Under the Shadow of Death

At this critical moment, Harry stepped between the two of them.

"Alright, stop fighting."

Harry could hardly speak without breaking a sweat.

Of course, it's easy to say, but being sandwiched between two older sisters is definitely not a pleasant feeling.

"That's it, a draw, how about that?" Harry wiped the sweat from his brow. "If this keeps up, the Room of Requirement will be destroyed!"

Upon hearing Harry's words, Veratia put away her wand.

Seeing Veratia put her wand away, Cassandra also tucked her wand into the lining of her robe, and at the same time, the dark clouds around her gradually dissipated.

The flames around Veratia's body made a popping sound, like a gas stove being turned off, before slowly going out.

"I admit it, Grindelwald," Cassandra said haughtily, raising her chin. "You are indeed a worthy opponent."

"Thank you." Veratia wasn't angry; instead, she smiled gracefully.

The members of the Dueling Club surrounding them clapped wildly, with Hermione cheering for Veratia's brilliant performance— Draco, on the other hand, even invented his own way of raising his hands and jumping up and down to cheer for his great-aunt.

Who taught this guy?

Ron turned his head away, muttering "sycophant" under his breath, while wondering if Draco had learned his cheering gesture from Lucius.

Harry applauded their exceptional skills, and after they left, he asked again, "Anyone else willing to come up and duel?"

"Weasley!" Draco immediately stepped forward, ruthlessly breaking up Hermione and Ron's dueling pairing. "Step forward, I challenge you to a duel!"

"You?" Ron sized Draco up and down. "Come on, we've dueled before, and when have you ever won?"

Draco laughed dismissively.

In the past, he certainly wouldn't have come looking for trouble; after all, being pragmatic has always been a fine tradition of the Malfoy family.

But this time was different. This time, Draco received Extra Lesson tutoring from Sebastian during the holidays, and he felt like he was good again.

After all, he was one of the legendary wizards from a hundred years ago, and Draco really learned a lot of new things.

However, he didn't know that although he had Extra Lesson tutor, Ron also had no shortage of top-notch one-on-one tutors.

As Gellert Grindelwald's buddy, Ron didn't forget to keep in touch with his friend during the holidays.

Gellert seemed to really like this guileless guy, and he didn't hold back at all when giving pointers, teaching him whatever he wanted to learn.

He was Dumbledore in this respect, after all, Dumbledore wouldn't teach people powerful Dark Arts.

Of course, Ron wouldn't ask to learn Dark Arts on his own initiative.

The two stood on the dueling platform, and this time, the meddlesome Seamus stepped forward to act as the referee.

"You two listen to my countdown," Seamus shouted, raising his hands. "Three, two, one..."

The instant Seamus finished speaking, Ron and Draco simultaneously cast a curse at each other's faces.

"Rectumpra (Rictumsempra)!"

"Densaugeo (Densaugeo)!"

The incantations met in mid-air and vanished into thin air.

"Can you two be a little more mature?!" Seamus shouted, never one to miss a chance to cause trouble. "Can you stop using first-year Charms! Use third-year ones instead!"

As if in response to Seamus's words, Draco and Ron recited the Disarming Charm in unison.

The two of them went back and forth on stage, exchanging Charms in a lively and entertaining manner.

"Well done, Ron!" Seamus and Neville shouted together, "Get your act together! Knock Malfoy off the dueling ring!"

Upon hearing what the two people were saying, Cassandra's little ears twitched involuntarily.

The duel on the stage was still going on. After Ron forced Draco to move away with his Blazing Flames, he suddenly flicked his wrist, and Draco's wand spun into his hand.

"I won, Malfoy." Ron chuckled and tossed the wand back to Draco, then skipped back to Hermione's side.

"My goodness, Ron," Hermione exclaimed in surprise, "How did you become so skilled? I remember you went to Egypt during the summer vacation. Did you not forget to practice your Charms while you were traveling?"

"Of course." Ron puffed out his chest proudly, enjoying Hermione's praise.

It turns out that not everyone practiced dueling during the holidays, but some did use some unusual methods.

For example, during his duel with Seamus, Neville threw a small Chinese chomping cabbage, which bit Seamus right in the shoulder.

Caught off guard, Seamus screamed as he was bitten. Fortunately, Neville had some white fungus with him, which could help treat Seamus's wound.

"I think you're going to kill me," Seamus said resentfully to Neville.

