Remember your identity?
This left Harry a bit confused. How could I forget my own identity?
Then he realized what Cassandra meant, and instead of backing down, he responded, "What identity should I remember? Oh, I remember now, last year Mr. Septimus entrusted you to me."
Hearing Harry's words, Cassandra was momentarily at a loss.
This little guy, was he waiting for me here?
"Is that so?" Cassandra smirked, "But I don't recall you taking on the 'entrusted' responsibility, do you, Potter?"
"If you want, I can take on the responsibility." Harry, whose skin was now quite thick, teased Cassandra back with great ease: "So, how do you want me to take on the responsibility? Like Ig, by being a good brother, or like what Mr. Septimus hopes for, a good son-in-law?"
Such bold words were something Cassandra had never heard nor expected Harry to say.
No way, how dare he!
Her thin lips trembled for a moment, and she shakily cursed, "Shameless!"
After saying that, she wanted to leave but was stopped by Harry.
"What else do you want!" Cassandra asked angrily.
But Harry clearly noticed that Cassandra had stopped in her tracks.
Based on what he knew of Cassandra, if she were truly furious, she would have already hit him with a few magic spells and left without looking back.
Which meant that Cassandra wasn't really angry right now.
With this information, Harry felt a bit more at ease.
"You still haven't told me how you want me to take on the responsibility, Kathy." Harry called her by her nickname.
"Huh." Cassandra showed a look of pity, "You've really become a bad egg, corrupted by that wicked Grindelwald—now you're even daring enough to talk back to me..."
Talk back to you?
I don't think so.
But Harry didn't say that out loud and continued along Cassandra's line, "How about after we leave Malfoy Manor, you come with me to the Black Family Mansion?"
"So is this your invitation?" Cassandra smiled lightly, "I'll take it that way, but... Potter, you've also invited that woman Grindelwald, haven't you?"
"Oh, not at all." Harry said honestly, "I didn't invite her. She's already left the UK and gone to Austria, supposedly to join the Ministry of Magic."
Cassandra paused slightly, her expression darkening.
"So I'm your backup option, am I? Potter?"
"How could that be?" Harry quickly reacted, speaking rapidly to explain, "You've always been my first choice, Kathy—whether it was before, is now, or will be in the future."
"Really?"
Cassandra gave Harry a mischievous look, but her tone was clearly satisfied.
"Of course it's true." Harry said sincerely, "Have I ever lied to you?"
Cassandra thought back, and indeed, Harry had never lied to her.
In this regard, Harry was quite trustworthy.
"I'll take it that way." Cassandra said haughtily, "Alright, if I don't have other things going on, I'll go to the Black Family Mansion with you."
Harry kept nodding, though in his heart he was thinking—What else could you have to do?
Since he'd already agreed with Cassandra to go to Malfoy Manor together, after returning to the compartment, Harry said goodbye to Ron and the others and went to the Slytherin's car.
Draco was already waiting outside. Seeing Harry approach, he happily came forward and said, "Come on Harry, Cassandra has been waiting for ages inside."
No, we just parted less than five minutes ago, Harry thought to himself but kept a smile on his face.
He walked into the compartment where Cassandra was reading.
Hearing the sound of Harry entering, Cassandra didn't look up and said, "It seems you remember the time we agreed upon."
"Of course I remember." Harry chose not to sit across from Cassandra, but next to her instead.
It was the first time they'd been this close outside of a magic refueling time—oh, not really the first time, the last was in the Forbidden Forest.
The unique fragrance of Cassandra lingered around his nose, and Harry couldn't help but move close to her face.
"What are you reading?"
He was clearly more interested in getting close to the girl beside him than the book.
"'Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone'," Cassandra said with a smile in her eyes, "It's about a brave young wizard thwarting a murderous black demon from getting the magic stone."
Of course, she was making it up, having heard about Harry's exploits in the first year, she just made up the name on the spot.
"What a terrible name for an author to choose." Harry raised an eyebrow, his face nearly touching Cassandra's side. "But the story sounds interesting. Could you tell me more about it?"
"Of course." Cassandra cleared her throat and began, "This little thief named Harry Potter, after defeating the black demon, not only didn't return the magic stone to the poor old man but kept it for himself. Such behavior is really disgraceful. I hope you take heed, Harry, never become such a despicable person."
"I see." Harry nodded as if he had an epiphany. "It is shameful for that scoundrel to absorb the magic stone, but he did save the life of an innocent girl. After all, she needed the magic stone to replenish her life force, doesn't she?"