Veratia: Harry, Don't Move, Let Me Measure Your Waist (8,000 Words)

Sebastian was already a bit of a know-it-all, and since he was now a ghost and needed to do something to pass the time, he had no intention of refusing Draco.

Besides, the Malfoy family has a vast collection of books, and he could easily find books among them that could remove the Dark Arts mark from Anne's body.

Draco, that kid, knows how to push his luck. Seeing that Sebastian didn't refuse, he invited him to come home with him.

"In principle, I won't refuse, but you have to let me see your family's collection of books."

These were Sebastian's exact words, and Draco readily agreed.

It was just looking at the books; the ghost just wanted to look at the books, and Draco didn't see anything to refuse.

That evening, he wrote to his father to tell him that the plan was canceled and that his father needed to come pick him up.

Lucius fell silent upon receiving the letter.

Seeing Lucius's silence, his wife Narcissa asked with concern, "What's wrong, Luke? Is something wrong with the Little Dragon?"

Lucius gave a calm smile and handed the letter to Narcissa.

"Little Dragon said he needs us to pick him up."

After carefully reading the letter, Narcissa immediately made up her mind.

"I think we really need to go pick him up," she said through gritted teeth. "That kid... he really needs to be taught a lesson!"

That evening, Lucius and his wife arrived at Hogwarts Castle in a carriage.

The Lucius couple, who had been prepared to give their child a good scolding, were stunned when they saw the transparent Sebastian.

Why did the child bring a ghost back with him?

"Dad, Mom," Draco said happily to Lucius, "This is my new friend, Sebastian Saru. He promised to teach me some fun little Charms..."

Lucius was initially wary, but his son's next words put him at ease.

"Oh, and he's also a friend of Harry and his great-aunt."

"I see. Hello, Mr. Salu." Lucius smiled regally. "It's an honor that you're willing to teach the Little Dragon some Charms."

"That's what a friend should do," Sebastian replied.

After exchanging a few polite words, Lucius and his family boarded the carriage with Sebastian.

Holding the letter Draco and Sebastian had left for him, Harry leaned against the tower window, watching Sebastian get into the Malfoy family's carriage.

"I really didn't expect Sebastian to go to the Malfoy family."

It was Pabbie who spoke, her nose twitching as she greedily sniffed the pie Harry was holding.

Harry broke off a small piece for Pabbie and spun it around in the air.

Pabbie, her eyes gleaming with envy, pressed her nose tightly against the pie, and following Harry's movements, her head spun around in the air.

"He wants to find a book that can break the Dark Magic Curse; perhaps the Malfoy family have one in their collection," Harry said.

"And what about you? What are your plans for the holiday?" Pabbie was still spinning around.

"Let's look for Merlin's ruins, and the place where Cassandra sleeps." Harry rubbed his eyes. "Thinking about it, there's still a lot to do, there's Anne's Dark Magic Curse, and there's your magical Margus problem..."

"It's alright, Harry," Pabbie said, her eyes swirling in circles from the pie. "I can come with you—I think there's one in the Forbidden Forest too? It'll be easier if you ride me..."

Harry put the pie in his mouth, ignoring Pabbie's accusing look, and scratched her chin, saying, "Don't worry, I'll take you if I need you."

"I hope you'll keep your promise!" Pabbie said angrily. "I'll be with Newt and the others during the holidays. If you want to see me, just write to him."

"Okay," Harry agreed.

Almost in the blink of an eye, the Hogwarts students were about to board the Hogwarts Express train to go home.

Harry, Ron, Hermione, Fred, George, and Ginny had a private cubicle, and Ron began to talk incessantly about what he should do in Egypt.

"I think you should have a good talk with the Sphinx, after all, you're a stupid lion," Fred said with a grin. "And the Sphinx is very clever; hopefully, she can give you some wisdom so you don't seem so stupid."

"Fred!" Ginny exclaimed angrily, "How could you talk about your brother like that!"

"Then how should we say it?" George asked curiously.

Ginny's expression suddenly turned strange. She paused for a moment and then said, "You should have said, 'Oh my God, Ron, I think the Sphinx would be a good mentor for you—'"

Upon hearing Ginny's words, everyone in the private room burst into laughter.

No one expected that Ginny, who looked the youngest and most delicate, would have the most hurtful words.

Ron, who had been teased, changed the subject. He grabbed Fred and George and lit the last few Weasleys' Wizard Wheezes fireworks they had tucked into their arms.

Trains in the magical world are different from those in the Muggle world; bringing a few fireworks on board is not a big deal.

