"Sorry, Aunt." Vivi's voice was very soft; she didn't want to explain and wasn't good at it.
"Your Highness."
The voice of Miss Malfoy rang out.
Princess Sissi looked towards Miss Malfoy.
"I apologize for my attendant speaking out of turn, disrupting the proceedings of the banquet." She glanced disdainfully at the two girls named Grindelwald, "However, I must commend his courage, after all, not everyone can stand up for a stranger in such a setting."
"But..." Miss Malfoy said again, "I think sitting with such people is a disgrace to the Malfoy family."
She was, of course, referring to the two girls named Grindelwald.
The implication of Miss Malfoy's words was clear, these two Miss Grindelwalds were unworthy of sitting in such a place.
"I think you are right, Miss Malfoy." Princess Sissi did not feel offended, and turned to the two girls who were trembling with anger, "You are not welcome here, Miss Grindelwalds—I think I need to advise His Majesty the Emperor to reassess the Grindelwald family's status in the empire."
"Your Highness, you..." Frederick Grindelwald said, his throat dry.
"The same goes for you, Mr. Grindelwald." Princess Sissi's voice was very cold.
...
"Later I found out that the boy's name is Harry, Harry Potter." After Vivi recounted the whole story and the portraits of the professors, she gave a vague sigh.
"Is this why, after awakening your Ancient Magic talent, you wanted to come to Hogwarts to study?" Professor Luke Wood, unusually, did not make a joke but pondered for a moment before saying, "If so, I can understand why you, being a German, chose not to study at Durmstrang."
"And what happened later? Those cousin sisters who bullied you?" Principal Fitzgerald asked.
"Oh." Vivi's tone was very relaxed, "They're all dead. My only regret is that, aside from Gael and me, only three people from the entire Grindelwald family are still alive."
The three professors fell into silence together.
They now understood why the once-thriving Grindelwald Clan only had Vivi and Gellert remaining today.
Messed around for so long, all because of you...
After a long silence, it was finally Professor Luke Wood who began to speak.
"Oh, I reckon it's not that bad." He said, "If they stayed with Gellert Grindelwald to wreak havoc in the Magic World, who knows how many people would have to die..."
Truth be told, after this statement, the atmosphere in the Map Secret Room grew even colder.
...
Harry didn't actually remember what had happened during his visit to Austria-Hungary. Back then, he didn't know the name of the lady-in-waiting; he just thought she seemed pitiful and decided to help her.
Of course, it was also because he had an urge to ride a broomstick; he couldn't stand not flying a few laps.
Afterwards, he worried about being punished by Mr. Septimus, but to his surprise, Mr. Septimus not only didn't punish him but even praised him.
Mr. Septimus said, this is what a qualified Pure-blood Wizard should do.
He's quite happy now, after all, Vivi was only upset about Gellert taking some money, but she didn't seem too angry about it.
He planned to talk to her about those things after she came out, such as the stories of Gellert and Dumbledore.
Hopefully, Vivi won't explode or burst with anger at that time...
Thinking of Vivi's slender waist like Princess Sissi's, Harry couldn't help but feel that revealing the truth might blow her waist up—
The first class of the new term was Herbology, which Harry actually quite liked, provided it was taught by the beautiful Professor Garrick from a hundred years ago.
But Professor Sprout's teachings were acceptable too since she never made things difficult for others, unlike Snape, who spewed venom everywhere.
Actually, there's nothing much wrong with Professor Snape, except for being a bit harsh, a bit cold, and a bit unemotional. Apart from those, no other flaws.
"Today we're going to the third greenhouse," said Professor Sprout, her tone as always like a gentle spring breeze.
The students whispered with interest; they had only been inside the first greenhouse—the plants in the third greenhouse were more interesting and also more dangerous.
Professor Sprout took a large key from her belt and unlocked the door.
Harry caught a damp scent of earth and fertilizer, mingled with a strong floral fragrance.
The flowers were as large as umbrellas, hanging down from the ceiling.
Harry noticed several dozen earmuffs of different colors on the table; he had used these before to block out the Mandrake's scream.
Looks like... today they were going to learn about Mandrakes?
However, isn't this somewhat dangerous?
Even in that environment a hundred years ago, actually repotting Mandrakes was only done in fifth year—Harry thought that the current teaching method was gentle where it should be wild, and rather wild where it should be gentle.
Even for someone like him, who had attended school a hundred years ago and had close encounters with Dark Wizards, it seemed a bit extreme.
Just imagine, what if a young wizard didn't wear the earmuffs properly and got screamed at by the Mandrake...
That would be a teaching accident for Hogwarts, indeed.
He was right; Professor Sprout stood in the middle of the greenhouse, looked around, and said, "Today we're going to repot Mandrakes. Now, who can tell me what properties Mandrakes have?"