I, Hogwarts Second Time Around.

Chapter 572 Bashida Bashat

What adventure? What conquest? What transcendence?

Death is death.

After death, one can no longer hear, see, or speak, and lets the earth slowly devour one's body.

Even if their most beloved and cared-for son were standing so close to them right now, they wouldn't react at all.

Suddenly Harry felt that all of this had lost its meaning.

They live in order to die, because they will all die eventually.

Those who care about him, love him, and cherish him will eventually stay with the land.

"Harry—" Ginny noticed Harry's unusual behavior.

She saw Harry's tears well up suddenly, but his expression remained frozen, as if he were ill.

She quickly reached out and grasped Harry's hand, moving closer to him.

Hopefully this warmth will dispel the cold.

"I'm sorry," Harry said, startled awake.

It's unclear whether he was apologizing to his parents or to Ginny.

Ginny grabbed his hand again and held it tightly. He couldn't look at her, but he gripped it back forcefully, taking deep breaths of the cold air, trying to calm himself down.

He should bring them something.

He made many preparations, but all for his own safety, forgetting the most important thing.

The plants on the cemetery were bare and covered in ice. Ginny took a large bunch of jasmine flowers out of her pocket with her other hand.

She was much more attentive than the careless boy.

Besides, the Weasleys are a large family, and almost everyone visits their relatives' graves every year. Ginny naturally knew what to bring, but Harry had never had such experience.

Harry looked intently at Ginny, then said, "Thank you!"

He took the flowers from the girl and placed them in front of his parents' graves.

Then, he couldn't stay any longer; it was just too sad.

And so they turned and left in silence, passing the graves of Dumbledore's mother and sister, walking slowly toward the dark church and the narrow doorway beyond sight.

"Harry, stop."

"What's wrong?"

They had just stepped out of the cemetery when Ginny quickly grabbed Harry's arm.

Unlike Harry, who was so immersed in grief that he lost interest in the outside world, she didn't relax at all.

"There's someone there, someone's watching us." They stood motionless, huddled together, staring at the dark edge of the cemetery. Harry saw nothing.

Are you sure?

"I'm sure, it's near the bushes—" Ginny quietly flicked her sleeve, and the wand naturally fell into her hand.

"Don't be impulsive," Harry said quickly. "We're Muggles now."

"They might be verifying your identity. But if they were Death Eaters, they wouldn't be taking this long; they would just attack."

"Let's leave carefully, without making any strange moves," Harry said. "Go over there, to that alley. If we can avoid their sight, we can put on our invisibility cloaks."

After saying that, Harry pulled Ginny onto a dark street.

The two kept looking back, and the moment they stepped into the street, Harry took out the Invisibility Cloak and quickly put it on.

Then he quickly ran out of the village.

Harry could see the houses disappear and the street turn into a wilderness.

They walked so fast they dared not walk any faster, passing by even more windows with flashing lights.

"Have they come after us?" Harry asked, panting.

"It seems not." Ginny kept glancing back but didn't see anyone following them. "Maybe they didn't come for us."

"If it wasn't for us, then who else could it be?"

"Maybe—maybe—" A name flashed through Ginny's mind, but the name was like a shooting star, impossible to grasp.

If Hermione were here, she would surely be able to guess the Death Eaters' purpose.

Ginny thought to herself.

Then I got inexplicably angry, angry at myself.

Suddenly the name became clear. Ginny blurted out, "Bashida Bagshot, they might be after Bashida Bagshot."

"Bashida Bagshot? That expert on the history of magic?" Harry muttered, then realized what she meant.

"Bashida Bagshot is Grindelwald's only living relative. The Death Eaters want to capture Bashida Bagshot to blackmail him."

“That’s right!” Ginny nodded. “Bashida Baghatt lives in Godric Valley.”

"She's our neighbor," Harry added.

"We need to find Bathilda Baghdad's house quickly and warn her to leave immediately."

"Harry said anxiously."

And just then, he saw it.

