Harry had long since grown immune to Cassandra's sarcasm; he had mastered the art of letting insults slide like water off a duck's back.
No matter what she said, he wouldn't take it to heart.
He stepped forward and gently pushed open the heavy doors.
Inside the room lay a crystal bed, upon which rested Anne Sallow, dressed in her Slytherin robes. Her expression was peaceful, locked in a deep slumber, completely oblivious to the outside world.
"Anne?" Veratia Grindelwald stepped forward, crouched beside Anne, and placed her hand on Anne's to check her condition. After a moment, she stood up and turned to Harry. "Anne's condition is actually quite stable. I should say, Ominis Gaunt's secret art was indeed effective. Look... at least she is sleeping peacefully."
Peaceful indeed, she doesn't even know people have entered, Harry remarked inwardly, then turned and asked, "So, what should we do? Just wake her up directly? Or should I cast a dispelling charm first?"
"Hmm..." Veratia pondered for a moment before replying, "Let's wake her first... Let me see, you just need to remove the crystal pendant Anne is holding, and she should wake from her slumber."
Harry did as instructed, reaching out to take the green serpentine pendant from Anne's hand. However, he gave it two tugs, but the pendant didn't budge, as if it were welded to Anne's hand.
Afraid of using too much force, he turned back and said, "I can't pull it out."
Cassandra walked over and pressed a specific spot on Anne's hand—Harry wasn't sure where—and the small hands clutching the pendant instantly loosened. The pendant slid from Anne's grasp, and a moment later, she opened her eyes.
"Where am I?" Anne murmured, her voice hoarse and rasping, sounding painfully rough. She looked up, saw her concerned friends, and tears immediately welled up.
"Veratia, my throat..."
Veratia brushed her hand over Anne's throat, and Anne felt a warm current wash over it.
"Uh... Veratia, Cassandra, and Poppy... have you all returned?" Her voice, though not fully recovered, was no longer as hoarse as before.
"Yes," Veratia nodded. "Harry has found a way to dispel the dark curse on you. Don't speak just yet; let him remove the curse first."
Saying this, Veratia stepped aside, revealing Harry standing behind her.
"Hi, Harry." Anne smiled and greeted him, suppressing her physical discomfort. "It looks like you've found Harry. That makes me so happy..."
"Yes, we have found Harry," Cassandra said, placing heavy emphasis on the word 'found'.
What do you mean 'found Harry'? Harry obviously found us... Cassandra felt a sour twinge in her heart. In truth, she had lain in the Chamber for so many years, and in the end, it was Harry who pulled her from the clutches of death and brought her back to the world of the living. If Harry hadn't replenished her life force, she might have died long ago.
"Let's dispel the curse first," Harry said, stepping forward and pointing his wand at Anne.
Anne closed her eyes. She trusted Harry and these friends implicitly and had no thought of objecting.
"Purusor!"
Instantly, a milky white light burst from the tip of Harry's wand, illuminating the entire dim room. Under the influence of the light, Anne's body slowly rose into mid-air. She felt the shackles and chains binding her fate shatter in an instant.
"I..." she murmured, "I feel better than ever before, everyone..."
The light faded, and with it, a phantom of a black venomous snake rose from behind Anne, dissolving into smoke under the remnants of the white glow.
"That should be it." Harry stowed his wand as the light dissipated. "If nothing went wrong, the dark curse on Anne is gone."
"How are you, Anne?" Poppy Sweating squeezed her small head between Veratia and Harry. "How do you feel? Any better?"
"I feel better than I ever have..." Anne happily raised her hands, her delicate face glowing with vitality. "Thank you, Harry, and thank you all..."
"Oh, thank you, Harry," Cassandra mimicked sarcastically from the side; she felt like Anne was trying to get a slice of the pie.
But in reality, Harry had no such thoughts. Like Sebastian Sallow, he viewed Anne merely as a younger sister. After all, Anne was truly sweet, a comforting presence that naturally evoked affection.
"Cass!" Veratia playfully swatted Cassandra's bottom in rebuke. "Stop being so sarcastic. What are you doing?"
"Hmph." Cassandra curled her lip, thinking, You'll regret this later, you arrogant Grindelwald!
"In that case, let's head out," Poppy Sweating suggested. "Anne hasn't eaten in ages. How about we go back to the Isle of Wight for some food?"
"How is my brother?" Anne didn't agree immediately.
"Oh, Sebastian." Harry decided to tell a white lie. "He and Ominis are both at Hogwarts right now, but it's too late; they're probably already asleep. How about we go to Hogwarts tomorrow?"
"Al... alright," Anne stammered. She was still stuck in the memories of a century ago—back then, Hogwarts was extremely strict. Trespassing on campus grounds could result in a whipping. At the very least, it meant a whipping; at worst, one might be strung up and chained in the dungeons. It was... quite miserable.
"Let's go, I'll Side-Along Apparate you," Veratia said, taking Anne's small hand. "You just woke up and had a dark curse removed, so it's better if I take you."
"Mmhmm..." Anne agreed softly. Anne, with her girl-next-door innocence, made it hard not to feel protective of her—at the very least, Veratia wanted to pinch her cheeks.
With a loud crack, they appeared in Harry's room on the Isle of Wight.
"How about this," Cassandra suggested. "Anne can stay in my room for now, alright? My room is empty anyway..."
"Is that okay?" Anne asked quietly. "If I stay in your room, where will you stay?"
"With a certain someone, of course." Cassandra coolly took Harry's hand, clearly staking her claim. "As you can see, this scoundrel is now my boyfriend."
