The Hogwarts Emerald

Chapter 683 Farewell
The Headmaster's office at Hogwarts is a large, beautiful, circular room.

Even though the owner of the office has changed from Albus Dumbledore to Minerva McGonagall, the furnishings and arrangements have not changed. The room still maintains the same appearance as when Dumbledore was alive, as if he had never left.

The silver instrument was still humming and emitting little puffs of smoke on the spindly table, and the tattered and crumpled Sorting Hat was still in its old place, on a shelf behind the table.

The walls were covered with portraits of former principals, both male and female, all of whom were snoring softly in their frames.

Dexter Fusco... Delys Devonte... Eupraxia Moore... Phineas Nigellus Black... and Albus Dumbledore.

In the golden frame, half-moon spectacles rested on Dumbledore's hooked nose, and he was looking kindly at Harry Potter lying on the ground.

The floor of the office was covered with soft carpet, but Harry, lying on it, felt it was extremely cold and hard. Fear surrounded and entangled him like a tide.

Harry once learned about Voldemort's past here, and he thought he was learning the secret of victory here. Today, still here, Harry clearly understood his fate and finally realized that he could not survive.

As Voldemort's Horcrux, only destruction awaits Harry, and the only thing he can do is to calmly walk into the open arms of death.

I am going to die, at the hands of Voldemort, and only my death can put an end to all this horror. Harry thought, with great fear in his heart, the fear of death.

Will death hurt?

Random thoughts filled Harry's mind.

He slowly raised his shaking hands and placed them on his chest, feeling his heart beating violently in his chest. He felt more alive than ever before.

Harry knew that when he stood up and left this office, walked out of the school and into Hogsmeade to face Voldemort, this pounding heart would stop, forever.

Hearing the sound of spells blasting constantly in his ears, Harry knew that the Death Eaters were attacking the school again.

Slowly, very slowly, Harry sat up from the hard, cold carpet. He turned his head stiffly and looked out the window. At this time, the night sky should have been pitch black, but it was illuminated by the continuous spells, making it colorful, like a grand fireworks show.

This fireworks display was to celebrate the demise of Voldemort and also to bid farewell to himself.

Harry stood up, his heart beating against his chest like a crazy little bird. He turned his gaze from the window to the portrait of Dumbledore.

"Will it hurt?"

He had seen Dumbledore get hit by the Killing Curse, watched as the life drained from Dumbledore's body and he fell off the tower like a broken doll.

"It doesn't hurt. Or at least I don't have time to feel the pain."

The Killing Curse is cruel and will ruthlessly take the life of the one cast upon it.

But on the other hand, the Killing Curse is also a different kind of mercy. Life disappears in an instant and one will not feel the pain of death at all.

Harry did not express anything. He neither resented Dumbledore nor the unfairness of fate.

Harry turned around silently and walked out of the headmaster's office step by step, without noticing Dumbledore's complicated look in the portrait behind him.

Kindness, compassion, reluctance...

Dumbledore just looked at Harry's back quietly. He didn't know if he would ever see this brave and kind child again.

Walking slowly along the spiral staircase, Harry walked very slowly, and every step seemed to be on soft cotton. Harry felt like a ghost, as if he had died, died at the moment when the truth was revealed.

Is there someone waiting for me outside?

Harry's mind began to wander again, wondering who he would see when the stone statue jumped open.

Was it his godfather Sirius, or Lupin... Was it Mr. Weasley, or Mrs. Weasley... Was it Ron, or Hermione, or Ginny...

No matter how slowly you walk, the stairs will eventually end.

Harry stopped at the third step and took off the donkey-skin bag hanging around his neck. It was a birthday gift from Hagrid. The bag, which was cast with an Invisible Extension Charm, could hold a lot of things.

He stretched open the leather bag, fumbled with his feeble fingers inside for a while, and pulled out the Invisibility Cloak. Putting the Invisibility Cloak on himself, Harry walked down the last three steps.

The stone statue jumped away and the corridor before it was empty.

He put on the invisibility cloak to avoid the people waiting for him, but when Harry saw the empty corridor, he couldn't help feeling a little lost.

The corridor on the eighth floor of the castle was eerily silent, as if Harry was the only one there. Until he saw Ada standing in front of the window, with her long golden hair tied up in an exquisite bun, and her slender neck made even whiter by the dark robe.

Harry slowed down his pace and walked more quietly, feeling conflicted.

I hoped that Ada would leave the window and bump into me who was leaving as well, but I also hoped that Ada would just look out the window and not notice me.

Suddenly, Ada left the window just as Harry wished.

But Ada didn't walk down the stairs to the eighth floor, but walked towards Harry.

Harry stopped again, the Invisibility Cloak was as perfect as ever, covering him without any leaks. Harry simply thought that Ada would not notice him under the Invisibility Cloak.

Closer and closer, as Ada walked towards Harry step by step, the distance between them kept shortening. Harry held his breath, and now he hoped that Ada would bump into him.

As if she had heard Harry's inner prayer, Ada stopped about two steps away from him.

"I'm waiting for you."

Hearing this, Harry took off his Invisibility Cloak. He knew that Ada had seen through his ancestral Invisibility Cloak. Harry did not ask Ada how she did it, as Dumbledore had done something similar before.

"Have you made a decision?"

A familiar person, a familiar voice, clearer than wind chimes.

Before he knew he was a wizard, Harry knew the woman in front of him. It was she who showed him the wonders of the world.

But Harry didn't say anything. He avoided Ada and walked quickly towards the stairs leading downstairs.

"Wait, I have something to tell you."

"I won't run away. Dumbledore knows I won't run away!"

Harry turned and roared the words, his breathing heavy and his chest heaving violently.

No one would be bored enough to calculate how many steps it would take to get from the headmaster's office to Hogsmeade, or how much time it would take, but this journey was Harry's last journey and the only time left in his life.

"I know it, Dumbledore knows it," Ida walked towards Harry, "even Voldemort knows it."

The three top wizards in the wizarding world all knew that once Harry discovered that he had the power to stop Voldemort, he would not allow others to die for him, even if the price of that power was himself.

Harry wanted to laugh, but he didn't know why he should laugh or what he wanted to express.

In the end, the smile turned into twitching at the corners of the mouth, as if there was a facial cramp, which was uglier than crying.

"If you all overestimated me and misjudged me...what would you do if I chose to run away after knowing all this?"

Ada used the most gentle tone to say the most murderous words. She said: "If you choose to escape and succeed, then I will have to kill Voldemort first, and then dig deep into the ground to find you, and repeat the process all over again."

Harry felt cold inside. He thought he would hear Ada's comfort and her trying to stop him from dying.

But Harry was wrong, he only heard gentle but cold words.

"... dig three feet deep into the ground to find you, and repeat the process..." Harry repeated this sentence unconsciously. It was really an extremely troublesome result!
Suddenly, Harry felt a warm embrace.

I feel someone gently touching my back, and I feel another heartbeat, a warm and strong heartbeat.

"Harry, death is just another great adventure. I, we, will always be here for you."

Suddenly, the warm embrace disappeared, and the heartbeat that gave him strength also disappeared. All Harry saw was the curved corners of the mouth, brighter than the sun.

……

"Where do you live?"

"Number 4, Privet Drive. Not far from here."

(End of this chapter)