"Harry said that magical plants are also part of helping us in our duel," Neville said matter-of-factly.

Harry did say that, and he actually did it – everyone knows that he attacked the professor with Chinese chomping cabbage during Christmas in his first year.

Of course, Quirrell had no objections; otherwise, he would have protested long ago.

With the addition of two newcomers to the Dueling Club, the atmosphere became more lively than usual—even though Miss Malfoy seemed unapproachable, Miss Grindelwald was as warm and welcoming as a spring breeze to everyone, made up for it perfectly.

The first Dueling Club party of the school year ended in laughter and joy, and Neville and Ron, who performed well, even received a box of Chocolate Frog sponsored by Harry.

Yes, a whole box, containing a full fifty Chocolate Frog.

"Now I should be able to get Agrippa," Ron said happily.

As they left the Room of Requirement, screams of agony echoed from downstairs.

"What happened?" Draco asked, his face filled with terror.

Such screams in the middle of the night are somewhat... chilling.

Hermione's expression also turned sour, but after listening for a moment, she breathed a sigh of relief and said, "It must be Peeves —oh dear, is that guy playing another prank?"

"Is there really such a prank?" Seamus asked suspiciously. "It sounds like Peeves is suffering a lot. What's wrong with him?"

"Let's go down and take a look," Cedric suggested. "Also, to welcome our two new members..."

At this point, Cedric gave Harry a strange wink; he had already discerned the... stable relationship between the two girls and Harry.

Yes, the relationship within a triangle is the most stable.

"Let's go to the Kitchen and get something to eat," he added.

No one refused Cedric's offer. After all, dueling was physically demanding, and they were still at an age where they were growing and easily got hungry.

When they reached the fourth floor, they witnessed a scene they would never forget.

A young man dressed in Slytherin school uniform was straddling Peeves and was punching Peeves in the face with his fists.

The Peeves struggled helplessly, groaning and crying out in pain.

The portraits around him pointed at the spectacle before him, most of them gloating, after all, Peeves's popularity with people... his popularity with ghosts was really not good.

"Oh my God..." Hermione covered her mouth, letting out a shocked sound.

"Oh my god..." Cedric and Megan of Hufflepuff covered their mouths and made a gloating sound.

"Oh my god!" Seamus and Ron exclaimed, as if they were enjoying the spectacle.

The Peeves struggled and screamed, which made those who heard it gloat and those who saw it want to cheer him on.

"Saru! Can you please let me go?!"

Sebastian didn't answer at all, he just kept punching Peeves.

"Looks like Slytherin ghosts are quite effective against Peeves," Draco remarked with a proud grin. "Before Mr. Salu came to Hogwarts, Slytherin's Bloody Baron was Peeves's nemesis—but after Mr. Salu arrived, both of them became Peeves's nemesis..."

"Alright, stop watching," Harry said to them. "Let's keep going down, lest Peeves retaliate and report us to the professors."

They arrived at the Hufflepuff Common Room, and as soon as they got there, Cassandra covered her mouth and burst out laughing.

"What's wrong?" Harry asked curiously.

"Oh, I was just thinking about someone who tried to get into Hufflepuff's Common Room and got a bucket of vinegar thrown on them." Cassandra glanced at Veratia as she spoke. "I remember those days, the dorm reeked of vinegar, oh my god..."

Veratia turned her head away, refusing to look at Cassandra was still laughing hysterically.

"Alright, let's go into the Kitchen first."

As Harry spoke, he walked to the Kitchen door and scratched the pear on the portrait.

The pear smiled sweetly—yes, it's truly a rare sight to see a pear smile so sweetly.

As they laughed, the pear turned into a doorknob.

"It looks really ticklish," Ron said with a laugh, as if he had discovered New World.

Hogwarts Kitchen is located directly below the Great Hall, and there are four tables in the Kitchen, which seem to be the same length as the tables of the four houses above the Great Hall, and their positions correspond to each other.

Even at this hour, the House Elf, dressed in bedsheets, were still busy in the Kitchen, seemingly curing sausages or doing something else.

On the right side inside, a group of House Elf are butchering meat, chopping it into fine minced meat, stuffing it into sausage casings, and steaming it in a pot.

Some Elf were hanging sausages into the ventilation vents on the side.

They could even see storage areas for various teaware and teacups in the Kitchen. As is well known, the Britain love tea, and the various teaware here were obviously prepared for afternoon tea.

but...

