harry stared intently at Phineas, but in reality, his words were also directed at the other headmasters and the Sorting Hat!

"Salazar's obsessive pursuit of bloodline supremacy not only turned Slytherin House into a breeding ground for a bunch of psychotic Pure-blood, but he even left a Basilisk in his Chamber, intending to purge all students of ordinary birth! Why can't his fanatical and erroneous ideas be criticized?!"

"And do you really think that the other three Founders, besides Salazar, are without problems?" After a slight pause, Harry grabbed the Sorting Hat that had been tossed aside earlier. "This hat they left behind is the biggest problem in itself!"

"Godric's excessive promotion of courage resulted in Gryffindor ultimately becoming a group of reckless and impulsive men."

"Rowena valued intelligence, so Ravenclaw gradually saw an increase in those who liked to show off their cleverness and were all showy but impractical."

"Finally, those ordinary students who were deemed not very bright and lacking in outstanding individuality by the Sorting Hat were all crammed into Helga's house..."

Almost every time Harry mentioned a house, the headmaster of that house would bow his head in reflection, because whether they admitted it or not, what Harry said was an undeniable fact.

The Sorting Hat, infused with the ideologies of the Four Founders, sometimes proved to be a one-sided approach to student selection. As the Sorting Hat was established year after year, the traditions and characteristics of the four schools gradually became entrenched, ultimately leading to numerous conflicts throughout the university.

"Ultimately, to arbitrarily determine a child's future based solely on their mental state at age eleven is inherently narrow-minded!" Harry glared at the Sorting Hat with resentment. "Therefore, the views of the Four Founders are limited by their time, and the hat that interprets their ideas in an even more one-sided way deserves to be burned eight times over!"

Many headmasters were aware of the problems at Hogwarts Sorting House, but aside from marveling at Harry's insightful analysis, they couldn't offer any further comment.

These are problems they couldn't solve while they were alive, and now that they're dead and have become spirits, they're even less able to solve them.

Of course, Harry didn't really intend for them to solve anything. What the students from the four houses were like was actually not of much concern to Harry. He just needed to make friends with a few people who shared his interests.

Finally, in the entire Headmaster's Office, only the Sorting Hat continued to scream and beg for mercy.

With Dumbledore gone, Harry is practically in charge of the Headmaster's Office, and the Sorting Hat is really worried that the latter might add fuel to the fire.

"Stop howling, I don't have time for you right now." Harry casually tossed the Sorting Hat back onto the shelf, then suddenly looked at Phineas, whose head was now the only thing remaining. "Headmaster Phineas, you just mentioned your great- Sirius Black. How is he doing now?"

Harry only fully remembered that he actually had a godfather when Phineas mentioned it just now.

His memory is indeed excellent; he can clearly remember even things from when he was just born. However, it's impossible for him to recall all his experiences in his mind all the time, so some memories require a little external stimulation to come to mind.

For example, Harry often heard the name of his godfather, whom he never met.

Sirius Black, like Phineas, was born into the Pure-blood Black family. However, unlike other family members, he was sorted into Gryffindor when he entered Hogwarts, which was considered a 'blemish' by the Black family.

He was his father James's best friend from his school days, and after James was born, he became his godfather.

Harry could even recall that on his first birthday, Sirius, who couldn't come in person, sent him a toy broom as a gift. However, Harry felt it would be too dangerous for him to ride on it because of his short arms and legs, so he didn't even touch it.

His adoptive father seemed quite disappointed about this for a while.

Later, when Hagrid rescued him from Godric's Hollow after his parents were killed by Voldemort, the motorcycle he rode seemed to have been borrowed from Sirius.

But after that, Harry never heard from Sirius again.

After Dumbledore sent him to the Dursley family, Sirius never visited him even once; even after he caused so much trouble, becoming infamous in both the common and wizarding worlds, Sirius still didn't show up.

If we go by his father James's descriptions of his life, Sirius, as his godfather, should have loved him very much, so why hasn't he come looking for him all these years?

"Ha, didn't anyone tell you about my useless great-grandson before?" Phineas laughed harshly. "But then again, with your temper, if you knew about him, you'd probably be plotting to infiltrate Azkaban and wipe him out."

"Azkaban ...kill? What do you mean by that?" Harry frowned, instinctively sensing that Phineas's next words might be quite important to him.

"What else could it mean? It means this guy is a criminal now," Phineas scoffed dismissively. "He revealed your family's whereabouts, broke the protective Fidelius Charm, and killed that shorty Peter and a dozen Muggle. Of course, he'll be locked up in Azkaban!"

"What did you say?!"

Chapter 163 Everyday Life is Actually Quite Rare

After leaving the Headmaster's Office, Harry kept thinking about his godfather.

Although Phineas was a foul-mouthed headmaster, he was still Harry's elder, and in the end, he didn't keep anything from Harry about Sirius.

