After brunch, Cassandra brought him to the portrait of Mr. Septimus.
"Ah, Potter!"
Upon seeing Harry for the first time, Mr. Septimus's immediate reaction was that remark.
The tone... it was hard to discern if it was good or bad.
But seeing Harry, being displeased was inevitable.
"Hello, Mr. Malfoy," Harry greeted politely.
"Looks like that Godfather of yours—the Little Sirius of the Black family—is already married?" Septimus didn't launch any verbal attacks on Harry, but rather started chatting with him.
Harry was clearly not expecting the old master to start chatting with him out of the blue, so he nodded and said, "Yes, talking about it, Kathy was actually Miss Fari's bridesmaid."
When he said this, Harry evidently noticed that Septimus's eyes lit up, as if he had said exactly the right thing.
Septimus's expression suddenly became serious, "Young Potter, so, when do you plan to marry my daughter? Don't try to change the subject, I'm asking you a very serious question!"
"I suppose it has to wait until after graduation." Harry didn't intend to dodge the question slickly, "You know, marriage has to wait until after eighteen, I'm only sixteen this year, I have to wait until I graduate from Hogwarts, don't I?"
Indeed, he's sixteen, but once the year turns, he'll be seventeen.
"If I recall correctly, you seem to have three lady friends." Septimus's expression was serious, "If you marry Kathy, what about those three?"
"Uh, well..."
Harry suddenly didn't know how to answer.
"Alright, Dad." Cassandra spoke to the rescue, "We have our plan about this matter, could you not say more, okay?"
Cassandra's intervention seemed to make Mr. Septimus unable to hold it together.
"Potter! You nasty boy!" he roared angrily, "What kind of spell did you cast on Kathy?"
Cassandra sighed.
She suddenly stepped forward, took down her father's portrait, and turned it around.
The portrait, which had been cursing furiously, fell silent instantly.
"Alright, we should get going." Cassandra glanced at a stunned Harry, "He has already figured out what he wanted to know; the rest is beyond his control."
Saying this, Cassandra paused for a moment.
Yeah.
If Dad were still alive, he would definitely not have allowed this to happen.
After lunch, Draco suddenly approached with a shame-faced expression.
"What's up?" Harry saw his appearance, indicating that something must be up.
"There's something I wanted to talk to you about." Draco sneakily glanced at his parents, then at Cassandra. Seeing they didn't notice him, he added, "A very, very important thing. Could you come over a bit?"
Harry nodded, following Draco out.
They walked all the way into the garden, where Draco finally hesitantly spoke.
"Well, I have a friend..."
Hmm, you have a friend.
Such a familiar opening, Harry immediately saw through that this friend of Draco was definitely himself.
"So, what's up with this friend of yours?" Harry asked, holding back a laugh.
"It's just that my friend has fallen for someone." Draco cleared his throat, "So my friend… knowing you're quite adept at matters of romance, thought I could ask you for advice."
"So what does your friend want to ask?" Harry inquired.
"Well, the girl he likes..." Draco hesitated and couldn't go on.
"Summarize the girl your friend likes." Harry pointed out.
Draco cleared his throat, "Pure-blood."
"Yes, pure-blood, your Malfoy family wouldn't choose a mixed blood or Muggle-born, right?" Harry chuckled, "That is your family creed..."
Saying this, Harry suddenly realized this creed came about because of his mom.
Because an ancestor's daughter had fallen in love with a Muggle-born wizard which led to tragedy, the old ancestors swore off allowing future generations to intermarry with Muggle-born wizards...
Can't blame the old family for that.
"She plays Quidditch excellently." Draco went on, "And has a lively personality, high level of magic spells, and particularly good-looking..."
Just say Ginny's name, Harry thought.
Summing it up, who else could it be but Ginny?
But...
"Ginny?" Harry scratched his chin, "Doesn't Ginny have a boyfriend? Our housemate Dean Thomas? This... your friend's behavior isn't right, is it—pursuing a girl who already has someone?"
"I've already checked—my friend has already checked." Draco said eagerly, "Ginny broke up with Thomas the day before yesterday..."
"Are the source reliable?" Harry asked suspiciously.
"Of course, it's reliable!" Draco thumped his chest, "I even asked for her lady sister, Delacour, to find out..."
"Wait a second." Harry suddenly said, "Since this is your friend's problem, why are you so invested in it? Helping him investigate, consulting me... Draco, this person who likes Ginny, isn't it you?"
Draco suddenly opened his mouth, wanted to refute, yet backed down, after a few times, he finally lowered his head in defeat.
"Yes, I do like Ginny." He said dejectedly, "But... do you think Ginny can like me? And I don't think my parents would agree with us either... But what can I do?"
"First of all, until you confess to Ginny, you can't determine whether she likes you or not." Harry counted on his fingers for Draco: "Secondly, your parents are unlikely to disagree with you and Ginny, I think they might even welcome it—finally, liking someone is your own business, you need to be brave and fight for it, don't hesitate like that fool Ron, understand?"
"Like a Weasley?"
Draco's pale little face turned bright red, "I could never be like that loser! I tell you, Harry! I'm super brave!"
But Harry really couldn't see where Draco was brave; rather, he saw that he was a coward.
But of course, he couldn't say it out loud, it would hurt feelings otherwise.
He nodded, very half-heartedly saying, "Alright, you're brave, you're very brave."
Draco clearly didn't catch the sarcasm in Harry's words, he proudly raised his head, but soon lowered it again.
"Do you think it will work?" he asked uncertainly.
"You see." Harry pointed at Draco, "From what I can see, you're having a relapse—"
"You!" Draco stiffened his neck trying to retort, but once again backed down in frustration.
"Me what?" Harry scoffed, "Look at you with this unassertive demeanor, what do you think? You should be like a man, stand up, if you like someone, you should bravely make it clear—now that you've found out the info, she broke up with Dean Thomas, isn't now the perfect chance to step up? What if Dean Thomas gets back with her, who will be frustrated then—you don't want to see the girl you like in someone else's arms, kissing, do you?"
Hearing Harry's words, Draco couldn't help but imagine such a scenario in his mind.
The more he thought about it, the more he felt his fists clench, he really wanted to point his magic wand at Thomas's face and use some kind of really nasty evil curse on him!