[HP] Comparative

For a split second, whether it was James, Sirius, or the Lestranges, Harry suspected that they were going to pull out their wands and cast every vicious curse he knew on each other the next moment.

But it was obvious that it would be unwise to attack people first in the street, not to mention that Bellatrix didn't bother to keep her voice down, and passers-by were already paying attention to their side.

"It's better than hanging out with a bunch of insane lunatics," Sirius retorted, also unceremoniously, "every time there is a decent person in the family, you disown him— I must say, I am honored to be one of them!"

Called a madman, Bellatrix's hair would burst with rage. "Dirty and sinful scum!" She took a step forward, her back arched dangerously, like the prelude to some kind of attack, "How dare you tarnish the noble honor of the Black family! How dare you—"

Sirius cut her off with a snort of contempt. "Just that dirty old house (house, which also means family)? Come on, Bellatrix, I'm not the one who would chop off the heads of house-elves for decoration, and I'm not the one Who would name his daughter after Aunt Eladora!"

In fact, Eladora Black, who cut off the heads of house-elves for decoration, was their great-aunt by birth, and Bellatrix's oldest daughter was named that.

Bellatrix was going mad at being so blatantly insinuated.Seeing her reaching for the leather wand bag at her waist, Sirius also nimbly touched his trouser pocket——

At this time, a circle of wizards was vaguely surrounding them, and some people were pointing and pointing softly.Harry was startled, and tried to draw Sirius to his side.But James moved faster, he clasped Sirius' right arm tightly, and at the same time shouted in a low voice: "Padfoot!"

Harry hurried to help hold his godfather.Ron reacted and gave his hand.Sirius couldn't help being annoyed that he couldn't touch his wand at all.

Fortunately, Bellatrix was also stopped by the people around her.Rodolphus Lestrange, who had been silent from the very beginning, was now half in front of his wife, looking extremely gloomy.

The atmosphere was so tense that it was about to explode, and more and more people stopped, pushing and shoving to maintain a certain safe distance.Curiosity is written on every face, and more is gossip.

Mr. Malfoy's gray eyes scanned the surroundings quickly, looking as if he did not want the attention. "What we have to do today is perfectly done," he suggested to the other two with a smirk. "I think we can have a drink at my estate and celebrate, eh?"

This is obviously smoothing things over.Although Bellatrix didn't calm down at all, Mr. Malfoy's observation seemed to remind her of something. "Then let's go," she agreed, gritted her teeth, gouging her cousin fiercely with her knife-like eyes, "I believe you still have a lot of good stuff in your cellar."

"Of course." Mr. Malfoy assured.

After the three exchanged glances with each other, they left first.Seeing that there was no excitement to watch, the rest of the people quickly dispersed.

"...You didn't really want to fight her just now, did you?" Hermione tugged at Sirius' sleeve, her face turned pale, and she looked terrified.

Sirius snorted heavily, and wrenched his arm from James' grip, roughly, with lingering anger on his face.He cursed something quickly that sounded a lot like "I'm gonna have to beat her up someday."

James' expression was originally tense, but now he turned into helplessness. "Padfoot," he reassured in a voice only a few of them could hear, "we'll talk about this when we go back."

Sirius let out a big breath through his nose, turned his head and walked away.Hermione was very nervous, looked at Harry and then at Ron, and followed as if making up her mind.Ron was a little overwhelmed. He hesitated for a while, then whispered to Harry, "I'll go and see," and trotted after them.

A good weekend was about to end badly, and Harry deeply suspected that it was not a good day to go out.He wanted to ask James what to do, and belatedly realized that Tom and Professor Crouch were not far away.The two saw the dispute clearly throughout the whole process, but neither intervened. "that……"

"Sorry, we're being rude, Professor." James turned to greet Crouch Jr., obviously thinking of something with Harry.

Little Crouch shook his head.No matter which side he was on, it was impossible to tell from his face. "There are more or less conflicts in every family, I can understand." He said, glanced at Harry, and changed the subject: "Specially to see the child, Mr. Potter?"

"Yes." Speaking of his son, James' tone was much gentler. "Speaking of Harry, I have to thank you for taking good care of him. Harry told me about the Forbidden Forest."

