Hogwarts Emerald

The Headmaster's Office at Hogwarts is a large, beautiful circular room.

Even though the owner of the office has changed from Albus Dumbledore to Minerva McGonagall, the furnishings here have not changed at all. The room remained as it had been when Dumbledore was alive, as if he had never left.

The silver instruments were still whirring and whirring on the spindly table, puffing out small puffs of smoke, and the tattered and crumpled Sorting Hat was still in its usual place, on the shelf behind the table.

The walls are covered with portraits of old principals, both men and women, snoring gently in their respective frames.

Dexter Fusco...Dalys Derwent...Euphrasia Moore...Phineas Nigellus Black...and Albus Dumbledore .

In the golden frame, half-moon-shaped glasses were placed on Dumbledore's hooked nose. He was looking kindly at Harry Potter lying on the ground.

The floor of the office was covered with soft carpet, but Harry lying on it felt extremely cold and hard, and fear surrounded and entangled him like a tide.

Harry once learned about Voldemort's past here, and he thought he was learning the secret of victory here. Today, still here, Harry clearly understood his fate and finally understood that he would not survive.

As Voldemort's Horcrux, only destruction awaits Harry. The only thing he can do is to walk calmly towards the open arms of death.

He was about to die, at the hands of Voldemort. Only his own death could end this terrible thing. Harry thought, with a great fear in his heart, the fear of death.

Will dying hurt?

Random thoughts filled Harry's mind.

He slowly raised his trembling hand and placed it on his chest, feeling his heart beating violently in his chest. He felt more alive than ever before.

Harry knew that when he stood up and left this office, walked out of the school, and walked to Hogsmeade to face Voldemort, his violently beating heart would stop, forever.

With the sound of curses exploding in his ears, Harry knew that the Death Eaters were attacking the school again.

Slowly, very slowly, Harry sat up from the hard and cold carpet. He stiffly turned his head and looked out the window - at this time, the night sky should have been pitch black, but instead it was illuminated by continuous spells. The reflection is colorful, like a grand fireworks show.

This fireworks display was to celebrate Voldemort's death and also to see him off.

Harry stood up, his heart beating against his ribs like a crazy bird. He withdrew his gaze from the window and turned to look at Dumbledore in the portrait.

"Will it hurt?"

He had seen Dumbledore hit by the Killing Curse, witnessed the life disappear from Dumbledore's body, and then fell down the tower like a big broken doll.

"It doesn't hurt. Or it's too late to feel the pain."

The killing curse is cruel and will mercilessly deprive the person of the cursed life.

But in contrast, the killing curse is also a different kind of mercy. Life disappears in an instant without feeling the pain of death at all.

Harry showed no sign of resentment, neither resentment toward Dumbledore nor resentment over the unfairness of fate.

Harry turned around silently and walked out of the principal's office step by step, not seeing the complicated look in Dumbledore's eyes in the portrait behind him.

Love, pity, reluctance...

Dumbledore just looked at Harry's back quietly. He didn't know if he would ever see this brave and kind-hearted child again.

Walking slowly along the spiral staircase, Harry walked very slowly, each step feeling like he was stepping on soft cotton. Harry felt like a ghost, as if he had died the moment the truth was revealed.

Will there be someone waiting for me outside?

Harry's thoughts began to wander again, wondering who he would see when the stone statue jumped away.

Is it his godfather Sirius, or Lupin... Mr. Weasley, or Mrs. Weasley... Ron, Hermione, or Ginny...

No matter how slowly you walk, the stairs will eventually have an end.

Harry stopped on the third step and took down the donkey skin bag hanging around his neck. It was Hagrid's birthday gift to him. The leather bag that had been cast the Seamless Stretching Charm could hold a lot of things.

Harry opened the leather bag and fumbled inside with his feeble fingers for a while before taking out the Invisibility Cloak. Putting the Invisibility Cloak on himself, Harry walked down the last three steps.

The stone statue jumped away, and the corridor in front of it was empty.

He put on the invisibility cloak just to avoid the people waiting for him, but when Harry saw the empty corridor, he felt a sense of disappointment.

There was an eerie silence in the corridor on the eighth floor of the castle. Harry seemed to be the only one there.

Until he saw Ada standing in front of the window, her long blond hair pulled back into an exquisite bun, and her long neck made whiter by the dark robe.

Harry walked slower and lighter, feeling conflicted.

She hoped that Ada could leave the window and bump into herself who was leaving the same place, and she also hoped that Ada would just look out the window and not notice herself.

Suddenly, Ada left the window just as Harry had wished.

But Ada didn't walk down the stairs to the eighth floor, but walked towards Harry.

Harry stopped again, the invisibility cloak covering himself as perfectly and flawlessly as ever. Harry simply believed that Ada would not notice him under the cloak.

Getting closer, getting closer, as Ada walked towards Harry step by step, the distance between the two kept shrinking. Harry held his breath. He now didn't expect Ada to hit him.

As if she heard Harry's inner prayer, Ada stood about two steps away from him.

"I’m waiting for you."

Hearing this, Harry took off the invisibility cloak. He knew that Ada had seen through his ancestral invisibility cloak. Harry did not ask Ada how she did it. Dumbledore had done something similar before.

"Have you made a decision?"

Familiar people and familiar voices are clearer than wind chimes.

Before he knew he was a wizard, Harry knew the woman in front of him. It was she who showed him the wonders of this world.

But Harry didn't speak. He avoided Ada and walked quickly to the stairs leading downstairs.

"Wait, I have something to tell you."

"I won't run away, Dumbledore knows I won't run away!"

Harry turned around and roared out the words, his breathing heavy and his chest heaving violently.

From the principal's office to Hogsmeade, how many steps it takes and how much time it takes, no one is bored enough to count such things, but this journey is Harry's last journey, the only remaining part of his life. time.

"I know, Dumbledore knows," Ada walked towards Harry, "even Voldemort knows."

The three top wizards in the wizarding world all know that once Harry finds that he has the power to stop Voldemort, he will not let others die for him, even if the price of this power is himself.

Harry wanted to smile, but he didn't know why he was laughing or what he wanted to express.

Eventually, the smile turned into a twitching at the corner of the mouth, as if there was a facial cramp, uglier than crying.

"If you all overestimate me and misjudge me...if I choose to run away after knowing all this, what should you do?"

Ada said the most murderous words in the gentlest tone. She said: "If you choose to escape and succeed, then I can only kill Voldemort first, and then dig three feet into the ground to find you. Repeat the process again.”

Harry's heart felt cold. He thought he would hear Ada's comfort and hear her stop him from dying.

But Harry was wrong, he only heard gentle but cold words.

"... Dig three feet into the ground to find you, and repeat the process..." Harry repeated this sentence unconsciously, which was really an extremely troublesome result!

Suddenly, Harry felt a warm embrace.

I felt someone gently touching my back, and felt another heartbeat, a warm and powerful heartbeat.

"Harry, death is just another great adventure. I, we, will always be with you."

Suddenly, the warm embrace disappeared, and the heartbeat that gave him strength also disappeared. All Harry saw was the curved corners of his mouth, which were brighter than the sun.

…

"Where do you live?"

"No. 4 Privet Drive, not far from here."