Harry had always kept in mind the warning Sherlock had given him: at most, he would only summon Lily for one hour a day to keep him company and chat.
During the month or so at the Dursley family home, even though Harry tried to hide it, Lily was an extremely clever witch herself. From the subtle clues, she clearly realised that Harry was not living well at her sister's house.
It could even be said that it was truly terrible.
Regarding this, she did not criticise her sister Petunia in front of Harry; she only apologised to Harry with a sorrowful expression.
She knew that the Dursley family had vented their resentment towards her and James onto Harry; the two families had completely cut ties before Harry was even born.
Now that the Dursley family was willing to take the risk of taking Harry in, Lily could not say anything critical. She could only attribute the fault to herself and James.
Harry handled this with great openness; he had long since grown accustomed to the attitude the Dursley family had towards him.
He even turned around to comfort Lily, saying, "At least my life is not too bad right now, isn't it?"
With two friends like Ron and Hermione, elders who cherished him like Professor Cavendish and Mr and Mrs Weasley, and now even his mother could stay by his side, Harry did not feel he was particularly unfortunate; rather, he felt quite lucky.
Lily was very gratified that Harry held such thoughts. In the two months or so they had spent together, she had figured out that although her son had grown up in a very harsh environment, he had not gone astray or turned into someone who complained about heaven and others or gave up on himself.
Yet at the same time, Lily did not relax her guidance of Harry because of this.
While she saw her son's strengths, she also saw his flaws.
In the dead of night in the Gryffindor Common Room, Harry lowered his voice and quietly told Lily about the Triwizard Tournament being held again this semester, expressing his envy that if only he were old enough, he might have a high chance of being selected if he signed up.
"I have never doubted your ability, Harry," Lily affirmed, then her tone became somewhat serious. "But I still want to remind you that bravery is a fine virtue, but recklessness is not. When some things can be solved without taking risks, but you insist on taking that risk, that is losing the wisdom of Gryffindor."
"Your father was like that at the beginning, which is why I didn't like him at all when we first met. He always liked to engage in meaningless adventures to show off his bravery, but that kind of behaviour is not something people praise."
"True bravery is when, faced with unavoidable danger, you dare to stand up and face it head-on instead of retreating; that is the spirit of Gryffindor."
No expression of impatience appeared on Harry's face. He cherished every conversation with Lily, because the harder something was to come by, the more one understood its preciousness.
Lily's expression softened again as she spoke. She revealed a gentle smile once more, reaching out to stroke Harry's hair. Her illusory hand made contact with Harry's black hair, yet touched nothing.
"Telling you this is not to make you consider retreating when you encounter difficulties; courage remains the noblest virtue."
"I remember when I was in school, one year when we won the House Cup for that semester, while we were celebrating with Professor McGonagall in the Gryffindor Common Room, Professor McGonagall asked us all a question."
Harry asked, blinking.
"What question?"
"She asked us, 'Do you know why Gryffindor students are always the most outstanding and eye-catching ones at Hogwarts?'"
Harry said, pondering.
"Because Gryffindor students are the most active?"
Lily's expression was tranquil, her eyes filled with reminiscence and memory, and she spoke softly.
"The Professor said, 'Because courage comes first in all things!'"
...
Hilke's office was not very far from Sherlock's office.
Both were on the third floor, separated by two staircases.
Early on the first day of formal classes, Sherlock got up early, prepared the things needed for class, changed into his robes, and put the items he had prepared in advance into his pocket.
After getting everything sorted, he walked towards Hilke's office.
Without knocking, Sherlock simply leaned against the door and waited quietly. He didn't have to wait long before Hilke, dressed neatly with a black ribbon always covering her eyes, pushed the door open and walked out of the office.
As she stepped out, Sherlock naturally bowed and waved, performing a gentleman's salute.
"Ah, beautiful lady, may I invite you to have breakfast together?"
The corners of Hilke's mouth subconsciously curled up slightly, but soon she straightened her face again, glanced at Sherlock expressionlessly, and walked past him towards the stairs.
Sherlock followed behind her with a smile, continuing to apologise.
"It's been so long; your anger should have dissipated. I know I'm in the wrong for always treating you like a child, but it's really not something I can change in a moment."
"It's only been one night; I'm not over it."
"Then your mood should be a tiny bit better, right? There must be at least a tiny bit."
"Not even a tiny bit."
"Alright, I'm guilty. I apologise. Miss Vera is beautiful, generous, and sensible; she doesn't need someone like me, who is a year younger than her, to worry. To express my apologies, I have specifically prepared a gift."
Hilke stopped in her tracks and saw the thing Sherlock smilingly pulled out from his pocket, blinking her eyes.
It was a small glass bottle that looked like a pendant. The bottle was diamond-shaped with some decorative patterns on it. The bottle itself was very beautiful, and through the transparent glass, one could see some pale golden liquid quietly flowing inside.
Hilke naturally recognised what this was at a glance.
She looked up at Sherlock; the expression on her face showed no signs of warming up, and her tone remained cold.
"You are still worried about me."
Sherlock did not deny it; he raised an eyebrow and said,
"This has nothing to do with whether I treat you like a child or not. Just as you said, friends also worry about each other's safety. This is just care between friends, not an elder worrying about a junior."
Although Hilke could tell that he was twisting concepts and using flowery language, even just listening to it made her mood turn from gloomy to sunny. However, she did not show it on her face, nor did she accept this bottle of Felix Felicis, still keeping a straight face as she said,
"I don't need it; you keep it for yourself."
Sherlock, however, did not give her a chance to refuse and directly helped her hang it around her neck.
"This was given to me by Slughorn, the Professor my mother was closest to, when I first came to Hogwarts. But two years have passed, and I never had the chance to use it. If you don't need it either, just treat it as a pendant; at least it looks much prettier than those lockets sold in Diagon Alley."