“Hello.” Witt walked over and greeted her politely.
“Hello.” Lily returned the greeting before asking curiously, “Is there something you need?” “I can sense magic in you.
Are you a witch?” Witt lied without so much as blinking.
He couldn’t sense any magic at all.
He had simply guessed from the System’s description that Lily was probably a witch.
“A witch?” At Witt’s words, Lily immediately thought of all the strange things that had been happening to her.
“Like this.” Witt glanced around.
After making sure no one was paying attention to them, he raised his wand.
“Lumos.” A bright, gentle light appeared, reflected in Lily’s eyes.
Lily covered her mouth with both hands to stop herself from crying out.
“A witch?
Like witches in stories?” “Not exactly.” Witt smiled as he explained, “The witches and wizards in stories are a little different from real ones.” “I’m a witch too?” Lily’s eyes widened, practically sparkling.
“That’s right.” Witt glanced at the people passing nearby and lowered his voice.
“Is there somewhere quiet around here?
There are too many people here to talk properly.” Lily was far too excited to notice anything suspicious.
She immediately led Witt to an empty patch of ground where she often played.
A dead tree stood there.
“Can you teach me how to use magic like that?” “Sure.” Witt agreed without hesitation.
“I’ll teach you a very useful spell.
Repeat after me.” “Imperio.” “It can make people, or other creatures, obey absolutely anything you tell them to do.
It’s extremely powerful.” As Witt explained, he cast the spell on a small bird passing overhead.
Under the spell’s influence, the bird obediently flew down onto his hand and even began to dance.
Lily stared at it, her eyes glittering with stars.
She copied Witt and recited the incantation.
Nothing happened.
“Why doesn’t mine work?” “Practising spells is complicated.
Besides, you don’t even have a wand yet.” “Is a wand that little stick you’re holding?” “This is not a stick,” Witt stressed.
“In the wizarding world, judging things by appearance is a terrible habit.” “Magic isn’t something you can learn overnight.
You need lots of practice.
It took me several months to learn this spell.” “All right.” Lily nodded, though she was clearly reluctant to accept it.
Under Witt’s guidance, Lily practised for the entire afternoon.
Eventually, she finally managed to produce a tiny shower of sparks.
Witt immediately applauded.
“Lily, that’s amazing!
It took me a whole week before I could do that.” “Really?” After spending the entire afternoon foolishly waving the wand around, Lily’s face lit up with delight.
Witt’s praise made her extremely happy.
At exactly the same moment, a notification appeared before Witt.
[Quest Complete.] Since the Quest was finished, it was time for him to leave.
“Lily, it’s getting late.
I should head back.
Can I have my wand?” The instant Witt took the wand back from Lily’s hand, a young boy whom Witt found strangely familiar suddenly rushed out.
“He’s lying to you!” Young Severus Snape had noticed Lily a long time ago.
He simply hadn’t yet found the right opportunity to approach her and introduce himself.
He had never expected someone else to beat him to it today.
The moment he saw Lily standing with Witt and smiling so happily, Snape charged over without even thinking.
Just as Snape reached them, Witt’s System issued another notification.
[Quest Complete #@￥@#%￥.] The next second, a strange ripple passed through the air.
All three of them vanished.
Because Lily had been holding Witt’s hand, she was dragged along with him all the way to Hogwarts.
Snape wasn’t nearly as lucky.
He was randomly dumped on top of a rubbish heap somewhere in London.
He looked utterly miserable.
At that very same moment, the Book of Admittance gently opened at Hogwarts, and the Quill of Acceptance wrote down two new names.
Lily Evans.
Severus Snape.
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━ Inside the room, Dumbledore and McGonagall saw something blur before their eyes.
A moment later, two people appeared in front of them.
Lily shook her dizzy head and slowly stood.
“Where is this?” She clearly remembered standing in the empty clearing just moments ago.
How had she suddenly ended up somewhere completely different?
“Mr Cress.” Dumbledore asked gently, “And who might this young lady be?” “My name is Lily.
Lily Evans.” Lily answered timidly.
She looked around at the unfamiliar surroundings before cautiously hiding behind Witt.
“Where are we?” Lily Evans.
The name struck Dumbledore and McGonagall like a bolt of lightning.
Long buried memories resurfaced.
Both of them carefully studied the Lily standing before them.
“So alike…” Dumbledore murmured.
“Remarkably alike.
Practically identical.” “Professor McGonagall, look.” “Identical,” McGonagall confirmed.
“Mr Cress.” Both of them turned towards Witt at the same time and asked in unison, “Would you care to explain?” “Explain?” Witt answered with complete straightforwardness.
“She wanted to learn magic, and helping people is one of my favourite things to do.
So I spent the afternoon teaching her how to use Imperio.” “She hasn’t managed to cast it successfully yet, but she’s learning very quickly.
I’m sure it won’t be long before she masters such a simple spell.” Witt planted his hands on his hips, his entire expression practically saying, I was doing a good deed.
Go on, praise me.
“Imperio.” McGonagall pursed her lips and tilted her head as she stared at Witt.
What kind of wizard taught someone the Imperius Curse as their very first spell?
Was he in that much of a hurry to get himself sent to Azkaban?
Looking at Witt’s completely oblivious expression, McGonagall had a distinct premonition that Hogwarts was unlikely to remain peaceful once he enrolled.
She could only hope he wouldn’t be Sorted into Gryffindor.
Dumbledore, meanwhile, was far more concerned about Lily.
“Where exactly did you go?
And do you remember how you returned?” “How would I know?
You’re asking me, but who am I supposed to ask?” Witt spread his hands, utterly confident despite having no answer whatsoever.
The System never provided any background information when it issued Quests.
Witt genuinely had no idea where he had gone.
As for how he had returned?
He’d blinked, and suddenly he was back.
Witt couldn’t explain the mechanics of it either.
The two of them stared at one another, neither willing to back down.
Then Lily, standing beside them, suddenly realised the real problem.
Her eyes filled with tears.
“Does this mean…
I can’t go home?” The moment Witt saw her start crying, he panicked and tried to comfort her.
Unfortunately, he had absolutely no idea what to say.
After struggling for quite a while, he finally blurted out, “If you can’t go back, I’ll take care of you!” Lily cried even harder.