Harry's throat burned as if pricked by needles.
He had imagined countless possibilities, but he had never expected that opening the Chamber of Secrets would lead him to a portrait of the girl he missed so dearly.
"Vivi…"
His voice was hoarse.
"I think we should make ourselves scarce," Professor Lukewood said grumpily from beside Viletta's portrait. "This Chamber is about to become…"
"Charles?" Headmaster Fitzgerald said softly. "Shut your mouth and come with us."
Professor Lukewood shot Harry a reluctant glance before turning and following the other two professors out of their portraits.
"I've been waiting for you for so long…" Viletta said gently.
"I…" Harry's throat tightened. He couldn't get any words out.
After a long moment, he finally managed to speak, his voice thick with emotion.
"Are you… are you alright?"
"I suppose… I'm alright," Viletta replied softly.
Harry dropped heavily to the floor.
He truly couldn't accept this reality.
To him, Viletta was not only a dear friend but also a teacher and sister figure.
Although they hadn't known each other for long, in this world, Vivi was the one who could accept and support him unconditionally.
"You…" Tears spilled from Harry's eyes. "How can you call this 'alright'? Being stuck inside a portrait like this…"
"I think you've misunderstood, Harry." Viletta smiled faintly and gave him a sly wink. "Actually, I'm not dead. I simply left some clues for you in this Chamber so you wouldn't have trouble finding me… You know how incredibly difficult and dangerous time travel is. Now that I see you, I know… I must still be trapped in the Slytherin study."
"The Slytherin study?!"
Harry's voice rose sharply. He sprang to his feet and said urgently, "I'll go rescue you right now!"
"Harry!"
Vivi stopped him.
"Listen to me first."
Harry halted. Realizing he was too far away standing on the steps, he walked closer to her portrait.
"Since I haven't appeared yet, that means the time magic array is missing some materials," Viletta explained calmly. "You'll need several ingredients: an angel's feather, a dragon's heart, phoenix tears…"
"Dragon heart is easy enough—Ron's brother Charlie works with dragons in Romania," Harry said impatiently. "Phoenix tears shouldn't be a problem either—Professor Dumbledore has a phoenix. But what is an angel's feather? Do angels even exist in this world?"
"I stored some angel feathers in my Gringotts vault," Viletta said softly. "There's also a small amount of gold in there—our shared savings."
"I don't need money, Vivi," Harry said quickly.
"Of course you don't. You're the famous heir of the Potter family, after all." Viletta smiled at him tenderly.
"Wait, how do you know that?" Harry asked, puzzled.
A century ago, the Potter family had never come looking for him. Since many Muggles were also named Potter, they had simply assumed he came from the Muggle side and paid it no mind.
At the time, Harry himself hadn't known he belonged to the wizarding Potter family and had believed he was Muggle-born.
So how could Vivi know?
"Never mind that. There's one last material I need to tell you about," Viletta interrupted his thoughts.
"Oh… right?" Harry scratched his head. "There's another one?"
"The final ingredient is a basilisk fang," Viletta said.
"A basilisk?" Harry repeated.
Viletta explained patiently, "A basilisk is a gigantic serpent, an artificial creature created by dark wizards. Legend says the infamous Herpo the Foul was the first to breed one. He placed a chicken egg beneath a toad, and the result was this creature known as the basilisk."
"Basilisks are extremely dangerous. Their gaze can kill any person or animal instantly upon eye contact… Their venom is also incredibly potent and can kill nearly any living being…"
"Where can I find a basilisk?!" Harry asked loudly.
"I'm sorry, Harry. I don't know," Viletta said gently.
Harry ran his fingers through his hair, feeling discouraged.
They were so close. They even had the legendary angel feathers, yet they couldn't find any trace of a basilisk…
Would he have to breed one himself?
How long would that take? Could Vivi even hold on in the Slytherin study until then?
"Relax, Harry. There will be a way," Viletta comforted him warmly, just as she always had.
Hearing her gentle, soothing voice helped Harry's emotions gradually settle.
After a while, he looked up and asked, "Vivi… you mentioned earlier that I come from the Potter family… You were…"
"Ah, that." Viletta's expression suddenly became slightly uncomfortable.
She hesitated for a moment before saying, "This matter… is connected to the ancient magic on your body. If you learn the truth… you might… you might start seeing me differently."
Harry tensed up immediately.
"Why?" he asked.
"I'm sorry…" Viletta bit her lip. "You'd better see for yourself. It's over there—yes, the Pensieve behind you."
Harry looked in the direction she indicated and indeed saw a Pensieve.
"The memories inside belong to your mother," Viletta said, dropping a bombshell.
"My mother?!" Harry asked in disbelief. "How could my mother have come to the Chamber of Secrets?!"
"Because she was also an inheritor of ancient magic, Harry," Viletta replied softly and gently. "Go and watch your mother's memories. Perhaps then you'll understand everything… Though you might end up blaming me for it…"
"I won't, Vivi," Harry said firmly.
He walked over to the Pensieve.
"Go on," Viletta said, her voice tinged with sadness. "Watch your mother's memories…"
Harry nodded and lowered his face into the Pensieve.
Then—
He spun rapidly downward through cold darkness. Moments later, the world brightened around him.
He found himself standing on the shore of the Black Lake. Beside him sat a crying girl whose face was covered in countless freckles.
