The dilapidated and gloomy Spider Tail Alley became more and more filthy and damp. No one wanted to go out. Happy, sad, evil, beautiful. Under such circumstances, people were more willing to lie dormant at home.
The drizzle was like a curtain, and the alley was long and quiet.
The middle-aged professor was very satisfied. Usually, this meant a good day for him to make potions.
Cutting herbs, dissecting a toad, digging out the internal organs of an insect, putting them into the crucible one by one, controlling the heat, and stirring according to the rules.
This was Professor Snape's spare time, the joy of life, and the skills to make a living.
The rain kept falling, and the dark room was quiet and cold. He was satisfied with the atmosphere.
It was a beautiful day.
That was what Professor Snape thought until the green flames in the fireplace suddenly jumped up.
Snape looked at the old man in the flames expressionlessly. "I thought I was enjoying my vacation."
The old man, Principal Dumbledore, laughed happily in the flames. Snape even saw that his right hand was holding a particularly lively cockroach pile.
Professor Dumbledore smiled and said, "No, Severus, the vacation is over. We are about to welcome new students. Many, many, new students."
Snape replied in disgust, "Yes, we are about to welcome new trolls."
Dumbledore smiled tolerantly.
Snape looked at his boss warily. "So, what does this have to do with you interrupting my vacation?"
Dumbledore shrugged. "I need you, Severus. I was going to send Haig to pick up a new student, but he seems to have gotten into a little trouble. I mean, he may have to stay in one place for a while to be investigated. So, I need you, Severus."
Snape stared at the principal viciously. "Yes, you need me to scare a little troll."
Dumbledore looked back lovingly. "Yes, I need you to pick up Harry."
Snape's eyes suddenly became hollow. "You mean …"
Dumbledore didn't care about the knife. "I mean, Harry Potter."
The green flames were quickly extinguished. Snape didn't know if Dumbledore had added anything in the end.
Tell Dumbledore to get lost! Snape walked back to his potion with an empty look in his eyes. Without a doubt, it could no longer be called a potion. He mechanically took out his wand and cleaned it. Then, he stared blankly at the empty crucible.
Was it … time for Harry Potter to enter the school?
The Potions Professor asked the air silently. Harry, who was stumbling behind him, adjusted his glasses and glanced at the dilapidated buildings. He thought to himself, Is this my first experience in the world of magic?
Snape used his peripheral vision (I really want to say peripheral vision!). He glanced at Harry's hesitant expression and snorted coldly. He grabbed the child by the collar and pulled him into the brick house, No. 17 Spider Tail Alley.
Harry was thrown on a dark sofa. He watched as Snape entered a dark laboratory and left him in the dark living room. Oh, it wasn't completely dark. Harry hugged his shoulders and felt around. He found a few bottles of unknown animal parts on the shelf that were emitting green light.
Are all the people in the world of magic night-vision animals? Harry didn't dare to ask Snape. He just curled his lips and touched a drawstring. With a click, a small lamp with low wattage lit up.
Well, it seems that I'll be more and more myopic in the future. Harry Highly Myopic Potter sighed. Suddenly, a green flame jumped up in the fireplace. In the flame, a cheerful old man greeted him. "Haha, Harry!"
"You … You are?" Stuttering? Harry was a little embarrassed and cut off the question.
"Abusi Dumbledore. You can call me Abusi." The old man laughed, his beard flying.
"Oh … Hello, sir!" Harry eagerly moved a small stool and sat in front of the fireplace. "Sir, would you like some tea?"
"Ahem, no need, no need!" Seeing that Harry was looking around for a teapot, Dumbledore quickly changed the topic. "Harry, I think you already know something."
Harry actually wanted to try pouring a cup of tea on the fire. Seeing the situation, he could only reply regretfully, "I only know that I'm a little wizard, and I'm lucky to study in a magic school." He didn't know anything else. He was waiting for Fernando to tell him.
Dumbledore stopped. "But you don't look very curious."
"Indeed." Harry touched his nose. "I think, with no car, no house, and my parents' death, if there's a story, according to the setting, I'm probably a wandering superhero."
Dumbledore suddenly wanted to make another pile of cockroaches to calm himself down. "Uh … That's not wrong."
Harry suddenly took off his glasses and sighed. "That means I must have a very powerful enemy, and I have to fight all the way to level up."
Dumbledore swallowed a pile of cockroaches. After a while, he exhaled. "Harry, let me tell you …"
"(Origin story omitted) … Just like that, Lily and James sacrificed their lives that night. You survived, and Voldemort died." Dumbledore had been paying attention to the child's expression. He was surprised to find that the child was surprisingly calm. He neither frowned nor cried.
Harry just stared at the flame with his gray-brown eyes through the thick glasses. The green light on his glasses danced, but his eyes were calm and his voice did not tremble at all. "I'm a survivor."
Dumbledore frowned slightly, but still changed his words. "You're a hero."
Harry's mouth twitched, and then he sighed. "Many people must have died in that war. Besides my parents, many others must have died … They all died, but I survived. That's called a hero? Headmaster, I'm a survivor. "
"… We are all survivors."
"Sigh … Then let's live well. By the way, he won't come back, will he, Voldemort? "
Dumbledore hesitated for a moment, and then said, "Probably not, but I've been on guard against his return all these years."
"Then let's pray!" Harry showed a big smile. "Pray that the story of Harry Potter won't happen."
Dumbledore also chuckled. What an interesting child.
Snape was annoyed by their laughter. When he came out, he saw the strange scene of an old man and a young boy smiling at each other.
Dumbledore coughed, stroked his beard, and smiled. "Severus, Harry is a good boy. Please take him to buy the things on the list."
