"Snow White"

The portrait of Ominis is in Hogwarts Castle. At first, Harry hung it in the Slytherin Common Room, but not long after, he had it hung outside the library.

After all, the Slytherin Common Room was so noisy that Ominis was getting a little annoyed.

In principle, students are not allowed to freely enter or Hogwarts after the holidays begin.

But Miss Sweeting Pabbie Sweeting was a distinguished school board member, and she was the principle.

So when they arrived at Hogwarts, the caretaker Filch gave them a warm welcome.

Even though he had some minor disagreements with Mr. Filch in his first year, Harry wasn't one to hold grudges. He nodded to Filch as a greeting.

"We're going to see the portrait of Mr. Ominis Gaunt," Pabbie said. "He's right next to the library."

"Very well, Your Excellency Miss Sweeting." Filch nodded deeply to her. "I won't disturb you any longer."

He is very sensible.

At the library entrance, Ominis is sleeping inside a portrait.

The sound of footsteps startled him. He frowned and got up, saying, "Mr. Filch, I... oh, it's Harry. You've come?"

"Ominis," Harry waved to him, "I'm sorry to bother you while you're resting, but we've made some new progress on the matter of the Dark Magic Curse."

"Really?" Ominis asked with great interest. "What kind of progress has been made? Can you cure the Dark Magic Curse?"

"Yes," Harry nodded. "Thanks to Mr. LeMay's help, I was able to take the Purification Charm to the next level... We had someone experiment with it before, and this Charms can completely remove Dark Magic Curse from a person!"

"Is that so!" Ominis said happily. "Oh, okay, okay, wait a moment, I'll go find Sebastian— "

After saying that, Ominis disappeared into the picture frame.

A short while later, he returned to the picture frame and smiled at them.

"Alright, I've already sent Bloody Baron to find Sebastian," Ominis said, pointing behind them. "Look, he's here now."

As Harry and the others turned around, they saw Sebastian fall halfway down from the upper floor.

"Hey," Sebastian waved to them. "Long time no see—or rather, I really like how things are now, you see—at least I don't have to struggle up and down the stairs anymore, don't you think?"

"Looks like you're still optimistic, Seber." Harry shook his head and smiled helplessly. "We've found a way to cure Anne's Dark Magic Curse. Now all we need to do is get Ominis to tell us where Anne is hiding, and then we'll go and rescue her."

"Really?" Sebastian shook off his usual dejection and rushed over excitedly, grabbing Harry's clothes with both hands, only to find nothing.

"Really?" he asked again, his eyes filled with joy.

"Of course, why would I lie to you?" Harry was also quite happy, partly because he was able to lift the Dark Magic Curse that had plagued Anne for years, and partly because he was genuinely pleased to see his old friend so happy.

"That's good, that's good..." Sebastian circled twice in the air and asked again, "Can I come with you? I haven't seen Anne in so long... I really miss her..."

"Let's go together," Harry suggested. "Let's take the portrait of Ominis with us—we'll go see Anne together."

"Oh, uh—" Veratia held out her hand, "I object."

"Why?" Harry and his two friends asked in unison, puzzled.

"Think about it," Veratia said helplessly. "Anne just woke up from the seal, still carrying the Dark Magic Curse. Her health wasn't good to begin with. And then she saw her brother and her best friend—one dead and turned into a ghost, the other into a portrait. Do you think she can handle the shock of that?"

"Indeed," Sebastian sighed, his soul drained of all color. "So, are we just going to wait here?"

"Just wait and see." Ominis also somewhat helpless. "It seems like this is the only way... Oh, by the way, Anne is in the cave where Garrick rests. If you search carefully, you should be able to find where she is hiding. There is Guidance Charm I left there. If either Harry or Grindelwald appears within a hundred meters, it will automatically trigger an alarm."

"Okay," Harry nodded. "You guys wait here for our good news. Hmm... we should be bringing her over tomorrow."

"Tomorrow?" Sebastian floated in front of Harry, turning upside down to look him directly in the eye. "Why? Why not today? Does it have to wait until tomorrow?"

"You should know that after a hundred years of sealing, coupled with the torment of the Dark Magic Curse, her body is on the verge of collapse," Veratia said. "I already emphasized this point just now. I still suggest taking her to Mr. LeMay to see what's going on before deciding whether to bring her to see you, understand?"

"Fine." Sebastian could only lower his head and accept the fact.

"Don't worry, Sebastian," Ominis said reassuringly. "You've waited this long, what's a day or two more? Just leave things to Harry and the others, and don't worry."

"Alright," Sebastian agreed.

They bid farewell to Sebastian and returned to Mr. LeMay's side.

"Mr. LeMay," Harry asked first, "Is there any Potions that can stabilize her body? I'm worried that Anne won't be able to withstand the Purification Charm, after all, she's been trapped in the seal for a hundred years."

"Yes, Harry, yes," Mr. LeMay replied, quickly running to a nearby cabinet, bouncing up and down as he retrieved a bottle of purple Potions and handed it to Harry. "Here, this is it. This stuff can perfectly maintain Miss Saru's physical condition and prevent her from collapsing too quickly."

"You always have a way, Mr. LeMay," Harry said happily.

"After all, I've lived for over seven hundred years, haven't I?" Mr. LeMay said with a smile.

Having obtained what they wanted, the group left LeMay's Alchemy Room and entered the Forbidden Forest.

"I should say," Pabbie pulled her coat tighter, "That it's still too cold at night. What kind of awful weather is this in Britain...?"

"Isn't it nice that there's such a clear temperature difference between day and night?" Veratia said with a chuckle. "Or would you behave if you lived in the Sahara Desert?"