"It is the teacher's responsibility to ensure the safety of the students." Little Crouch waved his hand politely, "And if you really know the whole thing, you will know that Harry himself is the one who deserves the most credit."

Being praised so bluntly, Harry couldn't help but blush. "It's not my strength alone," he retorted in a low voice, stealing a glance at the tall boy, "and Tom."

James caught his gaze and followed it. "So you're Tom Riddle?" He couldn't help being curious. "I've heard about you several times."

"Hello." Tom nodded slightly, still maintaining the same closed expression as before.

This reaction was neither cold nor enthusiastic, but Crouch Jr. interjected like a rescue: "Tom is quieter."

James' eyes lingered on the tall boy, as if he wanted to say something, he turned to little Crouch. "Really?" He laughed, with a little bit of good-natured teasing, "Sounds like when you were studying?"

Crouch Jr. was two years younger than James, and the two had known each other since school, but their relationship at that time was limited to knowing who the other party was.

"It seems so," Crouch Jr. also smiled, neither admitting nor denying it. "But we've been out long enough, don't you mind if we say goodbye first?"

The sun has indeed moved to the west, pulling out extremely long shadows from the low, pointed houses beside the street. "It's a bit late," James agreed. "I'll take Harry back to school later."

The two men said their goodbyes politely, and Crouch Jr. and Tom left together.Looking at the backs of the two of them walking towards the school, the smile on James' face gradually turned into a thoughtful one. "Riddle is really a fifth year student, Harry?"

"Of course, what's wrong?" Harry asked wonderingly, not immediately understanding the question.

"I mean," James rubbed his forehead, and looked at his son seriously, "I can't see Riddle's emotions at all, which is very rare among children...he may be a master of Occlumency."

Harry immediately remembered Tom's Legilimency.It was almost a sure thing, but he wasn't ready to confess to anyone about the embarrassing incident at Black Lake on Christmas Eve. "Didn't you say before that there's no Occlumency in the Hogwarts textbooks, Dad?"

"Yeah, I believe so now." James said, frowning, showing a little troubled look, "but this can't explain... Forget it, maybe I think too much." He gave up on the bottom line , and patted Harry on the shoulder instead, "We'd better catch up with Sirius and let him calm down."

Harry was glad they weren't dwelling on Tom's subject. "He's not mad at you," he pointed out quickly, "he's just at Bellatrix! And Bellatrix said Ron and us are pure blood shame!" But he didn't say another The deeper reason: Sirius often misses the adventures of the foursome, but James can no longer act recklessly like he used to, whether it is for him, Lily or Sirius himself.

At this, James sighed deeply, as if he fully understood the part that Harry deliberately avoided talking about. "I know, it's just..." He adjusted his glasses, very annoyed, hesitant to speak, "Let's hurry up, or you won't be able to make it to dinner."

After more than half an hour, Harry, Ron and Hermione returned to Hogwarts.They didn't miss dinner, but after that conflict, none of them had an appetite.The three ate something sloppy and returned to the tower before the other Gryffindors.

"It's true that she took the initiative to provoke, and I really want to deal with her," Hermione complained loudly and sat down in the armchair, "but he can't do that in full view! I dare say he will be severely punished Yes, look at Hagrid!"

Ron sank into a chair near her, pinching the bridge of his nose. "Yeah," he agreed with Hermione, "Hagrid alone is enough trouble—I mean, you can't ask Harry's mother to prepare another appeal, right?"

"If it comes to that, Mom will definitely help Sirius, but I think she will be very angry." Harry analyzed wisely, "She has always had a problem with their adventure... Then again, thankfully That nasty Skeeter is gone, or we'll be in big trouble!"

Thinking that the female reporter with flaming lip makeup was indeed searching for news materials in the Three Broomsticks today, Ron shivered suddenly. "Don't make me picture that," he moaned, "that bright green quill of hers would explode with excitement!"

"She dares!" Hermione said angrily, and slapped the armrest vigorously. "She hasn't paid the price for what happened to Hagrid! I swear, I will catch her!"