Harry looked up at the familiar Black Lake and noticed it looked slightly different from the one he knew…
Before he could think further, he heard a familiar voice—one he often heard in his dreams.
"*Expelliarmus!*"
Harry looked up and saw a red-haired witch holding a wand in each hand.
It was his mother, Lily.
"Mom?" he said instinctively.
Lily didn't respond to him. Instead, she glared furiously at the Slytherin students ahead like a protective lioness.
"I want you to apologize, Mulciber!"
"You filthy little Mudblood…"
Before the Slytherin named Mulciber could finish, Lily's curse hit him, and large, greenish boils erupted across his face.
The two Slytherins beside Mulciber drew their wands, but the girl who had been crying earlier had already moved to stand beside Lily, along with another girl.
With Mulciber out of the fight, the three-against-two battle quickly ended in favor of the girls. One Slytherin ended up with massively overgrown teeth that prevented him from casting spells, while the other had his mouth sealed shut and his legs bound.
"Useless…" Lily sneered, tossing Mulciber's wand into the lake.
The three Slytherins slunk away in defeat.
"Mary, I'm sorry…" Lily said, looking guiltily at the freckled girl beside her.
"I'm fine, Lily," Mary replied with a weak smile. "You gave them what they deserved, didn't you?"
But the other girl suddenly spoke up. "You should be the one apologizing. Those two are friends of that greasy Slytherin you hang around with, right? I can't believe you still associate with people like that. They're Death Eaters! Are you going to—"
"Marlene!" Mary hissed, cutting off Marlene McKinnon.
"Oh, sorry," Marlene said, giving Lily an apologetic smile.
Lily stood there awkwardly. Of course she knew those two were friends of Severus Snape…
But Severus had been her childhood friend.
She knew he was determined to join the Death Eaters—that blood-supremacist group—but she still clung to the bond they had formed as children and hoped to persuade him to change.
Unfortunately, it had all been in vain. Severus seemed dead set on his path, studying dark magic and even inviting her to join him…
She stood frozen in place. By the time she came back to her senses, Mary and Marlene had already left.
Lily lifted her head, looked at the sun hanging in the sky, and took a deep breath.
With a sigh, she started walking forward.
Harry hurried after her. He wanted to spend as much time with his mother as possible.
Following the lakeshore, Harry trailed his mother to a large beech tree where a crowd had gathered.
To his surprise, when he pushed through the crowd behind her, he saw several people he recognized from photographs.
One of them looked almost exactly like him—except for the eye color. It was practically a fifth-year version of himself.
It was his father, James Potter.
Lying on the ground opposite James was someone even more unforgettable—
The Potions professor, Severus Snape.
Snape's mouth was full of soap bubbles. He kept retching, spitting out pink, frothy bubbles. Harry understood instantly why Professor McGonagall had said that using *Scourgify* on Draco's mouth would have led to a very different outcome if Snape had caught him.
"Let him go!" Lily shouted.
Hearing Lily's voice, James turned. His expression darkened and grew serious as he greeted her in a deep, steady voice, "Oh, Evans—how are you?"
"Let him go," Lily repeated. She looked at James with clear disgust. "What has he ever done to you?"
"Well…" James pretended to think carefully. "It's mainly his existence, if you know what I mean…"
Many of the watching students burst into loud laughter. The tall, handsome boy beside James laughed too, and a short boy behind him joined in. But Lily did not laugh.
"You think you're funny," she said coldly, "but you're just an arrogant, bullying toerag, Potter… I said, let him go!"
"If you'll go out with me, I'll let him go, Evans," James said at once. "Go out with me, and I'll never lay a finger on old Snivellus again…"
Behind him, the effect of the Full Body-Bind Curse was beginning to wear off.
Snape started crawling toward his dropped wand, still vomiting soapy bubbles as he moved.
"I'd rather go out with the giant squid than with you!" Lily said with revulsion.
"Bad luck, Prongs," the handsome boy said cheerfully, turning toward Snape. "Oops!"
But it was too late. Snape had already pointed his wand straight at James. A flash of light appeared, and a deep gash opened on James's cheek, blood spilling onto his robes.
James spun around. A second flash of light later, Snape was hanging upside down in mid-air, his robes falling over his head and exposing his skinny, pale legs and a pair of underwear that was nearly black.
A small group of onlookers cheered. James and his two friends roared with laughter.
Lily's cheek twitched. From Harry's perspective, she seemed to snort coldly.
But…
Seeing Snape's humiliation, Harry couldn't laugh at all.
Snape's situation reminded Harry of his own days at the Muggle school, when Dudley and his gang would bully him.
He had been just as helpless, curled up in the middle of a jeering crowd.
The hardest thing in the world was true empathy.
"Take him down!" Lily shouted again, drawing her wand.
"Hey, don't make me hex you, Evans!"
James warned her, but he still turned and cast the counter-curse on Snape.
"Get lost, Snivellus," James sighed. "Consider yourself lucky Evans was here…"
However, Snape suddenly spoke, cutting James off.
"I don't need help from a filthy little Mudblood like her!"
Harry slapped a hand to his forehead.
He understood everything now.
Why, when he had first arrived at school and told that made-up story, Professor Snape had reacted so violently that he even deducted twenty points from his own house…
The furious expression on Snape's face back then overlapped perfectly with the dark, sullen face before him now.
It seemed… the Snape of the past was regretting the words he had spoken at this very moment…
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