The wheelchair-bound warrior is speedrunning Hogwarts.

Harley, who was standing to the side, wanted to say something, but Vera gently pressed her hand down: "Go ahead, I'll catch up soon."

Ultimately, at Vera's insistence, Harry and Hermione reluctantly followed Percy toward Gryffindor.

After the new students had all left, Professor McGonagall walked up to Vera, her expression softening considerably: "Miss Black, Professor Dumbledore has explained your situation to me. As your Head of House, I need to ensure that your studies and life at Hogwarts proceed smoothly."

Vera nodded and waited quietly for what was to come.

McGonagall pushed up her glasses: she waved her wand, and a flash of silver light appeared. "First of all, this is it—the Powerful Levitation Charm, which allows your wheelchair to move freely anytime, anywhere, without having to worry about the constraints of stairs."

Vera nodded gently: "Thank you, Professor."

“Secondly,” McGonagall thought for a moment and asked, “about your dormitory arrangements. Considering your special circumstances, we have prepared a private room for you.”

However, if you have any classmates who would like to stay together, please let me know now, and I will have my house-elves make the arrangements in advance.

As she spoke, she glanced meaningfully toward the marble steps—Harley and Hermione were crouching behind the railing, peering in their direction, and quickly shrank back when they were spotted.

Vera's lips curled up slightly: "They're a little...overprotective of me."

A smile flickered in Professor McGonagall's eyes: "Friendship is one of Hogwarts' most precious treasures."

Vera pondered for a moment, then said softly, raising her head, "If possible, I would like to live with Harley Potter and Hermione Granger."

Professor McGonagall nodded slightly, tapped her wand, and a piece of parchment flew out from her sleeve, automatically changing the name on it: "It's all arranged. The house-elves will make the necessary modifications to your dormitories."

She paused, a hint of gentleness appearing in her serious expression: "Miss Black, Hogwarts will do its best to meet the needs of every student. If you encounter any difficulties in your studies or life, you can come to me at any time."

“Thank you, Professor.” Vera’s eyes crinkled into a smile.

Vera pushed her wheelchair and followed Professor McGonagall up the brightly lit staircase.

With the help of a powerful levitation spell, she could levitate her wheelchair without expending any magic and easily climb the stairs.

They arrived at the entrance to the Gryffindor Tower, where the portrait of the Fat Lady looked Vera up and down with curiosity: "Another Black? How strange."

“The new password is ‘Dragon Scum’,” Professor McGonagall said. “Go in, Miss Potter and Miss Granger are already waiting for you.”

Vera said goodnight to McGonagall, then whispered the command, and the Gryffindor common room appeared before her—

It was a comfortable circular room filled with plush armchairs, the fireplace crackling with flames, and red and gold decorations everywhere.

Seeing that she had finally caught up, Harry and Hermione immediately jumped up from the sofa and excitedly ran to Vera's side.

"Our room is over there!" Harley pointed excitedly to a door with a gold nameplate in the girls' dormitory. "The three of us will live together! And the house-elves have already renovated the room!"

The group arrived at their dormitory room, where the names of the three girls were written in gold lettering on their name tags.

Pushing open the door, you are greeted by a spacious circular room, much larger than a typical dormitory room—clearly specially modified to facilitate wheelchair access.

The three four-poster beds are arranged in a fan shape, each draped with deep red curtains, and the bedposts are carved with exquisite lion patterns.

Vera's bed was in the middle, slightly lower than the other two, and it was specially fitted with armrests at the head of the bed for easy gripping.

On the other side of the room were three desks side by side, each with a brass lamp on it.

The most delightful surprise was the comfortable lounge area in the corner of the room, complete with a thick carpet, several armchairs, and a small coffee table.

"This is even better than I imagined!" Harley cheered, leaping onto her bed and rolling around on it. "A real four-poster bed! And so spacious!"

Hermione had already started organizing her books, arranging them on the bookshelf by subject: "Look! They even gave us a bookshelf!"

Vera pushed her wheelchair to her bedside and noticed a familiar bottle of medicine on the bedside table—a nerve-soothing potion prepared by Snape, with a small note next to it: "Take daily, as usual. —SS"

She gently picked up the medicine bottle, her fingertips tracing the cool glass surface, a complex mix of emotions welling up inside her.

"What is this?" Harley asked curiously, her green eyes sparkling in the candlelight.

“A soothing medicine,” Vera replied briefly, putting the bottle back in its place. “To relieve pain in my spine and lower limbs.”

Harley paused, then blinked somewhat awkwardly, "Sorry..."

Vera shook her head: "It's nothing, you don't need to apologize."

