Hogwarts: Harry Returns from Azeroth

Chapter 10. Past secrets and Snape's oath
Ignoring James Potter's taunting, the gloomy-looking man, or let's just call him Snape, walked forward quickly and excitedly after hearing Lily Potter's call, and even bumped into the fence of the Dursleys' garden without noticing.

Snape glanced down irritably, then Apparated - only half a meter, directly into the garden.

"...Is it really you?" Snape's lips moved, and then tightened into a line. He seemed to have countless things to say, but he forced himself to suppress them.

Harry noticed that Snape's eyes became empty, extremely deep, as if there was nothing there.

At the same time, James Potter was using his soul to move back and forth on Snape's body. He seemed to be planning to use this method to severely punish the man who was staring at his wife.

What a pity, it's not of much use.

Snape completely ignored the existence of James Potter. The coldness of body and soul was not worth mentioning to him. There was only Lily Potter's soul in his eyes, which caused the greatest harm to James, making him move in and out of Snape's body faster.

I have to say that this scene looked quite funny, and it also dispelled the slightly sad atmosphere just now, making Harry feel relieved.

He glanced at Mrs. Figg in the distance. Harry remembered this old woman. When he was young, the Dursleys needed to go out but didn't want to take him with them, so they would leave him at her house. Her house was full of the smell of cabbage.

And now it seems that this old lady also seems to have connections with the magic world and lives near her home... monitoring? Or protecting?

It should be protection. Harry didn't think there was anything about his past self that needed to be monitored.

Harry nodded to Mrs. Figg as a greeting, then looked at the, uh, hard-to-evaluate, one person and two souls beside him, thought for a moment and said, "If you have anything to say, go in and sit down first. This place is really too conspicuous."

The translucent soul body is obviously not something that a Muggle would have.

If Uncle Vernon and Aunt Petunia knew that their living room was going to be used to entertain a wizard and two souls today, they would probably faint from fear. Harry could only say that it was a good thing that they went out to play today.

Different from its appearance outside the house just now, after actually entering the house and sitting down - the ghost was floating, pretending to be sitting on the sofa.

In short, after really sitting down face to face like this, no one, including James, noticed the noisy atmosphere outside.

At Lily's request, Snape was slowly telling her what had happened in the years since both of them died.

I have to say that this man is really not good at telling stories, or it is extremely difficult to get him to express his views on something.

"…That's about it. After the Dark Lord disappeared, everything settled down. Over the years, I…have always followed Dumbledore's orders and became the Potions professor at Hogwarts." Snape ended with such dry words, his eyes remaining empty the entire time.

"Ha!" James immediately made a sound of disdain, "Dark Lord huh? Only people like you would call him that. Why would Dumbledore allow a guy like you to become a professor? Who knows what you would do to the children!"

"James!"

Uh, how should I put it?

Harry could understand that his mother wanted to maintain some of the seriousness of a parent in front of him, but unfortunately James Potter's character was much more lively by nature - even if he wanted to pretend, it wouldn't take long for his true colors to show up.

"No matter what I am like, I am better than a guy who can't protect his wife and children. If you can't do it, then--" It was a completely instinctive counterattack, but it came to an abrupt end. Snape clenched his hands into fists under his robe, and he had to take a deep breath to barely calm himself down.

The living room became silent for a moment, and even James Potter could not utter a word. What Snape touched was undoubtedly his biggest pain point and the thing he felt most guilty about.

"We...I...I trusted the wrong person," James' voice became hoarse.

"Yes, Gryffindor friendship," Snape said sarcastically, "Sirius Black, ha, betrayed Slytherin, and finally betrayed you."

"It's not Padfoot!!" James suddenly raised his voice and gritted his teeth and said, "It's all my fault. The real traitor is Wormtail! Peter!!"

"…What do you mean?" Snape held his breath.

This may be the reason why all detectives hate the existence of supernatural powers the most, because when the deceased can appear in person and identify the murderer, all detection and inference will become meaningless.

"Sirius is not a traitor," James shook his head sadly. "Lupin... you know, so at the time, Padfoot and I couldn't trust him too much. At that time, everyone knew that Sirius was our secret keeper, so one day he suddenly came to me and asked me to change the secret keeper to someone who no one would think was the secret keeper."

"…Peter?"

To be honest, Harry rarely saw a person's expression distorted to such an extent. Snape uttered these two words with gritted teeth.

"Then why did that idiot Black stay in Azkaban for so many years? Why didn't he say a word?" Snape felt like he was about to faint from anger. "He just blew up a street after you got into trouble, and the newspapers said that people only found one of Peter's fingers!"

"Not only is Peter a hero, he's also been awarded the Order of Merlin!!"

"I think it might be because of...guilt," Lily said softly, tears streaming down her face once again.

The most difficult hurdle for people to overcome is often the one in their own heart. Everyone present understands this.

"Can I interrupt you for a moment?" Harry tilted his head. "Who are you talking about?"

"Oh, my child, it's all in the past, you don't need to care about it." Looking at Harry, James forced a smile on his face, "It just suddenly occurred to me that if things go well, maybe you don't have to live here?"

James looked around.

"If Sirius were still alive, he would be Harry's godfather - and we all know that he was wronged," James's gaze towards Snape suddenly became so intense that Snape felt goose bumps on his arms.

