It wasn't really Cassandra's fault for reacting like that. After all, anyone who heard such explosive news would be shocked speechless.
Though Cassandra's reaction had been a little over-the-top, it was still perfectly understandable.
Harry wiped the pumpkin juice off his face. He really hadn't expected Cassandra to respond quite like that.
A simple shout would have been fine—why did she have to spray pumpkin juice all over him?
"Sorry," Cassandra said, holding back laughter as she pulled out a handkerchief to wipe Harry's face. "I was just too shocked… far too shocked… I genuinely never imagined it would turn out like this… What about you?"
"I'm extremely shocked," Harry replied, letting Cassandra clean him up.
"I'm extremely shocked too," Poppy chimed in from the side. "So when Veratia comes back, are we going to tell her about this?"
"That doesn't feel right, does it?" Harry said, scratching his head. "Gellert never said he was planning to do anything bad. Selling him out like this… wouldn't that make us kind of disloyal?"
"It's not about loyalty," Cassandra said, folding her arms. "Grindelwald is going to find out eventually anyway. Besides, both sentimentally and logically, we ought to tell her the truth."
"Why?" Harry raised an eyebrow.
Cassandra spread her hands dramatically and lifted her little chin.
"I just purely want to see Grindelwald's reaction, that's all."
Oh. Harry got it now.
Cassandra didn't actually want to tell Veratia out of duty—she simply wanted to know what kind of face Veratia would make when she found out.
To put it bluntly: she wanted to watch the chaos unfold.
In that case…
Harry thought to himself, Actually, I kind of want to watch the chaos too.
At that exact moment, Veratia returned to their table.
"Hey, why's everyone sitting down?" Veratia smiled as she took her seat. "Sorry, the Ministry rang—just had to deal with something… Why'd you all stop dancing? Poppy? Weren't you the one yelling about wanting to dance a few more rounds with Harry? How come you're resting already?"
She clearly hadn't noticed anything amiss and was still in the mood to tease.
Poppy glanced at Cassandra, then at Harry, still torn about whether to spill the beans.
Seeing her hesitate like that, Veratia asked curiously, "What's wrong? You look…"
"N-no, nothing!" Poppy hurriedly waved her hands. "I'm just… uh, yeah, nothing. A bit tired."
"Then rest up," Veratia said without suspicion, picking up her own glass of pumpkin juice from the table.
"By the way," Cassandra cut in, seeing that Poppy was useless at this, "Grindelwald, there's something I think you absolutely need to know."
"What is it?" Veratia still had no idea anything big was coming.
"You noticed Dumbledore's dance partner, right?" Cassandra pointed toward the headmaster.
The moment Gellert—who had finally relaxed once Harry and Poppy left the floor—felt a chill shoot from his tailbone straight to the top of his skull.
Good Lord, he had a very bad feeling about this.
"Oh," Veratia said, taking a sip of pumpkin juice. "She looks vaguely familiar, but I can't place her as one of the old ladies I know…"
"Of course you wouldn't recognize 'her' as any old lady," Cassandra said, a glint of wicked glee in her eyes. "Or rather—he's not an old lady at all… What if I told you it's a man in disguise?"
"A man?" Veratia suddenly sensed something was off. She even forgot to swallow the pumpkin juice in her mouth.
Cassandra lifted her chin triumphantly. "Exactly. Now think—which man would ever dance with our esteemed headmaster?"
Veratia's expression froze.
Pffft—!!
She couldn't hold it in. Pumpkin juice sprayed all over Harry's face.
Harry: …Seriously? Sister?
Did the two of you plan this together?
Are you both deliberately aiming pumpkin juice at my face? Is my face a rubbish bin or something?
Veratia pulled out a tissue and carefully wiped Harry's face.
She tried her hardest not to think about what, exactly, her little brother had done.
A man. Dancing with Headmaster Dumbledore. Veratia locked onto Gellert almost instantly.
Who else but Gellert—out of true love—would make such a sacrifice: dress in women's clothing and dance with Headmaster Dumbledore?
