Veratia's Kiss (Happy New Year)

Harry swam in mid-air for quite a while before struggling to land.

He was really careless; he didn't dodge.

However, letting Cassandra vent her anger was also part of Harry's plan; otherwise, she might have remained silent for many more days.

Harry knows Cassandra all too well.

"I don't think she's actually angry," Pabbie said from the side. "I know her. If she were angry, it wouldn't be as simple as just giving you a Levitation Charm."

"Really?" Harry turned to Pabbie and said, "So, you know a lot about this?"

"Just kidding!" Pabbie puffed out her chest. "I know it like the back of my hand! If you want to win Cassandra over, just ask me!"

Harry was filled with envy. How come he hadn't noticed Pabbie's extraordinary talent before?

In Professor Hoot's words, he has lofty ambitions.

"I need to ask Mr. LeMay how his progress is," Harry said quickly. "Hopefully he can brew the potion after School Opening and then successfully resurrect you."

Finally, Harry glanced at Pabbie and asked, "Aren't you afraid that by giving me an advantage, Veratia will target you?"

"Ha, Veratia?" Pabbie her arms, which were clearly too heavy to hold. "She's too proud. Being too proud will lead to big trouble!"

No sooner had he finished speaking than Ron's head popped out of the house.

"Come in, Harry," he said. "Come and see Sirius's room. You'll never guess what we've seen..."

"Coming," Harry said, striding into Sirius's room.

It should be said that no one has entered Sirius's room since he left the house.

Due to years of neglect, the four-poster bed canopy, once a dark green velvet, had faded to the color of a swamp on a rainy day; scorch marks from some kind of spell remained on the gilded bedposts—in his rebellious days, Sirius had tried to turn Slytherin's silver serpent relief into the lion that symbolized Gryffindor —in his words, how could a Gryffindor sleep in Slytherin bed?

Of course, this didn't prevent him from getting a good beating from Walburga. Sirius couldn't resist his mother's corporal punishment, but when he was sixteen, he chose to run away if he couldn't win.

If I can't afford to fight, can't I at least run away?

"Look, all these windows are locked," Ron said, pointing to the windows around him.

"You should know how conservative the Black family home is," Sirius shrugged, saying nonchalantly. "In their eyes, the birth of Gryffindor in a Pure-blood family is a disgrace to the family, so they sealed off the doors and windows of my room."

"You can tell," Pabbie whispered to Harry. "These sealed doors and windows are just as old-fashioned as the Black family home's closed-mindedness."

"But these Muggle women are really hot," Cassandra remarked from the side. "I think it's necessary to talk to Grindelwald about this, lest Potter by his lecherous Godfather —or rather, he already has."

Before Harry could speak, Sirius retorted, "What, you don't like it?"

Cassandra glanced at Sirius with a blank expression. Actually... she really liked how Harry seemed to have figured things out now.

The premise is to stay away from that philandering cat, or stay away from that stupid donkey.

Sirius knew he had successfully assisted her, so he didn't continue, choosing to give his "future daughter-in-law" face.

There's nothing wrong with thinking that way. After all, Harry is his godson, and now that Harry's parents are gone, Sirius's status is not much different from Harry's father's.

The only problem is that his biological father and Godfather... are both a bit unreliable in terms of personality.

Sirius reached out and opened the Mahogany wardrobe. The wardrobe had been in disrepair for many years, and its exterior was even decayed, with a faint smell of rotting wood.

He reached inside and pulled out a black jacket.

"Look, my baby's still here," he laughed. "Remember this jacket, Harry?"

"I vaguely remember." Harry wasn't lying; he did indeed vaguely remember.

"I wore this jacket and rode my motorcycle to deliver you to Hagrid," Sirius said, his face beaming. Then, remembering why he'd sent Harry, his expression darkened. "Sigh, it's all my fault for trusting Peter too much..."

"No one could have predicted his sudden betrayal." Harry put his hand on Sirius's shoulder. "It's not your fault, Sirius."

Sirius nodded emphatically and patted Harry's hand.