In some corners, the hygiene of Hogwarts Kitchen was indeed worrying; Harry even saw a mouse eating on a pile of food.

"Scabbers!"

Ron shouted and ran over, but the mouse scurried away.

"Oh my god, it's ignoring me." Ron was a little frustrated. "All that cuddling with him to sleep every night, really..."

Two House Elf approached, looked up, and asked, "Honorable young master and ladies, is there anything you need from the Kitchen?"

"We need to eat something, Didi," Cedric said. "We've been practicing duels all night, and we're a little hungry."

"It's young master Diggory!" the House Elf Didi exclaimed. "Yes, please wait a moment, Didi will be right there—"

"I think Hogwarts Kitchen really needs cleaning," Draco said, looking disdainfully at the corner where Scabbers had just been, pinching his nose. "What was Dumbledore thinking? Allowing rats to eat in the Kitchen? Good heavens, if my dad knew, he'd be furious!"

You know what, this is actually the most supportive of Draco ever seen.

Even Ron nodded repeatedly, hoping that Draco would not just talk the talk but walk the walk.

Because there were not only Scabbers there, but also several unidentified rats— Ron might have been able to tolerate it if it were just Scabbers, but the other rats...

"But you're something else, Weasley." Draco looked at Ron with a complicated expression. "You actually sleep with rats, good heavens..."

"That's my pet!" Ron protested. "I can't deal with someone like you who doesn't keep pets. Just ask Hermione, doesn't she sleep with Jack in her arms too?"

Little did he expect that Hermione would betray him.

"Oh no, Ronald," Hermione said, her expression full of disgust. "Even if I love Jack a lot, I wouldn't sleep with him—you know, small animals are very fragile, and a single roll over could kill them..."

"But that's impossible!" Ron retorted. "Scabbers has lived in our house for twelve years! If it were that fragile, it would have died long ago!"

"Twelve years?" Draco laughed as if he'd heard something hilarious. "Good heavens, Weasley, shouldn't you see a doctor? I mean, really—maybe you should go to the Hospital Wing and see Madam Pomfrey... see if your brain's actually working properly. How can a normal rat live twelve years!"

"I can't be bothered to talk to you, Malfoy." Ron rolled his eyes, deciding not to stoop to the level of the inherently evil Malfoy.

He thought this would only make him unhappy.

The late-night snacks at Hogwarts Kitchens were pretty good. To Ron's surprise, the House Elf fried several chicken legs for him when they heard that he had performed well in the duel.

Not those small chicken drumsticks, but those big pistol drumsticks.

"Now I know why Scabbers comes here to eat—because he's just as greedy as you are," Hermione remarked from the side.

Ron shrugged, completely unconcerned.

How can eating two chicken drumsticks be considered a big deal?

"I'm quite interested in that mouse," Veratia suddenly said. "Logically speaking, an ordinary household mouse wouldn't live that long. Generally speaking, it only has a lifespan of a few years—maybe it has found some way to prolong its life."

As she said this, Veratia looked at Cassandra, who was peeling a banana, with a leisurely gaze.

She wasn't actually interested in the mouse Scabbers; she simply wanted to use Scabbers to mock Cassandra.

Cassandra retorted, "Hopefully this little mouse won't have any intruders bothering it, don't you think, Grindelwald?"

"It's also possible that this mouse was too timid, which is why it lost so much," Veratia said, waving her hand as she grabbed a Meiji and stuffed it into Harry's mouth.

"However," Veratia said again, "I think we should switch dorm rooms, what do you say, Cassandra?"

"What do you mean?" Cassandra asked, squinting.

"Just like before, I miss my old friends," Veratia said with a smile. "Or have you already forgotten them?"

"I certainly haven't forgotten my 'old' friend," Cassandra emphasized the word "old." "Alright, I accept your offer."

After all, Veratia is a seventh-grader now, which is indeed a bit older than Cassandra.

The first thing Veratia did upon returning to her dorm was to move all her belongings to Cassandra's dorm.

For this, Prefect Miss Farley was somewhat disappointed.

In his Gryffindor dormitory, Ron didn't rush to sleep.

After Neville and Seamus fell asleep, Ron patted Harry on the shoulder, gesturing for them to walk towards the balcony.

The two sat on the balcony, Ron asked with concern, "Dude, what's wrong with you? Something feels off."

