Harry could clearly feel that something was a bit off with Sherlock and Snape today.
Professor Cavendish was still the same Professor, and Snape was still the same Snape, but there seemed to be an unspoken understanding between them that had never existed before, as if they had been getting along for a long time.
This left Harry a bit confused, and what puzzled him even more was the question Sherlock had just asked him.
Sherlock stopped keeping Harry in suspense and said with a serious expression,
"Actually, that voice you heard might not be an auditory hallucination, but something that truly exists."
Harry was no fool; he could tell what this meant.
"You—you mean... my mother, she is still alive!"
His breathing became heavy, and he asked without blinking.
He was so cautious, as if he were afraid that if he were even slightly louder, he would scare away Sherlock's affirmative answer.
However, Sherlock did not nod as Harry had hoped, but only said solemnly,
"She is still here, but it cannot be said that she is alive; rather, she is accompanying you in another way."
Harry knew nothing about the matter between Sherlock and Snape, so he didn't understand the meaning of this sentence at all.
But Sherlock didn't need him to understand; instead, he drew his wand and instructed,
"Relax, Harry. Don't be too nervous. Close your eyes, keep your breathing steady, and empty your mind—don't think about anything."
Harry certainly had no reason to be on guard against Sherlock, so he did exactly as he was told, closed his eyes, and tried hard to regulate his breathing.
Snape, standing to the side, looked impatient, but he still knew better than to interrupt them.
Sherlock also waited quietly with his wand raised. After about five minutes, when Harry's breathing had gradually become steady, he finally extended his wand, aimed it at the lightning-shaped scar on Harry's forehead—the one known to everyone in the Wizarding World—and tapped it gently, while whispering a spell that outsiders could not hear.
A faint blue glow lit up from the point where the tip of Sherlock's wand met the scar on Harry's forehead.
The blue light looked very cold, somewhat like the ghostly glow emitted by spirits at night, but Harry, as the person involved, did not feel the slightest chill.
Instead, a warmth that seemed to originate from his soul rose from the depths of his body, travelling all the way up until it emerged from his forehead, guided and pulled out by Sherlock's wand!
Snape, who was watching from the side, clearly saw that after the cold blue light lit up on Harry's forehead, it quickly gushed out from his body and then gathered and solidified in front of him.
Finally, it formed a figure that he had dreamed of and could never forget in his lifetime!
"Li... Lily..." Snape murmured the name as he looked at the Witch, who was as transparent as a ghost, floating in front of Harry and looking around in confusion.
At this moment, Harry's eyelids trembled slightly, and then he slowly opened them.
The next moment, he saw the face that usually only appeared in photographs and dreams!
Although Sherlock had prepared him in advance, Harry was still stunned, as if he had been petrified by a Basilisk. He could only subconsciously cry out in a trembling voice the term of address he had never called out to a real person before.
"Mom..."
Lily, who had been dormant in Harry's body for over a decade and had suddenly reappeared in the world, was also looking at everything in front of her in shock.
"Harry!"
Harry's body trembled as he stared at that face, his eyes welling up with tears at some point. He slowly raised his arm, wanting to touch Lily's body, but Lily was clearly not a physical entity now.
His fingers passed through the illusory body, and he could only feel a chill.
Sherlock watched this scene with a smile, his expression full of gratification. He then walked softly and silently to the door, grabbing Snape's arm along the way and forcibly pulling him out of the room.
"You just saw Lily in the past; for now, leave this time for Harry. After they finish talking, you will have plenty of opportunities to see her in the future."
Snape's expression looked a bit displeased, but he didn't say anything more.
Sherlock leaned against the wall, watched him for a long time, and suddenly asked,
"Have you already told Dumbledore everything?"
Snape didn't speak, just nodded with a calm expression.
Sherlock was not surprised by this. Although Snape was not a member of the Order of the Phoenix, he was one of Dumbledore's staunch confidants. As long as Dumbledore asked about such matters, he would not hide anything.
