The wheelchair-bound warrior is speedrunning Hogwarts.

Godric Gryffindor stood up from the sofa, walked to the table, looked at the hourglass that had been repeatedly tempered, and sighed helplessly.

"Time travel is a taboo within a taboo. Forcibly disrupting cause and effect will at best result in a backlash of magic, and at worst, you will be torn apart by the torrent of time, leaving not even your soul behind. Are you really sure about this?"

Sera didn't turn around; her fingertips still held a faint golden magic, delicately tracing the patterns on the outer wall of the hourglass.

The silver sand in the bottle floated up slowly as her magic flowed, weaving a slender ribbon of light in mid-air.

“I’ve thought about it,” Sera said in a deep voice, her tone completely calm. “I’ve thought about it day and night, not a single day has passed without me thinking about it.”

For some reason, when Vera heard those words, she felt a sudden pang of sadness in her nose and instinctively reached out to touch it, but then stopped abruptly in mid-air.

She couldn't do anything, not just physically, but also because... she simply couldn't stop her lover from seeing her.

Looking at her almost obsessive expression, Godric finally softened his tone: "Even if you successfully travel through time, you might not be able to wait for her... Are you really sure that the person you're waiting for will be waiting for you on the other side of time?"

Sera finally stopped what she was doing and slowly turned around.

Her features were more refined than a few years ago, she had shed her youthful naiveté, and her eyes and brows had gained a calm and coldness. Only her crimson eyes still held an unyielding obsession.

“I don’t care,” she said softly. “I just want to see her.”

Everything else is fine.

If Vera forgets her, she will pursue him again; if Vera falls in love with someone else, she is not incapable of accepting other people.

She only wants Vera.

Gryffindor stared at her intently for a long time, before finally frowning and sighing, "What a madwoman..."

"Thank you for the compliment." Sera smiled slightly, turned around, and continued her experiment.

Vera could only stand aside and watch all of this quietly.

She watched Sera bury herself in ancient books and magic circles day after day, and watched her experiment repeatedly with the hourglass in the Room of Requirement late at night, the bloodshot in her eyes growing more and more pronounced.

She wanted to dissuade her, to persuade her not to gamble everything on a road with no end in sight.

But she could only stand there, watching that frail yet stubborn figure, in the afterimage of time, repeatedly touching the taboo.

The hourglass remained suspended and swirling in the center of the magic circle, the silver sand constantly flowing backward, collapsing, and then reforming.

Each failure made Sera paler and her magic power deplete further.

Several times, Vera even saw her cough violently while holding onto the edge of the table, blood seeping from her fingertips, but she would just wipe it away casually and then pick up her wand again.

Godric had visited many times, initially trying to persuade her, then silently helping her reinforce the magic array and organize the ancient texts, but finally he couldn't help but say:

"If you continue like this, you'll collapse before you even see her."

Sera simply raised her eyes slightly, her crimson gaze unwavering: "I'm fine, I can continue."

Gryffindor remained silent and decided to stop trying to persuade him.

How long did this last?

Vera didn't know; all she knew was that after yet another failure, Sera spent a long time alone in the Room of Requirement, and then the next day she packed her bags and left the school.

She was going to travel around the magical world to find something that could help her research.

Vera could only watch her figure recede into the distance from the foyer until a white light flashed before her eyes again. This time, what appeared before her was Sera standing atop the tower, facing the wind, rain, and thunder, her wand held high.

Lightning exploded behind her, and purple lightning tore through the clouds, illuminating the entire Hogwarts spire in a ghastly white light.

The gale-force winds and torrential rain pounded against the stone platform, causing her black robe to flutter wildly and her long hair to dance wildly in the wind and rain, yet they could not dispel the almost insane obsession in her crimson eyes.

The hourglass hovered above her palm, the silver sands flowing upstream under the pull of violent magic, intertwining with the thunderous power of heaven and earth to form a dazzling net of light.

The barriers of time trembled and twisted before her, revealing fine cracks.

Vera stared blankly at the figure standing in the thunderstorm, opened her mouth silently, but found that she could no longer speak, and even breathing was painful.

This is the path Serra later walked alone.

With a mortal body, he defiantly defied the laws of time, carving out a path for himself in the torrent of fate that would allow him to run towards her once again.

The lightning bolt crashed down, striking the center of the hourglass.

The silver sand instantly boiled, transforming into a stream of light that pierced through the heavens and earth, enveloping Sera entirely.