A fire in a train carriage is not an insurmountable problem—unless, of course, it's Fiendfyre.

"See you School Opening, Harry."

Ron waved to Harry from the platform at King's Cross Station.

"See you School Opening," Harry said with a smile.

To Harry's surprise, the Dursley family were waiting for him at the platform, with Mr. Granger standing beside them. The two families looked so... out of place.

"Askin, Aunt Claire," Harry greeted the Granger family were standing a little ahead.

"Hello, Harry," the Mr. and Mrs. Granger replied with a smile, reaching out to take the suitcase from their daughter.

"Uncle Vernon, Aunt Petunia," Harry greeted the Dursleys, suppressing his surprise.

Uncle Vernon cleared his throat and said somewhat awkwardly, "Well, we came to pick up Dudley today, and we just happened to pick you up too—now that you're back, let's go home."

After politely saying goodbye to the Mr. and Mrs. Granger, Harry got into the car with his Uncle Vernon and Aunt Petunia.

In the car, Cousin Dudley was engrossed in playing a game console.

He didn't notice that someone had sat down next to him until he couldn't clear the blocks anymore. Then he turned around and exclaimed "Ouch!" as if he had been startled.

"When did you arrive, Harry?" he asked, patting his chest.

"I've been sitting here for a while, cousin," Harry said with a smile. "I just saw you were playing games, so I didn't want to bother you—is that a game console you're holding?"

Dudley picked up the game console and waved it in front of Harry.

"You mean this?" he asked. "Yes, it's Nintendo's latest Game Boy console... oh, actually it's not the latest, I heard it's been out for several years."

After saying that, he handed the game console to Harry: "Here, Harry, give it a try—it's actually quite fun, especially this Tetris ... I really don't understand why it's called 'Tetris'..."

"Because it must be a combination of some Greece word, Dudley," Harry explained to his Cousin Dudley. "The first few letters should come from the Greece word 'tetra,' meaning four, but I don't know what word is used for the 'is' at the end."

"It's tennis," Uncle Vernon said as he drove.

After returning to Number Four, Privet Drive, Harry got out of the car and went into the Dursley family as usual.

"I must say, your method last time was very useful."

Uncle Vernon's face turned purple, but not from anger, but from pleasure.

The last time Harry saw him this happy was when Dudley entered Smeltings Middle School —happy because both father and son were going to the same school.

"Because of your little gadget, we've closed one deal after another," Uncle Vernon said with a chuckle. "We not only bought the villa on Majorca, but we even got a Bentley, all thanks to your help, Harry."

"I'm very happy," Harry said with a smile.

"So, to thank you," Uncle Vernon cleared his throat and said to Harry, "We're not the kind of people who don't know how to repay kindness, so we've put a fund for you, which you can use as you please when you come of age—it'll be enough whether you want to buy a car or a house—but I need to warn you, kid, if you want to buy a car, definitely don't buy a Germany brand, understand?"

Harry smiled and said earnestly to Uncle Vernon, "Okay, thank you, Uncle Vernon."

He has high emotional intelligence and won't show his sharp tongue when everyone is happy.

Even if cars and houses in the Muggle world mean nothing to me, it's still Uncle Vernon's good intention.

That evening, the Dursley family prepared a sumptuous dinner.

However, Uncle Vernon repeatedly said that Dudley had become too thin at Smeltings Middle School and should eat more to regain his manliness.

Considering that Uncle Vernon was treating him fairly well these days, Harry, unusually, didn't internally criticize or express any dissatisfaction. Instead, he simply echoed the Dursleys ' words and praised Dudley.

But only he and Dudley knew that the reason Dudley lost weight was because he took the weight-loss Potions that Harry sent him.

Dudley is very satisfied with himself now. He's slim, a little handsome, and at least the girls don't dislike him. He won't be single forever...

"I went to learn boxing," Dudley said, picking up a piece of steak. "The coach thinks I have the qualities to be a boxer, and I think I'm well-suited for it."

Harry's face darkened.

Hey, my chubby cousin basically trained his boxing skills on him.

"Oh, sorry Harry." Dudley said when he saw Harry's somewhat dark face, "I didn't mean to say that, haha... although I did use your boxing skills to train back then."

"Alright, that's enough," Harry said, pursing his lips. "It's always good to have something to do. I wish you the best of luck in winning the boxing match!"

"Not just a champion, I want to be the world champion!" Dudley said, waving his fist.

After dinner, Harry saw Hedwig gracefully fly in through the window and land on the table in his room.

