The wheelchair-bound warrior is speedrunning Hogwarts.

“Well…” Vera asked casually, “I’m curious, do you know what animals live in the Forbidden Forest?”

Hagrid immediately perked up, counting on his thick fingers: "There are so many creatures in the Forbidden Forest! Centaurs, Thestrals, giant spiders... oh, right, and unicorns!"

Harry's eyes lit up slightly: "Unicorns? I've heard of them in Potions class. Do they have them at Hogwarts?"

“Of course!” Hagrid exclaimed excitedly. “There’s an entire tribe in the Forbidden Forest! They are the purest of creatures, their silvery-white fur shimmering in the moonlight…”

Seeing that Harley and Hermione were clearly engrossed in Hagrid's story, Vera subtly raised her lips, then lowered her eyes and furrowed her brows in a worried expression.

Such a change would naturally not be missed by Halle, who always pays close attention to Vera's condition.

She only glanced at Vera habitually between the moments she was listening to Hagrid speak, and immediately noticed the strangeness in her expression.

"Vera?" Harley put down her biscuit and leaned closer with concern. "What's wrong? Are you feeling unwell?"

She paused for a few seconds before speaking in a low voice, "I was just thinking... we still don't know how the trolls got into Hogwarts. If, as Hagrid said, the trolls sneaked into the school from the Forbidden Forest, what if the other creatures in the Forbidden Forest also..."

Vera deliberately didn't finish her sentence.

Sure enough, after a moment of silence, Hagrid suddenly stood up: "No, the creatures in the Forbidden Forest are very well-behaved, and the centaurs also patrol the Forbidden Forest. Nothing will happen!"

Hermione frowned. "Vera is right. If the trolls can sneak in, then other dangerous creatures might break in, and they might even endanger the harmless animals."

Hermione is practically a walking wingman.

“I can increase patrols!” Hagrid said, pacing back and forth in the room, the floor groaning under his weight. “Yes, and we need to check the Forbidden Forest… Some centaurs have mentioned some suspicious activity lately…”

Vera's eyes lit up slightly, but she quickly regained her composure: "Do you need our help?"

“Of course not!” Hagrid refused decisively. “The Forbidden Forest is too dangerous, especially for first-year students!”

He hurriedly put on a coat, grabbed the pink umbrella leaning against the wall, and called to Ya Ya, "I'm going to patrol around now. You guys go back to the castle!"

Harley wanted to say something more, but Vera gently shook her head: "We understand. Hagrid, you need to be careful too."

Hagrid nodded haphazardly and practically pushed them out of the hut: "Let's go back quickly, it's getting dark!"

The three were "driven" out of the cabin, watching Hagrid's tall figure disappear hastily at the edge of the Forbidden Forest.

Harley watched Hagrid's retreating figure with a hint of regret: "Unfortunately, I still didn't get much information out of him."

"It's enough that we can confirm your guess is correct," Vera said softly. "Anyway, let's go back first."

Anyway, she had already achieved all the goals she had set out for coming to Hagrid's cabin today.

As the sun sets, the outline of the Forbidden Forest appears even more sinister and terrifying in the twilight.

The three of them returned to the castle along the path, each lost in their own thoughts.

“So,” only Hermione remembered the main quest that brought her to Hagrid, “that thing being guarded is indeed very important, and someone wants to steal it.”

Harley nodded: "And Hagrid let it slip that the three-headed dog's name is Louie."

“The hellhound from Greek mythology,” Vera remarked casually. “Perhaps it shares the same weakness as Cerberus?”

Harley and Hermione turned to him almost simultaneously: "What weakness?"

Vera paused slightly as she pushed the wheelchair, realizing she had let something slip: "Uh... I'm not really sure either."

We can't expect them to figure out how to defeat Cerberus now and go treasure hunting ahead of time.

It's not time yet.

Looking at the two innocent but exceptionally perceptive children, Vera, unusually flustered, turned her head away, refusing to meet their gaze.

"Let's go back first, I'm hungry."

Author's Note: Currently, there are only four chapters available as a reward. Please give generously! If there are more than five chapters, I will release them all at once tomorrow night.

