Hmph...
Her heart suddenly felt sweet and floaty.
"So, this Miss Cassandra…"
Lily looked at Cassandra, who had the corners of her mouth hooked up, and almost instantly locked in the attributes of this future daughter-in-law.
Tsundere.
"She's from the Malfoy Clan." Harry introduced her to Lily. "Strictly speaking, she should be Lucius Malfoy's grandaunt."
"So that's how it is…" Lily nodded. Harry had just said, when introducing Cassandra, that her father, Mr. Septimus, often took him along to attend important events…
Now it didn't seem surprising at all. Only the Malfoy Clan could match the kind of illustrious background Harry had described.
Lily was very good at History of Magic, so of course she knew Mr. Septimus Malfoy—back in the nineteenth century, this man was the Minister of Dark secretly controlling the Magic World.
He was not only powerful to the heavens in the Magic World, but just as hot in the Muggle World. Rumor had it he was also very good friends with some old grandmother.
As smart as Lily was, she could obviously tell that Mr. Malfoy was completely training Harry as a future son-in-law.
At the same time, she also seemed to understand why the once open-minded Malfoy Clan had suddenly turned into extreme and closed-off Pure Bloods.
Blood Mother Hell—when Lily put herself in that position, she could feel her fists clenching.
If her daughter got whisked away by some black-haired guy on a Flying Broom, she'd probably do something even more ruthless than Mr. Septimus did…
But Harry was her son, so, well…
Judging from how it looked, even a hundred years ago, Harry's days could hardly be called "tough."
And that was thanks to the Malfoy family—without their protection, given the atmosphere in the Magic World back then, Harry definitely wouldn't have had an easy time.
"As for Pabi…"
Harry tilted his head and glanced at Pabi, only to find Pabi had her chest propped on the table, her chin resting on it, looking at him with an innocent face.
His eyelid twitched…
What on earth blinded my eyes?
"She's Newt Scamander's aunt, the one who wrote 'Where to Find Magical Creatures.'" Harry blurted out quickly.
"Hehe, hello." Pabi raised a hand and wiggled her fingers at the two of them.
"Hello, Miss Swedding." Lily nodded gently.
"Oh, and Mr. Leme."
Only then did Harry remember Mr. Leme. When he stood up and turned around, he saw Mr. Leme with headphones on, sitting in his chair, serenely holding a Crystal Ball without saying a word.
"Mr. Leme?" he called.
Mr. Leme didn't respond, just moved his fingers rapidly through the air in front of him.
It looked like he was playing some game, or doing some kind of programming.
But judging from that finger speed, it probably wasn't a game—there weren't any games yet that required that level of APM.
Right at that moment, Professor Lupin came back in from outside.
"It's freezing out there."
Lupin rubbed his hands together, scrubbed his nose as he walked into the room, and hearing Harry calling Mr. Leme, he went over to Mr. Leme and thoughtfully took off his headphones.
Mr. Leme lifted his head. He didn't speak, just stared at Lupin darkly.
"Harry's calling you, Mr. Leme." Lupin said with a smile, pointing at Harry and following the direction of his own finger with his eyes.
And then, he saw James and Lily sitting at the table.
"Whoa, woke up too hard." Lupin laughed and shook his head, reaching up to rub his eyes. "Or maybe I'm still dreaming—how come I'm seeing Prongs and Lily…"
"You're not dreaming, Lupin." Little Sirius said happily. "That's James and Lily. They're both back!"
Lupin almost leapt to the table in a single bound, ending up right at James's side.
"Prongs?" he asked in disbelief, his voice shaking.
But James still had that same lazy, cocky look, with zero teary joy of a long-awaited reunion.
In fact, he'd only seen Lupin the day before he left.
"Mate, today's not the full moon, is it?" James quipped without a care. "I'm really afraid your furry little problem will flare up and you'll take a bite out of me…"
James's joke took the edge off the sadness in the air.
Lupin opened his arms and pulled James into a hug.
"Thirteen years, thirteen years…" he murmured. "You finally came back, Prongs!"
"Well, I'm back anyway, and with Lily too." James patted Lupin on the shoulder and joked, "I don't mind you hugging me this long, but I'm a married man now—you'd better be careful Lily doesn't get jealous."
"Hahahaha…" Lupin laughed as he wiped his eyes and let go of James. "You're still the same as ever, James."
After a few more lines of chatter, Mr. Leme finally scooted over to the table.
"Dad, Mum," Harry introduced, "this is Mr. Nicolas Flamel, the legendary Alchemist from France… At Dumbledore's invitation, he's currently living in seclusion at Hogwarts, and we're in his Alchemy Room right now."
"Nicolas Flamel?!" Lily gasped. "Oh my God, I've seen you mentioned in so many books, and Vivi's told me about you so many times… It's an honor, a real honor to meet you."
As she spoke, she reached out and took Mr. Leme's hand in hers.
Crack.
There was a sharp snap, and Mr. Leme cried out in pain.
Lily was a little stunned, but she quickly realized she'd accidentally crushed Mr. Leme's bones.
He was an Alchemist born in the fourteenth century, after all. Living to this age, of course his bones would be brittle.
"I'm so sorry, Mr. Leme." Lily apologized, flustered.