"Speak," said Septimus succinctly.
Harry patted Draco on the shoulder, "You go out first."
"Okay, Harry," Draco said obediently.
Once Draco had left, Harry whispered to the portrait, "I hope you can keep a secret for me..."
"Why?" Septimus squinted and asked.
"You know, it's always troublesome when people discover your true identity. Instead of being researched back and forth, I'd rather spend my time looking for your daughter," Harry shrugged.
Septimus glanced at him and nodded in agreement.
"Alright, I'll keep this secret for you temporarily, I won't even tell my descendants—"
Harry smiled with satisfaction; this was his little guilty pleasure.
Actually, he didn't really care if the secret was discovered; he just wanted to tease Draco.
As he walked out the door, Harry remembered what was said in the letter.
Wiltshire... Malfoy Manor is in Wiltshire. It seems Cassandra returned to the manor once before being expelled by Trelawney, then stole a secret treasure from the family vault.
But judging by Mr. Malfoy's behavior, it seems he didn't hold any grudge against her for stealing the treasure; he still loved her as always.
Harry didn't plan to ask further since it's their family affair. It's better to let Cassandra and her father resolve it when she returns.
Sigh...
Cassandra.
Where could she possibly be now?
Harry felt clueless; apart from knowing she had returned to Malfoy Manor once, there was no information at all.
He thought he should inquire more widely.
With this thought, he walked out the door.
"Harry, what were you talking about with my great-great-grandfather?" Draco curiously asked.
"It's a matter between elders; you'd better not inquire too much."
"Elders?" Draco repeated, still unaware of the gravity of the situation.
Even though they were the same year of young wizards, Harry was, after all, classmates with his great-great-aunt a hundred years ago and got along really well...
"Yeah," Harry looked at Draco with a mischievous smile, "you know, it's alright to call me Harry outside, but when it's just us two, shouldn't you reconsider what you should call me?"
Draco's brain began to operate at full speed as he carefully sorted out the generations.
Hmm... Cassandra is the grandfather's aunt, dad's grandaunt, my great-aunt...
She and Harry are so close, she even seems to like him.
It appears Harry also has feelings for Great-Aunt...
With this realization, Draco plotted to flatter Harry a bit.
"Great-Uncle?" Draco tentatively asked.
Harry ruffled his golden-haired head, "If she ever hears you say that, you're in trouble..."
"Why?" Draco curiously asked.
"We're just friends, good friends," Harry sighed.
He didn't really know how to handle his relationship with Cassandra. He had always one-sidedly thought they were just good friends, somewhere between good friends and friends.
But now, seeing Cassandra chose to cross time for him, he began to wonder... could Cassandra truly regard him as a good friend?
He didn't dwell on Draco's implication of 'liking,' even denied it—he never thought such a proud lady would fall for him.
On the other hand, he felt this might be unfair to Vivi—even though Vivi wasn't his girlfriend.
Even before the time travel, Harry was just a seventeen-year-old kid, still a high school student in the Muggle World.
...Never mind, the priority now is to rescue them, Harry thought.
He didn't want to let down Vivi, nor Cassandra.
Draco sneaked a look of disdain.
Legendary wizard? That's it?
So adept at magic spells, yet a complete idiot when it comes to feelings?
Despite his thoughts, Draco prudently chose to keep silent.
Some things are better kept to oneself; the feeling of having one's mind read really isn't pleasant—it feels like your head is about to explode.
After coming out of Septimus's room, Draco took Harry for another turn around the estate.
Draco was still clearly youthful at heart, even chasing after the white peacocks in the manor.
"This was my childhood flying broom," Draco pointed to a small broom, telling Harry, "Next year, I'm planning to join the Quidditch Team, but I'm sure I can't fly as well as you. You're just amazing—hey, were you a Quidditch star back in the day?"
"No, at that time the principal was Phineas Black," Harry mentioned Phineas with a difficult expression, "Principal Black didn't allow Quidditch matches at school."
"What a disaster he must have been," Draco said furiously.
Even though he came from a pure-blood family, Draco was almost fanatically in love with Quidditch.
Now, hearing that Principal Black didn't allow Quidditch matches, he immediately disliked him.
Oh, the young man shows promise!
Harry held out his hand.
"What is it?" Draco clasped it, then got two shakes.
"In our time, there was a saying—" Harry smiled, "As long as you hate Principal Black, you're our friend!"
"Indeed!" Draco agreed emphatically, "My god, I thought Dumbledore being principal was bad enough, but there's someone even worse..."
"Otherwise, why do you think Slytherin could get along with the other three houses back then?" Harry chuckled, "Because we all had a common enemy, and that was Principal Black."
Hearing Harry's words, Draco laughed too.
"I think if I were a Slytherin back then, I'd definitely make friends with Gryffindor just because of this."
"The Slytherin of those days was completely different from now," Harry remarked sentimentally, "Back then, Slytherin valued honor more than so-called bloodline, pursuit of excellence was their goal—and now? How many normal ones are there in Slytherin besides Miss Fari? Including you."
If first-year Potter had said this, Draco would have definitely stood his ground to argue.
But given it was the legendary wizard Potter who said it, Draco felt almost no urge to refute.
"You're right," he nodded in acknowledgment.
"So the change has to start with you, Draco," Harry patted his shoulder, "When there's time, I'll tell you about the good friends I made in Slytherin—Sebastian Saru and Omnius Gaunt."
"Alright," Harry cut short Draco, who wanted to say more, "It's getting late, and I have a friend waiting for me to feed them at the Broken Cauldron Bar."
Seeing Harry say this, Draco could only suppress his curiosity.
"Alright, don't forget, okay," he said.
"Don't worry," Harry replied.
After bidding farewell to the Malfoys, Harry performed Apparition Displacement, leaving Malfoy Manor.
"He truly is the Savior, isn't he?" Narcissa said softly, looking at the spot where Harry disappeared.
Lucius gently nodded, agreeing with Narcissa's words.
"Dad, Mom," Draco suddenly spoke, "He's not only the Savior, but also the legendary wizard from a hundred years ago!"
Hearing this, Lucius felt his temper rising inexplicably.
"I think you should still..."
Before he could finish, Draco interrupted.
"We just went to the room with great-grandfather's portrait, and great-grandfather recognized him," Draco spoke quickly, "If you don't believe me, Dad, Mom, you can come with me to ask great-grandfather."
With Draco saying this, Lucius and Narcissa exchanged a glance.
Could it really be as Little Dragon said?
(Requesting monthly votes...)
(The monthly votes update is almost catching up!!)