Mrs. Granger led Harley into Hermione's room, then brought little Hermione from the living room so the two children could spend time alone to bond.
Having lived two lives, Harley found it easy to charm a naive, ignorant girl; in no time, she had Hermione lowering her guard.
Little Hermione took out a treasure she had found on her father's bookshelf this morning—an illustrated book on Human Anatomy—and invited Harley to look at it with her.
Hiss~ I didn't expect Hermione's childhood interests to be so unique... Looking at the exquisite illustrations of human skeletons and blood in the book, a chill ran down Harley's spine. She felt that letting Hermione come into contact with these things might lead to a very bad future.
Time passed quickly, and as eleven o'clock approached, Lily stood up to take her leave.
Although Mrs. Granger warmly invited them to stay for lunch, staying for a meal on the first visit to a neighbor's house was considered quite rude. Lily declined politely for a moment before taking Harley home.
Before leaving, Harley saw little Hermione peeking out from behind Mrs. Granger, looking at her pitifully like an abandoned little rabbit.
Harley smiled and waved at her. Since the two families were neighbors and she and Hermione would be going to school together later, they would have plenty of time together; there was no rush.
At this point, Harley no longer resisted going to Notting Hill Preschool—who said Muggle schools were bad? Being able to go to a Muggle school with Hermione was simply wonderful!
Back home, Harley suddenly seemed to remember something and asked Lily:
"Mother, did you and father choose our family's new address together?"
Lily shook her head and replied, "Professor Dumbledore asked a friend to buy it. Apparently, it's the safest area in all of London, decided after Professor Dumbledore and Mr. Grindelwald studied it for a long time."
Harley curled her lip; it was indeed Dumbledore's handiwork.
Ever since Dumbledore went to Australia to talk to Severus Snape when she was one year old, she had vaguely felt that something was wrong.
Now it was confirmed—Dumbledore definitely knew some of the future plot developments.
Even her father, Severus Snape, knew some inside information, and had known it for a long time, otherwise he wouldn't have been able to marry Lily.
Harley frowned in deep thought. The problem now was that if Dumbledore really was reborn, or if Grindelwald had prophesied the future developments, why didn't they just find and destroy Lord Voldemort's Horcruxes, and then go to Albania to finish off Lord Voldemort's wandering remnant soul?
Once the main body was gone, the small fragment attached to Longbottom wouldn't be much of a threat. They would only need to wait for Longbottom's natural death for Lord Voldemort's soul fragment to vanish with him, and all would be well.
What was the point of Dumbledore going to such lengths to bring her back to London and carefully designing an early meeting between her and Hermione?
Right now, she was just a four-year-old girl. Even if she went to question Dumbledore, he would probably just brush her off with a few words, just as he had done with Harry.
Whatever, if the sky falls, the savior Neville Longbottom will be there to hold it up. As long as she was enough of a slacker, she didn't believe Dumbledore could force her to amount to anything.
It was now early August, and Notting Hill Preschool wouldn't start until September, which meant Harley could still relax peacefully for another month.
Harley had originally planned everything out: stay at home and watch all the TV shows she wanted, and when she got bored, go next door to tease little Hermione.
But after only a few days of Harley's comfortable life, a group of uninvited visitors arrived at the door, breaking the peace of the Snape Family.
"Bang bang bang!"
James Potter's voice, full of rage and dissatisfaction, roared from outside the Snape Family's door: "Severus Snape, open the damn door!"
He didn't even press the doorbell, instead pounding heavily on the door with his hand as if he wanted to smash right through it.
"Snivellus! Don't hide in there and stay quiet, I know you're home—you had the guts to steal Lily, why don't you have the guts to open the door!"
Sirius was not to be outdone, raising his voice to join James in shouting.
"Uh... James, Sirius, both of you calm down a bit..."
Lupin advised them gently, but unfortunately, it didn't have much of an effect. These two lions in a fit of rage couldn't listen to any advice at all.
"How can you tell me to be calm? They disappeared for years right after graduation, making us all think they had been killed—hateful Snape, you have the guts to steal Lily, but you don't have the courage to open the door for me!"
"Give me back my tears, you bastard!"
James roared in uncontrollable fury, his emotions becoming increasingly agitated and out of control.
"Right, right, right! You have the guts to steal Lily, you have the guts to open the door! Open up, open up, open up quickly! Snivellus, open the door!" Sirius chimed in, continuing to egg him on like adding fuel to the fire.
It was a noisy mess outside, and the situation inside was equally grim—Severus's face was terrifyingly dark, as black as the bottom of a pot.
He stood firmly by the door, determined not to let Lily open it.
"I will not allow those three Gryffindor idiots to enter the Snape Family home. Their mere presence would pollute the air," Severus said coldly.
Lily advised helplessly, "Well, we can't just let them make a scene at the door. It'll disturb the neighbors. And we really did leave without saying goodbye back then—open the door and give me a few minutes to persuade them to leave."
Severus gave his wife a slightly aggrieved look, his eyes revealing a hint of dissatisfaction, but since he always prioritized her, he still obediently turned around and opened the closed door.
James's arm, which had been pounding on the door, suddenly lost its support when Severus opened it. His whole body tilted forward, and he stumbled into the Snape Family home, crashing hard into Severus, who had just turned around!
"Eww!"
"Blegh!"
Two exclamations of disgust rang out almost simultaneously, and the two of them sprang apart as if they had been electrocuted.
Expressions of extreme loathing appeared on both their faces, as if they felt greatly offended. They both frantically brushed at their robes while muttering, "I'm tainted!" and "Don't let the stupidity rub off on me!"
Harley, who was sitting on the living room sofa holding a portion of strawberry ice cream and watching the show, almost couldn't help but burst out laughing.
Looking at the young and energetic Sirius and Lupin outside the door, the distorted and grimacing faces of James and Severus inside, and Lily, who was full of speechlessness yet struggling to hold back her laughter, Harley couldn't help but feel an indescribable emotion welling up in her heart.
If Lord Voldemort hadn't existed in the original wizarding world, perhaps everything would have been completely different.
Severus might never have walked down that dark path; in that case, he and Lily wouldn't have had a falling out, and everyone could live together as carefree as they were now... Thinking of this, the corners of Harley's mouth couldn't help but curl upward slightly.