Veratia's Lesson (First Update)

Fragments of memory surged up like a tide, and he seemed to see scenes from his childhood.

It's the same house, the same people...

The mother was serving bread and wine to the guests.

"Chongchong, have some more bread."

Harry saw a complex look in his mother's eyes, a look that seemed to be both a sigh and a sorrow.

"Perhaps... you'll never be able to eat bread baked by my own hands again."

He saw the chubby young man let out a sob and nod vigorously.

His memory shifted again, and he heard his father's anxious shouts.

"Run! Lily! Run!"

Then came the sound of a person's body falling heavily onto the stairs.

He sat in the cradle, facing his mother with a resolute expression.

"Harry, Mommy loves you, Daddy loves you, and Mommy hopes you will live a safe, healthy, and strong life from now on... Mommy loves you, my baby..."

A sound like the cry of an owl rang out, and green light filled the entire room.

"Avada Kedavra!"

He didn't know how much time had passed when he saw young Snape walk into his room.

Upon seeing Lily's body on the ground, he collapsed to the ground, his expression shifting from disbelief to regret, and then to despair.

This was the first time Harry had ever seen Snape shed a tear; even when Snape was being humiliated by his father hanging up, he had never seen Snape cry...

"No! Lily!"

He held Lily's body, shouting at the top of his lungs.

After an unknown amount of time, Harry discovered that Snape had disappeared.

Outside his door came another heartbroken voice.

"Prongs! Prongs!"

After a while, it seemed that the man had cried enough, and Harry heard him get up.

"I'm going to kill him! I'm going to kill him!"

"Harry! Harry!"

Harry heard Veratia's voice in his ear.

He came to his senses and realized that tears had already covered his cheeks.

"I'm sorry, I'm so sorry..." Veratia murmured, "Harry... this was the only way I could do it..."

Harry remained silent, the image of Voldemort murdering his parents still vivid in his mind.

Seeing Harry like this, Veratia felt at a loss for the first time in her life.

Just when she thought Harry was going to settle scores with her, Harry spoke first.

"Veratia, I don't blame you," he said. "In fact, without your help, even I wouldn't have survived... My mom and dad were no match for Voldemort."

Veratia in the portrait could no longer hold back; she covered her face and wept bitterly.

"Perhaps this Charms is also the reason why I can travel through time," he said. "If I hadn't spent a few years at Hogwarts a hundred years ago, I wouldn't have met my friends from the Order of the Phoenix, and I might have been killed by Voldemort a few days ago when I faced him—"

"I'll never run into you," he said.

In an instant, Verathea's eyes softened like water.

"Harry..."

"The most important thing right now is to get you out of here," Harry said, looking up at Veratia. "I think I should hurry—do you know where the Basilisk is?"

Veratia remained silent for a moment, seemingly deep in thought.

After a moment, she said to Harry, "When we were still at Hogwarts, I heard people in Hogsmeade say that people in Greece were breeding these creatures—but a hundred years have passed, and regulations on Magical Creatures have become increasingly strict. I don't know where you can still find Basilisk these days."

Upon hearing this, Harry recalled that when he was in Hogsmeade, the villagers had indeed been discussing the Basilisk, and the newspapers at the time had even reported on it.

He didn't pay much attention at the time, after all, he was just a Gryffindor and didn't have any fascination with snakes—even though he spoke Parseltongue.

The discovery of Parseltongue is also related to Ominis —for which Ominis even dragged Harry to have his blood tested to see if the child was indeed a descendant of the Gaunt had been separated from the family.

He didn't mean he wanted Harry to be recognized as a member of the Gaunt family; after all, Ominis didn't want Harry involved in the twisted atmosphere of the Gaunt family —he just really longed for a more normal brother.

The result left him somewhat disappointed but also relieved. From then on, Ominis and Harry became much closer.

Harry nodded to indicate that he understood. "I understand. Leave this to me—don't worry, we'll see each other again soon..."

"Hmm," Veratia asked again, "How are the others? You know, I School Opening shortly after you disappeared and haven't heard from anyone."

"No, I... I only know that Gareth is dead," Harry said, sounding somewhat dejected.

