Those Who Loved Harry

Time: 6:45.

Inside the second-to-last room on the Fourth-Floor Forbidden Area of Hogwarts, in the restricted area.

"Now, it's time for us to step in," Snape said in a calm tone, but his clenched, white fingers betrayed his inner turmoil.

"No, not us, but me." Dumbledore pointed to the door with purple flames, gesturing for Snape to leave.

"Tom still thinks you're his double agent, and that identity is still useful," Dumbledore Snape standing firmly in place.

"Yes, but if I find that boy has lost a single hair, you will understand what a mad, unscrupulous Dark Wizard looks like." Snape looked intently at Dumbledore, his two black eyes now empty, like two dark tunnels.

After saying this, he turned around, flicked his long black cloak, and disappeared into the purple flames without taking Potions or using any spells.

Meanwhile, Voldemort's wand, seemingly sharpened, was deeply embedded in Quirrell's neck. "Harry Potter, now, tell me what your decision is?"

"I can give you an extra piece of information: you still have a relative, someone who truly cares about and loves you." Seeing that Harry could no longer maintain his composure, Voldemort continued, "Sirius Black, he is not my servant."

"On the contrary, it was another fellow who was awarded the Order of Merlin, First Class." Voldemort paused, as if recalling the fellow's name.

"Who is he?" Harry asked eagerly.

"Oh, so it seems you're going to agree. His name doesn't matter—I don't remember it either—he's a rat-like fellow. You can go out and look him up."

"Now, extend your left hand—you can point your wand at me, so you won't be worried."

Just as Harry was about to agree, a voice rang out, startling both Harry and Voldemort.

Voldemort gasped, "Dumbledore!"

"Tom, am I seeing things? Unbreakable Vow?" Dumbledore's voice was very soft, as if the two of them were discussing something related to drinking.

"Professor Dumbledore, you've finally arrived." Harry finally showed a long-lost smile.

"It seems I have no choice but to leave, Dumbledore. You are far more formidable than I imagined; even Grindelwald couldn't stop you." Voldemort narrowed his bloodshot eyes and spoke slowly and deliberately.

"Leave? You think you can leave?" Harry pointed his wand at Voldemort.

"Why not? Otherwise, why hasn't your dear Professor Dumbledore shown up? Dumbledore, you would probably have returned long ago." Voldemort revealed a sarcastic smile. "Like poor Sirius, who was imprisoned in Azkaban without trial, while the great Dumbledore didn't care at all."

"Yes, Tom, if you want to escape, we really can't stop you."

"But you're too greedy. You should have left when you were struck by Harry's spell. But now Quirrell's body, still imbued with Harry's magic, has become your prison," Dumbledore said calmly, completely undisturbed by Sirius's message, and without even replying.

Instead, he was casting magic while speaking.

Before anyone knew it, a golden halo had appeared around Voldemort.

"Yes," Voldemort sighed softly, as if resigned to his fate.

Then, Quirrell suddenly woke up, screaming, "Master, help!"

Quirrell's body swelled up like a balloon, with cracks appearing all over his body, but no blood flowed out; only black mist continued to spread from the cracks.

Boom!

Quirrell's body exploded, along with the increasingly dense black mist.

Countless tiny smoke snakes shot out from different directions. Although Dumbledore was prepared, Voldemort was a super freak with seven Horcrux.

Even though Dumbledore had already deftly waved his wand before Voldemort split open, turning the golden halo into a dense net of light, demonstrating the power that even Harry's hair stood on end, some mist still escaped and disappeared.

When the smoke cleared, all that should have been where Quirrell's body should have been was gone, not even a piece of cloth remained.

"Professor Dumbledore, has Voldemort really escaped?" Harry asked, unwilling to give up.

"It's a pity, but Tom did escape. In the realm of Dark Magic, he has already reached areas that no one has ever explored before."

"He's not really alive right now, so he can't be killed. Even capturing him, as I just mentioned, might be a pipe dream."

"Although your magic can bind Quirrell's body, Quirrell is just as ruthless to his followers, clearly not caring about Quirrell's life. So he squeezed every inch of Quirrell's flesh and blood, and after briefly regaining his strength, he escaped."

"Later, he may find another body that he is willing to share, or find other ways to make a comeback."

"But Harry, don't be disappointed by Voldemort's escape. You may think that you've only delayed him, preventing him from regaining his strength immediately, and that someone else will need to be fully prepared to fight him to the death in the future—but if he is delayed again and again, he may never regain his strength again," Dumbledore said earnestly.

"Is Sirius true?" Harry asked eagerly. Ryan had mentioned it before, but Harry hadn't paid much attention, as his focus was entirely on the Resurrection Stone.

But now, even Voldemort is saying so.

"Him?" Dumbledore looked troubled, a rare occurrence for him. "I had my suspicions, but Sirius himself was uncooperative. He kept telling himself that he was the one who killed your parents, and he even refused my requests to reopen his case multiple times."

"Why is this happening?" Harry looked just as troubled as Dumbledore.

Ryan, standing to the side, couldn't help but show a look of disgust. Sirius was truly a scoundrel.

As the only son of the Black House and a former member of the Order of the Phoenix, he clearly had a chance to overturn the verdict. However, mistakenly believing that Peter Pettigrew was dead, he offered no resistance, voluntarily entered Azkaban, and even kept saying that he was the one who killed Harry's parents.

In such situations, when the victim himself is unwilling to leave prison, Dumbledore is powerless to do anything.

Even though Dumbledore never told Harry that he had tried to read Sirius's memories, but the intense guilt and self-destructive emotions prevented Dumbledore from doing so.

That's why Sirius's case became an ironclad one.

If Sirius hadn't seen Peter Pettigrew, now Scabbers, in the newspaper and escaped from prison on his own initiative—otherwise, more than a decade after his case had long since been forgotten, he would have had a long wait to overturn the verdict.

The most likely scenario is that after Voldemort's resurrection, when the Death Eaters escape from prison, he will be given an Avada.

If they were lucky, they would be dragged to Voldemort's presence by unsuspecting Death Eaters and killed by Voldemort himself.