"Once the Horcruxes are gone, Voldemort will be merely a mortal with a damaged soul."
Dumbledore immediately provided the conclusion with his first sentence, but then added.
"But we must not forget that even though his soul is irreparably broken, his mind and magical power remain.
So, at any time, when dealing with a powerful wizard like Voldemort, we cannot let our guard down.
Moreover, Sybill's prophecy also said he would be more powerful and more terrible than before."
Dumbledore answered Harry's final question.
With that, today's tasks were finally complete.
Dumbledore put away the Pensieve again, organized everything, and led Sherlock and Harry out of his private property outside the school.
Just as they left the cottage, he suddenly said as if remembering something.
"By the way, I hope only the three of us know about today's events."
Harry's expression was somewhat awkward.
It seemed Ron's words still had lasting influence even now.
Sherlock just shrugged. "I already told Hermione and Ron about the Horcruxes last time."
"Of course, I believe Mr. Weasley and Miss Granger have proven themselves trustworthy."
Dumbledore looked at Sherlock and Harry and coughed.
"So, I hope you can ask them not to tell anyone else about these matters.
If word gets out and people learn how much we know or suspect about Voldemort's secrets, I'm afraid that would be unfortunate."
"Ha, people who tremble at the mere mention of Voldemort's name probably don't have the courage to hear his secrets—all right, all right, don't look at me like that. I'll pass it on to them."
Although Sherlock appeared rather nonchalant, Dumbledore knew that once Sherlock promised something, he would definitely follow through, so he felt reassured.
Next, Dumbledore sent them both back to Number 12 Grimmauld Place.
Sirius quickly came out.
After glancing at the smiling Dumbledore, a look of surprise appeared on his face.
"Looks like you had good results today?"
"To be precise, very fruitful."
Dumbledore smiled at Sirius, then immediately Disapparated.
At Harry and Sirius's invitation, Sherlock didn't return home immediately but stayed at Number 12 Grimmauld Place for a few days.
As Sirius had said, after some cleaning, the place was much cleaner and tidier than before.
This also greatly improved Harry's mood.
Of course, that wasn't the key point.
The key was that after just a few days at Number 12 Grimmauld Place, Sherlock brought Harry a huge surprise.
He found a letter.
It was a letter that even Sirius himself had forgotten.
Dear Padfoot.
First, thank you for the birthday present you sent Harry!
It's become his favorite toy.
At just one year old, he's already able to fly around on the toy broom—he looks so happy.
I'm enclosing a photo for you to see.
Although the little broom you sent can only go two feet off the ground, he's mischievous and nearly killed a cat.
Not only that, but he also smashed a horrible vase Petunia gave us for Christmas (which is no great loss).
Of course, James thinks it's wonderful and says the boy will become a Quidditch star in the future.
But for safety's sake, we had to put away all the ornaments and keep watching him while he flies.
On Harry's first birthday, we had a very quiet birthday tea party.
Only old Bathilda was there with us. She's been very good to us and especially dotes on Harry.
It's a shame you couldn't come, but Order business comes first.
And Harry is too young to really understand it's his birthday.
Being cut off from the outside world makes James a bit despondent, though he tries to hide it, but I can tell.
Dumbledore also took his Invisibility Cloak, which completely eliminates any possibility of him going on outings.
I think if you could visit, he'd be much more spirited.
Wormtail did come by last weekend. I thought he looked a bit listless too, probably because of the news about the McKinnons.
After hearing that unfortunate news, I cried all night.
Bathilda comes by almost every day, often telling us old anecdotes about Dumbledore.
To be honest, I don't know how much to believe, since those things seem too incredible to attribute to Dumbledore. I just wonder if he'd be pleased to hear them...
Clearly, this letter was written by Harry's mother, Lily, specifically for Sirius.
From the letter's content, it was clear that on Harry's first birthday, Sirius had given Harry a miniature broomstick.
When Sherlock handed this letter and a photograph to Harry, Harry felt immense joy.
In the photograph, one-year-old Harry was sitting on a small broom, zooming in and out of the frame, laughing happily.
