Veratia: Hunting Time!

Found it?

Harry raised an eyebrow and looked at the Goblin waving the paper.

He didn't rush to get up, but instead gave the opportunity to Bodric.

Sure enough, the person most anxious upon hearing this news was none other than Bodric.

Bodric scurried forward and took the paper.

Then he held the paper in both hands and handed it to Harry.

Harry was quite satisfied with the Goblin Brotherhood president's shrewdness.

He took the paper, looked at it closely, and his face instantly darkened.

The above roughly means that in August 1899, Gellert Grindelwald came to Gringotts in Britain, carrying a token from Verathea Grindelwald, and emptied the vault, taking away all the Galleon, various antiques and treasures, and even all the alchemical materials.

No, Gellert, are you Niffler?

Harry's eyebrows twitched; he really wanted to know how Veratia would react when she found out all this.

"If I remember correctly, isn't this wand the keepsake?"

As Harry spoke, he reached for his wand in his robes.

"No!" the Goblin cried in unison, "Mr. Potter, no! Don't take out that wand!"

Harry then pressed the wand.

"Records show that Miss Grindelwald set up two tokens for the vault," the Gringotts manager read, holding the paper with Veratia's magical signature. "One was permanent, which is Mr. Potter's wand—the other was disposable, which is the Grindelwald family crest... But Miss Grindelwald's limit for him was 100,000 Galleon, and because it's been so long, we don't know why he was ultimately allowed to empty the vault."

After saying that, the person in charge handed the paper to Harry.

"Mr. Potter, could you please confirm if the magical signature above belongs to Miss Grindelwald Verathea Grindelwald?"

Harry gently touched the signature and found that it was indeed left by Veratia herself.

That makes sense now.

Ha!

So it turns out you, you little Niffler, took all the things your sister left behind!

Harry felt it was necessary to talk to Veratia about this matter.

When you finally meet Gellert, be sure to grab his leg and shake it so he'll spill all the gold coins in his pockets!

"I understand." Harry handed the document back to the Gringotts manager and added, "This bill of lading—give me a copy."

Hearing Harry's words, the Goblin present breathed a sigh of relief.

"Yes, sir Mr. Potter."

Some of the younger Goblin were even thinking to themselves that it was all because the Goblin word-of-mouth stories over the past hundred years had been too stereotypical. Wasn't Mr. Potter supposed to be a kind and benevolent man? He wasn't the evil star that everyone was talking about at all!

The Goblin acted quickly, and Harry soon received a copy of the delivery order.

He tucked the delivery note away contentedly, carefully putting it away, intending to show Veratia what her adorable little brother had done once he returned to the Map Chamber.

"But," Harry said again, "This is also an oversight on your part, and I think Gringotts should compensate me and my Veratia, shouldn't they?"

"It's what we should do, Mr. Potter!" the Gringotts official immediately said, patting his chest.

"I hope your compensation will satisfy me. I'll give you one night to draft a compensation plan—" Harry stood up. "It's getting late, so I'll take my leave now."

"Please take care," the Gringotts representative said, bowing slightly.

After leaving Gringotts, Harry activated the Portkey and returned to the entrance of the Leaky Cauldron.

At the same time, the effects of the Ageing Potion wore off completely, and with a snap of his fingers, his clothes instantly Transfiguration a perfectly fitting size.

Back at the Leaky Cauldron, Old Tom was still a little curious. He scratched his head in surprise, wondering when Harry Potter had left.

Without giving it much thought, he greeted Harry and continued wiping the cups.

Harry was doing well, but Draco was not.

At the Malfoy Manor, Draco still looked preoccupied.

"Little Dragon?" his mother, Narcissa, asked gently, "What's wrong? If something's wrong, you must tell your mom and dad."

"I, uh..."

Draco opened his mouth.

He wanted to spill the beans and tell everyone what had happened before.

But when it came to his lips, he hesitated.

Nothing more than finding a Dark Arts artifact at home that his father had explicitly forbidden him to touch, then bringing it to school, causing such a huge uproar...

