As Vera was pondering, the sound of hurried footsteps suddenly came from the corner of the corridor.
Harry and Hermione poked their heads out from behind a stone pillar, their eyes brimming with worry, “Vera! Professor McGonagall didn’t give you a hard time, did she?”
Vera wheeled herself over to them and shook her head gently, “We just chatted about Transfiguration, and the Professor said I performed pretty well.”
Hermione visibly heaved a sigh of relief, and then grew excited again, “Professor McGonagall’s Transfiguration is so amazing! I simply can’t believe she can turn into a cat! And did you notice? The pattern on her glasses is exactly the same as the markings on the cat’s body!”
“An Animagus transformation retains some human characteristics,” Vera explained softly, “such as the pattern of the glasses, or habitual movements.”
Hermione looked at her with adoration, “You even know this? Which book is it written in?”
Looking with a wry smile at her thirst for knowledge, Vera recited the title of the book, and saw Hermione immediately pull out a small notebook to jot down the title, muttering under her breath, “Mm, I must borrow it to read…”
Seeing Hermione’s appearance, Harry couldn’t help laughing out loud, “Hermione, do you want to study yourself into a walking encyclopedia?!”
Hermione blushed and quickly put away her small notebook, “I just feel that… since we’ve come to the magical world, we should understand this knowledge as much as possible.”
“Having a thirst for knowledge is a good thing,” Vera nodded, “We don’t have classes this morning, shall we go back to the common room, or go to the Library?”
Unlike in the movies, the courses for first-year students at Hogwarts were actually relatively loose, with only eleven or twelve classes throughout the week, the purpose of which was to allow new students to have enough ample time to explore the Castle and familiarize themselves with the paths.
Harry was stunned, asking somewhat perplexedly, “The Library? What are we doing going there?”
Vera gently turned her wheelchair and looked towards the stairs at the end of the corridor, “The homework Professor McGonagall just assigned, do you not plan to do it?”
“This…” Harry instinctively showed a troubled expression.
As a standard Gryffindor, compared to sitting in the Library writing homework, she clearly wanted to explore the Castle much more.
She scratched her hair and muttered softly, “But it’s still early… Can’t we familiarize ourselves with the Castle first? Those stairs are really too complicated…”
Looking at Harry’s conflicted and expectant eyes, Vera couldn’t help softening a bit, and turned her head to look at Hermione, “What do you think?”
Hermione bit her lip, clearly struggling between her thirst for knowledge and her adventurous spirit, “Mm… Actually, I really want to see other parts of the Castle too, but if the homework isn’t finished…”
Vera chuckled softly, “Then we’ll explore the Castle first, and go to the Library in the afternoon.”
“I have no objections!” Harry immediately raised her hand to express her stance.
Seeing that Hermione’s expression also softened, she immediately pushed Vera’s wheelchair, “Let’s go! I heard there are lots of interesting portraits and ghosts in the Castle!”
The three of them walked along the corridor and began exploring the Castle.
They encountered quite a few ghosts, most of whom greeted them friendly.
Even luckier was that this time they didn’t run into Peeves, who was famous for playing pranks on teachers and students, throughout the whole trip.
Often they would just hear from afar that Peeves was teasing someone, and when they chased after it to check, apart from the students being pranked, they never saw a ghost shadow again.
And under the effect of the powerful Levitation Charm, Vera’s wheelchair easily coped with all kinds of stairs, which made both Harry and Hermione heave a sigh of relief.
“Look, there really are moving stairs!” Hermione looked in pleasant surprise at a moving staircase not far away, “It’s truly magical.”
Harry curiously stepped a few steps closer to observe, “So these stairs move randomly?”
“It seems so,” Hermione shook her head, “There doesn’t seem to be a fixed schedule showing when these stairs will move or disappear.”
Vera looked thoughtfully at the stairs not far away, and secretly activated her Magic Circuit.
In her vision, faint golden patterns emerged on those ancient stairs—those were the traces of Ancient Magic, flowing like living things on the surface of the stone steps, guiding the movement trajectory of the stairs.
However, since it was magic, there would be rules to follow.
Her gaze swept around for a moment, and finally locked onto an inconspicuous carving on the stair railing.
A very subtle golden light was glowing on a carved flower of the railing, and whenever that rune lit up, the stairs would begin to move.
It’s just that people who hadn’t awakened their Magic Circuit couldn’t see these golden lights; otherwise, with Hogwarts having existed for so many years and outstanding Wizards being as numerous as crucian carp crossing a river, someone should have noticed the pattern long ago. Follow the newest chapters on novelping(.)com.
Vera looked thoughtfully at that hidden gleam of light, and said gently, “It’s almost noon, let’s go to the Great Hall to grab a bite to eat.”
As soon as she finished speaking, Harry’s stomach suddenly made rumbling noises.
She covered her lower belly somewhat shyly, blinking her eyes, “Then let’s hurry up and go!”
Although Hermione still wanted to continue studying the rules of the stairs, upon hearing that they were going to the Great Hall, she had to temporarily put aside her curiosity and turn around.
Vera pushed her wheelchair, deliberately lagging a few steps behind them, and gently touched the glowing carving with her fingertips.
The entire staircase suddenly stopped moving.
She raised her lips with a bit of excitement, and as her fingers slowly moved away, the stairs quietly resumed their movement once more.
Utilizing the Magic Circuit could indeed affect the internal facilities of Hogwarts…
Vera immediately withdrew her hand, glanced at the stairs behind her, and pushed her wheelchair to catch up.
It was lunchtime, and the Great Hall was bustling with activity, with the four long tables laden with all kinds of delicacies.
As soon as Harry sat down, she began piling food into her plate, while Hermione ate while flipping through the textbook for the afternoon Herbology Class, not forgetting to remind them to write their homework after the Herbology Class ended.
Vera quietly enjoyed her lunch, her gaze inadvertently sweeping across the staff table—Professor Quirrell was lowering his head, absent-mindedly stirring the food in his plate, while Snape occasionally cast sharp glances toward the Gryffindor long table.
“Vera,” Harry suddenly leaned closer, lowering her voice, “Why is that Professor over there always staring at our side?”
Vera withdrew her gaze nonchalantly, “That is Professor Snape, our Potion Class teacher. He… is perhaps observing the performance of the new students.”
Harry curled her lips, clearly disbelieving this explanation, “His gaze is so weird… Do you think Potion Class will be very difficult?”
“As long as you follow the steps, there won’t be any problems,” Vera comforted softly, suddenly remembering something, “Right, do you still remember the Potion knowledge I mentioned last night?”
Harry blinked, “The one where asphodel root powder and wormwood can make sleeping pills?”
“Mm.” Vera nodded, slightly raising her lips to say, “They are all key points of knowledge, just remember them.”