Ominis's portrait now resided within Hogwarts Castle. Initially, Harry had placed him in the Slytherin Common Room, but before long, Ominis requested to be moved to the corridor outside the library.
After all, the Slytherin Common Room was simply too boisterous, which Ominis found rather irritating.
In principle, students were not permitted to enter or leave Hogwarts at will during the holidays. However, Miss Poppy Sweeting was a distinguished school governor, and she was the principle.
Consequently, upon their arrival at Hogwarts, the caretaker, Mr. Filch, received them with overflowing enthusiasm.
Although there had been some minor friction with Mr. Filch during his first year, Harry was not one to hold a grudge. He nodded to Filch in acknowledgement, serving as a greeting.
"We are here to see the portrait of Mr. Ominis Gaunt," Poppy said. "He is located just outside the library."
"Very well, honorable Miss Sweeting." Filch bowed deeply to her. "I shall not disturb you further."
He knew better than to intrude.
Outside the library, Ominis was asleep within his frame. The sound of footsteps startled him awake. He stood up, frowning, and said, "Mr. Filch, I... Oh, it's Harry. You've come?"
"Ominis." Harry waved at him. "I apologize for disturbing your rest, but we've made some progress regarding the dark magic curse."
"Is that so?" Ominis asked with intense interest. "What sort of progress? Have you found a way to cure the curse?"
"Yes," Harry nodded. "Thanks to Mr. Flamel's assistance, I've managed to take the purification spell to the next level... We conducted experiments earlier, and this spell can completely eradicate a dark magic curse from a person's body!"
"That is incredible news!" Ominis exclaimed in delight. "Oh, wonderful, wonderful. Wait just a moment; I shall go fetch Sebastian."
With that, Ominis vanished from his frame.
Moments later, he reappeared in the frame, smiling at them. "Done. I've asked the Bloody Baron to search for Sebastian," Ominis said, pointing behind them. "Look, here he comes now."
As Harry and the others turned around, they saw Sebastian dangling halfway through the ceiling from the floor above.
"Oh, hullo," Sebastian waved at them. "Long time no see—or rather, I must say, I quite enjoy my current state. Look—at least I don't have to trudge up and down the staircases anymore, wouldn't you agree?"
"It seems you're still optimistic, Seb," Harry shook his head with a helpless smile. "We've found a way to cure Anne's dark magic curse. All we need now is for Ominis to reveal Anne's hiding place, and we will go save her."
"Really?" Sebastian's usual gloom vanished instantly. He rushed forward in excitement, his hands reaching out to grab Harry's robes, only to grasp at empty air.
"Really?" he asked again, his eyes filled with elation.
"Of course. Why would I lie to you?" Harry was also quite happy; partly because Anne could finally be freed from the curse that had plagued her for years, and partly because he was genuinely glad to see his old friend so joyful.
"That's good, that's good..." Sebastian spun around twice in the air before asking, "Can I come with you? I haven't seen Anne in ages... honestly, I really do miss her..."
"Let's all go together," Harry proposed. "We'll take Ominis's portrait with us—we'll all go see Anne."
"Whoa, er—" Veratia Grindelwald raised a hand. "I object."
"Why?" Harry and the others asked in unison, confused.
"Think about it," Veratia said helplessly. "Anne will have just woken from the seal, still bearing the dark curse, and her health is already fragile. If she sees her brother dead and turned into a ghost, and her best friend reduced to a portrait, do you think she can handle that kind of shock?"
"That's true." Sebastian sighed, his spirit seeming to lose some of its color. "So, do we just wait here?"
"We'll wait," Ominis agreed, sounding resigned. "It seems we have no other choice... Oh, right. Anne is in the cave where Jackdaw rests. If you search carefully, you should be able to find her hiding spot. I left a tracer spell there; if either Harry or Grindelwald appears within a hundred meters, it will automatically signal."
"Alright," Harry nodded. "You two wait here for our good news. Hmm... we should be bringing her back by tomorrow."
"Tomorrow?" Sebastian floated in front of Harry, looking him in the eye while upside down. "Why? Why not today? Do we have to wait until tomorrow?"
"You should know that after a century of being sealed away, coupled with the torture of the dark curse, her body is on the verge of collapse," Veratia interjected. "I just emphasized this a moment ago. I strongly suggest we take her to Mr. Flamel first to assess her condition before deciding whether to bring her to see you. Do you understand?"
"Alright." Sebastian lowered his head, accepting the reality.
"Take heart, Sebastian," Ominis said soothingly. "You have waited this long; a day or two more won't matter. Leave it to Harry and the others, and rest easy."
"Fine," Sebastian agreed.
They bade farewell to Sebastian and returned to Mr. Flamel.
"Mr. Flamel," Harry asked immediately. "Is there a potion capable of stabilizing the body? I am worried Anne won't be able to withstand the purification spell, considering she has been trapped in the seal for a hundred years."
"There is, Harry, there is," Mr. Flamel replied, scurrying over to a cabinet. He hopped up to retrieve a bottle of purple potion and handed it to Harry. "Here, this is the one. This will perfectly maintain Miss Sallow's physical state and prevent her from deteriorating too rapidly."
"You always have a solution, Mr. Flamel," Harry said cheerfully.
"After all, I have lived for over seven hundred years, haven't I?" Mr. Flamel chuckled.
Having obtained what they needed, the group left Flamel's alchemy lab and entered the Forbidden Forest.
"I must say," Poppy pulled her robes tighter around herself. "It is far too cold at night. What on earth is this British weather...?"