Even on his own arm, there was a mark that looked like Dark Arts symbol...

Moreover, its utterly awful design makes it hard not to associate it with a curse.

Thinking about this, Draco began to hesitate again.

If he were to reveal this, he would receive a lecture from his elderly father, and that would be the end of him.

"Speak, Draco," Lucius, sitting in his chair and leisurely sipping his tea.

"Actually, it's nothing much," Draco said, taking back his words. "It's just that we lost the House Cup, so we're a little down."

House Cup?

Lucius and Narcissa exchanged a glance and both breathed a sigh of relief.

"It's just the House Cup, Draco." Lucius raised his eyes. "Don't act like a kid who didn't get a broom."

Narcissa reached out and rubbed the child's head, feeling that Draco was hiding something.

But the child was unwilling to talk, and she didn't want to force him to, so in the end the child was the one who got hurt.

Forget it, let's wait until Little Dragon is willing to talk about it.

After dinner, Draco went to the bathroom, deep in thought.

He had his House Elf prepare the water for him, touched it, and said irritably, "Lali! The water's a bit hot!"

"I'm sorry, Young Master."

A soft, delicate female voice spoke as she suddenly appeared, revealing her small, thin body, and went forward to refill Draco's bathwater.

"Alright, get out of here! You're being too clumsy." Draco waved his hand impatiently.

"Bad Lali! Bad Lali!" Lali banged her head against the bathtub, her voice filled with sorrow.

House Elf are always like this; they severely punish themselves for doing something wrong.

"Alright, Lali." Draco sighed, reaching out his left hand to grab Lali, who was still banging on the bathtub. "You're used to serving Mom, so it's normal that you don't know my habits. Now get out of here and stop bothering me."

"Young Master..." Lali sobbed, "Young Master is so kind-hearted..."

Draco waved his hand impatiently and sat down in the bathtub.

Lali raised her tear-filled eyes, and when she saw Draco's left arm, her eyes suddenly widened.

She let out a piercing scream.

"Tch." Draco scoffed irritably. He had no time to care about Lali; his mind was preoccupied with the curse on his arm.

Then he realized a problem.

Lali screamed, was it because of her arm?

He quickly looked at Lali and said, "Lali! I order you! You absolutely must not tell anyone about what happened to my arm! Do you hear me!"

Lali let out a whimper and disappeared into the bathroom.

Draco breathed a sigh of relief; he knew the integrity of House Elf and that they would never betray their masters.

He just hadn't considered one thing...

Lali was brought over from the Black family home by his mother; his mother, Narcissa, was Lali's real owner...

Sure enough, after leaving Draco's bathroom, Lali went to the Living Room.

Narcissa and Lucius were having tea and chatting about why Draco was being emo again today.

Lucius frowned when he saw Lali suddenly appear.

But considering that Lali was Narcissa's Elf, he didn't say much. He had to give his wife face, otherwise... well, uh...

"Lali?" Narcissa knew, of course, that her husband didn't like being disturbed while drinking tea. Her face darkened, and she asked, "What do you want?"

"Bad Lali! Bad Lali!" Lali picked up a book from the table and banged her head hard. "Lali's eyes shouldn't exist! They saw their Young Master's secret! Bad Lali! Bad Lali!"

The Young Master's secret?

Lucius, who was initially somewhat displeased, suddenly raised his voice by eight octaves.

"You mean Draco? What happened to him?"

Draco was the only son in the Malfoy family. Although Lucius usually presented himself as a strict father, Draco was ultimately his only son.

They were treated with utmost care, as if they were afraid the food would melt in their mouths or fall from their hands.

Now that Draco has a "secret," or rather, that has been discovered, and that it's something Lucius has to take seriously.

"Bad Lali! Bad Lali!" Lali was still pounding her head.

"Lali!" Narcissa said sternly, "I order you, you are not allowed to hurt yourself again!"

Lali stopped her self-punishment with tears welling up in her eyes, and looked up at Narcissa pitifully.

"The mistress felt sorry for Lali and wouldn't allow Lali to punish herself, but Lali knew she was bad! She shouldn't have seen her Young Master's secret!"

