Embracing

Cyberlina certainly wouldn't go looking for trouble with the Malfoys herself—not yet, anyway.

After all, she had a small agreement with Oberth, so for any decisions concerning the Malfoys, she had to first see if the younger generation of the Malfoy family was as sensible as Oberth—though she felt the current head of the family seemed unreliable, and the young Malfoy, who was the same year as Harry, didn't seem very bright either.

The Christmas banquet, which they had agreed upon, was still about a month away. Cyberlina felt it wouldn't be too late to make her decision then. Besides, who knew, maybe there were other little Toms to be captured at Malfoy Manor.

Although she didn't concern herself with Malfoy's affairs, Cyberlina did pay some attention to the little Black's situation. Specifically, when Harry was allowed to follow Dumbledore into the dim, gloomy interrogation room, he was met with a pair of deep gray eyes filled with eager anticipation. The person's cheeks were gaunt, the skin stretched tightly over his cheekbones, making him look extremely haggard, but he was clearly well-groomed, his face clean, and his long, black, curly hair dry and falling behind his head. He wore a clean, simple shirt and trousers.

His posture was relaxed yet exceptionally upright. Despite not appearing particularly healthy, he still possessed an elegant demeanor.

"Harry."

Harry saw the person's lips move and his slightly moist eyes—Harry understood. This was his godfather, Sirius Black.

"It seems Cyberlina thought of everything..." Dumbledore said quietly to Harry after sitting down. "Sirius specifically tidied himself up to see you."

"I can tell," Harry replied in a low voice, his face full of excitement, then he smiled silently.

Dumbledore smiled along with him.

Even though he had mentally prepared himself, seeing his familiar Scabbers transform into an ugly, fat man on the spot made Harry involuntarily wrinkle his nose. As he looked away, his gaze subconsciously fell upon Arthur Weasley, who was present at the trial as a related party.

Then, the two, one tall and one small, saw the same disgusted expression of revulsion mirrored on each other's faces in their shared gaze.

This was another trial without suspense. After three drops of Veritaserum, Pettigrew, who was trembling like a sieve, confessed everything. Sirius was acquitted on the spot, and the Ministry of Magic would soon return the Black family's assets that had been managed on their behalf.

"Harry..." As soon as they were out of the interrogation room, Sirius rushed to Harry, looking at him with a mixture of excitement and helplessness. "I, I... I don't know if you know, I am your—"

"Godfather, I know." Harry was also a little excited, but facing Sirius, who was still a stranger to him, he maintained a reserved and polite demeanor. "Headmaster Dumbledore told me you are my godfather."

Sirius seemed to notice Dumbledore then, casting a grateful look at him. "Dumbledore..."

"Good boy, you've suffered," Dumbledore said, placing a hand on Sirius's shoulder with a look of apology. "I'm very sorry, back then... I couldn't provide useful testimony for you, and I even... doubted you."

"No... Professor Dumbledore, it's not your fault," Sirius shook his head. "After all, we changed the Secret-Keeper privately. No one knew except James and Lily, not even... Remus..."

Thinking of his friend whom he had suspected at the time, Sirius lowered his head.

"Oh, Sirius, you'll see Remus soon," Dumbledore's smile returned. "Because the retrial was so sudden, the owl's letter might have only reached him yesterday, but I believe he's already on his way. Perhaps... you'll see him tonight."

Sirius became visibly excited again, but Harry's attention had already been drawn to two people walking away behind Sirius. Sirius noticed this, turned his head, but only saw a wisp of pale gold hair disappearing around the corner.

"Malfoy..." Sirius narrowed his eyes.

"And Fudge," Dumbledore tilted his head slightly, his glasses reflecting the light of the Ministry corridor. "Hmm... Fudge should have realized recently that he's been pushed into a difficult position by Cyber. "

"Cy—oh, that Sekerei," Sirius nodded slightly, recalling the person he had seen in Azkaban just two days ago. Although he treated all Slytherins the same, he had some ingrained good feelings towards this Slytherin, whom his great-great-grandfather had always cursed.

Moreover, after meeting her, she was indeed as friendly as the Hogwarts portraits described, and she told him a lot about Harry. She was truly a Slytherin different from the others, worthy of being criticized by his great-great-grandfather for many years—a good person!

"Headmaster Dumbledore, I, I..." Harry hesitantly tugged on Dumbledore's sleeve, and finally, as if making a firm decision, he frowned and looked up earnestly. "Headmaster Dumbledore, I want to go talk to Malfoy."

"Go ahead, Harry. Your godfather and I will wait for you here," Dumbledore looked down and gave Harry an encouraging smile.

