[HP] Crack

When Harry woke up the next morning, he stared at the tent fabric above his head for a long time, slowly recalling everything that happened last night.It took a little more time, and he managed to drive away part of the big stone that was pressing on his chest, and let himself accept that it was all true.

He had a big fight with Ron, bringing all the conflicts that had been pent up in the past few days to the surface.All those secret doubts became reality, washing away the little joy left.They blamed each other, with Ron yelling that he had had enough and that he didn't know why he was still here, while Hermione wept.The two ended up almost fighting - Hermione's Iron Armor Charm prevented a nasty fight from happening, but it also broke the straw.By the time the girl broke through it and rushed out into the rain to find Ron, he had already Apparated away.

Harry had been lying on the bed for a long time, usually he would have been up by this time.Hermione didn't get up either, but judging from the sound of her breathing and the faint movements on the bed, she must have woken up too, just lying dry like him, as if she could not face everything that happened in this way.

After a few minutes, Harry took a deep breath, slowly climbed out of bed, and glanced at the lower bunk.It was empty.Ron had really left.

It took them an hour longer than usual to pack the tent.Hermione's eyes were red and swollen, as if she hadn't slept all night, she looked into the woods behind her from time to time, eager to find a red-haired figure, but there was nothing but black birds flying up from time to time.

After opening and closing the beaded pouch three times, Hermione couldn't find any reason to procrastinate.She and Harry apparated hand in hand and emerged on the bottom of a heathy, windswept slope.

As soon as they stood still, Hermione broke away from his hand and walked to a nearby big rock and squatted down, her back trembling slightly.Harry stood there stiffly, he knew she was crying and he should go up to comfort her, but his legs were locked in place for some reason and he couldn't move, his body was cold.He was not good at comforting others, and he was even more at a loss for crying girls.Ron's sneering face flashed before his eyes, and he finally strode around Hermione and began to cast the spells she usually cast to keep them safe.

"Close your ears and listen... Muggle shield... Safe guard..."

An invisible barrier enveloped them, and Harry added a Windproof Charm so that Hermione didn't have to curl herself up so small.At times like these it seemed that even Voldemort didn't bother to gloat, he could feel him watching him all the time, ready to find fault with him.

He has not been very proficient in using the illusion spell, perhaps because of the invisibility cloak.Someone patted his back, Harry turned around, Hermione stood in front of him, rubbing her eyes, whispered "I'll do it", and took over Harry's work while sighing.

The heather bushes blown by the wind brought a dazed and pungent fragrance, Harry sat on the rock where Hermione stayed before, dazed, his mind was in a mess.

What to do next?Harry wondered bewilderedly, wondering if he had asked aloud, because a voice answered him:

"Get used to it."

What are you used to?Harry's hearing was hazy, but somehow he felt more settled.

For the next few days, he didn't mention Ron.Hermione also seemed to know that it was useless to force him.The conversation between them became less and less monotonous, about Horcruxes and Gryffindor's sword being at a dead end, and Harry sometimes couldn't figure out which was more angry with Ron or Dumbledore a little.Almost every night was spent in silence, he was lying on the bed looking at the top of the dark tent, or sitting outside the tent looking at the dark sky, it was the same.

"You must feel very bored." One night, he said to the uninvited guest in his body like this, "There is no new progress, you can't eat enough, you can't sleep well, people are dying outside at any time..."

"You are worried that she will leave too." The man hit the nail on the head.

Harry froze for a moment, rarely making any rebuttals.

It was no big deal, he could have known what he was thinking.

"I think I'm really crazy to let them wander aimlessly with me." He muttered, rubbing his forehead habitually, and felt that he and Voldemort were just asking for fun.How could he understand his mood?He also made his friends wait for him in the snowstorm, just to seek a teaching position.

"I hear what you're thinking, Potter."

"What I said is not wrong." Harry didn't bother to hide it, and simply said openly, "Didn't you go to Hogwarts that day to steal the treasures of the founders of the four houses to make Horcruxes? But Dumbledore stopped you."

Voldemort sneered, Harry ignored him, and continued: "But like him, I don't think you regard that group of people as friends. You have a group of servants, but you don't have a single friend."

"I don't need that kind of thing," he said contemptuously.

The answer was not at all what Harry had expected.Voldemort had no friends and didn't need one.He only believes in himself and is willing to do everything himself.

"So why should I tell you this." Harry was a little annoyed.The wind picked up again in the woods, and the whining sound seemed to come from a distant border.The stars were twinkling above his head, he sighed, thinking that now he could only speak his mind to his sworn enemy, he couldn't help but feel a little ridiculous.

These days they put a picture of Phineas on Ron's bed, as if that would counteract the slight emptiness he left.Although Phineas was very dissatisfied with the unfriendly treatment when he first came, but he couldn't resist the temptation to know Harry's recent situation, so he still agreed to come every few days.Harry and Hermione thus learned a lot of news about Hogwarts, such as Snape's need to deal with the stubborn and long-term resistance of a group of low-key rebels, and he restored Umbridge's old rules, prohibiting more than three students Assemblies and any informal student associations.Ginny was banned from Hogsmeade.

Harry guessed that Ginny, and perhaps Luna and Neville with her, were doing their best to keep Dumbledore's Army going.Scattered information made him miss Ginny more than ever, almost to the point of stomach ache, and it also made him think of Ron, Dumbledore, Hogwarts, school almost as much as his girlfriend.When Phineas described Snape's repressive measures, Harry had a momentary urge to simply go back to school and mess with Snape - an idea he quickly dismissed, knowing that with his Entering Hogwarts as a Most Wanted Man is as dangerous as breaking into the Ministry of Magic.

"Severus Snape..."

"I thought you had read all my memories."

"Memory can't be read, silly boy. It's not a book," he sneered.

"Snape said the same thing," Harry rolled his eyes. "He taught me my Occlumency, which is useless."

"I see."

"So, he helped me a lot." Harry felt that Voldemort was stalking his own memory with impunity, like scooping up a bowl of water from the river of memory, and whenever Snape was mentioned, he could recall a bunch of them. Bad memories, and these just happened to help Voldemort understand what the other he had done.

This feeling is very... weird, it has never been so weird, even though he could feel someone staring at him before, and knew that he could read his thoughts, but he could open up his past so clearly to others— Except for Snape's damned Occlumency lessons, it was just him.

"You were very funny in class, Potter." Voldemort said lazily with a smile.Harry gritted his teeth with hatred, and even wanted to slap himself on the head.He tried his best not to think about it, but the more he wanted to do it, the more those things he didn't want to be known flooded his mind and he couldn't control it.