House-Elves' Aspirations Are a Little Twisted / The Permanent Sticking Charm Can Be Broken ...

"Alright, since you've already made the arrangements, let's go with that."

At the end of the conversation, Mr. Granger, on behalf of the whole family, made the final decision, and the atmosphere in the living room gradually turned silent.

Even Dobby in the kitchen has stopped whistling merrily.

They all knew very well that after today, the time they could continue to spend together as a family had officially begun its countdown.

After that, Dobby's parents will leave Britain and go to a foreign land thousands of miles away.

The two children in the family will also step into a dark, even bloody, vortex of struggle, their future uncertain...

(P. S. Everything mentioned about the Great Celestial Empire in this article can be found on the Harry Potter Wiki and the Potter website, even including the weather forecast for Jixi City. Of course, Sanmiao 've also made some elaborations and exaggerations, such as the Quidditch part...)

In short, even in the magical world, our Great Celestial Empire is just as awesome! That's all~)

Chapter 433 The House-elf's Pursuit is a Bit Twisted

After Harry finished speaking with the Mr. and Mrs. Granger, they began preparations for their departure.

The couple posted a notice announcing the closure of their dental clinic and began planning what they would take with them. They also hired a private lawyer to draft an agreement.

Hermione will inherit everything the Granger family currently owns, and if Harry chooses to marry Hermione in the future, his adoption relationship with the Granger family will be automatically terminated.

At this point, the Granger family was truly counting down the days until their separation.

To ensure he could see his parents as many times as possible in the final months, Harry kept the Vanishing Cabinet at home.

He bought that thing last summer at Borgin -Bock's shop. It was already damaged at the time, but after Harry studied it and figured out how it worked, he has now completely repaired it.

Fortunately, he also found another Vanishing Cabinet at Hogwarts.

The two cabinets are connected; you can easily reach the other cabinet by entering from one.

From now on, as long as Harry keeps one Vanishing Cabinet at home and the other at Hogwarts, he and Hermione can go home to visit their parents every week, or even every day.

Unfortunately, the cabinet's range of function is limited; it's barely enough to connect London to the Scottish Highlands, let alone be used for intercontinental travel.

Honestly, if it weren't for all the things that were going on at school, Harry might have just taken a long leave of absence for the last few months.

Moreover, he actually felt quite sorry for his adoptive parents. Although he meant to spend more time with them, he was also quite busy during the Easter holiday.

Because there are many places that Harry needs to visit in person.

The first place that comes to mind is Sirius's house. Harry's godfather has been arguing about this for a long time, insisting that Harry and Hermione visit his house.

Unable to refuse their hospitality, Harry and Hermione visited during the second week of the Easter holidays.

Sirius Black currently lives at 12 Grimmauld Place, London, which is not far from King's Cross Station, about a 20-minute walk away.

But when Harry and Hermione arrived, they didn't see any number 12 at all.

They were currently facing the door of room number 11. To their left was room number 10, while to their right was room number 13.

"It's a very sophisticated Banishing Charm; you'll probably only be able to find the gate if you're absolutely certain the address is correct."

After listening to the Voice of Magic in the vicinity, Harry carefully recited the address '12 Grimmauld Place' in his mind. Soon, a dilapidated black iron door, its paint chipped off, suddenly appeared between rooms 11 and 13.

Immediately afterwards, the two saw mottled walls and dark windows, and the houses on both sides moved outwards at the same time, as if a new house had been forced out.

However, the house did not look new at all; on the contrary, it was extremely dilapidated. The stone steps leading to the gate were broken and the door was covered with haphazard carvings.

The newest thing about the room's exterior was probably a lion-shaped door knocker... As soon as Harry saw it, he knew it must have been Sirius's doing.

The noble and pure Black family is a traditional Slytherin clan, yet a lion knocker hangs at their front door. This clearly indicates that Sirius has realized no one can control him, so he has begun to live a dissolute life.

Just as Harry was muttering to himself, the door to Black's old house quietly opened.

"Hey Harry! You and Hermione are finally here!"

A joyful voice rang out, and Harry's godfather appeared with a broad smile, accompanied by Lupin.

"Harry, Hermione, I've been looking forward to seeing you since the Easter holidays started!" Sirius excitedly hugged Harry and laughed heartily. "I'm so happy you could come! Oh, and Moony, I invited him too. Otherwise, he'd be stuck at school during the holidays, which would have been so pitiful!"

