Harry Potter and the Way of Reason

They twirled green flames, twirled the Floo network, and Minerva's heart hadn't been pounding with fear in ten years and three months; Into Gringotts Halls (safest Floo network reception point in Diagon Alley, hardest connection to jam, fastest way out of Hogwarts other than Phoenix).A goblin attendant turned to them, wide-eyed, then began to stoop slightly, bowing politely—

Goal, determination, calmness! [1]

Then the two of them appeared in the alley behind Marie Court, wands already in hand, upright; they spun back to back, looking around, Severus's lips already uttering the Anti-Disillusionment Charm.

The alley is empty.

When she turned to look at Severus, he had smacked his wand on his head with the sound of an egg cracking, and at the same time, his lips chanted invisibility; The color of the surrounding environment has become a blurred shape in the background. The blurred shape is moving, and the color of the body is constantly changing with the background, so it seems that there is nothing here.She lowered her wand and stepped forward, ready to receive her Disillusionment Charm—

Behind her came an unmistakable burst of fire.

She turned and saw Albus, who had drawn his long wand and held it up with his right hand.His eyes under half-circle spectacles look grim, and Fawkes spreads his flame-colored wings from his shoulders, ready to fly and fight.

"Albus!" she said, "I thought—" She had just seen him set off for Azkaban, and she didn't think even the Phoenix could come back from there easily.

Then she realized.

"She's gone," said Albus. "Has your Patronus found him?"

Her heart beat even harder, and fear froze in her blood. "He said he was here, in the bathroom—"

"I hope he's telling the truth," said Albus, and the wand struck her head with a sensation like water running through her body.After a while, the four of them (even Fawkes was invisible, though sometimes a flash of flame could be seen in the air where he was) rushed in front of the restaurant.They paused at the door, Abu was thinking about something, and after a while, a customer who could be seen from the window stood up with a dazed expression, and then opened the door, as if to glance at the friends outside; they The three walked through, hurried past the unsuspecting patrons (Minerva knew, Severus was noting their faces, and Dumbledore could see anyone who had cast the Disillusionment Charm) towards the bathroom sign— —

The old wooden door with the sign of the toilet was slammed open, and four invisible rescuers broke in.

The cabin was small, but clean, the room was empty, there was fresh water dripping from the sink, but there was no sign of Harry, just a piece of paper on the closed toilet lid.

She couldn't breathe.

The paper rose into the air, and it was Albus who picked it up, and after a while, handed it to her.

M: What did the hat tell me to tell you?

——H

"Ah," Minerva exclaimed in surprise, it took her a while to realize what she was asking, it wasn't the kind of thing that would be forgotten, but she wasn't in the mood to think about it right now, really—" I'm a rash brat, and I should just leave it alone."

"Huh?" came Albus's voice in the air, as if even he had been taken aback.

Then there was the head of Harry Potter, hanging in mid-air next to the toilet, cold and watchful, the over-adult Harry she sometimes saw; his eyes looking back and forth and up and down.

"What happened—" the boy began.

Albus reappears, along with her and Fawkes.Immediately he stepped forward, reached out with his left hand, and tore a hair from Harry's head (the boy let out a cry of pain), and Minerva took it; a moment later, Albus returned most of it. The boy in the invisible state embraced him, and the golden-red flame flashed past.

That way Harry Potter is safe.

Minerva took a few steps forward, leaning against the same wall where Albus and Harry had been, trying to calm herself down.

She... lost some of her habits, ten years after the Order of the Phoenix disbanded.

Beside her, Severus flickered into existence.His right hand had already pulled a flask out of his robes, and his left had reached out to her demandingly.She handed him Harry's hair, and a moment later it was thrown into the unfinished bottle of Polyjuice Potion, the liquid starting to hiss and bubble so it could do its job, Let Severus play the role of good bait.

"This is unexpected," the potions master said slowly, "I'm curious, if our headmaster has reached the point where time is distorted, why didn't he get Mr. Potter back earlier? There shouldn't be anything could stop him... sure, your Patronus should have found Mr Potter safe..."

She didn't think about it, because another discovery occupied her mind.It's not as horrific as Bellatrix Black's escape from Azkaban, but still—

"Harry has an invisibility cloak?" she said.