Chapter Seventy-Two: Before the Quidditch Match

After entering November, the weather became very cold.

The mountains surrounding the school were shrouded in a gray haze, covered with ice and snow, and the lake surface was as cold and hard as quenched steel.

Although the temperature outside the school was freezing, the atmosphere inside the school was getting more and more enthusiastic because the Quidditch season had begun.

After a period of training, Harley will participate in her first-ever match this Saturday, which happens to be Gryffindor versus Slytherin.

Harley's training became more and more frequent, and she spent almost all her free time practicing, so much so that Vera and Hermione rarely saw her in the common room.

She often returns to her dorm after dinner, her hair a little messy, her cheeks red from the cold, but her eyes sparkling with excitement.

“Wood says we have the strongest roster this year!” she said excitedly to Vera and Hermione, rubbing her frozen hands. “We’ve been lacking a good Seeker ever since Charlie Weasley graduated, but now—”

“Now that I have you,” Vera said, handing her a cup of hot cocoa, a slight smile playing on her lips. “Wood has high hopes for you.”

Harley took the cup, and warmth immediately spread from her fingertips to her whole body: "Yes, although the pressure is great."

Hermione looked up from her book: "We'll be there to cheer you on at the competition. By the way, have you memorized all the rules?"

“Of course!” Harley puffed out her chest. “The Quidditch Origins book you gave me was really fun to read; I finished it in about a week.”

Vera nodded gently: "More importantly, we must be careful."

Looking into Vera's worried eyes, Harry felt a surge of warmth in her heart: "I'll be careful. And..."

She chuckled, "I promised to win the race and then take you for a spin!"

Hermione frowned immediately upon hearing this: "Are you sure you're okay? The weather's gotten quite cooler lately, and Vera's health—"

“Vera has already agreed!” Harley interrupted her, turning to look at Vera. “Right?”

Vera pursed her lips and said softly, "Let's win the game first."

Harley smiled triumphantly, put down the hot cocoa, and solemnly grasped her hand: "I will definitely win!"

Vera was startled by the warmth from his palm. She subconsciously curled her fingertips and softly replied, "Yes, I know."

Hermione shook her head helplessly, "You two... never mind, I'm going to the library."

She felt a bit superfluous sitting next to these two people.

“Wait,” Vera quickly called out to her, pulling her hand away from Harley’s and pushing her wheelchair to follow Hermione. “I’ll go with you.”

Harley was left standing there bewildered: "Huh? What about me?"

"You're all sweaty, go wash up!" Hermione said, turning back to her while trying to suppress a laugh.

Harley looked down and sniffed her clothes, a look of utter dismay on her face: "Okay, they do smell a bit..."

Before Hermione pushed her out of the common room, Vera finally had a chance to turn around and say, "I'm just going to return the books I borrowed earlier. You go back and wash up first, we'll be back in a bit."

"Okay, got it!" Harley's voice rose again from behind.

……

On the morning of the competition, the sun came out for once, and the weather was clear but cold.

The restaurant was filled with the enticing aroma of grilled sausages, and everyone was looking forward to an exciting Quidditch match. The Great Hall was filled with laughter and cheers.

Vera and Hermione got up early to reserve a seat for Harley at the long table.

"Why hasn't she arrived yet?" Hermione checked the time, a little anxious. "Shouldn't we have a proper breakfast before the match?"

Vera shook her head slightly: "Wood probably called another tactical meeting with them."

As they were talking, the Gryffindor team members filed into the Great Hall, with Harley at the back, looking somewhat nervous.

“Harley!” Hermione immediately waved.

Harley jogged over and sat down beside them: "Sorry, Wood went on and on about tactics for too long..."

Vera handed her a plate of bacon and eggs: "Replenish your energy, but don't eat too much."

"Thank you." Harley gratefully took the plate, but after taking a few bites, she hesitated and put it down.

"Can't you eat?" Vera keenly sensed her unease.

Harley forced a smile: "I just heard Wood say that during his first game, he was knocked unconscious by a moving ball less than two minutes into the game and spent a week in the hospital."

You really know how to comfort people.

