Chapter 231 Rice: Harry, Think More

Les put the forked Swedish meatballs back on the plate and glanced at Harry.

"I don't quite understand what you're talking about."

"That night, on Halloween, you know!" Harry looked around and made sure that no one was paying attention to the two of them, then asked in a low voice.

"You must have heard something, Les." Harry's tone was very firm: "In fact, I also heard some, some strange words."

Harry stared straight at Les's face, hoping to interpret something from his facial expression.

The experience that night and the voices he vaguely heard made Harry unable to let go. He really wanted to find an opportunity to talk to Les. It's just that usually there is always someone around him or someone around Les, which is really inconvenient. At today's Christmas party, he finally found an opportunity for the two of them to be alone, so he naturally came over to ask what was going on.

Unfortunately, he couldn't interpret anything from Les's expression.

Although Les didn't change much on the surface, he was still a little touched in his heart. The reason was very simple: Harry's behavior was too "Gryffindor". He actually rushed over to ask him.

If he was really the murderer who was determined to open the Chamber of Secrets and cause the killing, then Harry had put himself in danger - this was very Gryffindor.

Seeing that he was such a Gryffindor, Les planned to reveal a little truth to Harry.

"You have already preset your position in advance, which leaves me speechless. You only want to believe what you believe, don't you?"

"I--" Harry opened his mouth and wanted to say something, but he felt that what Les said was indeed reasonable, and he was indeed a little preconceived.

"But your wand that night, and the food box..." Harry said the doubts he observed that day.

Les: ...

"There are reasons to explain these, such as my stomach really hurts, or there is a hole in my robe pocket, which are all possible things. These cannot be used as evidence that I heard the 'strange sound' you mentioned." Les spread his hands and looked at Harry helplessly: "You are still dominated by your subjective consciousness. You presuppose a fact in advance, and then look for all kinds of evidence to prove it. This logic is problematic."

"I heard Daphne say that you always believed that Professor Snape was the ultimate villain last year, and you also found sufficient evidence, didn't you?"

Harry was silent. After a few seconds, he stiffened his neck and said: "This is not the same thing."

"This is the same thing." Les interrupted his argument directly.

"That night I just wanted to go to the kitchen to get something to eat because I missed dinner. And you, like you suspected Professor Snape last year, suspect me, that's not okay. You shouldn't assume someone is a criminal when you start reasoning, it will interfere with your judgment."

"I didn't treat you as a criminal-"

Rice waved his hand, "It's not important."

"You know, there are so many murals and talking armor in the school, you probably heard the sound they made."

"This..." Harry thought what Rice said was nonsense, but after thinking about it carefully, it made some sense.

Could it really be the sound made by the armor or the murals? Peeves' prank is not impossible.

"There is one last possibility."

Rice's words attracted Harry's attention again, he raised his head, wanting to hear what Rice meant by "the last possibility".

"Harry, did you have the experience of talking and communicating with animals when you were a child?"

Rice's words made Harry's eyes widen suddenly: he remembered something that happened when he was ten to eleven years old.

That day, Uncle Vernon and his family took him to the zoo, and a python communicated with him!

"It's true. When I was ten years old, a python understood what I said." Harry's eyes were full of excitement: "Yes, I could communicate with animals!"

Rice smiled as if to say, "Look, it's true."

"This is a special talent, and it may answer your doubts - you actually heard the sound of a hungry, hunting snake that night."

Harry felt like he had suddenly realized something: everything made sense, and he could communicate with snakes, so he heard that sound. Rice and Ron didn't have this talent, so they didn't hear anything.

But when he thought of this, Harry felt a little uncomfortable, because what he hated most was "special". He didn't want to be the most special person in the crowd, and he didn't want to be pointed at by others.

"I suggest you talk to Ron about this before you tell other students that you have communicated with snakes." Considering the notorious reputation of Parseltongue in the modern wizarding world - well, the ancient wizarding world as well - Les did not recommend Harry to spread the fact that he knew Parseltongue.

This is his little care for the students of Gryffindor College, Les thought.

It's rare to see a guy who comes to ask questions about himself honestly.

Harry nodded seriously. He did have this idea. Although he didn't understand what was so special about being able to communicate with snakes, he really didn't want to be labeled as different from others.

"By the way, where are you going after the dinner tonight? You can't go back to Hogwarts, right?" Rice was quite curious about Harry's next move.

"I will go back to the Burrow with Ron, the ancestral home of the Weasley family, and stay there for a while to spend this Christmas."

"Then I wish you a Merry Christmas in advance!"

"You too."

The communication between the two came to an end.

Harry got the "answer" he wanted, and Rice also revealed to Harry part of the truth he observed.

As for why he didn't reveal the whole truth to Harry... it was mainly because he was afraid that the child would not be able to accept it for a while. If he and Harry had a short chat and then Harry jumped into the Black Lake, wouldn't Dumbledore come to the door? Will the school's dignity still be there by then?

When the clock pointed to twelve o'clock, grand fireworks were set off in the manor, and guests from all over the country and even the world began to leave one after another.

Harry left with the Weasley family, and Daphne and Astoria also dragged their tired steps back to Les.

"Would you like some food? I used magic to keep them warm." Les took out a few dishes.

"Thank God!" Daphne could no longer care about anything else, and directly picked up the food and started eating.

She was exhausted from chatting with those "ladies" just now. They seemed to only need to vibrate their vocal cords to produce nutrients to feed themselves. They didn't eat anything during the whole dinner.

Looking at Daphne who was eating voraciously, and Astoria who was eating more politely but at the same speed as her sister, Les smiled helplessly: These two children are not easy either.

Christmas Eve slipped away quietly in such an atmosphere.

Unfortunately, Les couldn't go to bed yet, because he had to prepare Christmas gifts for his friends.

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