Wheelchair War God Speedruns Hogwarts

Harry kept sneaking glances at her, seeming to want to speak but holding back, her eyes full of regret and unease. Hermione sat between the two of them with a troubled expression.

Whenever Harry tried to say something, Vera would avoid her gaze, leaving her no choice but to lower her head in dejection.

Ron cautiously leaned over. "What happened?"

Hermione shook her head, signaling for him not to ask.

Lunch was unusually silent. Hermione tried several times to liven up the atmosphere, but none of her attempts succeeded.

It was not until lunch was over that Vera pushed her wheelchair back, preparing to leave.

"Where are you going?!" Harry immediately stood up. "I mean... can I come with you?"

Vera stopped her wheelchair but did not turn around. She only said softly, "No need. I want to be alone for a while."

Harry's shoulders slumped at once. As she watched Vera push herself away alone, a silent mist of tears welled up in her eyes.

Ron looked at Vera in the distance, then at the dejected Harry beside him, and could not help lowering his voice as he asked Hermione, "Did you have a fight?"

"I... I said something wrong." Harry's voice was muffled as her fork unconsciously poked at the mashed potatoes on her plate. "I mentioned her legs..."

Hermione sighed. "Harry was just too worried. Vera disappeared by herself this morning, and we searched for her for a long time."

"Oh..." Ron suddenly understood, then scratched his red hair in confusion. "But why would she get angry over that? Isn't Vera always very independent?"

"That's exactly the problem." Hermione said helplessly. "Vera doesn't like being treated as someone who needs special care. And do you think she'd like people constantly emphasizing that?"

Ron seemed to understand, then frowned in confusion again. "But it's the truth..."

Hermione rolled her eyes. "Ronald Weasley! Sometimes the truth can hurt people too!"

Listening to their back-and-forth conversation, Harry buried her face in her hands in frustration. "I'm such an idiot..."

"No, Harry..." Hermione felt a headache coming on and hurriedly tried to comfort her. "You were just too worried about her. At most... you just didn't handle it the right way!"

Ron hurriedly chimed in as well. "Yeah! And Vera usually seems so easygoing. Who knew she'd care about that..."

"You'd better stop talking!" Hermione snapped, turning to glare at him.

Ron wisely shut his mouth and mimed zipping it closed.

Harry shook her head, her green eyes full of self-reproach. "No, it's my fault..."

Seeing her friend sink into a withdrawn state, Hermione could not help rubbing her forehead. She could only continue comforting her. "Vera isn't the kind of person to hold a grudge. As long as you apologize properly, she won't blame you."

Harry looked up, a glimmer of hope flashing through her eyes. "Really?"

"Of course." Hermione nodded firmly. "You're best friends, aren't you?"

Harry took a deep breath, seeming to make up her mind. "Yeah! I'll go find her right now!"

"No... you, sit down!" Hermione hurriedly grabbed her sleeve. "Vera said she wanted to be alone. If you go now, it'll only make things worse!"

"What should I do, then?" Harry's shoulders slumped again, and she looked like a pitiful kitten abandoned by its owner.

Hermione scratched her head in conflict. "Give her some space. Talk things over properly when you get back to the dorm tonight."

Ron muttered softly from the side, "If you ask me, just give her something she likes..."

Hermione was about to refute him when Harry's eyes suddenly lit up. "Ron's right! I'll go prepare something!"

But after she had only taken two steps, she hesitated and stopped. Turning back with a pitiful expression, she said, "But... I still don't know what Vera likes..."

Hermione and Ron looked at each other, momentarily speechless.

Indeed, Vera usually seemed too independent and reserved, rarely revealing her personal preferences.

"As for food... Chocolate Frogs?" Ron suggested tentatively. "Or you could just buy her a big gift pack of snacks?"

Hermione shook her head. "That's too ordinary... Vera doesn't seem like the sort of person who'd be moved by candy."

Harry bit her lip and thought for a moment. Then her eyes suddenly lit up. "Right, she likes looking at the stars... I know what to give her!"

As she spoke, she hurriedly got up, only for Hermione to grab her again. "Wait, Harry. Remember, the important thing is apologizing, not what gift you give. The gift is just an excuse to break the ice."