Her body trembled slightly amidst the turbulent flow of time and space, her black robe was torn to shreds, and fine beads of blood seeped from her skin, yet she never loosened her grip on the magic in her palm.

She was smiling.

Rainwater mixed with blood trickled down her chin, and her crimson eyes shone with an astonishing brightness, as if she had finally seen the end of a century, and the person waiting for her at the end of time.

“Vera…”

She uttered the name softly, her voice swallowed by the thunder, yet it reached Vera's ears clearly.

The next second, Vera saw the figure swaying precariously in the wind and rain, and finally fell off the tower after a thunderous roar!

"Sera!" Vera exclaimed, instinctively reaching out to catch it, but her fingertips once again passed through the void without any hindrance.

The scene before my eyes distorted violently once again, and all the wind, rain, and lightning, along with the falling figure, were crushed into blinding spots of light.

In her peripheral vision, she only saw a tentacle rapidly extend from the black lake, barely catching the figure.

Immediately afterwards, a feeling of weightlessness, accompanied by a suffocating panic, swept over me, more intense than any time travel I had ever experienced.

Vera felt as if she had fallen into a raging, icy torrent, with only the howling wind and that call, drowned out by thunder but etched into her soul, remaining in her ears.

Suddenly, she opened her eyes, and this time what appeared before her was... a newborn kitten.

It curled up on the dry grass, its nose pink and its eyes still clouded with a lingering blue mist, timidly rubbing against a dry holly leaf beside it.

Her hair was silver-gray, exactly the same color as her hair.

Vera stared at it blankly, and finally couldn't help but cover her face and weep. The heartache and guilt that had been suppressed for so long completely broke down at this moment.

"Liar..." she murmured softly, her eyes blurred with tears, yet she dared not look away from it for a moment.

The kitten seemed to sense something, gently raising its wet nose and sniffing in her direction.

Despite being just a helpless cub, its eyes, not yet fully open, held a familiar stubbornness.

Vera knew that this was Sera, her Sera.

He was the liar who said he wouldn't wait for her, yet risked everything for a reunion.

She slowly squatted down, her fingertips hovering above the kitten's fluffy head, but she couldn't touch it at all.

The kitten, however, came closer and gently rubbed its soft head against the spot where her fingertips were, purring softly and affectionately.

Vera smiled silently, and a warm tear fell again, landing silently on its head.

Author's note: Well, it's not finished yet. There will be explanations and stuff later, I'll talk about that tomorrow.

Chapter Twenty-Five: The Loop is Closed

How long after that did it take?

In this special state, Vera was no longer able to perceive the passage of time on her own.

Her last memory was seeing a kitten, abandoned by its mother, survive for two days before being picked up by a group of passing wizards and taken to a pet shop in Diagon Alley.

Until the moment I saw the kitten finally survive thanks to the shop owner's care, the light and shadow before my eyes suddenly converged, and all the fragments that had spanned time fell silent.

Vera jolted free from the feeling of weightlessness, gasping for breath, her back soaked in cold sweat.

"...Did you have a nightmare?" Hermione asked groggily from the side.

Vera froze, realizing that she had returned to her original time.

She hesitated and turned to look at Hermione, who had been awakened by her, and Harry, who was still fast asleep. The bitterness and burning sensation in her heart had not yet dissipated, but she was gently enveloped by the familiar Gryffindor dormitory in front of her.

The morning light was faint outside the curtains, and the embers in the fireplace were still warm; everything was exactly the same as before she left.

She gently shook her head, her voice extremely low, with a hint of hoarseness as if she had just emerged from a long period of time: "No, it's just... I had a very, very long dream."

It was long enough to span a century of solitude, long enough to witness all of a person's obsessions and desires.

Vera slowly raised her hand and placed it on her chest. It was beating steadily, yet it felt as if it were filled with something warm, both sore and swollen, soft and hot.

She wanted to see Sera, right now, immediately; she wanted to see that person.

A sudden impulse surged through my chest, almost bursting out of my throat.

"I'm going out for a bit."

She finished speaking hastily and hurriedly threw back the covers to leave, but Hermione got up and called out to her, "Wait a minute!"

Vera paused, turned to look at Hermione, her eyes still lingering with emotion, and her nose slightly red.

Hermione looked at her with a complicated expression for a few seconds, then reached for a coat from the bedside table and handed it to her: "It's chilly outside, put this on."

Vera paused for a moment, then gave a soft "hmm," turned back, bent down and gently kissed Hermione's cheek, then took the coat, quickly put it on, and hurried out of the dormitory.

