37

"You seem a little different."

Remus. Lupin told Eli that he had come to this conclusion after observing Eli for a while.

Half a month into the semester, he seemed to see Eli for the first time in the Gryffindor Common Room. The situation was still no better than it had been half a month before; not only in the world outside the school, but also in the school where the students were avoiding him, intentionally or not.

Lupin had been sitting in a very comfortable armchair by the fireplace, and the best circle of chairs around him was almost full. But as Eli sat down in an empty chair with the book in his hand, they both, for a few uncanny minutes, began to shout out that they had suddenly remembered something and, in a pompous performance, walked away, leaving just the two of them for a moment.

Gryffindor, fearless and always on the side of the righteous, has no tolerance for evil-nor for those rumored to have been recruited by the Dark Lord. At a time when some may be fearful and others cautious, no one wants anything to do with Eli; it's up to Eli. Smith had been a popular figure for the past few years, so they did nothing more outrageous than keep their distance from him so that they wouldn't get themselves into some sort of insoluble trouble.

From this point of view, the claim that the Gryffindors are all simpletons and brawlers is clearly arbitrary. They did not approach him, they did not harm him, it had nothing to do with the academy, and humanity's caution at the moment was always strangely consistent.

"Is that so," Eli answered him calmly, his tone light, as if he were reacting to being left out in the cold. He was clearly not longing for someone to come up to him and hold out his hand, he was not weak and did not expect to be saved.

He just methodically opened the book and said calmly, "It's been a few days again, Remus. How Are You Feeling?"

Much Better, thank you. Lupin smiled back, looked at Eli, and stared for a moment.

A few minutes later, Eli suddenly looked up a little, right into his eyes. Lupin froze for a moment and immediately tried to look away, but Eli looked at him and began to speak.

"I have a message for you from Professor mcgonagall, Remus," he said suddenly. "We're going to the office together."

"What?" Startled Lupin, who was about to ask what it was, looked at Eli for a moment, then realized he had done it on purpose.

"... Ah, yes," said Lupin, rising at once. "Shall we, uh, go?"

Uh-huh. Eli answered, put away his book quietly, and walked out of the common room with him, under the watchful eyes of others.

Of course, professor mcgonagall didn't really call for such a thing, and the two of them left the lounge and made their way up at random to the seventh floor, where they stopped next to an empty classroom. Few people come here, especially on the day off when there are no classes, and they stop in front of the open window to watch the short English autumn before them, with a few leaves from the trees blowing in from the west wind, the surface of the lake rippled slightly.

"Eli?" Lupin asked, but Eli looked out the window at the lake in the Sun.

"I thought you had something to say to me," he said quietly, "So I found an excuse to talk alone."

Lu Ping was slightly startled. On the one hand, he was surprised that Eli had discovered his idea and created an opportunity for him immediately. On the other hand...

He couldn't help but ask, "Why didn't you ask me to speak to you directly in the common room?"

"It doesn't feel like you want to," Eli said politely, the corners of his lower lip curving as he turned to look at him, "You strike me as someone who values friendship, values the opinions of others, cares about being hated, and yearns to be truly part of the community. At a time like this, if in front of other people and I talk very happy, may affect your popularity, so that people also have views on you. I think that's more or less what your concern is, and if you think wrong, please forgive me for being rude."

Stunned by his words, Lupin looked at Eli for a moment, then sighed with a slight smile.

"You've really changed, Eli," he said heartily. "The old you wouldn't have said it so directly if you'd found out."

"It's possible that my emotional intelligence and social skills have deteriorated a little because of the quiet time I've had." Eli Man laughed at himself nonchalantly. His lower lip curved into a smile as his attitude became more natural, "So What do you want to talk to me about, Remus?"

"I want..." said Lupin, after a pause, "To talk to you about you-know-who."

Eli raised his eyebrows in surprise.

"My father was an auror," said Lupin, "It was a long time ago, almost a decade ago. But his dream from school was to be an auror, to fight against the Dark Wizards, to defend his home, to do what was right in his heart. As soon as he graduated, he went to Auror headquarters, where he received three years of training. He passed the examination and became an auror. He realized his dream when he was a teenager."

"Did he change careers?" Eli asked, intrigued by what he had to say. "You Said 'was, ' Remus."

"No," said lupin, shaking his head, "Forced to make a career change, he was brilliant at his job, taking down a lot of dark wizards and dark creatures... ... which caused some resentment, and he was resented "Ten years ago, his family was targeted for revenge and suffered serious and irreversible injuries, and he had to give up his job at Auror and take his family on the road to seek medical treatment and heal permanent wounds that could never be healed."

They were both quiet for a moment. "I'm sorry," Eli said

I'm the one who wanted to say it. Lupin shook his head, the corners of his lips curved into a smile as he said, "The person who took revenge on my father is the mysterious man's subordinate. In the past twenty years, he has recruited almost all dark witches and most magical creatures. Anyone who interferes with them will be targeted. My father, my family, has never been the only victim. Similar tragedies have been happening all these years."