The Potions Master didn't answer; he was shrinking.

－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－

Tick-tick, tick-tock, jingle--

These voices still irritated her, although after a while they faded out of her focus; when she became headmaster, she would mute them all.She wondered which headmaster at Hogwarts was so inconsiderate of others' feelings that he first created a noise-making apparatus and passed it on to their heirs?

She's sitting in the Headmaster's office with a rapidly morphing desk, doing the hundreds of paperwork necessary to keep Hogwarts going; thing.Albus had commented - ironically enough - that Hogwarts seemed to run more smoothly whenever there was a crisis in the outside world that she refused to think about...

…Ten years ago, when Albus said those words for the last time.

The bell rang, and a visitor approached.

Minerva then looked at the parchment she was holding.

The door slammed open, and it was Severus Snape, who stepped forward in three steps - without a single pause - and asked, "Any news from Mad-Eye?"

Albus had risen from her chair, and at the same time she put away the parchment and dispersed the transformed table. "The Patronus of Moody reported to me in Azkaban," said Albus, "that his eyes saw nothing; and if the Eye of Vance[2] cannot see anything, Then this thing doesn't exist. What about you?"

"No one tried to take my blood by force," Severus said.He flashed a twisted smile. "Except for the defense professor."

"What?" Minerva said.

"He spotted me before I opened my mouth, and immediately launched a very reasonable attack, demanding to know the whereabouts of Mr. Potter." Another smile, "For some reason, he shouted that I was Severus Snape Doesn't seem to reassure him. I'm sure he'll come and kill me for a pennies, and five knuts for you. I'll have to stun our dear Professor Quirrell, which won't be easy but he was weak against the spell. Naturally 'Harry Potter' panicked, and he ran out to tell the shopkeeper, and the Defense Professor was taken to St. Mungo's—"

"St. Mungo?" "—they say he's probably been overworked for weeks, and that's why he's collapsed from exhaustion. Your precious Defense professor is fine, Minerva, and the Stunning Spell may be all right Help him, force him to rest for a few days. Then I turned down an invitation to fly back to Hogwarts on their Floo network, and wandered back to Diagon Alley; but today nobody seems to want Mr. Potter's blood. "

"I'm sure our Defense Professor will be in the best possible care," said Albus. "We have to focus on more important things, Minerva."

She had a hard time bringing her attention back, but she sat down, and Severus conjured a chair for himself, and the three of them moved closer to each other, and the meeting began.

Sitting next to those two, she felt like a fake on Polyjuice Potion.She is neither good at war nor in intrigue.She struggled to stay one step ahead of the Weasley twins, and sometimes she failed.The reason she is sitting here, after all, is simply because she heard the prophecy...

"What we are dealing with," the headmaster began, "is a very worrying mystery. I only want two wizards who can plan this escape."

Minerva gasped. "Maybe it's not the mysterious person?"

"I'm afraid so," said the Headmaster.

She glanced sideways to see that Severus was just as confused as she was.I'm afraid the Dark Lord didn't make a comeback?She could give up almost everything to keep this from happening.

"So," said Albus heavily, "our first suspect is Voldemort, who has risen again and wants to bring himself back from the dead. I've researched books I wish I hadn't read, looking for all the I've only found three possible paths back. His strongest resurrection path is the Philosopher's Stone, Flamel assured me that even Voldemort couldn't make one himself; by resurrecting this way, he will be stronger than ever , more terrifying. I hadn't thought Voldemort could resist the lure of stones, let alone such an obvious trap that challenged his IQ. But his second avenue was almost as powerful: the flesh of servants, donated voluntarily; the blood of enemies , forced to donate; the bones of the ancestors, no intention of donating. Voldemort is a perfectionist—” Albus glanced at Severus, who nodded in agreement, “—so he will definitely go after the strongest combination : the flesh of Bellatrix Black, the blood of Harry Potter, and the bones of his father. Voldemort's last resort is to seduce a victim and drain their life for a long time; Formerly weak. His motive for smuggling Bellatrix was clear. And if he kept her as a backup and only used her if he couldn't get the stone, then that would explain why Ha Leigh was not kidnapped."

Minerva glanced again at Severus, who was listening attentively but not surprised.

