Harry Potter and the Great Old Ones

Chapter 592 Balance
“No, no, no,” Harry denied. “This, this can’t be! I can’t be him.”

Harry roared in despair, then stood up angrily and uneasily.

Only then did he realize that the once noisy tavern had become quiet.

In the corner, Ginny stopped her French kiss with Dean Thomas; Professor Horace Slughorn stood not far from their table, holding a cup of lemon green tea, looking bewildered; Luna Lovegood, Neville Longbottom, and Simon Finnigan, who were also sheltering from the blizzard, all looked at Harry with incomprehension, as if they couldn't understand why Harry had suddenly become so furious.

Harry realized his predicament, grabbed his coat from the back of the chair, and ran out of the pub.

Because Harry pulled off his coat too forcefully, his chair was pulled along and slammed hard onto the floor with an annoying "bang."

"Harry!" Hermione called out, wanting to follow, but as she stood up, someone grabbed her wrist.

"I'll go." Tierra sighed softly, then slowly released Hermione's hand.

“He’ll have to face all of this sooner or later.” Tiera stood up and waved at the table. The notes and manuscripts he had spread out on the table seemed to shrink back as if they had a mind of their own and flew into Tiera’s large wizard’s robe.

Then Tierra jogged a few steps and also ran out of the Warm Honey Duke.

"Um, Harry, what's wrong, Harry?" Horace Slughorn hesitated for a moment before approaching the table where Ron and Hermione were, as if he had made up his mind, and asked with concern.

"Oh, no, nothing," Hermione denied. "It's just... Harry's a little... a little agitated. He should be alright; Tyella has already gone to comfort him."

“Oh, alright.” Horace Slughorn put on his amiable smile again, and then said to Hermione, “Oh, Miss Granger, we’re planning to have another small gathering sometime next weekend, around October 27th. Do you have time?”

“Of course, of course, sir,” Hermione replied politely. “I really look forward to your parties. Ever since the last one ended, I’ve been wondering when you’ll host another one.”

Hermione gave a very polite smile.

“Very good, I mean wonderful, Miss Granger,” Horace Slughorn said cheerfully. “Could you please also pass on the invitation to Mr. Potter and Tyella?”

“Yes, sir,” Hermione said.

After saying that, Horace Slughorn waved his hand like an emperor, and then, like a penguin with his big belly, he waddled out of the shop. Similarly, he did not notice Ron sitting next to Hermione, as if he had always been a decoration next to the cockroach balls.

“Oh my goodness!” Hermione exclaimed, rolling her eyes once Horace Slughorn was far enough away. “You simply can’t believe how boring Horace’s parties are. A bunch of people sitting around a round table, awkwardly talking about their parents, their uncles, their aunts, and oh, look—there are some fancy sugar quills in the shop—and they last forever!”

Seemingly noticing Ron's increasingly displeased expression, Hermione's voice shifted, immediately steer the conversation towards a cleverly placed candy toy behind Ron.

“Let’s go,” Ron said. “Let’s go find Tierra and Harry.”

“Oh, oh, okay, okay.” Hermione was happy to leave the crowded and increasingly awkward Honeydukes. “You… when did you find out?”

After leaving Honeydukes, Harry started wandering around in the blizzard.

But he didn't wander around for long—

Before the cold weather could even dissipate the warmth from the hot drink he had just consumed, a portal of light suddenly appeared in front of him, and Tiera emerged from it.

"When did you find out?" Harry questioned him once.

“Second year,” Tierra said. “To be precise, at the end of second year, when I was freed from petrification and returned to my Gryffindor dorm, you hugged me.”

“Your touch gave me the same feeling as Ravenclaw’s crown.”

"Then why didn't you tell me?" Harry asked, somewhat angrily. He felt as if the hot drink he had just drunk had turned into a hot current rushing straight to his brain.

“A piece of Voldemort’s soul was attached to your body when you were one year old.” Tierra did not answer directly, but continued, “It grew with your soul, it was like another soul rooted in your body.”

"It's just that because it's a fragment of a soul, and you are a complete soul, your body can be dominated by you. So all Voldemort's soul fragment can do is give you Parsleyan speech, give you superb dark magic talent, and steal your thoughts with ease."

“He cannot possess your body, nor can he be resurrected within it. At least not for now,” Tiera said.

"W-what do you mean, what do you mean by 'temporary'?" Harry asked in horror.

“As long as he lives, as long as he has a physical body, as long as he isn’t a ghost, as long as his main soul doesn’t merge with the fragments of your soul, he won’t be resurrected in you,” Tierra said. “That’s why I had the chance and the ability to kill Voldemort on the day of the Ministry of Magical War.”

“I’m afraid that once he’s freed from the constraints of his own body, he’ll be resurrected inside you,” Tierra said. “Voldemort is in a very good state right now. He’s like a rat in the gutter, lurking in the shadows, quietly causing trouble.”

“But, but, but his soul fragments…” Harry couldn’t finish his sentence. He felt nauseous. Now Harry suddenly understood how Ron felt at the end of his third year when he suddenly learned that the mouse he had raised for more than ten years was actually Peter Pettigrew.

"Tierra, could you... help me expel Voldemort's soul from his body?" Harry asked, barely suppressing his nausea.

"I'm very sorry, there's nothing I can do right now," Tierra said with a regretful expression.

“To be precise, I currently have no way to remove Voldemort’s soul without harming you. That fragment of Voldemort’s soul has been in your body since you were one year old. After so many years of growth, it has taken root in your body and formed a very mysterious connection with your own soul,” Tierra sighed. “Unless you are also willing to forge a Horcrux, or are prepared to give up this body.”

“But don’t be afraid, Harry,” Tierra said, raising her hand and gently stroking Harry’s head. “While I can’t remove Voldemort’s soul fragments, I can make sure he doesn’t affect you anymore.”

(End of this chapter)