Vera frowned and glanced at Wood, who was enjoying a meal with several upperclassmen not far away, looking anything but tense.

Hermione immediately reassured her, "Don't worry, you're much more agile than him."

“It’s normal to be nervous,” Vera gently took her hand. “Do you remember how you did in flight class? You were born for the sky.”

Harley's eyes lit up slightly: "Really?"

“Of course,” Vera said earnestly, “and we’ll be cheering you on from the stands.”

Hermione nodded vigorously: "Not just us, many people will be together!"

Harley finally smiled, lowered her head, tore off a piece of sausage, and chewed it vigorously.

Vera breathed a sigh of relief and was about to eat something when she caught a glimpse of a familiar figure in black robes quickly walking through the crowd toward them.

With a slight raise of her eyebrows, she deliberately did not inform Harley beforehand, but waited until the figure in the black robe was already behind them before coughing lightly.

Harry instinctively turned her head, about to speak, when she suddenly realized something and turned back in a daze, meeting Snape's eyes as he looked down at her.

“Professor.” She quickly stood up, her bright green eyes looking up at the other person with some confusion.

“…Good luck, Miss Potter.” Snape stared into her eyes, his voice more restrained than usual. “Since you can handle trolls, a little Quidditch match will be a piece of cake for you.”

Harley paused for a moment, then immediately understood, looking him straight in the eye: "Thank you for the encouragement, Professor. I will try my best!"

Snape's expression froze instantly. He pursed his lips, as if he wanted to say something, but in the end he just gave a cold snort, turned around and strode away, his black robes billowing behind him like bat wings.

"He's just cheering me on, right?" Harley sat back down and asked them, tilting her head.

Hermione looked incredulous: "But aren't our opponents Slytherins?"

Vera took a small sip of pumpkin juice, a slight smile playing on her lips: "Perhaps, this is another way the professor apologizes."

After all, because of the troll incident last week, Snape had already found opportunities to add no less than twenty points to Harry's score in class this week.

Even Vera Hermione, who was also involved, didn't receive this treatment.

Anyone could see his bias.

Author's note: The bounty isn't over yet, please give me a reward!

Chapter 73 Shall we try roasting Voldemort?

By eleven o'clock, it seemed that the entire school's teachers and students had gathered in the stands around the Quidditch pitch.

Vera and Hermione went to the top row, but even there it was still packed.

“Luckily, I brought my own seat.” Vera stood at the very edge of the row, looking around at the seats that were already full, and took out two brass binoculars from the side pocket of her wheelchair.

"Don't tell jokes like that in front of Harley next time, she'll get furious."

Hermione took one of them with a speechless expression, then helped her secure the wheelchair, and the two of them looked down at the entire stadium together.

Just then, commentator Lee Jordan's voice, amplified by magic, resounded throughout the stadium: "Ladies and gentlemen! Welcome to the first Quidditch match of the school year! Gryffindor vs. Slytherin!"

A burst of enthusiastic cheers and applause erupted from the stands.

As the commentators spoke, players from both teams emerged from their locker rooms and lined up to enter the field.

Harley walked at the back of the Gryffindor group, her bright red uniform standing out vividly in the sunlight.

"It's Harley!" Hermione exclaimed excitedly. "She looks so tiny!"

Indeed, among a group of senior team members, Harley appeared exceptionally petite.

"I hope she's not too nervous. I've heard that Slytherin's Seeker, Terrence Higgins, is very experienced."

"First published on 705u.com - Book Club"

Hermione seemed even more nervous than Harley, clinging to Vera's arm and muttering to herself.

“She can do it,” Vera said softly, her gaze fixed on the red figure, a slight smile playing on her lips.

Soon, as the players from both sides arrived, Ms. Huo Qi, acting as the referee, walked to the center of the field and blew her whistle.

"Players, to your positions!"

The two teams of players quickly took off, with Harley riding on Nimbus 2000, as light as a feather.

As the whistle blew, fifteen flying brooms rose from the ground and soared high into the sky.

The game started.

As the narrator's slightly noisy voice rang out, Vera calmly used a levitation charm to set up her telescope so that Hermione could watch while excitedly grabbing her arm.