"What's wrong?" Harry asked, chewing on his Licorice Wand.

Ron organized his thoughts and began his sharp critique.

"I always felt something was off about that Malfoy —you know, Miss Malfoy ...and Miss Grindelwald too, I think they're both fighting over you—look, they're talking in such a sarcastic way..."

Hermione told him about Veratia.

Ron, being slow-witted, obviously couldn't figure it out either, but Hermione, being a perceptive girl and naturally more mature than most women, keenly noticed what was going on.

"Trying to take me?" Harry snapped a piece of his Licorice Wand in half with a snapping sound.

"That's definitely a feeling," Ron said again. "Although Miss Malfoy acts very arrogantly, Hermione and I can still see that she's always secretly watching you, Harry."

"I think, buddy..." He crossed his arms, shook his head and sighed, "Of course, I'm not one to gossip, but I think you'd better make a choice as soon as possible... otherwise, I'm afraid the two of them will tear this school down."

After saying that, Ron patted Harry on the shoulder and went into the dormitory.

Harry sat by the window, looking at the bright moon in the sky.

Do we really have to make a choice?

In fact, he had long been aware of Cassandra and Veratia's feelings for him, but he had been subconsciously avoiding the issue.

This is a really difficult choice—if it were a hundred years ago, he could have made a quick and decisive choice.

But things are different now. Now, Cassandra and Veratia, in order to travel to the future a hundred years in the future, one lost her life and the other lost her magic...

Choosing either one would be unfair to the other.

He could have escaped all of this before, but now that Ron has suddenly broken through the barrier, he feels somewhat lost.

He decided that when he had time, he would ask Sebastian or Pabbie what he should do.

In the Forbidden Forest, Sirius, in his Black Dog form, was gnawing on a rat in front of him.

This is what he just caught. There's not much food in the Forbidden Forest, and he can't go to Hogwarts or the wizarding community to find something to eat—after all, he's a wanted criminal now.

So he could only catch rats to fill his stomach, and he couldn't eat them cooked; he could only eat them raw.

But all of this is not meaningless, Sirius thought. As long as he can catch that bastard who betrayed James and protect his godson, it will all be worth it!

What are you eating?

A clear, ethereal female voice sounded from behind him.

Sirius was startled and barked loudly as he jumped to the side. He turned around warily and found that the sound came from a Unicorn.

Upon seeing that it was Unicorn, Sirius's wariness vanished instantly.

As everyone knows, Unicorn are noble and sacred Magical Creatures...

"Woof woof woof," Sirius replied.

"Oh, you've come here to eat grass, haven't you?" Pabbie shook her head cheerfully. She didn't understand dog language. "Come on, I know where there's good grass. Come with me..."

Sirius hesitated, unsure whether he should follow.

Eating grass... doesn't sound so bad, it's better than eating dead rats.

He followed Pabbie to a small bush where Blueberry and other berries grew.

"Have some berries, I remember dogs can't eat grass," Pabbie a laugh. "Wow, this is the first time I've seen such a big... creature like you, are you a dog?"

She had a reason for saying that, because Sirius was almost as big as a pony.

"Woof, woof!" Sirius nodded quickly.

"Alright, then you can eat some fruit here, but don't eat the dead rat anymore—if you'd like, you can come with me in a bit, there's plenty of good food in my tent," Pabbie said with a smile.

Sirius wondered if it was just his imagination, but he felt that... he saw "kindness" on this Unicorn Lady's face.

The next morning, the third-grade students had their Defense Against the Dark Arts.

The Defense Against the Dark Arts classroom seemed to have been renovated for the new year. Professor Lupin's style was simple and unpretentious, unlike Lockhart's flamboyance—or rather, unlike Ms. Rosier's extravagance.

In short, the Defense Against the Dark Arts classroom was becoming more like a proper classroom.

At the very front of the classroom stood a huge wardrobe, which was thumping and bobbing as if it contained something.

The students stared warily at the wardrobe, remembering Ms. Rosier's lesson from last year—it was an Inferi, placed right inside the wardrobe. What if this one was also Inferi ...

It's not that the Inferi are impossible to deal with, it's just that they look really creepy.

"Don't worry, students," Professor Lupin said as he emerged from the lounge. "There's only a Boggart inside."

"If you've previewed the textbook, you'll know that Boggart likes dark, enclosed spaces," Professor Lupin continued, explaining to the students, "Including wardrobes, gaps under beds, cupboards under sinks—I once found one hidden inside an old ancestral clock."