"Snape?" In an instant, the voice became sweet, and James called out the name of his old friend affectionately, "Severus? The greatest king of Slytherin?"

"Enough, shut up," Snape quickly uttered two words from his tightly clenched lips, and said dryly: "That idiot, the idiot among idiots!" After knowing what had happened behind the scenes that year, Snape felt like he was about to explode just by mentioning the name of the man who thought he was very smart.

So it turns out -- so it turns out!!!
"In the entire wizarding world, I'm afraid we are the only ones who think he is innocent," Snape said expressionlessly, "They need evidence, not just what I say."

"But you will help, right, Severus?" Lily said softly, "Look at this child, he is so thin, Petunia didn't raise him well - he deserves a better home... Severus."

The Dursleys' fireplace was filled with photos, but there was no photo of Harry. In the photo, Dudley looked so strong, in stark contrast to Harry who was sitting here.

"...I will," Snape promised solemnly, looking at Lily's soul.

"Excuse me for a moment?" Harry said, "I don't know much about what happened between you two, but in my opinion, I don't need someone to suddenly appear by my side and dictate my affairs as an elder - I have my own plans."

"Oh, Harry, of course, of course," James looked at his son with a sad face, "Sirius is a very good man, you won't treat him as an elder."

"Yeah, just jumping around like a lively stupid dog," Snape chimed in, adding, "Gryffindor is always full of energy."

"Anyway, you really shouldn't live here." James pretended not to hear this, considering that he needed help from others. He pretended to put his arm around Harry's shoulder and said, "You should live in our Potter family's ancestral home! Believe me, Harry, the good things are all there. No one else can enter our treasure house without blood verification - you don't think we would put the real good things in Gringotts, do you? That's for goblins!"

"I see," Harry nodded, "that's pretty good indeed."

The legacy of an ancient family also answered some of Harry's doubts about goblins.

"Maybe we have to add the Black family's property to it," Snape looked at Lily and said, "If that stupid dog really comes out, he will spoil the child."

"It's okay, Severus," Lily looked at her childhood friend tenderly, "You're still here, aren't you?"

"...You must have had a hard time over the years..."

Such gentle words, like the warm sunshine in winter, shone into Snape's heart and made him subconsciously hold his breath.

His eyes were on Lily, and Lily was looking at him with a distressed expression. He looked and looked - at that moment, Snape felt as if he had returned to decades ago, to that afternoon... the girl who looked back at him in the sun, her lips constantly opening and closing, as if she was saying something to him.

But I couldn't hear a single word.

"I will, Lily," Snape emphasized in a hoarse voice, "I swear."

Knock knock, knock knock knock.

There's a knock on the door.

Harry stood up and opened the door. To his surprise, but not quite surprise, it was Dumbledore who was standing outside.

"Good afternoon? Child, isn't it a bit too urgent if I greet you by saying it's been a long time?" Dumbledore said with a smile, still as lively as when they first met a few days ago.

"Good afternoon, Headmaster Dumbledore, please come in," Harry made way.

"Thank you," Dumbledore nodded and said as he walked inside, "Please forgive us for coming uninvited. I believe you have discovered something. Mrs. Figg is actually the one who has been secretly protecting you all these years. I hope you don't blame her. After all, your safety is a major issue for the entire wizarding world."

"Of course, it was Mrs. Figg who immediately informed us after she discovered that you were performing a mysterious magic ritual this afternoon and it had produced the corresponding effect. To be honest, I should have come here, but the Ministry of Magic suddenly summoned me for something urgent, so I had to let our Potions Professor come first. Oh?"

Dumbledore's words came to an abrupt end, leaving only a sigh.

"Hmm... this is really... an unexpected reunion?" After walking through the corridor and seeing the situation in the living room, Dumbledore suddenly realized. He looked down at Harry, blinked and said, "It seems that I have found the reason why our Potions Professor has not replied to the letter, right?"

"Long time no see? James, Lily - this time I can finally say hello with this word," Dumbledore said happily, "It seems that you had a pleasant adventure in a place we don't know about?"

"Yes, Professor Dumbledore," James also laughed, "this is really a - a wonderful adventure."

People who have shared experiences always have endless things to talk about when they meet again after a long separation, and they have too many things they want to ask each other.

Harry also listened in silence and used the information he had to guess what had happened that year.

His father had three good friends whom he treated as his own children, but the four of them did not get along with Professor Snape. Well, the reason was very simple: it was because of his mother.

Well, Harry pretended not to have heard about the jealousies between the previous generation. After all, as a person who had experienced another world, he was very familiar with such things - even the blood elf prince Kael'thas challenged him to a duel because of this matter.

In short, the ultimate winner was his father, and as the baby born as a result, Harry didn't think he had anything to say.

The reason why his family was attacked by Voldemort was because his father trusted the wrong person. One of his brothers betrayed him, which directly led to their deaths.

As for the remaining two people, one has been wandering for a long time due to some special reasons, while the other is punishing himself for a long time because of guilt and stays in prison - the most amazing thing is that the latter person is his own godfather.

What can I say?

Harry could only say that behind every suffering there is always a twist.

"So that's how it is," Dumbledore fell into thought, "Things turned out to be like this... No wonder..."

(End of this chapter)