Anne let out a silent wow. She never expected that after sleeping for so long... Cassandra, the one least likely to succeed, was suddenly with Harry?
"Alright, alright, everyone knows," Veratia glanced helplessly at Cassandra, then turned back to Anne. "What would you like to eat, Anne?"
"I think Anne had better change her clothes first," Cassandra said faintly. "Also, Mr. Potter, please leave this room immediately—"
"Why?" Harry asked like a sitting duck.
"Because her clothes have been eroded by time and are about to fall apart," Poppy Sweating explained in a whisper. "Make yourself scarce, Harry—Anne is still a young lady!"
"Oh... Oh!" Harry finally realized and left the room.
"He really hasn't changed," Anne said with a faint smile after Harry left. "Still so dense, so well-behaved and honest..."
"Him? Honest? Well-behaved?" Cassandra looked as if she'd heard the biggest joke in the world. "Don't make me laugh, Anne—he's a rebellious servant who bullies his master!"
"I think you mean a servant who rides his master, don't you?" Veratia teased with a grin.
Cassandra blushed instantly. Veratia's use of the word 'ride' conjured up certain memories. The association was rather indecent; she shook her head vigorously to toss the image out of her mind.
They scrambled to find a set of clothes that fit Anne. Anne wasn't tall, just over 1.6 meters. Among those present, Veratia and Cassandra had tall, supermodel figures, and Poppy... well, Poppy Sweating wasn't very tall, but her size meant Anne couldn't wear her clothes. Our Poppy is quite a well-endowed woman, you know?
After changing into fresh clothes, Anne went with them to a restaurant outside for a meal to replenish her strength. Back at the hotel, Cassandra packed up all her luggage and let Anne move in.
"Just make yourself at home," she didn't forget to comfort Anne. "Don't worry about me."
"Mmhmm," Anne nodded.
The next morning, the four of them Side-Along Apparated Anne back to Hogwarts.
"Um," Veratia suddenly spoke up. "There's something you need to... well, accept."
"What is it?" Anne hadn't yet realized the gravity of the situation.
"Well, you should know," Cassandra added from the side, "it's not a hundred years ago anymore—oh, not the era when we went to school. It is now 1995, a world more than a hundred years later. Things have changed, and you should be... somewhat mentally prepared."
"Prepared for what?"
A bad feeling suddenly rose in Anne's heart. That ominous premonition clung to her like a leech, chilling her to the bone and making her thoughts run wild. She suppressed the worst of them and forced a smile.
"It's not that my brother has gotten old, is it?" Her heart leaped into her throat.
"Uh, he will never get old again," Poppy Sweating suddenly interjected.
Never get old again? A question mark arose in Anne's mind.
Harry glanced at Poppy Sweating, thinking, Well, you're not damn wrong. Sebastian certainly wouldn't age anymore, seeing as he'd never heard of ghosts getting wrinkles. If they did, that would be too bloody bizarre. He hadn't expected that Poppy, usually the most lively and cheerful one, would make such a dark joke—and a particularly cold one at that.
"Let's go have breakfast first," Veratia suggested. "Let Harry go find where those two are first, alright?"
"Alright..." Anne felt uneasy, sensing that something big was about to happen.
Harry grabbed a sandwich from the kitchen and ran, leaving the four women to eat breakfast slowly at the kitchen's side table. He arrived at the Hogwarts Library first. Ominis Gaunt was already awake. Seeing Harry, he seemed quite pleased.
"Hi, Harry?" he greeted. "Good morning."
"Good morning," Harry replied weakly.
"How did it go? Did you save Anne?" Ominis asked straight away. "Or is there still no good way to cure her curse?"
"Oh, no, that's not it," Harry shook his head. "There's just a slight complication. Anne doesn't know you sacrificed yourself to save her, nor does she know Sebastian died in Azkaban and is now a ghost. She just thinks you've become old men."
"Oh, is that all?" Ominis said indifferently. "What do you plan to do now?"
"We can't hide it forever. Better to rip off the bandage now. Let her come see you first... By the way." He turned his head, looking around. "Where's Sebastian? Where did he go?"
"Seb is sleeping over there. Hey, Seeeeeeb!" Ominis shouted, dragging out the sound.
Harry turned to see a green ghost floating in mid-air, appearing to be asleep. Woken by Ominis, Sebastian opened his eyes, did a little hop, and landed on the floor.
"Oh, Harry." The first thing Sebastian did was ask about Anne. "How is Anne? Did you save her? Did you cure her curse?"
"Hey, listen to me, mate, listen to me." Harry stopped Sebastian's barrage of questions. "First, Anne is free from the dark curse. Second, she has been released from the seal. Finally... she doesn't know your current condition yet, so in a bit... well, try not to scare her."
"Alright." Hearing his sister was safe, Sebastian felt a huge weight lift off his chest. "Then take me to see her, I miss her..."
"Okay." Harry took out a crystal ball and called Veratia. Once connected, he said directly, "Bring her over."
"Okay," Veratia acknowledged.
A moment later, the door was pushed open, and the four girls arrived together. Walking at the very back was the smaller, timid Anne. Even though Anne had been given preventative warnings by her three "older sisters" along the way, when she saw the transparent Sebastian, her eyes rolled back, and she fainted.
"Anne!" Sebastian had intended to be playful, but seeing his sister faint, he couldn't help but rush forward. "How is she! How is she!" Sebastian's soul was fluctuating with anxiety.
Veratia crouched down, touched Anne's neck, and looked up. "Don't worry, she's fine. She just couldn't handle the shock for a moment and passed out. It's not a big problem."
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