It was carrying a Parchment in its mouth. Harry tore it open, and it read:

Dear Mr. Potter:

We are pleased to inform you that the new school year will begin on September 1st, Hogwarts Express train will depart from Platform Nine and Three-Quarters at King's Cross Station at 11:00 AM.

On certain weekends, third-year students will be allowed to visit Hogsmeade.

Please have your parents or guardians sign the attached consent form.

Enclosed is a reading list for the new school year.

You are sincere.

Deputy Headmistress (female)

Professor McGonagall Minerva McGonagall

Harry didn't look at the book list; instead, he took out the Hogsmeade autograph book and went into the Living Room.

"Uncle Vernon," Harry said to Vernon was watching television, "I have an application form here that needs a guardian's signature..."

"Oh." Uncle Vernon took the form, glanced at it, and casually signed his name in a flamboyant manner where he was supposed to.

Vernon Dursley.

"Take it back." He picked up the paper without even looking at it and handed it to Harry.

Harry hadn't expected things to go so smoothly; he thought he'd have to chat with Uncle Vernon for a bit—at least Uncle Vernon would want to know what Hogsmeade was.

However, what he didn't know was that ever since Uncle Vernon used the Jubilee Potion, successfully got a promotion and a raise, and reached the pinnacle of his life, he was no longer so averse to magic.

magic?

No, that's not some weird trick, it's a wonderful tool that can help me make money!

Standards are always flexible at this moment. Uncle Vernon, who has benefited greatly, now finds magic pleasing to the eye, and Harry... has suddenly gone from being a "freak" to "my dear nephew".

His conflict with magic, to put it bluntly, stemmed from the grudge he formed when he failed to impress James Potter, and his fear of magic also originated from the Dark Wizard who killed his wife's sister and brother-in-law.

Now that magic has helped him gain practical benefits and even allowed him to show off, why would anyone reject magic?

In many ways, although Harry went to school a hundred years ago, he was actually not much different from an ordinary boy.

For example, he hates doing homework, and even in the middle of the night he will turn on his desk lamp and sit in front of the table to do his homework.

It was almost midnight, and he impatiently put down his completed Potions homework and opened another book with a genuine leather cover— Bathilda Bagshot's A History of Magic.

Harry knows Bathilda Bagshot; he even visited her with Veratia and Gellert a while ago.

The old lady was in high spirits and was overjoyed to see Veratia. She even cooked a traditional Britain meal for her grandniece, whom she hadn't seen in a long time.

As for Gellert...

The old lady clearly didn't like him very much; her words were full of disdain.

Harry frowned as he thought of Gellert.

He didn't like that foul-mouthed cockatoo very much either. If he had the chance, Harry would rather give it a Relashio in the face and make its facial muscles sag.

Muttering to himself, Harry moved the tip of his Quill pen up and down the pages of the book, searching for material to help him write his paper, titled "The Fourteenth-Century Practice of Burning Witches Was Utterly Meaningless - Discussion Draft".

The Quill stopped at the beginning of a passage that seemed potentially useful. Harry pushed his round glasses up on the bridge of his nose and pulled the lamp down further, getting closer to the book.

He read, "In the Middle Ages, non- Magical World people (more commonly known as ' Muggle ') were particularly afraid of magic, but they were not good at recognizing it."

"Occasionally they do catch a male or female witch, but in those cases, burning doesn't work. The male or female witch will cast a basic spell to freeze the flames while being burned, enjoying the mild, itchy sensation of the fire while pretending to scream in pain."

"The Divination Wendelin the Weird enjoyed being burned and had himself captured by people in various disguises as many as forty-seven times."

Harry remembered what Ron had said when Hermione was talking about "God".

It seems that Ron's knowledge of History of Magic is indeed not very good, otherwise he wouldn't have said something like "burning into a human-shaped fireball".

Harry put the pen between his teeth and chewed on it. He took out an ink bottle from the side, casually unscrewed the cap, and dipped the pen in.

He began writing on Parchment, a paper on the History of Magic of History of Magic —a subject that, while tedious, was also the easiest to fool, since Professor Binns only counted who hadn't submitted their papers, rather than burying his face in papers like Snape to find fault with them.

For two days in a row, Harry rushed to finish all his homework, and then he packed his things to continue searching for Cassandra's whereabouts.

However, to his surprise, an uninvited guest arrived at his home on the morning of the third day.

The doorbell rang, Aunt Petunia went to open the door, only to find a beautiful young girl with long blonde hair standing there.

"Hello?" Aunt Petunia asked hesitantly. "This is the Dursley family."

"Hello, Mrs. Dursley," Veratia smiled politely and gave a ladylike curtsy. "I am Verathea Grindelwald. If I'm not mistaken, your former name was Petunia Evans, wasn't it?"

