I Will Forever Like Cassandra

"Hybrid plants?"

Veratia immediately became interested; as the Minister of Ministry of Magic, she keenly sensed something unusual.

Harry recounted everything Professor Garick had told him to Veratia in detail.

Then he added, "I think poisoned Chinese chomping cabbage is quite useful—at least for wizards."

"That's true..." Veratia nodded slightly. "As a wizard, I don't worry about overdoing it; sometimes I even feel that the damage isn't enough... If we could poison the Chinese chomping cabbage, I think it would definitely become a sought-after magical plant."

"I still have the original experimental notes," Professor Garick said, "But it will take me some time to reproduce the technique... After all, you know, I haven't done this experiment in eighty years."

Upon hearing Professor Garick's words, Veratia immediately replied, "If the professor needs anything, the European Ministry of Magic will provide you with all the necessary resources!"

Professor Garick suddenly looked at Veratia and gave her a meaningful look.

"Oh, it's the Minister for Magic." She said with a slight smile, "Well, since Ms. Grindelwald has extended an invitation, I'll accept—"

She and Veratia had a pretty good relationship when they were in school.

It should be said that, as Grindelwald's Succubus, Veratia had a very good relationship with the professors, especially Professor Weasley, who taught them Transfiguration Class, and seemed to treat her almost like his own daughter.

"What Minister for Magic...?" Veratia shook her head with a chuckle, "In front of the professor, I will always be your student."

"If I were Horace, I'd definitely put that sentence in the most prominent place in my house," Professor Garick laughed heartily, then said mysteriously to Veratia, "You know what? Horace has a habit of really liking outstanding students... and you, Veratia, you're the most outstanding graduate of Hogwarts besides Merlin..."

It's impossible to talk about Merlin, after all, Merlin is a legend, a true legend.

Some say he was a student of Slytherin, but traveled to the time of King Arthur through Time Magic and helped him ascend to the throne.

With such a brilliant predecessor as a benchmark, even Veratia wouldn't dare claim to be the strongest.

"Professor Slughorn has this little quirk," Anne said, unable to suppress a laugh. "Merlin's socks... I really can't imagine how proud Veratia would be if he became his student... Would he be telling everyone he meets—'Do you know Ms. Grindelwald, the Minister of European Ministry of Magic? Hey, she used to be my student, my best student...'"

Anne's imitation is really spot-on, especially Slughorn's adorable expression, which she captured perfectly.

"But I think..." Veratia said after laughing, "Slughorn didn't lose out. After all, even without me as his student, he still has Harry, right? I remember he was quite excited when he found out he was going to be Harry's teacher, wasn't he?"

"Yes," Harry said, suppressing a laugh. "Dumbledore told me that he knew the position of Professor of Dark Arts at Hogwarts was cursed, but he still came anyway."

Harry's words were followed by a moment of silence, then a burst of laughter.

"He really values his reputation more than his life," Professor Garick said, wiping away tears. "My God, he fits my stereotype of Horace..."

"Of course, besides Veratia, Professor Slughorn's biggest regret is that he couldn't teach Cassandra before she graduated," Anne said, steer the conversation back to Cassandra.

Sure enough, after hearing Anne's words, Cassandra's previously somewhat hard facial features softened.

When it comes to emotional intelligence, Anne is still the best...

Harry clicked his tongue. Why didn't I think of saying that earlier?

Would that make Cassandra so happy that she'd unleash a high-speed spinning attack on all three points?

He had heard of this before, but had never tried it...

"Cassandra is also an excellent student at Hogwarts," Professor Garick praised Cassandra. "Of course, I'm not saying this because Ignatius Malfoy once pursued me... I wouldn't say it if I remembered that."

Harry then remembered that Ignatius had indeed pursued Professor Garick.

Back when Ignatius came to Hogwarts to pick him and Cassandra up to go home, he saw Professor Garick from afar and was immediately awestruck.

Professor Garick was indeed very beautiful back then; she wore two braids and looked very youthful and vibrant.

Perhaps the Malfoy family just have a taste for this?

After learning that Professor Garick was very kind to Harry, he begged Harry to bring some gifts for Professor Garick.

But his good fortune didn't last long; he soon learned of Professor Garick's peculiar habits.

Her mother actually likes women.

The saddest thing in the world is not men fighting over women, but men fighting over women. After learning about this, Ignatius patted Harry on the shoulder and said these very philosophical words in a profound and meaningful way.

It was fucking pathetic, Harry thought to himself, "What the hell is this?"

No wonder Cassandra was secretly laughing when she found out about this, and even said that her liking to stick to Professor Garick was like "a dog chasing a flying broom; he can never catch it, and even if he does, he can't ride it."

He didn't know what it meant then, but he does now.

Indeed, it feels like the same way Vera Ms. Rosier admires Gellert Grindelwald.

A straight woman pursuing a top (or a bottom) seems like a never-ending journey, right?

In Gellert's heart, there will always live a red-haired country girl from England (bushi).

However, if the gender were reversed, Dumbledore at that time would indeed resemble the standard female protagonist in various novels—a weak-willed, dependent, genius older sister.

"I advised Ignatius against it, but he wouldn't listen." Cassandra turned her head away, seemingly suppressing a laugh. "You see, he even thinks I have a prejudice against Hufflepuff ... But honestly, I've never had any prejudice against any Hufflepuff."

"Impossible!" Pabbie suddenly protested, "You called me a donkey the day before yesterday! You stupid donkey!"

"Oh," Cassandra said, "I'm just prejudiced against you, not Hufflepuff, Miss Donkey."

"Aaaaaah!" Pabbie, seething with impotent rage, suddenly pounced on Harry, squeezing his arm and whining, "Look at her, Harry! Say something!"

