For once, Draco disobeyed his mother and chose to go home for his Christmas.

When Narcissa saw Malfoy at the door of her house, her pale face immediately lost the last bit of color, like the face of a dead person covered with white powder.

"Didn't I tell you to stay at school this Christmas?" Narcissa grabbed Draco's arm and spoke in a low voice.

"But I already spent Christmas at Hogwarts last year. Since nothing happened at home this year, why can't I go home?" Draco frowned in dissatisfaction. Narcissa's unreasonable request almost made him think that he had no family like Harry Potter!

"The situation this year is very special!" It was difficult for Narcissa to explain to Draco that there was a Dark Lord in her home, and she did not want Draco to have too much contact with "Voldemort".

"I'm going to take you to your aunt's house right now, and you'll be there this Christmas—"

Narcissa grabbed Draco's arm without giving him any chance to resist, trying to pull him away, but before Draco could resist, Cyrus' voice rang out behind her.

"Narcissa, I am going to criticize you. Christmas is a holiday for family reunion. How can you drive your son away?"

Narcissa's heart sank immediately. She turned her head stiffly and saw Cyrus leaning against the door, looking at her and her son with a half-smile. Narcissa was so scared that she even forgot how to greet Cyrus.

"That's right, Mom, why do I have to spend Christmas at someone else's house?" Draco said immediately. Then he looked at Cyrus again, and his two light eyebrows immediately frowned. "Who are you?"

Draco looked at Cyrus for a long time with a bad expression. He felt that the handsome man in front of him looked very familiar. He should know him, but he couldn't remember it.

"Be respectful, Draco!" Narcissa grabbed Draco's arm in fear. She was really afraid that Draco's domineering personality would anger Cyrus and cost them their lives. She kept selecting a suitable title in her mind, "You should respectfully call him - Black..."

"What's wrong, Draco? Don't you recognize me?" Cyrus interrupted her and asked knowingly, "Didn't you call me Little Tang when we were at Hogwarts last year?"

Xiaotang?

Narcissa was stunned. She hadn't recovered from the name yet, and she suddenly felt as if she were dead.

Draco's erased memory seemed to be recovering, and his experience at Hogwarts last year slowly emerged in his mind. Although it was still vague, "Xiao Tang" appeared unusually clearly in his memory.

"Xiao Tang?! It's you!" His eyes lit up, "I remember everything!"

He happily walked past Narcissa, who seemed to be petrified, and came to Cyrus, patting Cyrus' arm familiarly: "So you are alive?! Of course I saw it in the newspaper a long time ago, but I forgot that we knew each other at that time!"

At this moment, Draco has remembered everything that happened last year, because Cyrus took the initiative to remove the memory he modified on Draco.

For Draco, that was a good time. Cyrus taught him a lot of alchemy, which benefited him a lot. And Draco also recognized Cyrus as a friend, even though he was just a half-blood...

"I deleted your memory." Cyrus explained simply.

"I knew it! But it's okay, I won't bother with you!" Draco said generously. With every word he said, Narcissa's body couldn't help but tremble. Narcissa felt that she was getting closer and closer to death. She wanted to stop Draco, but her body became stiffer and stiffer for some reason.

She felt as if her heart was being squeezed tightly and she couldn't breathe.

Draco is still outputting.

"By the way, you probably have nowhere to go, right? Why don't you spend Christmas at my house?" Draco invited enthusiastically, "Don't worry, my dad only associates with pure-bloods and looks down on half-bloods, but you are my friend, and for my sake, he won't be prejudiced against you!"

"Shut up Draco!"

Narcissa was going crazy. For the first time, she wanted to slap her beloved son hard in the face so that he would know that one should not speak without restraint.

She put her arm around Draco's shoulders tightly, and her stern expression made Draco feel unfamiliar.

"What's wrong with you, Mom?"

"Shut up! You are not allowed to say another word!" She gritted her teeth, twisted the flesh on Draco's arm with one hand, grabbed the back of Draco's head, and forced Draco to bow his head to Cyrus. She pleaded, "Sir, Draco doesn't know..."

Her voice was trembling.

"Don't be nervous, Narcissa, I don't blame Draco, but you really should teach him some manners." Cyrus really didn't care at all, he was not "Little Tom" anyway.

"We will..."

"Very good!" Cyrus nodded with satisfaction. Draco, who was held down by Narcissa, still had a puzzled look on his face, but he could no longer speak.

"Also, thank you for your invitation, Draco. But I won't stay for Christmas. I have prepared a gift for you and it is in your room." Cyrus said softly, "Tell Lucius that everything is going according to plan. If you feel called, go ahead. Just pretend that you have never been loyal to me."

After saying that, Cyrus left.

He is not keen on holidays and does not think today is a special day.

For him, ancient magic is more important. Now that the problem of the soul fragment has been solved, it is time to head to the secret room on the map to start the trial of the four founders.

His figure suddenly disappeared in the wind and snow. In an instant, a golden eagle appeared and disappeared, and finally disappeared in the white wind.

Only Draco and Narcissa were left in the cold snow.

Narcissa seemed as if all the bones in her body had been pulled out. She collapsed to the ground, looking terrified as if she had survived a disaster.

"Mom, why did you stop me just now? Xiao Tang is my friend..."

“Bang!”

Draco stopped talking. He stared blankly at his mother who loved him the most. His cheeks felt burning with pain, and a red slap mark was left on his pale face.

"Don't call me that name again!" Narcissa stared at him sternly. Only this time, she showed no mercy. She took a deep breath, as if she had made up her mind. "It seems that your father and I have been a little too indulgent to you. From today on, you must put away all your arrogance..."

