The wheelchair-bound warrior is speedrunning Hogwarts.

Vernon's fat face twitched. He cared most about maintaining a facade of normalcy and respectability, and anything that might attract official attention was his nightmare.

"I just wanted to see my friend and make sure she was safe and sound. It's not unreasonable for classmates to interact like this, is it?"

Vera donned her impeccable mask of politeness once more, and asked him with a smile, "Or perhaps we should invite an 'official' to witness this visit?"

A brief, suffocating silence filled the space between them.

The Dursleys engaged in a fierce battle of wits, with fear and aversion to trouble ultimately overcoming their rejection of magic.

“...Just ten minutes!” Vernon spat out the words through gritted teeth, abruptly pulling open the door. His obese body reluctantly made way for Vera’s wheelchair.

"Leave immediately after you're done talking! Don't do anything... strange! And don't take that thing out!"

He pointed with his short, stubby fingers at Vera's wand resting on her lap.

“Thank you very much for your understanding, Mr. Dursley.” Vera nodded slightly and steered her wheelchair into the foyer.

The room was decorated so neatly it was almost austere, with various trophies and Dudley's photos filling the cabinets, but there was not a single trace of Harley's existence.

“She’s upstairs! The first door!” Penny said rapidly, her fingers nervously twisting her apron. “Daddy’s still sleeping, don’t wake him!”

Her gaze was fixed on Vera, as if the girl before her were a bomb that could explode at any moment.

"Thank you," Vera said calmly, placing the gift box on the table. "By the way, I think you'll like this gift."

After she finished speaking, she activated the levitation spell that McGonagall had left in the wheelchair and went up the narrow staircase.

This is magic that she can legitimately use outside of school, at least openly, and she had already reported it to the Ministry of Magic in advance.

Seeing that she could actually float, the Dursleys behind her nearly popped their eyes out, but given Vera's words earlier, they really didn't dare to make any rash moves.

Vera went up to the second floor, stopped in front of the first door, and gently knocked: "Harley?"

A series of hurried footsteps immediately came from inside the door, the lock clicked open, and the door was suddenly pulled open a crack.

Harley's face appeared behind the door. She looked thinner than when she left school, and her face was a little pale, but her emerald green eyes lit up with an incredible light when they saw her.

“Vera?!” Her voice trembled with immense surprise, almost escaping her lips, “How could you—”

Before she could finish speaking, she instinctively glanced back warily at the bottom of the stairs, then quickly pulled the door open wider. "Come in quickly!"

Vera maneuvered her wheelchair into the room. It was much smaller than her bedroom in Grimaldo Place, with old and cluttered items piled up in the corners, and a faint smell of dust in the air.

The only window was also sealed off from the outside, so even if Harley wanted to, there was no way to sneak away from here.

As soon as the door closed, Harley immediately knelt down and grabbed Vera's hand tightly, as if afraid that she would disappear in the next second.

"Vera...is it really you? Am I dreaming?" Her voice choked with emotion, her eyes fixed on her, filled with a mixture of grievance, surprise, and disbelief.

"How did you get here? How did you find this place? I... I received a warning letter from the Ministry of Magic. They said I used a suspending charm, but I didn't! I can't explain it to them!"

She was rambling incoherently, as if she were trying to unleash all the loneliness and frustration that had been building up over the entire summer.

“I know it wasn’t you.” Vera grasped her cold fingers in return, her voice as gentle as ever. “Don’t rush, Harry, speak slowly. I received the message from the Ministry of Magic and came here immediately.”

She carefully examined Harley and, after confirming that apart from being somewhat listless, had not suffered any substantial harm, felt somewhat relieved.

“It was a house-elf,” Harley whispered urgently, her eyes filled with resentment and confusion. “A house-elf named Dobby! He intercepted all my letters!”

It was the same thing last night; it deliberately knocked over the cake my aunt had prepared, which resulted in me being locked up...

It also said...it also said that something extremely dangerous would happen at Hogwarts this year, and that I shouldn't go back!

"Dobby?" Vera frowned slightly, pretending it was the first time she had heard of it.

“Hmm! It was wearing a tattered pillowcase, and its ears and eyes were huge.” Harley gestured as she tried to make her understand what had happened.

Then, upon seeing Vera's loving gaze, she gradually stopped moving, and her eyes looked even redder.

"Vera, I haven't received any letters from you, not a single one! I thought... I thought you'd forgotten about me..."