"Okay!" Harry responded and ran off behind Sirius.

"Harry—?!" Sirius looked at Harry in disbelief, reaching out to grab him, but Dumbledore stopped him in time.

Fudge was asking Lucius about the impression he made on the pure-blood families.

Although Lucius maintained a pleasant smile and polite demeanor, his gray eyes revealed clear impatience.

Fudge was no longer the Minister of Magic they supported and needed to maintain a superficial relationship with. He was a "Minister" who had to remain in his position because of that Unbreakable Vow. He was also a minister who could be ousted by that Sekerei at any moment.

Therefore, smart people were already secretly building their influence within the Ministry, aiming to promote their own people when Fudge was removed.

Consequently, Lucius was no longer as friendly to Fudge as before. Moreover, his main reason for coming today was Cyberlina. The scenes involving Voldemort and the black diary during Hagrid's retrial, as described by Flint, had made him uneasy. Upon hearing that Cyberlina had visited Sirius in Azkaban, he had hoped to see her during this retrial and, using the Malfoy family's relationship with her, subtly inquire about a few things.

But Cyberlina hadn't come.

The more Lucius thought about it, the more he felt today was a waste of time, and he no longer wanted to engage in superficial pleasantries with Fudge. He was about to interrupt Fudge when an unexpected person ran into their conversation.

"Malfoy... Mr.!"

The boy's voice drew the attention of the two adult wizards. Fudge changed his smile, and Lucius turned his head, chin raised.

Upon seeing who it was, surprise flashed in Lucius's eyes. He then stepped aside, tapped the ground lightly with his cane, and said in a drawn-out, affected tone, "Oh, it's our savior—Mr. Harry Potter. Aren't you going to stay with your newly released godfather... instead, you've come to find me. Is there something im-por-tant?"

Harry was a little surprised that he knew Sirius was his godfather but didn't ask. He simply delivered the words he had prepared: "Senior Cyberlina asked me to send her regards to you."

Lucius raised an eyebrow slightly and his expression became a little more serious. He turned to face Harry, holding the handle of his cane in his other hand—the cane stood diagonally in front of him.

"Send her regards..." Lucius lowered his head slightly, his pale gold hair sliding forward over his shoulder as he looked down at Harry. "Ms. Sekerei, what else did she ask you to say?"

"She said..." Looking into those extremely oppressive gray eyes, Harry tilted his head and met them directly. "She said that before she attends the Christmas banquet, please keep your little tricks to a minimum! Let her worry less—preferably behave yourself!"

—The last short sentence was added by Harry himself.

Lucius paused for a moment, then maintained his smile and said in his usual tone, "Very well... Please tell her that everyone at Malfoy Manor is looking forward to her arrival."

Harry's heart pounded. Mimicking Cyberlina as he remembered her, he nodded pretentiously, then turned around. With an expression of excitement as if he had accomplished something monumental, he ran towards the two waiting wizards—only to brake just in time as he reached them, instinctively hugging Dumbledore's arm.

"Finished?" Dumbledore asked gently.

"Finished!" Harry nodded repeatedly. "Senior Cyberlina was right! This wasn't difficult at all!"

"Ah, so it was indeed a task from Cyber," Dumbledore chuckled and looked down at him.

Harry paused, then slowly and stiffly withdrew his arm from Dumbledore's, placed his hands behind his back, and gave the two watching adult wizards an innocent, sheepish grin.

Sirius wanted to spend more time with Harry, but Dumbledore said he needed to recover at St. Mungo's for a while, and Harry had to rush back to Hogwarts for class—it was Thursday, after all!

Sirius also knew his own physical condition, so he agreed to Dumbledore's arrangements. However, his expression instantly turned grim upon hearing that Snape had arranged the hospital bed at St. Mungo's. His already frighteningly thin face became somewhat terrifying.

Harry saw the change in him and nodded silently: Yeah, he didn't like Professor Snape's mouth either.

In front of the hospital bed at St. Mungo's, the godfather and godson embraced each other once more, for the first time in eleven years.

This scene was captured by a reporter lurking at St. Mungo's and was published in the latest issue of the Daily Prophet under the headline "A Touching Embrace." This time, the entire process of the retrial was released.

The heir of the Black family had returned to the wizarding world's view.

Meanwhile, Harry was cornered in the courtyard where he had been questioned before by Hermione, who was holding two issues of the Daily Prophet, and Ron, who had followed Hermione.