Author's Note: Would you believe I wrote a gender-swapped Harley Quinn because I wanted to see Vera besieged on all sides in the future? Also, some readers have raised the issue of the blue bar. It can be understood as the female protagonist being paralyzed on one side, her body damaged, and her use of magic being limited. That's roughly it.

Chapter Twenty-One: The Secret of Hogwarts

Seeing the sadness in Harley's eyes, which had dimmed with guilt, Vera sighed silently in her heart, gently patted the back of Harley's hand, and changed the subject, "By the way, where did Knox go?"

Hermione's attention was immediately drawn: "Yes, we haven't seen it since the start of the dinner."

Harley quickly looked around and exclaimed, "Ah, there it is!"

She pointed to a cat tree in the corner of the room, a thoughtful gift from the house-elves.

Knox was curled up gracefully on the topmost cushion, his amber eyes half-closed and the tip of his tail swaying gently.

“It really knows how to enjoy itself.” Harley smiled as she walked over and reached out to pat Knox on the head.

The cat lazily rubbed against her fingers and let out a satisfied purr.

Vera watched this scene, and the corners of her mouth unconsciously turned up.

She pushed her wheelchair to the window, through which she could see the dark night sky and the outline of the Forbidden Forest in the distance.

“Vera,” Harley’s voice suddenly came from behind, tinged with hesitation, “Are you... really not worried about being sorted into Gryffindor?”

Vera turned around and saw Harley holding Knox, her green eyes gleaming with worry in the light.

“You said that the Black family has been Slytherins for generations…you should value that.”

Vera gazed into Harley's green eyes, which were filled with concern, and gently pushed her wheelchair to stand before her.

“The Sorting Hat gave me the power to choose,” she said softly, “and I chose this place.”

Harley blinked. "So... you chose Gryffindor yourself?"

“Hmm.” Vera nodded, her gaze falling on the lightning bolt-shaped scar on Harley’s forehead. “I want to try a different path.”

Harley suddenly flashed a bright smile, rushed over and hugged Vera tightly: "That's great! I'm so happy you're with us!"

Vera was caught off guard by the sudden hug, her hands hanging in mid-air, unsure of what to do.

Hermione coughed lightly, "Harley, Vera might not be used to this..."

Harley then realized her lapse in composure, quickly letting go of his hand, her cheeks flushed red: "I'm sorry, I got too excited!"

Vera gently smoothed out the wrinkles on her robe, her fingertips touching the wand hidden in the cuff. The cold touch calmed her down slightly.

“It’s very late,” she said calmly in a low voice. “I have class tomorrow, I should get some rest.”

Knox lifted his head from the pillow and lazily meowed, seemingly mocking his owner's embarrassment.

Hermione immediately nodded in agreement: "That's right! We need to keep our energy up."

The three girls changed into their pajamas, and as the lights went out, the dormitory fell into darkness, with only moonlight streaming in through the window.

Harley tossed and turned in bed, finally unable to resist asking softly, "Vera, are you asleep?"

"No," Vera's calm voice came from the darkness.

"I'm so excited, I can't sleep." Harley's voice was filled with undisguised joy. "So much happened today... I made friends, ate so much delicious food, and we're all in the same college!"

Hermione's voice came from the other bed: "Me too, my head is full of all the magic I saw today...the floating candles, the moving stairs, and the talking hat!"

Vera listened to the two girls' excited voices and realized that if she didn't remind them soon, she would probably be late tomorrow morning.

"It's time to sleep," she said, interrupting the two girls' daydreaming. "If you really can't sleep, try thinking about some trivia about potions; you should be able to fall asleep quickly."

"Potion knowledge?" Harley asked, puzzled.

“For example,” Vera explained, “daffodil root powder and mugwort can be combined to make a powerful sleeping pill; bezoar is a stone taken from a cow’s stomach; aconite and wolfsbane are the same plant…”

Her voice was soft and rhythmic, like a lullaby.

Before long, Harley and Hermione's breathing gradually became even and long.

Vera smiled. Although leaking the questions in advance was suspected of cheating, she really wanted to see how Snape would react when faced with a girl who had Lily's eyes and Lily's potion-making talent.

The moonlight quietly fell on the three girls, and the first night at Hogwarts passed peacefully... just like that?

Listening to their breathing, Vera slowly sat up, turned her head to look at the two people who were already fast asleep beside her, slowly sat up, closed her eyes and felt the flow of magic circuits in her body.

Golden patterns were faintly visible beneath her skin, and the crystal at her heart vibrated slightly, clearly reflecting the surrounding magical fluctuations.

