Veratia's Confession

"Look at Professor Snape's face," Veratia said, pointing to Snape who was standing still.

Harry looked over and noticed that Snape's expression was rather unpleasant.

"I bet," Veratia said with a grin, "Professor Snape had been planning this moment for a long time, but Aunt Petunia messed it up."

"Really?" Harry looked up.

"Of course," Veratia said confidently. "Let's follow them and see what Lily and Petunia are saying."

They went up, but the scene changed again.

Harry found himself and Veratia in a living Living Room.

On the sofa, a middle-aged man is reading a newspaper, while not far away, a woman is knitting a sweater.

Lily and Petunia walked in from outside the door, Petunia shouted, "Daddy, Mommy, we met a strange person today—"

"Looks like these must be your maternal grandparents," Veratia said, sizing up the Muggle couple.

"I know without you telling me." Harry rolled his eyes.

Over there, Harry's grandfather, Mr. Evans, had his glasses slip down a short distance from the bridge of his nose.

"A strange person?" he asked, putting down his newspaper.

"Yes." Petunia seemed quite eager to talk, chattering on and on. "His last name was Snape, and he came from Spinner's End ...you know, that dirty, messy place. He also talked about wizards and witches and stuff, saying Lily was a witch..."

"That's incredibly rude," Mrs. Evans said, her face darkening. "How could he say such a thing about Lily?"

In the Muggle World, witches are not a good thing.

According to the common Muggle stereotype, a witch should be a wicked old woman with a wrinkled face.

Calling a little girl a witch is extremely rude.

Mr. Evans, on the other hand, fell into deep thought.

"The Snape's home children..." he murmured. "I remember them, Tobias Snape's son, a drunkard."

"See, I told you so!" Petunia said triumphantly to Lily, as if she had won a victory.

Lily didn't speak, she just pursed her lips.

"Listen to me, Lily," Petunia muttered to herself, "We need to stay away from that Snape, understand?"

"But I do have something... well, something special," Lily retorted. She walked to her mother's potted plant, plucked a small flower, and just like before in front of Snape, the flower opened and closed in her palm like a clam shell.

Upon seeing this, Mrs. Evans gaped in astonishment, while Mr. Evans stood up.

"My God, my holy mother!" Mr. Evans blurted out.

"Lily?!" Mrs. Evans asked in astonishment, "How did you do that?"

"I don't know either," Lily said honestly. "I just wanted it to be like that in my mind..."

"Oh my God..." Mrs. Evans exclaimed, "This... this is simply a miracle, Lily... this is absolutely wonderful."

As she spoke, she stepped forward and embraced her daughter.

"Haha!" Mr. Evans put down his newspaper and walked over to his daughter, saying, "Lily, could you perform that again? You know, the one where the flowers open and close?"

Lily did as she was told, and Mr. Evans exclaimed as if he had discovered New World.

"Did you see that?"

Veratia nudged Harry with her elbow. "Look at Aunt Petunia's face."

Harry looked at Aunt Petunia and, sure enough, saw that her face was somewhat pale, but she still managed a forced smile.

"You can tell Aunt Petunia isn't very happy," Harry said.

"Anyone would feel this way if they were neglected by their parents, especially since the younger sister has such amazing talents. How could Aunt Petunia not be jealous?" Veratia's eyes flickered slightly. "Of course, I don't think that's the reason the two sisters eventually turned against each other. It's just... perhaps many things are intertwined. Anyway, let's continue to see."

"So..." Harry suddenly asked, "You didn't have an easy time in Vienna either, did you?"

Then, he suddenly realized that he might have touched a nerve with Veratia, so he quickly tried to cover it up. "Sorry, Veratia, I didn't mean to ask..."

"It's okay, it's all in the past." Veratia reached out and ruffled Harry's head, making his messy hair even messier. "Even though I was a notorious Squib back then, Mom and Dad didn't hate me for it. Besides, I still have Aunt Cici, don't I?"

Harry suddenly realized that Veratia's relationship with her sisters wasn't very good either.

But then he suddenly remembered something and asked, "Wait a minute, Veratia... I remember that wizards with Ancient Magic talent shouldn't start showing their magical abilities until they're fifteen, right? Why does Mom have magical talent at such a young age?"

"Not all, Harry," Veratia patiently explained to Harry. "Not everyone with Ancient Magic talent is unable to display magical abilities as a child. Some people do display magical abilities at a very young age. It's a matter of probability, not an absolute event."

"I see..." Harry nodded as if he understood.

"Back then," Veratia said, putting her arm around Harry and reminiscing about the old days, "I was a Squib back then, and my parents had already passed away... Only Gale was with me, and I would tell him fairy tales before going to bed at night."

At this point, Veratia chuckled and said, "Gale was a cute kid back then, not the old man he is now... He always told me I was an ugly duckling, but that I would definitely grow into a swan."

Harry agreed with this, after all, when he first visited Nurmengard, he thought Gellert was quite cute, with a cuddly little face, but he always looked at him with annoyance.

Whenever the two meet, they always bicker—and it's still the same now.

The nickname "Scarhead Veela" was given to him by Gellert when he was eight years old.

Choosing a nickname also depends on talent; some people's nicknames are timeless from the first utterance.

As the saying goes, there are no wrong nicknames, only wrong names. Harry is indeed a Scarhead Veela, and Gellert was right about that.

"A white swan? Tu-160, right?" Harry asked with a grin.

As a result, Veratia, who was well-versed in the Muggle world, reached out and slapped him on the forehead.

"Don't think I don't know what that is!" Veratia scoffed. "A thousand diplomatic protests are no match for a swan flapping its wings... Don't think I don't know what a Tu-160 is!"

