Right at this moment, a rustling sound came from behind.
Vera turned her head, seeing Harry rubbing her eyes and sitting up from the bed, her voice sounding still somewhat drowsy: “Vera? I heard your voice… Are you okay?”
The moment she heard the voice, Vera quickly reined in her mind, turning her head to look at Harry who was sitting up: “I’m fine, just a little unable to sleep.”
Harry yawned, walked barefoot to her side, her green eyes appearing exceptionally bright under the moonlight: “Did you have a nightmare? I sometimes do too… often waking up in the middle of the night when I was at my aunt’s house.”
Vera shook her head: “Not a nightmare, just need to get used to the new environment.”
Harry nodded understandingly, reached out to hold Vera’s hand, and sat directly in front of the windowsill: “Then let’s watch the stars for a bit together, you can see a lot of stars from Gryffindor Tower.”
Vera looked at Harry’s profile as she gazed up at the starry sky, the moonlight plating a layer of silver edge onto her little face.
Silently curving her lips, Vera tidied up her mood, raising her hand to point at the brightest star in the night sky: “That one is Venus, the bright orange star over there is Arcturus…”
Harry widened her eyes curiously: “You know so much, I can’t tell these stars apart at all.”
“Because most people in the House of Black are named after stars,” Vera softly explained, “my father is named Regulus, which means the heart of Leo; I also have an uncle…”
Mentioning Sirius, Vera’s voice unconsciously lowered.
At this time, it was better not to let Harry know too much.
Harry keenly perceived her emotional change, gently squeezing her hand: “What about you? Vera, what star are you?”
Vera was slightly stunned, raising her head to look at the sky: “My name is taken from Vela, written as Vela in Latin.”
As she spoke, she grabbed Harry’s hand, writing her own name on her palm.
Harry’s palm curled slightly due to the ticklish sensation, but she still attentively watched the trajectory of Vera’s fingers tracing across her skin.
“Vela…” she softly recited, her green eyes filled with starlight, “As expected, I thought this was a very pretty name right from the start!”
Vera blankly looked into her eyes, instinctively pulling back her hand, her fingertips still retaining the warmth of Harry’s palm: “It’s time to sleep, there are classes tomorrow.”
Harry took one more reluctant look at the starry sky, suddenly getting up and hugging her: “Then… thank you for telling me about the stars.”
This embrace came and went quickly; by the time Vera came to her senses, Harry had already bounced back to bed, hugging her pillow and blinking at her: “Good night, sweet dreams!” New chapters come out on novelping dot com first.
Vera opened her mouth, in the end only softly giving an “Mhm”, pushing her wheelchair back to her bedside, and quietly lying down.
…
Early the next morning, Vera was woken up by Nox’s tail.
Nox was sitting upright on her pillow, amber eyes fixed firmly outside the window.
The sky was just beginning to break, and the morning light spilled through the window, casting a pale golden halo over the entire dormitory.
Vera gently sat up and found that Harry and Hermione were still fast asleep—
Harry’s quilt had already been kicked onto the floor, sprawled out on the bed in a star shape, her glasses crooked to one side; Hermione, on the other hand, was lying on her back quite properly, still mumbling in her sleep.
She smiled silently, used the Levitation Charm to pick up the quilt and tuck Harry back in, then wheeled herself over to the window.
From this height, the Black Lake could be seen shimmering with rippling light in the morning sun, while the distant Forbidden Forest was shrouded in a thin mist, appearing mysterious and deep.
“Meow.” Nox leaped lightly onto her shoulder, rubbing her cheek against hers.
“I know,” Vera responded softly, “For the first day of class, we cannot be late.”
Taking her time to change into her school robes, she washed up simply and put on her school robes.
As Vera was combing her hair, a slight sound came from behind—Hermione sat up abruptly from the bed, her brown curly hair fried out like a fluffy marshmallow.
“What time is it?” she asked in a panic, fumbling flusteredly for her alarm clock.
“Seven-ten,” Vera replied, “There is still plenty of time to get ready.”
Hermione let out a sigh of relief, then looked in surprise at Vera, who was already fully dressed and ready: “You are already ready?”
Vera nodded: “I am used to getting up early.”
In fact, she had purposely asked Nox to wake her up early; otherwise, it would be very inconvenient for everyone to rush for time to wash up and tidy up in the morning.
Hermione immediately jumped out of bed, murmuring quietly while rummaging through her textbooks: “Transfiguration Class, Herbology Class… Goodness! I wonder if we will make it in time!”
Her movements woke Harry up, and the Savior sat up dazedly with her glasses crooked on the bridge of her nose: “What happened?”
“First day of school,” Vera wheeled herself to the side of her bed, reached out to pinch her cheek, and took off her crooked glasses, “If you do not get up now, you will be late.”
Harry snapped awake instantly, almost rolling off the bed: “Did I oversleep?”
“No,” Vera handed her the glasses, “but Hermione has already entered battle readiness.”
Harry rubbed her eyes and looked at Hermione—the latter was flipping through two books at the same time, chanting and reciting something under her breath.
“Is she… always like this?” Harry blinked and asked quietly.
Vera shrugged: “It seems so.”
The three girls quickly got themselves sorted out, and when they walked into the Great Hall, the morning light was streaming in through the tall stained-glass windows, and many students were already seated at the four long tables.
Vera wheeled herself to an empty seat at the Gryffindor long table, and Hermione had already impatiently picked up A Beginner’s Guide to Transfiguration to start reviewing.
“Hermione, you at least need to eat something first,” Vera reminded her softly, casually pouring her a cup of pumpkin juice.
Hermione snapped out of her trance and put down her books: “Oh, right, thank you.”
Harry was wolfing down her food beside them, like a small beast that had been starved for three days.
Vera glanced over; Harry’s plate was piled high with bacon and fried eggs, yet there were almost no vegetables.
She felt somewhat helpless and gently pushed a bowl of fruit and vegetable salad over: “A balanced diet.”
Harry smiled sheepishly, obediently stuffing a bit of tomato and lettuce into her mouth, and only after swallowing cleanly did she whisper an explanation: “When I was at home… *hiccup*! Dudley would always snatch away all the delicious parts.”
For instance, most of the fruit pulp, or the parts of the steak that were not burnt.
Vera’s gaze darkened, falling upon Harry’s thin wrists, and she gently pushed a glass of orange juice in front of her: “No one here will snatch your food, eat slowly.”
Harry nodded, not forgetting to urge her in return, “Vera, you hurry up and eat too!”
As she spoke, she speared a piece of fried egg with a fork and held it to Vera’s mouth, her green eyes full of anticipation: “Taste this?”
Vera was slightly stunned, looking at the fork right in front of her.
After hesitating for a moment, she leaned forward slightly and gently bit off that piece of fried egg.
“Mmm, not bad,” she evaluated softly, then turned her head away, chewing silently a few times before slowly swallowing the food down.