"Uh... anyway, just take what he said as true." Lupin shrugged helplessly upon hearing this.

To be honest, among all the people present, everyone knew perfectly well who was truly lonely and needed companionship.

"Alright, come in with me quickly." Sirius led everyone into the house. "But you'd better not touch anything here... because many of them are quite unpleasant."

Well... although Harry didn't know why Sirius said this place was awful, the environment of Black's old house certainly didn't seem very habitable.

The place seemed completely deserted. Even though Sirius had lived there for a long time, it still resembled an empty old house, and always exuded a strange chill.

The Entrance Hall, corridor, and walls inside the room were shadowy even during the day. The walls were decorated with many snake-like patterns that appeared indistinct under the dappled light, making them look like living creatures at first glance.

In short, what should have been a charming old house has been turned into something resembling William. If you add some vines climbing all over the house, people might believe that vampires live there.

"Uh... the environment here isn't really that great, huh?" Sirius seemed to realize this at this point, and he subconsciously scratched his head, looking quite embarrassed.

He had been thinking about bringing Harry over, or even having him and Hermione stay here for a while, but he subconsciously overlooked the fact that... the house had been vacant for nearly ten years and was already in a terrible state of disrepair.

"Harry, what... is that?" Suddenly, Harry felt the girl beside him tremble violently.

Hermione hesitated, then raised her hand and pointed ahead. Her gaze traveled through the long, dark corridor, finally landing on the wall above the stairs. Then, she couldn't help but cover her mouth in horror!

It was a row of wrinkled heads with all sorts of different faces, each with a strangely large nose and a pair of incredibly large ears...

It's House-elf!

The walls of the staircase are covered with the heads of House-elf!

"Harry ...those things on the wall, could they...not be decorations?" Hermione stood frozen in place, instinctively not wanting to go any further until she confirmed her guess.

"That's all true," Sirius replied. "It's a tradition of their House-elf. These House-elf serve the Black family from birth until they are too old to do any work. Then they cut off their heads and hang them on the wall as decoration, continuing their pursuit of glory in this way."

"Why?!"

Hermione couldn't help but scream; she couldn't accept Sirius's words from the bottom of her heart.

House-elf... why do they have such a twisted pursuit?

Chapter 434 The Permanent Sticking Charm Can Be Broken

Every day, they endure being bossed around by their masters, don't even have a decent set of clothes, and have to constantly punish themselves for their laziness even to think about taking a break...

But that's not all. After a lifetime of hard work serving their master, they end up having their head cut off and hung on the master's wall as a decoration?

This was something Hermione, who had always sympathized with the House-elf, simply could not accept!

"Absurd... I think this is absolutely absurd!" Hermione exclaimed, her compassion overflowing, but she was also filled with righteous indignation!

"Those House-elf, they've served this family for so long, how could they...?"

"Hermione, that's enough." Harry gently squeezed the girl's hand beside him. "We're not here to interfere in this matter today...besides, it was their own choice, not their godfather and his family who killed them."

"Of course I know that, but for things like this, I still... ah!"

Hermione, distracted, was led forward by Harry, but the closer they got to the wall, the less she dared to open her eyes. So much so that she accidentally kicked over an umbrella stand made of Troll's leg bone, and couldn't help but cry out in pain.

However, immediately afterward, a terrifying scream, so loud it sent chills down everyone's spine, suddenly rang out without warning, filling everyone's eardrums!

The sound came from behind two velvet Veil riddled with wormholes. The umbrella stand was meant to hold Veil down, but Hermione's kick caused them to scatter, revealing the wall behind them.

For a moment, Harry instinctively thought it was a window, but he quickly realized it was a full-body portrait that was almost integrated into the wall.

The picture framed a remarkably lifelike old woman wearing a black hat, screaming desperately, one scream after another, as if she were being tortured.

As she screamed, she began drooling, her eyes darted around erratically, and she even wildly waved her claw-like hands as if she wanted to strangle Harry and the others.

"Beasts! Bastards! Filthy sluts! How dare you let this wicked son bring you here to defile my ancestral home... Get out of here right now!"

The barrage of insults left all four people present stunned.

"What, what's going on now..." Hermione was a little scared when she saw this, and of course, she was also a little aggrieved after being scolded, so she hid behind Harry.

Harry glanced at Lupin and noticed that Lupin's expression was equally grim.