"Of course, this one was moved in yesterday afternoon. I asked the Headmaster and the professors if we could leave it alone so that my third-year students could have some practical experience."

At this point, Professor Lupin placed his hands on the podium and looked at everyone.

"Now, please listen to my first question—what is Boggart?"

As soon as he finished speaking, several people raised their hands.

"Hmm..." Professor Lupin thought for a moment, then pointed to Hermione and said, "Come here, Miss Granger, tell me what Boggart is."

"Boggart is a Transfiguration creature," she said. "It can see into your heart and become what you fear most. The more people there are, the easier it is to deal with Boggart. What really kills Boggart is laughter. If you laugh out loud, the Boggart will explode into wisps of smoke and disappear."

"Very good, very good," Professor Lupin praised, clapping his hands. "I couldn't have said it better myself."

"So, the Boggart in the darkness inside the wardrobe hasn't yet taken on any form; it doesn't know what could frighten the person outside the door," Professor Lupin continued. "Nobody knows what the Boggart looks like when it's alone, but once I let it out, it will immediately become the thing we all fear most."

"But we also have a significant advantage now, do you know what it is?" Professor Lupin smiled and called on Ron, "Ron, tell me?"

"Well?" Ron first used an interjection, then said, "Just like Hermione just said, the more people there are, the easier it is to deal with the Boggart, because it will be confused and won't know what to become."

"That's absolutely right," Professor Lupin said, clapping his hands. "The best way to deal with Boggart is to have a lot of people around. It gets confused... It starts thinking, what should it become? A headless corpse, or a carnivorous slug? I once saw a Bludger make that mistake—it tried to scare two people at the same time, so it turned itself into half a slug, which wasn't scary at all."

Just then, Veratia knocked on the door of the Defense Against the Dark Arts.

"Hello, Professor Lupin."

Professor Lupin turned around, saw it was Veratia, and said with a smile, "Hello, Miss Grindelwald, may I ask what brings you here?"

"I'd like to find Harry," Veratia said.

"Harry," Professor Lupin called Harry's name, "Miss Grindelwald wants to speak with you about something."

As Harry reached the door, Professor Lupin suddenly said, "Also, I recall you didn't attend your first Defense Against the Dark Arts in seventh year, did you?"

"Yes, Professor," Veratia said politely, "I'm sorry, I have some personal matters to attend to."

"It's alright, Professor Dumbledore has already told me," Lupin said with a smile. "But I'm curious what your Boggart will be. If you're free later, you can come and join our Defense Against the Dark Arts."

"Yes, Professor." Veratia did not refuse Lupin's invitation.

As they walked out, they could still hear Professor Lupin explaining Boggart's weaknesses to the students.

"The spell to repel the Boggart is simple, but it requires willpower. You know, what truly frightens the Boggart is laughter. All you have to do is force it into what you find laughable..."

Harry, who had walked out of the classroom, stood to the side and looked obediently at Veratia.

"Come with me to Professor Dumbledore's office in a bit," Veratia said succinctly. "He sent me a message via Phoenix. The meeting at Wizengamot will end in about twenty minutes. I think we should go and ask him about the god of death you mentioned to me before."

"Okay," Harry nodded.

"Also, we should call Cassandra." Veratia thought for a moment and said again, "Perhaps we should also call Mr. LeMay, after all, he is a legendary Alchemy who has lived for over six hundred years, perhaps he has a way to escape the pursuit of god of death."

"Why do you say that?" Harry asked curiously.

"Because he is also someone who transcends the boundary between life and death, which is something god of death cannot allow," Veratia said firmly. "To be able to live in this world for so many years without being hunted by god of death, I think he must have some unique methods."

"Okay," Harry nodded. "So what should we do now?"

"Let's go in for class first," Veratia said with a smile. "I'm very interested to see what your Boggart is."

Harry glanced at Veratia speechlessly, turned and walked into the classroom, with Veratia following behind him.

When they entered the classroom, they saw Professor Lupin with one hand on Neville's shoulder, speaking to him.

Seeing the two of them walk in, Lupin nodded to them, pointed his wand at the wardrobe, and said loudly, "I'll count to three, Neville... one, two, three—begin!"

Professor Lupin's wand shot out a burst of sparks, which struck the handle of the wardrobe door, causing the door to swung open with a bang.