"What is not clear," the headmaster went on, "is how Voldemort planned this escape. There was a death doll left in Bellatrix's cell, and her escape was planned. No one should have found out; even if that part went wrong, the dementors couldn't find her after the first warning. Azkaban has been so impenetrable for so many centuries, I can't imagine how Voldemort achieved it of this matter."

"It's pointless," said Severus deadpan. "For the Dark Lord to do things we can't imagine, he just needs to have a bigger imagination than we do."

Albus nodded gravely. "Unfortunately, now there's another wizard laughing at the impossibility. Not too long ago, a wizard invented a powerful new spell that might have blinded the dementors and allowed Bellatrix Black to escape. There are other reasons pointing to him as well."

Minerva's heart skipped a beat, and she didn't know how or why she knew, but a horrible apprehension made her begin to understand that the man was—

"Who is that then?" Severus said, sounding confused.

Albus leaned back, and said the fatal words, fulfilling her fears: "Harry James Potter-Evans-Verys."

"Potter?" the Potions Master asked back, the shock in his usual silky voice she had never heard before. "Headmaster, are you kidding again? He's only in his first year at Hogwarts! One tantrum and a few childish pranks with an invisibility cloak won't make him—"

"This is no joke," said Minerva, her voice inaudible. "Harry has made original discoveries in Transfiguration, Severus. Although I didn't know he was working on Charms as well."

"Harry is no ordinary first year," said the headmaster solemnly. "He has been marked as an equal by the Dark Lord, and he has powers that the Dark Lord does not know."

Severus looked at her, and it would take someone familiar enough with him to recognize the pleading in his eyes. "Do I have to take this seriously?"

Minerva just nodded.

"Anyone else know of this... powerful new spell?" Severus pressed.

The Headmaster gave her an apologetic look—somehow, she knew, she knew it before he spoke, and she wanted to hiss.

—and said, "Quirinus Quirrell."

"Why," she said, her voice melting half the instruments in the office, "Mr. Potter is going to tell our Defense Professor about a clever new spell he can use to escape from—"

The principal's tired, wrinkled hands covered his equally wrinkled brow. "Quirinus just happened to be there, Minerva. Even I didn't see any danger at the time." The Headmaster hesitated. "Harry said his spell was too dangerous to explain to us both." Listen; and when I questioned him again today, he insisted that he didn't explain it to Quirinus, and didn't remove the Occlumency barrier in the Defense Professor's presence—"

"Mr. Potter is an Occlumencyist? You gave him an invisibility cloak, he's immune to Veritaserum, and he's a friend of the Weasley twins? Albus, do you know what you put in the school? ’ Her voice was almost screaming now. "By the time he's in seventh year, nothing will be left of Hogwarts but a big smoking hole in the ground!"

Albus leaned back in his overstuffed chair, and smiled, "Don't forget the Time-Turner."

She did scream, but quietly.

Severus drawled, "Should I teach him to make Polyjuice Potion, Headmaster? The reason I'm asking is just for completeness, in case you're not satisfied enough with the disaster level of your little calamity. "

"Probably next year," said Albus. "The question before us, my dear friends, is whether Harry Potter smuggled Bellatrix Black out of Azkaban." Yes. It's not just youthful high spirits, even by my indulgent standards."

"Wait a minute, Headmaster," Severus smiled at the Headmaster, the coolest smile she'd ever seen him show the Headmaster, "but I'm going to make my point - the answer is no. This is the work of the Dark Lord, pure and straightforward."

"Then why," said Albus, now without an ounce of humor in his voice, "when I planned to bring Harry back to Diagon Alley the moment he arrived at Diagon Alley, I found that this move would lead to a paradox. ?”

Minerva sank herself deeper into the chair, put her left elbow on the hard, unpadded armrest, rested her forehead on her hand, and closed her eyes in despair.

There is an adage in their inner circle that only one in thirty Aurors is capable of investigating cases involving Time-Turners; crazy.