Evans?

It's such an old name, so old that Petunia had almost forgotten it.

"It's been a long time since anyone called me that. Did we know each other before?"

As Petunia spoke, she suddenly realized the other person was still standing outside the door, and said, "Come in, Miss Grindelwald —your name doesn't sound Britain, does it?"

"I am Austria," Veratia said to Petunia as she entered the Dursley family.

Petunia led Veratia into the Living Room, and the two sat down facing each other. She asked, "Have we met before? Or... do your parents know me?"

She thought for a long time but couldn't remember ever meeting Austria. Even when she was in school, she almost always interacted with Britain.

"We don't know each other, Petunia," Veratia said softly, "But I know your sister, Lily Evans."

Upon hearing the name, Petunia dropped the rag she was holding to the ground.

She stared in astonishment at the blonde girl in front of her, her lips moving, unsure of what to say.

Veratia didn't speak, but sat on the sofa, waiting for the woman in front of her to process the information.

She didn't know anything about Harry's time at the Dursley family; in fact, he had only told Cassandra a little about it—as for Veratia, she only knew that Dudley had used him as a punching bag.

But Veratia had heard a lot about Petunia from Lily. If Lily felt she had wronged anyone the most, it would be her older sister Petunia.

"Are you Lily's friend?" Petunia took a while to come to her senses. Her hands, which were a little yellow from years of housework, gripped the sofa fabric tightly.

"Yes, I've often heard her mention you before," Veratia said with a smile. "And that slick-haired little bat, do you remember his name?"

Greasy Little Bat?

Just four words instantly conjured up images in Petunia's mind.

Who else could it be but Snape?

"Severus Snape?" Petunia asked through gritted teeth.

"Yes, it's him," Veratia said softly. "Lily told me a lot back then, like how I shouldn't have encouraged Snape to go and read the letter you wrote to Dumbledore, and many other things she did that weren't quite right..."

"That's all in the past, Miss Grindelwald," Petunia said suddenly. "It's all in the past—I've forgiven her."

When she spoke, Petunia kept her head down, making it impossible to see her expression.

"I'm sorry," Veratia said to Petunia. "I told you on behalf of Lily —she told me this before she died. She said that your first meeting with Vernon Dursley, right? Your husband, wasn't very friendly. Lily told me about it, and I felt it was necessary for me to convey her apologies to you."

Petunia wiped away the tears streaming from her eyes, shook her head, and said, "I've long since stopped blaming her—but, even if I still hold a grudge, will that bring her back? God..."

She cried for a while, then wiped away her tears and asked, "And you, Miss Grindelwald, you came to my house not just to talk about this, did you? I'm sure you have something else to say."

"Oh, I see," Veratia said. "Harry —yes, I'm looking for him, but I don't think your family would accept it if we used the wizarding methods, so we're going to do it the normal way."

"Thank you," Petunia said softly. It was the first time she had ever seen a wizard who respected Muggle so much.

In addition, she was Lily's friend, so Petunia didn't have a bad impression of her.

Petunia's feelings towards Lily were actually quite complicated—on the one hand, she was extremely jealous of her sister's magical talent and disliked her brother-in-law's family because of his arrogance... But now that her sister was dead, what was there left to hold onto?

"But my husband—"

Petunia whispered, "Vernon, yes, he's having some trouble with magic, so you..."

"Don't worry," Veratia said reassuringly.

As soon as he finished speaking, Vernon came down from upstairs.

He was visibly taken aback when he saw Veratia.

"Petunia, your friend?" he asked.

"I'm here to see Harry Potter."

Veratia said to Vernon, Petunia's heart skipped a beat when she heard what she said.

But to her utter surprise, Veratia said, "I am a student at Oxford University and also a neighbor of the old Mr. and Mrs. Evans... This is my identification."

After saying that, she took out the ID she had used in class and showed it to Vernon and Petunia.

"I see." Vernon nodded knowingly. Oxford University, huh...

Immediately afterwards, a feeling of admiration arose spontaneously.

Even a rough and unrefined man like him knows how impressive the top students from Oxford University are.

Petunia was somewhat astonished. She never expected that a wizard... would actually be a student at a Muggle university.

"Harry's up there," Vernon pointed up and said to Veratia, "Yes, that one... the one you go to the very back of."

"Thank you," Veratia said, climbing the stairs.

"I never expected Harry to know such a bright student," Vernon chuckled. "But she just said she's Evans family ' neighbor?"

