Can You Stop Bickering Like an Old Married Couple?

"I'm fine."

Harry reached up and rubbed the scar on his forehead, frowning as he asked, "Did you guys encounter anything strange just now?"

"No," Veratia said to Harry. "You suddenly passed out after you said that Black family home would be turned into a trap by Kritcher."

"He suddenly fainted?" Harry asked in astonishment. "But I clearly remember that the sky suddenly darkened, and Sirius and Professor Lupin drew their wands, ready to fight..."

"Perhaps it's an illusion," Sirius asked with concern. "Dark Arts can do this, and Voldemort, who was adept at manipulating minds, was an expert in it... Perhaps he invaded your consciousness?"

A breach of consciousness?

Harry nodded hesitantly; Sirius might have a point.

"Haven't you learned Occlumency?" Sirius asked again. "Logically speaking, someone who performs so well in Quidditch should have already mastered Occlumency..."

Upon hearing Sirius's words, Veratia and Cassandra exchanged a glance, both blushing, and simultaneously turned their gazes to the window, avoiding looking at Harry on the bed.

Why didn't you learn Occlumency?

Cassandra had actually forgotten that she had planned to teach Harry Occlumency in his fifth year, but due to a sudden falling out with Harry, the plan was abandoned.

As for Veratia...

It's simply that I don't want to teach.

Tsk, if she taught Harry Occlumency, whose mind would she be able to read?

Hermione and Ron, however, missed the point. They asked, puzzled, "Quidditch? What does being good at Quidditch have to do with Occlumency?"

"I misspoke. What I mean is..." Sirius said after choosing his words carefully, "It doesn't make much sense that Harry could defeat so many Dementor with a single spell in Quidditch but not with a simple Occlumency."

At this point, Sirius, whose nose is always very sharp, suddenly had a flash of inspiration.

Could it be...

Were those two wicked Slytherin women deliberately unwilling to teach?

Looking at the two girls again, their guilty looks confirmed Sirius's guess.

Oh!

Evil Slytherin! I should have shown Harry your true colors sooner!

Ah, Miss Sweeting is still the best...

Sirius glanced at the girl with a concerned yet bewildered expression and thought to himself, "Hufflepuff is the most suitable daughter-in-law!"

but...

Sirius was also thinking to himself.

If he were to speak on this matter, it would likely have the opposite effect.

Harry is clearly deeply in love with those two Slytherin girls, and it's obvious that his Godfather can't persuade him to change his mind.

It seems that this matter requires someone with influence to step in.

Wasn't it said that Dumbledore was looking for the Resurrection Stone?

Then let's wait until Dumbledore finds the Resurrection Stone, then summon Lily and have Lily, as his mother, persuade Harry not to put his arm around those two Slytherin women!

His idea was indeed good, but he missed the most important part—something he would never know in his lifetime.

"So that's how it is..." Ron said with a sudden realization.

Cassandra crossed her arms, looked down at Harry, and said in an unquestionable tone, "In that case, the task at the Dueling Club next is to practice Occlumency, and I will give you special training— Potter."

Um?

Veratia suddenly grasped the key point: Cassandra was giving Harry special training?

She rolled her eyes, a wicked idea popping into her head.

Harry, unaware of Veratia's thoughts, simply glanced up at Veratia and, seeing Veratia nod, agreed, "Alright, then let's practice Occlumency together."

He didn't mind practicing Occlumency with Cassandra; in fact, he was looking forward to it.

"Oh, right," Harry added, "I also saw Voldemort. He said he wanted to cooperate with me, told me the location of that Horcrux in the journal, and asked me to help him destroy Horcrux..."

He recounted the events that had just occurred in great detail, and after hearing his description, everyone fell into deep thought.

"This is definitely Voldemort's plot!" Sirius said decisively. "The Dark Lord is cunning by nature, and he won't let go of any opportunity to deceive others. You should all know that."

"Not necessarily," Veratia suddenly said. "We all know that Horcrux are created by some very heinous act that causes a wizard's soul to split, and a part of the soul is taken out of the body and placed into an object outside the body. That object is the Horcrux. But Voldemort's first Horcrux, the diary he made, was made in 1943, when he was sixteen years old."

"He might not have been very skilled at making Horcrux since it was his first time, and that fragment of soul might have been the largest piece he tore apart—this can also be seen from the fact that the diary haunted Slytherin back then. You should know that Cassandra's great-nephew was once bewitched by that Horcrux..."

Cassandra narrowed her eyes slightly.

What exactly does Grindelwald mean?

Why didn't you just Draco's name directly? Why did you have to add "Cassandra's great-nephew"?

"Cassandra's great-nephew?"

Everyone present, except Harry and Pabbie, was filled with confusion.

Cassandra is clearly a seventeen-year-old girl, so why does she have a great-nephew?

Where did it come from?

As the Miss Know-it-all, Hermione was the first to ask the most thought-provoking question.

"You mean—" Hermione asked, frowning, "Miss Malfoy's great-nephew? You must be mistaken, it should be her brother... You see, she's only seventeen..."

"She's from a higher generation," Veratia said, spreading her hands. "That's due to historical reasons. After all, families with a long history often have some strange generational rankings."

Ron accepted this explanation, Hermione was skeptical, while Lupin and Sirius clearly didn't believe it.

I don't believe you for a second! You're a really bad old lady!

However, the primary task now is not to dwell on Cassandra's true lineage or identity. Pabbie once again focused on the key point. "I think Veratia makes a lot of sense. Someone as proud as Voldemort would certainly not be content with his fragmented soul merely being a Horcrux —and we don't yet know why we haven't seen other Horcrux causing trouble, but what is certain is that at least that diary was not content with being just a Horcrux..."