The Charm of Loyalty must have lost its power with the deaths of James and Lily. In the sixteen years since Hagrid carried Harry away from the ruins, the hedges have grown wild and the rubble is buried among waist-high weeds.

Most of the house was still standing, completely covered by dark ivy and mud. The right side of the top floor room had been destroyed, and Harry thought that must be where the spell bounced back.

He found himself standing in front of the door of what used to be his own house.

He gazed at the ruins, which must have once resembled the houses on either side.

Then Harry reached out and grabbed the rusty iron door; he didn't want to open it, he just wanted to hold onto a part of the house.

Just then, a wooden sign rose from the ground. It emerged from the tangled nettles and weeds, like some strange, rapidly growing flower. The sign bore the following golden lettering:

Lily and James Potter died here on October 31, 1981.

Their son Harry is the only wizard to survive the Killing Curse.

The house, invisible to Muggles, was preserved as is, serving as a memorial to the Potters and a warning against the violence that tore their family apart.

Beside these neat handwritings are various inscriptions. They were all written by wizards who came to pay homage to the place where the "Boy Who Lived" escaped death. Some wrote their names in ink that would never fade, some carved their initials on wooden plaques, and others left messages. The most recent ones, shining brightly on the magical graffiti from sixteen years ago, all contained roughly the same content.

—Good luck, Harry, wherever you are.

—Hope you read this, Harry, we all support you!

Long live Harry Potter!

"It's too flashy," Ginny said, "especially now."

"I think it's good." Harry smiled at her.

"I" said, Harry tilting his head to the side. Then he stopped.

In his gaze, a figure wrapped up tightly staggered down the street in the distance, its black outline illuminated by the lights of the distant square.

Although it was difficult to tell, Harry thought it was a woman.

She walked very slowly, perhaps afraid of slipping on the snow.

His hunched back, bloated figure, and unsteady gait all gave the impression of someone who was very old.

Harry waited to see if she would turn into one of the little houses by the roadside, but instinctively knew she wouldn't. Finally, she stopped a few meters away, standing there in the middle of the frozen street, facing them.

There was no need for Ginny to pinch his arm; the woman's chances of being a Muggle were practically zero: she stood there staring at a house completely invisible to anyone but a wizard. But even if she were a witch, it was strange enough that she'd come out on such a cold night just to look at the ruins of an old house. And, according to magical conventions, she shouldn't be able to see him and Ginny at all.

Harry had a very strange feeling, as if she knew they were there, and knew who they were. Just as he came to this unsettling conclusion, the woman raised a gloved hand and beckoned.

Ginny leaned closer to Harry under her Invisibility Cloak, her arm pressed against his.

How did she know?

He shook his head. The woman waved even more enthusiastically. Harry could think of many reasons not to heed the call, but as they stared at each other in the empty street, his suspicions about her identity grew stronger.

Honestly, this is a bit strange.

He had just mentioned that Bathilda Baghdad was his neighbor when an elderly woman appeared, exactly as expected.

Moreover, the other party seemed to be able to see through him.

He was clearly wearing an invisibility cloak.

Could it be that Dumbledore arranged this in advance?

Harry couldn't help but think of that mysterious and powerful headmaster, who always arranged everything perfectly, as if nothing could exceed his expectations.

Moreover, considering Grindelwald's relationship with the principal, it doesn't seem impossible that he arranged for Bathilda Baghatt to wait for him here.

Finally, Harry spoke.

Ginny was startled.

"Are you Bathilda Bagshot?"

The figure, wrapped up tightly, nodded and waved.

"Don't go," Ginny said.

The two exchanged a glance beneath their invisibility cloaks. Anyone with eyes could see that the old woman over there was acting strangely.

But it's normal for some wizards to be eccentric in the magical world, since neither of them had ever met Bathilda Bagshot.

"Don't worry, we have the Portkeys ready." Harry patted the pocket at his waist, then silently took out his wand and held it in his hand.

"Besides, what if it really is Bathilda Bagshot? We have to save her."