"So you suspect," said Severus' voice, "Potter went from Diagon Alley to Azkaban, then traveled through time, and came back to Diagon Alley, let us pick up—"

"Exactly," said Albus's voice, "but it's also possible that Voldemort or his minions were watching to make sure Harry reached Diagon Alley before they started their plans in Azkaban. Someone will use a time-turner to send back news of a successful escape before the kidnapping begins. Admittedly, it was the skepticism of that possibility that made me send you and Minerva to carry out your own mission before going to Azkaban. The mission. I thought their escape plan would fail, but if taking Harry Potter meant witnessing the fact that they ultimately failed, there was no way I would go to Azkaban myself after interacting with him, Because the future of Azkaban can't touch the past. I didn't hear from you or Minerva when I was in Azkaban. I told Flitwick to try to contact you two, but I didn't hear from him either report, therefore, I know that your interaction with Harry Potter is an interaction with the future of Azkaban, which means that someone is passing information through time-"

Albus' voice fell silent.

"But Headmaster," said Severus, "you come from the future of Azkaban, and interact with us..."

The potions master's voice dropped.

"But Severus, if I did get word from you and Minerva that Harry was safe, I wouldn't have traveled through time in the first place—"

"Principal, I think we must draw a picture."

"I agree, Severus."

There was the sound of parchment being spread on the table, then the scraping of quills, then more arguments.

Minerva sat on a chair, put her hand on her forehead, and closed her eyes tightly.

She'd heard a story once: there was a criminal with a Time-Turner granted by the Office of Mysteries--the Department of Mysteries judged horribly whether he needed a Time-Turner--and there was an Auror Sent to hunt down this unidentified time criminal who also has a time-turner; the final story ends with them both being sent to St. Mungo's for utterly incurable insanity. [3]

Minerva sat there with her eyes closed, trying not to listen, not to think, not to go crazy.

After a while, when the argument seemed to have eased, she said aloud, "Mr. Potter's Time-Turner is restricted and can only be used from nine o'clock to midnight. Has the shell been tampered with, Albus?"

"My keenest spells don't make it out," said Albus, "but the casing is new; and cracking the Silent Man's protection without leaving a trace of cracking...is not impossible."

She opened her eyes to see Severus and the Headmaster staring intently at the parchment, its squiggly squiggly lines that would undoubtedly drive her mad if she were to understand.

"Have you come to any conclusions?" said Minerva, "and please don't tell me how you came to it."

Severus and the Headmaster looked at each other, then turned to her.

"Our conclusion," said the Headmaster heavily, "is that Harry may or may not have been involved; that Voldemort may or may not have used a Time-Turner; and that whatever happened in Azkaban, In my own past, Moody has been guarding Little Hangleton's grave, and no one visits there."

"Simply put," Severus drew out, "we don't know anything, dear Minerva; although it seems at least possible that another Time-Turner was involved in some way. My personal Suspect that Potter was bribed, tricked, or threatened to travel back in time to deliver messages, perhaps even related to this escape. I'm not going to make obvious proposals, guess who can convince him. But I suggest At exactly nine o'clock this evening, test whether Potter can travel through the full six hours of time, back to three o'clock, so we can see if he has used the Time-Turner."

"In either case, it seems sensible to do so," said Dumbledore. "Get this done, Minerva, and tell Harry, and then come to my office at his convenience. "

"But you still suspect that Harry was directly involved in the escape itself?" Minerva said.

"It's possible, but not likely," said Severus, and at the same time Albus said, "Yes."

Minerva pinched the bridge of her nose, took a deep breath, and then exhaled. "Albus, Severus, how could Mr. Potter have a reason to do such a thing!"

"I can't think of it either," said Albus, "but of all the ways I know of, only Harry's magic is possible—"

"Wait," Severus said.All expression faded from his face. "I have an idea that I must test—"

The Potions Master grabbed a pinch of Floo and strode to the room's fireplace—which was lit with a hasty flick of his wand by Albus—followed by a green flare, and "Head of Slytherin's office." ’, and Severus disappeared.

She and Albus looked at each other, and they both shrugged; then Albus went back to study the parchment.

After only a few minutes, Severus spun out of the Floo network and dusted himself off.

"Well," said the Potions Master, putting on that deadpan face again, "I'm afraid Mr. Potter has a motive."

"Talk!" said Albus.

