[HP] Seven Nights Talk

Chapter 152 The Gatekeeper

The morning light is faintly shining in the sky, filtering in through the window panes.It was very quiet in the school hospital ward, and there seemed to be no one else.At least that's what Harry thought at first, but right away he saw someone—

Voldemort sat in the chair beside his bed, eyes closed, and seemed to be asleep.He frowned slightly, the chair was clearly not a comfortable place to sleep.

Harry stared at him almost greedily.He didn't know how long he had slept, but the other party didn't seem to have changed at all.Of course, he said to himself, as long as the magic was right, Voldemort could probably maintain any kind of appearance he wanted.

After a long journey, there is no better reward than seeing this scene.Harry wanted to get up to smooth out those few wrinkles, and then he realized that his body was moving freely this time, and it seemed that there had been no change in more than half a year.He must have grown a few inches in that time though, and it felt strange and familiar.

But before he could actually sit up, Voldemort woke up.He was always light sleeper and alert, at all times.When he opened his eyes and saw Harry get up, there was an unexpected expression on his face: "Easter. You can really pick your time, Harry."

Good, saves him the time of asking what time it is, Harry thought. "Easter? Well," he said, "I just feel like I've been walking, a long way."

Voldemort raised an eyebrow at him. "And saw something, didn't you?"

"How do you know?" Harry was slightly surprised.

Then the two of them exchanged their experiences.Voldemort's reaction to Harry's incident was a little surprised at first, but he immediately felt that it was true; as for Harry, he was more concerned about one aspect: "You said you were not the main soul from the beginning?"

"Obviously not, Harry," Voldemort answered him. "You should remember that I was weak at first, right? If it weren't for you, I wouldn't be able to let the main soul be captured without a fight."

Harry nodded, thinking back to that time. "You are too cunning!" He couldn't hold back the accusation, "How unwilling you were, as if I forced you to do it!"

"No one can make the Dark Lord compromise," Voldemort winked at him, but with a smile on his face, "Although you are the savior, you can't."

Harry stared.Although he always felt that arrogant tone made him want to punch him, at least he didn't want to do it now. "So you are half of the soul piece on me? Then what happened to the other half?"

"Haven't you already experienced it? I thought you would be able to draw inferences." Voldemort replied.

"What?" Harry asked reflexively, and guessed the truth. "You said he probably saw other possibilities as well, didn't you?"

Voldemort nodded. "He may only remember bits and pieces, or just not as much as you see."

Harry was silent for a moment.If that's the case, he's more inclined to think it was pre-designed by Reaper.But he doesn't care about that now, he feels like he fully understands what's going on. "My choice brought me back here now, didn't it? And those..." He remembered what he saw, "Is it real too? Real happening, not my own fantasy?"

"Sounds very plausible," said Voldemort, gazing at him, "but I can't be sure."

Harry also looked back, he didn't really need an answer that much. "It doesn't matter if it's true or not. Whatever it is, it's up to us now."

Voldemort raised an eyebrow at him. "I guess I just haven't seen you in months," he said wryly, "but suddenly you're talking like Dumbledore."

Harry couldn't help rolling his eyes. "You are not much better than him!" He commented bluntly. "Also, I forgot to tell you in seven nights about splitting your soul—" he looked Voldemort carefully, "you won't make the same mistakes again, will you?"

"I don't now, but I don't know what I would think in the past." Voldemort answered his question skillfully, neither saying yes nor no.

"Actually, Reaper should have shown me that," Harry murmured softly, "at least it can reassure me—I can't help but guess that I'll be your excuse to split your soul."

"You imagine yourself to be too important," Voldemort deliberately sarcastically said. "Do you think I'd slice it for someone I've known for a week? If I did, it would be for myself."

Harry glared at him again, then realized that this was most likely Voldemort's cornered consolation.Regardless of whether you do it or not, the time has passed, and in the end there is no use worrying about it. "Can't you talk nicely, just once?" he said angrily.

"No." Voldemort replied quickly, realizing that Harry wasn't really reproaching.

"Tom can express himself pretty well—well, I mean, when you were a kid." Harry was unconvinced.

Voldemort laughed again. "You can make me what I was back then, but I'm afraid my thoughts can't be faked. Or," he draws out, "you just like..."

"Shut up!" Harry cut him off decisively, feeling like he wasn't expecting anything later.Why does he always have to be said that by Voldemort?It was at the beginning, and it is still now, although the target has changed?

Sure enough, Voldemort stopped talking, and the two looked at each other less than three feet away.Harry watched him, from forehead, eyebrows, eyes to nose, lips, collarbone.Everything has changed, yet nothing seems to have changed.He thought at first he was just nostalgic, but then realized that his gaze was, in essence, almost explicit.But at the same time, he also found that the way the other party looked at him was no different from this one.

"Can't you let me sneak attack, even once?" Harry continued grimly.

"If you want, that would be great." Voldemort stretched out both hands.

Madam Pomfrey outside had heard voices inside, and knew that Harry was awake.But she also knew that Harry and their professor must have something to say.At this time, the voice disappeared, and she thought it was over, so she took a look through the open door.However, in the next second, she quickly closed the door tightly.

"Oh, Merlin!" Madam Pomfrey dared to say it when she walked to the door of the hospital, "Young people nowadays, really..." She shook her head, thinking that she was telling others when Harry woke up. , it is best to remind them again that it will take a few hours to get in.

