A Little Girl

The stars outside the window filled the sky, and the crescent moon had moved from above the Forbidden Forest to the west side of the Castle, almost invisible in the distance.

After resting for about fifteen minutes, Lily tightened the lid of the kettle and put it back on the windowsill. Catching her breath, she felt refreshed.

"I have something to tell you," she said, shifting closer to Regulus, her voice soft but slightly pouting, her brow furrowed. "I ran into that megalomaniac again last month, Potter."

Regulus raised an eyebrow.

"I was walking down the Corridor when I saw Potter and Sirius tormenting a Slytherin boy," she pouted. "He looked like a first-year. His backpack was all over the place, and his things were scattered everywhere. Potter was just laughing and joking around."

"I yelled at him to stop, and when Potter turned around and saw it was me, he smiled broadly—"

She mimicked Potter's nonchalant tone, drawing out her words: "Hey, nosy Evans, what brings you here again?"

She rolled her eyes dramatically. "I told him to release them, but he said he didn't do anything, he was just watching. Sirius didn't really care, he was just leaning against the wall staring at the ceiling—"

Regulus asked, "And then they started fighting?"

"I struck first," Lily said, raising her chin slightly. "The Disarming Charm caught him off guard, and I almost hit him. The way he dodged was particularly awkward."

She mimicked an exaggerated dodging gesture and laughed at herself.

"Then I activated the Enhanced Senses Charm. The first few rounds went pretty well. I could see in advance where his staff tip was pointing, and I saw all the signs of his attacks. I dodged three of his Disarming Charm and even managed to throw a Trip Jinx at him, which almost hit him. He jumped up in panic--"

At this point, her tone slowed, and she pouted. "But the Enhanced Senses Charm couldn't hold. After about thirty seconds, my head started buzzing, the information became increasingly blurry, and I couldn't distinguish which information was useful anymore."

When Potter got serious, his spells were so fast. I could see them, but my body couldn't keep up. I held on for a while, but he pinned me against the wall and disarmed me.

She spread her hands, shrugged, and said something that sounded neither frustrated nor aggrieved, but rather somewhat resentful. "After the wand flew away, he started showing off again, saying a bunch of pointless things that I couldn't be bothered to remember."

She looked at Regulus, her green eyes filled with a serious, defiant spirit. "But I think if I practice a little more, I can beat him. I'm just a little bit short."

Regulus looked at her and said gently, "It's already quite impressive that you made Potter take you seriously before beating you."

Lily blinked.

"You're improving, and he's improving too, but it's taking him longer and longer to beat you," Regulus continued. "Last time he played casually and you won, this time he had to go all out for you to lose, what about next time?"

Lily replied quickly, her voice crisp. "Next time, even if I make him go all out, he still won't win!"

"Very ambitious!" Regulus nodded, praising him first, then changed the subject. "Potter's quick reflexes are innate. You can't catch up to him in terms of speed and spell power in the short term, but you can make him uncomfortable, and make him work much harder to beat than to beat anyone else. This is a very good start."

As Lily listened, her pouting lips slowly relaxed, and the corners of her mouth began to turn upwards.

"Then I'll keep practicing." She clenched her fist and waved it in front of her to encourage herself.

"Keep it up," Regulus said with a smile. "If you can keep up with your stamina, the Enhanced Senses Charm will last the whole game. His speed won't be able to keep up with you. You're smarter than him. As long as your body can keep up, he can't beat you."

Lily's green eyes suddenly lit up, so brightly that her whole face lit up.

"Real?"

"Real."

Lily nodded vigorously, her ponytail swinging back and forth behind her head.

"Then I'll start running tomorrow!"

"Um."

"Run a lap around Black Lake!"

"Um?"

Lily laughed out loud, "Half a circle."

"... Um."

Once she started talking, she couldn't stop. After finishing her story about Potter, Lily veered off-topic towards summer vacation.

"Oh, right, Marcia said she wanted to invite Susan and me to stay at her house for a few days during the summer vacation," she said, her tone lightening with anticipation. "She said her garden is really big, and there's a very beautiful Diricawl called Silver Star. It's so pretty, with silver-blue feathers, but it's a picky eater. It only eats imported France Magic nuts. She's mentioned it so many times, ever since first grade. I've always wanted to go see it."

"The Flint family?" Regulus asked casually.

"Hmm," Lily tilted her head, "Do you know Marcia's family?"

Not very familiar with them.

We're not really that close. I've only met him at gatherings in the Pure-blood Circle, and we're just nodding acquaintances.

The Flint family, Pure-bloods, isn't among the top, but they've always consciously moved closer to the core.

After the Christmas Banquet, Orion received a letter from old Fawley, the wording of which his father had relayed to him. "The Flint family ' words are very solicitous, almost like a marriage proposal."

This family knows how to choose sides, what direction to take, and who to align themselves with.

However, the Flint family were able to raise a daughter like Marcia, who befriends Lily, Muggle-born, and invites her to their home, suggests that their parenting style is not extreme; at least they allow their daughter to have her own social space, indicating a moderate stance.

There's nothing wrong with being a guest; the Flint family manor has protective Magic, and the rules for entertaining guests in Pureblood families are very clear: the safety of guests is the host's prestige. But outside the manor, it's a different story.

In the latter half of 1974, Death Eaters activity intensified, the atmosphere within the Pure-blood Circle tightened, new events were reported in the newspapers every week, and the Ministry of Magic's response became increasingly slow.

Next year will only be worse; the situation is escalating faster than most people realize.

"Go ahead, it's fine," he said casually, adding naturally, "Just stay in the manor, don't go too far out, and be careful when you go out."

