Harry stared at the thing in a daze.

"A stag? Is that your Patronus?" Ron exclaimed in astonishment. He looked around, then as if he had thought of something, he took a breath and said, "Could it be - could it be that someone used a time turner? Did we use a time turner!?"

"No, I don't think so." Harry said half-certainly and half-doubtfully, "It's not a stag, but... it's some other creature with horns."

At this time, Hermione pulled his sleeve and said in surprise, "Harry! Ron! Look over there, that, that's -"

They looked in the opposite direction of the castle and saw a small, blurry gray figure in the gap of the cast iron gate.

"... Dumbledore?" Ron's eyes bulged.

"No," Harry said excitedly, although he didn't know why. "It's Aberforth. Let's go!" He jumped down the slope halfway up, at a very fast speed.

While running, some vague ideas took shape in his mind. Maybe Aberforth knew something about Voldemort's wand... If Headmaster Dumbledore really intended to give it to Snape, it must be related to him.

Harry thought anxiously. Until now, he still knew nothing about how to get rid of the soul fragments in his body.

At the door of the cast iron gate, Harry and Aberforth faced each other. "Boy, is it you?" Aberforth shouted angrily. He suspected that his patronus had sent the message to the wrong person.

"It's me." Harry panted and said. A complicated feeling surged in his heart. He knew what the old man had experienced.

"Something?" Aberforth said impatiently. At this time, Ron and Hermione ran over breathlessly.

"Well," Harry racked his brains, "We just saw you... your patronus, the big guy with horns..."

"Goat, yes, goat." Aberforth said absent-mindedly, and his blue eyes, like Dumbledore's, looked towards the castle.

"You're looking for Headmaster Dumbledore, right?" Harry suddenly understood Aberforth's purpose. "Unfortunately, I don't know how to open the door. There's a protective spell cast near Hogwarts..." As a result, his words were like stirring up a hornet's nest.

"I don't want to go in, not at all, understand!" Aberforth suddenly roared, and Harry and the other two were shocked. "This place makes me feel sick. I can't believe he would do this! After what happened!"

"Mr. Dumbledore? You--" Hermione said nervously.

"Don't call me that!" Aberforth roared, "I--Ariana--" He gasped violently, his eyes widened terribly, and his wand sprayed clusters of flames, as if he could kill people at any time.

The three people who were only separated by a door were stunned.

After a moment, Aberforth calmed down himself.

"Mind your own business, sister Qiangfu Gong!

" "But," Harry mustered up his courage, "if you don't like it here, why did you come? And you're also spending the holiday with... Headmaster Dumbledore. "

The muscles on Aberforth's face trembled.

"You want to know? Because my despicable brother threatened me and forced me to make a choice... Look, he's coming." He said viciously. Harry turned his head suddenly, and Headmaster Dumbledore suddenly appeared not far away, striding towards them.

"Principal Dumbledore." Harry whispered, he felt ashamed, perhaps he had mistakenly entered the conflict between the Dumbledore brothers, or perhaps he did not defend him decisively. Dumbledore just

nodded slightly and said, "You go back first."

So Harry and the other two hurried away, not daring to breathe. They walked a distance, Harry turned his head and looked back, Headmaster Dumbledore had his back to them, and he couldn't see his expression; but every wrinkle on Aberforth's face was full of disgust, he shouted:

"You win, Albus. I promise you, the memory is yours, for, for Aryan..."

"Where do you think Dumbledore's brother got so angry? He looks like he's about to explode—" Ron said impatiently as Harry and the other two climbed up the white stone steps, crossed the hall, and saw the spiral staircase.

"Shh." Harry was about to reply when Hermione interrupted, carefully pointing into the distance.

Mafalda was standing under the huge bulletin board. She was holding a piece of cardboard in her hand and looking up to talk to Peeves, as if she was interviewing him. "Mr. Peeves, can you tell me about the prank you are most proud of?"

"You've found the right person!" Peeves said with a smile. He floated in the air, trying his best to put on a thinking expression, and kept turning a clown hat with his fingers.

"Don't alarm them." Harry whispered immediately, and he led Ron and Hermione to slow down and climb the spiral staircase.

"Her business has expanded to ghosts?" Ron said incredulously. "Peeves is not a ghost. "Hermione retorted subconsciously, but Harry didn't say anything. He was not interested in the business scope of Peeves and the "Riddle Wall" tabloid. He just wanted to go back to the common room and sort out his thoughts.