Soon, everyone knew about it.Although most people only knew that Harry had a strange disease, they were still happy with the news of his recovery.And when Hermione and Ron knew what had happened in the past time of the seventh grade, each of them widened their eyes.

"You don't mean," Ron said with a trembling voice, "I hooked your back so many times, asked you for homework, and went to play with you... In fact, I was doing these things with Soul Piece?"

Hermione's reaction was not much better than his. "And I yelled at you! More than once!" she was terrified. "I don't know... I thought it was you... If Soul Pie told Voldemort, then he-"

"—then he'd probably give you a 'P' on Defense Against the Dark Arts?" Ron finished her off.

Harry was drinking a new, sweet-tasting drink - the twins had sent it from Diagon Alley on purpose, in the mountain of presents next to his bed - and nearly choked himself, laughing.

Hermione couldn't help rolling her eyes at Ron. "No P," she said, "Have you forgotten that we only have one exam left? The final wizard level exam, and the people from the Wizarding Examination Bureau are responsible for giving points." Although she said so, she couldn't hold back her doubts afterwards : "There are no Death Eaters there? Are there, Harry?"

Harry managed to recover and put the glass on the bedside table. "I can't say that," he purposely made a straight face, "Voldemort didn't tell me how much power he expanded during the time I don't know."

Ron started snickering, and Hermione paled.After several seconds, she said weakly: "Well, considering what I did before, it's not bad these few times."

"Obviously, you want to get straight A's in your final exam," Ron commented.Judging by Hermione's paler face, his guess was correct.

"You'll be fine, Hermione." Harry couldn't bear it. "Isn't it me who should be worried? I've missed classes for a whole school year, and when I wake up I have exams—"

This time Hermione and Ron both rolled their eyes at him. "Come on," they said in unison, "even if you fail all subjects, you will still be excellent on your report card!" Given Voldemort's character, could he have allowed that to happen?

In fact, Voldemort really can't, as can be seen from the Quidditch Academy Cup after the exam.This year's final was between Gryffindor and Ravenclaw, but the Slytherins had only one choice, and that was to stand on Gryffindor's side.

"How the hell did this happen?" Malfoy gritted his teeth.Everyone in Slytherin knows that they cannot go against the Dark Lord's wishes; but the question is, why is it that a Gryffindor captured the Dark Lord's heart?

"It can't be helped," said another Slytherin beside him, "just call it a homage to the Dark Lord." Then he muttered, "The Dark Lord and the Savior seem to be quite right, don't they?"

Not at all right!Malfoy retorted angrily in his heart.With the relationship between Ron and Harry, is it possible that their Malfoy family will be on an equal footing with those redheads in the future, or even be crushed?He doesn't want it!

On the night of the final, the entire Gryffindor College was boiling.They have won the Quidditch Cup for seven consecutive years, setting a new record since the establishment of Hogwarts.The carnival in the common room didn't end until three o'clock in the middle of the night, and even Professor McGonagall didn't come to stop them.Harry was so dazzled by the warm hugs and butterbeer that he fell asleep as soon as he was in bed.

Unsurprisingly, he once again stepped into that snow-white world.Still can't see anything around, except for a man sitting on a bench.

"Why are there chairs here?" Harry walked over and sat next to Voldemort. "Do you imagine this is a park?"

Voldemort did not answer his words. "Waiting is longer than dying."

"What did you say?" Harry wondered.But before Voldemort could speak again, he heard the long-lost voice.

"A bit late," the voice still couldn't capture the source and distance, "but still in time."

"You have appeared at last," said Voldemort quietly.

Harry turned his head to look at Voldemort, quickly grasped his hand, and immediately felt the other's grip back.

"Looks like you've all figured it out," the voice could clearly see their movements, as he seemed to start laughing, "if you know what to do, then there's no other problem, is there?"

Voldemort looked up into the void before him. "So, it wasn't a contract in the first place."

"There are only options," Harry added. "We don't have to do that, because we won't die directly. In other words, even if we die in the end, it is the result of our own choices."

"That's right." The voice replied in agreement, "You are all very sensitive. Choose to decide the world, choose to change the world. You have also seen what will happen if you make other choices."

"With every decision you make, the world is already different. So, don't ask me which world is the real thing. The present you are in is the real thing."

Both fell silent.They exchanged glances, and Harry asked, "It's the same in the new world, isn't it?"

"As long as you walk, you will know."

Harry didn't really expect to get a definite answer either. "Then I have another question. What about the others, what will happen to them?"

"Are you asking people in the seven-year world?" the voice asked softly.After getting Harry's nod in reply, he smiled again. "They have their own choices too, don't they?"

There are no more valuable answers. "Come on, Harry." Voldemort stood up, seeming to have completely forgotten about death. "If I'm not mistaken, we still have a long way to go."

Harry nodded.Walking beside Voldemort, he couldn't help but glanced around again. "Are we going to come back here?"

"Maybe, maybe not. But you know, the choices that affect the outcome don't usually happen here." The voice replied, gradually receding.

Maybe the god of death is still watching them holding hands and walking towards a new future in nothingness, but no one knows he is there.

Death is just passing from one world to another.Portraits, ghosts, curtains, soul-returning stones.Some choose to remain with the living in some form, while others never want to look back.If Harry hadn't reached out at that moment, Voldemort would have been left alone in eternal death.After all, he is just a gatekeeper, and the choice has always been in their own hands.