Ron seemed to have a level of doubt and concern about it, but he didn't say it.The three of them formed a half-circle in front of the fireplace, looking at the crackling logs inside.

"By the way," Ron remembered something after a short while, "What did Malfoy say they accomplished perfectly?" He asked in bewilderment, with unavoidable disgust, "Is that true?"

And that was exactly what Harry cared about. "Honestly, I don't believe Malfoy's words," he admitted bluntly, "but Bellatrix's reaction wasn't like a cooperating lie, it was more like a cover-up."

Ron looked at him, half of his face was glowing red from the fire. "That makes sense, that woman looks so eager to tear Sirius apart that she probably has no intention of planning anything else..." he asked thoughtfully, "Then why do you think they went to Hogsmeade today, Harry?"

Harry thought about it too. "I don't see Rodolphus Lestrange Jr., and I don't see Draco Malfoy," he said slowly. "It's kind of weird, especially Malfoy."

This is indeed the case, after all Draco Malfoy likes to show off what the family bought for him the most, and it is impossible to let go of any opportunity to show off.

"But aren't they relatives?" said Hermione, a little annoyed, clearly disliking the subject of the topic.

"You heard what Malfoy said, Hermione." Ron explained patiently, "They can go to Malfoy's house from the beginning, if going to Hogsmeade is not necessary."

Hermione frowned at him. "So what you mean by asking that..."

"Someone, or something, asked them to come." Harry quickly came up with a preliminary reasoning, looking at Ron and Hermione one by one, "The problem is, we don't know the answer, we have no clue at all."

"A relative whose mind is full of 'Noble and Pure Black'? A magical item that is so dangerous and dark that they can appreciate it?" Ron said immediately, full of sarcasm.

Hermione instinctively showed disapproval, and then thought of something: "Wait, Professor Crouch is not related to them, is he?"

"I've told you before that all pure-blood families are more or less connected." Ron waved his hand and said, "The Crouch family is also pure-blood."

Hermione wanted to argue something more, but this time Harry beat her to it: "Do you think they're together, Ron?"

"Although they didn't talk, they didn't stand too far away, right?" Ron shrugged uncertainly and spread his hands, "Lestrange and Malfoy can both care about their children's Defense Against the Dark Arts results, I Guess."

"There's also a tavern nearby." Harry remembered another detail.It is known for its privacy, but does not accept minors.

So the four adults finished talking, and after going out, Professor Crouch met Tom and walked over to talk to him?

Or was Tom involved too, and they just left in two batches?

Just when Harry was struggling, Hermione tapped the back of his hand. "Didn't you say you were going to study the golden eggs tonight?"

This reminder pulled back Harry's thinking that he had already run away. "Oh, yes," he replied indiscriminately, and he really listened to the words when he stood up, "I'm going right away!"

Although it was a bit copious to say so, Harry's mind had already turned to the game when he walked outside with the golden egg under his arm.In order not to disappoint Hagrid, he had long considered accepting Cedric's offer; so far, he hadn't found any clues, so he could only go to the prefect's bathroom to try his luck.

Harry deliberately went to the classroom to linger for a few hours.It wasn't until late at night, after confirming on the Marauder's map that there was no one near the statue of Stupid Boris on the sixth floor, that he quietly went over wearing the cloak of invisibility, and entered the door using the password given to him by Cedric.

The bathroom is luxuriously furnished.Everything was made of pure white marble, and the bath was as big as a swimming pool.A hundred or so gold taps glistened in the soft light of a gigantic chandelier.Linen curtains hung over the windows, and one corner was piled with soft white towels.

Harry recalled that Fred and George had misunderstood him wanting to be a prefect, and thought it wouldn't be bad to be a prefect.He took off his invisibility cloak, put his contents aside, and began to study the faucets.After the water and bubbles in the bathtub were full, he took off his clothes and shoes, plunged into it, and swam happily back and forth twice.When he thought of the golden egg by the pool again, he found that there was an extra person in the bathroom out of thin air, holding the Marauder's Map and examining it carefully.

"...how did you get in here, Tom?" Harry was startled, almost choking water up his nose.He did forget to return the map to a blank state, but he clearly remembered that he had locked the door!

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