What did the two sentences have to do with each other? Snape glared at Dumbledore, then he flapped his black robe and went back into the laboratory, leaving a crooked cake on the table.
Harry glanced at it and saw the words on it: Happee.
birthday，Harry！
He was more and more worried about the quality of education in the magic world.
Dumbledore smiled and explained, "This is from Haig. He's a friend of your parents. He was supposed to pick you up, but unfortunately, he ran into some trouble."
"Thank you, Haig." Harry sat at the table and looked at the clumsy but friendly birthday gift. "I'm looking forward to meeting him."
"It'll be soon." Dumbledore smiled. "I'm also looking forward to meeting you, Harry. But now, have a good lunch. "
After saying goodbye to Dumbledore, Harry found a packet of milk powder in Snape's kitchen and made himself a cup of hot milk to eat with the cake. He knocked on the door of the laboratory, but Snape did not seem to want to have lunch.
During lunch, Harry looked around the room under the dim light. He could only say, "It's very Dickensian! If you move those strange specimens away, it's just Oliver's childhood! "
Harnessing the principle of not working after eating someone else's food, Harry took the initiative to wash the cups and plates. Then, he noticed Snape's boots at the door.
It was the same boot he had thrown into a heap of rubbish that morning, and now it was covered with mud, filth, and strange speckles. It stood there alone, exuding the same unpleasant odor as its owner, which made Harry smile strangely.
"Harry Potter, I hope you've finished eating … What are you doing?!!" Snape roared in exasperation.
Harry grabbed the man's boots with one hand and a brush with the other. He rubbed foam on his arms with a blank face.
I'm the dividing line between the scenes.
"I need … three sets of plain work robes, a plain pointy hat … Wow, so many things." Harry suddenly stopped and looked up to ask the Potions Professor next to him. "Do Hogwarts provide subsidies for needy students?"
Snape also stopped and turned around to stare at the child. "Needy student? Why do you think you're a needy student, the famous Harry Potter? "
Harry raised the ice cream cone he bought from the roadside to his face to block Snape's fierce gaze. "I don't have money, Professor. As for the Durris family, you know, they won't pay a pound for me to learn magic. In fact, if you didn't show up today, I would've been sent to a juvenile prison in a month. "
"Damn Durris …" Snape gnashed his teeth and said the name. Then, he looked at Harry's innocent face and seemed to grind his teeth. "Don't think nonsense. Do you think your parents didn't leave anything for you?"
"Dumbledore said even the house was destroyed …"
"Gringotts, Potter, wizards also have banks." Snape turned around. "You know nothing about the wizard world."
Harry licked a mouthful of ice cream and blinked. "So you're blaming me?"
Snape paused and snorted through his nose. "Follow me."
Harry trotted behind Snape. They passed by a bookstore, a record store, a burger store, a movie theater … Harry rarely saw such a lively street. He curiously looked at the crowded places and asked Snape who was walking in front. "Professor, are you always like this?"
"… Like what?" Snape's response was cold.
"Like … Like this?"
"Yes." So you better shut up.
"Oh, that's good." Harry said with relief, making Snape feel suffocated.
"What do you mean by 'that's good'?"
Harry still had the white cream of ice cream on his lips, and he smiled very sincerely. "I thought you were only targeting me."
"… Are you always so talkative?"
"Yes!"
Snape did not want to say another word. He turned around and walked away.
The two came to a big bookstore and a record store. A crooked bar was squeezed between the two stores. Harry was stunned for a moment and then looked at the person beside him. "Only wizards can see it?"
"Yes." Snape paused for a moment and continued. "The Broken Cauldron Bar is a passage between the magic world and the muggle world."
Harry guessed that the 'muggle' referred to people like the Durriss who did not understand magic. Well, when he went to buy textbooks later, he must see if there was an encyclopedia of magic.
The interior of the Broken Cauldron Bar was as small and dirty as it looked. Under the dim light, some people in wizard robes and pointy hats sat together in twos and threes, drinking sherry. Harry and Snape did not attract much attention when they came in. Only the bar owner, who had a worrying amount of hair, greeted them. "Picking up a new student?"
Snape nodded with a gloomy face. He pulled Harry's collar and wanted to lead him through the bar. Just as he was about to succeed, a young man who was drinking alone suddenly saw them and called out to Snape.
Harry noticed that Snape's face was beyond gloomy, but the pale young man still said, "… I heard that Dumbledore sent you to pick up …"
"Achoo!" A loud sneeze covered the name that the young man was about to say and startled the young man.
Snape looked at Harry, who was wiping his nose with his sleeve, and then looked at the young man who was at a loss. "Professor Quirrell, see you in September."
"See you in September …" Quirrell said to the two who left.
Snape led Harry to the backyard of the bar. Harry asked curiously, "You called him Professor Quirrell. So, is he also a professor of Hogwarts?"
"Quirrell is a professor of Defense Against Black Magic," Snape said reluctantly. "His theoretical ability is okay."
In other words, his practical ability was relatively weak. Harry rubbed his nose, but that course sounded like it was going to be very practical.
"Okay, Potter, look." Snape took out his wand and pointed it at the wall next to the dustbin. "Count up to three pieces, then count down to two pieces …"
Harry watched nervously as Quirrell gently tapped the wall with his wand. As soon as his voice trailed off, the wall bricks trembled. With a creaking sound, the bricks moved from the middle to the sides, and soon a wide archway was opened.
You've already exceeded your reading limit for today. If you want to read more, please log in.
Login
Select text and click 'Report' to let us know about any bad translation.