Harry followed Sirius's side and saw the sunlight reflecting off the tiny words on the wall.

"Moony, Wormtail, Padfoot, and Prongs swear here and now, we will never betray you!"

Perhaps sensing the somber atmosphere, Ron suddenly changed the subject, pointing to the still slightly creaking area under the bed and asking, "Mr. Black, what's under the bed?"

"Just call me Sirius. You're all Harry's good friends," Sirius said with a smile, automatically filtering out the unfortunate moment of being called "Godfather Dog" by his two Slytherin daughters-in-law.

He walked to the bedside, bent down and rummaged under the bed, then withdrew his hand as if he had been electrocuted.

"Oh, there's a spider down there," Sirius said, turning around and waving his hand. "It bites pretty hard."

"It shouldn't be Black Widow, right?" Ron asked, his voice trembling with fear, for he was terrified of spiders.

"No, it's probably just a common field spider, not poisonous at all," Sirius said with a laugh, pulling the spider out.

The spider struggled to bite Sirius, who was pulling its leg, but instead bit into his fingernail instead, failing to pierce it.

"Look, it's very energetic," Sirius said, looking at the struggling spider. "I saw these things a lot when I was in Azkaban. I would say they're a decent meal, though they don't taste very good."

"But it provides you with five times the energy of beef," Hermione said to Sirius in a knowing tone.

As soon as she finished speaking, she felt the puzzled looks from all around her, as well as Ron's surprised and terrified gaze.

"I saw it all on TV," she quickly explained. "They talked about spiders on TV, and they even said it tastes like chicken."

"How could that be?" Sirius denied. "I bet they've never eaten a spider raw. It tastes awful, kind of like a sticky, slimy substance that bursts in your mouth, especially when you bite into its belly, that feeling..."

"Alright, that's enough." Ron, his face alternating between pale and flushed, stopped Sirius from speaking. "It's getting boring if we keep going!"

"They must be referring to the taste when it's cooked," Hermione continued. "I've seen the meat under that black chitinous shell, and it does look a lot like chicken—and a bit like crab too."

"Like a crab?" Harry said knowingly. "That's not a problem, after all, spiders and crabs look quite similar..."

"Theoretically speaking, spiders and crabs both belong to the phylum Arthropoda," Hermione explained to them. "But although they are both in the phylum Arthropoda, they belong to two different classes—spiders belong to the class Arachnida, while crabs belong to the class Malacostraca. Even though they look very similar, their relationship is as distant as that between humans in the class Mammalia and turtles in the class Reptilia."

"How will we know if we don't try?" Sirius shrugged and said, "There are a lot of eight-eyed giant... no, I mean Land-Dwelling Softshell Hairy King Crab in the Forbidden Forest. Maybe we can catch some and give it a try when School Opening."

"Is this really a good idea?" Harry looked at Sirius suspiciously. "You know, those are Hagrid's precious pets. If you eat them, Hagrid will be heartbroken."

"Really? Hagrid wasn't sad at all when those Acromantula tried to eat me." Sirius waved his hand and said, "It's settled then. Those Acromantula are destroying the ecosystem in the Forbidden Forest, and we have an obligation and a responsibility to deal with them!"

As he said this, Sirius frowned and asked, "Where's Kritcher? Why haven't we seen him all this time? Kritcher?!"

A small vortex flashed by, and the elderly Kritcher appeared before everyone.

"Kritcher," Sirius said, "As you can see, we have guests, and I hope you can prepare a sumptuous dinner to entertain them."

"Yes, young master." Kritcher said and was about to leave when Sirius called him back.

"Wait a minute—" Sirius asked suspiciously, "What did you call me? Your esteemed young master? Ha, haven't I always been the beastly young master in your eyes?"

"Oh, the situation is different now." Kritcher replied truthfully, "The mistress said that you, young master, are her favorite son and her lifelong pride, so old Kritcher must obey the mistress's wishes. From now on, you will be the most honored young master— "

"What's wrong with my mom?" Sirius frowned. "Did my great-grandfather give her some kind of spell? Or can you use Imperius Curse on a portrait?"

