The Wheelchair War God Speedruns Hogwarts

At lunchtime, the Great Hall was bustling with activity. When Vera wheeled herself over to the Gryffindor table, 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 were supposedly hard enough to knock out teeth in the original story, Vera found her mood improving for once.

However, that good mood vanished by more than half the moment she spotted Malfoy and his two cronies entering the Great Hall in the distance, their faces dark.

Malfoy's face was terrifyingly pale, with heavy dark circles beneath his eyes. He had clearly suffered a harsh punishment the previous night.

The moment he entered, he glared viciously toward the Gryffindor table. When he saw Vera, a flash of venom flickered through his gray eyes, though the fear barely concealed beneath it was even more obvious.

Naturally. After she had struck him down several times the night before, even an idiot who never learned from pain had to weigh the consequences of provoking her again.

Vera quietly cut the steak on her plate without even raising her eyes.

As for Malfoy and his group 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 right back at the Slytherins across the table.

Only after Malfoy and the others no longer dared look in their direction did the silent war finally come to an end.

Vera had just been amused enough by their cub-protecting manner to nearly laugh when the Weasley twins' voices sounded beside her—

"Good afternoon!" Fred greeted her from two seats away.

George sat down as well. "We heard about last night's splendid performance. They were put in detention, had twenty points deducted apiece, and were sentenced to a month of detention."

Vera calmly set down her knife and fork. "I see. No wonder Professor Snape doesn't look very pleased today."

As she spoke, she turned toward the teachers' table. Sure enough, Professor Snape was sitting there with a gloomy expression, occasionally casting sharp glances at 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?"

"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 upward. "Who knows? Maybe Malfoy was just making excuses for getting caught sneaking around at night."

Fred and George exchanged a glance and smiled knowingly at the same time.

"Anyway," Fred said, blinking, "you did well!"

Vera said nothing. She merely raised an eyebrow slightly and looked around, only to find several first-years led by Ron giving her friendly looks.

Clearly, word of the incident had spread through their little circle again.

Although she was tempted to question how tight-lipped Ron really was, there was no doubt that lions loved this sort of thing.

They had broken the rules without getting caught, and more importantly, they had made their rivals in Slytherin suffer a setback at the same time.

The incident had earned Vera, a first-year whom quite a few people had doubted during the week before school began, a great deal of goodwill among the other first-years.

It was an unexpected bonus.

By the time lunch in the Great Hall was nearly over, Harry finally rushed in. She hurried over to the Gryffindor table two steps at a time, 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 and gently wiped the corner of her mouth. "Let me guess... could it be that little package he took away, the one you guessed about before?"

Harry's eyes widened even further. "How did you know?"

She lowered her voice and leaned closer mysteriously. "I saw Hagrid deliberately cut out a news article. It said—"

"Harry!" Hermione hurriedly interrupted her. "This isn't the place to talk about that!"

Could she not 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, Harry and Hermione's expressions both turned peculiar.

Harry rubbed her stomach and muttered softly, "Hagrid's Rock Cakes nearly cracked my teeth..."

"Don't mention them. I suspect they weren't food at all, but some kind of building material." Hermione still looked deeply traumatized.

Vera could not help laughing. She wheeled herself back a little. "Then do you still want some proper lunch?"

Harry looked at the few remaining dishes on the long table and shook her head. "Forget it. I still have Quidditch practice this afternoon. Eating too much would be bad."

"All right." Vera did not press the matter. "Let's go first, then. We can talk once we're back in the dormitory."

The author said: There will be a mass update on Sunday, probably five or six chapters, at midnight on the 14th. Please be sure to read them, and send more recommendation tickets, monthly tickets, tips, and blades. Thank you!

Chapter 46: Gringotts Is Broken Into Again (Part One)

The three of them left the Great Hall and passed through the bustling corridors.

Along the way, Harry tried to speak several times, only to be stopped each time by Hermione's stern glare.

Not until they returned to the quiet Gryffindor Tower and made sure there was no one else in the common room did Hermione remove the hand she had kept on Harry's shoulder.

"You can say it now." Hermione sighed. "But keep your voice down."

Harry eagerly lowered her voice. "We saw a news clipping from the Daily Prophet on Hagrid's table just now. 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 already been emptied earlier that day.

"And before that, Hagrid really did take that dirty little package away, so... I'm almost certain that 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—aside from Hogwarts."

Harry's eyes sparkled. She was clearly very pleased with her own deduction.

"So the thing guarded by that Three-Headed Dog was the little package Hagrid brought out of Gringotts." Hermione furrowed her brow tightly and paced back and forth before the fireplace. "But what could be inside?"

"I don't know." Harry shrugged. "At Gringotts, Hagrid refused to tell me exactly what it was. He only said it was official business Dumbledore had assigned him. And this time, we couldn't mention sneaking out last night, so we couldn't get anything out of him."

If they had not encountered the Three-Headed Dog this time, she would never have connected the Gringotts theft, the package Hagrid took away, and the thing beneath the trapdoor.