Lily looked up at Regulus's face, her green eyes flashing.

The words themselves weren't anything special; they were just a natural expression of concern, but she understood what they meant.

He is the heir to one of the most prestigious Pureblood families in the UK Wizarding World; he knows what's happening outside, and he wouldn't say these things without a reason.

She nodded, very firmly. "Mmm!"

A gust of wind blew in from the window, stirring up a small clump of dust on the windowsill.

Lily unscrewed the copper kettle, took another sip, screwed the lid back on, hugged it to her chest, and leaned against the windowsill.

After a moment of silence, night birds flew in from the direction of the Forbidden Forest, skimmed over the spire of the tower, and with a flutter, flew away.

Regulus looked at the stars outside the window, Lily looked at Regulus's profile.

He casually asked, "How are you and your sister doing?"

Lily paused for a moment, then laughed.

"I sent Petunia some pictures of Nox a while ago. They were taken in my Dormitory. Nox was sunbathing on the windowsill, and Marcia was trying to tease him with a quill pen, but he ignored her."

She turned sideways and tried to imitate Nox's curled-up posture, but she didn't quite get it right because she didn't have a tail. After she finished imitating, she laughed at herself for a while.

Regulus looked at her gently. "What did she say?"

"Nothing," Lily shrugged, her tone devoid of disappointment. "No letters back, not a single word."

She switched the kettle to her other hand and tilted her head. "But she sent a package."

Lily took a crumpled little paper bag out of her Handbag, opened it, and showed it to Regulus.

A bag of Kit-e-Kat cat food, bought from Muggle supermarket. The packaging has an orange cartoon cat printed on it, and the colors are all over the place.

"And there's that old mat Nox used to wear at home," Lily gestured to show its size, "It was washed very clean, folded neatly, and sent wrapped in kraft paper."

She took the small paper bag back, a smile playing on her lips.

"Nox won't eat the cat food, he thinks it doesn't taste right, he sniffs it twice and walks away, but he really likes the mat. As soon as it's placed by the bed, he curls up on it, rubbing his nose for a long time and purring."

Regulus looked at the smile on Lily's face.

The sisters' relationship is already improving.

Nox was a gift from him to Lily; she was a French Kneazle Half-bloods, targeting the high-end pet market.

This cat has now become a link between the two sisters. Lily sends photos to them, and Petunia sends cat food and mats back. The cat understands and accepts both sides.

There was a wall separating the Magic world and the Muggle world; Petunia stood on the outside, and Lily stood on the inside.

Nox had been on both sides of the wall, and carried the scents of both.

fine.

It's almost 10 o'clock, the crescent moon is no longer visible, but the stars are still there.

Lily shifted the topic from Petunia to the final exams, talking about her study plan.

Potions isn't a problem, but her cross- Transfiguration in Transfiguration is still a bit lacking. She plans to pair up with Susan to review Charms, and she's most confident about the practical aspects of Defense Against the Dark Arts.

"Speaking of which Nox's gotten fat lately," she suddenly changed the subject, her tone tinged with accusation, "I suspect Marcia's been secretly feeding him treats—"

She thought I didn't know, but now Nox rubs against her whenever he sees her, whereas before he only rubbed against me.

Susan said Nox would get as fat as a cat ball if things continued like this, and I said no, I have to control his diet. Then Susan said that she herself sneaks cookies every night, and I said that's different--

Regulus seized the opportunity. "You sneak cookies at night?"

"Occasionally," Lily blushed slightly, but said matter-of-factly, "I get hungry really fast when I'm studying, I get hungry after practicing the Enhanced Senses Charm, and I get hungry after practicing the Patronus Charm. I suspect there's some direct correlation between Magic Power consumption and stomach capacity; you could look into it—"

He stopped abruptly before finishing his sentence, a smile playing on his lips, "I'll imitate something funny for you, guess who it is."

She cleared her throat, straightened her upper body, raised her chin slightly, touched her stomach with one hand, and made a pinching motion in the air with the other.

"Oh, Lily, my dear, your Draught of Living Death is a work of art—the color, the consistency—you absolutely must try this new batch of Pineapple Candied Fruit, it's so much sweeter than the last one—what? You don't eat sweets? How can you make good Potions without sweets? Taste is Potions's second wand, come on, have a piece, just one—"

Lily couldn't hold back her laughter after finishing the lesson. She bent over laughing, one hand covering her stomach, the other flailing wildly in the air for a while before finally managing to steady herself on the windowsill.

Regulus's lips twitched. "You do that in front of Slughorn too?"

"Of course not, I'm very well-behaved in front of him," she straightened up and wiped the tears of laughter from the corners of her eyes with her sleeve. "Every time he gives me candied Candied Fruit, I say thank you, Professor, and then I keep it to give to Marcia and Susan when I get back."

Marcia likes pineapples, Susan likes them too—actually, Susan likes everything, she's not picky."

The night birds outside the window flew back and landed on the spire of the tower.

Regulus glanced at the sky outside the window, straightened up from the windowsill, and pushed the window shut. "That's about enough, we have class tomorrow."

"Hmm--" Lily drawled, slid down from the windowsill, dusted off her robe, slung her Handbag over her shoulder, and stuffed the copper kettle back in.

She took two steps toward the door and turned around.

The torchlight shone in from the Corridor, illuminating her face; her red hair fell over her shoulders, and her green eyes curved into two crescent moons.

Good night, Professor Regulus.

Goodnight, Lily.

Lily smiled, turned and walked away, her footsteps light and bouncy, heading towards the Gryffindor Tower, getting farther and farther away, turning a corner, and disappearing from sight.

Regulus looked at the empty Corridor and turned to walk towards the cellar.