"This is not something Kritcher could know, nor is Kritcher worthy to know," Kritcher said, bowing respectfully.

Although Sirius Black's roar was very loud, Walburga Sirius saying while introducing the Black family home to everyone.

He just deduced from common sense that they were insulting him, so he didn't take it seriously.

If it's the first time you've been yelled at, you might feel a little sad and upset—but if you're yelled at and insulted like that every day, you might gradually get used to it.

After all, the more debt you have, the less you worry; the more lice you have, the less they itch.

"I think I just heard Mrs. Black shouting that you are her favorite son." Ron looked at Sirius hesitantly.

To everyone's surprise, Sirius scoffed.

"How could that be? Even if the sun rises in the west tomorrow! Even if Merlin never wears lace stockings again! I still can't believe I'll become my mother's favorite son!"

As soon as he finished speaking, Harry suddenly felt a vibration in his arms.

He pulled Crystal Ball out of his pocket, on which Veratia's half-body silhouette waved at him.

"It's Veratia," Harry said to them, then walked outside.

"What are you going to do?" Sirius asked curiously.

"Answer the phone," Harry said succinctly. "As for what a phone is... perhaps Pabbie can explain it to you. Now I need to get it connected quickly—"

After saying that, he quickly left the room.

He had to go outside to answer the phone, because who knew if Veratia would try to seduce him in the bathtub like last time?

It's fine if I see it myself, but I absolutely mustn't let others see this kind of good thing.

However, he was overthinking it. How could Veratia possibly take a shower during the day? When he answered the phone, Veratia was wearing a beige long trench coat and smiling at him.

Harry was visibly disappointed to see Veratia fully dressed.

Of course he knew what he was missing; who wouldn't want to watch a beautiful woman bathe? Don't you?

Besides, he wasn't peeking; he was ordered to look freely!

"I can tell, Harry," Veratia said with a smile, "You're disappointed, aren't you?"

"Ahem," Harry coughed twice to cover his embarrassment, and said, "When are you coming? We're at Black family home..."

"I'm right at the door," Veratia said with a smile.

"I'm coming!" Harry said, putting the Crystal Ball away.

He strode downstairs, walked to the front door, opened it, and sure enough, saw Veratia standing gracefully at the door.

Good afternoon, Harry.

Veratia opened her arms, gesturing for Harry to come over.

Harry stepped forward and hugged Veratia openly.

Veratia lowered her head and gently kissed Harry on the forehead.

"Let's go in," Veratia said with a smile. "Don't keep the Godfather and the others waiting."

"The Godfather?" Harry looked up at Veratia.

"Yes, your Godfather is my Godfather, isn't he?" Veratia chuckled, reaching out to pinch Harry's nose. "What, you think it's not allowed?"

"Sure."

The two talked as they walked inside.

As soon as he entered, Mrs. Black's portrait hanging in the main hall suddenly asked, "Mr. Potter —who is this Lady?"

As a long-time Slytherin, she could spot any Slytherin aura the moment she opened her eyes.

The elegant and intellectual girl in front of him, although she looked like Ravenclaw, could not fool Walburga with her disguise.

In this girl's eyes, Walburga could see the fire of ambition that could ignite the whole of Europe.

"Oh, this is my good friend."

After all, Walburga was the Godfather's mother, and Harry was willing to speak to her calmly and peacefully when she was in a calm and rational state of mind.

"Hello, Mrs. Black," Veratia said with a smile. "My name is Verathea Elizabeth Amaryllis Grindelwald."

"Grindelwald?"

Walburga's voice rose an octave.

"You must be Miss Grindelwald? It's an honor to meet you—"

Just then, a cloud of black mist suddenly rose from the Slytherin Locket that Kritcher was carrying.

Kritcher suddenly felt a blank look in his eyes. He paused for a moment, then mechanically continued preparing dinner for his host.

(Requesting monthly votes)

Happy New Year! Stay on duty for the new year!

(End of this chapter)