Veratia's Night Raid

It should be said that Cassandra's words were a complete and utter defeat for the two of them.

This phrase about the old couple was unacceptable not only to Snape but also to Sirius.

From the moment they met, these two people had an attitude of mutual loathing, wishing the other dead.

Sirius felt disgusted by being associated with Snape, and Snape felt disgusted by being associated with Sirius.

Almost simultaneously, the two of them decided in their hearts that they should stay away from each other from now on, just to avoid Miss Malfoy from spouting any more shocking words.

Fortunately, Lupin was the only one among those present who would occasionally tease Sirius, but the occasion was clearly inappropriate, so he didn't say anything.

If James were here, he would definitely confirm Cassandra's words.

Firstly, to disgust the snotty -Snivellus, and secondly, to tease my good buddy.

Nothing in this world is more delightful than killing two birds with one stone.

Dumbledore didn't rush to say anything, but instead looked at Sirius and Snape with a smile.

He didn't actually bump into anything; he just found watching the spectacle quite amusing.

Seeing that they remained silent for a while, Dumbledore cleared his throat and asked, "So, can anyone tell me what exactly happened? Miss Grindelwald only told me in her letter that she needed Truth Serum and mentioned that Voldemort's whereabouts had been spotted. As for anything else, I don't know anything else."

Everyone turned their attention to Harry, but the specifics still needed to be told by Harry himself.

"... That's basically the situation." Harry pushed up his glasses and said to Dumbledore, "It's clear that Voldemort seems to have a way to connect with my consciousness—as for how exactly he does it, I don't know."

Dumbledore looked at Harry with interest and stroked his beard.

If Harry were still the same third-year Harry, then Dumbledore would probably have to seriously figure out what's going on and what to do.

The problem is, this Harry is the same old senior from a hundred years ago, Dumbledore doesn't seem quite the same...

"Perhaps you should practice Occlumency," Dumbledore suggested. "I believe that if you can shut down your brain, you can block Voldemort's intrusion... He may not realize what's happening yet, but once he does, he might start from this point..."

"Kill me?" Harry asked.

"No, control you." Dumbledore said after a moment's thought, "I don't know how he did it, but it's just a guess."

Harry felt like he had thought of something, but then it seemed to drift away from his mind.

Just then, Snape slowly turned his head, glanced at Harry, and then quickly turned back.

Seeing Snape's expression, Sirius was about to utter a sarcastic remark—but then he remembered Cassandra's words, and with a look of utter dismay, he lowered his head in a sullen voice.

Fine, let the Snivellus go.

"As for that House Elf..." Dumbledore for a moment before saying, "I believe he was controlled by Tom's Imperius Curse..."

"Tom?" Sirius asked curiously, "And who is Tom?"

Harry drew his wand and wrote hissing words in mid-air with Charms.

"Tom Marvolo Riddle".

He then reversed the order of the letters and spelled out "I am Lord Voldemort".

Sirius slowly opened his mouth wide. He truly never expected that Tom Riddle was Voldemort...

And most importantly, there are no Riddle in Pure-blood families.

This made Sirius feel as if he had discovered New World, and he stomped his foot in surprise.

"My God, Voldemort isn't pure-blood wizard?!" Sirius exclaimed in astonishment.

"Of course not." Harry shrugged and recounted Voldemort's parents' 'love story' to Sirius.

Finally, he concluded, "To be honest, that Merope Gaunt is no good at all—"

"Indeed, a scoundrel like him deserves to die a hundred times over!"

Sirius seemed to have empathized with poor Mr. Riddle, and goosebumps danced all over his skin.

He then looked at Snape, and although he didn't say anything, Snape could still read the sarcasm in Sirius's expression.

"The Voldemort you follow is such a bastard and scumbag?"

But in the end, Sirius's words boiled down to just one sentence.

"I think I should tell my mother about this, so she knows what kind of people the Black family was following back then."

"Oh no, you're so mean," Hermione said, fanning her nose. "But I also think we should talk to her and have her demystify Voldemort."

"However, Kritcher is very weak right now," Lupin quickly brought his thoughts back. "If you want to ask questions, it would be best to let him recover first, perhaps by giving him some supplements... After all, he's so weak, it wouldn't be good if he got any problems from the Truth Serum."

"Leave this to Dumbledore and me," Snape said greasyly. "Don't worry, I won't harm your Black family home Elf— "

After saying that, Snape looked at Lupin.

The meaning is clear: You, lead the way!

Lupin smiled gently at everyone and said, "I'll take the two of them to see Kritcher first. You all sit here for a while."

"I'll get you rooms first," Sirius said to them. "Come on, come with me—"

They walked upstairs. The Black family home was quite large; there was no problem with each person having their own room.

"I have no objection!" Walburga's portrait shouted. "I also have no objection to Mr. Potter having the master bedroom!"

"Thank you, madam," Harry said with a polite nod.

This made Walburga extremely happy.

Even Pabbie, who was a ghost, was assigned a room; and Harry and his friends, needless to say, even without a master bedroom, each had their own room.

Veratia didn't say anything, but her expression clearly said she was up to something.

As soon as he came out of the room, Sirius walked out waving a crumpled piece of Parchment.

"Harry, Harry!" he exclaimed excitedly. "Look what I've found—look!"

