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Chapter 1313: Thickets of Wildest Guesswork
🕑 Added 2024-12-03 05:34:02 +0000 UTCEvan was aware of Harry’s resentment toward Dumbledore — this was a grudge between the two of them.
He did not join in the conversation, but looked at Fawkes the Phoenix with interest, allowing Harry and Dumbledore to communicate.
Harry's resentment towards Dumbledore made him emotionally unstable, and this resentment reached its peak during the previous summer.
When Evan and Hermione returned from their trip to Egypt, they had expected Harry to welcome them as usual, then happily leave the Dursleys early to stay with Evan or Ron, share summer experiences, and discuss holiday homework.
But no, what they saw was a grumpy and angry Harry.
For the entire summer, he’d been isolated in the Dursleys' home, unable to contact the outside world and knowing nothing about Voldemort. As a result, he was filled with anger, and the attacks of the Dementors and his hearing at the Ministry of Magic ignited this anger further.
So, the first thing he did after arriving at Number Twelve Grimmauld Place was to have a fierce argument with Evan, Ron and Hermione to vent his anger. Although Harry later apologized, his emotions didn’t stabilize until the battle between the Order of the Phoenix and Voldemort at the Ministry. He became more and more accustomed to acting alone. Even now, Harry retained some of the habits he developed during that time, marking a significant change in him.
Evan, who was present during the conversation about school, clearly remembered that Harry hadn’t forgiven Dumbledore before then but harbored deep resentment toward him.
Although Harry had never spoken about it, many signs made it obvious.
Dumbledore himself presumably noticed this, and he later attributed it to the influence of Voldemort's soul on Harry.
So, what he did was to stay away from Harry as much as possible and not meet him.
Although this delayed the outbreak of the problem, it did not solve the issue at all. On the contrary, it aggravated the severity of the problem to a great extent, making the connection between Harry and Voldemort easier and more frequent. For a while, they could easily enter each other's minds.
At first, Voldemort did not notice the connection between him and Harry. It was mainly because Harry entered his mind and obtained a lot of important information, so much so that he even knew that he was going to use ancient wizard magic to repair the statue of the evil god!
After that brief encounter in Norway, Voldemort finally confirmed the connection between him and Harry.
He was very weak due to repairing the evil god statue, and the situation was not favorable for him. However, during the battle with Dumbledore, Voldemort easily controlled Harry to distract Dumbledore, giving himself the opportunity to escape with the evil god statue.
Although Dumbledore later claimed that Voldemort didn’t fully understand the true nature of his connection with Harry, the incident undoubtedly showed Voldemort an opportunity.
For most of the following term, Voldemort attempted to control Harry and influence him through a spiritual connection.
He thought he could get information about Dumbledore or the Order of the Phoenix through Harry and carry out various tasks, such as retrieving the Prophecy Orb from the Ministry of Magic. This would allow him to avoid the risk of exposing himself by personally taking action.
If everything went smoothly, he could even manipulate Harry into killing Dumbledore.
Realizing this possibility, Dumbledore grew increasingly concerned about Harry's condition.
He feared that Harry might be harmed under Voldemort’s control but found himself with no effective solution. Ultimately, he had no choice but to stick to his original plan: stay away from Harry to avoid provoking Voldemort and have Harry learn Occlumency from Snape. These measures, however, later proved largely ineffective.
On the night Voldemort confirmed Dumbledore was not in Britain and decided to take action, he made Harry see a false illusion and lured him to the Ministry of Magic to get the Prophecy Orb, which was very important but it was inconvenient for him to show up in person to get it.
Harry would have ended up going to the Ministry that night even without Lucius Malfoy’s involvement.
He might even have summoned the D.A. members to join him, turning the Order’s ambush into a rescue mission. Fighting Death Eaters while trying to protect the younger wizards could easily have led to unforeseen accidents...
Although the outcome turned out relatively well, the process was fraught with danger.
The most fortunate and truly reassuring thing for Dumbledore was that the battle in the Ministry of Magic made Voldemort finally realize how dangerous it was for him to enter Harry's mind and control him.
The benefits Voldemort gained were far less than the harm caused to him by the protective charm left by Lily in Harry's blood.
Just like what happened in Harry's first year: Voldemort's possession of Quirrell led to Quirrell's body breaking down the moment he tried to harm Harry.
Aside from the fact that Quirrell’s intent to harm Harry activated the protective charm in his blood, Evan believed another factor played a role — Voldemort had spent an entire term drinking unicorn blood through Quirrell’s body.
Unicorn blood was profoundly sacred, and the souls of these creatures were noble and pure.
If a corrupted soul consumed their blood, it was cursed with an unimaginably dreadful fate.
Voldemort, using his Dark magic, might have evaded the curse himself or transferred it entirely to Quirrell, forcing him to bear the punishment. This might have been the primary cause of Quirrell’s body ultimately breaking down.
Back to Harry, even after that frank conversation, Harry still had resentment towards Dumbledore.
It was evident. Despite Dumbledore’s promise to tell Harry everything, beyond revealing the prophecy, he had refrained from involving Harry in the Order’s activities or sharing much with him.
While the prophecy solved some mysteries, it also made Harry feel more pressured.
Especially since Dumbledore had once said that in that July, two babies were born who both met the conditions of the prophecy: one was Harry, and the other was Neville. If Voldemort had chosen Neville instead of Harry, perhaps everything would have turned out differently.
"I said I would tell you everything I know, and so I did!" Dumbledore looked at Harry and said placidly. "I know that what I told you is not enough to solve all the doubts, which is why I asked you to come here. Harry, from this point forth, we shall be leaving the firm foundation of fact and journeying together through the murky marshes of memory into thickets of wildest guesswork. From here on in, I need your help, and Evan’s as well. You must keep me in check, because I may be as woefully wrong as Humphrey Belcher, who believed the time was ripe for a cheese cauldron. ..."
