"Sir," said Harry tentatively.
Harry asked tentatively. "Is what you're going to tell me about the prophecy? Is it to help me... survive? "
"It has a lot to do with the prophecy."
Dumbledore said, as casually as if Harry were asking him what the weather would be like the next day. "Of course I hope it will help you survive."
Dumbledore got up and walked around the table past Harry.
Harry turned eagerly in his chair and watched Dumbledore bend down in front of the cupboard by the door.
When Dumbledore straightened up, he was carrying a shallow stone basin familiar to Harry, with a circle of strange symbols carved into its mouth.
He put the Basin on the table in front of Harry.
"You look worried."
Indeed, Harry looked at the Basin with apprehension and fear.
Although his previous experiences with this strange artifact that stored and displayed thoughts and memories were rather enlightening, they were still very uncomfortable.
The last time he had broken in, for example, he had seen many things he did not want to see.
But Dumbledore was smiling.
"This time, you are coming with me into the Basin... and, what is more unusual, you have permission."
"Where are we going, Sir?"
"To take a walk down Bob Ogden's memory lane."
Dumbledore said as he took out a crystal bottle from his pocket. Inside the bottle, there was a silvery-white substance that was spinning and floating.
"Who was Bob Ogden?"
"He worked for the Department of Magical Law Enforcement."
"He has been dead for some time," said Dumbledore.
"But before he died, I managed to find him and persuade him to tell me these memories.
Now, we are going with him to a place he went on his mission.
Harry, stand up... "
But Dumbledore could not pull the cork from the crystal bottle: his injured hand seemed to be in pain and would not obey him.
"Shall I, Sir?"
"It's all right, Harry —"
Dumbledore pointed at the bottle with his wand, and the cork jumped out.
"Sir — how did you injure your hand?"
Harry asked again, looking at the blackened fingers with a mixture of disgust and sympathy.
'Now's not the time, Harry, not yet.
We have an appointment with Bob Ogden. "
Dumbledore poured the silver substance from the bottle into the meditation basin. It slowly rotated in the basin, emitting a faint glow. It was neither liquid nor gaseous.
"You go in first."
Dumbledore pointed at the Meditation Basin.
Harry leaned forward, took a deep breath, and plunged headlong into the silvery substance.
He felt his feet leave the floor of the office.
He passed through the swirling darkness, falling and falling. Suddenly, the strong sunlight blinded him and forced him to close his eyes.
Before his eyes could adjust, Dumbledore landed beside him.
They were standing on a country road, with high, tangled hedges of shrubbery on both sides. Overhead was the summer sky, as clear and blue as a forget-me-nots.
About ten paces in front of them stood a short, stout man. He wore spectacles with very thick lenses, and his eyes were narrowed to two dots, like those of a mole.
He was reading a wooden sign sticking out of the brambles on the left side of the road.
Harry knew it must be Ogden, for there was no one else in sight, and like the inexperienced Wizard who wanted to dress up like Muggle, he was wearing a strange outfit: a striped bathing suit over a frock coat, and shoe flaps on his feet.
As soon as Harry finished looking at his strange appearance, Ogden trotted off down the road.
Dumbledore and Harry followed. As they passed the wooden signpost, Harry looked up at its two arrows.
The one pointing to the road they had come from said: Big Hangerton, 5 miles.
The one pointing in the direction Ogden had gone said: Little Hangerton, 1 mile.
They walked for a while, seeing nothing but the high hedges of shrubbery on both sides, the vast blue summer sky overhead, and the rustling figure in the frock coat in front of them.
Then the road turned to the left and descended steeply down the hillside, and they were suddenly surprised to find a valley before them.
Harry saw a village, which was no doubt Little Hangerton, nestled between two steep hillsides, with the church and graveyard clearly in sight.
On the hillside opposite the valley, there was a very grand mansion, surrounded by a large expanse of green grass.
The descent was so steep that Ogden broke into an involuntary trot.
Dumbledore took longer strides, and Harry quickened his pace to follow.
He thought Little Hangerton must be their final destination, and wondered, as he had on the night they had gone to find Slughorn, why they had to walk so far.
But he soon found that he was wrong. They were not going to the village.
The road turned to the right, and as they rounded the bend there was a flash of Ogden's frock coat, and he was gone through a gap in the fence.
Dumbledore and Harry followed him to a narrow dirt road.
The hedges of shrubbery on both sides were taller and thicker than those they had just passed.
The dirt road was crooked, bumpy, and full of rocks, and, like the little road, seemed to lead down into a little dark wood below.
Sure enough, it did not take long for the dirt road to join the copse. Ogden stopped and pulled out his wand, and Dumbledore and Harry stopped behind him.
'Actually, I think that's what happens when people show up for the first time. '
Jon leaned against a tree and looked at Hermione, who was vomiting non-stop, and said, "But I didn't expect your reaction to be so big. But it's normal. You'll be fine after you learn Apparition."
Originally, he did not intend to use Apparition to come here, but the Ministry of Magic was no longer the Ministry of Magic of the past, so he did not use Apparition, which was relatively more wasteful.
Although it was not much less, it was still dangerous to cut through space. If he was alone, of course, it would not be a problem, but with Hermione, it was better to choose a safer way.
Hermione was about to vomit bile. Of course, she wanted to use her wand to cast a spell on herself, but she couldn't even chant a complete spell. Chown stood beside her, looking as if he didn't want to help at all.
He did not look like a teacher at all.
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