At lunchtime, the Great Hall was bustling. Vera wheeled herself over to the Gryffindor table, but Harry and Hermione had yet to arrive.
They had probably eaten too many Rock Cakes at Hagrid's and had no appetite left for the dining hall.
Looking at the dazzling spread of food before her, then thinking of Hagrid's Rock Cakes, which the original story claimed could knock one's teeth loose, Vera found herself in a rare good mood.
However, most of that good mood vanished the moment she spotted Malfoy and his two companions entering the Great Hall with dark expressions.
Malfoy's face was frighteningly pale, with heavy shadows beneath his eyes. He had clearly been punished severely last night.
The moment he entered, he glared viciously at the Gryffindor table. When he saw Vera, a flash of venom passed through his gray eyes, though what showed more clearly was a faint trace of fear.
Naturally. After she had dealt him several blows in succession last night, even the most thickheaded fool who never learned from his mistakes would have to weigh the consequences of provoking her again.
Vera calmly cut the steak on her plate without even lifting her eyelids.
As for Malfoy and his companions secretly staring at her several times from behind, she could not be bothered to care.
Ron, seated diagonally across from her, noticed it instead. He gathered several first-year students and glared back at the Slytherins across the table.
Only after Malfoy and the others no longer dared look their way did that silent war come to an end.
Just as Vera was amused enough by their protective behavior to want to laugh, the voices of the Weasley twins sounded beside her—
"Good afternoon!" Fred greeted her from two seats away.
George sat down as well and said, "We heard about last night's spectacular performance. They got detention, each of them lost twenty points, and they were put in detention for a whole month."
Vera calmly set down her knife and fork. "I see. No wonder Professor Snape looks so unhappy today."
As she spoke, she turned toward the staff table and indeed saw Professor Snape sitting there with a grim expression, occasionally casting sharp looks toward the Gryffindor table.
George lowered his voice. "But what we're more curious about is... how did you do it?"
Vera raised an eyebrow. "Do what?"
"Apparently Malfoy insists that you were there too," Fred said with a blink. "But Filch only caught the three of them."
Vera lifted her orange juice and took a sip, the corners of her lips curling faintly. "Who knows? Maybe Malfoy was just looking for an excuse after getting caught wandering around at night."
Fred and George exchanged a look, then smiled in mutual understanding.
"Anyway," Fred said, blinking, "you did well!"
Vera said nothing. She merely lifted her brows slightly and glanced around, only to see several first-year students led by Ron giving her friendly looks.
It was obvious that the story had spread through their little circle once again.
Although she wanted to question how tight-lipped Ron really was, there was no denying that the lions clearly loved this sort of thing.
They had broken the rules without getting caught, and more importantly, they had made their rival Slytherins suffer at the same time.
As a result, Vera, a new student whom many had doubted during the week before school began, had earned quite a bit of goodwill among the other first-years.
That was an unexpected bonus.
As lunchtime in the Great Hall neared its end, Harry finally rushed in. She hurried over to the Gryffindor table in a few quick strides, her cheeks flushed from running.
"Vera! Guess what Hagrid told me?"
Hermione followed behind, panting as she complained, "Harry! You ran too fast!"
Vera set down her knife and fork, gently wiped the corner of her mouth, and said, "Let me guess... was it that little package you guessed he had taken away?"
Harry's eyes widened even further. "How did you know?"
She lowered her voice and leaned closer mysteriously. "I saw that Hagrid had specially cut out a news article. It said—"
"Harry!" Hermione hurriedly interrupted. "This isn't the place to talk about that!"
Couldn't she see how many people around them were watching?
Vera smiled and shook her head. "You two ate quite a lot at Hagrid's, didn't you?"
For a moment, both Harry and Hermione wore rather complicated expressions.
Harry rubbed her stomach and muttered softly, "Hagrid's Rock Cakes nearly chipped my teeth..."
"Don't mention them. I suspect they weren't food at all, but some sort of building material." Hermione looked thoroughly shaken.
Vera could not help laughing. She wheeled herself back a little. "So, do you still want some proper lunch now?"
Harry looked at the few scraps of food left on the long table and shook her head. "Forget it. I have Quidditch practice this afternoon. Eating too much would be bad."
"All right." Vera did not insist. "Let's go for now. We can talk back in the dormitory."
