the Gambler

Harry knew that from the moment he entered the Great Hall, someone at the Slytherin table had been staring at him.Harry brushed off that uncomfortable feeling, last night's intentionally interrupted duel accident did not make Tom mad, the other party seemed to be pleasantly surprised to see him, but those emotions were quickly informed by Harry that Professor McGonagall decided to "accidentally" Turned to anger when going to the Slytherin lounge with Snape.Harry watched Tom open the passage hidden in the corner, and the relieved Slytherins rushed back to the cellar, and many of them even peeked at him with grateful eyes.After making sure everyone was out of sight, Harry turned and left, Tom grabbed his arm.

"Let go." Harry pushed Tom's hand away, and the latter just kept pushing harder.

"I need to talk to you."

"Sorry I don't need to." Harry pushed Tom out of his way.

"You should monitor me. This is what Dumbledore asked for." Tom said firmly, the emotions in his eyes suddenly became very complicated, "He is your king, and minions should obey orders."

Harry raised the corners of his mouth and stood opposite Tom with his chest folded. His eyes were shining. Tom had a hunch that what the boy said next was definitely not what he wanted to hear.He watched Harry open his mouth, and the relaxed tone made him uncomfortable, very unpleasant.

"I told you that minion is a flexible character," Harry pointed to his chest, "I decided to disobey the order now, and Dumbledore can't control me, can he?"

"Then I'll go find the Dark Lord." Tom stopped the boy again, threatening with a serious expression.

Harry shrugged nonchalantly.

"As the savior of the light side, what will they think if they know that you have neglected your duties and allowed the power of the dark side to expand?" Tom said maliciously.

"It just happened to fulfill their wish, didn't it? Need I remind you that they regard me as a liar for public favor?" Harry sneered, "Next you can have a good talk with Professor McGonagall, maybe she will let you go if she is persuaded by you What about the castle? Oh, sorry, I forgot to leave the castle and possibly go to Azkaban, the Ministry of Magic must be very happy."

"They're not capable of trapping me."

"Dementors." Harry reminded, and Tom's expression seemed to turn even worse. "Since the Ministry of Magic can manipulate them to attack me, it's even less of a problem to deal with you. Maybe you haven't been in front of the master yet. Can't wait to kiss you already, it's such a sweet sight, isn't it?"

"I'll take you with me." Tom grabbed Harry's shoulders. "You'll leave the castle."

"Protect you from dementors? Hell, I'd agree," Harry tilted his head and smiled. "The Imperius Curse won't make me use my Patronus."

"I can find a way around them."

"Then hurry up and get out."

Tom shortened the gap between the two, with a gloomy expression: "You and I switch sides together, and the Dark Lord will understand. If the symbol of the light side falls into darkness, the impact on the situation will be immeasurable."

"You mean you want to lie down for another month?" Harry pulled out his wand, and green sparks burst out from the tip of the wand. Harry felt his skin tingle slightly.

Tom smiled.

"Very challenging proposal, you made me give up the idea of ​​leaving." Tom withdrew his wand and stuffed it casually into the pocket of his coat. He stepped back a few steps to release the restraint on Harry. The day by my side."

"Some unrealistic fantasies should have been given up sooner, Tom. I didn't know you were an idealist."

Immediately afterwards, that bastard just left!Harry should have been the one to turn around first!Hey!

"Harry, back to Earth, Harry!" Hermione waved her hand in front of the pensive boy, and Harry instinctively grabbed the witch's hand, showing a puzzled expression.Hermione smiled and put a piece of bacon chicken pizza on Harry's plate, which he wolfed down after thanking him.

"So, what do you think about a Galleon?" Hermione asked with her head tilted, and Ron nodded with a pout, his cheeks swollen from being stuffed with chicken legs.

Harry looked around, making sure no one noticed him, and lowered his voice to Hermione's ear: "Marvolo—"

As soon as the conversation started, the pumpkin juice in Harry's goblet suddenly boiled, and the splashed liquid startled the people around him.He stared up at the smug Tom, and Hermione and Ron also caught Harry's gaze, and their faces fell instantly.Harry got up and cast 'clean up' with his wand, grabbed his schoolbag and hurried out of the auditorium. He could hear everyone whispering. Many people thought it was Harry's magical riot, but the boy knew it was Tom's. anger.To hell with Voldemort, he wasn't in the mood to take care of that moody bastard!

Hitting someone hard at the corner, Harry subconsciously apologized and wanted to go around him, but was grabbed by the arm instead.He looked up puzzled, and Snape's stiff face showed obvious disgust: "Mr. Potter, twenty points for bumping into the professor in the corridor, come to my office at seven o'clock tonight, Occlumency, your recklessness has already Wasted my entire month. Hope you can take precious time from that crowded schedule to give to the hateful Potions master."

Nodding darkly, Harry tried to break free again, only to get the man's grip tighter.Snape lowered his voice: "I won't pay attention to you all the time because of Dumbledore's request. You'd better take care of yourself. At least in my eyes, you are worthless."

Harry knew that Snape's venomous tongue hinted that he should be careful of Tom, even though he didn't like Snape, he managed to say thank you.Harry's performance made the man's face unbearably ugly.Snape flung Harry's arm away, raised his chin, and disappeared around the corner with that 'the whole world owes me money' expression.

Apparently Hermione also took the opportunity to catch up with Harry, and they hurried to the astronomy classroom on the eleventh floor, which was the highest place in the castle except the Gryffindor bedroom.Harry was curious about this, it was not late at night, and he wondered how astronomy would be taught.Hermione pushed open the closed door, and the scene inside the classroom left Harry stunned.