In the past, Lucius educated Draco according to the pure-blood supremacy. But now, even if Narcissa was not clear about Cyrus' affairs, she knew that the Dark Lord no longer seemed to promote the pure-blood philosophy. The past concepts were worthless in the face of powerful forces. If they still held on to those old things, the Malfoy family would only perish like rotten meat.

"What happened?" Draco also realized that something was wrong. He had never seen his mother so stern. "Who is he?"

Narcissa raised her eyes and slowly opened her bloodless lips:

Peter Pettigrew muttered to himself.

After waiting for so long, on this snowy Christmas Eve, he finally sneaked into Hogwarts.

Luckily for him, the Weasley twins, who knew the castle so well, rarely used the Marauder's Map these days. In fact, they would have given it to Harry if Sirius hadn't been able to sign Harry's name list for Hogsmeade.

Therefore, no one discovered this stealth operation. Although his Animagus form was already known, a mouse is still a mouse after all, and no one would nervously stare at every mouse to see if it was missing a finger.

Pettigrew crawled along the pipe and along the corner of the wall.

He entered the Gryffindor dormitory easily, quickly found Harry's room, and then quietly waited for his opportunity.

At about eight or nine o'clock, he heard two noises coming from outside the door.

Harry and Ron are back!

The two of them didn't expect that they might encounter any danger. They took off their smelly shoes and lay down on the bed. It was so cold that no one of them even suggested taking a shower.

Ron brought up Christmas again, tomorrow, and the two of them were now enjoying guessing what kind of gifts Cyrus would leave for them.

"Do you think I'm going to get a broomstick?" Ron asked expectantly.

"Maybe?" Harry wasn't sure.

"I don't think it's possible. Good brooms are too expensive." Ron shook his head. "I'd be very satisfied if I could get a postcard of Krum. He's my favorite player. What about you? What do you want?"

Harry didn't know either.

He likes Quidditch very much, but he prefers to play by himself rather than following the stars. As for other things, he has everything now. Without the obstruction of Dementors, he even has a good broom. Of course, if Cyrus can give him the latest rocket crossbow, he will definitely be happy to accept it.

"We'll know tomorrow, so let's go to sleep!" Harry lay down with his head back.

After a while, there was no other sound in the room.

After a while, a yellow mouse poked its head out stealthily.

His little eyes rolled around for a while before he turned back into a fat, pointed-faced wizard.

Peter Pettigrew glanced at the sleeping Harry and Ron for a few times, revealing a cruel expression: "You won't be able to wait for your present tomorrow, Harry Potter."

He picked up his wand and pointed it at Harry and Ron: "Stupe!"

Two stunning spells were cast to ensure that there would be no accidents. Then, Pettigrew came to Harry's bed and looked at this child who looked 70% similar to James, with a hint of guilt in his eyes.

"Don't blame me, Harry. I had no choice. How could I live without taking you away?!"

He waved his wand once more, and this time he performed Transfiguration.

He immediately turned Harry, who was lying on the bed, into a smaller mouse. He trembled and held the mouse in his hand, then put it in his pocket. Then he came to Ron's bed, pulled out a few strands of Ron's hair, threw it into a bottle of half-finished potion, stirred it, and drank the potion in one gulp!

Not long after, "Ron" left the room.

The twins were still awake at this hour. They were playing chess in the common room. When they saw Ron come out alone, they immediately felt a little strange.

"Ron, where are you going?"

"Where's your twin brother Harry?"

"Harry is asleep. I can't sleep, so I'm going out for a walk." "Ron" said casually.

The twins obviously didn't care for Ron at all, they didn't think anything was wrong, and they even asked because they were curious why Harry didn't join him.

The plan went more smoothly than Pettigrew had imagined. He was almost unstoppable along the way. The Christmas atmosphere made everyone less vigilant. Everyone was immersed in the joyful festival. No one expected that such a person would secretly take Harry Potter away on this day.

"Ron" walked out of the lounge and walked quickly through the castle. Not long after, he rushed out of the castle and came to the edge of the Forbidden Forest.

Apparition is now available here.

Without any hesitation, he disappeared immediately, leaving only a crisp sound in the wind and snow.

The next moment, Peter Pettigrew appeared in a dilapidated castle.

"I am very disappointed with your efficiency, Pettigrew!" Voldemort's short body stood on a high place, looking down at Pettigrew with bloodshot eyes, "Where is he?"

"Here, my master!" Pettigrew immediately took Harry out of his pocket in fear and changed him back to his original appearance. "My master, I dedicate Harry Potter to you!"

Seeing Harry, Voldemort finally smiled with satisfaction.

"This is a great Christmas present, Pettigrew. You may be slow, but you didn't disappoint me at least!"

Voldemort came to Harry excitedly. He wanted to crush Harry's head with his own hands, but he couldn't do it yet. He couldn't touch Harry at all at this moment. He had to use Harry's blood to revive first.

However, he now has too few helpers. Everything is not ready yet. The potion needed for resurrection has not yet been refined, and he also needs a suitable baby's body as a container.

He couldn't use Lanlock's pitiful body to perform the resurrection ceremony.

“I’ll let you live for a while, Harry Potter! When I’m resurrected, I will kill you with my own hands in front of all the servants!” Voldemort’s eyes flashed with bloody murderous intent, “I will break the so-called prophecy with my own hands! I will make those who thought I was dead feel real fear again! Of course——”

"And you, Cyrus!"

(End of this chapter)