Veratia: Bathing Together

After Harry made his suggestion, Sirius happily raised his arm to greet his two godson friends.

"Hermione, Ron!"

The two leaned closer and heard Sirius extend an invitation. "Harry just told me he wanted to invite you to spend Christmas at Grimmauld Place, Number 12 —what do you think of that suggestion?"

"Will we spend Christmas with you?" Ron lowered his arms and said with delight, "Of course! Mom and Dad are going to visit Charlie in Romania, so we'll be at school for Christmas."

At this point, Ron looked at Harry and said, "You know, Harry, it's like the Christmas holidays of a first-year student."

"I can tell," Hermione said. "Your mom and dad love you very much."

"Of course," Ron said with a smile. "If we graduate and go as far away as Charlie and Bill, then Mom and Dad will be very busy—but we see them often now, so they won't miss us for the time being, since we'll be a nuisance to them every summer."

"How could that be?" Sirius said incredulously. "I know Molly and Arthur. How could they possibly look down on you?"

"Oh, so you haven't come to my house during the holidays." Ron put his hands on his hips and began to imitate his mother. "Ronald Weasley! How many times have I told you! Get up on time in the morning! No sleeping in! And you two! Fred, George! If you two could just give me a break, I wouldn't be yelling at you like this every day..."

He turned his head again, his expression changing in an instant, and his speech became gentler. "Oh, Ginny, come down and have breakfast—by the way, I haven't congratulated you on getting into Hogwarts yet."

"I bet you're Molly's son," Harry said, giving him a thumbs up.

Sirius laughed so hard he almost fell over, supporting himself on his thigh while slapping the wall with one hand.

"Alright, alright." He wiped away the tears of laughter and patted Ron's shoulder. "It's settled then—you'll come with me to Grimmauld Place, Number 12 for Christmas... And you, Hermione, are you coming?"

"Of course," Hermione said with a smile, accepting Sirius's invitation. "I happen to be free during Christmas. My dad said he's taking my mom on a trip to Ceres, to buy a few houses in a city called 'Shanghai'."

"Why do you want to buy a house over there?" Ron asked with interest.

"Dad said the economy there is developing rapidly, and the property value will definitely rise in the future. Anyway, the family made a small profit during the Pound Sterling crisis a couple of years ago, so we have a lot of spare money. Therefore, Mom didn't object to him," Hermione said.

"Alright." Ron nodded, still willing to trust Mr. Granger's business acumen.

At least for the Weasley family, they could be called financial geniuses.

Having already accepted Sirius's invitation, Harry and the others did not sign the application for staying at school that Professor McGonagall had brought.

but...

The most important thing for Harry was to invite Veratia, Cassandra, and Pabbie to Sirius's house for Christmas.

Pabbie is easy to deal with, but Veratia and Cassandra...

He found Pabbie first.

Upon hearing Harry's invitation, Pabbie accepted Harry without hesitation.

"Yay!" Pabbie exclaimed, jumping up and down.

Harry felt his gaze become a little fixed. Why did the ghost shake violently up and down when it jumped around?

Good heavens, I'm still a child, why are they showing me this stuff!

What he didn't know was that Pabbie's size wouldn't be considered shameful even in a game called "Azur Lane" in later generations.

Of course, Cassandra is out of the question, she... um...

"Hehe, what are you thinking about?" Pabbie pounced on Harry's back.

Fortunately, he was in ghost form, so he couldn't sense anything except a cold, ghostly feeling.

"It's nothing, I just think we need to bring you back to life as soon as possible," Harry said quickly.

After leaving Pabbie, Lima to the Slytherin Common Room.

"Crabbe, Goyle," Harry called to Crabbe and Goyle as they returned from the Great Hall, "Call Draco for me."

"Okay." The two chubby Slytherin boys went into the Slytherin Common Room without hesitation and called Draco out for him.

Draco was a little puzzled when he came out.

Nothing's wrong, Harry. What do you want from me?

"Go call Cassandra for me," Harry said, patting Draco on the shoulder. "I need to talk to her about something."

Finally, he added, "It's something very important."

"So you called me out just for this?"

Draco was a little defensive. "If you want to call me Great-Aunt, just have Crabbe and Goyle go to Miss Farley and have her inform her—why are you looking for me?"

Do you really have to make me go through all that trouble?

But Draco thought about it again and realized this was a good opportunity, so he gave Harry an OK sign.

"Don't worry, I'll go find her right away."

Draco turned and went into the Slytherin Common Room, and a moment later Cassandra came out.

"Oh," Cassandra exclaimed dramatically upon seeing Harry, "I really didn't expect Potter to have time to see me. I thought you were out with your Austria girlfriend—so, what's up?"

"I'd like to invite you to Christmas with me," Harry said quickly. "Would that be alright, Cassandra? Let's go to Grimmauld Place, Number 12... oh, right, that's Sirius's house."

Upon hearing Harry's invitation, Cassandra, who had been holding her head high and looking somewhat arrogant, softened her gaze.

How many years has it been?

To be fair, ever since she met Harry, he has never invited her out on his own initiative... let alone invited her to spend Christmas together.

Although wizards don't celebrate Christmas, over the years they've picked up Muggle habits. For wizards, Christmas is more like a day for family reunion than a religious holiday or a celebration of someone's birthday.

The only time Cassandra was determined to invite Harry to Christmas was during their fifth year—when Harry went to Christmas with Veratia.

"Is this your invitation?" Cassandra smirked. "Let me guess, you must have invited that Austria girlfriend, right?"