The space of the classroom has been expanded several times, the smooth floor has turned into soft grass, surrounded by lush trees, and there is even a miniature version of the black lake in the middle, with many large stones for resting on it.The chunky wizard sat on the wooden stool at the front. There was a strange celestial globe on his right hand. There were many small beads moving rapidly in the ring around the huge sphere, projecting a beautiful starry sky from time to time.Harry looked up. The ceiling here was also enchanted, and it didn't show the scene outside the castle. He was sure that the constellation Sirius was not in the southeast.

The wizard clapped his hands and signaled everyone to find a seat. His class was very relaxed and comfortable. All the students were lying on the grass watching the ever-changing starry sky. Harry was never the type to like astrology. Even so, he was still intoxicated in astronomy class. It was all so wonderful that he thought he could just watch it all day.Harry turned his head to watch Hermione draw out the approximate shape of the constellation on the parchment with her brow furrowed.Well, this is Hermione after all.

An hour and a half passed quickly, and the students swarmed out. Out of the corner of his eye, Harry saw a smear of red pushing towards him in the crowd. He and Hermione stood by the door and waited patiently for the students to leave before approaching Jin. Ni.The girl's face was very ugly, and Harry was a little worried. He still remembered Mr. Weasley being attacked by Nagini. Could it be worse than that?

"What happened between you and Marvolo?" Ginny's first words caught Harry off guard. The witch's long fiery red hair was scattered on her shoulders, and her expression looked a little panicked, haha Lee guessed it must have brought back unpleasant memories.Seeing that Harry was silent, Ginny grabbed the boy's arm and examined him carefully.

"Are you all right?" Ginny continued.

"Trust the abilities of St. Mungo's Physician." Harry said briskly, his attitude did not ease Ginny's tension, the girl still looked at Harry suspiciously, and the latter could only swear that he was really fine.

Ginny let out a long breath. After she relaxed briefly, she became tense again. The girl glanced in Hermione's direction. The latter said goodbye to her friend wisely and went to the classroom for the next class.Harry didn't quite understand the current situation. Logically speaking, there was nothing that could be said to him that could not be said to Hermione.Ginny's body became more and more stiff. She looked around vigilantly, put a silencing spell on the two of them, and then said, "What happened between you and Marvolo? I'm not talking about your fight. It was after you were discharged from the hospital. You two are no longer together."

"What do you mean by that, I don't quite understand?"

"What happened between you and Marvolo has seriously affected the other houses, Harry." Noticing the boy's confusion, Ginny sighed, "Remember I have friends in the other two houses?" Harry nodded, Ginny went on to explain, "Since you broke up with Tom, well, separated, he made no secret of his irritability, and the three girls I made friends with were sent to the hospital wing yesterday, and they had inexplicable symptoms. scars, I asked them about—"

"Tom?" Harry pursed his lips.

"No, they don't know, but I think so. If you notice, apart from Slytherin, the ones who get attacked the most are those who have a better relationship with our group," Ginny bit her lower lip carefully Thinking about how to organize the next words, she struggled for a while and looked up to meet Harry's eyes, "I think he is jealous, although it sounds childish, but he is trying to attract your attention."

"It was he who proposed to draw a line with me, Ginny, and your guess is too absurd." Harry leaned on the porch with his arms crossed, tilted his head, and caught a glimpse of several silver and green ties out of the corner of his eye. , noticing Harry's gaze, the Slytherins quickly disappeared around the corner.Harry turned his attention back to Ginny, who looked offended by Harry's statement, and the boy sighed, "What happened between us is irreconcilable, you know how cruel Tom can be—"

Ginny's legs went limp remembering what had happened in the Chamber of Secrets, and Harry put his arms around the witch's shoulders, letting her lean against him.After Ginny's sobbing stopped, Harry continued: "I know that many people have described the duel vividly. They think that we are equal in strength so that we can both lose. Actually, no, Ginny, Tom and I are far behind."

The witch flinched.

"He's sent me to hell in a way," Harry sighed. "It was a last-ditch effort. If Professor McGonagall hadn't found out in time—"

Ginny rested her head on Harry's chest, and her sobs grew louder: "What should we do, Harry, Headmaster Dumbledore isn't at Hogwarts at all, Tom will kill us."

Harry patted Ginny on the back and said firmly, "No, I'll try to keep him under control until the headmaster comes back."

"But he's so damn powerful, you admit it yourself!" Ginny raised her crying eyes and looked at Harry. The boy has always been her knight and hero, and this relationship has undergone a qualitative change after the second grade. , she can no longer look at other wizards, she knows that Harry has only brother and sister feelings for her, but this can't stop her from loving Harry.Ginny hopes that she can be strong enough to support Harry, which is also her original intention of joining DA.She wanted to protect Harry, not just be protected.

"I know, but I'm the only one who can protect you now," said Harry calmly.

"He's dangerous." Ginny squinted at the boy. Harry seemed to be avoiding the initial question. She raised her head and met the boy's eyes firmly. "Stop avoiding the point, Harry, why did he suddenly attack you?" Such heavy hands?"

Harry froze, turning his head to avoid the witch's sharp gaze.

"Tell me, Harry." Ginny approached the boy persistently. Something was wrong, and it was very wrong. Her stomach was heavy. Harry's avoidance could only show that the other party wanted to hide himself. She suspected that Harry was right. Neither Hermione nor Ron mentioned it.Ginny put her hand on Harry's tense muscles. "Tell me, Harry. I'll be the best listener."

Harry closed his eyes and was silent for a moment: "He's about to discover who he really is, and I can't be around him. I don't know what to do, Ginny."