“How could that be?” Vera’s heart ached. “Hermione and I wrote you many letters. Hermione was very worried about you too.”

She reached out and gently brushed her fingertips across Harley's moist eyes, touching her slightly flushed skin.

The movement made Harley's body tremble slightly, as if she was startled by the sudden touch.

But soon, she lowered her head, her forehead almost touching Vera's hand: "I really missed you all..."

Just then, Uncle Vernon's hoarse voice came from downstairs: "Time's almost up! You in the wheelchair, come down here right now!"

Vera paused, took a deep breath, and reached out her hand to Harley, gently asking, "Harley, would you like to come with me?"

"With you...?" Harley paused for a moment before her eyes lit up.

Before Vera could react, she jumped up and turned to grab the cage containing Hedwig.

Seeing the little owl flapping its wings trying to get away, Harley frowned, turned around and asked, "Could you put it in your scroll first? Did you bring a scroll with you?"

"...So, you agree?" Vera finally understood what she meant.

But thinking about it carefully, it makes sense. No child would want to be locked up at home and unable to even go out.

Whether it's Harry Potter from the original books or Harley Quinn in front of us, they never hesitate when faced with an opportunity.

Harry quickly packed up, then suddenly turned around, looking distressed: "But my school things... my wand and flying broom are locked in the storage room under the stairs..."

“It’s alright, I’ll take care of it.” Vera nodded, then turned her wheelchair and opened the door. “You can tidy up upstairs first, and come down to find me when you’re done.”

After saying that, she controlled her wheelchair and went downstairs.

As Harley watched Vera's figure disappear at the top of the stairs, her heart pounded. A mixture of excitement at escaping and trepidation about the unknown made her heart flutter.

She quickly stuffed the few decent Muggle clothes she had into an old backpack, carefully covered Hedwig's cage, and finally, with great care, placed the photo album Hagrid had given her at the very bottom of the clothes.

"Alright, Hedwig, don't be afraid, we'll be leaving here soon."

She soothed the restless owl in a low voice, took a deep breath, slung her backpack over her shoulder, picked up the cage, and rushed downstairs with light steps.

The atmosphere in the downstairs living room was almost frozen.

Uncle Vernon stared silently at the flimsy piece of paper in his hand, but his heaving chest betrayed his inner turmoil.

Aunt Penny nervously twisted her hands, her gaze darting back and forth between Vera and the stairwell, her lips pressed into a pale line.

In the midst of this tense atmosphere, Vera seemed completely oblivious, simply tilting her head slightly to ask, "Are you all packed?"

“Yes!” Harley walked to her side under the gazes of her aunt and uncle, silently declaring to them that she was on Vera’s side.

“Mrs. Dursley has given your things to me,” Vera said, taking Harry’s wand from the bottom of her wheelchair.

Harry took the wand with delight, and touching the familiar shaft, she immediately felt much more at ease.

"Alright, say goodbye to your family, we should go," Vera said gently.

“…Huh?” Harley paused for a moment, looking at her aunt and uncle with some surprise.

Things don't seem to be as bad as she imagined?

What did Vera say to them that made them willing to let her leave?

"Harley." Seeing that she hadn't responded, Vera called out again.

Harley snapped out of her daze, looking at the extremely awkward expression on Uncle Vernon's face, and then at Aunt Penny's pale, tense yet somewhat relieved expression, and felt a sense of confusion.

But more than anything, there was the excitement of impending freedom and a strong curiosity about how Vera managed it.

She took a deep breath and tried to make her voice sound calm: "Uncle, Aunt, I...I'm going to stay with some friends for a while."

Vernon made a gurgling sound as if he was choking, and his knuckles turned white as he gripped the paper.

But in the end, he just glared at her fiercely and squeezed out through gritted teeth, "Get out of here! Don't get in my way!"

Aunt Penny turned around abruptly and strode towards the kitchen, her back stiff.

Harley didn't hesitate any longer. She picked up Hedwig's cage and followed closely behind Vera's wheelchair.

Vera maneuvered her wheelchair smoothly out of the Dursleys' house, with Harley close behind. As the hot, free summer morning air rushed towards them, she almost burst into tears of joy.

She's free!

Only after leaving Privet Road and turning into that quiet alley did Harley eagerly ask:

"Vera, what exactly did you tell them? Why did they let me go so easily? What is that piece of paper my uncle is holding?"