Professor Snape, with his long, hooked nose and threatening expression, stepped forward, staring intently at Neville.

His greasy hair swayed with his walk, like seaweed in the ocean waves.

"This Professor Snape doesn't even wash his hair," Ron commented from the side. He didn't believe that a Snape could just randomly appear behind him in the Defense Against the Dark Arts classroom.

As it turned out, he was right. Snape wouldn't teleport behind him to deduct points, because he was currently teaching Potions Class to fourth-year students.

Pressed relentlessly by Snape, Neville retreated step by step, his wand raised, speechless.

It's not surprising that he was like this. If it were anyone else, Neville would have already drawn his wand or thrown the Chinese chomping cabbage. But he was facing Snape, and he was like a mouse being suppressed by bloodline, unable to utter a word.

Snape approached him menacingly, reaching into his robes as if to pull out his wand.

"Go Neville!" Ron roared. "Don't embarrass Gryffindor!"

Encouraged by Ron's shout, Neville seemed to have suddenly found his backbone.

Yes! He's just a Boggart, what's there to be afraid of!

"Riddikulus!" Neville shrieked.

A noise rang out, like the sound of a whip being cracked, and Snape tripped.

They suddenly realized that Snape's black robe had transformed into a long, green dress embroidered with lace, and she was wearing a tall hat with an old, worm-eaten eagle specimen on top, and was carrying a huge scarlet handbag.

No one knew what had happened, but they all knew that Professor Snape was dressed in women's clothing!

The classroom fell silent for a moment, then burst into loud laughter.

The students from all four houses were laughing so hard they were slapping their thighs. Even the Slytherin students were amused by the scene before them. Draco tried to hold back, but he joined in the laughter as Crabbe and Goyle slapped the table beside him.

This is a rare sight indeed. Who would have thought that the usually stern Professor Snape would dress in women's clothing?

The Boggart stopped, looking around in bewilderment, unsure of what was happening.

"Alright, next!" Professor Lupin laughed heartily, seemingly extremely satisfied with Neville's masterpiece. "Ron, you're next!"

Ron walked like a crab to the woman dressed as Snape.

"Concentrate, and don't be afraid!" Professor Lupin shouted with a smile.

As soon as he finished speaking, a vortex swirled around Snape, engulfing him completely.

A moment later, a huge spider appeared in front of Ron. It had red stripes on its back and its legs were covered in sharp... indistinguishable barbs or hairs. Its large pincers swung around with a clicking sound, as if it wanted to snap Ron in half.

Ron let out a "whoosh." Even though his dueling skills were now comparable to those of a normal fifth or sixth grader, he still found it difficult to remain calm in the face of his childhood trauma.

He took a deep breath and drew his wand.

"Riddikulus!" he Riddikulus.

Suddenly, the spider was fitted with roller skates on all eight of its legs. Unable to move forward, the spider slipped and fell heavily to the floor.

Everyone burst into laughter.

"Seamus! You're next!" Professor Lupin said with a smile.

As Seamus stepped forward, the spider began to spin again, and a Female Ghost appeared where it had been.

The Female Ghost had a sinister and terrifying appearance, just like in a Japan horror movie, with her hand outstretched and Grim, contemptuous laugh coming from her mouth.

"Riddikulus!" Seamus Riddikulus.

The Female Ghost suddenly turned into a mouse, squeaking and crawling around on the spot.

"Next! Miss Granger!" Lupin shouted, clapping his hands.

Hermione walked up to the mouse, and after a short while, the mouse turned into a giant exam paper with Hermione's name written on it and a huge "T" next to it.

She raised her wand and pointed it at the exam paper. "Riddikulus!"

The exam paper made a tearing sound as it was ripped into countless pieces—which then transformed into a parrot made of the fragments, just like Jack.

"Next! Miss Grindelwald!" Professor Lupin called out again.

Veratia walked up to the Boggart parrot and stood still.

Everyone held their breath, eager to see just what the terrifying transfer student, Boggart, really was.

The Boggart suddenly hissed and popped, then rose up in a cloud of smoke.

The smoke quickly dissipated, revealing a person.

"Harry?!" Ron exclaimed instinctively, "It's Harry?"

Yes, Veratia's Boggart is Harry...?

Professor Lupin straightened up, looking at the Boggart transformed into Harry with a puzzled expression.

