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BS - Chapter 56: In Search of Knowledge
🕑 Added 2025-08-18 10:13:39 +0000 UTCDisclaimer:
Harry Potter and all of its characters belong to J.K. Rowling.
I own nothing but the original characters I make.
“Dialogue”
‘Thoughts’
-Author notes-
Chapter 56: In Search of Knowledge
“Who goes there!?” Moody pointed his wand at the door.
“Stop.” McGonagall hurried to hold the Auror back, as she had a good idea who this was.
A moment later, a black-haired man entered the room, limping on one leg. “Urgg…” He groaned in pain before collapsing on the floor.
“Severus!” McGonagall rushed to his side and examined him. “Oh Merlin, you are hurt.”
“Let me see. First aid courses are mandatory in the Auror forces.” Tonks used a scanning charm to search for wounds. “Ouch!… you have several fractured bones and you’re showing the side effects of the Cruciatus Curse.”
“I have a potion for that,” Moody said.
“Already took it…” Snape huffed.
“We need to take you to a healer,” McGonagall said.
“I’m fine,” Snape responded.
“You are obviously not… at least let me call Madame Pomfrey.”
“I can mend the bones a little bit, or at least reduce the pain,” Tonks suggested. “Let’s lay him down on the couch.”
Moody and Tonks moved Snape while he complained.
While Tonks started performing her first-aid healing, McGonagall fetched some water.
“Thanks…” Snape said. “I have news…”
“Can you start with who did this to you?” McGonagall asked.
“The Dark Lord…” Snape spoke in a soft, weak tone.
“You-Know-Who did this to you? Why?” McGonagall looked confused, wondering what reason that madman could have to torture poor Snape.
“He was not happy to hear about Dumbledore’s… demise,” Snape said.
“He did this to you because of that?” Tonks raised an eyebrow. “Shouldn’t he be happy? I thought the Headmaster was like his worst enemy.”
“Hmph!” Moody shook his head. “Then you don’t understand that bastard at all. He is too arrogant to be happy because he didn’t do it himself.”
Snape groaned. “That’s… correct. He also blames me...”
“But hold on… does this mean that You-Know-Who had absolutely nothing to do with what happened to Albus? How can that be?” McGonagall said.
“She is right… but this is a bit too much to be a coincidence. The Dark Lord makes his return, and then Albus gets murdered right before the end of the school year. They cannot be completely unrelated.” Moody’s eyes went back to the notebook they had just been reading.
Snape was staring at the man and then followed his eyes to the table. “What is… that?”
Moody, Tonks, and McGonagall shared a look of concern. The last page of Dumbledore’s notes seemed to present a wild theory that involved Harry Potter.
One that felt a lot less wild now that they discovered Voldemort had nothing to do with what happened to Dumbledore.
At that moment, they heard footsteps getting closer.
“Oh, you are here.” Sirius made his entrance with a cup of tea in one hand and a bottle of firewhisky in the other. “Did you have a pleasant reading?”
“What is going on?” Snape looked confused, as he didn’t understand what they were at.
“I will tell you in a moment.” McGonagall tried to reassure Snape. “But first… who is watching Harry Potter’s house?”
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“Just park the car somewhere nearby.”
Vernon glared at him with suspicion. “We are still ten blocks away from that freak tavern of your kind.”
“We are not going to the Leaky Cauldron, at least not yet. Today, I intend to visit the Muggle library,” Harry said.
“The public library? What for? They don’t have any books about… magic.” Vernon had a difficult time getting that word out.
“I don’t need to explain myself to you.” Harry pointed. “Forget about parking, just let me down over there. And come back to get me in two hours. I’d rather not spend more time with you than necessary.”
Vernon frowned. He was the one who wanted to say that, but he didn’t dare. Right now, the life of his son, Dudley, was in Harry’s hands. Just a simple gesture would be enough to kill him.
At least, that’s what Harry had told them, and they didn’t know enough about magic to prove him wrong. Not that they would dare to risk Dudley’s life on this.
“Fine.” Vernon huffed and stopped the car near the entrance of the British Library, one of the biggest libraries in all of England.
Harry had a good reason to begin his research in a Muggle library instead of visiting Diagon Alley.
‘I have missed five hundred years of Muggle history, and it appears that I have overlooked a lot of their development. Things are so different from what I am used to.’ Harry thought as he glanced around the city.
Having the memories of the previous Harry Potter had helped him understand the current world and not become too lost. But regardless, he quickly found out that the knowledge the boy had accumulated was extremely lacking, even for someone that young.
He had a very basic understanding of how the current world works, and the same goes for all this new technology Muggles have created, like the car Vernon had just used to bring him here.
In the past, he had prided himself on his great wisdom, always being decades ahead of anything Muggles could have even thought about.
Now things seemed to have been reversed, and he didn’t like that.
‘How am I going to destroy a world I don’t understand?’ Harry thought as he made his way through a long set of stairs and passed by a large set of double doors.
On the top, he spotted a large sign welcoming him to the British Library.
Harry smiled. “This will be easy.” It appeared that Muggles chose to share their accumulated knowledge with the masses instead of keeping it secret to empower a few.
Thanks to his magic, he would be able to steal everything they had learned for the past five centuries in a short amount of time.
‘Yes, two hours should be more than enough. I mean… how many books can they have in there? A few hundred? Perhaps a thousand?’