Looking up at the corridor ceiling for a moment, Sherlock stood up and warned Snape,
"If you don't want the current Lily to deepen her dislike for you, you'd better not go in and disturb them."
Snape didn't speak, but Sherlock knew that he understood this matter much better than he did.
He then left his office, walked along the third-floor corridor, and finally arrived at the gargoyle guarding the Headmaster's Office.
"I would like to see Professor Dumbledore."
Before Sherlock could even state his purpose, the gargoyle, as if someone had already given the word and it knew he was coming, automatically moved aside to make way for him.
Following the spiral staircase all the way up, he pushed the door open and walked into the Headmaster's Office.
The white-bearded old man, highly respected in the Wizarding World, was not busy with complicated work at this moment. Instead, he was stealing a moment of leisure, leaning back in his chair with his eyes closed, enjoying a Fizzing Whizbee with a pleased expression.
Compared to the possibility that Dumbledore was slacking off, Sherlock felt more that he was deliberately waiting for him to come.
"Professor, Snape should have already told you everything."
Without any roundabout pleasantries or probing, Sherlock got straight to the point.
Dumbledore looked at Sherlock and opened his eyes, his blue eyes appearing exceptionally bright beneath his half-moon spectacles.
He made no effort to hide the admiration in his gaze and nodded, saying,
"He told me about your experiences; you handled it very well, Sherlock. Judging from the experiences you had as recounted by Severus, I don't think anyone could have done better than you."
Sherlock was not modest either; he sat down opposite Dumbledore in a relaxed manner.
"I just did what I felt was the right choice, and I did make some small changes to the current situation."
Dumbledore blinked, and a curious expression appeared on his face.
"Severus didn't mention that to me."
"It's not that he didn't want to tell you; he just found out himself," Sherlock said calmly. "Harry is currently in my office, meeting his mother."
Dumbledore was clearly stunned by Sherlock's words, and even the portraits of previous headmasters on the walls, who had been dozing, opened their eyes in surprise and began whispering to each other.
After two or three seconds, Dumbledore came back to his senses and looked at Sherlock deeply.
"You saved Lily?"
"It can't be considered saving her; in essence, she is still dead."
Here, Sherlock repeated the explanation he had previously given to Snape to Dumbledore.
After listening to his complete experimental hypothesis and steps, Dumbledore's expression became increasingly surprised. When he had finished hearing it all, he looked at Sherlock deeply.
"Since the Basilisk incident last year, your changes have made you increasingly brilliant, Sherlock. When you were still a student, I knew your talent was high, but I didn't expect you to achieve such accomplishments."
Hearing his unreserved praise, Sherlock showed no signs of complacency and waved his hand, saying,
"I feel that compared to truly brilliant Wizards, there is still a big gap." He looked at Dumbledore with a serious gaze. "Before returning, I also encountered Riddle from that period."
Dumbledore's gaze became deep.
"Did he attack you?"
"He was too late when he attacked, but I could still feel the gap between him and me."
Sherlock said with lingering fear. When Lord Voldemort finally arrived, he really thought he had accidentally messed everything up.
"It's different, Sherlock." Dumbledore shook his head. "I know he was very strong at that time; even I, before I grew old, wouldn't dare guarantee that I could definitely beat him. But you are only 23 years old, and you have plenty of time in the future."
Speaking of this, a smile appeared on his face.
"At the very least, Tom wasn't able to take the advantages of the Horcrux magic and integrate it into another magic when he was your age."
"Perhaps... I can change some of my original plans..."
He said this last sentence as if talking to himself. The voice was very low, and Sherlock didn't hear it clearly.
"What did you say, Professor?"
Dumbledore shook his head.
"Nothing. Can you tell me more fully about what you experienced in the past? I want to know more details."
Sherlock did not refuse. He recounted the events he had experienced to Dumbledore truthfully, leaving out the small part related to Hilke.
