He Would Never Grow Old Again

Harry was already immune to Cassandra's sarcastic remarks; he could now completely ignore her and not take anything Cassandra said to heart.

He stepped forward and gently pushed open the door.

In the room behind the door was a Crystal Bed, on which lay Anne Saru, dressed in her Slytherin robes.

Her face was calm as she fell into a deep sleep, completely unaware of the outside world.

"Anne?" Veratia stepped forward, half-squatting beside Anne, and reached out to touch Anne's hand, intending to check on her condition.

After a while, she stood up, turned to Harry and said, "Anne is doing quite well. I must say, Ominis's magic is really effective. You see... at least she's sleeping quite peacefully."

It's quite peaceful; no one even knows when they come in.

Harry mentally scoffed, then turned and asked, "So what should we do? Just Awakening her up like this? Or should I cast a Dispelling Charm on her first?"

"Hmm..." Veratia thought for a moment and said to Harry, "Let's Awakening her up first... I think we just need to take the Crystal Pendant that Anne is holding, and we can Awakening her from her slumber."

Harry did as instructed and reached out to take the Green Snake Pendant from Anne's hand.

However, when he tugged at it twice, the pendant didn't budge, as if it were welded to Anne's hand.

He hesitated for a moment, then turned around and said, "I can't pull it."

Cassandra stepped forward and touched something on Anne's hand, causing the two small hands that were tightly clutching the pendant to loosen.

The pendant slipped from Anne's hand, and after a while, Anne opened her eyes.

"Where am I?"

Anne asked in a hoarse, mocking voice.

She looked up and saw several concerned friends, and tears immediately streamed down her face.

"Veratia, my throat..."

Veratia reached out and touched Anne's throat, and Anne felt a warm current flow over her.

"Um... Veratia, Cassandra, and Pabbie... are you all back?"

Although her voice had not fully recovered, it was no longer as hoarse as before.

"Yes," Veratia nodded and said, "Harry has found a way to remove the Dark Magic Curse from you. Don't speak yet, let him remove the curse from you first."

After saying that, Veratia stepped aside, revealing Harry standing behind her.

"Hi, Harry," Anne greeted with a smile, forcing herself to suppress her discomfort. "It looks like you've found Harry. That's wonderful..."

"Yes, we've found Harry." Cassandra emphasized the word "found."

What do you mean, "found Harry"? It was clearly Harry who found us...

Cassandra felt a pang of jealousy, and indeed she did. She had been lying in the Chamber of Secrets for so many years, and it was only thanks to Harry that she was able to escape god of death's clutches and return to the world of the living.

If Harry hadn't replenished her Life Force, she might have died long ago.

"Let me Exorcise Curse for you first." Harry stepped forward, took out his wand, and pointed it at Anne.

Anne closed her eyes. She trusted Harry and her friends completely and had no objections whatsoever.

"Purusor (Purusor)!"

Instantly, a milky white light burst forth from the tip of Harry's staff, illuminating the entire dimly lit room.

Under the influence of this light, Anne's body slowly rose into the air.

She felt as if the shackles binding her fate had shattered in an instant.

"I..." she murmured, "I feel better than ever before, everyone..."

The light vanished, and then a black, venomous snake phantom rose from behind Anne, disappearing into nothingness under the white light.

"It should be over." Harry put away his wand, and the light faded away. "If nothing unexpected happens, the Dark Magic Curse on Anne should be gone."

"How are you, Anne?" Pabbie poked her little head out from between Veratia and Harry. "How are you feeling? Are you feeling any better?"

"I feel better than ever before..." Anne happily raised her hands, her pretty little face beaming. "Thank you, Harry, and thank you all..."

"Oh, thank you, Harry," Cassandra said sarcastically from the side, sensing that Anne was also going to get a piece of the action.

But Harry didn't actually have those thoughts; he just saw Anne as a sister, just like Sebastian did.

After all, Anne is really thoughtful, like a warm and comforting little cotton-padded jacket that makes people love her.

"Cass!" Veratia playfully smacked Cassandra's bottom. "Stop being sarcastic! What are you doing!"

"Hmph." Cassandra curled her lip, thinking to herself, "You'll regret this later, you arrogant and conceited Grindelwald!"

"In that case, let's go out first," Pabbie suggested. "Anne hasn't eaten in a long time. How about we go back to the Isle of Wight and get something to eat?"

"How is my brother?" Anne didn't answer.

"Oh, Sebastian," Harry decided to lie for now, "He and Ominis are both at Hogwarts right now, but it's too late, they're probably already resting. How about we go to Hogwarts tomorrow?"

"Well... that's fine too," Anne murmured, still stuck in her memories from a hundred years ago—back then, Hogwarts was very strict, and anyone who dared to trespass would be punished with caning.

At worst, they would be whipped; in severe cases, their collarbones would be pierced and they would be locked in an underground prison.

It's pretty tragic.

"Come on, I'll Apparition with you." Veratia took Anne's little hand and said to her, "You just woke up and the Dark Magic Curse was lifted, so let me Apparition with you."

"Mmm..." Anne replied softly.

Anne, who's like the girl next door, is really hard not to feel affection for. At least Veratia wanted to gently rub her little cheeks.

After a series of cracking sounds, they appeared in Harry's room on the Isle of Wight.

"How about this," Cassandra suggested, "Anne can stay in my room for now, okay? My room's empty anyway..."

"Isn't this inappropriate?" Anne asked softly. "If I stay in your room, where will you stay?"

"Of course I'm living with someone." Cassandra casually took Harry's hand, seemingly asserting her ownership. "As you can see, this bastard is my boyfriend now."

Anne let out a silent "wow." She never imagined that after sleeping for so long, suddenly... the least likely candidate Cassandra, would suddenly be with Harry?