"Isn't the distinct temperature difference between morning and night refreshing?" Veratia laughed. "Or would you behave yourself if you had to endure the weather of the Sahara Desert?"
"Sahara Desert?" Poppy's eyes held a look of pure, innocent ignorance. "What is that?"
One could hardly blame her; after all, a wizard... wouldn't necessarily know what the Sahara Desert was.
She wasn't an African witch, after all.
"It's... well, think of it as the climate in Egypt," Veratia explained in terms a wizard would understand.
"Oh, then never mind." Poppy sneezed. "Only a ghost would enjoy that kind of dry, scorching weather."
The entrance to Jackdaw's Tomb was covered in spiderwebs, looking desolate and dilapidated.
"So, is this the little cave where you and Potter went on your date?" Cassandra asked with amusement. "Hmm, and Jackdaw... wasn't he the one romancing the Black family heiress? Honestly..."
"Are you jealous?" Veratia asked with a grin, deploying her ultimate weapon.
"No," Cassandra denied categorically. "Why would I be jealous of Potter? Don't be ridiculous, Grindelwald..."
"Alright, you aren't jealous," Veratia said with a beam. She looked up, then shook her head. "This place seems to have been overrun by Acromantulas. I doubt they will allow us to enter the cave..."
As soon as the words left her mouth, a clicking sound erupted from all around. Before they knew it, they were surrounded by numerous massive Acromantulas.
You really have courage, truly, Harry thought to himself.
Just as he raised his wand, the spiders retreated rapidly.
"Huh?" Harry was baffled. Why had the spiders left?
"Oh, I see," Veratia said. "Harry carries the scent of Alfonso. Perhaps these spiders are afraid of the Basilisk."
"If that's the case..." Harry said, releasing Alfonso.
"Why not just bring him out?"
Alfonso suddenly felt the space around him expand. Without opening his eyes, he hissed fawningly, "Honored Master, for what purpose have you summoned your humble servant Alfonso?"
"Oh, just giving you some free time." Harry patted the Basilisk's head and said, "A group of Acromantulas has appeared in the Forbidden Forest. If you are interested, you may go enjoy a buffet."
"Wow, really? Master?" Alfonso the Basilisk was overjoyed. "Acromantulas! They are my favorite food—I'm off at once!"
In a matter of seconds, the Basilisk slithered away, disappearing into the depths of the Forbidden Forest.
"You just let him go like that?" Cassandra asked, looking in the direction of the Basilisk with her eyes closed. "Aren't you worried he might be tempted by Voldemort again? Or that he might suddenly betray you?"
"Not at all," Harry said confidently. "I possess a small fragment of his soul; he will never betray me."
Oh, so that's why you're so reassured. You had that up your sleeve all along.
"It seems you have your own methods, don't you?" Veratia shook her head with a laugh. "Never mind. Let's enter Jackdaw's Tomb and take a look. Finding Anne is the priority. Alfonso will handle the spiders outside the Forbidden Forest, so we needn't worry."
With that, she took the lead and walked into the cave.
The cave wasn't much different from the last time they were here—provided one could ignore the spiderwebs.
The group used fire spells to clear the path, burning away the tangled webs as they probed deeper inside.
"Here, look at this." Veratia stopped before a mechanism and said to Harry, "Do you remember how we opened the door back then? Use Lumos to guide these mechanisms to where they belong. Like this—Lumos!"
Harry followed suit, guiding another mechanism back to its original position.
The instant the mechanisms reset, a sound like thunder and lightning echoed. Then, the great door rumbled open. Behind it, a crystal bridge appeared at the edge of the cliff, leading straight to the other side.
The bridge looked to be of excellent quality; it certainly couldn't have been cheap to construct.
"If I'm not mistaken, it should be this way," Harry asserted. "The other side is where Voldemort hid the Resurrection Stone, so it's unlikely to be where Anne is sealed."
They crossed the crystal bridge, encountering no resistance from spiders along the way. It appeared they had abandoned this cave.
Harry was quite pleased as well. After all, Acromantulas were valuable potion ingredients and Alfonso's most cost-effective food source. It was better not to kill them if it could be avoided.
They hadn't gone far when a strange magical fluctuation suddenly rippled from nearby.
"This must be it," Harry said, looking up. "Perhaps that is the marker Ominis left behind... let's go take a look."
Just then, a noise came from behind them.
Harry turned around to find that the crystal bridge had vanished.
"The bridge is gone," he said.
"It doesn't matter," Veratia said with a smile. "We can still leave via Apparition—and if Apparition is blocked, I have a Portkey that can quickly take us back to the Ministry of Magic in Vienna."
"Then let's keep going," Harry said. He took the lead, wand in hand, casting detection spells as he walked to check for any ambushes.
Unfortunately, his efforts were in vain. There were no ambushes at all. Aside from odd rocks appearing around corners that made Poppy jump, there was nothing unusual.
The further they went, the stronger the magical fluctuation became, until they arrived before a large door.
There was a special ward before the door. Harry looked left and right, intending to find a way to break it.
"Ominis seems to have forgotten to tell us how to open this," he said, reaching out to touch the door.
To his surprise, the moment his hand touched the surface, the great door rumbled open.
"Eh?" Harry asked, realizing it only after the fact. "That simple?"
"No," Veratia said. "Ominis wouldn't set up such simple protection. He likely added a ward that recognizes your magical signature. The moment you touched the door yourself, the ward automatically deactivated."
"He really is a genius, isn't he?" Harry marveled.
"Alright, I suggest you stop waxing poetic and praising others," Cassandra said sarcastically from behind. "Now, is Prince Charming going to step forward and kiss the sleeping Snow White awake?"
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