Watching Harry’s eyes dimming with guilt, Vera sighed silently in her heart, gently patted Harry’s back of the hand, and changed the subject, “By the way, where has Nox gone?”
Hermione’s attention was immediately drawn: “Yeah, haven’t seen it since the feast began.”
Harry hurriedly looked around in all directions: “Ah, it’s right there!”
She reached out and pointed to a cat tree in the corner of the room, which the House-elves had thoughtfully prepared.
Nox was gracefully curled up on the top layer cushion, amber eyes half-closed, tail tip gently swinging.
“It really knows how to enjoy itself.” Harry smiled and walked over, reaching out to touch Nox’s head.
The cat lazily rubbed against her fingers, letting out a satisfied purr.
Vera watched this scene, the corners of her mouth unconsciously curving up.
She pushed her wheelchair to the window, and through the window could see the pitch-Black night sky outside and the outline of the Forbidden Forest in the distance.
“Vera,” Harry’s voice suddenly came from behind, with a bit of hesitation, “do you… really not mind being sorted into Gryffindor?”
Vera turned around, seeing Harry holding Nox, green eyes flashing with worried light under the light.
“You said that generations of the House of Black have all been Slytherin… You guys should value this a lot.”
Vera gazed into Harry’s pair of green eyes filled with concern, and Vera gently pushed her wheelchair in front of her.
“The Sorting Hat gave me the right to choose,” she softly said, “and I chose here.”
Harry blinked: “So… you chose Gryffindor yourself?”
“Mhm.” Vera nodded, her gaze falling on the lightning-shaped scar on Harry’s forehead, “I want to try a different path.”
Harry suddenly burst into a radiant smile, pounced over and tightly hugged Vera: “That’s wonderful! I am so, so glad you can be with us!”
Vera was taken somewhat off guard by this sudden embrace, her hands suspended in mid-air, not knowing where to put them.
Hermione gave a light cough from the side: “Harry, Vera might not be used to this…”
Only then did Harry realize her loss of composure, hurriedly letting go, her cheeks turning beet red: “Sorry, I was too excited!”
“It’s very late,” she calmly and softly said, “there are classes tomorrow, it’s time to rest.”
Nox raised its head from the pillow, lazily let out a “meow”, seemingly mocking its owner’s awkwardness.
Hermione immediately nodded in agreement: “That’s right! We must maintain abundant energy.”
The three girls each changed into their pajamas, and as the lights went out, the dormitory plunged into darkness, with only moonlight spilling in through the windows.
Harry tossed and turned in bed, finally unable to help asking in a low voice: “Vera, are you asleep?”
“No.” Vera’s calm voice came from the darkness.
“I’m too excited, I can’t sleep.” There was unmaskable joy in Harry’s voice, “Too many things happened today… I made friends, ate so much delicious food, and we’re all in the same house!”
Hermione’s voice came from the other bed: “Me too, my mind is full of the magic seen today… those floating candles, moving stairs, and the talking hat!”
Listening to the two girls’ excited voices, Vera felt that if she didn’t remind them again, they would probably be late tomorrow morning.
“It’s time to sleep,” she directly spoke up to interrupt the two girls’ daydreams, “if you really can’t sleep, try thinking about some small pieces of Potion knowledge, you should fall asleep very soon.”
“Potion knowledge?” Harry asked confusedly.
“For instance,” Vera explained, “powdered root of asphodel and infusion of wormwood together can make a very powerful sleeping draught; bezoar is a stone taken from the stomach of an ox; monkshood and wolfsbane are the very same plant…”
Her voice was soft and rhythmic, like a lullaby.
Before long, Harry and Hermione’s breathing gradually became even and long.
Vera curved her lips; although giving away test questions in advance was suspected of cheating, she really wanted to see what kind of reaction Snape would have when facing a girl with Lily’s eyes and Lily’s Potion talent.
Moonlight quietly spilled over the three girls, Hogwarts’ first night passed by just like that… or did it?
Listening to their breathing, Vera slowly sat up, turned her head to glance at the two already fast asleep beside her, and closed her eyes to feel the flow of the Magic Circuit within her body. Visit novelping.com for the full chapter.
Golden patterns faintly appeared under her skin, the crystal at her heart slightly vibrated, clearly feeding back the surrounding magic fluctuations.
Ever since approaching Hogwarts, she had sensed that the Ancient Magic flowing throughout the entire Castle seemed to be calling out to her.
As far as she knew, Hogwarts itself was constructed with Ancient Magic as its cornerstone.
In other words, this Castle itself was a large-scale product of Ancient Magic.
Vera opened her eyes, faint golden light flowing within her pupils.
Lightly and carefully pushing her wheelchair to the window, outside the window, the tree shadows of the Forbidden Forest swayed under the moonlight, the surface of the Black Lake in the distance shimmered with silver light, and the moonlight poured like water onto her silver-gray long hair.
Vera could clearly perceive that a powerful magic was coming from deep within the Castle, producing a subtle resonance with the Magic Circuit inside her body.
The Magic Circuit slowly circulated within her body, and she could faintly perceive the pulse of the Ancient Magic in the Castle—those runes sleeping in the stone walls, the ghost energy floating in the corridors, and even the energy source surging deep underground…
All of this made her nerves exceptionally excited.
Vera gently stroked the window frame, her fingertips touching the ancient stone bricks, and a faint magic fluctuation came through her fingers.
She closed her eyes, trying to use the Magic Circuit to perceive these fluctuations—
In an instant, her vision was filled with a golden light, countless ancient runes flickering on every single stone brick of the Castle, flowing like living creatures, weaving into a huge magic network covering the entire Hogwarts.
These runes were not evenly distributed.
In some places the runes were as dense as stars, while in others they were sparse and dim.
The strongest magic fluctuations came from eight directions—she carefully distinguished them, they should be the common rooms of the four houses, the Principal’s office, the Basilisk’s Chamber of Secrets underground, the room on the right side of the fourth-floor corridor where the Philosopher’s Stone was placed, and also…
Vera frowned slightly; she actually felt that deep underground in Hogwarts, there was an unusually powerful magic source, silently emitting an ominous aura.
Another Chamber of Secrets underground?
Just as she wanted to investigate further, a sharp pain suddenly came from her temples.
Vera gave a muffled grunt, having to interrupt her perception, taking a deep breath for a while.
It seemed that with her current Magic Circuit level, she still couldn’t maintain this large-scale magic perception for a long time.