"Alright, alright, everyone already knows." Veratia glanced helplessly at Cassandra, then turned to Anne and asked, "What are you planning to eat, Anne?"

"I think Anne would be best off changing her clothes," Cassandra said quietly. "Also, Mr. Potter, please leave this room immediately—"

"Why?" Harry asked, looking like a clueless goose.

"Because her clothes are worn out and can't hold up much longer," Pabbie whispered. "You'd better step aside, Harry — Anne is still a little girl!"

"Oh... oh!" Harry belatedly left the room.

"He's still the same as before," Anne said with a faint smile after Harry left. "Still so slow-witted, so obedient and honest..."

"Him? Honest? Obedient?" Cassandra laughed as if she'd heard the funniest joke in the world. "Don't make me laugh, Anne —he's a treacherous and disloyal servant!"

"I think he's the master's unruly servant, isn't he?" Veratia asked with a sly smile.

Cassandra blushed immediately.

The word "riding" in Veratia's name brought back some images of what had happened in the past.

This association was really unhealthy, and she shook her head hard to shake the image out of her mind.

They hurriedly put together an outfit that fit Anne. Anne wasn't very tall, only a little over 1.6 meters. Among those present, Veratia and Cassandra were both tall supermodels, while Pabbie... although Pabbie wasn't very tall, her size meant that Anne couldn't wear her clothes.

Our Pabbie is a very capable woman, okay?

After changing her clothes, Anne went with them to a restaurant outside for a meal to replenish her energy.

Back at the hotel, Cassandra packed all her luggage and then let Anne move in.

"You can rest assured and stay here without worry." She didn't forget to reassure Anne, "Don't worry about me."

"Mmm," Anne nodded in response.

The next morning, the four of them Apparition with Anne and returned to Hogwarts.

"Um," Veratia suddenly said, "There's something I need you to... well, something you can accept."

"What's wrong?" Anne hadn't yet realized the seriousness of the problem.

"Yes, you should know that," Cassandra said from the side. "It's not a hundred years ago anymore—oh, not the time when we were in school. It's 1995 now, more than a hundred years from now. Some things have changed, and you should be... mentally prepared."

"What kind of mental preparation?"

A bad feeling suddenly rose in Anne's heart.

That Grim premonition was like a persistent, bone-deep infection, sending chills down her spine and making her unable to stop her from overthinking.

She forced a smile, suppressing her worst thoughts.

"Could it be that my brother has gotten old?" Her heart skipped a beat.

"Well, he'll never grow old again," Pabbie suddenly interjected.

Will I never grow old again?

A question mark rose in Anne's mind.

Harry glanced at Pabbie and thought to himself, "What you said makes sense, his mother isn't wrong either."

Sebastian will never grow old again, after all, it's unheard of for ghosts to age.

If that were the case, it would be incredibly bizarre.

He never expected that Pabbie, who was always the most lively and cheerful, would tell such a hellish joke, especially the really, really lame kind of hellish joke.

"Let's go get some breakfast first," Veratia suggested. "How about we send Harry to look for them?"

"Okay..." Anne felt uneasy, as if something big was about to happen.

Harry grabbed a Meiji from the Kitchen and ran off, leaving the four women sitting on the Extra Lesson in the Kitchen, slowly eating their breakfast.

He first arrived at the Hogwarts library, where Ominis had already woken up.

He was quite happy to see Harry.

"Hi, Harry?" he greeted. "Good morning."

"Good morning," Harry said listlessly.

"So, did you manage to rescue Anne?" Ominis asked bluntly. "Or is it that you don't have a good way to cure her curse for the time being?"

"Oh, no, that's not it," Harry said, shaking his head. "There's just a little mishap. Anne doesn't know that you sacrificed yourself to save her, nor does she know that Sebastian died in Azkaban and is now a ghost. She just thinks you've turned into old men."

"Oh, I thought it was something serious," Ominis said nonchalantly. "What are you planning to do now?"

"There's no way to hide it now. It's better to end it now than to suffer for a long time. Let her come see you first... Oh, right."

He turned his head, looking around. "Where's Sebastian? Where did he go?"

"Seber's sleeping over there, hey, ceeeeeeeeeb!" Ominis called out in a drawn-out voice.

Harry turned his head and saw a green ghost floating in mid-air, which looked like it was sleeping.

Awakened by Ominis, Sebastian opened his eyes, bounced a few times, and landed on the ground.

"Oh, Harry," Sebastian's first question was to Anne, "How is Anne? Did you rescue her? Did you cure Anne's curse?"

"Hey, listen to me, brother, listen to me." Harry stopped Sebastian's barrage of words. "First of all, Anne is free from the Dark Magic Curse. Secondly, she's broken free from her seal. Finally... she doesn't know your current situation yet. In a moment... well, try not to scare her."

"Alright." Sebastian was relieved to hear that his sister was alright. "Then take me to see her first, I miss her so much..."

"Hmm," Harry said, taking out his Crystal Ball and dialing Veratia's number.

When the call connected, he got straight to the point. "Bring your men over."

"Okay," Veratia nodded in response.

A moment later, the door was pushed open, and four girls came in together.

Walking at the very back was Anne, who was rather short and timid.

Even though Anne had heard her three older sisters warn her along the way, she still rolled her eyes and fainted when she saw the transparent Sebastian.

"Anne!" Sebastian had originally intended to be mischievous, but after seeing his sister faint, he couldn't help but rush over.

"How is she! How is she!" Sebastian's soul was in turmoil.

Veratia squatted down, reached out and touched Anne's neck, then looked up and said, "Don't worry, she's fine. She just fainted because she couldn't accept it for a moment. It's nothing serious."

(End of this chapter)