Harry took the Parchment; it was a handwritten letter with delicate handwriting, which read:

Dear Padfoot:

Thank you, thank you for Harry's birthday present! It's his favorite toy. He's only one year old and already Accio on his toy broomstick; he looks so happy. I've attached a picture for you to see. You know, the little broomstick only goes two feet off the ground, but Harry almost killed a kitten and nearly broke an ugly vase that Petunia gave me for Christmas present (not complaining). Of course, James thought it was hilarious, saying the kid will be the next Quidditch star, but we had to put all the decorations away and keep an eye on him while he flew.

We had a very quiet birthday tea party, with only old Bathilda there. She's always been very kind to us and especially dotes on Harry. It's a shame you couldn't come, but the Order of the Phoenix comes first, and besides, Harry's too young to understand birthday celebrations! James's been feeling a bit stifled here; he's trying not to show it, but I can tell— the Invisibility Cloak is still with Dumbledore, so he hasn't had a chance to go out. He would have been so happy if you could have come. Bugs came by last weekend; I think he was down, but maybe it was because of the news about the the McKinnons. I cried all night after hearing it.

Bathilda comes over often; she's a fascinating old lady who tells many unbelievable stories about Dumbledore. I wonder if he himself would be pleased to hear them! Frankly, I don't know how much to believe; it's hard to trust Dumbledore.

Lily

Harry felt as if he had been struck by a heavy hammer; he had never imagined that he would be able to see a handwritten letter from his mother.

Since he could remember, aside from his memories of being in the Pensieve, this was the first time he had been so close to his mother.

He read the letter again, and just staring at the handwriting was enough to satisfy him.

"What are you looking at?"

Veratia leaned closer and pressed against Harry's back, her warm breath caressing Harry neck.

Harry was oblivious to the romantic scene behind him; all he could see was his mother's handwritten letter.

"Oh, it's Lily's letter." Veratia reached out and ruffled Harry's hair, but didn't say anything more. She just stayed behind him and read the letter with him.

Sirius took a deep breath when he heard Veratia address Lily.

Slytherin girl born evil!

Ha, they actually called her Lily directly...

No, I absolutely have to get my hands on the Resurrection Stone! I need to show Lily what kind of woman Harry has chosen as his daughter-in-law!

We must make Lily realize the evil nature of this Slytherin girl!

"This is a letter written by my mother."

After a long pause, Harry let out a soft sigh, rubbed his eyes, and said, "I've never actually read any of her letters. The closest I've ever been to her was seeing her in the Pensieve..."

"You saw her in the Pensieve?" Sirius asked suspiciously, then suddenly realized, "Oh, I know, it was that time by the Black Lake, right? The time Prongs and I hung old Snivellus up to look at his dirty underwear—hey, you don't know, old Snivellus really embarrassed himself, that was the beginning of his complete break with Lily..."

"I remember he later went to the Gryffindor Common Room to see Lily, but Lily gave him a good scolding—"

"Lily isn't that kind of person, Mr. Black," Veratia said with a smile. "You're exaggerating a bit. She was just politely distancing herself from Professor Snape— "

"How did you know?" Sirius asked, leaning back tactically.

Veratia hugged Harry from behind, resting her chin on Harry's left shoulder, and gave Sirius a playful smile.

"You guess?"

Even if Sirius were beaten to death, he would never have imagined that Lily had told Veratia this herself.

"They have a cat," Harry sighed, saying to Veratia. "See that? It says I almost ran over a cat when I was a kid riding a broomstick... Honestly, I wonder where that cat is. I don't remember it in Voldemort's memories. Maybe it ran away?"

"It's not impossible," Sirius said. "But that cat is gone, and I don't like it. Even though Lily treats it so well, it still gets angry with Lily and almost scratched her once."

"If it were my cat, it would probably already be god of death," Veratia snorted.

"Taken away by god of death?" Harry asked, tilting his head.

"Don't you understand?" Sirius roared. "An evil Slytherin like her deserves to be given an Avada Kedavra by that poor kitty!"

"What else?" Veratia chuckled, nuzzling Harry's cheek with her nose. "The Avada Kedavra Charms doesn't cause any suffering to those Charms. Isn't that a form of humanitarianism?"

Sirius was suddenly speechless.

What she said makes so much sense, I'm speechless...

"This spell is extremely evil!" Sirius tried to save face. "Only someone with murderous intent can cast it..."

"Otherwise, should we pretend to be all about love and peace?" Veratia looked at him, puzzled. "You're a Black, for goodness' sake. Do I need to teach you this kind of thing?"

Sirius took a deep breath...

"Little Bug?" Harry interrupted Sirius and Veratia's argument. "You're talking about that traitor, right? Pettigrew... I saw him in my mother's memories. She liked to call him Little Bug, and she liked to call you Pads— "

Sirius's expression softened immediately upon hearing Harry's words.

"That's true." He nodded and said, "We all liked him a lot. Back then... well, Remus was right, Lily really did raise four sons—me, James, you, and that shameful traitor..."

"Perhaps he had already betrayed my parents back then," Harry sighed. "He looked so down when I saw him. I think it must be because of this—he was afraid his mother would find out he'd sided with the Dark Lord, wasn't it?"

"Even before you were born, that traitor had already sided with the Dark Lord," Sirius said viciously. "But none of us expected him to betray James and Lily! And yet, he was perfectly safe! We never let him participate in any battles... We knew he was a coward..."

Sirius loses control of his emotions at the mention of Pettigrew. He slams his fist on the wall and turns to walk toward his bedroom—seemingly to erase any trace of Pettigrew.

Veratia paid no attention to Sirius; her mind was completely preoccupied with planning to raid him that night.

She thought with great interest, "We have to give Cassandra and Harry a little something extra to practice their Occlumency!"

(Requesting monthly votes)

(End of this chapter)