Harry quickened his pace and took two steps at a time. When he was about to reach the second floor, there was a chaotic noise downstairs

. "...Of course, the most proud prank is this one!" Peeves' excited shout came from below, followed by a "crackling" sound like raindrops.

"Chalk head," Ron stopped and said firmly, "Mafalda is in trouble now."

But then there was a rapid chanting of spells downstairs - "Vadiwasi! Lock the tongue and throat!" Peeves' "woooo" voice followed closely, "Mr. Peeves, I came prepared..." Harry and the other two went up another floor, and Mafalda's proud voice became weak and finally disappeared.

"I will look at Mafalda with a new eye." Ron said admiringly.

"Harry, have you thought of anything? "Hermione asked. They slowed down their pace and she looked up and down the stairs and in the corridors on both sides for a while. She didn't see anyone else.

"A little bit," said Harry, who was sitting on the stairs. "The gifts Snape received, the unusual behavior of Headmaster Dumbledore, and Aberforth's anger... Oh, they also mentioned Ariana. These must be related, and--" He paused, "I think it has something to do with me."

Ron stared at the portraits on the wall uneasily. Some of the portraits opened their eyes quietly, and he waved his wand threateningly. "Don't try to eavesdrop. Get out of here." The portrait left the frame with a curse.

"You-are-the-prefect." Hermione said to Ron angrily.

"Yes, I am a prefect," Ron said. "This place is really nice. We can hear footsteps when someone comes over."

Hermione ignored him, cast a whispering spell nearby, turned to Harry angrily and said, "Now that you mention it, I've also noticed something unusual. Although we've long known that Headmaster Dumbledore and his brother don't get along, since Aberforth is a member of the Order of the Phoenix, it means that the relationship between the two has eased, but now they..."

"Like enemies." Harry nodded.

"Could it be that our headmaster did something?" Ron said, "You heard it too, Aberforth is quite repulsive to the name 'Dumbledore', it must be related to the headmaster."

Harry thought Ron hit the nail on the head.

"He even developed a disgust for the school."

"Wait, Harry, listen to this:" Hermione said slowly, "I can't believe he actually did this, after what happened... This is what Aberforth said at the time, remember?"

"Hermione, you're just repeating my point. This once again proves that Aberforth's attitude is related to Headmaster Dumbledore." Ron pointed out.

"No, no, there is a subtle difference." Hermione pondered, "After 'those things' happened, what do you think it refers to?" She did not leave time for an answer, but continued, "I think it was the tragedy, Harry, you told us..."

The death of Ariana - an accident caused by the duel between Dumbledore, Grindelwald, and Aberforth.

Gu�a

"Think about it, the tragedy has been over for nearly a century, but now it has been dug up again by Aberforth. Something must have stimulated him, and it is related to the tragedy itself."

"Memory." Harry suddenly said breathlessly, "Aberforth mentioned memory at the end. I guess Dumbledore wants to ask for his brother's memory."

Hermione was stunned.

"But why?"

"Because of the Resurrection Stone," Harry said very weakly as he sat on the steps. He felt that he had guessed the truth. "Dumbledore has the Resurrection Stone, yes, it is one of the Deathly Hallows in your impression. Its function is to recall the projection of the deceased in the memory of the living. Dumbledore should want to obtain the precious memory of his brother. After all, there are only two people left in the Dumbledore family."

"How do you know?" Ron asked in surprise. He carefully observed Harry's expression. "You knew this a long time ago? Then why did you follow us to the Chamber of Secrets to find the Resurrection Stone-"

"I guess it was Headmaster Dumbledore who asked Harry to keep it secret, right?" Hermione stared at Harry and asked. Harry nodded silently. Hermione continued, "So Dumbledore's behavior of asking for memories is not surprising. After all, Ariana has a closer relationship with Aberforth and her memory is more accurate. But this should be a good thing for Aberforth. Why is he angry?"

"Wait, I don't understand yet," Ron protested, "You skipped a key step. What's the use of these memories?"

Harry opened his mouth, but Hermione spoke first, "Classroom 7."

Harry stared at her in surprise.

"Why? Don't you think so?" Hermione asked in surprise.

"I thought... Dumbledore wanted to resurrect his sister..." Harry muttered.

