Harry Potter and the Great Old Ones

Chapter 399 Pretending
At 5:30 a.m. on August 7th, at number 12 Grimmauld Place, inside the Black family's old mansion, Harry, suppressing the urge to smash the alarm clock to pieces, slowly got out of bed and put on his glasses.

I took a deep breath and turned off the alarm.

Mrs. Weasley had already placed the freshly washed and ironed jeans and T-shirt at the foot of his bed.

Harry fumbled to put them on, and saw the blank drawing on the wall chuckling, as if mocking him—

Harry punched the drawing on the wall, but apart from feeling a slight sting in his fist, he felt nothing.

Harry arrived here more than a week ago, at Number Twelve Grimmauld Place, formerly the ancestral home of the Black family, which Sirius Black has now donated to the Order of the Phoenix as its headquarters.

Harry was only brought here a month ago—

Yes, "only".

As soon as summer vacation started, it seemed like everyone had forgotten about him, leaving him on Privet Road, by the side of his stupid and wicked cousin, Dali.

Even if it weren't for the Dementor attack, Harry might not have known that Hermione and Ron had joined the Order of the Phoenix in the short four weeks they were apart.

The Order of the Phoenix was founded by Dumbledore as an organization dedicated to fighting against Voldemort.

So on the very day Harry arrived, he had a huge fight with Ron and Hermione.

In a way, Harry even wanted to thank the two Dementors. If they hadn't attacked him so far away in Azkaban, Harry might not have known about the organization until the end of summer vacation.

Harry tiptoed up, dressed, and got out of bed.

Ron, who shared a room with him, was still lying on his back on the bed with his limbs outstretched and his mouth wide open, fast asleep.

Harry silently slipped through the room and onto the stair landing outside the door. He gently closed the door behind him, while Ron remained motionless.

Harry tried his best not to think about the possible outcome of today's hearing at the Ministry of Magic—

Perhaps when he sees Ron again, they may no longer be classmates at Hogwarts.

Harry tiptoed down the stairs, past the heads of Kreacher's ancestors, and into the kitchen below.

He thought there was no one in the kitchen, but as soon as he reached the door, he heard a low voice coming from behind it.

He pushed open the door and saw Mr. Weasley, Mrs. Weasley, Sirius Black, Lupin, and Tonks all sitting there, as if they were waiting for him.

They were all dressed neatly, except for Mrs. Weasley, who was wearing a purple jacket.

As soon as Harry went in, she stood up immediately.

“Breakfast, Harry,” Mrs. Weasley said, drawing her wand and hurrying towards the fireplace. She seemed just as nervous as Harry, trying to hide it by avoiding eye contact, but to no avail—

Harry could see right through her emotions.

And everyone present.

For some reason, ever since Tierra's death, Harry felt like some kind of switch had been flipped inside him. Emotions he couldn't understand before, lies he couldn't see through, he could easily understand now.

Everyone in the kitchen was trying to talk to Harry, seemingly hoping to ease his anxiety through conversation.

"Uh, uh, uh..." Harry didn't pay much attention and just gave a perfunctory response.

Harry, who was eating breakfast, suddenly paused—

He suddenly remembered that when he used to chat with Tierra, Tierra seemed to respond in the same way often...

"Have you eaten, Harry?" Mrs. Weasley came over and patted Harry on the shoulder kindly when she saw him stop eating.

"Hmm..." Harry put down his knife and fork, shook his head, as if trying to shake off the thought he had just had—

He shouldn't think of Tiera like that. He's Tiera's best friend, and Tiera even saved him from a death curse once. Thinking like that is so unfair to Tiera.

Even so, Harry lost his appetite because of that somewhat blasphemous thought.

“I’ll take you to the Ministry of Magic today… After all, I’m more familiar with the Ministry than the others. Trust me, Harry, it’ll be over soon.” Mr. Weasley came over to encourage him. “In a few hours, you’ll be all right.”

Harry didn't say anything, but nodded with a somewhat unpleasant expression.

"The trial will be on my floor, in Amelia Bones's office. She's the Director of Law Enforcement at the Ministry of Magic, and she'll be the one to question you," Mr. Weasley said.

“Amelie Bones is very nice, Harry,” Tonks said sincerely. “She’s fair and will listen to you until you finish speaking.”

Harry nodded, still unable to think of a single word to say.

"Don't lose your temper," Sirius suddenly said. "Be polite, be truthful, and speak your mind."