What a disgrace to the family. What a disgrace!
"I do suggest," Harry said expressionlessly, staring at Veratia, "that next time you're shocked, you try not to do that."
"Sorry, sorry." Veratia removed Harry's glasses, cast a quick Scourgify to clean off the pumpkin juice, then carefully put them back on him. "My fault, darling…"
"My poor innocent heart requires compensation," Harry continued. "And not just from you—Cassandra did the exact same thing earlier, so she owes me too!" —still completely deadpan— You two.
"Of course, I'll compensate you." Veratia leaned in and planted a light kiss on Harry's cheek.
After the kiss, she sat back down, calmly ordered a small cake and a glass of fruit juice, and showed no intention whatsoever of going to settle scores with Gellert.
"Don't you think," Cassandra tried to prompt her, "that instead of sitting here like nothing happened, you have something far more important to do? The Grindelwald family cannot be humiliated like this any longer!"
"The Grindelwald family truly shouldn't be humiliated any further," Veratia replied with a gentle smile. "But if I pretend nothing happened, then no one will ever know that the person dancing with Headmaster Dumbledore was Gellert in drag. If I were to make a scene here… that would be the moment the Grindelwald family is truly humiliated."
She winked at Cassandra.
"But… none of this has anything to do with me," she added.
"?" Cassandra looked at her in confusion.
"I'm no longer part of the Grindelwald family, Cass," Veratia said with another wink and a smile. "I'm a Potter now. You know that perfectly well. Whether the Grindelwald family is humiliated or not—what does that have to do with me?"
As she spoke, her demeanor was already that of the lady of the Potter house.
Cassandra took a deep breath.
She never imagined that her plan to watch the Grindelwalds make fools of themselves would backfire so spectacularly.
Not only backfire—she'd been soundly countered, hit hard right back.
A Potter…
Fine. Very well!
You're not even married to Potter yet and you're already acting like the lady of the house…
I dread to think what kind of airs you'll put on in front of us girls once you actually marry him!
Veratia wasn't stupid; of course she knew exactly what Cassandra was scheming.
She just wanted to see Veratia lose her mind with rage after learning the truth and then go beat Gellert senseless, right?
Heh.
Then I simply won't give you the satisfaction.
Her little brother had grown up; it was normal for him to make his own choices. After all, he was the current head of the Grindelwald family.
"Very mature, Veratia," Harry commented. "Compared to the chaos the first time you saw Gellert, your reaction this time is remarkably grown-up."
"Hmph." Veratia gave a delicate huff. "So what if I made a fuss? It's not like I could actually stop Gellert from doing anything… Whatever. Let him do what he wants."
Harry shrugged, snatched the little cake Veratia had just ordered, and stuffed it into his mouth.
He turned his gaze toward the dance floor. Hermione and Ron seemed to be having the time of their lives, still dancing wildly—vibrant and young.
"Youth is wonderful," Harry sighed.
"Hm?" "You're not exactly old," Veratia said. "Why the sudden lament?"
"Look at Ron and Hermione," Harry told her. "That's what young people are supposed to look like, isn't it? Shall we go dance a few more?"
"Go invite Cass, then," Veratia said. "I still want to eat something—I barely ate all day, and the little cake I just ordered got stolen by a certain little rascal."
"Fine." Harry shrugged and extended a hand to invite Cassandra onto the floor.
They played in the Great Hall until midnight, finally returning to their respective common rooms with lingering excitement.
The Yule Ball was destined to be an unforgettable memory for every student—especially Neville, who still had those dress shoes hanging around his neck and was swaying his hips with unsatisfied energy.
"He looks exactly like a…" Ron muttered under his breath.
But he wasn't much better himself. Dancing with Hermione had felt amazing.
Most importantly, the Hermione at the Yule Ball was a brand-new version he'd never seen before. If she looked that stunning every day, maybe he wouldn't find her quite so annoying, Ron thought.
The day after Christmas, everyone got up very late.