"That's impossible, Harry," Hermione said fiercely, "How many times do I have to say it? Magic can't bring people back to life, at least not in the way you want. Because the conditions are simply not met. Dead wizards either become ghosts, or their souls enter the world of the dead and continue on."

"Oh, so you think Dumbledore wants to extract the memories of the two people, and then use the power of the Resurrection Stone to let Ariana live in Classroom 7 in some way, just like those memories?" Ron understood.

"I think so," Hermione said, "This should be the method with the highest success rate, but I don't think Dumbledore should do this. He should be smart enough to distinguish between real and fake."

"What are you talking about?" Harry asked sensitively.

"Do you think ghosts are living people? And magical portraits?" Hermione asked back in a rapid-fire manner, "They do have the wisdom of living people in some aspects, but if you really treat them as living people, you will definitely be disappointed, and even the closer you get, the more desperate you will be."

Harry felt uncomfortable after hearing this.

He thought of the second brother in the "Legend of the Three Brothers". In the story, the second brother got the resurrection stone from the god of death and used it to recall the projection of his lover, but he was not happy. Did he also realize this problem? The projection of memory is different from the real person after all, so he finally lost all hope and chose to commit suicide?

"You are just guessing." He said stiffly.

"We are all guessing." Hermione said.

"Okay, stop arguing, someone is coming up." Ron glanced down and said.

They stood up and continued to go upstairs. At this time, Hermione was still thinking about Aberforth's strange attitude: "Is it because he recognized the truth that he refused to hand over his memory? He thinks that Headmaster Dumbledore did something wrong, or even blasphemed the dead? I always feel that something is wrong, maybe something has been overlooked..." "

Aberforth finally compromised. That's why he came today." Ron said.

"Oh--"

Hermione suddenly screamed, and Harry and Ron followed her gaze and saw Snape gliding over like a huge black bat.

"Why are you here?" Harry asked blankly.

Snape looked at them coldly.

"I don't need to report where I appear, Potter. Five points deducted from Gryffindor for talking back to the teacher." He dragged his long robes and looked down at Ron and Hermione. "Two more points deducted for not stopping it as a prefect."

"What bad luck. It's as if he was waiting here to deduct points from us." When Snape left, Ron muttered dissatisfiedly.

"I think he just came out of the Defense Against the Dark Arts classroom." Hermione whispered.

"What? Oh, yes." Harry suddenly realized, "I always thought he was still in the basement. But he should be sharing a classroom with Professor Bagshot now. No wonder I saw him several times in the corridor on the fourth floor..."

"He is now the professor of Defense Against the Dark Arts, although only one." Ron sighed, "But we can look forward to it a little. Let's make a bet on whether we can see him next year. Well, to be fair, I think Snape has the advantage. Professor Bagshot is a newcomer, and he clearly said that he will only teach for one year..."

"Wait, what did you say just now?" Hermione asked suddenly.

Ron looked at her strangely.

"…Only one year?"

"You just said that Professor Bagshot is a newcomer." Hermione said slowly: "If Aberforth is opposed to a certain practice of Dumbledore, and this practice is clearly related to their sister who died young, then what else could it be except memory?"

...

Late at night, the light in the headmaster's office was very dim.

"You should think about it carefully, Severus, you are the most suitable candidate." Dumbledore said softly, using the faint moonlight to identify the figure not far away.

Snape stood in front of the window with a stiff expression, like a statue.

"Are you sure, Dumbledore?"

"I am very sure that my physical condition is not as good as yours. Now is the best time." Dumbledore smiled in the dark, "I have to say, I am very lucky, Severus. When I need you, I have you by my side."

Snape shook his head irritably and walked around in the spacious round room.

"You want me to be undercover again, huh? Dumbledore!" He roared in a low voice.

"Not an undercover agent. You know what I'm talking about. Just some necessary preparations." Dumbledore said in a relaxed tone, "You are a good person, Severus, even though you have done wrong things before." A

long silence.

"I may not do what you want. I may betray you right away." Snape said threateningly.

"It is an option, Severus, but I believe you will make the right judgment." Dumbledore said trustingly with a happy spark in his eyes.

Snape stared at Dumbledore. The two stared at each other, one with a frown and the other with a smile. After an unknown amount of time, Snape compromised. He raised his wand and pointed it directly at Dumbledore:

"Expelliarmus!"

The Elder Wand flew out of his hand in an instant.