“And Amelia Burns’ brother, Edgar Burns, was one of the founders of the Order of the Phoenix, and he gave his life when Voldemort last took power,” Sirius Black added. “So I believe her.”

Harry nodded again.

“The law will support you,” Lupin said softly. “Even underage wizards should be allowed to use magic when their lives are threatened.”

A cool sensation was running down the back of Harry's neck. For a moment, he thought someone was casting a Disillusionment Charm on him, but then he realized that Mrs. Weasley was using a wet comb on his hair.

She pressed hard on the top of his head. "Is there any chance it will submit?" she said desperately.

Harry shook his head.

Mr. Weasley glanced at his watch and looked up at Harry.

“I think we should leave now,” Mr. Weasley said somewhat nervously. “It’s a little early, but I think you’d be better off heading to the Ministry of Magic than idling around here.”

“Okay,” Harry said without hesitation, putting down the bread and standing up.

“You’ll be alright, Harry,” Tonks said, patting his arm.

"Good luck," Lupin said. "I believe everything will go well."

“If not,” Sirius said with a stern face, “I’ll go and settle the score with Amelie Bynes for you.”

Harry managed a weak smile.

Mrs. Weasley gave him a big hug.

“Okay…” Harry said, “See you later.”

After saying that, he followed Mr. Weasley upstairs and through the foyer.

He could hear Sirius's mother murmuring in her sleep behind the curtains. Mr. Weasley unlatched the door, and the two went outside. Dawn was breaking; the sky was overcast and chilly.

……

Meanwhile, at Hogwarts at around six in the morning.

Tyella, fast asleep in Slytherin's Chamber of Secrets, was awakened by Slytherin—

After becoming a god, Tiera fulfilled her promise and used her control over "life" to transform Slytherin back into human form, allowing him to switch between normal human form and basilisk form repeatedly.

After all, Tiera had already attained the divine dimension, and from that perspective, dealing with matters in the other three dimensions was a piece of cake.

"Dumbledore wants to see you," Slytherin said hoarsely.

After that day, Tyrell introduced Slytherin, Dobby, and Slytherin's Chamber of Secrets to Dumbledore.

After all, with his abilities, there's no point in continuing to hide it or lie about it.

Moreover, even if he wanted to keep it a secret, Grindelwald might one day impulsively write a letter revealing all his secrets to Dumbledore.

It's better to be more honest and cooperate for mutual benefit.

Incidentally, Slytherin can also be used to give Dumbledore, the headmaster, a supreme ruler position. Why not?

“Dumbledore said you should start preparing now,” Salazar Slytherin said. “He anticipates that the Ministry of Magic will not hold the hearing at the agreed time, and because of your tough stance that day, they expect to turn Harry Potter’s hearing into a formal trial.”

"Okay, okay, okay... I understand." Tiera rubbed her temples helplessly.

In fact, as a divine being, he no longer needs sleep.

But the bed was so comfortable that Tiera, having nothing better to do, had to find some entertainment.

After discussing education reform with Dumbledore that day, Dumbledore gave him a task—

He would impersonate Dumbledore and take full control of Harry's use of magic outside of school.

Under the guise of a workout, Tierra actually believed Dumbledore just wanted to retire early...

So on the night Harry was attacked by the Dementors, Tyrell, disguised as Dumbledore, stormed into Cornelius Fudge's mansion, which was under the Anti-Apparition Charm, and dragged the usually happy Cornelius Fudge out, forcing him, his hair and beard bristling, to retract his decision to expel Harry.

In fact, Tierra originally intended to use overwhelming force to threaten Connelly Fudge into withdrawing his dismissal decision—

Anyway, it was Dumbledore who threatened the Minister of Magic, what does it have to do with me, Tyella, who is already dead?

But for some reason, Connelly Fudge suddenly became firm and refused to withdraw his decision, at most changing it to a hearing.

Tierra had no choice, which led to the scene just now, so she had to go to the Ministry of Magic again.

Tierra also guessed that this might be the influence of some kind of "destiny," preventing subsequent developments from deviating too much from the original story's direction.

In other words, mere violence is unlikely to turn the "fixed numbers" of this world into "variable numbers".

—Tierra concluded after the visit to the Connelly Fudge mansion.

"Tell Dumbledore." Tierra's form suddenly melted, turning into a shapeless liquid. After a few simple wriggles, it transformed into an old man with white hair and beard, wearing a red papal robe.

“I’m going to teach those bastards a lesson,” Tyrell, now in Dumbledore’s form, said with a sneer.

The next second, they disappeared into the secret room.

(End of this chapter)