"What happened to Little Dragon? Tell me quickly," Narcissa said urgently.

When it comes to her son, she can't remain calm.

"My Young Master forbids Lali from telling anyone. If Lali does, he will punish Lali!" Lali sobbed.

Narcissa scoffed, "Lali! In the Malfoy family, you only have one master! That's me! Now I command you to reveal Draco's secret!"

Lali let out a sob, looked up longingly, and then quickly looked down again.

She couldn't disobey her master's orders, even though she liked Draco very much and got along well with him.

"Lali... Lali was serving her Young Master a bath, running the bathwater for him." Lali said in detail, "But Lali made the water too hot, and the Young Master scolded Lali and made Lali run the bathwater again— Lali wanted to punish herself, but the kind-hearted Young Master stopped Lali and told Lali to leave."

"But Lali saw a mark on her Young Master's left arm, a very evil mark—" Lali said, then started hitting her head again.

"What kind of mark is it?" Narcissa grabbed her thin arm. "Lali! I order you not to punish yourself!"

Lali pitifully lowered her hand and began to describe it to the two of them. "It was a black skull, and a huge python was coming out of the skull's mouth, like a tongue. It really scared Lali to death... Lali felt like she had seen something like this somewhere before..."

After Lali's description, Narcissa and Lucius knew what it was almost instantly.

They both felt dizzy and the world was spinning. Narcissa's legs even went weak and she slumped onto the sofa.

"The... the Dark Mark?!" Lucius exclaimed.

What is that thing? Others may not know, but surely Lucius knows?

That was the mark Voldemort gave to his Death Eater...

Voldemort could use this mark to summon, control, and even torture Death Eater...

Most importantly, the existence of this thing would confirm the identity of Death Eater. Now that Voldemort has lost power, who would want to be tainted by the Dark Mark?

As the saying goes, the peak attracts false believers, and twilight witnesses the true... true servants. Voldemort lost power, and even a large portion of the Pure-blood families who were once devoted to him were unwilling to admit their Death Eater identities.

Except for a small number who were determined, such as Narcissa's sister, Bellatrix.

"Luke..." Narcissa pressed her legs, trying to stop herself from trembling. "Tell me, where did Little Dragon get the Dark Mark?!"

"Don't panic, darling." Lucius tried to remain calm to avoid making a sharp popping sound. "We haven't seen it yet, and we're not sure if the mark on Little Dragon's arm is the Dark Mark... We have to go check on him."

"Okay!" Narcissa nodded vigorously.

The two of them went up the stairs and came to the bathroom door.

"Little Dragon?" Narcissa knocked on the door. "Are you still taking a shower?"

"I'm still washing, Mom!" Draco's voice came through.

"Um... come out for a moment, I have something to tell you," Narcissa said, "about that child from the Greengrass family— "

Draco, who was in the bathroom, thought he had been exposed, but when his mother mentioned the Greengrass family, he immediately stood up from the bathtub.

"Okay, Mom, I'm coming right now."

He quickly dressed and opened the door...

Then he met his father's stern eyes.

"Draco," Lucius said expressionlessly, "Come with us."

Draco's heart skipped a beat; he understood perfectly well what was going on!

Lali must have sold herself!

Thinking of this, Draco couldn't help but grit his teeth.

Traitor! Your double-dealing is no surprise to me!

He could only follow his father and mother downstairs with trepidation, all the way to his bedroom.

"Stretch out your arm," Lucius said, looking at him.

Draco hesitated, not wanting to stick out his arm and let his father see the Dark Magic Curse mark.

"Put your arm out!" Lucius's expression turned stern.

Seeing his father's stern face, Draco swallowed hard.

He had no choice; he dared not go against his father, or the consequences would be dire...

So he had no choice but to obediently stretch out his hands and roll up his sleeves.

As the sleeves were pulled up, the grotesque skull was revealed to the Mr. and Mrs. Malfoy.

Upon seeing the familiar Dark Mark, Lucius's pupils contracted sharply!