Voldemort was able to find Harry's house because Sirius, the Secret Keeper of the Fidelius Charm, revealed the secret, which led to James and Lily's tragic deaths at Voldemort's hands.

The very next day, Peter Pettigrew Peter, who went to avenge Harry's parents, was killed by Sirius, and in the process, twelve ordinary people from an entire block were also killed.

It is said that Peter's body was blown to pieces, with only a finger remaining at the scene.

Fortunately, Sirius was captured quickly and imprisoned in Azkaban, where he has been for eleven years.

But after carefully going through the whole story... Harry felt that something was very wrong!

First of all, based on the information he heard from his parents from birth until he was a little over a year old, Sirius was definitely not the kind of person who would submit to Voldemort.

When Scamander was gathering intelligence on the Death Eater last year, he clearly pointed out that Voldemort was also an extreme Pure-blood believer, and Sirius had long since broken with his family and had been on the path of opposing bloodlines. How could he suddenly defect to Voldemort?

Furthermore, the accident scene described by Phineas to him is also very problematic, because considering the extent of the blast wave and the hardness of bones in different parts of the human body, no matter how devastating the explosion was, it would be difficult to leave only a finger behind.

Either there is no trace of the body, leaving nothing behind; or at least some teeth and skull fragments should remain, because these are the truly hard parts of the human body.

After much thought, Harry decided he should find another opportunity to talk to Hagrid.

When Hagrid pulled himself out of the ruins, he was riding the motorcycle Sirius had given him, which means he must have seen Sirius that day, and therefore he might know some details that Hagrid didn't know.

But that's a story for another time; Harry can't afford to be distracted by that now.

The tasks of tending the Mandrake and brewing the Veritaserum are now on track, but for the next twenty-odd days, Harry will have to keep his guard up and continue to deal with the criminals at the school and the Pure-blood Family!

By the way, Harry requisitioned the Sword of Gryffindor and doesn't plan to return it after the incident.

This exquisite sword, crafted by Goblin, is not only beautifully designed and of a perfect length, but it also boasts excellent upgrade potential. Why leave such a useful treasure gathering dust in the Headmaster's Office?

Of course, Harry guessed it too. The Sorting Hat must have some kind of special spatial magic. It was like a portal to another dimension. As long as a real Gryffindor reached into the hat, they could successfully obtain the Sword of Gryffindor, no matter where the sword had been placed before.

However, Harry was eager to test whether the other Gryffindor could still take his sword if he put it in his Space Ring.

Hmm... If the experiment succeeds, then the Sorting Hat won't have to be destroyed~

Christmas has arrived again for the new school year. This year, the snow is still falling, but the campus feels much quieter and colder.

Almost all the students chose to take the Hogwarts Express home. The school is so dangerous now, even the teachers have been petrified one after another. Those who stay are definitely brave souls who dare to face the bleak reality of life.

This is a good thing for Harry too. With fewer people in the school, there won't be as many people causing trouble, and the process of brewing the Veritaserum will be much quieter for the next twenty days or so.

As for the Heir of Slytherin taking the opportunity to leave... that's absolutely impossible!

The Book Spirit once analyzed for Harry that Salazar might have left the Basilisk behind to purge students from ordinary backgrounds, but his reasons for building the Chamber of Secrets were definitely not limited to that. Therefore, Heir of Slytherin may not have been solely motivated by a desire to carry on the legacy of that old madman, Salazar.

Perhaps there are some secrets in that Chamber that the heir cares about most.

"I think it's better to have fewer people; at least there won't be as many annoying guys. Here, open your mouth~"

While decorating the Christmas tree together, Hermione noticed that Harry wasn't very interested, so she casually popped a piece of chocolate into his mouth.

She was very happy to be able to stay at school for Christmas, and since many Pure-blood parents had gone home for the holidays, there were fewer people secretly watching her and Harry. The two, who had been acting separately, were finally able to get together again for once.

"Hmm~"

The girl's fingertips gently brushed against Harry's lips; the touch was even smoother than chocolate, instantly brightening Harry's mood, who had been feeling somewhat sentimental.

This year, Filch's busy figure was absent from the Great Hall, as was Mrs. Norris, who used to run around Crookshanks with him. Professor Sprout also couldn't contribute his plants to decorate the Christmas tree...

Harry felt immense pressure whenever he thought about everyone still lying in the hospital like stones.

Ultimately, humans are creatures influenced by their environment. Harry couldn't simply ignore what was happening and go about his leisurely school life...

"Won't you invite me out for a walk? The snow scenery on campus is quite beautiful~"

The bright, clear voice of the academically gifted girl rang in Harry's ears. At that moment, she had a playful smile on her face, and her eyebrows and eyes curved like a pair of crescent moons.

"Okay, let's go for a walk to clear our heads."

Harry chuckled, took the scarf beside him and carefully wrapped it around Hermione's neck, then took her hand and left the castle Great Hall.

After all, this was a rare opportunity for just the two of them, and he couldn't spoil the girl's fun.