Looking at Harry and Hermione's horrified expressions, Lucas quietly pulled his shirt back on.
Hermione's mind worked faster than Harry's in situations like this.
Lucas had just said he only discovered magic two months ago.
Which meant those scars couldn't possibly be old.
Or rather—
They had only recently healed.
Hermione felt a chill spread through her body.
"What exactly happened to you?" she asked softly.
Her voice trembled slightly.
"Hagrid warned Harry never to ask about your past… so it must've been something terrible."
To Hermione, the scars had been genuinely shocking.
She grew up in a loving household. Even when she read about cruelty in books, it always felt distant and unreal.
But Lucas's body carried physical proof of suffering.
Harry felt shaken too.
For most of his life, he thought Dudley bullying him represented the worst childhood imaginable.
Now he realised he'd barely glimpsed true darkness at all.
Lucas watched the two of them silently.
Then he asked calmly:
"Are you ready?"
Harry blinked blankly. "Ready for what?"
"To see my past."
The room became quiet.
Then both Harry and Hermione nodded slowly.
Lucas reached into his ring.
Instead of another magical object or snack, he carefully removed a shallow stone basin covered in ancient rune-like carvings.
Bright silver liquid swirled gently inside.
A Pensieve.
Naturally, Lucas bought it specifically for today.
Apparently, its previous owner had been some sort of grave robber.
Honestly, that explained quite a lot.
Lucas personally didn't care where it came from.
He raised his wand and touched it lightly against his own temple.
Slowly—
A strand of shimmering silver memory emerged from his mind like glowing mist.
Harry and Hermione stared in amazement.
Lucas lowered the memory into the Pensieve before gently stirring the silver surface with his wand.
Immediately, blurry images and faces began flickering inside the liquid.
"Come closer," Lucas said softly. "And don't resist."
Harry and Hermione exchanged nervous glances.
Then they leaned over the basin together.
The instant their faces touched the silver surface—
The world flipped upside down.
Harry felt himself falling violently through spinning darkness.
Hermione gasped beside him.
Then suddenly—
They landed.
Both of them staggered onto solid ground instinctively.
Harry looked around quickly.
This wasn't his bedroom anymore.
Instead, they stood inside a filthy cave-like room filled with broken furniture, rusty chains, and piles of miscellaneous junk.
At the centre of everything stood an iron cage.
Inside the cage sat a ragged young boy curled tightly into himself.
His head remained lowered.
Hermione's breathing became uneven immediately.
Harry glanced around nervously.
"Hello?" he called uncertainly.
His voice echoed strangely through the cave.
But nobody reacted.
The boy inside the cage didn't move at all.
Before Harry could step closer—
Footsteps suddenly echoed from behind them.
Harry and Hermione spun around instantly.
A middle-aged wizard with a fleshy face strode into the cave while casually drawing his wand.
The man looked vile.
Every instinct Harry possessed screamed that this wizard was dangerous.
Harry immediately reached for his wand.
But then he froze.
The wizard walked directly past them without even looking their way.
As though they didn't exist.
"Boy," the wizard sneered cruelly, "I recently invented an interesting little spell."
His smile widened unpleasantly.
"Let's test it on you."
Inside the cage, the young boy suddenly began trembling violently.
The fear in his body felt painfully real.
The middle-aged wizard unlocked the cage roughly before grabbing the child by his hair and dragging him out onto the stone floor.
"Stop!" Harry shouted instinctively.
But the wizard ignored him completely.
Harry tried rushing forwards immediately—
Then Hermione grabbed his arm tightly.
"Harry…" she whispered shakily. "Look at his face."
Harry turned instinctively.
The boy's face became visible as the wizard dragged him across the ground.
Harry's eyes widened completely.
"Lucas…"
That child—
Was Lucas.
A much younger, thinner, broken version of Lucas.
"What's happening?!" Harry shouted. "We have to help him!"
Hermione finally understood first.
"Harry…" she said quietly. "We're inside his memories."
Her voice trembled heavily.
"They can't see us."
At that moment, Lucas's voice echoed softly nearby.
"She's right."
Harry and Hermione turned immediately.
Lucas stood behind them calmly.
His expression looked distant while staring at the younger version of himself being dragged across the cave floor.
Technically, these belonged to the original owner's memories before Lucas transmigrated.
But now they were part of him regardless.
Harry looked between the two Lucases in shock.
"The Pensieve lets people experience memories directly," Lucas explained quietly. "You can watch everything, but you can't interfere."
At that exact moment—
The dark wizard raised his wand.
A beam of black magic slammed directly into young Lucas's body.
"AAAAAH!"
The child collapsed instantly onto the ground screaming.
The sound didn't even sound human.
Harry's entire body stiffened.
The wizard laughed.
Then another curse struck.
Young Lucas writhed violently across the floor while letting out horrifying screams of agony.
Hermione covered her mouth immediately.
Tears already began forming in her eyes.
Meanwhile, the adult Lucas merely watched silently.
"I endured this for a very long time," he said softly.
His calm tone somehow hurt even more.
"Something similar happened almost every day."
Harry suddenly understood why Hagrid refused to speak about Lucas's past.
Because this wasn't simply suffering.
It was hell.
Lucas quietly looked away from the memory.
"That's enough."
Before Harry or Hermione could respond, Lucas grabbed both of their shoulders.
The world twisted violently again.
Everything blurred.
Then suddenly—
They returned to Harry's bright bedroom.
The warm afternoon sunlight shining through the windows felt almost unreal after the darkness of the memory.
Hermione immediately burst into tears.
Without hesitation, she rushed forwards and hugged Lucas tightly.
....
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