Before dawn, the corridor on the eighth floor was unusually quiet. She almost ran all the way to the familiar, tightly closed door, her fingertips hovering over it, but she didn't drop them.

The scenes she had witnessed in the past surged through her mind, making her eyes sting with tears.

For some reason, just moments ago she was eager to see that person, but now that the time had come, she felt a little timid.

I tried to raise my hand, but it trembled slightly just before I touched the door.

Vera frowned, instinctively gripped her wrist, and took deep breaths before her fingertips finally touched the door panel.

Soon, a small crack was gently pulled open from the inside.

Sera stood behind the door, clearly having just woken up. Her long hair was loosely tied up, the collar of her bathrobe was slightly loose, and there was still a hint of lingering languor in her eyes.

But the moment she saw the person outside the door, her crimson eyes lit up, and all her sleepiness vanished instantly.

"What's wrong?" she asked softly, naturally pulling him into the room and closing the door behind him, shutting out the cool air of the corridor. "You came to see me before dawn, is there something urgent?"

Vera was led a few steps inside by her, and her nose touched the familiar scent of pine snow, causing her eyes to well up with tears again.

She looked up at the familiar yet unfamiliar face before her—the boyish naiveté had long since faded, and not even a trace of the obsession on his face could be seen.

But only those eyes remained the crimson etched into her soul, serene and gentle, holding the tranquility accumulated over a century, yet instantly shimmering with tiny lights when they looked at her.

Vera could no longer hold back and suddenly threw herself into her arms, wrapping her arms tightly around her waist and burying her face deep in the crook of her neck, as if she wanted to make up for all the years she had wronged her.

Sera was knocked back slightly by the bump, then steadily supported her back, her fingertips gently tracing her spine in a way that was almost indulgent.

"Why are you crying?" Her voice was very soft, tinged with panic, as she clumsily wiped the dampness from her neck with her fingertips. "Did something happen?"

Vera buried her face in her neck and shook her head violently, warm tears soaking the fabric, her voice muffled and trembling: "No... I just suddenly miss you so much."

I think of her when she was six years old, holding a holly leaf and making a wish; I think of her when she stubbornly studied time magic in the Room of Requirement; I think of her when she leaped into a thunderstorm, risking everything to reach herself.

Sera gently patted her back, as if soothing a frightened little animal, patiently waiting for her to calm down.

After an unknown amount of time, the sobbing of the person in my arms gradually subsided.

Sera lowered her head slightly, her cool lips gently landing on the top of her head, her voice calm as if she had expected it: "You went back again, didn't you?"

She had already guessed it when she noticed that Vera's hourglass, which she always carried with her, was gone.

Vera stiffened slightly, then rubbed her cheek against Vera's neck again, letting out a soft "Mmm" with her still dampness.

But then she raised her head, her reddened eyes staring intently at her: "It's not just that I went back, I also saw a lot more than you can imagine."

Sera subconsciously raised her lips, about to ask what little secret she had seen, when she saw Vera pull out her wand, and magic slowly flowed from the tip of the wand, drawing several simple lines in mid-air.

First, there was the small figure of a six-year-old girl gazing at the Christmas tree from the window; then there was the girl on the Astronomical Tower, her profile bathed in the red glow of the setting sun, stubbornly refusing to shed a tear.

Then there's the figure studying the hourglass day and night in the Room of Requirement, and finally, the resolute figure raising his wand high amidst a thunderstorm.

Images flowed through the air, the light and shadow both gentle and heavy, unfolding the century that Sera had lived alone before her eyes, perfectly preserved.

Sera gazed at the swirling light and shadow in mid-air, her crimson eyes trembling slightly. Her lips, which had been smiling, tightened little by little, and the teasing words she wanted to say were all stuck in her throat.

Those years she had deliberately buried, those obsessive and almost insane obsessions, those days and nights of struggling alone while waiting, were all laid bare before the person she cared about most.

She blinked, trying to appear as calm as ever: "How do you know all this?"

“This is what I wanted to tell you,” Vila reached out and gently stroked her face, “While you thought you were waiting for me alone, I was actually always by your side.”

Sera looked at her in surprise, the light in her eyes flickering gently, like stars moistened by the morning mist.

"You mean..." She hesitated for once, looking at Vera with disbelief, her crimson eyes churning with turbulent emotions.

Vera sighed, gripped her hand tightly, and recounted everything that had happened to her since she left.

Sera listened intently, staring at her with a dazed look.

She always thought that those obsessions and embarrassments, those bitterness and madness she swallowed alone, and even those moments of near despair, were just her own secrets.