Harry took a deep breath and nodded seriously. "I understand. Thank you, Hermione."

With that, she rushed out of the Great Hall like a gust of wind.

Hermione sighed helplessly. "I hope things go smoothly for her this time..."

Ron shrugged. "At least it's better than watching her mope around."

Meanwhile, Vera pushed her wheelchair onto the lawn by the Black Lake.

The early autumn sunlight was warm without being harsh. The lake shimmered, and every so often, the tentacles of the Giant Squid swept across its surface.

She took a deep breath, trying to calm the frustration in her chest.

She was not truly angry at Harry. It was just... when she heard Harry blurt out those words, an indescribable stabbing pain had suddenly struck her.

Vera lowered her head and looked at her completely numb legs, her fingertips gently brushing over her knees.

She closed her eyes and felt the breeze caress her cheeks.

By now, Vera could no longer clearly remember what she had looked like in her previous life.

But the inconvenience of her body still made her firmly remember that feeling which had once been utterly ordinary, yet now seemed exceptionally precious—

The feeling of being able to walk normally.

Sometimes, when she woke from dreams in the middle of the night, she would return to the vague routine of her past life. Then, upon waking and feeling the dull pain and numbness in her body, she would once again fall into the pain of loss.

Because she could not forget, she cared so deeply.

Because she had only just failed, gained hope, and then watched it swiftly shatter, that one seemingly caring remark had wounded her so deeply.

Vera took a deep breath. Watching the sunlight dance across the lake, she slowly pulled herself free from those self-tormenting emotions.

She knew that she had overreacted, but at that moment, she truly needed some time alone to sort out her feelings.

Once she went back, she would apologize to Harry.

Just as she was about to close her eyes, she heard footsteps approaching from behind.

Author's note: Promo: "The Evil God Young Ladies Are Conquering the World"

Hermione, a New Kind of Mother

The instant she heard the footsteps, Vera almost instinctively assumed that Harry had come looking for her.

But when she turned around and saw the familiar brown hair beneath the sunlight, aside from being briefly dazed, she felt that this was only the natural course of events.

After all, Hermione was a mutual friend of hers and Harry's, and at the time... she had been there as well.

More importantly, as far as Vera knew, Hermione had not had many friends in primary school. It was only after coming to Hogwarts that she had met them.

For the sake of preventing the two friends she had finally made from falling out, and so that Hermione would not have to face the dilemma of "after the divorce, do I go with Dad or Mum," it was only natural that she would come to mediate their conflict.

Vera gently turned her wheelchair to face Hermione. "You came."

Hermione sat down beside her and instinctively pulled the blanket over Vera's legs up a little.

Then, to Vera's surprise, Hermione did not immediately try to make peace on Harry's behalf. Instead, she sat comfortably on the grass beside her and tilted her head up to bask in the sunlight.

"The scenery here is really nice," Hermione said softly. "It's much quieter than the library."

Vera paused slightly, then nodded. "Yeah."

The two of them sat quietly like that for a while before Hermione spoke again. "Come to think of it, Vera, you seem to really like being alone."

"...Yeah." Vera responded softly, her gaze resting on the distant lake.

For some reason, she did not quite know how to explain it to Hermione.

If it had been Harry, she could at least have said a few things, but Hermione...

Hermione of the Golden Trio was actually an extremely perceptive person, completely different from the somewhat oblivious Harry.

The things that might placate Harry would not work very well on Hermione.

Hermione turned to look at her, a gentle smile in her brown eyes. "Actually, I understand. Sometimes I like being alone too, especially when I need to think."

Vera nodded slightly, her silver-gray hair drifting gently in the breeze. "Being alone lets people hear their own voices more clearly."

"But sometimes," Hermione said softly, "some voices can be shared. I mean, shared with someone you trust."

Vera turned and met Hermione's gaze.

It was so sincere and gentle that she found it hard to look directly at her.

"Hermione..." She opened her mouth, unsure what to say, then closed it again helplessly.

Seeing her hesitant expression, Hermione shook her head helplessly, swiftly rose to her feet, and braced both hands directly on Vera's wheelchair. She leaned down and looked straight into Vera's slightly bewildered eyes.

What beautiful eyes.

