Chapter 939 - 381: Lily’s Memory_2

Chapter 939: Chapter 381: Lily’s Memory_2

"If you want to know, there’s actually one here too—I suggest you look at the thoughts of those involved rather than those of onlookers like Professor Snape... After all, he also doesn’t know what exactly happened when Lily and Penny met privately."

"Is that so?" Harry nodded, then suspiciously raised his head to look at Vivi, "Why do you have everything?"

"Oh, this..." Vivi lowered her head, her invisible toes gently tapping the ground, "I had Lily leave it so you could learn more about your mom..."

"If you had said that earlier, I wouldn’t have been teased by Professor Snape like that!" Harry huffed, "Not to mention, the look he gave me at the time, it was like he wanted to throw me into a cauldron and boil up a magic potion!"

He lowered his head to look at the Meditation Basin, where memories were swirling, silver-white and oddly shaped, just like ink dissolving into water, strand by strand.

"Let’s take a look together," Vivi proposed, "I also want to see the memories of my best student when they were young."

"Yes, your best ’student,’" Harry emphasized ’student’ with sarcasm, "So, your boyfriend is your student’s child, isn’t that kind of... weird?"

"We knew each other first, you cheeky boy!" Vivi pinched Harry’s cheek, "Besides, even if I knew you’d be my student’s child back then, I wouldn’t let you go!"

"Wow, that’s twisted!" Harry said dramatically.

Immediately afterwards, he felt a gentle slap on his forehead.

"Don’t talk nonsense!" Vivi pouted, "Let’s first take a look at Lily’s memory."

"Alright." Harry nodded, and together with Vivi, they immersed in the Meditation Basin.

Soon, he felt himself fall forward into the sunlight, and before long, he and Vivi were standing on warm ground.

He straightened up, finding himself in an almost deserted playground with a large chimney standing tall against the distant skyline.

Nearby, two girls were on swings, while a skinny boy hid behind a bush watching them.

The boy had long black hair and wore mismatched clothing, almost as if he’d intentionally dressed this way: short jeans, a large, long, adult-like shabby coat, and a bizarre maternity-like shirt.

This must be Professor Snape when he was a child, right?

"This is definitely Professor Snape," Vivi said, stifling laughter, "Look, he looks almost exactly the same, except smaller and skinnier, almost a younger version of Snape."

"Definitely him." Harry nodded, glanced at Professor Snape’s greasy, twisted hair, and said, chuckling slightly, "Looks like he never had the habit of washing his hair since childhood."

With that confirmation, the two walked closer to the boy.

At this time, Snape looked to be around nine or ten years old, with a sallow complexion, small stature, and thin frame. He watched as the smaller girl on the swing went higher than the larger one, his thin face showing undisguised longing.

"You can see it." Harry sighed, "Professor Snape... deeply yearned for this kind of freedom."

"Lily, stop that!" the older girl yelled.

However, as the little girl swung the highest, she released her grip and flew into the air, truly flying, laughing joyfully as she soared towards the sky.

She didn’t crash heavily onto the playground’s asphalt, but instead glided through the air like an acrobat, staying airborne for a long time before gently landing on the ground.

Harry immediately recognized that the older girl was his Aunt Penny, and the younger girl was his mother, Lily.

"Mom told you not to do that!"

As Penny’s heels scraped the ground, stopping the swing, she made a shrill, piercing noise, then jumped up with her hands on her hips.

"Mom said you’re not allowed to do that, Lily!"

"But I’m fine," Lily said, still giggling, "Penny, look at this—check out what I can do."

Penny looked around, in the empty playground there were only the two of them, and of course Snape, though the girls didn’t know. Lily picked up a wilted flower from the bush where Snape was hiding.

Penny approached, looking both curious and dissatisfied, feeling very conflicted internally.

Once Penny got close enough to see, Lily opened her hand, and the flower petals in her palm kept opening and closing, like some strange, multi-layered shell slowly opening its case.

"Stop it!" Penny shrieked.

"I’m not doing anything to you." Lily said, though she did compress the flower into a ball and toss it to the ground.

"It’s not right," Penny said, but her gaze lingered on the fallen flower, "How did you do that?" she asked again, her voice full of barely concealed desire.

Harry turned his head, intending to say something to Vivi, but surprisingly found Vivi staring at Penny, her gaze flickering.

Harry, with high emotional intelligence, naturally knew Vivi might be reminded of her past as a dud, perhaps at that time, watching her sisters freely roaming the Nimongard skies on flying brooms, she felt a deep envy?

He reached out to wrap around Vivi’s slender waist, saying nothing, just accompanying her quietly.

Vivi too felt the sentiment of her young boyfriend, and she extended her hand, interlocking it with the hand resting on her waist.

"Wasn’t it obvious?" Snape couldn’t hold back anymore and jumped out from behind the bush.

Penny screamed, turning to run to the swing, Lily was clearly startled too but stayed in place.

Snape seemed to regret his rash appearance, he looked at Lily, a faint blush on his sallow cheeks.

"What’s so clear?" Lily asked.

Snape appeared both nervous and excited. He glanced at Penny, who loitered near the swings, lowered his voice, and said, "I know what you are."

"What do you mean?"

"You’re... you’re a witch." Snape said quietly.

Lily seemed insulted.

"It’s rude to say that to someone else!"

She turned around, faced upwards, and strode towards her sister.

"No!" Snape said. His face had turned bright red, Harry didn’t understand why he wouldn’t take off that ridiculous oversized coat, unless he didn’t want to reveal the maternity shirt underneath.

He flailed his sleeves chasing after the two girls, his comical appearance resembling a bat, much like his grown-up self.

The sisters regarded him with equal disdainful looks, each grabbing a swing pole as if it were a safe spot in a game of tag.

"You are," Snape said to Lily, "you are a witch. I’ve been observing you for a while—there’s nothing wrong with that. My mom’s a witch, I’m a wizard."

Penny’s laughter was like cold water.

"Wizard!" she yelled. The boy’s sudden appearance had shocked her, now her composure returned, courage finding its way back.

"I know who you are—you’re the Snape family boy! They live down by the river on Spider’s Tail Alley," she told Lily, her tone making clear she regarded it as a disreputable place, "Why are you spying on us?"

"I’m not spying," Snape said, agitated and uneasy, his hair appearing very dirty under the bright sunlight, "I wouldn’t want to spy on you," he continued contemptuously, "you’re a Muggle."

Penny clearly didn’t understand the term, but she couldn’t miss the tone.

"Lily, come on, let’s go!" she shrieked.

Lily immediately followed her sister, but her eyes remained fixed on Snape.

"I seem to know now," Harry said, feeling enlightened, to Vivi, "why Professor Snape’s expression isn’t quite right when Aunt Penny is mentioned."