Seeing their troubled expressions, Vera thought for a while. She was not yet confident she could completely tame the Three-Headed Dog. Besides, this was originally a trial set by Dumbledore, and they had the entire school year to go there whenever they wanted.

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 find 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 will happen!"

Harry was still hesitating when the common room door was pushed open. 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!"

She hurriedly grabbed the broom lying nearby, then hesitantly looked back at Vera and Hermione before turning to 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 you've joined the team, but coming to watch practice..."

What he left unsaid was already obvious.

Harry's shoulders slumped in disappointment, but she quickly rallied. "All right, then. I'll go practice first!"

She waved to Vera and Hermione and left the common room with Wood.

Hermione looked thoughtfully at the closed door. "Quidditch practice... is it really that important?"

Vera wheeled herself toward 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're pinning their hopes on now, so naturally they have to be careful."

Hermione walked to her side and gazed worriedly at the distant pitch. "I hope Harry can adapt... she only rode a broom for the first time a few days ago."

"She has a great deal of talent," Vera said 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 rush. Magic is so wonderful. Someday... you'll definitely have a chance to fly too."

Vera froze for a moment, realizing that Hermione seemed to have misunderstood something. But she did not explain and merely nodded gently. "Mm. Thank you, Hermione."

"I didn't do anything." Hermione's face reddened slightly, and she hurriedly withdrew her hand. "I-I'm going to the library to do homework! Do you want to come?"

"All right." Vera wheeled herself after Hermione, and the two of them headed for the library together.

The library was quiet and warm. Sunlight streamed through the tall stained-glass windows, casting mottled patches of light across the ancient wooden tables.

Hermione found a corner seat by a window and pulled out a thick stack of books from her bag. "I'm going to start writing my Potions essay. What about you?"

Vera took out her textbooks and parchment from the expanded storage space of 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.

While writing her essay, Vera let part of her attention drift toward thoughts of last night's battle.

She already knew that fighting was the fastest way to gain experience. At this stage, her goal was to take part in as much real combat as possible while remaining safe.

But Hogwarts offered very few opportunities for that. Aside from Malfoy, an experience pack that refreshed at irregular intervals, the only real combat opportunity this year was the battle for the Philosopher's Stone at the end of the 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 realize 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.

"Why don't you come with us to Hagrid's next time?" Hermione suggested quietly. "Harry and I can take turns pushing you there."

As she spoke, she watched Vera's expression with some hesitation. "Or... do you have some other concern?"

Vera gently shook her head, her silver-gray hair glowing softly in the sunlight. "It's nothing. If there's another chance, I'll go with you."

From her previous encounters with Hagrid, the groundskeeper had seemed rather 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 Gryffindor, there was no need for her to shrink back over such a trivial matter.

Hermione gave a bright smile and was about to say something when Madam Pince suddenly appeared at their table. She stared at them sternly, as if one more word would earn them immediate expulsion.

The two quickly lowered their heads and got back to work.

A Public Apology

Time slipped away quietly with the movement of their quills. By the time the sunset glow had dyed the window frames red, more than half the people in the library had already left.

"We should head back." Hermione packed up her books. "Harry's practice should be ending soon."

Vera nodded, rolled up her parchment and tucked it into 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 eagerly described the training to them. "We practiced all kinds of ways to dodge Bludgers, high-speed dives... and he kept shouting, 'Potter, try again!'"

Vera watched her vividly imitate Wood's tone and poured her a glass of water. "But you still made it through."

And she looked very happy about it.

Harry accepted the glass, then scratched her hair a little sheepishly. "That's true. Flying freely on a broom really does feel incredible."

"But I think you need to take a bath first." Hermione wrinkled her nose at the sight of her soaked in sweat.

Only then did Harry notice her own smell. She smiled awkwardly. "I'll go right now!"

She grabbed a change of clothes and rushed into the bathroom, leaving Vera and Hermione to exchange amused smiles.

"Come to think of it," Vera said lazily as she watched Harry rush into the bathroom, "there's still one thing we haven't done."

"What else is there?" Hermione looked at her in confusion.

Vera only smiled without answering. She waited until Harry emerged from the bathroom before speaking cheerfully. "Come on. It's time to make someone fulfill the bet he made."

"A bet?" Harry came out of the bathroom while drying her wet hair, looking blankly at them.

Vera turned her wheelchair toward the door, her silver-gray hair glowing softly in the sunset. "Don't forget. Malfoy owes us an apology."

Hermione snapped the textbook in her hands shut, her brown eyes widening. "Wait, Vera, you really intend to—"

"Of course." Vera's lips curved slightly. "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 only fun when everyone was present.

Harry's green eyes immediately lit up, and she asked eagerly, "Then shall we go now?"

"Dry your hair first." Vera could not help smiling and shaking her head at her black hair, which was still dripping with water.

"Oh..." Harry scratched her damp hair awkwardly and quickly rubbed it with the towel a few more times.