...
Far away at Nimongard Castle, Gellert Grindelwald suddenly awoke from a dream.
He wiped the cold sweat from his forehead, panting heavily for a long while before he recovered.
The experience in the dream truly sent shivers down his spine.
Oh my...
He reached out for the water cup beside him and took a big gulp.
He couldn't shake the feeling that something ominous was about to happen in the next couple of days, he thought.
...
Early the next morning, Harry knocked on Vivi's door.
Vivi was already up. Seeing Harry come in, she greeted him with a smile.
"Let's grab a bite to eat and then take a cab to the Granger family," Harry said to Vivi.
Vivi naturally had no objections. After a quick breakfast, she followed Harry to prepare to head to the Granger family.
"Did you bring everything?" Vivi asked uncertainly, fumbling around the bedside, as if making sure she hadn't forgotten anything.
This had always been her habit, a habit instilled by her sisters' mischief since childhood.
Back in Vienna, her sisters were jealous that she could become the Empress's lady-in-waiting and would secretly sabotage her by hiding her belongings, earning her the nickname "Careless Vera."
This misunderstanding was only resolved in 1888 when Harry visited Vienna with the Malfoy family.
Vivi had since developed the habit of double-checking before leaving, to avoid leaving anything behind.
"Don't worry, Vivi," Harry patted his waist, "we're ready to go."
Last night, he had temporarily released the Black Witch Farina, planning to catch her again after school started to use her as a teaching tool.
As for Snake Monster Alfonso, it was still sleeping in the wallet. Harry had fed it two cows, and Alfonso was quite content at the moment.
The two called a taxi and headed straight to the Granger family's small villa.
Harry walked up and rang the doorbell.
Soon, Hermione came running out.
"Harry!" she exclaimed joyfully.
After opening the door, she saw Vivi beside Harry and curiously asked, "Who's this?"
"This is my sister, Vivi," Harry introduced her.
"Hello, Sister Vivi," Hermione greeted sweetly.
Seeing Hermione, Vivi felt more at ease.
She knew Harry's character; despite his emotional obliviousness, he had surprisingly high standards.
In other words, Harry only liked beautiful girls.
This Miss Granger before her... she was indeed somewhat pretty, but only somewhat. She was far from meeting Harry's criteria.
"This is the house Dad just bought," Hermione said, holding Vivi's hand and introducing it to Harry. "Do you remember when Dad exchanged all our money into US Dollars? Recently, someone named Soros or something caused a financial storm in the United Kingdom, halving the exchange rate of British Pounds to US Dollars, which meant that Dad's assets doubled..."
Harry looked admiringly at the Granger family's small villa, filled with infinite respect for Mr. Granger.
It must be said, Uncle Vernon definitely didn't have Mr. Granger's mind—otherwise, how could the Granger family's life be so prosperous?
"Financial storm?" Vivi asked curiously.
"I don't really understand it, but it really hurt the UK..." Hermione shook her head and sighed. "Life is really tough now; the United States is really powerful, and all of Europe has become its playground. If it so much as sneezes, all of Europe's economy will scream..."
"Has it become that serious?" Vivi raised an eyebrow, a glint in her eye.
"That's what Dad said. Ever since I went to Hogwarts, I haven't heard him talk about it much," Hermione admitted honestly.
Vivi snorted to herself, thinking that the United States was just a nouveau riche. Even they could trample over us in Europe? Muggles really are incompetent...
"And what about the Magic World?" she asked again, "Are they suppressing us there too?"
"I don't know about that," Hermione said helplessly.
Harry gave a concerned glance at Vivi, knowing his sister's ambition well.
As a woman from the Habsburg dynasty, she would never accept seeing her beloved Austria crumble like that, being trampled by upstarts.
"What's the matter?" Harry asked with concern.
"It's nothing," Vivi replied with a smile, "Don't we still need to buy computers? When are we leaving? I also need to buy some books—Hermione, do you have any recommendations for books on international politics and history?"
"Sure, Sister Vivi," Hermione giggled. For some reason, she found this big sister in front of her very endearing.
Soon, Mr. Granger came out of the house.
"Uncle Askin," Harry greeted.
Vivi also greeted, "Hello, Uncle Askin. I'm Harry's sister, Vilatia Grindelwald."
"Hello, Miss Grindelwald," Mr. Granger, not thinking much of it, nodded politely, greeting Harry, "Hello, Harry, we meet again."
Hermione suddenly found the name familiar but couldn't quite recall where she had heard it.
But since she couldn't remember, she didn't dwell on it and followed her father into the car.
"What are you going to buy?" Mr. Askin asked with curiosity. "I heard from Hermione that you're going to buy some computers? Are wizards allowed to use computers now? I remember Arthur telling me that wizards are forbidden from misusing Muggle items."