"I found Lyza Lestrange studying in the Slytherin common room," Severus said. "He didn't hesitate to meet my eyes. Mr. Lestrange didn't seem too fond of it." To think of his parents in Azkaban, in the cold and the dark, sucked life by the dementors, suffering every second of the day, and he told those words to Mr. Potter, and begged him Get them out. Because, you know, Lestrange heard that the Boy Who Lived could do anything."

She and Albus exchanged glances.

"Severus," Minerva said, "even Harry... sure... should have more common sense than that..."

Her voice dropped.

"Mr. Potter thinks he's God," Severus said deadpan, "and Lysas Lestrange knelt before him and begged him, crying and praying to him with all his heart."

Minerva stared at Severus, sick to her stomach.She'd studied Muggle religion - the most common reason for needing to membrane parents of Muggle-born wizards - so she knew enough to understand what Severus had just said.

"At any rate," said the Potions Master, "I read Mr. Lestrange's mind to see if he knew anything about his mother's escape. He hadn't heard anything. But if he knew, he It immediately follows that the person responsible for this is Harry Potter."

"I see..." Albus said slowly, "Thanks, Severus. This is good news."

"Good news?" Minerva blurted out.

Albus looked at her, his face now as expressionless as Severus's; then she remembered, in amazement, that Albus's own—"It's all I can imagine, that Bella Trix brought out the best reason for Azkaban," said Albus softly, "and if it wasn't Harry, let us recall, it must have been Voldemort himself who made the first move. But let's Don't jump to conclusions, there's a lot we don't know yet, but soon we will."

Albus got up from behind the table, strode over to the still burning fireplace, grabbed another pinch of floo powder, and stuck his head into the fire.

"Department of Magical Law Enforcement," he said. "The Office of the Chief."

After a while, Mrs. Burns' clear sharp voice came, "What's the matter, Albus? I'm a little busy."

"Amelia," said Albus, "I implore you to share any discoveries about this incident."

There was a pause. "Oh," came Mrs. Burns' grim voice from the blazing flames, "so this is two-way sharing, Albus?"

"Perhaps so," said the old wizard calmly.

"If any Auror dies because of your silence, I'll hold you accountable, meddling old man."

"I understand, Amelia," said Albus, "but I don't want to trigger unnecessary vigilance and suspicion—"

"Bellatrix Black has escaped from Azkaban! In this fact, do you think there is any vigilance and suspicion that I think is unnecessary?"

"I want to ask you to remember these words," said the old wizard in the green flame, "and if I feel that my worries are unwarranted, I will tell you. Now, Amelia, I beg you, if you know anything about this Anything that matters, please share with me."

There was another pause, and then Mrs. Burns' voice said, "I have information from the future four hours from now, Albus. Do you still want to hear it?"

Albus paused—

(Minerva knew that he was weighing the possibility that he would want to go back two hours immediately from the present; for no chain of time-turners could do that, since the transmission of information from the future to the past could not exceed six hours.)

—and finally said, "Yes, please tell me."

"We were lucky," said Mrs. Burns' voice, "one of the wizards who witnessed the escape was Muggle-born, and she told us that the spell we call flying flames might not be a spell at all, but Muggle-born." melon technology."

It was like being punched in the stomach, that's what Minerva felt, and the nausea in her belly intensified.Anyone who has seen the battle of the Chaos Legion knows whose handwriting it is...

Mrs. Burns continued, "We brought Arthur Weasley from the Misuse of Muggle Artifacts Division - he knows more about Muggle technology than any wizard in existence - and gave him the Auror description, he figured it out. This Muggle technology is called an Oscillator[4], so named because you're crazy to ride in something like that[5]. Six years ago, they had One of the oscillators exploded, killing hundreds of Muggles and nearly setting the moon on fire.[6] Weasley said the oscillators used a special scientific technology called reaction force, so we planned to Azkaban established a curse that prevented this technology from working."

"Thank you, Emilia," said Albus heavily. "Is that all?"

"I'll see if we have any more discoveries from six hours later," said Mrs. Burns' voice. "If they have, they haven't told me yet, but I'll let them tell you. Have you anything to tell?" My business, Albus? Which of the two possibilities is more likely?"

"Not yet, Amelia," said Albus, "but I'll get back to you as soon as possible."

