The Evil Thoughts of Hogwarts and the Genie

At three o'clock in the afternoon, Edmund arrived at the Arch Bridge Courtyard on time. There were always few people in the courtyard; most of the older students who came out for some fresh air gathered in the garden on the other side of the castle. Even when they came to stroll around the Arch Bridge Courtyard, they didn't like to linger in the courtyard.

Therefore, he immediately saw the person who had asked him to meet him.

Lily Evans had her back to him and was looking down through the courtyard fence.

Edmund looked at her red hair cascading over her shoulders and couldn't help but think of his mother, Elena.

"Hey! Lily," he greeted her. "You came out early...wow!"

Edmund stepped forward and discovered a stack of Muggle magazines, quite thick, on the stone bench next to Lily; it was clearly a gift from Mrs. Evans.

The little witch heard his call, turned around, and smiled at him.

To be honest, this can hardly be called a fleeting glimpse of beauty. How beautiful can an 11-year-old girl be?

Besides, she has almost no sense of gender, and her smile was just out of politeness, not to exude any hormones.

Demoiselle still felt a pang of unease. He had lived for a very, very long time, so long that he had almost lost his appreciation for human faces.

Even so, that scene was still beautiful—Lily Evans has a unique quality, kind and innocent, truly like a flawless lily.

Without a doubt, she was a good person with a pure soul.

If she can retain this innocence and maintain her kind beliefs as she grows up...

……

When she is forced by circumstances to make a wish and sell her soul—that will be true bliss for Edmund.

It's a joyful time to give the middle finger to God.

A flurry of thoughts raced through Edmund's mind, and when he spoke again, he exclaimed with exaggerated surprise:

"Merlin! How many books did your mother send? How's your owl?"

Upon hearing this, Lily gave a weak smile. She instinctively shook her head, then regained her composure.

"Hmm, it's alright! I sent Xiaoduo back to rest. It seems fine, just has a big appetite..."

After she finished speaking, she vaguely realized that she was complaining, and blinked sheepishly.

"But it's okay."

"Are you sure it's alright? If your owl gets injured, I'll definitely have some medicine on hand." Edmund asked politely.

"And why didn't you ask me for help? I was the one who needed your help, yet you ended up walking such a long way and carrying such heavy things all by yourself."

Lily smiled, but her expression was a little strange.

"It's not heavy, but it is a bit tiring—but that has nothing to do with you. It's because I didn't calculate it properly and didn't realize that my magic is limited."

Lily drew her wand, gestured, and mouthed "Yugadim Leviosa".

Edmund laughed too.

"That's amazing." He praised her generously. "I didn't even think of using magic. You're much more of a wizard than I am."

Lily shook her head sheepishly, her face showing both fatigue and hesitation. Seeing Edmund already heading towards the stack of magazines, she cleared her throat and said awkwardly:

"Oh, oh! I'm sorry, Edmund! It's like this, my mother heard that some wizards were very interested in Muggle magazines, and she misunderstood and thought you wanted to learn about Muggle culture."

"I feel like she didn't really screen them before sending me this huge pile of old magazines. I just looked through them, and a few of them did contain some knitting techniques, but most of them were..." Muggle clothing.

It's not that Lily doesn't like to dress up, but exposing her own aesthetic tastes in front of a boy her own age makes her feel subtly ashamed.

Edmund wasn't embarrassed at all; on the contrary, the last time he was unearthed... oh no, the last time he had a physical body was almost 200 years ago.

Humans at that time had already begun to develop technology at a frenzy, and more and more new things emerged: cars, telephones, batteries, movies—any one of which greatly shocked this old relic.

but,

but?

"What is this?" Edmund asked humbly and eagerly. "This thing—Lily, please come and take a look—"

Lily sensed something was amiss and saw that he was indeed pointing to a classic photograph, which, as she had expected, was printed in a rather blurry but large print... The little witch gave a wry smile.

"Oh, it's normal that you don't know... I was surprised by that before! But Alice doesn't know either. I asked Potter and the others, but they didn't know either, and they weren't interested... Oh no, Remus is very interested, but unfortunately I can't explain it to him."

"Lily," Edmund urged in a calm tone.

"Sorry, I didn't mean to keep you in suspense—this is Apollo 11."

As the little witch spoke, she let out a long, inexplicable sigh.

"Our school also taught us that, 'On July 20, 1969, NASA's Apollo program was successfully completed, and Armstrong and Aldrin became the first humans to set foot on the moon.'"

Lily shook her head regretfully.

"My father didn't like this news, absolutely not. He's a space enthusiast... or rather, a science fiction enthusiast? Anyway, he's a die-hard fan of weird books like Dune."

"So he always said it was fake, a conspiracy and a lie by the US government. He thought these photos were all forged because he wanted Britain to be the first to land on the moon."

At this point, Lily seemed to find the whole thing rather funny. She tried to purse her lips, but her eyes held a nostalgic look.

"My mother would then deliberately provoke him, saying that even the Soviet Union couldn't find enough evidence to disprove it, so how could it be fake?" She shook her head. "A few times I felt they were really arguing, sigh. To be honest, I don't understand what they had to argue about."

The little witch said, bewildered:

"Isn't this a good thing?"

……

Is this a good thing?

Edmund devoured the magazine that contained the story...the event, his feelings incredibly complex.

"This is insane."

He muttered something, and Lily, who was standing next to him, thought he was responding to her parents' argument, so she chimed in.

Only God knows how complex Edmund's feelings were at that moment. So many years had passed—he had lived for so many years, and that old God still wouldn't let him go.

He neither wanted him to suffer nor could He bear to see him easily obtain what he truly desired.

While Edmund was thinking that becoming a wizard with magical powers was pretty good, the Muggles had already gone to heaven with a "bang"!

If he had tricked an ordinary person into giving him a body without magic, would he have been able to discover all of this sooner?

If he hadn't lost his three artifacts, he could have immediately gone to learn from Muggles... to learn the new knowledge that humans possess. He could have personally boarded that damned rocket, flown into space, and seen this wretched yet beautiful blue planet.

……

However, after feeling upset for a while, he let it go.

He was used to bad luck, and besides, there were bound to be others who were even angrier and more frustrated than him in this situation. They were sure to cause that old man a lot of trouble, forcing him to run around in a panic.

Thinking about this, Edmund no longer felt sad.

The corners of his mouth curled up in a strange way:

"I have to thank you, Lily." Edmund hugged the magazine tightly.

"I love it. I love it so much, so much that if your mother had any other magazines related to this, I would trade it for something even 'better' than a gallon."

Lily was taken aback by his words, and then gave him a helpless look.

"I won't take your money, especially not the high price you're offering."

"...Don't be angry with me for saying this, Edmund. Sometimes I really don't understand you. Or rather, I really don't understand 'you guys'."

The little witch from a Muggle family shrugged.

"If you're really that interested, why don't you go check out the Muggle world?"

"This has been bothering me for a long time. I love Hogwarts and Gryffindor. But whenever people talk about the Muggle world... their misunderstandings leave me unsure whether to be angry or laugh."

"I still remember the look of surprise on Potter's face when he heard we had electricity too. Honestly, it was almost an insult. We... are Muggles savages? Didn't he ever notice those Muggle shops outside Diagon Alley?"

The girl's expression was utterly bewildered.

"Are we really that far apart?"

"Why don't you go and take a look?"