When she said that, Cassandra emphasized the word "big girlfriend," especially the word "big."

"Oh, not yet," Harry said truthfully. "I came to invite you first."

Cassandra glanced at Harry with some surprise. "You invited me first?"

This guy...

Did the sun rise in the west?

She looked down at the magic watch on her wrist.

"Are you in a hurry?" Harry asked with concern.

"Oh, I was just checking if it's April 1st." Cassandra casually lowered her wrist and said to Harry, "Looks like it isn't, but I was planning to spend Christmas with Dad and my brother."

"That's a shame," Harry shrugged, a hint of regret in his voice.

But Cassandra wanted to be with her father and brothers, and no one could stop her, not even Harry.

However, just as Harry thought his invitation had been rejected, he heard Cassandra suddenly say, "But my little buddy invited me to spend Christmas with him, how could I refuse? I'll say yes, but don't give me that childish look again."

Harry smacked his lips; the taste was right.

It's a little unpleasant not to get a few sarcastic remarks from Cassandra.

"However, you've been a bit lazy lately, Potter," Cassandra said to Harry. "If you want me to spend Christmas with you, you have to promise me one thing."

"You said it, I promise you, I'll agree to anything," Harry said, nodding.

"Really?" Cassandra smiled.

"Of course," Harry nodded.

"Alright, I want you to practice Charms with me until I come back from vacation," Cassandra said. "You should know just how urgent things are right now—if it were just that Voldemort guy, we wouldn't need to worry about him, but you should know what kind of situation we're facing right now."

"I know," Harry nodded earnestly. "I promise you."

"Looks like your brain hasn't been filled with pink love bubbles yet, Potter." Cassandra's lips curled up. "Also, I should remind you that your Austria girlfriend has quite the ambition. If you don't want to be forced to kneel down by her and kidnapped to be her little darling, I suggest you develop your Charms to its fullest potential."

"What is all this nonsense..." Harry said, his face darkening. "Can't you think of anything healthier?"

"Oh? For example?" Cassandra asked with interest.

"There's nothing like that," Harry said helplessly. "Can't you just stop gossiping about Cricket Veratia behind her back?"

"Are you heartbroken?" Cassandra asked in surprise, covering her red lips with one hand.

"Not really," Harry said to her. "Alright, let's School Opening together with Sirius during the holidays."

Harry really didn't expect that inviting Cassandra would go so smoothly. He had originally thought that he would have to persuade her to agree, but he never expected it to be so quick and decisive.

but...

Next, we invited Veratia.

After returning to his dormitory, he picked up the Crystal Ball.

Of course, Harry still had to keep it a secret, since the Crystal Ball was still a rare item, and it wouldn't be good if someone saw it.

He hid it in a small leather suitcase, which contained a portable three-bedroom apartment, and even a magically simulated sun outside the window.

As Harry held up the Crystal Ball, he silently murmured Veratia's name.

At the same time, a phantom image of Veratia's head appeared on the Crystal Ball.

Profile pictures can be customized. Veratia's profile picture is of Fiona the Phoenix, posed with her wings spread as if about to take flight.

Soon after, the Crystal Ball was connected.

Harry's face flushed red instantly.

"What, what's going on?" Harry asked awkwardly, but still looked ahead confidently.

After all, only the two of them have the Crystal Ball now, and taking this kind of call while taking a shower clearly means that Veratia doesn't mind letting him take a look.

Since the girl didn't object, Harry felt there was no need for him to pretend.

You'll regret it for months if you don't watch it.

"I'm taking a bath," Veratia said cheerfully. "Looks like you called at a really bad time."

She certainly noticed Harry's flushed face; he could practically cosplay a red light at a crossroads in the Muggle world.

How adorable! She thought to herself with a smile.

"I'll hang up now," Harry said, clearing his throat and reaching for the Crystal Ball to turn it off.

"Okay, no need," Veratia said with a light smile. "Go ahead, what do you want to say? I don't have anything to do right now."

Harry cleared his throat and said again, "It's nothing really, I just wanted to ask if you're free for Christmas. If you are, you can come with me to celebrate Christmas at my Godfather's house."

"Your Godfather, Mr. Black, right?" Veratia asked knowingly.

"Well, I also invited Ron and the others," Harry said, then trailed off, unsure how to continue.

Veratia knew exactly Harry Harry was thinking, even through the Crystal Ball.

"You also invited Cassandra, didn't you?" Veratia said with a half-smile. "Harry, Harry, I really underestimated you..."

"It's not that I was thinking of Cassandra being all alone, without any family around her," Harry began to justify himself. "So I thought of having her come and spend Christmas with us, so that we wouldn't be lonely together."

"Oh~" Veratia squinted her eyes and drew out the "oh" meaningfully.

"I also invited Pabbie," Harry continued, trying to justify himself. "Christmas is all about the big family getting together, don't you think?"

A large family?

Veratia almost laughed out of anger.

Harry, Harry, one Cassandra isn't enough, you want to add Pabbie too, right?

How come I never realized before that you were such a greedy brat who liked to take more than your share?

She suddenly said with a dangerous expression, "I don't want to hear about any other strange women in your family, Harry."

"How could that be?" Harry quickly waved his hands and said, "What kind of person do you take me for...?"

"Well..."

Veratia suddenly sighed.

"What's wrong?" Harry asked with concern.

"It's nothing." Veratia's beautiful eyes swept over Harry for a moment before she said, "If only you were here with me right now, we could shower together—and you could even help me wipe my back..."

(Requesting monthly votes)