Chapter 348

Harry was just an irrelevant bystander; his words amounted to no more than a suggestion. But to Sirius and Snape, this was Harry himself agreeing to the matter.

Sirius immediately chimed in with a teasing tone: "Yes, if it's just a simple identification. But I'm a bit concerned—might we need to provide hair or blood? You know, that could be sensitive for wizards."

Harry caught the warning in his tone and felt a pang of regret for his impulsiveness. He also noticed Bellatrix's gaze had grown calmer; she, too, seemed hesitant.

"The Dark Lord said we must not harm Harry," Snape said slowly, "and I think we all know, without him saying it, that we must not harm Delphi either."

"For a paternity test, we do need hair or blood… preferably blood," William said, then fell silent. "The Ministry of Magic has no motive or gain in harming either of them, but I know it's hard for you to trust me."

"What if we do it ourselves?" Lucius suggested. "Quietly, under a fake name."

"The Ministry of Magic has no motive or gain in harming Harry or Delphi," Snape shook his head, "but among those present, I suspect everyone here does."

"I feel like this problem feels familiar—we need someone we can trust," Sirius mused.

"He would never harm Delphi or Harry, and has no stake in either, so he won't favor anyone," Lucius slowly understood. "We must also watch out for the Order, so it's best to use someone they don't know."

Four pairs of eyes gradually fixed on Harry; then other glances followed suit.

"Are you talking about me?" Harry said, half-laughing, pointing at Harry.

"In a way, you seem the most honorable among us," William reluctantly admitted. "Perhaps you truly regard the Dark Lord's cause as a noble ideal."

One thing the Death Eaters had going for them was that they weren't hypocritical among their own—upon hearing William's assessment of Harry, they all nodded seriously.

"I believe you won't harm the Dark Lord's child," Bellatrix said, unusually gentle.

"You wouldn't favor anyone either…" William mused. "I just want to make sure we're not falling into Dumbledore's trap."

"Severus, getting a strand of Harry's hair from Hogwarts isn't difficult, is it?" Lucius asked.

"I'll bring you a strand of Delphi's hair at our next meeting," Bellatrix replied.

"Alright, I'll handle this," Harry pretended to hesitate. "I'll find a testing agency in continental Europe, posing as a husband suspicious of his wife's infidelity—quietly, anonymously—do you confirm it's called a paternity test? And you're sure just two strands of hair are enough?"

"Yes, you can explicitly ask for a DNA test," William kindly reminded him. "Send us the report—I can check it for you to make sure there's no mistake."

"Then I'll get the hair at our next meeting. This week, I'll start looking for the agency," Harry nodded, putting on an air of seriousness.

At the end of the meeting, Snape gave Sirius a glance, and the three of them didn't disperse fully—they regathered in Sirius's office.

"I admit, your methods have improved," Snape said. "Did you plan from the start to use Harry for the test? You could pluck Ron and Ginny's hair and test them."

"Well, to be precise," Harry's face flushed slightly, "I just realized—Voldemort only had Delphi after his resurrection, right?"

"Yes," Snape looked puzzled.

"And when he resurrected, he used my blood—his body's genes might be mine," Harry laid out his theory. "Even if we test my hair against Delphi's, we might still detect a blood relation."

"But he used his father's bone and his servant's flesh!" Snape snapped. "Who's to say whose genes those are? Don't you realize how dangerous this is?"

"True, we had room to deliberate slowly, but if the test goes wrong, it'll be disastrous," Sirius said, still shaken. "I meant to dissuade Bellatrix by pointing out the sensitivity of bodily parts—but somehow we ended up on Harry. It worked out, I suppose."

"But how can one person have so many genes? Mine, Voldemort's father's, and his servant's?" Harry counted on his fingers. "And yet the resurrected Voldemort still looks exactly like himself?"

"If a person carries four sets of genes, you could be Voldemort's maternal grandfather," Sirius chuckled. "Bellatrix should call you great-great-grandfather—you really are blood-related."

