"Mr. Aibo, please wait." Harry hesitantly spoke up in a small voice just as Su Er was about to step out of the drawing room.
Had Su Er's hearing not been keen enough, Harry's voice would surely have been lost in the roar of the drawing room's fireplace.
Incidentally, Kreacher had found a new lease on life. After resolving the burden that had weighed on his heart for more than a decade, the elf had come alive again, swiftly resuming his duties as a House-elf and cleaning 12 Grimmauld Place until it was spotless.
He had also lit the drawing room's fireplace, and he and Mrs. Weasley had prepared the lavish dishes for dinner together.
Su Er stopped and turned around.
"Is something the matter, Potter?"
Harry instinctively shook his head, then suddenly paused and nodded instead. He gritted his teeth and met Su Er's eyes.
"Do you know anything about Dark Magic?"
Su Er paused, neither nodding nor shaking his head. Instead, he looked at Harry with a gentle, open gaze. "Why don't you tell me what trouble you've run into, Potter? Perhaps I can help."
Harry began to hesitate again, but perhaps Su Er's gaze gave him strength, or perhaps, because this was Dumbledore's headquarters, his trust in Dumbledore won out. In the end, he took a deep breath and slowly said,
"I don't know whether I was imagining it, Mr. Aibo. You were there the day Mr. Weasley was attacked."
Su Er nodded, already having a rough idea of what Harry was about to say.
"I had a dream where I was that snake, attacking Mr. Weasley. You know all that, but the instant I touched that Portkey to come here, I felt like I'd become that snake again, and I wanted to attack Dumbledore..."
So it