Wheelchair War God Speedruns Hogwarts

For now, Friday's flying lesson was an important turning point—in the original story, Harry had shown astonishing flying talent in that class and been recommended by Professor McGonagall for the Quidditch team.

As she thought about it, she unconsciously lowered her head to look at her legs. Even if she could not ride a broomstick, she should still be able to get airborne if she made proper use of the Levitation Charm.

Just as she was pondering this, the dormitory door was gently pushed open, and Harry and Hermione poked their heads in.

"Vera, are you feeling better?" Harry asked softly, her green eyes full of concern.

Vera gathered her thoughts and nodded slightly. "Much better. Come in."

Harry stepped in quietly, holding a steaming cup of something in her hands. "I had the house-elves specially prepare this honey milk. They said it can help restore your strength."

Hermione followed behind her, studying Vera with concern. "Harry already told me about Malfoy..."

"Don't mind him." Vera took the honey milk and sipped it, letting the overly sweet taste melt across her tongue.

At this stage, Malfoy was just a spoiled child. Even by the end of the original story, he had not been a complete villain.

She only needed to remain basically vigilant. There would be plenty of chances to teach him a lesson in the future.

Harry spoke indignantly, clenching her fists as if eager to try them out. "If he dares provoke us again, I'll make sure he knows better!"

Vera raised an eyebrow and looked thoughtfully at Harry, who seemed so fiercely righteous. "Harry, are you good at fighting?"

"Uh... well..." Harry reflexively pulled back her fists and gave an awkward smile. "How could I possibly know how to fight? You're overthinking it, Vera."

Seeing how unconvincing she sounded, Vera curled her lips slightly and changed the subject at just the right moment. "Then you should learn some basic spells to protect yourself."

Harry's eyes lit up, and she hurried closer. "Vera, can you teach me that Disarming Charm? The one that made Malfoy's wand fly away!"

Vera looked at her eager expression and nodded gently. "Sure, but we'll have to wait until the weekend."

Harry immediately nodded excitedly, anticipation glittering in her green eyes. "It's a deal!"

Hermione leaned in as well, her brown eyes shining. "Can I learn too?"

"Of course." Vera agreed softly, the corners of her mouth rising unconsciously as she watched the two girls' excitement.

Potions Class

Over the next two days, the classes became more tightly scheduled.

Wednesday night was Astronomy. The students had to stay up late observing the stars, and Vera, Harry, and Hermione sat in the castle's highest tower, recording the paths of the planets through telescopes.

Perhaps because of that night, Harry had become especially fascinated by the stars. She was always pestering Vera to tell her stories about the various constellations.

"Look, that's Sirius. It belongs to Canis Major and is one of the brightest stars in the night sky." Vera pointed at the glittering star and explained softly. "In Muggle astronomy, it's about 8.6 light-years from Earth."

Harry tilted her head back, starlight reflected in her green eyes. "It's beautiful... Vera, do you think there are wizards on the stars too?"

Vera chuckled. "As far as I know, no wizard has gone that far yet. But in the past, ancient wizards believed the movement of the stars affected fluctuations in magical energy."

As they spoke, Hermione finished recording her observations and solemnly closed her notebook. "Astronomy is much more interesting than I expected, even if we have to stay up late."

"Yeah," Harry said, then yawned. "It's just a little tiring..."

Seeing Harry force her eyelids open, Vera gently patted her shoulder. "Hang in there. It'll be over soon."

After Astronomy, the three girls dragged their exhausted bodies back to Gryffindor Tower, practically falling asleep the instant their heads touched their pillows.

Friday finally arrived. Early that morning, Harry received a letter from Hagrid in the Great Hall, inviting her to have tea at Hagrid's Hut over the weekend.

"You two go," Vera said leisurely after taking a sip of honey water. "It's too far, and my wheelchair isn't really suited for going there."

Vera gently set down her cup, saw the obvious disappointment on Harry's face, and added, "Besides, I have some class notes to organize."

"I can go with Harry," Hermione said at once after swallowing her toast.

Harry's green eyes brightened again. "Great! Vera, I'll bring back some of Hagrid's snacks for you!"

Vera remembered the rock cakes from the original story, hard enough to use as weapons, and the corner of her mouth twitched. "...Thanks, but no need."

After breakfast, they headed to the Potions classroom.

Potions was held in an underground classroom, colder and gloomier than the castle above. Glass jars lined the walls, and the animal specimens soaking inside them were enough to make anyone shudder.

