So I'm Your Backup Option, Am I, Potter?

Do you remember who you are?

Harry was taken aback by these words. How come I don't remember my identity?

He then realized what Cassandra meant. Instead of backing down, he asked in return, "Remember my identity? Oh, I remember now, last year, Mr. Septimus entrusted you to me."

Cassandra was taken aback by Harry's words.

This little guy was actually waiting for me here?

"Is that so?" Cassandra curled her lips into a smile. "But I don't recall you taking on any 'entrusted' task, do you think, Potter?"

"If you wish, I'll take responsibility too." Harry's skin was now incredibly thick, and he was quite adept at teasing Cassandra. "So, how do you intend for me to take responsibility—to be a good older brother like Ignatius, or a good son-in-law as Mr. Septimus hopes?"

Such bold words were something Cassandra had never heard before, and something she never imagined Harry would say.

No, how dare he!

Her thin lips trembled for a moment, then she cursed, "Shameless!"

After saying that, she tried to leave, but Harry stopped her.

"What else do you want to do!" Cassandra asked angrily.

But Harry clearly noticed that Cassandra had stopped walking.

Based on his understanding of Cassandra, if she were truly angry, she would have already cast a few Charms on him and then walked away without looking back.

In other words, Cassandra is not actually angry right now.

Upon receiving this information, Harry felt somewhat relieved.

"You haven't told me yet how you want me to take responsibility, Cass," Harry called her by her nickname.

"Ha." Cassandra looked at her with pity. "You've really gone astray, led astray by that wretched Grindelwald —now you even dare to talk back to me..."

Talking back to you?

I don't think so.

But Harry didn't say that in the end. Instead, he went along with Cassandra's words and said, "How about we go to Black family home with you after we leave Malfoy Manor?"

"So you're inviting me?" Cassandra chuckled softly. "I suppose so, but... Potter, you also invited that Grindelwald woman, didn't you?"

"Oh, no," Harry said honestly. "We didn't invite her. She's already left Britain for Austria and is said to have joined the Ministry of Magic."

Cassandra paused for a moment, her face darkening.

"So I'm your backup plan, is that it, Potter?"

"How could that be?" Harry reacted quickly, explaining in a rapid-fire manner, "You've always been my first choice, Cass —whether in the past, now, or in the future."

"Yeah?"

Cassandra looked at Harry with a half-smile, but her tone was full of satisfaction.

"Of course it's true," Harry said sincerely. "Tell me, when have I ever lied to you?"

Cassandra recalled that Harry had indeed not lied to her.

In this respect, Harry is quite trustworthy.

"I'll assume that's the case for now," Cassandra said haughtily. "Alright, if I don't have anything else to do, I'll go to Black family home with you."

Harry nodded repeatedly, but inwardly he was thinking, "What else could you possibly want?"

Having already agreed to go to the Malfoy Manor with Cassandra, Harry returned to his box, greeted Ron and the others, and then went to the Slytherin carriage.

Draco was already waiting outside. When he saw Harry, he happily went up to him and said, "Come on, Harry, Cassandra has been waiting for you inside for ages."

"No, we've only been apart for less than five minutes," Harry thought to himself, but still managed a smile.

He went into the private room, where Cassandra was reading a book.

Hearing Harry enter the box, Cassandra said without looking up, "Looks like you still remember the time we agreed to meet."

"Of course I remember." Harry didn't choose to sit opposite Cassandra, but instead chose to sit next to her.

This was the first time the two had been so close outside of mana replenishment time—well, not exactly the first time, the last time was in the Forbidden Forest.

The scent unique to Cassandra lingered around his nose, and Harry couldn't resist moving closer to her face.

"What are you looking at?"

His true intentions were clearly not what they seemed; he used the excuse of reading to get closer to the girl next to him.

"Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone," Cassandra said, a smile still playing at the corners of her eyes. "It tells the story of a brave young wizard who stops a ruthless Dark Lord from obtaining the Philosopher's Stone."

Of course, she made up the name; she had heard about Harry's first year, so she just made up a name on the spot.

"The author's name is awful," Harry raised an eyebrow, his face almost touching Cassandra's. "But the story sounds really good. Could you tell me more about it?"

"Of course." Cassandra cleared her throat, picked up the book, and began to speak. "This little thief named Harry Potter, after defeating the Dark Lord, not only did he not return the Philosopher's Stone to that poor old man, but he also kept the stone for himself. This behavior is really shameful. I hope you can learn from this, Harry, and never become such a shameful person."

"Yes, that's right." Harry nodded as if he understood. "It's shameful that this shameless scoundrel absorbed the Philosopher's Stone, but he still saved an innocent girl's life. After all, she needed the Philosopher's Stone to replenish her Life Force, didn't she?"

"Hmph." Cassandra merely snorted to express her displeasure.

Harry was about to say something when the train sounded a long whistle.

"We've arrived." Cassandra stood up and handed the book to Harry. "Keep it safe for me, Potter —we'll go say hello to Godfather Black first, and then we'll head back to the Malfoy Manor together."

So, you've started calling him Godfather too, right?

Harry was secretly pleased, but he didn't say anything.

He knew, of course, that Cassandra was sensitive and that directly pointing it out would only make her more resistant.

They got off the train, with Draco trailing behind them not far behind. Draco looked at his great-aunt and Future Great Uncle with a maternal smile, clearly embarrassed.

At the exit, not only Sirius was there to pick up Harry, but the Mr. and Mrs. Malfoy Sirius also standing next to him, seemingly talking to each other.

It seems the conversation went quite well; at least Sirius didn't show any impatience.