The sharp-witted know-it-all meticulously listed everything she found suspicious from Halloween night onwards, along with her guesses. Harry's scalp tingled from the accuracy of her deductions, and he couldn't help but wail, If she knew everything, why did she still come to interrogate me?

Having received an accurate answer, Hermione hugged the newspapers and turned away triumphantly. Ron, however, was clearly unhappy—he felt like the only one who didn't know anything. Even his twin brothers had known about his pet's problem before he did.

Although it was obvious, Harry still didn't notice Ron's unhappiness. As they walked from the courtyard into the corridor, he complained to Ron about Hermione's earlier aggressiveness, shared his joy at reuniting with his godfather, and described how dim the interrogation room was, and how Malfoy's father's face had changed when he heard Cyberlina's name—

"Yeah, you're so worldly," Ron said, pouting sarcastically.

Harry stopped. He finally noticed something was wrong with Ron. "What's wrong, Ron?"

"Nothing," Ron pouted, shifting the bag in his hand to his shoulder and walking ahead dejectedly, trying to leave Harry behind.

Now, even Harry, dense as he was, knew Ron was angry. He quickly chased after him, asking anxiously what had happened.

After the two quickly passed through the corridor, Cyberlina and Snape's figures gradually appeared in the courtyard.

Cyberlina looked at the retreating backs of the two young wizards and chuckled, "So lively."

"Such inherited voyeurism," Snape sneered, after Cyberlina forcibly grabbed him and cast a Disillusionment Charm. He then turned and walked into another corridor.

Cyberlina raised an eyebrow slightly and followed the rustling robes, asking, "Do you know what the students call you in private?"

"Not interested," Snape gritted out.

"Old Bat," Cyberlina chuckled. "I didn't think much of it at first, but looking at you from behind now—you really do look a bit like one."

Snape closed his eyes and quickened his pace, but Cyberlina still followed.

"Albus mentioned you arranged a hospital bed for young Black at St. Mungo's—" Cyberlina said, looking at him sideways with her hands behind her back. "I never expected you to have such a benevolent heart."

"A familiar healer needs a brain corroded by Dementors to study—" This was the truth, but Snape immediately shut up after saying it. He didn't need to answer at all!

Cyberlina nodded and continued, "Speaking of which, the St. Mungo's order is due soon, will you make it in time?"

Snape turned to look at her. "What?"

"Aren't I the Potions Master's assistant?" Cyberlina looked back innocently.

"...You're just the Hogwarts Potions professor's assistant," Snape replied irritably, turning his head back. "Please, Ms. Sekerei, have some awareness of your own abilities. It's already a great thing that you can brew the potions Hogwarts needs."

"Alright, let's change tack," Cyberlina chuckled. "That material list our Hogwarts Potions professor has buried under her lesson plans—does it need someone to prepare it?"

Snape's footsteps faltered. He remembered Cyberlina often skipping class after her identity was revealed—

"That's the assistant's job."

"Understood, Professor."

"I hope you can do it soon—I believe those are trivial matters for Ms. Sekerei, aren't they?"

"Naturally," Cyberlina pondered for a moment. "How about after Christmas? The Malfoy family's banquet seems to be shortly after the Christmas break—before Christmas Day. I can take the opportunity to go somewhere far away then."

"Fine," Snape paused. "You agreed to the Malfoy family's Christmas banquet?"

"Agreed at the start of the school year," Cyberlina shrugged. "After all, I have some acquaintance with old— no, Old Man Malfoy."

"...Can that acquaintance last until now?"

"Not necessarily, it depends on the situation."

"The poor current head of the family still holds the fantasy that you will definitely look after the Malfoy family."

"I recall he is your friend."

"Ms. Sekerei's information is truly comprehensive."

"What did Albus spy on?"

"A lot, he saw you—" Snape abruptly stopped. The robes behind him hung in the air for a moment before slowly falling.

Cyberlina walked two steps past him before stopping, then stood on her tiptoes, turned around, blocked Snape, and asked with a smile, "Saw me what?"

Snape turned to look at the courtyard and remained silent.

"'A lot'?" Cyberlina tilted her head, trying to see him. "How many times has he told you?"

Snape looked down, still silent.

Cyberlina narrowed her eyes slightly, stood up straight, and said with a smile, "Really, Severus, are you truly going to cover for Albus? He's— Principal Dumbledore, the biased old Gryffindor."

Snape closed his eyes. He knew Cyberlina was doing this on purpose, but Dumbledore hadn't—had he—specifically told him not to tell anyone?

After a few seconds of thought, Snape looked up, meeting those light golden-brown eyes directly.

Let that old Gryffindor fend for himself!