The wizard kept his head down, absorbed in his reading. Harry rubbed his nose and called out, "Sorry to disturb you. We'll leave right away!"
This time, the wizard moved. He sighed, folded the letter and put it away, then rose and walked straight toward the four of them. Then... he brushed past Luo Bin, went to the window, and drew back the curtains.
Several shafts of warm, golden sunlight slanted into the room, brightening everything at once.
Luo Bin looked up. The sky outside was filled with red evening clouds, as beautiful as an oil painting.
The wizard ignored the four of them again. He returned to the long table, picked at his fingers, which looked like withered vines, and gazed out the window, lost in thought.
"Hello, could you..."
Before Harry could ask his question, Luo Bin tugged his sleeve and pointed to the little nameplate set at an angle on the long table.
[Headmaster: Armando Dippet]
"How can that be?"
Harry whipped his head toward the back wall. His gaze swept slowly across the portraits, and he realized with a shock that one was missing: the portrait bearing the name Armando Dippet.
"Hasn't Armando Dippet already..."
Hermione frowned as she spoke.
"Harry, Hermione, Ron, this is the Headmaster's Office, but it isn't Headmaster Dumbledore's office as we know it. It's the Headmaster's Office from fifty years ago, when Tom Riddle was here. This is a memory. To the people in it, we're intruders. They can't see us or hear us, and no matter what we do, we can't change what happens."
Luo Bin explained.
Harry began studying the office more closely. Behind the door, there was no golden perch, much less a Phoenix with the wondrous magic of rebirth. The long table held nothing but