"That's not right," Ron suddenly asked, "Wasn't that Voldemort you defeated before Christmas last year the diary? Why do you say that Horcrux is still haunting you?"

"I almost forgot," Harry said, slapping his forehead. "That was Voldemort's true form. I don't know the specifics, but it seems he swapped places with that split soul. The split soul successfully detached from the Horcrux, while the main soul entered the diary."

"If that's the case, then Miss Grindelwald's guess is about 80% likely." Lupin nodded and said, "Given Voldemort's proud nature, how could his main soul possibly request to reside in the diary while allowing his secondary soul to wreak havoc? That's impossible..."

"Yes, just like god of death said," Harry concluded. "That Diary Horcrux is causing trouble in America right now, but we don't know the exact location yet... So, maybe we really should try to get some information out of Voldemort?"

"I should warn you, Harry," Sirius sighed, "Even if Voldemort wanted to cooperate with us to destroy this fragment of the soul, he would definitely have some trap in mind, do you believe me?"

"Yes, Harry," Ron said with some concern, "How about... we tell Dumbledore about this? He'll definitely have a way, don't you think?"

"Alright," Harry nodded, then turned to Veratia. "Veratia, have Fiona send a message to Professor Dumbledore."

Veratia reached out and took out a delicate handbag, then spread her arms to let Fiona fly out.

Fiona let out a clear cry, a flash of fire appeared, and it disappeared from the spot.

"And you, Harry," Sirius asked, "How are you feeling? Does the scar still hurt?"

"I feel much better..." Harry reached up and rubbed his forehead, but suddenly remembered what Voldemort had said, so he said to Sirius, "By the way, Sirius —do you remember Regulus? Regulus Black?"

Unexpectedly, Sirius's expression suddenly became complicated upon hearing this name.

After a while, his eyes dimmed and he snorted through his nose.

"Yes, Regulus is my younger brother—he's a year younger than me, but our ideologies are completely opposite..."

He paused, reached up and tugged at his sleeve, and continued, "Regulus agrees with Voldemort's ideology. He foolishly follows in Voldemort's footsteps, wanting to follow him down that extreme path... My mother is very supportive of him. You should be able to tell that before today, she was always proud of Regulus."

"I've talked to him about it several times, but he just won't listen. He's still single-mindedly following Voldemort and has become one of the Death Eater."

At this point, Sirius reached up and rubbed his face, letting out a long sigh.

"Alas, it seems he's dead— Death Eater don't all end up well, at least I know he didn't go to Azkaban, so he must be dead..."

"I think you've misunderstood Regulus." Harry put his hand on Sirius's shoulder and said, "During my conversation with Voldemort, he cursed Regulus, saying that he thought Regulus was his loyal servant, but Regulus betrayed him and broke his trust..."

Upon hearing Harry's words, Sirius, whose eyes had been dim, suddenly raised his head.

"What did you say?! Regulus betrayed Voldemort? He broke Voldemort's trust?"

"At least that's what Voldemort said," Harry shrugged. "I don't think he'd lie about this, do you think, Sirius?"

That makes a lot of sense, since Voldemort had no reason to lie about this matter.

From a motivational standpoint, it doesn't quite make sense.

Sirius stood up excitedly, pacing back and forth, muttering, "He betrayed the Dark Lord, he betrayed Voldemort..."

No one disturbed him. After a long while, Sirius finally came to his senses and said to Harry, "Thank you, Harry. This news is very important to me... I think we should ask Kritcher what happened to Regulus, what happened at home that made things like this..."

"Like I said before, it would be best to ask Professor Snape for some Truth Serum, don't you think?" Harry asked with a chuckle.

"I don't think Professor Snape would give you Truth Serum," Ron said from the side. "You should know how petty Professor Snape is. I suspect he'd remember me for seven years if a hair of mine fell into Potions when I was a first-year student..."

Sirius gave Ron a thumbs-up, then gave Harry a strange look and rejected his suggestion. "Ha, find that Snivellus? I'd rather jump off this building!"

"Then jump, you stupid, clumsy Black Dog dog with Wormtail."

A greasy, slurred voice came from Sirius and Ron.

Ron turned his head in alarm and met Snape's dark eyes.

Snape gave him a forced smile and said slowly, "Well, Mr. Weasley thinks his Potions professor is a petty person. For your judgment, I will carefully check your holiday homework after School Opening starts—I hope you will do your best."

Before Ron could speak, Snape said again, "You should be glad this isn't school, Mr. Weasley."

The implication is—if this were a school, I would have deducted points from your score already!

Ron didn't dare to breathe, fearing that Snape would test him right now.

"Looks like your sense of smell is still as Snivellus brat," Sirius retorted.

He wasn't Ron, nor was he a student at Hogwarts, so of course he wasn't worried about Snape making things difficult for him.

Come on, let's hurt each other!

"This place seems lively. Did I miss something?"

Dumbledore's voice also rang out from the side; he had appeared in the room at some point.

It should be said that Fiona led the way.

"I saw the message Miss Grindelwald sent me and learned about what happened here just now," Dumbledore said calmly. "I thought you might need Severus, so I took the liberty of bringing him along. You don't mind, do you?"

"Of course I mind," Sirius snorted.

"I mind it too," Snape said with a sinister smile.

I said...

Cassandra suddenly said with disdain, "Can you two stop bickering like an old couple the moment you meet? We have more important things to do..."

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