Author's note: There will be a big update on Sunday, probably five or six chapters, at midnight on the 14th. Please be sure to read it! Also, send more recommendation votes, monthly votes, tips, and blades. Thanks!
Gringotts Gets Broken Into Again
The three of them left the Great Hall and passed through the crowded corridors.
Along the way, Harry tried to speak several times, only to be stopped by Hermione's stern glare each time.
It was not until they returned to the quiet Gryffindor Tower and confirmed that there was no one else in the common room that Hermione finally removed the hand she had kept on Harry's shoulder.
"You can say it now," Hermione sighed. "But keep your voice down."
Harry impatiently lowered her voice. "We just saw a news article Hagrid had cut from the Daily Prophet. It was about an illegal break-in at Gringotts, and the date was the day we first met!"
"Your birthday?" Vera asked after pretending to think for a moment.
"That's right." Harry nodded. "The report said that the underground vault searched by the intruder had been emptied earlier that same day.
"Before that, Hagrid really did take away that dirty little package, so... I'm almost certain that the package was what the intruder had been looking for!
"Hagrid told me before that if you wanted to hide something, Gringotts was the safest place in the world—apart from Hogwarts."
Harry's eyes shone brightly. She was clearly very pleased with her deduction.
"So the thing guarded by that Three-Headed Dog is the little package Hagrid took from Gringotts." Hermione frowned tightly and paced before the fireplace. "But what could be inside?"
"I don't know." Harry shrugged. "When we were at Gringotts, Hagrid refused to say what it was. He only said it was official business assigned by Dumbledore. And this time, we couldn't mention sneaking out last night, so we couldn't ask him anything either."
If they had not encountered the Three-Headed Dog this time, she never would have connected the Gringotts robbery with the thing beneath the trapdoor and the little package Hagrid had taken.
Seeing the troubled expressions on their faces, Vera pondered for a while. She was not yet confident that she could completely tame the Three-Headed Dog. Besides, this had been a test set by Dumbledore in the first place, and they could go there at any time throughout the school year.
Since that was the case, it would be better to lie low and build up for a while first.
"We don't have enough clues right now, so we can only keep a limited watch on this matter," she said slowly. "If we discover anything unusual later, it won't be too late to report it to the professors."
Hermione was the first to agree with her suggestion. "Exactly. Hogwarts is the safest place in the world, after all. Nothing can possibly go wrong!"
Harry had still been a little hesitant, but at that moment, the common room door was pushed open and Gryffindor's Quidditch captain, Oliver Wood, poked his head inside. "Harry! Time for practice!"
She jolted and sprang to her feet. "Oh! I almost forgot!"
Harry hurriedly grabbed the broom lying nearby, then turned back uncertainly toward Vera and Hermione before asking Wood, "Can they come watch me practice?"
"Er..." Wood frowned. "Harry, you're training as our House's secret weapon right now. Your friends can know that you joined the team, but letting them watch practice..."
What he left unsaid was already obvious.
Harry's shoulders drooped in disappointment, but she quickly cheered up again. "All right, then. I'll go practice first!"
She waved to Vera and Hermione before following Wood out of the common room.
Hermione looked thoughtfully at the closed door. "Quidditch practice... is it really that important?"
Vera gently wheeled herself to the window. From there, they could see the Quidditch pitch in the distance. "Gryffindor hasn't won the House Cup for several years. Harry is the secret weapon they have pinned their hopes on, so naturally they have to be careful."
Hermione walked to her side and watched the distant pitch anxiously. "I hope Harry can adapt... She only rode a broom for the first time a few days ago."
"She's very talented." Vera spoke softly, her gaze following Harry as she gradually became a tiny black dot in the distance. "She'll be fine."
Hermione turned to look at Vera's profile and gently placed a hand over hers. "Don't be anxious. Magic is so amazing. Someday... you'll definitely have a chance to fly too."
Vera froze for a moment, realizing Hermione seemed to have misunderstood something. Still, she did not explain, only nodding lightly. "Mm. Thank you, Hermione."
"I didn't do anything." Hermione's face flushed slightly, and she quickly withdrew her hand. "I-I'm going to the library to do homework! Do you want to come?"
"Sure." Vera wheeled herself after Hermione, and the two of them headed to the library together.
The library was quiet and warm. Sunlight streamed through the tall stained-glass windows, casting mottled patterns of light and shadow across the old wooden tables.