It wasn't that there was anything unspeakable about the matter regarding Hilke; he just felt that it was his private business, and he still had the right to keep such relatively intimate matters confidential.
After listening to everything, Dumbledore sighed deeply.
"The traitor who remained hidden in the Ministry of Magic until the very end was Barty Crouch Jr."
Sherlock looked surprised.
"It was actually him!"
"It wasn't until Tom completely lost his power that he was exposed. Everyone found it unbelievable, but Tom's disappearance made him hysterical. In the end, his father, Barty Crouch Sr., captured him personally and sentenced him to life imprisonment in Azkaban."
Dumbledore crossed his hands on the desk, his expression calm.
"It was precisely because of such a scandal that Barty, who had a high chance of becoming the Minister for Magic, lost the election, and Fudge, who had never been highly regarded, was able to take office."
Hearing Dumbledore say this, an expression of regret appeared on Sherlock's face.
"I should have asked Snape beforehand about who the Death Eaters caught later were; he must have known about this."
Snape certainly knew; if Sherlock had brought it up proactively, he would definitely have remembered.
But at that time, his entire focus was consumed by how to save Lily. Sherlock didn't mention it, and he didn't think of it either.
"Such an ending is already good enough," Dumbledore said softly. "There is no need to be overly perfect."
"Eddie Butler was a Wizard worthy of admiration. I had contact with him once and wanted to recruit him into the Order of the Phoenix, but before I could officially propose it, he was already gone," Dumbledore said with some regret.
"That is why I later agreed to bury him in the Forbidden Forest of Hogwarts."
Speaking of this topic, Sherlock's mood was a bit low, and the scene remained silent for a long time before he took out the small iron box shaped like a family crest from his pocket.
"Besides Lily, my other biggest gain is this."
He opened the iron box in front of Dumbledore, revealing the brass key inside.
"Riddle hid a very important object in the Lestrange Family's family vault. This news is something I heard with my own ears from Rodolphus and Rabastan."
"And this key hidden in the badge box, Professor, don't you think it looks a lot like the keys to the vaults in Gringotts?"
Dumbledore stared at the key in Sherlock's hand; it was indeed exactly the same as the Gringotts vault key!
"Where did you get it from?"
"From Rabastan's body; he was killed by my Explosion Charm, and I found this on him."
Dumbledore lowered his head slightly, and his glasses seemed to reflect a dim white light.
"It is possible to try... but wanting to open a Gringotts vault requires more than just the key."
Sherlock had naturally thought of this long ago, which was also the reason he confessed the matter of the vault key to Dumbledore.
"So, Professor, I need your help."
Dumbledore looked at him.
"What do you want to do?"
Sherlock narrowed his eyes.
"The Lestrange Family, as die-hard loyalists of Riddle, have had almost all their family members thrown into Azkaban. But after all, it is an ancient family. As for whether there are illegitimate children or similar matters outside, outsiders certainly wouldn't know, right?"
Without needing too much explanation, just based on these words, Dumbledore had already figured out what Sherlock wanted to do.
He was silent for a moment, then nodded gently, expressing his attitude.
And just when Sherlock and Dumbledore were conspiring with each other, Snape was still leaning against the door of Sherlock's office, silently listening to the conversation of the mother and son reuniting inside.
Harry and Lily were both very excited at first. After weeping with joy, Harry began to tell her about his experiences over the years with great excitement.
Naturally, he only picked the good things to tell, not the bad ones.
Although Lily had always been by Harry's side in a special way, she had not been able to perceive what was happening in the outside world.
Beneath Snape's seemingly calm exterior, his heart was actually very nervous.
He was afraid that Harry would complain to Lily about how he had made things difficult for him at Hogwarts over the past few years.
Fortunately, however, Harry only reported the good news and not the bad; he did not mention a single word about the various injustices and hardships he had experienced.