It seems that the old woman who is cursing is quite taking it personally.

So, his godfather is a bastard?

"Shut up! You horrible old witch, shut your mouth right now!" At this moment, Sirius also realized what was happening and hurriedly grabbed the velvet Veil with both hands and began to pull it towards the middle, hoping to seal the portrait again.

However, after the old woman in the painting makes eye contact with Sirius, the volume of her cursing increases dramatically.

"You... you! You damned spendthrift, a disgrace to the family, the bastard I gave birth to! How dare you bring these worthless bastards to pollute the Black family again!!"

"I said... shut up!!"

Sirius seemed furious, but the more anxious he became, the more flustered he became, and he couldn't manage to fix the two dirty, tattered Veil.

However, at that moment, Harry snapped his fingers lightly, finally silencing the old lady.

The scene in the corridor was rather eerie. The two Veil torn apart by Sirius's tugging, and the dust and fox-eyes hidden inside scattered in all directions. The old woman who had been cursing earlier was now awkwardly opening her mouth repeatedly, but no sound could be uttered.

"Who... who is she?" Hermione asked, peeking out from behind Harry, still shaken.

"She is my mother, I won't go into details, but she looked like this when she was alive."

Sirius explained with a stern face, but when he looked back at the portrait, he seemed to deliberately reveal a hint of disdain. "This old house belongs to the Black family. My parents originally intended to leave it to my brother, but in the end, it was inherited by me, the scumbag and good-for-nothing in their eyes?"

Upon hearing Sirius's words, Walburga Black in the portrait became even more aggressive, but due to Harry's Silencing Barrier, she couldn't make a sound.

"Haha! Harry, your magic is absolutely amazing!" Sirius seemed quite pleased that he couldn't hear his mother's screams. "You have no idea how noisy she is. She starts yelling the moment she opens her eyes, and sometimes she goes crazy with Kreacher. If her painting hadn't been Permanent Sticking Charm on the wall, I would have torn it down and burned it!"

Sirius spoke with an air of ease and nonchalance, but Harry sensed something different in his words.

Walburga Black, Sirius... this mother and son must have been suffering a lot inside.

"Godfather, this painting isn't protected by any protective spells. If you really want to set it on fire, just burn it. Besides... even if it were enchanted with Permanent Sticking Charm, I have ways to remove it."

Wanting to test Sirius's attitude, Harry conjured a ball of water elemental and, combining it with magic, infused it into the wall where Walburga Black's portrait was located.

"The effect of the Permanent Sticking Charm is to completely preserve the state of two objects being stuck together, so ordinary Finite Incantatem cannot cancel it. But even so, they are still two completely unrelated items. As long as there is even a small gap, it is enough for me to use water elemental penetration magic."

As Harry was speaking, a corner of Walburga Black's portrait suddenly chipped off.

"This... it actually came to light?"

Sirius's heart skipped a beat when he saw this, but after hesitating for a while, he put on his previous nonchalant attitude and even clapped his hands in approval.

"This is easy for me. With the help of the water element, I can easily seep my magic into the gap between the painting and the wall. Then, combined with the effect of the Finite Incantatem spell, I can easily break the Permanent Sticking Charm. The principle is that I dissolve the magic of the Permanent Sticking Charm, and the two things will naturally separate."

Harry applied a little more force, and another corner of the portrait immediately broke off.

But when they got there, Harry stopped.

He turned his head, looked seriously at Sirius, and asked, "But Godfather... are you sure you want me to continue?"

"I..."

At this moment, Sirius was caught off guard and caught in a dilemma.

Chapter 435 Black family hides Horcrux

Sirius stared blankly at the portrait of his mother, speechless for a long time.

He had assumed he would be happy to remove the Permanent Sticking Charm from Harry... In fact, he had tried quite a few times before, only to fail each time.

But when Harry was really close to success, he suddenly felt conflicted.

It felt exhilarating, yet also filled with hesitation—a complex mix of emotions.

Hermione and Lupin, who were watching from the sidelines, also showed a hint of reluctance.

From their position, they could clearly see Walburga Black's appearance. The old lady was unable to make a sound and could only futilely scratch at the edge of the picture frame, trying to stop Harry's actions.

In the struggle, her hat fell to the ground, revealing a head of sparse, graying hair, a pathetic, silent protest against Harry... or perhaps a plea.