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Chapter 422: On the Right Path
Chapter 422: On the Right Path
Voldemort's impotent rage did not stir any emotional response in Sherlock.
At that moment, he was quietly observing Voldemort's possession of Harry, holding the crown in his hand, lost in thought.
Under the tense gazes of Professor Mcgonagall, Snape, and Lily, Sherlock suddenly extended his finger and lightly tapped Voldemort's head. Voldemort immediately fell unconscious.
Sherlock stood up and, with a serious expression, said to Snape and the others:
"If this were a normal situation, I would have no way to deal with Harry's current condition. The connection between him and Voldemort is deep, and under the influence of the Horcrux, Harry's soul has become entangled with Voldemort's residual spirit. This is likely why Voldemort's spirit appeared in Harry after Voldemort's death."
Snape and the others held their breath, knowing that Sherlock had more to say.
"But by his own cleverness, Voldemort took this golden crown from the Room of Requirement, which actually gives us an opportunity."
Sherlock raised the Ravenclaw Crown in his hand.
"Voldemort's Horcrux can provide me with a significant boost for a short period. Given my current state and the recent improvements, I should have a chance to control Voldemort's spirit and separate it from Harry's body."
Snape's face did not improve much, and he asked with a grim expression:
"What do you mean by 'a chance'?"
"Exactly what it sounds like. I attempted this yesterday afternoon, but it failed, and I couldn't separate Voldemort's spirit from his body. Harry's condition is not much better now, so I can only try, with no guarantee of success."
"What if it doesn't work?"
Sherlock turned his gaze to Harry, who lay on the ground.
"Harry's life is indeed bound to Voldemort. Killing Harry would mean killing him. Conversely, if Voldemort dies within Harry's body, Harry will also have no chance of survival. If it doesn't work, I will temporarily abandon the attempt and stabilize the situation. Then, we can look for other solutions."
As he finished speaking, he did not look at Snape but instead focused on Lily, whose form had become as ethereal as a bubble.
"Even if Harry's problem is dire, we can still find a way to solve it, but you don't have much time left."
Sherlock's words made Snape, who had already been suspicious of Lily's changes, suddenly alert.
"What's wrong with Lily?"
Sherlock's voice was calm but tinged with a hint of melancholy.
"She is not Lily's true soul. I told you before that the spell I sent her was just an experiment. Even if it succeeded, it only captured a fragment of Lily's soul. You can consider it a variant of a Horcrux."
"Harry is the soil in which she resides, but if her broken soul is like a wilting flower, then Harry's soil is limited. Now that Voldemort's residual spirit has forced its way in, it has uprooted her spirit. As you can see, without the soil, she cannot exist in this world for much longer."
Snape, unable to believe what he was seeing, turned to look at the almost completely ethereal Lily. His eyes, filled with bloodshot, stared at Sherlock, his voice becoming hoarse and agitated.
"Can't I be the one to provide the soil, Sherlock? You have a way, right? To let Lily continue living by relying on my body."
Sherlock silently shook his head under Snape's desperate gaze.
"Besides the fact that there's no defensive magic to establish a connection between you and Lily, it would be like having soil that is just dry and barren. Even in terms of being a close relative, you don't fit the criteria. So, I'm sorry, Severus. It's not that I don't want to help you, but you should cherish the time you have now. I need to prepare for Harry's well-being."
While Snape was in despair, Sherlock and the others remained silent. However, Lily, the one directly involved, remained remarkably calm.
She wore a gentle smile, looking at Harry lying on the ground, then shifted her gaze to Sherlock.
"Thank you, Professor Forrest, for the opportunity to be a part of Harry's growth for almost two years. Thank you for teaching and taking care of Harry in my absence, and for giving us the chance to see each other again after so many years. You've done enough for us, and Harry will continue to need your help in the future."
Sherlock waved his hand, saying nothing, but tightened his grip on the crown and crouched down in front of Harry again.
Lily also expressed her gratitude to Dumbledore and Professor Mcgonagall. Finally, she turned her gaze to Snape, who was hanging his head, his body trembling slightly, and looking utterly lost.
"I'm sorry."
Snape's voice trembled, as if he were in a cold, damp cellar, feeling no warmth at all.
"You've already apologized to me many times over the past twenty years, Severus."
Lily looked at him, her face devoid of complaint or disgust, only a warm, sunlit smile.
"You apologized to me even when we were in school, but I never said I forgave you because I didn't see any real change in you. But people do change, don't they?"
Snape didn't speak, or perhaps his mental state left him unable to form any coherent words.
"So you must remember the promise I made to Professor Slughorn that night, right?"
From some point in Lily's words, Snape felt an itch on his cheeks, and the liquid sliding from his eyes had already wet his face.
Lily's question made him sob uncontrollably, able to only murmur faintly.
"I remember."
"If one day he truly reforms, stops associating with those people, stops researching that dark magic, and focuses on the potions he loves, and even becomes a professor at Hogwarts, then he will have truly changed. At that time, I will look at him differently, and we might even be friends again."
Twenty years later, Lily, in her current form, repeated her promise to the now revealed Snape, smiling.
Lily Evans tilted her head, her face glowing with a radiant smile, just like that summer before she received her Hogwarts acceptance letter, when the boy and girl in the gloomy Spinner's End alley talked about magic and happily envisioned their future.
"Severus, as my lifelong friend both in life and in death, you must continue to walk the right path."
(End of Chapter)
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