"The Sahara Desert?" Pabbie's eyes held a clear, naive look. "What's that?"

It's not entirely her fault; after all, she's a wizard... and doesn't really know what the Sahara Desert is.

She's not an Africa witch doctor.

"It's... you can think of it as the climate of Egypt," Veratia said in a way that the wizards could understand.

"Oh, never mind then." Pabbie sneezed. "Nobody likes that kind of dry, hot weather."

The Garrick's Cave, is covered with spider webs, looking desolate and dilapidated.

"Is this the little cave where you and Potter went on your dates?" Cassandra asked with interest. "Hmm, and Garrick... is that the guy who dated Young Lady Black? Really..."

"Are you jealous?" Veratia asked with a smile, unleashing her ultimate move.

"No," Cassandra said firmly. "Why would I be jealous of Potter? Don't be ridiculous, Grindelwald..."

"Okay, you're not jealous," Veratia said with a smile, looking up and shaking her head. "This place seems to have been taken over by the Acromantula; they probably won't allow us to enter this cave..."

As soon as he finished speaking, clicking sounds began to emanate from all around.

Before anyone knew it, a large number of enormous Acromantula had gathered around.

"You guys are really brave, really," Harry thought to himself.

As soon as he raised his wand, the spiders swiftly retreated.

"Huh?" Harry was a little confused. Why had the spiders left again?

"Oh, I see," Veratia said. "Harry has Alfonso's scent on him; perhaps these spiders are afraid of the Basilisk."

"In that case..."

Harry said this and released Alfonso.

"Why not just bring him out?"

Alfonso suddenly felt the surroundings expand. Without opening his eyes, he hissed ingratiatingly, "My esteemed master, what is the matter that you have summoned your lowly servant Alfonso?"

"Oh, you have some free time." Harry patted the Basilisk's head and said to it, "A bunch of Acromantula have appeared in the Forbidden Forest of Hogwarts. If you're interested in them, you can go and have a buffet."

"Wow, really, Master?" The Basilisk Alfonso was overjoyed. "The Acromantula, that's my favorite food—I'm going right now!"

In just a few seconds, the Basilisk swam away and disappeared into the depths of the Forbidden Forest.

"You're just going to let it go like that?" Cassandra asked, her eyes closed as she looked in the direction of the Basilisk. "Aren't you worried that it will be seduced by Voldemort again? Or are you worried that it might suddenly rebel against you?"

"No, not at all," Harry said reassuringly. "I have a small piece of its soul that belongs to it, and it will never betray me."

Oh, so you're so confident that you're just waiting here?

"Looks like you do have your own methods, right?" Veratia shook her head with a chuckle. "Never mind, let's go into the Garrick's Cave first. Finding Anne is the priority. Alfonso will handle the spiders outside the Forbidden Forest; we don't need to worry about them."

Having said that, she took the lead and entered the cave.

The cave wasn't too different from when they last came, if you could ignore the spider webs.

The group used Flame Charm to clear a path, burning away the tangled spiderwebs, and continued to probe forward.

"Here, this thing." Veratia walked up to a mechanism and said to Harry, "Remember how we opened the doors? We used Lumos to guide these mechanisms to where they were supposed to be, here— Lumos!"

Harry followed her, guiding another mechanism back to its original position.

The moment the mechanism returned to its original position, a sound of lightning and thunder rang out, and then the gate opened with a rumble. Behind the gate, a Crystal Bridge appeared on the edge of the cliff, leading directly to the other side.

This bridge looks to be of very good quality, so it must have cost a lot of money to build.

"If I'm not mistaken, it should be over here," Harry asserted. "The other side is where Voldemort hid the Resurrection Stone, so it's unlikely to be where Anne was sealed."

They crossed the Crystal Bridge without encountering any spiders along the way, seemingly having given up on the cave.

Harry was quite happy, after all, the Acromantula was a valuable Potions ingredient and also Alfonso's most economical food. It was better not to kill spiders if possible.

Not far ahead, a strange magical fluctuation suddenly came from not far away.

"This should be it," Harry said, looking up. "Perhaps that's the guide Ominis left behind... Let's go check it out."

Just then, a noise came from behind them.

Harry turned around and found that the crystal bridge had disappeared.

"The bridge is gone," he said.

"It's alright," Veratia said with a smile. "We can still leave here using Apparition —and if Apparition isn't possible, I also have Portkey that can quickly take us back to the Ministry of Magic in Vienna."

"Let's keep going," Harry said, taking the lead with his wand in hand and using Detection Charm to scan the surroundings as he walked, just in case there was any ambush.

Unfortunately, all his efforts were in vain. There was no ambush at all. Apart from the occasional strange stone that would appear around a corner and startle Pabbie, there was nothing unusual.

The further they went, the stronger the magical fluctuations became, until they came to a large door.

There was a special barrier in front of the door. Harry looked around, trying to find a way to break the barrier.

"Ominis seems to have forgotten to tell us how to solve it," he said, reaching towards the door.

To his surprise, the moment he touched the door, it swung open with a bang.

"Huh?" Harry asked belatedly, "Is it that simple?"

"No," Veratia said. "Ominis wouldn't have such a simple protection. He must have added a protective barrier that identifies your magic, and the barrier will automatically take effect and remove the protection when you personally touch the door."

"He's a genius, isn't he?" Harry exclaimed.

"Alright, I suggest you stop lamenting and praising others," Cassandra said sarcastically from behind. "Now, shouldn't the Prince step forward and kiss the sleeping Snow White awake?"

(End of this chapter)