"He must be in a lot of pain," Eli said with a soft sigh after a while. "That sounds a little pale, but I can't think of a better way to put it."

Lupin smiled.

"I think he's not just in pain, he might be a little regretful," he said softly, "I regret not protecting my family on that day. I regret that I was so brave and fearless. Perhaps until the real tragedy of the moment, he found himself not so invincible as imagined. He felt intense pain, which may have destroyed him at one point, and which has brought him prolonged suffering for so many years and will continue to do so in the future."

Eli narrowed his eyes a little, said nothing, and heard Lupin pause for a moment, "But I don't think he regrets his decision to become an auror. That was not only his dream when he was young, but also the direction he went in after all that he had been through-i heard from his mother that he has now joined a new organization, the Order of the Phoenix, which is a nice name," she added

Eli looked up at him.

After a pause, he asked, "Why are you telling me this?"

"I don't know," said Lupin, scratching his hair, "I'm not trying to make you feel better," he said. "I don't think such a gory example will help. ... but I wanted to tell you, maybe to let you know that you're not the only one who's down on his luck I hear you-know-who is really good at cursing, and our defense against the Dark Arts class has to change professors every year because of him, and people who are against him are probably cursed by him, and it's not always good luck "But just like our defense against the dark arts teacher, there will always be those who stand up to him, who know the cost, and yet stand up to him."

"No, thank you," Eli said truthfully, "I understand what you mean, but how should I put it? If I didn't have to, or no one would want this unlucky person to really be me. If someone could take over, it would obviously be a lot easier for me."

They stood for a moment with their elbows against the windowsill, looking out side by side at the thin sunlight and the lofty sky.

"By the way," Eli said quietly, "You know, Remus, I'm pretty good at defense against the dark arts, and I've taught myself sixth grade, so I'm at least O.W.L.S."

Lupin stiffened and trembled uncontrollably. He took a deep breath and said, "I guess so, and I guess you knew that when Jaime said I had a little hairy problem last year and you raised your eyebrows in surprise."

"Something like that," said Eli, "You disappear so regularly every month that you still tell me about your father today, Remus?"

"AH, yes," whispered Lupin, taking a deep breath.

"Actually, I was still hesitating when I was in the common room." He shrugged and smiled reluctantly. He exhaled, stood up straight, and patted his shoulder.

"But you called me out," he said, "I was sure then that you had changed a little, but there was no doubt that you were the same Eli I remembered. Smith -- even now, not everyone is pulling away from you, standing by while something is not your fault, and I want you to know that even in the worst of times, friends don't Leave You. I felt this precious friendship at Hogwarts, and I hope you feel it clearly."

"Thank you, Remus," Eli said, smiling softly after a brief pause.

"I feel much better now," he said. "Don't worry, I know that after everything I've been through, you can't expect me to be as positive as I used to be, but I know what I'm doing."

They ended the friendly conversation and walked together to the Gryffindor Common Room. On the next floor I met Jaime and Siris, Sardinia, who had actually just come out of professor mcgonagall's office -- they were experimenting with their new invention in a history of magic class, a colorless, odorless gas that was refreshing, but a little more than expected. The room was engulfed in a yellowish haze and smelled like a weasel, except for Professor Binns, the whole classroom was taken down by the two of them.

Professor mcgonagall was so angry that he grounded them for half a month, called them into his office and gave them a good scolding. When they came out, both of them looked like they had been badly beaten up, but when they came out, they saw them, immediately visible to the naked eye of the spirit up.

"Remus! Eli!" He waved cheerfully at them, and just as he was about to say something, a group of Slytherin's third-graders came up from the other end of the hall, including Regulus.

They spot each other at the same time. Siris, Sardinia looks at his brother, retracts his gaze, and doesn't react.

To their surprise, Regulus suddenly opened his mouth and began to speak.

"There you are, Eli," he said, taking two steps this way. "I just got back from the library, and I couldn't find you there."

Not today. Eli simply said, turning back to his gryffindor classmates nodded: "Something to go first, see you later."

Lupin, Jaime, and Sirius were stunned.

"Are you going with them?" Asked Jaime incredulously, looking at him as if he had suddenly grown three heads. "A bunch of Slytherin?"

Siris, Sardinia shifted his gaze from Eli's face to Regulus's and, several times, narrowed his eyes.

"What are you guys talking about?" He asked in a strange tone. The corners of his lips twitched. He couldn't say whether it was sarcasm or inexplicable. "Voldemort's meeting with the lucky audience is a peer-to-peer sharing session?"

Regulus glanced faintly at his brother and said nothing. Eli didn't either. He waved to them again and turned to walk toward Regulus. Slytherin's students watched him approach quietly, without resistance or rejection, like a drop of rain falling into a lake.

Lupin did not speak. He stared at Eli's face. His face was calm and his feet steady. The thin sunlight from the corridor window cut his face in half, and he walked away until he was gone, the three of them remained where they were, looking at each other in bewilderment, unable to say a word.