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Chapter 670 You Brainwashed Us!!
A few days after Christmas, Harry and the others lined up to return to school by Floo powder.
In order to ensure the safety of students, Hogwarts had specially opened this method.
Mrs. Weasley kept crying.
Ever since Percy had come and gone that day, she had been in low spirits.
Now she had to face parting from Darren again.
She hugged Harry and the others one by one before they finally reached him.
She kissed him on the cheek and choked out, "You must stay safe, alright? We all have to stay alive and well!"
"I'll do my best to survive, and you must take care too!"
Darren hugged Mrs. Weasley tightly.
Then he stepped into the fire.
They arrived in Professor McGonagall's office.
Just like on the first day Darren had entered Hogwarts, she was still there marking homework. When she saw him appear, a smile immediately formed on her face.
"How was the holiday?"
"Not bad!"
Professor McGonagall nodded, then quietly slipped him a piece of chocolate.
"Go on, child. I imagine your friends miss you. Oh, and here's a letter from Dumbledore for you."
Darren opened it.
Sure enough, the next lesson was scheduled for eight o'clock the following evening.
The next morning.
The new term finally began.
And the sixth-year students received good news.
They would be learning Apparition.
As they signed the consent forms, Romilda Vane suddenly covered Ron's eyes.
"Dear Ronnie, guess who I am?"
Ron's hormones seemed to surge instantly.
The two of them stuck together again like glue.
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Eight o'clock that evening.
Harry and Darren arrived in Dumbledore's office on time.
Dumbledore greeted them with a smile.
"I heard you told off the Minister at Christmas?"
Darren immediately looked guilty.
"Did that cause you trouble? I'm sorry, I should have—"
[Ding, Father +100]
[Ding, Father +100]
Dumbledore hurriedly interrupted him.
"Oh, Darren, you're overthinking it. I'm not in any trouble. Rufus has no way to do anything to me, and frankly he doesn't like me much anyway.
Before Fudge left office last year, he wanted to meet you, but after your accident I had no mood to entertain him.
Then Rufus took over, and he also wanted the two of you to help him, but I refused again.
I didn't expect that by Christmas he would personally go to block you."
"He said you brainwashed us!"
Harry blurted out.
"How rude."
"Darren told him we were Dumbledore's people through and through!"
Dumbledore looked deeply at Darren.
His throat tightened slightly.
He seemed to want to laugh, yet couldn't quite manage it.
Only when Fawkes let out a clear soft cry did he finally whisper, "Darren, thank you… thank you for trusting me so firmly after everything that has happened."
Darren smiled a little awkwardly.
He asked as if puzzled, "Everything that happened… but you didn't do any of it!"
[Ding, Father +100]
[Ding, Father +100]
Dumbledore shook his head and changed the subject.
"So, today we—"
Harry interrupted him.
"Headmaster, you know about Snape and Malfoy…"
"I do, and it is Professor Snape."
Harry nodded impatiently.
"You know about them, so what do you think?"
"I understand what you mean, but I trust Professor Snape."
"But—"
"Enough. Listen to me."
Dumbledore sounded slightly irritated.
"Thank goodness for my exceptional intelligence—I understand every word you've said perfectly. But I still trust him. Now, let us begin the lesson."
Dumbledore then began to speak about Voldemort's time at school.
During this, Harry kept glaring at Dumbledore.
He was clearly still angry that Dumbledore refused to treat his suspicions about Snape seriously.
So when Dumbledore concluded—
"Beneath a handsome exterior, no one would imagine he was a bad boy…"
Harry shot back sarcastically, "Is that why you suspected Darren when he first came to school?"
Dumbledore nodded without denying it.
"They were very similar—handsome, gifted, Sorted into Slytherin, increasingly admired.
Of course, Darren is different. He has—"
Harry interrupted coldly.
"He has love. I know what you mean. You always say love is the greatest power, but I don't understand it at all!
Instead he keeps getting hurt because of this so-called love. Sometimes I wish he didn't have it!"
Harry said angrily.
Darren wanted to explain.
But Dumbledore stopped him.
He spoke gently. "Harry, Voldemort has no love. He never gave love to anyone, nor received it.
Darren is different. He loved us first, and we returned that love. That is the difference between him and Voldemort."
"I still don't get it…"
"One day you will."
Dumbledore said softly.
Then he stood up.
He took out a small bottle and poured the memories inside into the Pensieve.
"This memory took me a long time to obtain—shortly before Morfin died. Let us take a look first."
Dumbledore led Harry and Darren into the Pensieve.
It took Darren a moment to recognize that this filthy place was the Gaunt house.
It was even dirtier and more chaotic than before.
The floor was almost impossible to step on.
"Who are you!"
Morfin suddenly jumped up.
Darren knew he wasn't speaking to them, but to the other uninvited guest—Tom Riddle.
Clearly, this Tom Riddle looked about the same age as Darren and Harry.
Roughly sixteen.
He approached Morfin and asked in Parseltongue, "Where is Marvolo?"
"Dead!"
"How did he die?"
"In Azkaban."
"And who are you?"
"His son!"
Morfin's expression grew more and more impatient.
He hated being questioned like this.
Especially as Tom Riddle's face began to look more familiar to him.
"You look like old Tom… but he's much older than you, haha, he came back, you know?
He abandoned my sister, she deserved it, marrying trash… she even stole our locket, the locket! Where is the Slytherin locket!"
Morfin roared.
At that moment the memory suddenly went dark.
Dumbledore pulled them back to reality.
"Clearly, the memory ends there. After this, the Ministry received a report that the entire Riddle family had been killed, and only Morfin was present.
He confessed to the murders, declaring he had long wanted to kill Tom's family, and so he was sentenced to life imprisonment."