Chapter 148: Fate is Like Spinning Thread

Harry and Zhang Qiu asked Madam Pomfrey for a small bottle of Dittany essence; the school was still very tolerant of little wizards with love, and Dittany itself was not a rare thing.

Squatting beside the severely burned Buckbeak, Harry gently applied medicine to this huge magical creature, and Buckbeak's eyes revealed gratitude.

"I think I understand a bit, why Buckbeak kindly invited me to fly a lap on him in the first lesson I saw him." Harry said while applying medicine. "It turns out we knew each other long ago."

"Of course, you flying a lap on him is also part of the divination, or rather, you providing huge help to Buckbeak is also one of the fates waiting to be realized." Zhang Qiu stood aside with her arms crossed. "So what we are doing now is of extraordinary significance."

"This is much better than your pranks in school." Harry nodded. "I mean, not only is this thing positive, but the causal logic between divination and divination is complete: it is precisely because I helped Buckbeak that it allowed me to fly on it; I think this is the true meaning of fate."

"That's right." Zhang Qiu flipped through her notebook.

"I originally wanted to say that compared to the divination you pursued in school, such as Scabbers disappearing, Sirius Black breaking into the dormitory, etc., this is much more normal."

"Harry, divination is fate; there is no difference between normal and abnormal—"

"No, I mean, haven't you realized it?" Harry interrupted her. "The divination of Buckbeak, or fate, is complete on the scale of the entire third year: I became its friend, helped it when it encountered trouble, perhaps the content in the divination is not treating its wounds, but defending it."

"That's right." Zhang Qiu nodded.

"And it also rewarded me; the mock trial can allow me and Hermione to cooperate and more easily achieve excellent grades. Perhaps the reward in the divination is not in this form, but I want to say that if fate can be traced, then at least in the case of Buckbeak, we almost restored its trajectory."

"Oh... indeed." Zhang Qiu flipped through the notebook. "I never thought about whether there would be any connection between these things before."

"Let's change places and talk." Harry's brain was buzzing; a wonderful inspiration burst out of his mind.

After saying goodbye to Hagrid, they found a relatively remote corner in the Forbidden Forest. Harry couldn't see the invisible Professor, but he felt it didn't matter if the Professor heard these words.

"Your master's divination is not discrete; they should be connected and parallel like spinning thread, and in ancient mythology, the manifestation of fate should be a spindle; all these events connected into lines are entangled together to constitute a complete fate." Harry said while gesturing. "This means that we can calculate whether the divination that has not yet happened will happen, or if it happens, how much it will deviate from the original trajectory of fate, through the causal relationship between divination events."

"This is difficult, Harry." Zhang Qiu shook her head. "Before everything settles, we can hardly get any effective information from divination; take Buckbeak as an example."

"I only know that you became friends with him in the first lesson, and Malfoy was hostile to Buckbeak, as well as Buckbeak getting into a lawsuit and you finally saving it." Zhang Qiu sorted out the notebook. "But first of all, Hagrid didn't lead him out in the first lesson, and secondly, Malfoy had no reason to hate him, and finally, if it wasn't for my suggestion that Hagrid set up a mock trial, the lawsuit would be even more out of the question. And, even the only fulfilled rescue was compensated by fate through the way of travel."

"Oh... that's right, then that's it." Harry clapped his hands suddenly. "You should know that Neville is also traveling; fate sent him to before the first lesson, so Neville accidentally injured Buckbeak, so I didn't meet it in the first lesson; and Neville was attacked by Buckbeak in a time loop that was neither here nor there, so he had to injure it; Buckbeak was destined to attack someone, and in the original fate, that person should be Malfoy."

"This will indeed make sense, because if Malfoy hated this big bird, he would indeed take legal means, and with your personality, you would definitely mediate in it and try to protect Buckbeak." Zhang Qiu nodded deeply. "But why did fate want Neville to be attacked by Buckbeak?"

"Perhaps it was to prevent him from affecting Sirius Black." Harry calculated the time loop of Buckbeak and Neville. "Is Sirius Black attacking the dormitory on Wan Shengjie also in the divination?"

"That's right, perhaps Sirius Black is more important than Buckbeak?" Zhang Qiu said with doubt.

"Hey hey, children, stop." The Professor interrupted their thoughts. "You are discussing some very dangerous things. You must know that an important principle of divination is that it cannot be changed."

"Hmm?" The two looked at him suspiciously; they were long used to divination and facts not matching at all.

"If you try to change the future according to divination, then how can divination become accurate?" Dr. Doudou explained. "Therefore, either people take a skeptical and disbelieving attitude toward divination, or people cannot accurately understand the meaning of divination, or it is that their practice of trying to change the future instead promotes the realization of divination; there is no other situation."