Hermione found a corner seat by the window and pulled a thick stack of books from her bag. "I'm going to start my Potions essay. What about you?"
Vera took out textbooks and parchment from the expanded storage space on her wheelchair. "I'll preview some other material."
The two quietly began their own work, with only the occasional scratch of quills on parchment breaking the silence.
As Vera wrote her essay, part of her mind was occupied with last night's battle.
Now that she knew combat was the fastest way to gain experience, her current goal was to participate in more actual battles while remaining within a safe range.
But Hogwarts had very few places that could offer such opportunities. Apart from Malfoy, an experience pack that respawned from time to time, the only real combat opportunity this year would be the battle over the Philosopher's Stone at the end of the school year.
Lockhart's Dueling Club next year would be a good opportunity, but...
"Vera?" Hermione's voice pulled her back to reality. "Your quill has stopped for quite a while."
Only then did Vera notice that her ink had spread into a small blot on the parchment. "Sorry, I got distracted."
Hermione leaned closer curiously. "Are you still thinking about that little package Harry mentioned?"
"Something like that." Vera came back to herself and answered softly.
"How about coming with us to Hagrid's next time?" Hermione suggested quietly. "Harry and I can take turns pushing you there."
As she spoke, she hesitantly studied Vera's expression. "Or... do you have some other concern?"
Vera gently shook her head, her silver-gray hair gleaming softly in the sunlight. "It's nothing. If there's a chance next time, I'll go with you."
From her previous encounters with Hagrid, the gamekeeper had seemed quite wary of her status as a descendant of the Black family. But considering his relationship with Harry, she would have to deal with him sooner or later.
Since she had chosen to enter Gryffindor, there was no need for her to shrink back over such a minor matter.
Hermione gave her a bright smile and was about to say something when Madam Pince suddenly appeared at their table, glaring sternly at them as though she would throw them out the moment they spoke another word.
The two hurriedly lowered their heads and returned to their work.
A Public Apology
Time slipped away quietly with the movement of their quills. By the time the setting sun had dyed the window frames red, more than half the people in the library had already left.
"We should go back." Hermione packed up her books. "Harry's practice should be ending soon."
Vera nodded, rolled up her parchment and placed it in the side pocket of her wheelchair, then left the library with Hermione.
The moment they returned to the dormitory, they saw Harry dragging her broom inside, drenched in sweat but wearing an excited smile.
"Practice was so intense! Wood is practically a demon coach!" She excitedly described the training. "We practiced all kinds of ways to dodge Bludgers, and high-speed dives... And he kept saying, 'Potter, try again!'"
Vera watched her vividly imitate Wood's tone, then poured her a glass of water and handed it over. "But you still made it through."
And she looked very happy about it.
Harry took the glass, then scratched her hair awkwardly. "That's true. Flying freely on a broom really does feel amazing."
"Still, I think you need to take a bath first." Hermione wrinkled her nose at the sight of Harry covered in sweat.
Only then did Harry notice the smell of sweat on herself. She smiled sheepishly. "I'll go right now!"
She grabbed a change of clothes and rushed into the bathroom, leaving Vera and Hermione to exchange smiles.
"Come to think of it," Vera said leisurely as she watched Harry's hurriedly disappearing back, "there's still one thing we haven't done."
"What else is there?" Hermione looked at her in confusion.
Vera merely smiled without answering. Only when Harry emerged from the bathroom after her bath did she speak pleasantly. "Let's go. It's time to make someone fulfill the bet he made earlier."
"A bet?" Harry came out of the bathroom drying her dripping hair, looking blankly at them.
Vera turned her wheelchair toward the door, her silver-gray hair gleaming softly beneath the setting sun. "Don't forget. Malfoy owes us an apology."
Hermione abruptly shut the textbook in her hands, her brown eyes widening round. "Wait, Vera, you really intend to—"
"Of course." Vera's lips curved faintly upward. "Since he lost the duel, he should keep his promise."
She had not brought it up at noon because Harry and Hermione had not returned yet.
For something like this, it was naturally more interesting to wait until everyone was present.
Harry's green eyes immediately lit up, and she said eagerly, "Then shall we go now?"
"Dry your hair first," Vera said, unable to stop herself from shaking her head with a smile at Harry's black hair, which was still dripping with water.
"Oh..." Harry scratched her damp hair awkwardly and quickly rubbed it several more times with the towel.
Before you continue