From the moment she approached Hogwarts, she sensed that the ancient magic flowing throughout the castle seemed to be calling to her.

As far as she knew, Hogwarts itself was built on the foundation of ancient magic.

In other words, the castle itself is a large-scale ancient magical artifact.

Vera opened her eyes, a faint golden light swirling in her pupils.

She gently pushed the wheelchair to the window. Outside, the shadows of the Forbidden Forest swayed in the moonlight, and the surface of the Black Lake in the distance shimmered with silver light. The moonlight poured down on her long, silvery-gray hair like water.

Vera could clearly sense a powerful magical force emanating from the depths of the castle, subtly resonating with the magical circuits within her body.

The magical circuits flowed slowly within her body, and she could vaguely sense the pulse of ancient magic within the castle—the runes slumbering in the stone walls, the ghostly energy drifting in the corridors, and even the energy source surging deep underground…

All of this made her extremely excited.

Vera gently stroked the window frame, her fingertips touching the ancient stone bricks, and a faint magical fluctuation emanated from her fingers.

She closed her eyes, trying to sense these fluctuations using her magic circuits—

In an instant, her vision was filled with a golden light, and countless ancient runes shimmered on every stone brick of the castle. They flowed like living things, weaving into a huge magical network that covered the entire Hogwarts.

These runes are not evenly distributed. In some places, the runes are densely packed like stars, while in others they are sparse and dim.

The strongest magical fluctuations came from eight directions—she discerned them carefully, and they seemed to be the common room of the four academies, the principal's office, the underground basilisk's secret chamber, the room on the right side of the fourth-floor corridor where the magic stone was placed, and…

Vera frowned. She sensed an unusually powerful source of magic deep beneath Hogwarts, silently emanating an ominous aura.

Another secret room underground?

Just as she was about to investigate further, a sharp pain suddenly came from her temple.

Vera groaned, forced to shut down her senses and take a deep breath.

It seems that with her current level of magic circuits, she is still unable to maintain this wide-range magic perception for an extended period of time.

Chapter Twenty-Two Hermione: Why don't you just pretend I don't exist?

Just then, a rustling sound came from behind.

Vera turned her head and saw Harley rubbing her eyes as she sat up in bed, her voice still a little groggy: "Vera? I can hear your voice... Are you alright?"

Upon hearing the voice, Vera quickly composed herself and turned to look at Harley, who was sitting up: "I'm fine, I just have a little trouble sleeping."

Harley yawned, walked barefoot to her side, her green eyes shining brightly in the moonlight: "Did you have a nightmare? I sometimes do too... I often wake up in the middle of the night when I'm at my aunt's house."

Vera shook her head: "It's not a nightmare, I just need to adjust to the new environment."

Harry nodded understandingly, took Vera's hand, and sat down by the windowsill: "Let's look at the stars together for a while. You can see a lot of stars from the Gryffindor Tower."

Vera looked at Harley's profile as she gazed at the starry sky, the moonlight casting a silvery glow on her small face.

A silent smile played on Vera's lips as she composed herself. She pointed to the brightest star in the night sky: "That one is Venus, and that bright orange star over there is Arcturus..."

Harley's eyes widened with curiosity: "You know so much, I can't even tell these stars apart."

“Because most members of the Black family are named after stars,” Vera explained softly. “My father’s name is Regulus, which means the heart of Leo; I also have an uncle…”

When Sirius was mentioned, Vera's voice unconsciously lowered.

At this point, it's best not to let Harley know too much.

Harley keenly sensed her change in mood and gently squeezed her hand: "And you, Vera? What star are you?"

Vera paused slightly, then looked up at the sky: "My name comes from the constellation Vela, which is written as Vela in Latin."

As she spoke, she took Harley's hand and wrote her name in her palm.

Harley's palms twitched slightly from the tickling sensation, but she remained focused on watching the path Vera's fingers traced across her skin.

“Vela…” she murmured, her green eyes sparkling, “Indeed, I thought it was a beautiful name from the very beginning!”

Vera stared blankly into her eyes, instinctively withdrawing her hand, the warmth of Harley's palm still lingering on her fingertips: "It's time to sleep, we have class tomorrow."

Harley looked at the starry sky one last time with reluctance, then suddenly stood up and hugged her: "Well... thank you for telling me about the stars."

The hug came and went quickly. By the time Vera came to her senses, Harley had already skipped back to bed, hugged her pillow, and winked at her: "Goodnight, sweet dreams!"

Vera opened her mouth, but in the end she only gave a soft "hmm," pushed her wheelchair back to her bedside, and quietly lay down.

……

The next morning, Vera was awakened by Knox's tail.