"Oh yes, Zhang Qiu, do you remember?" Harry suddenly said. "The first Saturday after Wan Shengjie, in the second year, you said that divination hinted at an intruder, but there wasn't one."

"That's right." Zhang Qiu subconsciously echoed.

"In fact, the intruder appeared in the third year, Cui Ge's mother; the divination was fulfilled after all." Harry continued. "So, your master's divination will not exceed these three states that Doudou said; it suddenly fulfills when we have forgotten and ignored it, or fulfills in a way we didn't expect, but it will always be fulfilled."

"There is no harvest in letting divination fulfill naturally." Zhang Qiu shrugged. "So I still tend to try to witness or realize it."

"It doesn't matter, it doesn't matter, it's all okay." Dr. Doudou spread his hands exaggeratedly. "You can choose any way to treat divination, just promise me, never, ever, again, try to figure out fate."

Zhang Qiu revealed a shallow smile of indifference, while Harry frowned; he still wanted to say something, but he also knew that since the Professor issued a warning, it meant there was a risk.

"Actually, Harry." Zhang Qiu flipped to the pages slightly before the end of the notebook. "Some things are not that you want to clear up, you can clear up, it can even be said to be completely nonsensical."

"For example, during the summer vacation, one of your rude Muggle relatives will be blown up into a balloon by magic; what do you think this means? Will it be the prerequisite for which line, and will it be the aftermath of which line?"

"Ah?" Harry never expected that there would be such divination. "Are you sure? This kind of thing is also written in divination?"

"Divination does not distinguish between big and small, nor does it distinguish between normal and abnormal; you might feel confused, but to be honest, you indeed didn't blow anyone up during the summer vacation, right?"

"I indeed didn't..."

"Then that's right, I'm about to start the next stop, let's meet there." Zhang Qiu waved at him with a smile. "I will blow him or her up; that's not dangerous, perhaps it will even be very interesting."

After watching Zhang Qiu's figure fade and disappear, Harry and Dr. Doudou returned to the TARDIS. As soon as he entered the door, the Professor said seriously: "Harry, you must be vigilant; Xuanjun's divination involves a complex magic ritual, and I don't suggest you get involved."

"What?" Harry said with some confusion. "But Zhang Qiu said this is also to help me defeat Voldemort."

"That is part of his plan, child." The Professor shook his head. "You can still trust Zhang Qiu, but continuing to discuss Xuanjun's divination is harmful to both sides."

"Okay, if you suggest so." Harry shrugged helplessly. "I will remember it."

Before there was time to give Harry more time to feel the horror of the entanglement of fate, the familiar braking sound called his scattered thoughts back to reality.

Through the crack in the wardrobe, Harry could see a retired military officer with a tough face, sitting leisurely at a small table in the garden, enjoying the afternoon sun while sipping hot black tea.

"Hello, sir." Zhang Qiu, who had revealed her figure, walked around from behind the grape trellis in the garden.

"Hello, little girl." The officer greeted subconsciously, but then asked vigilantly. "Who are you? Why are you in my garden?"

"I'm looking for someone; do you know Harry Potter?" Zhang Qiu probed carefully.

"Ah, this name sounds a bit familiar, I seem to have heard someone mention it." The officer tried hard to recall. "It seems he is a little villain."

"Oh yes, I remember." He said. "It was my neighbor Marge who mentioned it; she mentioned Harry Potter, a child adopted by her brother."

"Ms. Marge?" Zhang Qiu nodded. "Does she live next door to you?"

"Although I don't know what you are looking for her for, the fact is, she passed away several years ago." The officer drank tea slowly.

"Passed away? Can you tell me the specific situation?" After Zhang Qiu finished asking this question, perhaps realizing that she was an illegal intruder now, she added an extra explanation. "It's like this, Harry Potter entrusted me to help him ask about Marge's recent situation."

"This is a long story; do you want to come over and have a drink?"

Perhaps the Hogwarts school uniform made the retired soldier subconsciously feel that Zhang Qiu was not a bad person; he smiled and invited Zhang Qiu to sit at the table, and then opened his mouth mysteriously.

"Marge's death was very strange; this might involve a mysterious urban legend; have you heard of the Assassin Brotherhood?"

"Not at all." Zhang Qiu smiled awkwardly.

"Then you must have never heard of the surname 'Fry'; this is to talk about the powerful organization entrenched in London..."

Just when this retired soldier was vividly telling the underworld story, Harry finally found the memory related to this surname in his mind: that was his first Muggle friend.