Vera stopped her wheelchair and looked out from the shadows of the alley at the sunlit street, a subtle smile curving her lips.

"It's nothing, I just felt that they had a hard time raising you, so I included a voucher for a two-week trip to Hawaii in my gift."

Author's note: Thank you all for your support. There are currently 9 chapters with the bounty, and I only need a few more blades to reach 10 chapters. If you still want to squeeze the author dry, please continue!

Chapter 139 Does This Count as Cohabitation?

Harley's eyes widened, her emerald green pupils filled with disbelief: "Hawaii...a two-week trip? You gave them this?"

"To be precise, it was 'the special prize that Mr. Vernon Dursley won by luck'."

Vera maneuvered her wheelchair deeper into the alley, a hint of slyness in her voice, "But there's a condition attached: we must depart immediately tomorrow."

Moreover, she wasn't stupid; she only covered the airfare, and the accommodation and daily expenses were still their responsibility.

Harley opened her mouth, unsure how to react.

She could already imagine the expression on her Uncle Vernon's face when he saw the so-called lottery ticket; his disgust and suspicion of wizards and his desire to take advantage of the situation must have been fiercely battling in his mind.

But in the end, he compromised.

“So, that’s why they agreed to let me out…” Harley murmured softly, lowering her head.

No wonder their expressions were so strange just now. They accepted the gift from the wizard they despised the most, wanted the benefit, but also felt inferior, right?

I have mixed feelings and don't know what to say.

“Don’t overthink it, Harley.” Vera saw through her thoughts and softened her voice. “This is just a means; the important thing is the result. Now, you don’t need to be locked in that little room anymore.”

Harley was silent for a few seconds, then looked up again, her eyes shining brightly once more: "You're right, Vera, thank you... thank you so much."

She couldn't help but take another step forward and hug Vera tightly.

It was as if, at this moment, all the separation and grievances of the summer vacation had finally been compensated.

Vera was thrown back slightly by her tackle, paused for a moment, then gently patted her back, a helpless yet genuine smile on her face: "Alright, it's good that you're alright."

Harley hugged her tightly for a while before loosening her grip slightly and murmuring, "But, no matter what, I'll pay you back for all the money you spent!"

She couldn't possibly use Vera's money to benefit the Dursleys. Even if the Dursleys raised her, she should be responsible for those expenses.

Vera paused for a moment, then chuckled, "Sure, but you'll have to pay it back after you come of age, with the Galleons you earn yourself."

She knew Harley's personality; if she insisted on refusing, it would only provoke Harley's rebellious side.

Children need to be coaxed.

Harley nodded immediately, her eyes filled with seriousness: "It's a deal! I'll definitely work hard to pay you back!"

Even though she knew her family had a lot of money in Gringotts' vault, she wasn't willing to use that money to pay off the debt since Vera had said so.

Having reached an agreement on the debt issue, Harley glanced at Vera's wheelchair and asked hesitantly, "So... what's next?"

“We can’t do it on our own.” Vera shrugged and said softly, “We should go, Kreacher.”

With a snap, the house-elf appeared and bowed deeply to Vera: "Miss, are you going back?"

Harley was startled, released Vera, and looked at Kreacher in surprise: "It...it's also..."

Seeing Kreacher's appearance, she couldn't help but think of the mischievous elf Dobby.

“It’s Kreacher, the house-elf of the Black family,” Vera introduced. “It will take us back. Hold on tight, Harley.”

Harley quickly grabbed Vera's wheelchair armrest with one hand and held onto Hedwig's cage with the other.

Kreacher extended his withered fingers and placed them on both the wheelchair and Harley's arm.

Another familiar, suffocating feeling of pressure washed over me as Privet Road gradually twisted and disappeared before my eyes.

The next second, they found themselves in a dimly lit, quiet, and spacious corridor.

“We’ve arrived,” Vera said softly.

Harley looked around curiously. It was clearly a very old mansion, quite different from the Dursleys’ house, which was filled with the sweet smell of food.

The walls were covered with heavy, dark-colored tapestries, and strange silverwares were displayed on some old-looking cabinets. A magnificent crystal chandelier hung from the ceiling.

"here it is?"

“Number 12 Grimmauld Place, the Blake family’s old house.” Vera pushed her wheelchair forward down the corridor. “For now, it’s also our home.”

“Our…home?” Harley repeated the word, a strange warmth welling up inside her.