"But—" Ginny wanted to say something more. If it were her and Ron, she naturally wouldn't have said anything. But it was Harry beside her. She didn't want to see Harry get hurt, nor did she want to lose him.

Harry pulled Ginny along and walked toward the woman.

The old woman immediately turned around.

I stumbled back the way I came, passing several houses before turning into a doorway.

The two of them followed the old woman into the path and through a garden that was almost as desolate as the one they had just seen.

She fumbled around for the key on the front door for a moment, then opened it, stepped aside, and let them in. It was like lambs to the slaughter.

Harry and Ginny slipped into the doorway and took off their Invisibility Cloaks.

He stood near Bathilda Bagshot and noticed how short she was, so old and hunched over, barely reaching his chest. She closed the door, her bluish-purple, mottled knuckles against the peeling paint, then turned to look at Harry's face, her eyes sunken in the folds of her translucent skin, filled with thick cataracts. Her face was covered with broken veins and age spots.

He doubted whether the old lady could see clearly, and even if she could, she would only see the bald Muggle he was impersonating.

The musty, dusty, dirty clothes, and spoiled food smells were even stronger. She untied the moldy black headscarf, revealing a head with sparse white hair and a clearly visible scalp.

"Mrs. Bathilda," Harry asked again.

She nodded again.

Harry watched as she slowly took her wand from her sleeve and then cast some kind of spell on the door.

Then he turned and walked into the living room.

"Harry. We seem to be..." Ginny's heart pounded, a sense of danger rushing to her head.

She desperately wanted to escape immediately.

Harry gripped his wand tightly. He shielded Ginny behind him, and the two of them moved slowly forward, close to the wall.

The living room was small and covered in dust.

It was a cold day, and the fireplace was not lit.

Instead of stopping in the living room, Bashida Baghdad walked into a corridor at the end of the hallway behind the living room, where there was a door that might lead to the kitchen or something else.

Harry panicked a little. He handed the pocket at his waist to Ginny, asking her to retrieve the door key. If anything went wrong, they would escape immediately.

"Harry, look here," Ginny whispered.

She was pointing to a door on the right side of the living room, which faced the stairs leading to the second floor.

Unlike other places, a sliver of light shone through the crack in this door.

"Be careful," Harry said.

Then Ginny waved her wand, "Open Alohomora—"

The wand shot out a gray spell, and with a click, the locked side was opened.

"Hoo—" Ginny took a deep breath, her sweaty right hand gripping her wand tightly, while her other hand carefully pushed open the door.

The moment the door opened, the secret hidden inside was immediately exposed to the two of them.

"Oh my God!"

There were four people in the room, three men and one woman. They looked very young, probably around twenty years old.

Their skin was gray, they knelt on the ground, their bodies tightly bound by black chains. Their bodies were covered with all sorts of wounds.

The ground was also littered with all sorts of bottles, jars, and sharp objects.

These people must have suffered greatly.

"Merlin's beard!" Ginny's pupils constricted, and her heart sank into her stomach.

Her teeth felt cold.

She turned back to look at Harry in horror.

Harry was just as shocked as Ginny was at that moment.

It is now certain that this Bathilda Bagshot is definitely not the real person; she is someone else in disguise, most likely a Death Eater.

Looking at the four pitiful wizards in the room, Harry was filled with rage.

The shameless Death Eaters killed Bathilda Bagshot and impersonated her, then stayed here waiting for others to come to them.

And didn't I foolishly come in myself?

"Squeak—"

Suddenly, a faint sound of a door opening was heard.

Harry's tense limbs suddenly turned around.

The moment he saw the fake Bashida Baghdad, his arm swung out instinctively, almost instinctively unleashing a spell.

"Disarm you!"

The red curse swept past.

It struck Bashida al-Bashate squarely and directly.

The magic wand in her hand flew out instantly.

Tell me, who are you?

Harry said sharply, his eyes filled with malice.

"Was it sent by the mysterious man? What did you do to the real Bathilda Bagshot?"

"tell me!!!"

(End of this chapter)