Harry Potter: The Boy Loved by Beasts

Chapter 17:Life goes on and on and on and on

Author: "Aww, I would have loved to share an image of you dressed up as a cute little girl, but too bad I can't draw."

Vira: (ignores the author)

Author: "Che, I'll find something I can write vividly to embarrass you, but for now—let's goooo!"

Vira's daily life was well fulfilled by the town, especially since it was filled with elderly people who were fairly inactive and didn't care much if they lost a bit of food. A few young ones in the town were children who either got easily scared or were distracted by the animals.

Speaking of the animals, they were in significant numbers—mostly wild and stray—but the elderly, as long as they weren't too ill-tempered, often had pets. Even a few bad-tempered ones had one, like the ugly Sphynx cat owned by a mean lady. She nearly hit Woof with a rock when they tried to steal some milk.

With the plentiful milk to drink—albeit stolen, but still delicious—along with the companionship of countless animals and migrating birds who might have stayed in the town with Vira if not for his fear of attracting attention, life seemed good. He didn't allow them to stay because he was scared it would draw people's notice.

Thinking about it, it seemed Vira had been living in hiding, though it wasn't deliberate. He wasn't actively covering his tracks; he was just as uncaring as the day he first arrived. He left puddles of wet prints after bathing, blatantly stole children's clothes and diapers, and spent most of his time with Woof and the others in the alleyways, completely exposed to the main road.

The only time he wasn't careless was on a few festive days when many adults came to celebrate their days off, visiting their parents and children—whom they left in the peaceful countryside to shield them from the chaos of the cities.

There were a few homes left abandoned by successful individuals who had established themselves in the bustling city and taken their parents with them. Vira occupied these homes with many of his friends, leaving them in a state... well, let's just say the true owners never returned to live in them, as the cost of renovation would likely hit their bank accounts hard.

Such a peaceful and carefree life went on for three whole years. During this time, Vira stole food, clothing, and shelter from the town, yet he still seemed to have no intention of interacting with humans—neither the kind-looking grandpas and grandmas who would probably love his companionship in their lonely old age, nor the children near his age who could have been friends and playmates.

With the help of his friends—and mainly the defenseless, uncaring old people who seemed indifferent to the petty thefts—Vira and his companions lived their lives. The townspeople went about their uneventful days, watching TV, gossiping, gambling, and living just as they had before Vira appeared in their midst.

It was as if Vira had never been there. Why he never chose an easy path, or why he didn't seek a kind person to adopt him, is something I don't know. But no matter the reason, until the fateful day of Woof's death, Vira remained in the peaceful town of old folks and children.

Aside from Woof's death, there were many other events that occurred in Vira's three years of life in this new world.

First of all, Viper woke up as soon as spring arrived. He was unaffected by the lack of hibernation or the blood loss; it seemed as if he had evolved to be more intelligent than any other animal Vira had encountered. Vira had made friends with countless other serpents, even a few adders who looked almost identical to Viper. But Viper seemed different. Vira didn't care much about that—not the day Viper woke up, nor three years later. All Vira knew was that his companion was back, and he was just as reliable, if not more, than during their first encounter.

On the other hand, there was something bad. Vira discovered that he had gone deaf. Not literally deaf—he could hear sounds—but any sort of speech was beyond him. The reprimands of the old blind lady in the white house when he accidentally dropped the milk glass, or any other conversations he overheard while stealing life's necessities, were incomprehensible to him. All of it sounded like gibberish, and any sort of screams or reprimands just registered as screeches at that point.

At first, Vira just thought it was because of his young body not being developed enough, and that babies just have bad hearing. But as time passed, and he became more than a year old, he had to face the reality that he was deaf. His excuses, that he might have slow growth in that area or any of the countless others he had made, began to feel feeble.

Fortunately, Vira had Viper by his side, who helped him not only with comfort but also in understanding the words spoken by humans. It seemed that after waking from his sleep, Viper was able to understand human language—not just Vira's, but everyone's. Be it the birds, other animals. every things Vira could hear, Viper could understand them too, if not better.

This helped Vira a lot. With Viper's help and the lip-reading skills he developed over the years, Vira became increasingly unconcerned about the fact that he was deaf.

Vira noticed that his learning speed wasn't the only unusual thing about him. He had a strange body—stronger, in fact. He possessed strength far greater than any child his age, and his endurance was shocking, even surpassing his strength. He could take care of his friends for what seemed like forever, as long as he had eaten enough. Most importantly, at least to Vira, was his strong immune system. He seemed to value it more than even the very talents that compensated for his physical deficiencies.

Then again, compared to being deaf, him getting sick was probably more of a worry. He still hadn't found a guardian who could truly take care of him—not one who could actually do so. He had many animal guardians, but aside from Viper, who was intelligent, the others just kept doing random things they had remembered in their short memories. This was similar to how Viper had panicked when Vira got sick.

One of the most important events— perhaps better described as a bitter cycle—that kept impacting Vira's young mind was witnessing the deaths of his friends. It wasn't that he had never seen or even experienced death. He had seen his parents pass away from old age, and he himself had experienced death, though he couldn't recall those instances. But no matter what, the constant occurrence of his close friends dying was a bit depressing for him, especially with rats and other creatures that had short lifespans. He had witnessed the deaths of parents and had even taken care of the little cubs himself.

Although he did not have a maternal, caring nature, nor the instinct or any professional knowledge for taking care of animals, he still managed to raise pups, eggs, and other newborn creatures fairly well. This was due to his connection with them and, well, because of his intelligence.

Naturally, seeing the same creatures he raised die again and again was depressing, and even Vira felt like he was losing his sense of empathy. But in that whole ordeal, he had gained a few things—chief among them being his sense of belonging with the animals who so loved and adored him.

In a person's life, they start as a blank slate, learning and gaining their sense of belonging as they experience life. First, they have a sense of belonging to themselves, then to their parents, schools, friends, relatives, and crushes. Some may even feel a sense of belonging to a person who will accompany them throughout their life. Some noble spirits have a belonging to society and their nation, while angels may feel a belonging to the world and humanity itself. This is the way life shapes a person's sense of belonging.

For Vira, however, the first few steps were absent. His sense of belonging had already matured early on, and after the bizarre incident of experiencing a new life, all of it was detached, left in the previous world. In the new one, he remained unattached to anyone. His parents were not there—one was no longer in the world, and the other was no longer in his. The relationship he had with Viper was genuine and close, but it wasn't enough to help him develop a sense of belonging to the world. The fact that Viper would not even remain for one-tenth of his life didn't help, either.

But after witnessing the cycle of life again and again, he had gained a sense of detachment from it, just enough to blend into the world—at least the one he had created with the lovely creatures.