Then he straightened up from the flames, which faded to plain yellow flames.Every minute the old wizard has lived through all these years, every extra second since he was born with the Time-Turner, plus centuries of extra stress, it's all written in his wrinkled face.

"Severus?" said the old wizard, "what is it actually?"

"It's the rocket," said the half-blood potions master, who had grown up in the Muggle town of Spider's End. "One of the most amazing Muggle technologies."

"How likely is it that Harry knows about this technology?" Minerva said.

Severus drew out, "Oh, a boy like Mr. Potter knows all about rockets; that's for sure, dear Minerva. You have to remember that in the Muggle world, things are It's different." Severus frowned, "but rockets are dangerous and very expensive..."

"Harry has stashed an unknown amount of money from his Gringotts vault, possibly thousands of Galleons," the Headmaster said, before returning to their shared stare, "It wasn't in my plans, but I made the mistake of having the Defense Professor supervising Harry to get the five Galleons to buy for Christmas..." The Headmaster shrugged. "Yes, I agree, it was pure stupidity in hindsight. Let's move on .”

Minerva silently butted her head against the headrest of the chair a few times.

"Nevertheless, Headmaster," said Severus, "just because Death Eaters didn't use Muggle technology in the First War doesn't mean he didn't understand. In the Muggle War against Grindelwald, Rockets were dropped as weapons in England[7]. If, as you say, he spent all those summers in Muggle orphanages, Headmaster...then he'd heard of rockets too. And if he Hearing Mr. Potter used Muggle technology in mock battles, he'd definitely learn from his enemies' strengths and try to double up on himself. That's the way he thought; he'd try to grab whatever power he saw. "

The old wizard stood still, motionless, even his beard frozen in place like a wire; and then a thought occurred to Minerva, the most terrible thought she had ever had: Albus Dumbledore was petrified.

"Severus," said Albus Dumbledore in an almost hoarse voice, "do you realize what you just said? If Harry Potter and Voldemort use Muggle weapons to fight this war , there will only be a sea of ​​flames left in this world!"

"What?" said Minerva, of course she'd heard of firearms, but to a seasoned witch, firearms weren't that dangerous—

Severus spoke as if she wasn't in the room: "Then perhaps, Headmaster, he was deliberately delivering a warning to Harry Potter; any attack with a Muggle weapon will be met with an eye for an eye. Order Mr. Potter Stop using Muggle technology in combat; it will tell him the message has been received...don't inspire him any more." Severus frowned, "Though, come to think of it, Mr. Malfoy - of course, still With Miss Granger - well, on second thought, it seems more sensible to ban technology altogether -"

The old wizard pressed his hands to his forehead, and a trembling voice came out of his lips, "I'm starting to hope that Harry is behind this escape... Oh, Merlin, I've done everything, I've done everything What happened, what will the world be like?"

Severus shrugged. "From what I've heard, Headmaster, Muggle weapons are only a little worse than...the more esoteric aspects of witchcraft—"

"Worse?" Minerva gasped, then forced herself to shut up.

"Worse than any catastrophe that has occurred in these years when the wizarding world has been waning," said Albus, "worse than the one that wiped Atlantis out of time."

Minerva stared at him, and she felt the sweat roll down her spine.

Severus went on, still to Albus: "If he is so reckless with such dangerous power in his hands, then all the Death Eaters who rescued Bellatrix will betray him, and all his His supporters will turn against him, and all the power in the world will gather to destroy him. How will it be different from before?"

The old wizard's face regained some movement, a trace of blood. "Maybe not..."

"And anyway," Severus showed a condescending smile, "Muggle weapons are not so easy to get, whether you have a thousand Galleons or a million Galleons."

Didn't Harry transform the device himself during battles?Minerva thought, but before she could ask—

A green flame burst out from the fireplace, and in the flames appeared the face of Piers Thicknesse, Ms. Burns' assistant. "Head Wizard?" Thicknesse said, "I have something to report from—" Thicknesse glanced at Minerva and Severus, "six minutes ago."

"You mean six hours later," said Albus, "they both should listen; report."

"We know how it's done," Thickness said. "There's a potion bottle hidden in the corner of Bellatrix's cell; the remaining fluid suggests it's an Animagus potion."

There was a long pause.

"I understand..." Ah Bu