(Veratia bushi)

"Honestly, I think you're way scarier than a strategic bomber," Harry said with a grin. "You see, at least a strategic bomber can't get from London to Vienna in a matter of seconds, and even the most powerful ballistic missile can't do that... As for your Charms, it's probably no match for Big Ivan."

Veratia clenched her fist and gently punched Harry's arm several times.

Thanks to Mr. Tolemy, he created a Fun Encyclopedia in his Crystal Ball, filled with all sorts of encyclopedic knowledge from the Magical World and Muggle world —all adapted by Mr. LeMay into interesting little stories based on his life experiences.

When they're bored, wizards often browse encyclopedia pages to pass the time, and Harry learned a great deal of his knowledge from Fun Encyclopedia.

Harry is someone who believes in lifelong learning; he understands that without knowledge of the Muggle World, how can he manage the Wizarding World?

"Let's keep watching."

As soon as Veratia finished speaking, the scene in her memory changed again.

The two of them are now in a grove of trees.

Under the sunlight, the stream flows through the trees, its surface shimmering, and the shade casts a cool, dark green glow.

The two children sat cross-legged on the ground, facing each other.

Snape had already taken off his outer clothes, and in the dim light, the strange maternity dress didn't seem so glaring anymore.

"It seems they were really good friends when they were kids." Harry's eyes flickered; he didn't know how to... face this scene.

As James's son, he should be unhappy—but the truth is, Snape was the one who came first.

I was first, I was clearly first, right?

"Keep watching," Veratia said softly.

Snape spoke again.

"... If you use magic outside of school, the Ministry of Magic will punish you, and you will receive a letter."

"But I cast a spell outside of school!" Lily blinked, looking adorable.

"We're fine, Lily, we don't have wands yet," Snape said seriously. "You know, little kids can't really control themselves, so they don't care—but once we're eleven, once we're in Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, then you'll have to be careful."

The two remained silent for a while.

Lily picked up a branch from the ground and spun it rapidly in the air.

Then she threw away the branch, leaned towards the boy, and said, "It's true, isn't it? Not a joke? Petunia said you were lying to me— Petunia doesn't have a Hogwarts at all, it's true, isn't it?"

"It's true for us," Snape said. "It's not true for her. We'll receive the letter, you and I."

"Really?" Lily asked softly.

"Absolutely true," Snape said. Although his hair was unkempt and his clothes were strange, he looked quite imposing sitting in front of her, full of confidence in his future.

"Was the letter really delivered by an owl?" Lily asked softly.

"That's generally how it is," Snape said, "But since you're Muggle-born, the school will send someone to explain it to your parents."

Does Muggle-born make any difference?

Snape hesitated, his dark eyes gleaming eagerly in the shade as he looked at Lily's pale face and deep red hair.

"No," he said, "It won't make any difference."

"That's great," Lily said, letting out a sigh of relief. It seemed she had been worried about it the whole time.

"You can perform many spells," Snape said. "I've seen it. I've been secretly watching you..."

His voice grew softer and softer. Lily didn't listen to him; instead, she lay sprawled on the leaf-covered ground, gazing at the dense foliage overhead.

Snape looked at her longingly, just as he had when he looked at her in the game field.

"What a pervert." Veratia's voice was soft, yet extremely sarcastic. "Just like how Cassandra looked at your back back then—"

"Hey, no, don't talk nonsense..." Harry stopped Veratia and said, "Why would Cassandra look at me like that? If we're talking about the difference in status, it should be me looking at her like that."

"But you didn't, Harry," Veratia said with a slight smile. "Back then, you always thought Cassandra only saw you as a follower, but to be honest, in your first year, maybe she thought that—I've talked to her about it and know some of the details... Mr. Septimus found out you were a time traveler from the Board of Governors, and then he suppressed the news, intending to use Cassandra to keep you firmly tied to the Malfoy family ... Unfortunately, he miscalculated. Mr. Malfoy Sr. never expected that you were actually a..."

"Scarhead Veela," Harry replied quickly.

Then Veratia slapped him on the forehead.

"Yes, Scarhead Veela," Veratia scoffed. "When Mr. Malfoy Sr. learned of his daughter's change of heart, out of his doting love for her and also out of his appreciation for your talent, Mr. Malfoy Sr. decided to raise you in a different way. Otherwise, why would he take you to all sorts of formal occasions?"

"So, that's why he took me to Vienna for the Austro-Hungarian Empire banquet on Christmas in 1888?" Harry asked, scratching his head.

"Yes." Veratia's expression turned strange as she said this, as if she was trying to suppress a laugh. "But neither Mr. Malfoy Sr. nor Cassandra expected that a trip to Vienna would result in the Scarhead Veela taking over a girl's entire being."

Her eyes sparkled, as if a galaxy were shining within them.

"You know what? When you descended from the sky on your flying broom, I felt like I had welcomed my own hero."

"Is that so?" Harry's mouth was a little dry. He didn't know why, but even in this world of thoughts, he felt this way.

"Of course." Veratia said softly, "At that time, I felt that my hero didn't have to be a the Savior of the world, nor did he have to be a prince or nobleman. He was just a little boy riding a broom, bravely standing in front of me."

Harry felt his heart pounding.

"Is this why you came to Hogwarts?" he asked, swallowing hard.

"Otherwise, why do you think I would forgo Durmstrang and instead travel all the way to Britain to study at Hogwarts?" Veratia's expression immediately shifted to one of disdain. "Do you think it's because Hogwarts is far from home, because I'm unfamiliar with the Hogwarts, or because I have to learn a foreign language?"

(End of this chapter)