Professor Snape strode into the classroom, his black robes billowing behind him like bat wings.

"You are here to learn the subtle science and exact art of potion-making," he began coldly. "As there is little foolish wand-waving here, many of you will hardly believe this is magic.

"I do not expect you will really understand the beauty of the softly simmering cauldron with its shimmering fumes, its delicate power to enchant the senses, to cloud the mind, flowing through human veins...

"I can teach you how to brew fame, bottle glory, even stop death—but only if you are not as big a bunch of dunderheads as I usually have to teach."

After his brief opening speech, the entire classroom fell silent.

Snape stood before the lectern and swept his cold gaze over the class, finally stopping on Harry, who was still taking notes at top speed.

"Ah, yes," he said softly. "Harry Potter. Our new—celebrity."

Harry looked up, blinking her green eyes in confusion.

Snape's mouth twisted into something resembling a smile. "Miss Potter, what would I get if I added powdered asphodel root to an infusion of wormwood?"

The moment he finished asking, Hermione's arm shot high into the air, practically leaving her seat.

Harry froze for a moment, her green eyes widening slightly. Remembering the potion knowledge Vera had mentioned on their first night at school, she glanced at Vera's calm expression and answered uncertainly,

"You'd get a powerful sleeping potion—the Draught of Living Death."

Snape visibly paused. He stared into her eyes, his brow drawing together. "...Then if I asked you to find me a bezoar, where would you look?"

"In a goat's stomach." Harry's eyes gradually brightened as she realized she had answered correctly, and her confidence rose. "A bezoar is an effective antidote."

Snape's brow furrowed even more deeply, and his voice became lower. "What is the difference between monkshood and wolfsbane?"

Harry nearly laughed aloud—Vera had mentioned this exact thing that night!

"There is no difference. They are the same plant, both commonly called aconite." She met Snape's gaze confidently, her emerald eyes inherited from her mother gleaming in the dim underground classroom.

Snape's expression froze. He stared fixedly into Harry's eyes, his lips trembling slightly.

The classroom was completely silent. Everyone held their breath.

After staring at Harry for a long time with a complicated expression, Snape slowly straightened and said coldly, "Sit down, Potter—why aren't you all writing this down?"

At once, the classroom filled with the rustling of students scrambling for quills and parchment.

Amid the noise, Snape's voice rose, lower than usual. "It seems you have indeed... done some preparation. One point to Gryffindor."

Hermione looked at Harry in disbelief, while Harry secretly winked at Vera.

Vera returned a faint smile with calm indifference.

Snape turned and walked back toward the lectern, his black robes swirling. "Now, turn to page three of your textbooks. Today, you will be brewing Cure for Boils..."

After briefly explaining the process, Snape divided them into pairs. He himself paced around the classroom in his long black cloak, watching them weigh dried nettles and crush snake fangs.

Nearly every student received criticism. He would also stop from time to time in front of Harry's cauldron and pick at flaws in her work, yet surprisingly, he neither deducted points from her nor scolded her as he did everyone else.

This left Hermione deeply confused and aggrieved, since she had been mercilessly mocked merely for adding ingredients a few seconds too late.

Fortunately, Vera quietly reassured her from beside her, allowing her to continue patiently.

"Miss Potter, your snake fangs are not ground finely enough," Snape said coldly, though his tone was clearly much milder than it was with the other students. "Continue."

Harry bit her lip, blinked hard, and took a deep breath. "Yes, Professor."

Vera quietly observed everything from the side, the corners of her mouth curling upward slightly.

Those green eyes identical to Lily's, combined with the potion talent she had inherited from Lily, were practically Snape's weakness.

She really did love watching this kind of scene.

Flying Class

Just as Snape finished correcting Harry's work and turned to continue his inspection, a cloud of acidic green smoke suddenly burst from the underground classroom, accompanied by a loud hissing sound.

Vera was seated in front of them. The instant she heard it, she sensed something was wrong and turned her wheelchair around. "Glacius!"

As the spell fell, her wand released a blast of cold air, precisely freezing Ron's cauldron and preventing the potion from splashing and injuring anyone.

"Idiot!" Snape spun around and strode to Ron's cauldron. He stared grimly at the frozen failed potion, then looked at Neville, whose face had gone deathly pale. "I suppose you added the porcupine quills before taking the cauldron off the fire, didn't you?"