Given his personality, it's highly unlikely that he would show a friendly face to people who uphold the concept of Pure-blood families —so there's only one truth: at least the Mr. and Mrs. Malfoy didn't offend Sirius by promoting that Pure-blood theory.

Sirius waved to Harry and Cassandra as they approached.

"Harry, Miss Malfoy, over here!"

Harry walked over and said to Sirius, "By the way, Godfather, Cassandra just told me that she wants me to go back to the Malfoy Manor with her."

"Narcissa has already told me about this," Sirius said with a smile. "I'll go with you, and they've also extended an invitation to me."

"That's great," Harry said with a grin.

He then turned to the Mr. and Mrs. Malfoy.

"Hello, Mr. Malfoy. and Mrs. Malfoy."

"Hello, Mr. Potter."

Lucius didn't seem fake at all; the sincerity in it was more genuine than it had been to anyone else before.

"Then let's set off," he said.

They boarded the carriage, Thestral took flight.

However, upon arriving at the manor, Harry belatedly realized that someone seemed to be missing from the car.

"What's wrong? Potter?"

Cassandra noticed the change in Harry's expression and asked.

Harry held up one finger and counted them in the carriage, then turned to Cassandra and asked, "Cass, don't you think we're missing someone?"

Few people?

After Harry said that, the Mr. and Mrs. Malfoy realized something was wrong.

"Oh no!" Narcissa suddenly sat up straight. "Little Dragon! We left Little Dragon at the station!"

At the station, Draco was looking in the distance, in the direction where the carriage had disappeared, and he was on the verge of tears.

"What's wrong, Malfoy?"

As Ron emerged from the station, he noticed Draco's disheveled appearance and curiously approached him to ask what was wrong.

"I..."

Draco slowly turned his head, wiping away tears, and said, "My mom and dad left me and went with Harry and the others..."

Upon hearing this answer, Ron let out a 'special' laugh.

However, he held back. It was wrong to laugh at others at this time, especially... well, even if it was Malfoy.

"If you have nowhere to go, you can come to my place for now," Ron invited. "Of course, my place might not be as nice as yours, but it's good enough... well, it feels like home."

"That's all we can do," Draco said regretfully. "Hopefully they'll realize I didn't get on the bus soon, but..."

Ron shaded his eyes with one hand and looked into the distance, saying, "But they haven't come back to pick you up yet, which means they definitely haven't found out yet."

Draco took a deep breath...

He decided to remain silent.

"How about this?" Hermione suddenly pulled out something that looked like a brick and said to Draco, "I'll call Veratia first and have him tell Harry you didn't get on the bus... um, so your parents don't need to worry, they'll go to the Weasley family to pick you up, okay?"

"Thank you so much, Granger," Draco said sincerely.

From his perspective, Hermione pressed on that brick-like object for a long time, and after a while, she started talking to it as if she had gone mad.

After a while, Hermione put down the brick and gave them an OK sign.

"Alright," she said to them, "Veratia has already called Harry, so you can go visit the Weasley family without worry, Malfoy."

However, Draco was clearly very interested in the big brick.

"What's that?" Draco asked curiously.

"Oh, that," Hermione nodded and said, "That's a mobile phone, which, as the name suggests, is a phone that can be dialed anytime, anywhere—as for a phone, you can think of it as a tool that allows people to communicate remotely in real time."

"My goodness Merlin!" Draco exclaimed in shock. "Such a thing exists? How was it made?"

"This is Muggle technology," Hermione explained patiently. "You can think of it as Muggle magic—do you understand what I mean?"

"Technology?" Draco noted down the word. "Well, I don't know what it is, but it sounds pretty impressive..."

Influenced by Harry, Draco no longer held the same disdain for Muggle as before, and he was able to quickly recognize the advantages of technology.

If Dad could develop something like this in the Magical World, then wouldn't the Malfoy family...?

Thinking about this, Draco felt it was necessary to talk to his father about these things related to "technology".

Of course, the most urgent task right now is...

"Can you tell me about science, Hermione?" Draco was like a sponge thirsting for knowledge. "To be honest, I'm actually quite curious about science..."

Before he could finish speaking, Mr. Weasley's voice came from behind.

"Hey, kids!" Mr. Weasley said with a chuckle. "I've already arranged with Mr. Granger to have dinner at their Granger's house tonight before heading back—what do you say, Ron?"

At this point, Mr. Weasley noticed Draco.

"A new face?" He looked Draco up and down. "You're from the Lucius family, aren't you?"

"Hello, Mr. Weasley," Draco greeted him politely.

"Draco's parents forgot him at the station," Ron explained for Draco. "Hermione just called Harry to let him know, so he'll be with us for now—"

"If it's the Granger's house, I have no objection," Draco said quickly, wanting to experience what Muggle life was like.

Hermione's family... would be a good choice.

He had certainly heard that Hermione's family was well-off, so it was only natural that good things from the Muggle world would also appear in their home.

When that time comes, Hermione can explain it to him.

Draco's idea was indeed quite good.

At that moment, Harry also received a call from Veratia.

Upon hearing Veratia's voice and seeing Veratia's image, Cassandra's face immediately fell.

Why is this woman... always haunting me!

"Okay, I understand." Harry nodded and hung up the phone.

He said to the Forgetting-cub couple... no, to the Mr. and Mrs. Malfoy, "Draco is staying with the Weasley family for now, don't worry, we'll go to the Weasley family to pick him up tomorrow."

"Now that Arthur is taking care of the Little Dragon, I can rest assured." Lucius breathed a sigh of relief.

Although he had some minor conflicts with Mr. Weasley, Lucius always had great faith in the latter's character.

(End of this chapter)