There was also a pair of legs, presumably James's, chasing after him.
"There's another page, Sherlock. My mother's words aren't finished. There's another page?"
"I'm afraid not."
Sherlock said calmly, "During Sirius's twelve years in Azkaban, it may have been lost."
The absence of the letter's second half inevitably made Harry feel some regret.
But overall, he was still as happy as his one-year-old self in the photograph.
This was the first time he had seen his mother's handwriting.
He was surprised and delighted to discover that his mother Lily wrote the letter "g" in exactly the same way he did—this was probably hereditary.
As for the missing second half of the letter, it didn't matter much, because Sirius himself was here. He could just ask him.
"How wonderful!"
When Harry brought the letter to find Sirius, he said rather emotionally, "I had even forgotten about this.
Like Harry, he looked at the letter and photograph over and over several times, then told them about what happened at that time.
At that point, Dumbledore had already received Snape's warning that Voldemort intended to go after Harry, so he secretly protected the Potter family.
James and Lily took Harry to Godric's Hollow and lived an isolated life.
This was naturally somewhat difficult to endure for the free-spirited James.
Sirius Black, as James's best friend, was naturally also targeted by Voldemort and the Death Eaters and had to go into hiding.
Under these circumstances, the two could only communicate through letters.
Yet he still sent the one-year-old Harry a miniature broomstick.
This was also Harry's favorite gift.
At just one year old, before he could even walk, he was already riding the broomstick around the room, even breaking the vase Petunia had given Lily.
It could be said that Harry had already demonstrated his talent for flying at that time.
James had hit the nail on the head—without any Quidditch training, Harry had been exceptionally admitted to the house team, becoming the youngest Seeker in a century and a Quidditch star throughout Hogwarts.
As for Dumbledore taking James's Invisibility Cloak, Sirius hadn't understood why at the time.
Now he certainly knew—it was to prevent him from secretly sneaking out wearing the Invisibility Cloak.
"Dumbledore was being completely unnecessary."
Sirius said somewhat indignantly.
"James, having a family, was no longer as carefree as before.
He was a very responsible person who would never risk his wife and child.
You must have heard the name Bathilda Bagshot. She's the author of your textbook 'A History of Magic' and was very good friends with James and Lily.
She's still alive and also lives in Godric's Hollow. As for that cat—I suppose it probably left because no one was feeding it anymore.
As for the second page of the letter, it was about—"
At this point, Sirius suddenly paused.
"What was it about? Tell me!"
Involving his parents, Harry became anxious immediately.
However, Sirius remained silent.
"It was about Dumbledore. I think it was probably Dumbledore offering to be Harry's parents' Secret-Keeper, but Harry's father preferred you, right?"
Sherlock being able to directly state the letter's content no longer surprised Sirius.
He nodded silently. "You're right, Sherlock. That's exactly what it was.
I was a fool. If I had persuaded James to agree to Dumbledore at that time and let him be the Secret-Keeper, they wouldn't have—"
"It's not your fault."
Although he had been very excited when seeing his mother's handwritten letter, Harry was clearly better able to face his parents' accidental deaths than Sirius at this moment.
"You don't need to blame yourself excessively. You weren't wrong, and Professor Dumbledore wasn't wrong either. The ones at fault are Voldemort and the Death Eaters who followed him, Peter Pettigrew, and—"
Harry ultimately didn't say Snape's name.
You couldn't blame Harry for struggling with this.
Anyone else in his position probably wouldn't be able to move past this issue so quickly either.
You see, Snape had been a Death Eater from the beginning.
When he overheard part of Professor Trelawney's prophecy and realized it concerned Voldemort, he told his master.
From a Death Eater's perspective, this was a completely normal operation.
Enemies, after all, should be dealt with as thoroughly as possible.
But when Snape discovered Voldemort had identified Harry as the child in the prophecy, he immediately regretted it.
As Dumbledore had said, although his nature was selfish and initially he was only concerned with protecting Lily.
But after being reprimanded by Dumbledore and seeing Lily's love for her child, he ultimately abandoned his stance and resolutely defected, serving as Dumbledore's spy.
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