Harry himself felt a little strange; another version of himself was not far away... wait, why was Veratia's Boggart me?!

However, to everyone's surprise, Veratia did not rush to chant the spell, but waited for Boggart to approach her.

Boggart Harry strode up to Vivi, a haughty smile on his face just like Cassandra's.

"Ha, Squib —truly inferior..."

Veratia's wand emitted a burst of green light.

Professor Lupin felt a chill run down his spine; he was quite certain the Riddikulus incantation wasn't green—

"Riddikulus!" Veratia said softly.

Harry suddenly froze on the spot, his clothes transformed into a lady's dress, and he put on the kind of sun hat that ladies from a hundred years ago particularly liked to wear.

Everyone was stunned for several seconds, then burst into laughter even more exaggerated than when they saw Snape in drag.

Ron and Hermione, in particular, pointed at Harry and burst into earth-shattering laughter.

"Alright, next—" Professor Lupin clapped his hands and said, "Harry, you're up—"

Harry swears that Professor Lupin did it on purpose, deliberately making him face himself in women's clothing.

But he had no evidence to prove that Professor Lupin did it on purpose, so he had no choice but to stand up and face the woman in his female form.

Harry, dressed as Harry, stood up straight, and with a bang, another puff of smoke rose up.

Immediately afterward, the smoke dissipated, revealing a figure wearing a hood and holding a sickle.

The figure raised the scythe high and swung it at Veratia beside him.

"Riddikulus!" he shouted, pointing his wand at the god of death Boggart.

Boggart made a crackling sound and transformed into a comical dog head.

The students burst into laughter again; they had never seen such an amusing dog head before.

"Next, Miss Eibon!" Professor Lupin said again.

Hannah stepped forward, and the dog's head transformed into a giant venomous snake.

"Riddikulus!" Hannah chanted, pointing at the snake.

The venomous snake transformed into a red ribbon, looking quite festive.

Professor Lupin clapped and called the students forward again.

It should be acknowledged that Boggart was quite persistent; he persisted until all the other students had finished facing the most terrifying task before finally being dejectedly locked in the closet by Professor Lupin.

"Now that the class is over, let's give poor Boggart a rest," he said.

A burst of applause filled the classroom, signifying that Professor Lupin had gained the approval of the vast majority of the students.

Before the class started, they were worried about whether Professor Lupin would be a competent professor.

"Fantastic!" Professor Lupin exclaimed. "Well done, everyone—I'll give you five extra points, all four houses combined—because your laughter defeated the Boggart."

"Also, everyone involved in defeating Boggart will receive five points," Professor Lupin continued. "A wonderful lesson—but I'm not going to let you off the hook yet. I have some homework to assign. Please carefully read the chapter about Boggart and write a nine-inch paper due Monday... That's all. Class dismissed!"

After the get out of class was dismissed, the students were still somewhat reluctant to leave.

They were excitedly discussing what had happened in class, especially Professor Snape's cross-dressing Boggart...

Good heavens, Snape in women's clothing, this is simply...

Harry had no interest in joining their discussion; he hurried with Veratia toward the Headmaster's Office on the Seventh Floor.

Lupin sat in his office, his eyes darting around, still thinking about Harry.

Harry and Veratia arrived at the Headmaster's Office quickly. Cassandra was already waiting at the door. Seeing them arrive so late, Cassandra wrinkled her nose and said, "Oh dear, looks like you two went on a date? Is that why you're late?"

"I just got out of class," Harry said simply, now becoming more cautious.

After Ron pointed it out, he felt even more cautious.

But even so, a voice in his subconscious told him—don't give up on any of them.

"Oh~" Cassandra squinted and said, "So our Potter is still a child who can't take care of himself and needs his aunt to pick him up from school..."

When she said that, the word "auntie" was emphasized.

Cassandra seems to be using this title to emphasize the relationship between Veratia and Lily. As someone else's mother's best friend, is it really okay for her to be so close to her child?

"Then you can pick it up tomorrow," Harry retorted instinctively.

He regretted it as soon as he said it; he hadn't thought it through at all.

To everyone's surprise, Cassandra didn't get angry; instead, she gave a faint smile.

"Okay, if you'd call me 'Auntie' too—"

As soon as he finished speaking, the Waterspout Gargoyle jumped to the side.

"The Headmaster invites you in," it said.

Cassandra glanced at the couple and went inside first.