"This is nonsense," Snape shook his head. "If you're curious, check your relation to Delphi. But for safety, do another test. If you're not related, submit Ron and Ginny's report instead."

"By the way, play it full-out—go to Paris for the test," Sirius reminded him. "Harry's cover is that he lives in Annecy."

It had been a thrilling weekend—when Harry returned to Hogwarts, his first act was to ask Ron and Ginny for hair, then he began writing to Tang Dun's butler, asking him to contact a paternity testing agency.

At the start of the new week, Arnold issued a new notice: due to Friday being switched to Ministry internships, the guest public lecture would be moved to Saturday morning, and attendance would no longer be taken.

"This is actually a good change," Harry commented. "The children aren't interested in every teacher—but if they happen to like one, they can spend the whole afternoon talking with him."

"Yeah, maybe I'll be interested," Ron leaned closer to the notice, then gasped.

"Clara Oswald!" Harry exclaimed in delight upon reading the name.

"Oh, look at you two," Elina materialized out of nowhere to sneer. "If Clara were a white-haired old man, I wonder if you'd still care about math and science."

Regardless of her assumptions, the fact remained: Clara Oswald, the Muggle Studies professor who excelled in Muggle science, was indeed a beautiful woman who wore short skirts—and this made many students less resistant to Muggle science.

Harry was delighted to see her again—not only because of the wonderful memories from childhood, but also because he still cherished his time at Beauxbatons last year. This made him distracted all week—fine during class or slacking in the Minister's office, but he slipped up during Occlumency practice and got scolded severely by Snape.

On Friday night, Harry and Ron excitedly discussed Clara and the Muggle knowledge she taught, reminiscing about the fun times during the Triwizard Tournament. They didn't notice when Neville entered—until Harry saw him sitting on his bed, staring at the beetle pin for a long while.

"Oh, Neville, did you have any luck today?" Harry asked.

"Dumbledore… he might have been giving me a hint," Neville touched the pin. "Today, as I walked through the Department of Mysteries, I kept watching its changes. Sure enough, when I passed through one door, the white mist inside the bead began to swirl."

Harry leaned in to look—the bead embedded in the beetle's tail remained motionless, the white mist inside perfectly still.

"Well, any clue is better than none," Ron patted his shoulder reassuringly. "Next week we can figure out how to break open that door."

"How do you know I didn't already break it open?" Neville couldn't help smiling.

"I know you tried. If you didn't mention it, you didn't succeed," Ron laughed.

"I remember Sirius gave me a knife that can unlock doors," Harry began rummaging through his cupboard.

"Thank you, but I'd rather face it myself," Neville said sincerely. "Perhaps this is another test left by Dumbledore—if I solve it alone, I won't have regrets."

"Hah," Harry shrugged, his thoughts drifting to tomorrow's public lecture. "Do as you like."

On Saturday morning, under bright sunlight, Clara stood in the classroom for Defense Against the Dark Arts (the Muggle Studies room was too small for the crowd) and wrote a line on the blackboard.

"Biology and Genetics—Fundamental Principles."

"Hello everyone, I'm Clara Osborn Oswald…" Clara gave a routine opening—Harry noticed her mood seemed low.

"…When discussing human genetics, we must mention chromosomes. In summary, all human genetic information resides in chromosomes: twenty-two pairs of autosomes and one pair of sex chromosomes. Currently, Muggles have preliminarily cracked the secrets of chromosomes and are planning the Human Genome Project. If this vast endeavor succeeds, someday we could determine a person's race from a single strand of hair—and further still, calculate the exact proportion of their bloodline. If wizard and Muggle genes are indeed distinct, we could strictly define how much Muggle blood each half-blood wizard carries."

Amid a sea of drowsy or distracted students, Harry suddenly sat up straight. He realized this might be one of the few wizards who truly understood the principle of paternity testing—and inviting her for the public lecture was clearly Snape's cautious move.