"Time is the most ruthless thing," Veratia seemed to be lamenting.

Harry suddenly added, "Oh, right, Veratia, I also saw Pabbie. Do you remember her— Pabbie Sweeting Hufflepuff?"

"Of course I remember, she's the one who helped me hang this portrait in the Map Chamber," Verathea said softly.

"However... she didn't seem to be in good condition. When I saw her, she was being chased by Voldemort, and I was the one who saved her—"

At this point, Harry remembered that Pabbie was now Unicorn, and said to Veratia, "By the way, Pabbie learned Magical Animagus, and now she's Unicorn, she can't turn into a human anymore..."

There was a moment of silence between them.

"Yes, she did use that Charms..." Verathea looked at Harry with a complicated expression. "I warned her long ago that transforming into Magical Animagus is a very dangerous thing. Even though magical creatures like Unicorn have long lifespans, it's not something that ordinary people can do easily."

"But she succeeded, didn't she... even though she can't turn back." Harry shrugged. "That's quite a problem. When you get back, we'll find a way to make Pabbie human again."

"Okay." Veratia nodded. "I have a guess, but I'll have to wait until I meet Pabbie to confirm it."

"I knew it, you always have a way." Harry smiled again.

It felt so good to see Veratia. Harry felt his intelligence had regained its dominance—albeit externally.

Before they met Veratia, the external brain of these friends was Sebastian... However, Sebastian's occasional "brilliant ideas" ( in Ominis's words) could easily send them to Azkaban.

"Oh, right, Harry," Veratia said again, "Your wand— Holly Wood, Phoenix Feather, eleven inches long—is behind my portrait, and it's also the token for our Gringotts."

Harry stood up, walked over, looked closely at Veratia's portrait, and reached out to touch it.

Unlike the Veratia I remembered, the portrait didn't feel good to the touch.

Cold and rough.

"Quick, get your wand!" Veratia snapped, a suspicious blush rising on her face. "It's just a portrait..."

Harry's face also turned red. He didn't have any thoughts about that, but he felt that Veratia looked very... lonely. Yes, lonely!

He quickly pulled the wand out from behind the portrait, only to find that the tip of the wand seemed to have an extra scarlet gem, from which something like red veins extended and coiled all the way to the base of the wand.

"What happened? How did the wand get like this?" Harry asked curiously.

I remember the last time I used this Holly Wood wand, it wasn't like this.

"After you left, the wand was stuck in Runcorn's body." Verathea was still holding the book in her arms. "When I pulled it out, it was already like this—it's Gringotts ' keepsake. But I must warn you, Goblin might have a slightly unpleasant reaction to seeing this wand."

"Oh." Harry waved his wand, feeling his old friend vibrate joyfully.

He didn't care about what Veratia had just said; it was just a minor adverse reaction. The Goblin of Gringotts were well-informed and certainly wouldn't care.

Harry tucked his wand into his pocket, leaned against the rock, and planned to chat with Veratia about everyday things to calm his restless thoughts.

He said casually, "By the way, Veratia, have you heard about Gellert's situation?"

"What?" Veratia asked.

"Well—uh-huh," Harry said, gathering Verathea thoughts, "It's just that... our current Headmaster, Mr. Albus Dumbledore, defeated your brother Gellert in 1945 and imprisoned him in Nurmengard Castle..."

"I heard about it," Veratia said with a smile. "My foolish Gale... he actually got defeated, and his achievement was even written on Chocolate Frog Card! He's completely disgraced the Grindelwald family!"

Although she was smiling, Harry, who knew her well, knew that she was very angry.

"Huh?" Harry asked curiously, "How do you know what's going on outside?"

Veratia looked down at him and said, "Of course, Lily told me. After she first entered the Map Chamber, I asked her a lot about the outside world..."

Harry suddenly felt a bit thirsty.

He realized that, in order to send him a message and await his return, the girl had infused her memories into the portrait, and more than a hundred years had passed.

His days at the Dursley family felt like an eternity; he couldn't imagine the loneliness Veratia must have endured in that Chamber of Secrets.