Harry quickly followed, keeping pace with Cassandra.

In the Headmaster's Office, Mr. LeMay was already sitting there, with Pabbie in his Unicorn form beside him.

Seeing Harry approach, Pabbie went up to him and brought back a bag of Blueberry from somewhere.

"Here, Harry," Pabbie said, "try some freshly picked Blueberry— "

"Thank you." Harry reached out and ruffled Pabbie's hair, then took the Blueberry.

They walked to the Headmaster's desk and sat down.

Dumbledore gave each of them some lemonade, the unsweetened kind.

Everyone else is fine with it, but Mr. LeMay... Dumbledore wouldn't dare give him a lethal dose of sugar.

The old man is already over six hundred years old. If he were to die from being overwhelmed by sugar... he would be remembered for generations.

"Tell me about it," Dumbledore said. "I've been wanting to ask about god of death in detail for the past few days, but I've been in meetings at Wizengamot..."

Harry organized his thoughts and recounted in detail what had happened in Cassandra's dream to Dumbledore.

Including the final threat of god of death, and the threats concerning Pabbie and Veratia.

After hearing Harry's words, everyone present fell into deep thought, including Mr. LeMay.

"I should say, my understanding of god of death isn't that extensive either," Dumbledore said, arms crossed. "Harry, you should know that my knowledge of god of death is limited to my foolish pursuit of the power of the Deathly Hallows when I was young..."

"Legend has it that if you obtain the Deathly Hallows, you can become the master of god of death, right?" Harry asked.

"Yes," Dumbledore said softly, "But I still believe it is just a baseless rumor."

Another period of silent silence fell over the Headmaster's Office.

"However, you still need to rest assured about this," Mr. LeMay said. "God of death cannot appear in the Prime Material Plane; he certainly won't come to Earth to hunt you down—but if he is summoned by someone else, that's another story."

Dumbledore after hearing Mr. LeMay's words.

"Take a look at this." He took a letter from a drawer and handed it to Harry and the others. "This is Newt's investigation in North America. He suspects that Voldemort seems to be performing some kind of mysterious ritual."

Harry took the letter and read it carefully with Veratia and the others.

"You mean, Voldemort is also summoning god of death?" Harry asked, frowning.

The speculation in the letter wasn't entirely unfounded, after all, the mysterious ritual Voldemort was currently performing was to summon god of death through myths and legends from various places.

"Judging from the current situation, the ritual he attempted last year was likely an attempt to summon Anubis, the Egypt god of death of death." Dumbledore rubbed his eyelids. "But he must have failed, otherwise he wouldn't be performing this current ritual..."

"But I still don't understand, Professor," Harry asked, frowning. "Voldemort is currently in a remnant state, and to escape death, he's even gone so far as to do something as evil as splitting his soul. Why would he dare to summon god of death? Isn't he afraid that after summoning god of death, he'll be the first one to be dealt with by god of death?"

"Oh, god of death isn't as extreme as you think, Harry," Mr. LeMay suddenly said. "In my impression, god of death, while somewhat vengeful, is still somewhat reasonable—provided you don't anger him."

After hearing this, everyone looked at Cassandra.

Everyone knows Cassandra is sharp-tongued, but who knows if Cassandra's ever made sarcastic remarks about god of death?

"Don't look at me like that. I'm not some fool who can't see the bigger picture," Cassandra said, spreading her hands. "There's no real benefit in mocking a Grim god of death for me. Why would I do something like that?"

Pabbie lowered his head and said softly, "It's hard to say."

As a result, Cassandra grabbed her ear and tugged at it several times, making her cry out in pain.

The discussion in the Headmaster's Office didn't yield any results, but at least some information was obtained, which was better than nothing.

After discussing it, Veratia and Cassandra decided to look up records and legends about god of death.

Harry didn't rush back to his dormitory. Instead, he went to the Black Lake with Pabbie, intending to ask Pabbie for advice.

It was afternoon, and there weren't many students by the Black Lake. Harry and Pabbie went to an open space and sat down.

"Pabbie," Harry patted Pabbie's neck and said to her, "I have something important to ask you—very important, very important."

"Oh." Pabbie nodded, glanced around, and seeing that Veratia and Cassandra weren't there, chuckled and said, "Okay, go ahead and ask~"

(Requesting monthly votes)

(The last 4000 words are an extra chapter for reaching 26,000 monthly votes last month)