pertwk Chapter 668 Dumbledore's Homework
Chapter 668 Dumbledore's Homework
Chapter 668 Dumbledore's Homework
It has to be said that Harry underestimated just how popular he is right now.
The Ministry of Magic seemed determined to use Harry as an inspiring figurehead, and even though Harry had repeatedly and explicitly rejected the Ministry's invitation to cooperate, his name still appeared in the Daily Prophet every day.
Savior, bane of dark magic, the only hero to have ever killed the mysterious man—similar nicknames are piling up, with a different one every week.
Even if the Triwizard Tournament ended several years ago, and even if Siron had just won the Triwizard Cup yesterday, it would be difficult for him to surpass Harry in terms of fame.
Actually, you can see some clues from Slughorn's attitude. He dreams of inviting Harry, and he will actively create the conditions even if there are none.
He had never been this attentive to anyone else.
And the homework Dumbledore assigned him happened to be related to Slughorn.
"He wants me to find a memory of Slughorn, a memory that he has hidden away."
The next morning, Harry told the others about it in the Great Hall.
Ron believed that Harry was unlikely to encounter any trouble with Slughorn.
"Slughorn likes you," he said, picking up a fried egg with his fork. "He won't refuse you anything, will he, as long as you agree to attend his dinner party."
"If you ask me, just ask him directly next time he invites you."
Hermione's opinion was exactly the opposite of Ron's. She believed that the memory that even Dumbledore couldn't obtain must be because Slughorn was determined to hide the truth.
"What do you think?" Harry asked, looking at Siron.
"Slughorn likes you, but he likes himself more, or rather, he wants to save his own life." Siren took a sip of pumpkin juice.
"You mean you want me to kill him?" Harry was startled. "No, I mean, it's just a memory, it's not that serious."
"Oh, no, it's Voldemort," said Sirius. "Isn't the question Dumbledore asked you to ask about Voldemort's biggest secret?"
"Hordeals—guess why Slughorn is still alive if he knows this secret?"
"He helped Voldemort before?" Harry said. "He saw in the Pensieve that Tom Riddle and Slughorn were good friends when they were in school, and he often brought him pineapple preserves, which was Slughorn's favorite thing."
"Voldemort doesn't have any teacher-student relationship. If he did, that person would have been deceived," Siron said. "The main reason Slughorn is still alive is because he can keep secrets. So although Voldemort has been looking for him, he has never taken it seriously."
Harry's heart sank.
If that's the case, then he'll be even less able to get the question out, right?
"So you need to convince him that we will definitely win this war," Siren continued. "Only then will he be able to make up his mind to reveal this secret."
"What should I do?" Harry asked.
"I don't know about that," Siron said. "Perhaps you could kill Voldemort again and put him in a box as a gift for Slughorn."
Harry chuckled dryly, taking it as a joke from Siron.
If he could kill Voldemort so easily, would he need to ask Slughorn about that secret?
"I said, can we change the subject?" Ron muttered to himself.
While Sirius and Harry were chatting, Sirius kept mentioning Voldemort, and Sirius's hands were shaking so badly that he almost turned a perfectly good fried egg into a pulp.
"Ron, you really should get used to calling him by his name," Harry said, frowning. "Overcoming your fear of Voldemort is the first and most important step in defeating him."
"I...I know." Ron's hand trembled again. "But I need time—"
"You've said that many times already."
"This time it's for real, I'm really trying to adapt."
There happens to be a potions class this afternoon.
Harry couldn't give Voldemort as a gift to Slughorn, so he decided to try Ron's suggestion: ask him directly after class.
Maybe Slughorn has already told him, then we won't have to worry about it anymore.
Just as Harry was thinking this, Slughorn walked in from outside.
"Quiet down, hurry up, we have a lot to do this afternoon," he said. "Gobalot's Third Law, can someone explain it to me—oh, I knew it, it must be Miss Granger!"
Hermione stood up and recited as fast as she could: "Gobalot's Third Law—The antidote for a mixed poison is greater than the sum of the antidotes for each individual ingredient."
"Absolutely correct!" Slughorn said with a smile. "Gryffindor gets ten points—by the way, Gobalot's Third Law also applies to other potions, such as the lullabies you've been seeing lately," which were also invented around Gobalot's Third Law.
"What's a lullaby?" Ron asked. "We haven't heard any music while we've been sleeping lately."
"It's not music, it's a potion," Slughorn said. "It's that colorful smoke you often see coming out of the cauldron when you're making a lullaby."
A chorus of gasps erupted in the classroom; everyone then realized that the colorful smoke they had seen was actually a magic potion.
"I knew it." Slughorn seemed to have anticipated this reaction. "In fact, Lullaby is an extremely rare potion, and its preparation process is even more complicated than Felix Felicis. You are quite lucky to be able to see it."
"So, Professor, did you brew this potion?" Harry asked. "I mean, you were sure you could, right?"
He rarely spoke up in Potions class, but today was an exception; he had to keep Slughorn in a good mood.
Upon hearing Harry's flattery, Slughorn's eyes indeed narrowed with delight.
"Of course, I could definitely do it," he said. "But unfortunately, I don't have much free time. Luckily, Severus found this potion, so he volunteered to brew it."
"Snape?"
"You should call him Professor Snape, Harry," Slughorn corrected. "He found it in a very old potions book."
"Dumbledore was really lucky, really. Although that potions book was one of my collections, I had long forgotten about it. For some reason, Severus suddenly went to my old office that day and found it under the closet."
Is this also related to Dumbledore?
Harry blinked, but Slughorn didn't continue.
"Alright, let's get back to the main topic. Now, if we accept that Gobarlot's Third Law holds true—I want each of you to come to my podium, take a bottle, and prepare the antidote inside before the end of get out of class."