"Uh..." Harry scratched his head and said, "If we go by biological classification, Unicorn are indeed like donkeys, belonging to the Marco family?"

Pabbie a deep breath...

"Not necessarily, after all, they are Magical Creatures." Veratia said with a smile, resting her chin on her hand. "Unicorn may not be equines, but they should all belong to the order Perissodactylus—look, donkeys are also in the order Perissodactylus."

Pabbie she couldn't catch her breath.

She never expected that Veratia, the usually fair and just leader, would join the fool Cassandra in bullying her.

Just because they're both Slytherin?

"Am I really an idiot?" Pabbie asked Harry, her eyes brimming with tears.

"Silly boy," Harry reached out and ruffled Pabbie's hair, "How could you be a silly boy?"

Pabbie angrily punched Harry in the arm, then, feeling that wasn't bad enough, punched him again.

"You guys ganged up on me!" Pabbie said angrily. "I'm not talking to you anymore!"

After saying that, she turned her head away haughtily, leaving them to sulk by herself.

Harry spent a long time coaxing her before he finally made her smile and be happy again.

Cassandra sighed helplessly.

This guy... he's so easy to please.

The class reunion banquet lasted until late at night before ending with everyone reluctant to part.

Before leaving, Veratia left Professor Garick her contact address, intending to temporarily bring her to the European Ministry of Magic to study hybrid plants.

Professor Garick readily agreed. She was already very interested in plants, and now that someone had hired her to do research, why wouldn't she?

It's so easy to have fun without spending your own money—there's nothing better than that.

"You also think highly of this hybrid plant?" Cassandra asked, extending her hand to Veratia after she sat down in the carriage. "I mean, you really think highly of it, and not just going through the motions for Professor Garick?"

"I do think this is very promising." Veratia grasped Cassandra's small hand, clad in a white lace glove, and helped her onto the carriage. "Not every wizard is like us, Cass... As for those hybrid plants, they could become an effective means of attack... Of course, these plants should also be controlled, at least not allowed to circulate among ordinary people. I think that's very necessary."

"My gut feeling tells me you're trying to profit from this," Cassandra said disdainfully. "You're Minister for Magic now, why would you care about such petty gains?"

Of course, Cassandra didn't actually think Veratia was interested in money; she was just teasing her with that remark.

"Heh, I never thought about making money off other people." Veratia curled her lips into a smile.

"So if you're not going to make money off other people, whose money are you planning to make money off?" Cassandra asked curiously. "Potter? I remember he's a small-time tycoon, with lots of gold in Gringotts' vault—he's bragged to me about it many times."

"No, I'll earn it from you." Veratia said, sitting down next to Cassandra and vigorously rubbing the other's face.

The return trip was quick; in less than half an hour, they were back at Grimmauld Place, Number 13.

Since Sirius was still in Argentina, there was no one at number 12, and Harry had no intention of visiting.

They returned to their respective rooms. Harry had intended to go back to Hogwarts, but upon seeing Cassandra's slender, straight legs clad in black stockings, he quickly changed his mind.

The next day, Harry Apparition back to school.

Hogwarts remained largely unchanged; everyone continued their monotonous routine of dormitory- Great Hall -Classroom life, a dull and uninteresting existence.

"I really want to find some excitement," Neville said boredly, sitting in his chair. "Going through this every day, I feel like all my joints are going to rust..."

"What kind of thrill are you looking for?" Seamus asked, turning his head. "How about... Harry finds you a few level 5X Magical Creatures to relax and loosen up your muscles?"

Neville shuddered.

"No, thank you," he said. "I suddenly feel that life is full of fun—"

He still remembered the Chimera that Harry found for them that summer.

It was absolutely terrifying; it was something no student could possibly handle—but they still overcame the difficulties and successfully defeated the Chimera.

This kind of difficulty shouldn't have been theirs to face. It's like the saying goes, when there are no difficulties, Harry will create them—that's the point...

"I think the Dueling Club really should reopen," Harry said with a smile. "I've got some free time lately, so maybe we could go to the Forbidden Forest. What do you think? If I remember correctly, there are quite a few Magical Creatures in the Forbidden Forest... Hagrid's friend, Aragog, seems to be an Acromantula, and I heard Hagrid bought him a mate. After all these years, given the spiders' reproductive capabilities, there must be plenty of them in the Forbidden Forest."

As he spoke, Harry thought of Sirius.

It seems that when Sirius was trying to survive in the Forbidden Forest, he ate nothing but dead rats Acromantula.

It's said that it was eaten raw; all I can say is that Godfather was a real man!

"Maybe we shouldn't?" Ron said with a look of fear. "Spiders and stuff... I really can't handle them!"

"It's nothing, just a spider." Seamus waved his hand dismissively. "So what if it's a spider? So what if it's Acromantula? With the rest of us together, are we afraid of something like that?"

"I'm scared." Ron nodded hastily, his eyes filled with fear.

"Look at you, this isn't real, is it?" Seamus patted Ron on the shoulder and said, "The best way to eliminate fear is to face it! Bravely conquer it! Otherwise, you'll forever live in the shadow of fear..."

"Really?" Ron asked suspiciously.

"Of course it's true," Harry said from the side. "You don't believe Seamus, but don't you believe me? Let's go to the Forbidden Forest and face the Acromantula. I think it's a great opportunity—a chance to help you overcome your fear."

At this point, he leaned closer to Ron and whispered, "Ron, you don't want Hermione to know that you're so afraid of spiders, do you?"

Unexpectedly, Ron didn't play by the rules at all.

"Oh, she already knew," Ron said nonchalantly.

(End of this chapter)