Chapter 272

The next few days.

Harry remained in this absent-minded state.

Everyone didn't know what was wrong with him.

Finally, Ginny took action and went to talk to Harry privately.

Although John wasn't there, according to Hermione's retelling, Harry was depressed and absent-minded because he saw his father in his youth in Snape's memories, and he didn't seem as perfect as he had imagined, leading to a shattered Dao heart.

Commonly known as having his image ruined.

That's why he was so melancholy and distracted.

Regarding this, they didn't know how to comfort Harry either.

After all, Harry hadn't told the whole story, only saying he wanted to talk to Sirius, but was afraid those memories were true.

But one could probably guess that Harry's father must have done something Harry really hated for this to happen.

Otherwise, if it were just a common bad habit, it wouldn't have caused such a severe reaction.

Regarding this, John also lost his curiosity.

It's someone else's family business, so don't meddle.

However, just today, Dumbledore suddenly summoned John and Harry to the Headmaster's Office.

And there, they met Sirius, Professor Lupin, and Professor Moody.

"Headmaster, what's this about?"

After John and Harry arrived at the office together, they were both a bit confused by the scene.

Dumbledore gestured for them to come in, then pushed a letter across the desk.

"This is a letter from the Ministry of Magic."

"The Minister invites you two warriors to the Ministry of Magic for a serious talk regarding the social panic caused by your claims of Voldemort's resurrection."

Hearing this, John was also stunned.

What the heck, can't solve the problem, so you plan to solve the person who brought it up?

Seeming to see John's thoughts, Dumbledore waved his hand.

"Don't worry, Alastor and the others will accompany you the whole way, and there will be others from the Ministry to escort you."

Professor Moody, who was to the side, also snorted coldly.

"Fudge must have been pressured by the rising public and lost his mind to make such an idiotic decision."

"He wants to pressure you two fledgling kids and trick you into clarifying those claims about Voldemort's resurrection."

Ah, this.

Just how desperate must Fudge be to think they would agree to this request.

"Can we not go? It feels like a waste of time..."

John said, feeling speechless.

"Hmm... actually, no. Fudge is using a forced summons, so you can't refuse unless you want to be on the Ministry of Magic's wanted list right now."

"So you at least have to cooperate on the surface."

Professor Lupin, who was to the side, also said slowly; if they could refuse, the three of them probably wouldn't be here either.

"What's wrong, Harry? You haven't said a word since you came in?"

At this moment, Sirius patted Harry's shoulder with concern.

For some reason, Harry had refused to look at him just now, and he asked with some worry.

"It's nothing..." Harry said calmly with his head down.

This appearance made Sirius frown even more.

No matter when, Harry was always very clingy to him; this was the first time he had shown this attitude of not wanting to talk to him.

Sirius looked directly at Dumbledore, seemingly hoping for an explanation—was Harry being bullied at school?

However, Dumbledore didn't know the reason either; he hadn't had any time to keep up with the children's movements lately.

So Sirius turned to look at John.

"Don't look at me like that, you need to find Professor Snape."

"Huh? That bastard Snape bullied Harry!?"

Hearing John's words, Sirius couldn't sit still and immediately stood up, intending to go find Snape to settle the score.

But he hadn't taken two steps before Harry called out to him.

"Sirius!"

"Professor Snape didn't do anything to me..."

"I... I actually wanted to ask you, what did you and my father do to Professor Snape back then..."

Hearing this explosive piece of information, John shrank his neck.

Sirius and Professor Lupin were both stunned at the same time.

They quickly understood where Harry's strange behavior came from.

"Should we excuse ourselves?"

John asked Professor Moody in a whisper, feeling a bit uncertain.

However, there was no need for Professor Moody to answer; Dumbledore had already acted like a spirited old man taking a walk in the park, moving his hands while dragging John and Professor Moody out of the office.

The door closed with a 'click'.

John had no way of knowing the content inside, so he could only ask Dumbledore for gossip.

"What exactly happened to Snape in the past, Headmaster?"

"John, you only need to know that people always make mistakes; what's important is to recognize your own faults in time and take responsibility for them."

Dumbledore didn't answer John's question directly, but instead started serving up chicken soup for the soul.

But this also told John roughly what happened.

It was probably that Sirius and Harry's father didn't act like decent people when they were young and did something to Professor Snape.

That's why Professor Snape had been so hostile toward Sirius, Lupin, and even Harry ever since.

Oh right, Titus had said before.

They seemed to have formed some kind of Raider Organization, and Snape had been a victim of it.

Could it be some kind of school bully organization?

You have to know that what Harry hated most was arrogant and conceited school bullies like Malfoy.

Forget it, I won't ask.

He turned to ask about the trip to the Ministry of Magic.

"Are we leaving for the Ministry of Magic now?"

"That's right, since it can't be avoided, we might as well go early and return early."

Dumbledore nodded, but John continued to ask.

"Will you be going too?"

To be honest, being notified so suddenly to go over, there was a sense of a 'Hongmen Banquet' about it.

After all, the Ministry of Magic was still hostile toward them, and there were quite a few of Voldemort's people lurking inside.

"No, having Alastor accompany you is enough."

"I believe Fudge isn't so muddle-headed that he would do something unbecoming of a Minister on his own turf."

"However, if there really is an accident, Alastor has a way to notify me, and I will arrive immediately."

Hearing this, John felt much more at ease.

"Speaking of which, have the Death Eaters still been quiet lately?"

This time it was Professor Moody who spoke.

"They have almost no movement at all, all of them have gone into hiding."

"Perhaps they were really intimidated by that exposé news of yours and are lying low for the time being."

Dumbledore looked at the wisps of thin clouds drifting past the window and spoke slowly.

"I don't think so. Voldemort wouldn't lie low just because he's afraid of being exposed."

"The infiltration of the Ministry, the attack on Arthur, the Azkaban breakout, the Dementors going out of control, the giants being bought off..."

"All signs indicate that he has no intention of lying low at all."

"Voldemort has made full preparations to declare war."

John agreed with these words as well.

He really didn't believe Voldemort would choose to lie low just because of the exposé news he and Harry had released, out of fear of being exposed.

So, is he holding back some big move right now?

Just as he was thinking, the office door opened.

Harry, Sirius, and Professor Lupin walked out together.

Harry finally no longer looked gloomy and had regained much of his spirit.

It seemed he had resolved his inner conflict a little.

Sirius rubbed Harry's hair, his movements still affectionate, and then looked at Dumbledore.

"Alright, Dumbledore, we can set off."