"Veratia," he said, "Being in the Map Chamber... for over a hundred years must have been incredibly boring, right?"

"It's alright," Veratia said easily. "Waiting may be tedious, but the moment the result comes, it proves that the waiting was not in vain."

Finally, she added, "This portrait is just a copy of my memory; to me in Slytherin Study, it's just a fleeting moment in the past."

"However..." Verathea gave another dangerous smile, "You must remember to tell that me about Gale."

"Uh? What do you mean?" Harry felt a chill run down his spine.

He had a very bad feeling, a very bad feeling.

The last time Veratia smiled so gently yet dangerously was when he and Sebastian were secretly learning the Cruciatus Curse.

Veratia had this smile on her face the whole way to Slytherin's Study.

Before they reached Slytherin's Study, Veratia asked him to use the Cruciatus Curse on her.

No, Veratia, I can't...

[Only the Cruciatus Curse can be used on me to open Slytherin's Study —otherwise, we'll all be trapped here to die.]

[Crucio (Cruciatus Curse)!]

The girl in front of him let out a muffled groan, and the feeling of torment and pain was simultaneously transmitted into Harry's mind.

No, this doesn't bring happiness...

Harry saw that, due to the torment of the Charms, a little blood had seeped from the corner of the girl's lips.

[Veratia, I...]

Before Harry could finish speaking, he saw the girl suddenly raise her head, look at him, and curl a wild smile on her lips.

[Harry Potter —the feeling of torment... isn't it wonderful? Hahahaha...]

She grabbed Harry by the collar, and with her other hand, trembling but firm, she took Harry's wand-holding hand and pressed it against her throat.

A beautiful dimple was created on her delicate neck by the magic wand.

"Continue," she said. "Saru didn't teach you the true nature of the Cruciatus Curse, but I will..."

[I...]

Anyway, after that, Harry never dared to use the Cruciatus Curse again—except for the Forbidden Forest incident, where he was using it to distract himself from the pain.

"Harry? Harry?"

Seeing Harry lost in thought, Veratia called out to him.

Harry snapped out of his daze, said "Oh," and rubbed his slightly sore temples.

Veratia said gently, "Of course I'm going back to visit my silly little brother—and also the Headmaster who defeated my brother. I'd love to see just how powerful the wizard who defeated Gale really is."

Harry shuddered, a sudden wave of sympathy rising within him for no apparent reason.

Not only for Dumbledore, but also for Grindelwald.

However... Dumbledore is better off. Harry thinks that Headmaster Dumbledore is the most powerful White Wizard in the world, and with a hundred years of combat experience, he definitely won't be defeated by Veratia.

But Grindelwald was in a much worse situation.

As a younger brother, how could he possibly cast Charms on his sister whom he hadn't seen in a century?

Harry could foresee the scene of old Grindelwald getting a beating from his sister; it would be truly...

Well, hopefully his seventeen-year-old sister will consider that her brother is already over a hundred years old and won't smash his bones.

"Harry?" Veratia's voice rang out. "What dangerous thing are you thinking about?"

"Oh? Ah?" Harry snapped out of his reverie. "No, nothing."

"Stop that weird smile on your face, I've already seen it," Veratia reminded her.

"Oh, hehe." Harry scratched his head and smiled sheepishly.

Veratia looked down at the panoramic view of Hogwarts below the Map Chamber and began to tell Harry to leave, "It's getting late, Harry, you should go back to the common room and go to bed now."

"I want to stay with you a little longer," Harry, a little reluctant to leave.

"I'm right here, I'm not going anywhere," Veratia chuckled. "But you, you're just a twelve-year-old little bean. I've heard that kids who stay up late won't grow tall. Do you want to be a head shorter than me?"

Harry, recalling Veratia's nearly six feet tall, quickly stood up and said, "Okay, Veratia, I'll go back to sleep now..."

"Hmm..." Verathea nodded at him.

Watching Harry's departing figure, Veratia suddenly thought of a serious question.

Harry is now back to being twelve years old, re-entering his first year at Hogwarts —but the girl in the study is a seventeen-year-old sixth-year student.

this...