The Gryffindor common room was far quieter than it had been recently; people chatted idly, conversations constantly interrupted by yawns.
Hermione's hair had returned to its usual bushy chaos. She confessed to Harry that she'd used gallons of Sleekeazy's Hair Potion for the ball.
"But doing that every day would be far too much trouble."
She complained while grooming Jack's feathers.
"I still thought it looked better that way," Ron said from beside her. "But if it's that much hassle, then don't bother."
Veratia stayed at Hogwarts a few more days before returning to Vienna.
She apparently still had a lot to deal with, but if she had time when the second task came around, she would come to watch.
With nothing particular to do, Harry invited Cassandra out for a walk to clear their heads.
"How about Hogsmeade?" Cassandra suggested. "It's been ages since we sat at the Three Broomsticks. What do you say, Harry? Fancy a butterbeer together?"
Harry thought that sounded perfect and had no reason to refuse.
The pub was as crowded as ever. When Harry glanced around, he spotted Ron drinking butterbeer with Hermione at another table.
The moment they saw Harry, the two of them waved enthusiastically.
Harry bought two butterbeers from Madam Rosmerta and sat with Cassandra nearby.
"What's that?" Cassandra asked, pointing at the mirror behind the bar.
Harry looked and saw the reflection of Ludo Bagman sitting with a group of goblins in a dimly lit corner.
Bagman stood with hands on hips, looking triumphant as he spoke to the goblins, who all looked utterly dejected.
That was odd, Harry thought. It was still the Christmas holidays; the next Triwizard event was ages away, and there was no need for a judge yet. Why was Bagman at the Three Broomsticks?
He watched Bagman in the mirror. The man's expression suddenly turned very serious—Harry had never seen him look like that before.
Mr Bagman had always been cheerful and friendly, at least in Harry's memory.
Just then, Bagman glanced toward the bar, spotted Harry, and stood up.
"Wait a moment, wait a moment!" Harry heard Bagman say sternly to the goblins before hurrying over, his baby-faced smile back in place.
"Harry!" he said. "How are you? I was hoping I'd run into you! Everything alright?"
"Very well, thank you," Harry replied.
"Could I have a quick private word, Harry?" Bagman asked eagerly. "Would the young lady mind giving us a moment?"
Cassandra stared expressionlessly at Mr Bagman.
"She's my girlfriend," Harry told him. "It's fine—whatever it is, you can say it in front of her."
Bagman's mouth fell open.
Wait—just a second.
She's your girlfriend?
Isn't your girlfriend Miss Grindelwald?
But he recovered quickly and said nothing more.
After all, it was Harry's and Miss Grindelwald's private business; it wasn't his place to comment.
Besides, he'd seen this Malfoy heiress around Miss Grindelwald before—it seemed both ladies were aware of each other…
Fine. Whatever. None of my business.
My grandfather lived past a hundred, and his secret to longevity was never sticking his nose into other people's affairs! Bagman thought fiercely.
"Harry, let me congratulate you again on your brilliant performance against that Horntail," Bagman said cheerfully, pushing gossip from his mind. "Absolutely splendid!"
"Thank you," Harry said, though he knew that wasn't all Bagman wanted to talk about.
He looked past Bagman's shoulder toward the goblins in the mirror.
"Ah, you noticed them," Bagman said with a chuckle, glancing back. "Thanks to Miss Grindelwald and yourself, I made a tidy sum on the World Cup and the Triwizard Tournament… The goblins owe me a very large pile of Galleons, of course… They've come to haggle now."
"But that's not why I'm here. I actually came to Hogwarts to look for…"
At this point Bagman glanced around, then lowered his voice. "To look for Barty Crouch."
"Barty Crouch?" Harry frowned. "Shouldn't he be at the Ministry? Why look for him here?"
"He's disappeared," Bagman whispered. "I was planning to come find you anyway after dealing with the goblins. I thought this news would… well… be very useful to you—and certainly to Miss Grindelwald."
--
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