Harry Potter and the Great Old Ones

Chapter 667 People in Snape's Memories
Harry took the last few steps toward the Pensieve and stood at the edge of the basin, looking down at the bottom.

Harry hesitated for a moment, listened carefully, and then drew his wand.

The office and the hallway outside were very quiet, as if there was no one else in the entire underground level of Hogwarts.

Ha gently poked the substance in the Pensieve with the tip of his wand.

The silver object in the basin began to spin rapidly.

Harry leaned down at it and saw that it had become transparent.

He seemed to be looking into a room through a round skylight.

This is the second time... If his judgment is not seriously wrong, then he is actually looking down on the auditorium.

His breathing clouded the surface of Snape's thoughts... He felt caught in a dilemma... He really wanted to do it, but that would be too irrational... He trembled... Snape could come back at any moment...

He took a deep breath and buried his face in Snape's thoughts.

The dark, damp office floor immediately tilted, causing Harry to fall headfirst into the Pensieve...

He spun rapidly downwards in the cold darkness, and then—

He stood in the center of the auditorium, but the four college tables were gone. In their place were more than a hundred small tables facing the same direction, with a student sitting at each table, head down, writing hastily on a roll of parchment.

Harry could only hear the whirring of quills and occasionally the rustling of someone adjusting their parchment, which was clearly an exam.

Sunlight streamed through the tall windows, illuminating the bowed heads, which gleamed with shades of gray-brown, reddish-brown, and gold in the bright light.

Harry looked around carefully. Snape must be somewhere here... after all, this was his memory...

There! He's there!
It was right next to a table behind Harry.

Harry looked down at him—

The teenage Snape appeared physically robust, but his face was pale, like a plant that had always grown in darkness.

His long, straight, greasy hair hung down on the table, and as he wrote hastily, his hooked nose was less than half an inch from the parchment.

Harry went behind Snape and looked at the title on the exam paper: Defense Against the Dark Arts - Common Wizard Level.

So Snape must be fifteen or sixteen years old, about the same age as Harry is now.

His hand moved swiftly from side to side across the parchment; he wrote at least a foot more than the people closest to him, and his handwriting was small and dense.

"Five minutes left!"

A sharp sound pierced the silent examination room.

The sound startled Harry.

He quickly turned around and saw Professor Flitwick's head moving between the tables not far away.

Professor Flitwick walked past a boy with messy, dark hair... very messy dark hair...

Harry moved incredibly fast; if he had a physical form, he would have knocked over several tables. Yet he seemed to be gliding, as if traversing a dream, crossing two aisles and sliding forward along a third.

The dark-haired boy's head was getting closer and closer, and... he was now straightening up, putting down his quill, and pulling the roll of parchment towards himself so he could reread the answers he had written...

Harry stopped in front of the table and looked down at his father when he was fifteen.

A surge of excitement welled up inside him: it was like looking at a version of himself that had become somewhat different.

James had light brown eyes, a slightly longer nose than Harry's, and no scars on his forehead, but they both had the same thin faces, the same mouths, and the same eyebrows; James's hair was exactly the same as Harry's, sticking up at the back of his head, and his hands were practically Harry's hands. Harry could also tell that if James stood up, the difference in their height would not exceed one inch.

James yawned, rubbed his hair, making it even messier than before, then glanced at Professor Flitwick, turned around in his seat, and grinned at the boy in the fourth seat behind him.

Another wave of intense excitement washed over Harry. He saw Sirius give James a thumbs-up, then Sirius leaned back lazily in his chair, looking very comfortable. His body was reclined, with only the chair's two legs touching the ground. Young Sirius was very handsome, with black hair hanging down in front of his eyes, inadvertently exuding a touch of elegance. Neither James's nor Harry's hair ever possessed this elegance.

A girl sitting behind Sirius was watching him expectantly, but he seemed oblivious to the fact that there were two seats between them in her row—

Harry's stomach churned with joy again—

It was Remus Lupin. Perhaps because the full moon was approaching, he looked rather pale and haggard. He was completely absorbed in the exam, rereading his answers, scratching his chin with the tip of his quill pen, and frowning slightly.

Therefore, the insect tail must be somewhere nearby...

Sure enough, Harry spotted him in a moment: a short boy with a pointed nose and grayish-brown hair.

Wormtail seemed anxious; he was biting his fingernails, staring down at his exam paper, and shuffling his toes on the floor. He would occasionally glance hopefully at the exam paper of the student at the next table.

Harry stared at Wormtail for a moment, then turned his gaze to James, who was now doodling on a small piece of parchment. He had already drawn the Golden Snitch and was now sketching the letters "L.E." What did they mean?

"Stop writing!" Professor Flitwick shrieked. "Including you, Stebbins! Stay in your seats while I put away the parchment! The exam paper is coming!"

More than a hundred rolls of parchment suddenly rose into the air, flew into Professor Flitwick's outstretched arms, and knocked him to the ground.

Some people laughed loudly. Several students sitting at the front table stood up, supported Professor Flitwick's arms, and helped him up.

"Thank you, thank you all... thank you so much," Professor Flitwick said breathlessly. "Good, very good, students, you can leave now!"

Harry looked down at his father, hastily erased the two letters "L.E." that he had been working on, jumped up, stuffed the quill and the test paper into his backpack, slung the backpack over his shoulder, and stood there waiting for Sirius to come and meet him.

Harry glanced around and caught a glimpse of Snape not far away, walking between two rows of tables toward the door leading to the foyer, still intently staring at his exam paper.

He hunched his back and shoulders, his movements were stiff, and his twitching gait was reminiscent of a spider, with greasy hair bouncing around his face.

A group of chattering girls separated Snape from James, Sirius, and Lupin. Harry positioned himself among them, trying to keep Snape in his sight while listening intently to James and his friends' conversation.

"Do you like question ten, Moonface?" Sirius asked as they entered the foyer.

“Oh my goodness, I love it!” Lupin said cheerfully. “Listing five signs that identify werewolves is a great topic.”

"Do you think you can list all the signs?" James asked, feigning concern.

Comrades, I'm back with consistent updates! My workplace is on summer break this month, but I'll guarantee at least one update a day, and try to do two. Thank you all for your support!
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(End of this chapter)