"Hmm." Petunia didn't say much more. As the saying goes, the more you say, the more mistakes you make. It's better to say less.

Veratia went upstairs and tiptoed to the small door. She quietly opened the door and saw Harry sitting on the bed, hugging a pillow and seemingly in an emotional state.

She stepped forward and hugged Harry from behind.

"Harry ~"

Veratia whispered in Harry's ear, her breath sweet as orchids.

Harry was still feeling emo when he was startled to hear someone talking next to him.

Then he realized it was Veratia.

"You startled me," he said. "I thought it was someone else..."

As he spoke, he was about to stand up.

"Don't move." Veratia pulled him onto the bed and whispered in his ear, "Let me measure your waist."

A question mark appeared above Harry's head.

Measuring waist circumference?

I think you're the legendary Succubus, drawn by my magic!

"Haha~" she chuckled, "Just kidding, besides, I haven't replenished my magic power for days—"

"Keep your voice down," Harry said quickly. "My aunt and uncle don't really want to see wizards..."

Before he could finish speaking, Veratia interrupted him.

"I already told your aunt that I'm your mother's friend," Veratia whispered in Harry's ear like a little devil. "Yes, I'm your mother's friend—so you should call me aunt... oh, call me Aunt Vivi, please?"

Harry blushed, his face turning as red as a ripe Apple.

He never expected that Veratia would be so good at having fun.

Auntie... that's a bit too much, isn't it?

"Stop messing around!" he said.

"You're blushing," Veratia said with a smile. "It's just your aunt, what's there to be shy about?"

"No, don't say that," Harry cried out like a boiled shrimp. "No, let me catch my breath..."

After laughing and joking around for a while, Veratia finally let go of him.

"Oh, so you've finally let your little nephew go." Harry, now free, landed on the ground, his sharp tongue once again taking over. "I thought Aunt Vivi was going to do something bad to her little nephew—"

Before Veratia could speak, Harry quickly interjected, "So what are you doing at the Dursley family'? I remember my Aunt Vivi saying that we should study during the holidays, right?"

"I need to replenish my magic too," Veratia said with a smile. "Also, let's see what you've been doing during the holidays, so you don't just sit around doing nothing and really act like a little kid."

Harry rolled his eyes and said, "I'm marking Merlin's trials on the map. If you hadn't come, I might already be in the Forbidden Forest. Also, I should mention that I got some Moonpetal leaves."

"So you went to see Cassandra." Veratia snorted.

However... she didn't intend to stop it.

Finding Cassandra's whereabouts is the most important thing; once Cassandra returns, it will mean the official start of their competition.

Veratia was also looking forward to Cassandra's return. In her opinion, only Cassandra could rival her in the world—in terms of emotions.

"Yes, I've already found more than thirty Merlin's ruins," Harry said to Veratia. "Now there are only three Merlin's ruins, all in the Forbidden Forest."

Then he asked, "Where's Gellert? I remember you said you'd let him leave Hogwarts after the term ended. Where is he now?"

"He's already back in Nurmengard. After all, you know he's just a prisoner."

Veratia gritted her teeth as she spoke.

Not the Ministry of Magic or Dumbledore, but her foolish brother.

You couldn't even steal my property, so what else can you do?!

"What about Professor Scamander?" Harry asked again.

"Professor Scamander still intends to stay at Hogwarts. He told me he really likes his classmates at Hogwarts and enjoys going to work." Veratia felt something was off when she said this, but she couldn't quite put her finger on it.

Harry thought for a moment. He had heard Professor Dumbledore say that Professor Scamander's least favorite thing was going to work.

That means that Professor Scamander and Veratia lied.

So the question is, why did Professor Scamander lie to Veratia?

He couldn't help but fall into deep thought.

"Where's the new Defense Against the Dark Arts Professor?" Harry asked again.

"Oh." Veratia patted Harry on the shoulder and said, "Speaking of this new professor... he's a good guy, at least that's what we all think. He has some minor personal issues, but Professor Dumbledore doesn't think they'll affect his teaching."

"That's good." Harry nodded and said, "Hopefully, just like Gellert's Prophecy, we can find Cassandra, find the portrait of Ominis, and then find a way to rescue Anne before Christmas."

"Don't worry, Harry." Veratia opened her arms again and hugged Harry tightly, whispering, "Everything will be alright, Harry, trust me."

"Mmm." Harry rested his head against Veratia's chest. He didn't want to think about anything; he just wanted to clear his mind.

(First chapter delivered. Thank you for your support. One more chapter to come.)

(The days of intensive updates are coming up—I'll slowly pay back what I owe, and also, Cass is coming back soon!)