With a flick of his wand, he cleared away the residue, his expression frighteningly dark.

"Five points from Gryffindor for Longbottom's stupidity," Snape announced coldly. "Miss Black reacted quickly. Gryffindor gains... one point."

So they had still lost three points in total...

Vera felt a little helpless and silently called Snape a cheapskate at his retreating back.

Neville's face had been pale a moment ago, but now it flushed bright red, and tears even began to fall.

Harry could not bear to watch. She quietly handed him a tissue, only for Snape to catch her and scold her again.

Fortunately, he did not deduct any points.

Vera also secretly breathed a sigh of relief. She had been so focused on the show that she had nearly forgotten about Neville.

Still... she looked down at the cauldron before her. Though her potion was not yet complete, through her Magic Circuit, she could clearly see the paths of magical power flowing through the potion's ingredients—the subtle shifts in color and energy transformations were all laid bare before her eyes.

"Three more minutes of brewing, then two and a half clockwise stirs..." she murmured, precisely controlling the heat and stirring rhythm.

Hermione stared at her in surprise. "Vera, are you good at Potions too?"

Vera gently shook her head. "I'm just following the steps."

That was true. After trying it once, she had more or less understood that what the Magic Circuit gave her was merely the ability to know when to add potion ingredients and how to choose suitable materials to remedy mistakes.

But the preparation of the ingredients before brewing still had to be completed entirely by her.

In the original story, after Harry got the Half-Blood Prince's Potions book in sixth year, he had quickly obtained enough ingredients through some of its altered ingredient-preparation methods.

At least in that regard, she was still lacking.

More importantly... after Vera finished stirring, while waiting for the potion to develop, she lowered her head and looked at her hands.

Although the nerves in her hands had not been affected by the car accident, the human body was interconnected. She could clearly feel that her hands were not as steady when preparing potion ingredients.

That was a disadvantage not only in handling potion ingredients, but also in future battles.

Vera gently set down the stirring rod, unconsciously curling her fingers into a fist.

"Vera?" Hermione's voice pulled her back to reality. "Your potion looks like it's almost done."

She came back to herself and looked into her cauldron. The potion inside had already turned a perfect blue—the standard finished state of Cure for Boils.

"Thanks for the reminder," she said softly, tapping the edge of the cauldron with her wand. The flame immediately went out.

Snape appeared soundlessly behind her, his black robes nearly brushing against her wheelchair.

He lowered his head to inspect the potion in the cauldron, a flicker of surprise passing through his eyes.

However, he said nothing. He merely looked thoughtfully at Vera's faintly trembling hands.

Before class ended, Snape instructed each of them to bottle a vial of potion and hand it in.

Vera's and Hermione's potions needed no comment. Both were nearly perfect, displaying a textbook shade of blue.

Harry's potion was slightly darker, but Snape only frowned and said nothing.

"Hand in an essay on the brewing of Cure for Boils before the weekend, no less than nine inches," Snape announced as the bell rang. "Class dismissed."

The students felt as though they had been granted a reprieve and quickly packed their things before leaving the cold underground classroom.

Harry and Hermione pushed Vera's wheelchair, and the three of them left the classroom together, stepping into the warm sunlight.

"Whew—finally out!" Harry took a deep breath. "Professor Snape is terrifying. I always feel like he'll deduct points at any moment."

Hermione hugged her textbook, looking thoughtful. "But he seemed to be... paying special attention to you? I mean, aside from criticizing you."

Harry blinked in confusion. "Was he? I think he's just as strict with everyone, but... what he teaches does seem pretty effective."

"Perhaps it's simply because you answered his questions correctly." Vera gently pushed her wheelchair, a faint smile on her lips.

Whenever she thought about what might have been going through Snape's mind when he looked into Harry's eyes, she found it hard to control her expression.

When Harry and Hermione both looked at her, Vera quickly suppressed her smile and calmly changed the subject. "Are you ready for flying class this afternoon?"

Hermione was immediately distracted, nervously twisting her fingers together. "I read several Quidditch books last night, but for a practical class like this, actual operation is probably the most important thing..."

Harry's eyes lit up at first, but she then hesitated and looked at Vera beside her. "Then... Vera, will you be taking the class with us? Or..."

Vera gently shook her head. "I'll be going."

"But your—" Hermione wanted to say more, only to see Harry turn and give her a small shake of the head.

Then Harry turned back to Vera with a smile. "All right, we'll go to class together!"