Hermione silently marveled to herself. They were dark as ink, yet faintly glimmered with a touch of golden light. One look was enough to draw someone in.

"...You're a little too close, Hermione." Feeling the girl's warm breath almost brushing against her cheek, Vera turned her head away uneasily and muttered a quiet reminder.

"Too close? I don't think so at all." Not only did Hermione fail to back away, she leaned even closer. Vera's reflection was mirrored in her brown eyes. "Vera, do you know? Sometimes I think you're even more awkward than Harry."

Vera's face flushed faintly. She tried to push her wheelchair backward, but Hermione firmly held the armrests. "Hermione, stop messing around..."

"I'm not messing around." Hermione stubbornly gripped the armrests, staring fixedly at her. "Even if you don't say it, I've noticed it all, Vera... Every time Harry and I wanted to help push your wheelchair, you always reflexively refused, didn't you?"

As though Hermione had exposed her deepest secret, Vera froze, then lowered her head in slight panic. Her long silver-gray hair fell forward, concealing her expression.

"I... I don't." The dry denial sounded unconvincing even to herself.

Hermione sighed, released the wheelchair's armrests, and crouched down so that she was level with Vera. "Vera, do you know? You're always like this... You could lean on us, but you insist on carrying everything alone."

Vera's fingers unconsciously tightened around the blanket over her knees. Her voice was so low it was nearly inaudible. "I just... don't want to become a burden to you."

"A burden?" Hermione's eyes widened as though she had heard something absurd. "How could you think that?"

Vera looked up, a flicker of vulnerability passing through her black eyes. "That's simply the truth. My legs... make me need other people's help with many things."

Even though she did not want any of this so-called kind assistance.

Even though she knew that this twisted mentality came from the fact that she had never truly prepared herself to accept every reality of this body.

Abruptly cast into another world and trapped in this incomplete body, she could only find herself a goal and constantly tell herself every day that all of this could be improved.

Otherwise... the original Vera, who had died amid despair and pain, would become a warning of what awaited her.

"So what?" Hermione asked without hesitation. "Harry needs me to help organize her notes, Ron always rushes through his homework at the last minute, Neville often loses his toad, and Seamus is always causing explosions.

Even I get called Miss Know-It-All... Everyone has their own weaknesses, but that doesn't mean they're burdens."

Vera was stunned for a moment, staring somewhat absentmindedly into Hermione's shining eyes.

Hermione smiled faintly, and her voice softened with it. "Vera, do you know? You're the smartest, strongest person I've ever met.

You always handle every situation calmly, learn spells faster than anyone else, and can even deal with troublesome people like Malfoy with ease...

Honestly, sometimes I'm even jealous of your talent... But that doesn't mean you have to face everything alone."

Vera was silent for a while before she softly said, "I'm just... used to it."

"Then learn to change that habit." Hermione placed her hand over Vera's. "We're friends, aren't we? It's perfectly normal for friends to help each other."

Looking at Hermione's earnest expression, Vera felt the pent-up heaviness in her chest gradually disperse.

After a long while, she slowly spoke. "Hermione, you really are good at persuading people."

Hermione froze, a faint blush rising to her face. She turned away awkwardly. "I just... said the truth."

Seeing the future Minister of Magic blush so rarely, Vera's lips curved slightly as she relented. "Actually, I know I overreacted at lunch."

"No, you absolutely had the right to be angry!" Hermione frowned. "But Harry truly didn't mean it. She cares too much about you, so she spoke without thinking."

Vera sighed softly. "I understand."

"So... you're not angry anymore?" Hermione asked tentatively.

Vera looked up, the corners of her lips lifting slightly. "Mm."

Only then did Hermione breathe a sigh of relief and flash a bright smile. "That's great! I knew Vera was the most reasonable!"

Author's note: Promo: "Warhammer 40K: Picked Up Doro While Going Out?"

When the Emperor first walked among mankind, amid the snow-white landscape and the mocking crowd, he saw a small white figure, battered and bruised, so pitiful and helpless.

"Human, take me with you. As long as I'm wherever you are, I'll be happy."

The Emperor smiled. He reached out and gently smoothed the Doro before him as he said, "Is that so? All right, but the place I'm going is very, very far away. Will you still follow me?"